D E S C R I P T I O N

"Device for the autonomous evaporation of volatile substances"

Technical field of the invention

The invention relates to a device for the autonomous evaporation of volatile substances to sanitize, purify and/or freshen the air.

Background of the invention Today most work places, stores and/or leisure areas remain closed, for most of the time, to fresh air, the ventilation in this type of places being an artificial and forced ventilation. This type of ventilation, whether via individual air units or by more complex systems such as centralized or decentralized cooling and/or heating systems, entails varied problems of humidity, purification and or bad smells in the long term.

In order to attempt to resolve these problems, the use of devices to evaporate volatile substances which disinfect, purify and/or freshen the air is currently becoming increasingly widespread.

These types of devices are designed to be installed close to the existing forced ventilation systems, or even forming part of the existing air conditioning systems. Said devices evaporate volatile substances either inside the air conditioning machines or directly in the air ducts.

An example of this type of device is the fluid mixer disclosed in utility model ES1031742. This document discloses an autonomous mixer which comprises a casing consisting, in its interior, of a series of different liquid product tanks provided with an injector pump which, via a spray nozzle, supplies said products to a duct wherein all the nozzles meet and whereby a constant flow of air generated by a fan established inside the same casing circulates. This device is especially designed so that an outlet nozzle is located at the end of said duct which, via a connecting tube, connects the mixer to an air conditioning distribution system. Although this device comprises a mixer whose mixing is carried out outside the existing artificial or forced ventilation system, it continues to need to be connected to the existing artificial or forced ventilation system. Furthermore, this device is provided with tanks with the products for the mixture positioned in an area of difficult access. The need is, therefore, felt for a device for the evaporation of volatile substances to sanitize, purify and/or freshen the air, which overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks, with regard to the need for the device to be able to be

used in any type of enclosed or open space, both with artificial ventilation systems and without them. A device is also needed that ensures an easy installation and use, and whereby the task of exchanging the product to evaporate and/or the existing filters for their maintenance is made easier for the user.

Explanation of the invention

In order to provide a solution to the problems raised, a device is disclosed for the autonomous evaporation of volatile substances to sanitize, purify and/or freshen the air, of the type consisting of a hollow casing, essentially parallelepiped, provided with different openings for the intake and outlet of air, respectively, which houses therein at least one filter element and at least one fan that extracts, through the inlet, the air from an external area to be sanitized, purified and/or freshened to an inner mixing area inside the casing designed for the mixing of said air with a spray product, and returning the mixture of air and spray product to said external area to be sanitized, purified and/or freshened through the outlet.

In essence, the device is characterized in that the spray product to be used is stored in a container tank accessible from outside the casing and disposed on a platform external thereto.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the casing is provided with a removable tray provided with the filter element.

In accordance with another characteristic of the invention, the device comprises safety means consisting of a cap positioned in the mouth of the tank and provided with at least one flexible portion, which can be perforated by a point or tooth external and complementary to the cap, which is positioned on the platform, so that the product contained in the tank exits it when said point or tooth penetrates said flexible portion.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the device comprises safety means consisting of a product detection probe, positioned in the inner mixing area where the air extracted is mixed with the product contained in the tank. In accordance with another characteristic of the invention, the filter element consists of a single filter, especially an essentially T-shaped drop separator.

Brief description of the drawings

The attached drawings illustrate, by way of non-limitative example, an embodiment of the device for the autonomous evaporation of volatile substances. In said drawings:

Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective representation of the device of the

invention;

Fig. 2 is the representation of the device of Fig. 1 when the removable tray is in open position for its exchange and/or cleaning;

Fig. 3 is a detailed view of the safety means of the device of Fig. 1 ; and Fig. 4 is a schematic perspective representation, of another variant of the device of the invention.

Detailed description of the drawings

As is shown in Fig.1 , the device 1 for the autonomous evaporation of volatile substances to sanitize, purify and/or freshen the air, consists of a hollow casing 2, essentially parallelepiped. Said casing 2 provides different openings for the intake 3 and outlet 4 of air, respectively. Thanks to Fig. 1 whose schematic representation is in perspective and transparent to display its interior, it can be verified that the device 1 houses a filter element 5 and at least one fan 6 that extracts, through the inlet 3, the air from the external area 7 to be sanitized, purified and/or freshened to an inner mixing area 8 positioned inside the casing 2 and designed for the mixing of said air with a spray product 9a. The mixture of air and spray product 9a is returned, through the outlet 4, to said external area 7 to be sanitized, purified and/or freshened.

The casing 2 is provided with a partition element 21 which separates the casing 2 in two transversal cavities, one for suction 211 and another for blowing 212, and is provided with a common area which, in the case represented, is occupied by the removable tray 14, and which allows the passage of air from one cavity to another, the filter element 5 being provided in said common area.

