KR101963078B1 - Electrospinning device having charge neutralization - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention, as an electrospinning device for producing a filter, relates to an electrospinning fiber neutralizing device for neutralizing charged fibers so that fibers can be laminated in layers in order to improve the performance of a filter. The present invention includes an electrospinning unit for producing fibers by discharging a polymer solution, a supporting unit for supporting a substrate for collecting fibers produced by the electrospinning unit, an ionizer unit positioned on the side of the supporting unit and generating ions, and an air blowing unit positioned at the lower end of the supporting unit and generating wind for transferring ions generated by the ionizer unit to the fibers.

Description

[0001] ELECTROSPINING DEVICE HAVING CHARGE NEUTRALIZATION [0002]

 The present invention relates to an electrospinning device for fabricating a filter, and more particularly, to an electrospinning fiber neutralizing device for neutralizing charged fibers so that fibers can be laminated in layers to improve the performance of the filter.

Industrialization and urban development are leading to environmental pollution problems, and air pollution, which is often encountered anytime and anywhere, is becoming the biggest problem. Therefore, many people wear masks when they go outdoors, and use air purifiers equipped in the same room as the home.

The air purifier determines the performance of the air purifier according to the filter filtering ability provided inside the air purifier. The filter is a filtration device that can remove dust and germs from contaminated air and supply fresh air. As a result of the improvement of the filter manufacturing technology, the dust is collected from various smells, bacteria, and pollen to very fine dust.

The filter arranges finer sized fibers evenly and laminates them in multiple layers to improve filtration performance. In this case, the spinning method of the fibers is carried out by electrospinning, by the electrostatic force by high voltage of several kV or more, to move the polymer solution or the polymer melt to the integrated plate through the nozzle of the reservoir, Sectional area.

That is, when the external electric field exceeds a certain threshold value, a charge generated on the surface of the polymer solution extruded from the nozzle becomes larger than the surface tension of the polymer solution, resulting in a liquid jet. The resulting jet is microfiber and the microfiber is elongated to the microfibers through the electrically generated bending instability. This process can control the thickness of the fiber by varying the size of the electric field and the concentration of the polymer solution.

Many methods for fabricating nanofibers using electrospinning have been proposed. For example, Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1766143 (Registration Date: 2017.08.01) relates to a method for manufacturing an aligned activated carbon nanofiber using an electrospinning method, wherein when the rotating current collector is operated at a high speed, Thereby providing an excellent path for increasing the ion transport speed, thereby making it possible to produce an activated carbon nanofiber with improved electrical characteristics.

However, if the nanofibers are laminated by such a method, the fibers are not uniformly arranged by the charged ions in the fibers, and beads are generated, so that the fibers can not be laminated with a thick thickness.

Korean Registered Patent No. 10-1766143 (Registration date: 2017.08.01)

The present invention seeks to produce a filter with improved filtration performance.

The present invention aims at improving the filtration performance by using a conventional process without using multiple layers of the existing filter.

The present invention intends to laminate the fibers so that they are uniform in the collector and no beads are generated.

The present invention relates to an electrospinning yarn neutralizing device for neutralizing charged fibers so that a plurality of fibers can be laminated in order to improve the performance of a filter, A first ionizing portion which is located at one side of the supporting portion and generates ions of a polarity opposite to that of the polarity of the fiber, And an air blower for generating a wind for transferring ions generated by the first ionizer unit to the fiber.

Preferably, in the present invention, the substrate has a mesh shape in which a plurality of holes are formed to allow the wind and ions to pass therethrough.

Preferably, in the present invention, the first ionizer portion is provided so as to be insertable and fixable from a side surface of the support portion, and supplies ions to the inside of the support portion.

Preferably, in the present invention, the first ionizer portion is provided so as to be insertable and fixable at the lower end of the support portion so that ions can be supplied to the inside of the support portion, thereby reducing interference between generated ions.

Preferably, in the present invention, a multimeter is installed on the substrate to measure the current of the fiber produced by the electrospinning unit and the ionizer unit.

