Assignee: LABORATORI FABRICI SRL; Piazzetta Ado Furlan 4; 33170 Pordenone (PN), Italia

Inventors: Ganis, Pietro Paolo Felice; D'Andrea, Alessio; Vitiello, Vincenzo

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TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to furniture with a natural air purifier where the filtration is done by plants and where thanks to a control unit an air flow is forced in the roots of the plant. Moreover the air purifier includes sensors so that helps not only the performance but provides important data regarding the pollutants and conditions of the environment.

BACKGROUND ART

Furniture comprises bi- or three-dimensional mobile or fixed or built-in furniture, like tables, chairs, beds, desks, dressers, wardrobes or cupboards of different kinds. These objects are usually kept in a house or other building to make it suitable or comfortable for living or working in. There is a need to have a healthy atmosphere in living and working spaces, thus the market developed various types of air purifying devices to render the air clean and free of toxic substances. In general, air purifiers are devices that filter air contaminants, toxic agents, materials, dust, VOCs (volatile organic compounds) through various filters in order to provide clean air. A natural air purifier powered by plants is, among other air purifiers, a device that uses the roots of the plants as filters. In the roots live microorganism that actively bio-filter toxic agents and degrade them. The natural air purifiers actually available have some drawbacks, like the not optimized air flow to the roots and the not optimal management of the system on the basis of environmental conditions and the effectiveness of the air purifier itself. Further the air purifiers known in the art are realized as accessories that occupy space and represent obstacles in every day's life, which often need to be moved from one position to another to make room. DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

Object of the invention is to propose an improved natural air purifier for purifying air in indoor spaces which is able to purify air in an optimized manner, in particular with an optimized air flow to the roots and through the matrix in which the roots are enrooted taking into consideration environmental conditions and which resolves the above mentioned space problems. This objects and others which become evident from the following description of the invention and its advantages is obtained by a furniture comprising

(I) an air purifier comprising:

(a) a first flower pot and a second flower pot which is housed inside the first flower pot wherein

(al) the second flower pot is provided with one or more holes; and (a2) the first flower pot is provided with an opening;

(b) a control unit housed in said opening and comprising:

(bl) a fan and preferably a grid covering said fan with respect to the outside of said first flower pot;

(b2) a temperature sensor;

(b3) a humidity sensor;

(b4) an air quality sensor; and

(b5) a microcontroller suitable to receive data from the sensors and to send signals to the fan;

(II) an opening or recess for containing said air purifier; and optionally

(III) a ventilation element to permit airflow between the environment where the furniture is placed and the control unit of the air purifier.

The ventilation element may, for example, be situated in a wall of the furniture or of its recess, if present. The ventilation element can be, for example, a perforated wall, a grid, a fan or similar.

The person skilled in the art easily individuates suitable sensors commercially available which are useful in the air purifier according to the invention. Air quality sensors may be selected among a CO sensor, a C0 ₂ sensor, a VOC (volatile organic compounds) sensor, a NO _x sensor, an SO _x sensor, a particulate matter (PM) sensor for different particle sizes, for example PM 2.5 (particulate matter with a diameter lower than 2.5 μιη), a pollen sensor, etc.

The insertion of the perforated second flower pot in the first flower pot creates a space between the walls of the pots and permits a defined air flow in between which is channeled through the holes in the second flower pot and through the control unit with the fan.

Advantageously, between the external flower pot and the inner one a very functional air chamber is formed internally which permits the air to circulate very well inside, to pass more times in the soil and thus to purify even more; what would not have been possible if the internal pot was flush with the external one, there would be only one passage, here on the other hand the passages are multiple and there is an extended flow all around.

The particular combination of sensors permits to control parameters which are important for the air quality, the user of the air purifier gets important data which can be corrected/influenced by the system as will be explained in the following.

The built-in air purifier housed in a furniture provides a furniture which not only renders rooms comfortable for living or working in providing storing, sitting, eating or working elements but at the same time gives the furniture a functionality to purify the indoor air quality without occupying additional space to the space already occupied by the furniture. Advantageously, the opening or recess in shape and dimension corresponds to the second flower pot of the air purifier such that the second flower pots fits into the opening or recess permitting air flow out of the furniture. For this purpose the furniture, if it is a closed furniture, may contain holes and/or a grid for the air passage.