The spray product 9a to be used, unlike the known devices, is stored in a container tank 10 disposed on a platform 13 external to the casing 2. In this way, it is achieved that the tank is accessible from outside the casing 2. This tank 10 is preferably a bottle or similar utensil, which is connected to the small intermediate tank 10a which stores the product 9 to be used.

Said filter element 5 is positioned in a removable tray 14 provided for said purpose in the casing 2. Said removable tray 14 represented in Fig. 1 is represented in Fig. 2 in a position wherein it is in open position. Through this characteristic, the filter element 5 can be completely extracted by the user and the maintenance tasks involved in these types of devices are improved and facilitated. This entails the advantage that the filter can be changed by opening the removable tray 14 without having to access the inside of the casing 2, which is reserved for the maintenance engineers.

In particular, the filter element 5 represented in Figs. 1 and 2 consists of an

essentially T-shaped single drop separator filter 5a (see Fig. 1). This form considerably improves the output of the machine thanks to two aspects which are commented on below.

First, with a single filter, the casing 2 is provided with two filtration chambers, a first chamber 15 and a second chamber 16. The first chamber 15 retains the force whereby the spray product 9a with the extracted air falls in said chamber 15. Thus, the mixture of the air with said spray product 9a, which has began to be formed in the inner mixing area 8, continues to be mixed until complete homogenization before passing to the second chamber 16. In this way, the mixture in itself is improved and less waste of the product 9 is guaranteed.

Another aspect which improves said T-shaped configuration of the filter element 5 is that, evidently, a single filter will match the efficiency provided, for example, by three consecutive filters. Furthermore, with this configuration, the device 1 can continue operating with the same efficiency, during a predetermined and pre-established time, in the event of no product 9 remaining in the tank 10 due to the fact that there is still spray product 9a remaining in said chambers 15 and 16, which can be mixed with the air which continues to be extracted by the fan 6.

The device 1 represented in Figs. 1 and 2 is further provided with safety means 12 which permits a correct functioning thereof and avoids any external manipulation which could cause bad sanitation, purification and/or freshening of the air.

Fig. 3 represents a detailed view of the safety means 12 of the device of Fig. 1. Said Fig. 3 shows the elements which constitute the safety means 12 in a first variant of the device 1. In this first variant of the device 1 , said safety means 12 consist of a cap 12a positioned in the mouth of the tank 10 and a point or tooth 12c positioned in the platform 13. The cap 12a is provided in turn with a flexible portion 12b, which can be perforated by the point or tooth 12c external and complementary to the cap 12a, so that when said point or tooth 12c penetrates said flexible portion 12b, the product 9 contained in the tank 10 can be decanted to the inner mixing area 8. The decanting of the product 9 contained in the tank 10 to the inner mixing area 8 is performed by a drive pump 30. This drive pump 30 absorbs the product 9 to be consumed, housed in the intermediate tank 10a, through an absorption pipe 32 to a spray nozzle 31, which is responsible for converting the product 9 in the spray product 9a. This spray product 9a is mixed with the air extracted by the fan 6 to sanitize, purify and/or freshen the room where the device 1 is located. These safety means 12 avoid the user from being able to extract the tank 10 from the device 1 and fill it with

any other product which is not suitable for sanitizing, purifying and/or freshening the air.

In another variant of the device 1 , represented in Fig. 1 , said safety means 12 further comprises a product detection probe 12d, positioned in the inner mixing area 8 where the extracted air is mixed with the product 9 contained in the tank 10. This probe 12d is designed to detect that the spray product 9a is not corrosive and/or harmful for the user, i.e. it does not exceed threshold values of alcohol content or other elements that may excessively alter the air to be sanitized, purified and/or freshened. We should mention that in another variant of the device 1 , not represented, the possibility is included of the safety means 12 consisting of the cap 12a provided with the flexible portion 12b, of the point or tooth 12c external and complementary to the cap 12a and which further include the product detection probe 12d.

On the other hand, Fig. 4 represents another variant of the device 1 which consists of a hollow parallelepiped casing 2. In said casing 2, as is shown in this figure, different openings are provided for the intake 3 and outlet 4 of air, respectively. These openings, in this case, are disposed at a different height and sufficiently distanced from one another, in order to avoid the filtered air that exits through the outlet 4 from re-entering through the inlet 3. Furthermore, this type of configuration guarantees a device which is much more compact and of reduced size.

In any case, in any of the aforementioned variants, the device 1 manages to sanitize, purify and/or freshen the air of any type of closed or open space.

Furthermore, it is provided that the device 1 is a sufficiently compact apparatus to make it portable and discrete so that it can be positioned, for example, on the counters of stores or in the waiting room of medical centres.

Evidently, the device 1 can consist of different secondary elements which improve the features thereof without its essential characteristics varying. One of these elements may be, for example, product level indicators 9 or a digital plate positioned in the casing 2 which allows programming the operation of the device 1 and/or to obtain different status readings of the air and/or product 9 to be mixed. In the event that the device 1 is equipped with these elements, it also provides that it comprises an external remote control of said device 1.