Preferably, in the present invention, a power supply unit is further connected to the ionizer so that a current value measured by the multimeter can be converged to zero, thereby increasing or decreasing the amount of generated ions by voltage regulation.

Preferably, according to the present invention, there is provided a polymer electrolyte fuel cell comprising an electricity radiator for discharging a polymer solution to produce fibers, a support for supporting a substrate for collecting the fibers produced by the electrospin generator, And an ion supply unit for supplying the fibers.

Preferably, in the present invention, the substrate has a mesh shape in which a plurality of holes are formed to allow the wind and ions to pass therethrough.

Preferably, in the present invention, the ion supply unit further includes an air compressor for filtering and supplying compressed air to a filter, and a second ionizer for providing ions of a polarity opposite to the polarity of the fiber.

Preferably, in the present invention, the ion supply unit further includes a mixing vessel for mixing the compressed air of the air compression unit and the ions generated in the second ionizer, and capable of diluting ions.

Preferably, in the present invention, a multimeter is installed on the substrate to measure the current of the fiber and the ion supply unit manufactured by the electrospinning unit.

Preferably, in the present invention, a power supply unit is further connected to the second ionizer so that the current value measured by the multimeter can be converged to zero, thereby increasing or decreasing the amount of generated ions by the voltage regulation.

The electrospun fiber neutralizing apparatus according to the present invention is effective in reliably filtering foreign matter because the thickness is sufficiently large.

The present invention has the effect of neutralizing the polarity of the fibers spinning in the collector and uniformity, and not causing the beads, thereby improving the filtration performance.

The filter manufactured through the present invention has an effect of improving the filtration performance compared with the case where the conventional filters are used in a stacked manner.

1 is an overall view of an electrospinning fiber neutralizing apparatus according to the present invention,
FIG. 2 is a view for measuring the current value of the electrospun fiber according to the present invention,
3 is a view showing neutralization of electrospun fibers according to the present invention,
4 is another embodiment of the electrospun fiber neutralizing device according to the present invention.

The specific structure or functional description presented in the embodiment of the present invention is merely illustrative for the purpose of illustrating an embodiment according to the concept of the present invention, and embodiments according to the concept of the present invention can be implemented in various forms. And should not be construed as limited to the embodiments described herein, but should be understood to include all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is an overall view of an electrospinning fiber neutralizing device according to the present invention.

In order to produce a filter having excellent filtration performance, filtration performance is further improved by disposing fine fibers 12 uniformly on the substrate 22 and stacking a plurality of filters rather than one filter.

However, if the filter is fabricated using an apparatus having only the conventional electrospinning function, the fibers 12 are stacked on the substrate 22 in an existing thickness. However, if the fibers are stacked with a thicker thickness, A repulsive force is generated between the ions and the fibers 12 are not uniformly arranged. In addition, beads are generated in the fibers 12, so that a minute size space is formed in the filter, or the filter 12 is not densely arranged, so that the filtration performance is lowered.

Therefore, the charged fibers 12 must be neutralized and laminated so that the fibers 12 can be densely and uniformly arranged. The configuration of the apparatus for manufacturing such filters is as follows.

An electrospinning fiber neutralizing apparatus according to the present invention includes an electrospinning unit 10 for discharging a polymer solution to fabricate fibers 12 and a substrate 22 for collecting fibers 12 produced by the electrospinning unit 10 The first ionizing part 30 and the second ionizing part 30 are positioned at the lower ends of the supporting part 20 and the supporting part 20 which are located on the side surfaces of the supporting part 20 and the supporting part 20, And a blowing portion 40 for generating the wind to transfer the ions 31 to the fibers 12. [

The fibers 12 discharged from the electric radiation unit 10 are gathered on the substrate 22 to form a filter. In this case, the additive used for the production of the fiber is composed of 10 wt% of PAN / DMF, At a rate of 5 [mu] lpm.