Advantegeously, in the furniture there are foreseen fixing means to fix the air purifier inside the opening or recess. Such fixing means can comprise screws and relative holes in the air purifier as well as in the furniture. In the case of the opening, the external flower pot could, to be suspended in the opening, have an upper edge wider than the dimensions of the opening. The expert simply individuates other fixing means with his general knowledge. There can be foreseen means to extract comfortably the pot from the furniture, as grooves in the upper edge of the pot or grips.

A preferred shape for the recess and the external flower pot is a cuboid, like a cube. Preferably, the control unit further comprises a Wi-Fi module. A Wi-Fi module permits a remote control and monitoring of the system and a communication with external devices, like thermostats of heating units, an air-conditioning unit, air humidifiers, other filters etc. to react on ambient parameters on the bases of the data collected by the sensors. Data handling and storage from a smartphone, a tablet or a PC is easily possible. On the contrary, a Bluetooth connection, for example, would only permit direct connections.

In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, the air purifier further contains a self- watering unit. A self-watering unit helps to increase the humidity level in the matrix where the roots are engrained and avoids that the plant dies because of water shortage. Experimental results show that an elevated humidity, in particular when the matrix is soil, results in an increased air passage and in an increased absorption of toxic substances and thus an increased air purification.

Advantageously, the self-watering unit comprises

(i) a water tank situated under the second flower pot,

(ii) a tube, one end of which is immerged into the water tank and the other end of which is situated in the second flower pot, in particular in the soil contained in the second flower pot, or a string at least one end of which is immerged into the water tank and another part of which is situated in the second flower pot, in particular in the soil contained in the second flower pot, and optionally

(iii) a valve system, activatable by the microcontroller, which closes or opens the water flow from the tank to the flower pot.

The water flow from the tank to the second flower pot advantageously takes place by capillary action, thus the soil or matrix sucks water only in case of necessity, but in another embodiment, the suction of water can be sustained by a pump.

To exploit the increased purifying capacities of wet matrix or soil, and thus to guarantee an increased humidity level inside the matrix or soil, the microcontroller, preferably, contains an algorithm which in case of low air quality signals from the air quality sensor controls the self- watering unit of the air purifier such that the humidity in the soil present in the second flower pot is raised. Another possibility to improve the air quality is to increase the air flow through roots and matrix/soil. Exploiting this effect, in case of low air quality signals received from the air quality sensor, the microcontroller, in a preferred embodiment, switches on the fan or raises the fan velocity. On the contrary, to save energy and to preserve the fan, in case of good air quality signals received from the air quality sensor, the microcontroller preferably reduces the fan velocity.

In another advantageous embodiment of the invention, the microcontroller contains algorithms which calculate from the data collected by the sensors the necessary measures to improve air quality, in particular calculate the temperature, humidity or fan velocity which contribute to improve air quality, and in that the microcontroller pilots, preferably via a Wi-Fi module, at least one of the following elements: a heating unit of the living/working space, an air-conditioning unit of the living/working space, a humidifier unit of the living/working space, a self-watering unit of the air purifier if present and/or the fan velocity of the fan such that the desired temperature, humidity, fan velocity and/or air quality are obtained. Optionally, the microcontroller contains algorithms which permit the mapping of the collected data in function of time and place. The air purifier provides environmental and soil data and permits the correction of them acting on external devices, like an air-conditioning unit, or internal devices, like the self-watering unit or the fan.

Temperature, humidity and fan velocity (air quantity processed by the system) are factors which are correlated among each other that are influenced the one by the other.

The collected data, preferably, are saved on dedicated servers and can be processed to create a map of the internal spaces based on the air quality and to calculate the different levels of air quality in different zones of the space and to interpolate the data to further improve the air quality. This mapping can be of a more global type and cover the development over time and the local development of the air quality where the furniture with air purifier according to the invention is used.

Preferably, the microcontroller indicates, in case of humidity values received from the humidity sensor which drop below a certain threshold value, water shortage in the water tank. The user is notified of water shortage and can fill the tank with water. The humidity sensor to obtain this information avoids an additional water level indicator which obviously can be another option for the air purifier according to the invention.

