Vertical air cleaner

• US 20060053758A1
• Filed: 12/29/2004
• Published: 03/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Original Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Inventors: Wu, Guolian, Litch, Andrew D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,309,386 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 55/471
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 45/16 generated by the winding course of the gas stream , the centrifugal forces being generated solely or partly by mechanical means, e.g. fixed swirl vanes
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 50/20 Combinations of devices covered by groups B01D45/00 and B01D46/00

Abstract

A portable air cleaner having a vertical orientation with a small footprint that uses an electrostatic precipitator to remove small particles from the air in combination with forced air for increased air flow and improved particle removal.

Claims

1. An expandable capacity air cleaner comprising:

a housing having an inlet and an outlet and defining an air flow path from the inlet to the outlet;

a blower located within the air flow path and operable to draw air into the inlet and expel air through the outlet; and

an air cleaning element located within the air flow path and comprising at least one air cleaning module;

wherein the clean air delivery rate of the air cleaner can be selected by selection of the number of air cleaning modules comprising the air cleaning element.

2. The air cleaner of claim 1, wherein the air cleaning element comprises multiple air cleaning modules.

3. The air cleaner of claim 2, wherein each of the multiple air cleaning modules provides the same clean air delivery rate.

4. The air cleaner of claim 1, wherein the blower comprises at least one blower module.

5. The air cleaner of claim 4, wherein the blower module and the air cleaning module are matched in at least one of size and capacity.

6. The air cleaner of claim 4, wherein the blower module is a crossflow blower having an axis of rotation that is vertically oriented within the air flow path.

7. The air cleaner of claim 1, wherein the housing has an elongated configuration.

8. The air cleaner of claim 7, and further comprising a base for supporting the elongated housing in a vertical orientation.

9. The air cleaner of claim 8, wherein the height of the elongated housing is increased in proportion to the number of air cleaning modules.

10. The air cleaner of claim 9, wherein the size of the base is independent of the height of the elongated housing.

11. The air cleaner of claim 10, wherein the size of the base is constant.

12. The air cleaner of claim 1, wherein the air cleaning module comprises at least one ionizer.

13. The air cleaner of claim 1, wherein the at least one air cleaning module comprises an array of horizontally disposed collecting plates.

14. The air cleaner of claim 13, wherein the horizontally disposed collection plates are curved in complementary relationship to the blower.

15. The air cleaner of claim 14, wherein the at least one air cleaning module comprises an array of vertically disposed ionizing wires.

16. The air cleaner of claim 1, wherein the at least one air cleaning module comprises an array of vertically disposed collecting plates.

17. The air cleaner of claim 16, wherein the vertically disposed collection plates are radially disposed.

18. The air cleaner of claim 17, wherein the at least one air cleaning module comprises an array of vertically disposed ionizing wires.

19. A vertical air cleaner comprising:

a housing having an elongated configuration and comprising an inlet and an outlet to define an air flow path from the inlet to the outlet;

a blower located within the air flow path and operable to draw air into the inlet and expel air through the outlet;

an air cleaning element located within the air flow path; and

a base for supporting the elongated housing in a vertical orientation.

20. The vertical air cleaner of claim 19, wherein the size of the base is independent of the height of the elongated housing.

21. The vertical air cleaner of claim 19, wherein the housing comprises a peripheral wall, with the inlet formed in one portion of the peripheral wall and the outlet formed in another portion of the peripheral wall, and wherein the housing, the inlet, the outlet, and the air flow path each has an elongated and vertically extending orientation.