The fibers 12 to be discharged are charged with a negative (-) or positive (+) electric charge by the electrospinning method. When the fibers 12 are accumulated to some extent, a repulsive force is generated between the fibers 12. Thus, the first ionizing portion 22 for neutralizing the repulsive fibers 12 and supplying the ions 31 having the polarity opposite to the polarity of the charged fibers 12 so that the fibers 12 can be arranged thicker and uniformly, (Not shown). Ions generated by the first ionizer 30 may be supplied by an amount of -3.96 x cc.

The supporting portion 20 is opened at one side, and the substrate 22 is positioned at the opened side. The structure is such that both the side surface and the lower side of the support portion 20 are closed so that the ions 31 generated in the first ionizing portion 30 provided on the side surface of the support portion 20 can be completely transferred to the substrate 22. [ consist of. In other words, the supporting portion 20 may be opened only on the upper side where the substrate 22 is located, and may further include a connector for insertion and installation of the first ionizer 30 or other components, All completed connectors should be closed. Any material may be used as the support 20 so long as it can sufficiently support the substrate 22 on which the fibers 12 are laminated and can transfer the movement of the ions 31 smoothly.

The first ionizer bottom 30 may be located on the side or bottom of the support 20. When the first ionizer bottom 30 is positioned at the lower end of the support 20, the interference between the ions is less than when the first ionizer bottom 30 is located on the side, . It is preferable that one or more first ionizer bottom portions 30 are provided.

The number of the first ionizer bottom portions 30 may be sufficient to generate the ions 31 that are uniform during the lamination of the fibers 12 and neutralize to such an extent that no beads are generated. The first ionizer bottom portion 30 is detachably installed from the support portion 20 so that it can be easily replaced or repaired if a failure occurs. Since the fibers 12 discharged in an electrospinning manner have a polarity of negative (-) or positive (+) depending on the situation, the fibers 12 The polarity of the ion 31 can be selected at the ionization bottom 30.

A lower end of the supporting unit 20 is provided with a blowing unit 40 for transmitting ions 31 by generating wind to neutralize the ions 31 generated by the first ionizer 30 to the fibers 12 . The blowing section 40 further includes a fan 42 positioned at the lower end of the support section 20 and a power supply device 44 capable of adjusting the rotational speed while supplying electric power to the fan 42. [ The rotational speed of the fan 42 may suitably be about 0.22 m / s and may be adjusted by the power supply 44 to rotate faster or slower than this.

FIG. 2 is a view for measuring the current value of the electrospun fiber according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a view for neutralizing the electrospun fiber according to the present invention.

In order for the fibers 12 to be discharged by the electric radiation unit 10 to be uniform and to improve filtration performance, the fibers 12 must be thickly laminated and the fibers 12 must be neutralized in order to laminate the fibers 12 thicker than a certain thickness. The fibers 12 may not be properly neutralized in the electric radiation unit 10 or may be supplied with a large amount of ions 31 from the first ionizer 30 so that the fibers 12 The current value should be as close to '0' as possible so that the lamination can be performed to a desired thickness. Therefore, the fiber 12 discharged by the electric radiation unit 10 and the multimeter 50 for measuring the current of the first ionizer 30 are provided on the substrate 22, and the current value is measured in real time .

That is, when the fiber 12 starts to accumulate on the substrate 22, the multimeter 50 measures the current value. When the first ionizer 30 is operated while the multimeter 50 is viewed, the substrate 22 The current value of the multimeter 50, which is connected to the power supply (not shown), reaches zero. The current value measured by the multimeter 50 may be a current value between -40 nA and 40 nA in a range where the current value converges to zero. If the fibers 12 are laminated while maintaining this state, the user will be able to produce a filter of a desired thickness.

On the other hand, as the fibers 12 continue to laminate, the amount of ions 31 supplied from the ionizer may not be sufficient to neutralize the fibers 12 deposited on the substrate 22, ) May be generated. The first ionizer 30 is provided with a power supply unit 32 capable of adjusting the amount of generated ions 31 so that the current value measured by the multimeter 50 connected to the substrate 22 can be converged to zero It is connected. The amount of generated ions 31 in the first ionizer 30 is increased and the amount of generated ions 31 in the first ionizer 30 is decreased when the amount of power is decreased. And the amount of generation is reduced.