In another advantageous embodiment of the invention, the air purifier further contains a first gasket which hermetically closes the space between the upper edges of the two flower pots and optionally a second gasket interposed between the opening in the first flowerpot and the control unit inserted therein, thus realizing a closed space to enforce the air flow only in the desired spaces and directions avoiding losses of air flow.

Preferably, the air purifier further comprises a tube which extends from the water tank to the outside of said air purifier for adding water to the water tank and optionally a lid to close said tube. This avoids the extraction of the inner flower pot to fill the tank.

The tank can, advantageously, be created by a dividing plate positioned at a certain height inside the second flower pot. This plate can contain the feeding tube and/or holes to let pass the tubes or strings to suck water.

Another embodiment of the invention provides an air purifier that further comprises a Reed contact and a magnet for switching on and off one or more of the components listed under points (b), and from (bl) to (b5) of claim 1 and/or a Wi-Fi module if present. A Reed contact is a simple device to act on single parts of the system and to handle them independently one from the other. For comfort reasons, the Reed contact is, for example, situated in that lid. Preferably, said Reed contact is suitable to selectively activate single components of the control unit by pressing a switch being part of the Reed system for different durations of time. The components may be those listed under (bl) to (b5) of claim 1, a Wi-Fi module, a pomp for the water tank, a valve of a self-watering unit, if present and similar. The user is enabled to manually control the system.

The Reed contact, advantageously, activates the system or switches it off; it can let it work with or without Wi-Fi and can give visual information, for example regarding the air amount processed or in case of degraded air quality. The visual information can, for example, be a blinking of the Reed system.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the control unit of the air purifier is detachable from the first flower pot. This can be realized by attaching the control unit, for example, by screws to the first flower pot or by realizing threads on the control unit and on the opening and to screw the control unit with the opening. Another alternative may be, for example, a snap fit closure.

Advantageously, fan and sensors are incorporated in the control unit in a single block permitting to extract all together to substitute or repair comfortably single elements, like the sensors or the fan motor. This avoids, in case of damage or defect, to substitute the whole air purifier. The fan is preferably a motorized fan.

As a matrix for the plant, soil is particularly preferred as it has better results in absorbing toxic compounds, especially compared to hydroponic culture.

This is probably due to great filtering capacities of the soil.

For ecologic reasons, the material for the flower pot preferably is ceramic, stone, metal or similar and not synthetic or plastic materials. Particularly preferred is a flower pot made of metal sheet. Synthetic or plastic materials are known to release toxic agents like plasticizers or other additives.

Advantageously, the second flower pot contains soil and at least one plant. Plants which are particularly suitable to attract toxic substances and particulate matter are mosses of the Racomitrium type.

According to an aspect of this invention, the air purifier flowerpot includes, a design shape flowerpot with a circular hole on its front and a inner flowerpot with holes that has to be inserted into the main flower pot. The control unit has several sensors that detect the air quality and it is covered by metallic grid; this unit has to be inserted in the circular hole of the flowerpot.

The control unit may include: a fan, microcontroller, a Wi-Fi module, an indoor quality sensor, temperature and humidity sensors, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide sensors and a PM 2.5 sensor.

In operation, the fan aspires the air from the outside making it go through the roots of the plant and throwing it out of the control unit. Thus, the aspired air from the top side of the flower pot goes through the roots and it is processed by the microorganisms that live and get generated in the roots of the plant. This filtered air then passes through the holes of the inner flowerpot and exits the system by the control unit. In operation, the fan may also aspire air from the control unit, make it go through the roots of the plant and release the air from the top side of the system. Thus, the aspired air from the control unit passes through the holes of the inner flower pot and gets into the roots of the plant where it is processed by the microorganisms that live and are generated in the roots of the plant. This filtered air then exits from the top of the plant.

In operation, whether the air is aspired from the top of the flower pot or from the control unit, the filtration is also operated by the soil itself.

In operation, once the control unit is connected to electricity, the systems starts working and preferably all the sensors are activated. In operation, as the sensors are activated, the system recognizes three main values: indoor air quality, temperature and humidity.

In operation, thanks to the data received from the three sensors and proprietary algorithms, the system, advantageously, is aware of how much air has gone through the system and has to be processed by the plant. This is fundamental to give the right levels of pollutants that the plant and the whole system have the ability to process.

In operation, the control unit connects, for example, to a normal smartphone via Wi-Fi. Thanks to a smartphone it is possible to manage all the functionalities of the system.

In operation, once the system is connected, it is possible to manage it with the proprietary mobile software application (mobile app), in which all the values of the system are displayed. These values may include: indoor air quality, humidity and temperature. Moreover, the switching on and off of the fan can be managed.

The method may also include further sensors to determine pollution levels, plant diagnostics that will help in the determination of the levels of air that have to go through the system and that enhance the purifying properties of the plants.

Embodiments of the present invention not only use the natural properties of the plants and the soil to filter toxic agents from the air, but with the control unit and its sensors, the system can actively understand the pollution and humidity/temperature levels in order to calibrate precisely the amount of air and pollutants that have to be processed by the plant and the system. Another aspect of the invention concerns the fact, that the air purifier can be independent from a furniture, thus can be a device that is not integrated into a furniture but intended as a an autonomous air purifier.

Embodiments of the present invention and further objects and advantages are described below with reference to the drawings. Embodiments of the invention are the object of the dependent claims. The description of preferred embodiments of the furniture with air purifier according to the invention is given by way of non-limiting example only.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a first embodiment of an air purifier suitable for the furniture according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates in a sectional view the air purifier according to FIG. 1 in the mounted state with a plant and soil included;

FIG. 3 is a more detailed view of other embodiments of the inner flowerpot of the air purifier according to figures 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 illustrates the control unit of the air purifier of figures 1 and 2 and its components.

FIG. 5 is an exploded view of a second embodiment of an air purifier suitable for the furniture according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an exploded view of the control unit of the air purifier illustrated in FIG. 5; FIG. 7 illustrates the embodiment of FIG. 5 in a sectional view with a plant inside;

FIG.8 shows in two perspective views, as a first furniture embodiment, a table with an air purifier unit inserted, and

FIG. 9 shows in two perspective views, as a second furniture embodiment, a sideboard with an air purifier unit inserted. DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view that illustrates an embodiment of the air purifier 2 suitable for the furniture according to the present invention. The air purifier 2 contains: an outer flowerpot 4, an inner perforated flowerpot 6 with a plurality of holes 7 a collecting pan 8 to contain excess water, a gasket 10, a tech or control unit 12, a metal plate 14 and a metal grid 16 and a pair of screws 18.

The inner flowerpot 6 has to be inserted in the outer flowerpot 4, these two pieces are sealed by the gasket 10, positioned at the intersection of the two pieces, or more in detail positioned on an annular protrusion 4a realized along the whole perimeter of the upper edge of the opening 4b receiving the inner flower pot 6, which abuts with its upper projecting edge 6a on the gasket 10.

The control unit 12 is inserted in a side hole 4c of the outer flowerpot 4 and it is blocked by two screws 18 inside by the metallic plate 14 on the inner side and by the metallic grid 16 on the outside. The metallic grid 16 has both an aesthetical and a protection purpose.

With reference to FIG. 2, the above embodiment of the air purifier is shown in a sectional view as including in part, a plant 20, its roots 22, soil 24 and the control unit 12. Arrows 26, 28, 30 show the flow of the air going through the system. The control unit 12 aspires the air from the superior part of the plant 20, the flow is represented by arrows 26.

The aspired air flow, from the superior part goes through the roots 22 and the soil 24 of the system, the flow is represented by arrows 28.

After the air has gone through the roots 22 and the soil 24 it is now filtered. The combination between the soil and the microorganisms that live in the roots of the plant actively filter the toxic agents in the air. Filtered air is now pulled out from the inner flowerpot 6 thanks to its holes 7. The flow concludes its path by going through the control unit 12 (arrows 30), the outgoing air has been filtered by the system. An inverted flow direction is possible, too.

FIG. 3 shows several side views of possible configurations of the inner flower pot 106, 206 and 208. Version 106 shows two rows of holes 107, version 206 shows three rows of holes 207 and version 306 four rows of holes 308. The holes in all configurations extend through the whole lateral surface of the flower pot. These holes are functional to make the air go through all the system and not be blocked in the inner flowerpot; with the number of holes the performance of the system changes. The exemplary insertion of configuration 206 into the outer flower pot 4 is shown as a repetition of fig. 2 to show a completed air purifying system. FIG. 4 illustrates the control unit 12 and its components. The most important part of the control unit is the fan 32, the fan is responsible of creating the air flow through the system. Another very important part for this invention is the micro-controller 34, which is responsible for the communication and functioning for determining and communicating different parameters. The sensing unit of this invention is composed by: an indoor air quality (AIQ) sensor 36, a temperature sensor 38 and a humidity sensor 40. The AIQ sensor may be a VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) sensor.