That is, when the fiber 12 is discharged in such a manner that it is stacked on the substrate 22 in the radiation part, the first ionizing part 30 is provided with the opposite side of the charged fiber 12 in order to neutralize the fiber 12 accumulated on the substrate 22. [ Polarity ions 31 are supplied. At this time, the multimeter 50 is connected to the substrate 22 to measure the current value to check whether the fibers 12 are neutralized well. However, when the fibers 12 continue to accumulate, the ion 31 generated in the ionizer is not completely transferred to the fibers 12, or the amount of the ions 31 is insufficient to neutralize the fibers. In order to prevent such a case, the first ionizer 30 is further connected to the power supply unit 32 so as to control the generation amount of the ions 31, Can be uniformly stacked.

For example, if the fiber 12 discharged from the electric radiation unit 10 is negatively charged, the first ionizing unit 30 supplies positive ions, and when the multimeter 50 is charged, The amount of generated positive ions may be controlled by checking whether the current value of the substrate 22 converges to zero. If the current value is less than 0, the amount of power of the power supply unit 32 may be increased so that more positive ions may be generated in the first ionizer 30. In the opposite case, since too much positive ions are generated in the first ionizer bottom 30, the amount of the positive ions generated in the first ionizer 30 is reduced by reducing the power amount of the power supply unit 32 Will be. In addition, it is preferable to adjust the amount of ions 31 generated in the first ionizer 30 while checking the multimeter 50 by adjusting the wind intensity of the blower 40 according to circumstances .

The filter produced by the electrospinning fiber neutralization device has a high quality filter with uniformly arranged fibers 12 but without the beads between the fibers 12 and having a thickness sufficiently thicker than that of the conventional filter Production and supply.

If the fibers 12 are laminated to a sufficiently thick thickness on the substrate 22 provided on the support 20, the power of the electric radiation part 10, the power of the first ionizer 30, The fabrication of the filter having improved filtration performance than that of the conventional filter is completed. The substrate 22 may be separated from the support 20 and used as a filter.

4 shows another embodiment of the electrospun fiber neutralizing device according to the present invention.

The ionizer 31 has an electric radiation unit 10, a support unit 20 and a multimeter 50 in a similar structure to the above-mentioned electrospinning fiber neutralization apparatus. Instead of the first ionizer 30, And an ion supply unit 60 for supplying air containing air.

A supporting portion 20 for supporting the substrate 22 for collecting the fibers 12 to be produced by the electric radiation portion 10 and the supporting portion 20 for supporting the substrate 12 for collecting the fibers 12, And an ion supply part 60 installed in the height direction of the support part 20 to supply the air containing the ions 31 to the fiber 12.

The ion supply section 60 includes an air compression section for providing compressed air to the filter and a second ionizer section 62 for providing ions 31 of polarity opposite to the polarity of the fibers 12, Lt; / RTI > The air compressing unit moves the compressed air through the high performance filter such as the HEPA filter 64 to remove the impurities from the air to the air flow control unit 66 and to the mixing container 61 through the air flow control . The second ionizer 62 connected to the power supply 63 is installed at one end of the mixing vessel 61 to generate the ions 31. The ions 31 supplied to the mixing vessel 61 are supplied to the air ≪ / RTI > The air mixed with the ions 31 is moved to the support portion 20 through the control of the air flow control device 66 and the fibers 12 discharged to the electric radiation portion 10 along the support portion 20 are neutralized .

A multimeter 50 is provided on the substrate 22 to measure the current of the fiber 12 and the ion supply part 60 discharged by the electric radiation part 10. The power supply 63 is further connected to the second ionizer 62 so that the current value measured by the multimeter 50 can be converged to zero so that the amount of generated ions 31 can be increased or decreased through voltage regulation do.

The second ionizer bottom portion 62 should be capable of selectively generating a cathode or an anode according to the charged polarity of the fiber 12 as in the first ionizer bottom portion 30 and the voltage of the power supply 63 The amount of generated ions 31 can be increased or the amount of generated ions 31 can be reduced by lowering the voltage. The second Ionian bottom 62 will be able to use an ionizer or ionizer brush and any device capable of generating anions and cations will suffice.

The mixing vessel 61 in which the air and the ions 31 are mixed should have at least two openings. Air should be introduced into one of the openings to be mixed with the ions 31 and air should be discharged to the other of the openings. Further, a connection port for installing the second ionizer bottom part 62 should be provided. The material of the mixing vessel 61 may be any material that does not change the properties of the ion 31 when the air is mixed with the ions 31, There will be no.

If the fibers 12 are laminated to a sufficiently thick thickness on the substrate 22 provided on the supporting part 20, if the power of the electric radiation part 10 and the power of the ion supply part 60 are cut off, The fabrication of the improved filter is completed. The substrate 22 may then be separated from the support 20 and used as a filter.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the inventions. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.

10: electric radiation part 12: fiber
20: support part 22: substrate
30: First Ionian bottom 31: Ion
32: power supply unit 40:
42: Fan 44: Power supply
50: multimeter 60: ion supply section
61: mixing vessel 62: second ionosphere bottom
63: power supply 64:
66: air flow control device

Claims (12)

An electric radiator for discharging the polymer solution to produce fibers;
A support for supporting a substrate for collecting the fibers produced by the electrospinning unit;
An ionizer bottom portion located at one side of the support portion and generating ions of polarity opposite to the polarity of the fibers;
A blowing unit located at a lower end of the support unit to generate a wind for transferring ions generated by the ionizer unit to fibers;
, ≪ / RTI &
The substrate has a mesh shape in which a plurality of holes are formed to allow wind and ions to pass therethrough,
Wherein the ionizer unit is installed such that at least a part of the ionizer unit is inserted into a side surface or a bottom surface of the support unit so as to supply ions to the inside of the support unit,
Wherein the supporting portion is open on the upper side so that the substrate is positioned on the open upper side and the lower side and the side surface of the supporting portion are all closed except for the connection port for installing the ionizer portion, Ions are transferred to the substrate.
delete delete delete The method according to claim 1,
And a multimeter is installed on the substrate to measure the current of the fiber and the ionizer part manufactured by the electrospinning unit. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein a power supply unit is further connected to the ion source so that a current value measured by the multimeter can be converged to zero, thereby increasing or decreasing the amount of generated ions by voltage regulation. An electric radiator for discharging the polymer solution to produce fibers;
A support for supporting a substrate for collecting the fibers produced by the electrospinning unit;
An ion supply unit installed in the height direction of the support unit and supplying air containing ions to the fibers;
Lt; / RTI >
The substrate has a mesh shape in which a plurality of holes are formed to allow wind and ions to pass therethrough,
Wherein the ion supply unit includes an air compression unit for filtering compressed air to provide a filtered air and an ionizer unit for providing ions of a polarity opposite to the polarity of the fiber, Is introduced into one side of the mixing container provided with the ionizer portion and mixed with the ions discharged from the bottom portion of the ionizer,
The compressed air in which the ions discharged from the mixing vessel are mixed is supplied to the inside of the supporting portion through the side or bottom of the supporting portion,
Wherein the supporting portion is open on the upper side so that the substrate is positioned on the opened upper side and the lower side and the side surface of the supporting portion are all closed except for the connection port for the inflow of the compressed air.
delete delete delete 8. The method of claim 7,
And a multimeter is provided on the substrate to measure the current of the fiber and the current of the ion supply unit manufactured by the electrospinning unit. 12. The method of claim 11,
Wherein a power supply unit is further connected to the ion source so that a current value measured by the multimeter can be converged to zero, thereby increasing or decreasing the amount of generated ions by voltage regulation.

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