This control or tech unit, once connected to electricity starts working autonomously. The AIQ sensor 36 combined with the temperature sensor 38 and the humidity sensor 40 communicates with the microcontroller 34 in which algorithms are coded. Different values from these sensors give different combinations of functionalities of the system. The main and most important output is the speed and the activation of the fan 32. This is fundamental because it directly influences the intensity of the flow of air that goes through the system.

The communication is possible thanks to a Wi-Fi module 42, this module is able to connect to many smart devices, including smart phones, computers, and many other.

The main device that will be able to read the data communicated by the control unit 12 will be a normal smartphone, able to read Wi-Fi signals. Data will be displayed on a regular app; users will be able to view the data and manage the basic functionalities of the system: functioning of the fan 32, connections and more. A ring-shaped gasket 44 helps to seal the control unit 12 in the side hole 4c of the inner flower pot 4. Together with the gasket 10 a controlled flow of air through control unit 12 and soil 24 and roots 22 without losses is guaranteed.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment suitable for the furniture according to the present invention in an exploded view. The air purifier 402 has an outer flower pot 404 and an inner flower pot 406 with holes 407, a gasket 410 which provides a sealed insertion of the inner flower pot 406 into the upper opening 404b of the outer flower pot 404. A control unit 412 (essentially corresponding to the control unit described with reference to fig. 4) is inserted in the side opening 404c of the outer flower pot 404 and fixed by means of a metal plate 414. The control unit 412 is protected by a metal grid 416. An electric power supply is indicated by reference numeral 415. The main difference - apart from slight constructive changes - with respect to the embodiment represented in fig. 1 is the dividing plate 401 which is placed on a respective support (not represented) inside the inner flower pot 406. The dividing plate 401 is provided with two pairs of holes 403 which receive the ends of two strings 405. The dividing plate 401 subdivides the inner flower pot 406 into two chambers (not represented), the lower one serves as a water tank and the upper one serves to contain a matrix suitable for plant growth. The strings 405 will be wetted by water in the tank and water rises them to transport water into the matrix. Alternatively, the strings may be substituted by thin tubes, one end of which dips into water in the lower chamber, the other end of which ends in the matrix. The dividing plate 401 further has a feeding tube 431 that permits to fill the lower chamber with water from the upper side of the air purifier 402. The feeding tube 431 can be closed by a lid 409 which is composed of an upper lid plate 411, a magnet 413 (to activate the Reed contact) and a lower plate 417 to contain the magnet 413. The three parts are assembled together to form the lid 409. The feeding tube 431 may contain a float indicator 419 which indicates the water level in the tank.

FIG. 6 is an exploded view of the control unit of the air purifier illustrated in FIG. 5 : a gasket 444 serves to seal the unit 412 inside the side hole of the inner flower pot (not represented). The gasket 444 receives a container 421 suitable to house a printed circuit board 423 including several sensors (not represented), for example an air quality sensor, a temperature sensor and a humidity sensor, a Wi-Fi module (not represented), a microcontroller (not represented), a Reed contact (not represented) to interact with the magnet in the lid (as illustrated with reference to fig. 5) and/or a LED (light emitting diode, not represented) which can give information about the status of the air purifier (on/off, for example). The container 421 further houses a fan 432 and is closed for protection purposes (protection of the electronic parts and protection of the user from the fan blades) by a grid 416.

FIG. 7 illustrates the embodiment of FIG. 5 in a sectional view with a plant 420 inside. The inner flower pot 406 is housed inside the outer flower pot 404 sealed by the gasket 410. The dividing plate 401 subdivides the inner flower pot 406 into an upper chamber filled with soil 424 and a lower chamber 425 (water tank) filled with water (hachured) through the feeding tube 431 which contains the float indicator 419 and is closed by a lid 409. A string 405 transports water from the water tank 425 to the soil 424. The dotted arrow 427 shows a possible flow of air entering from the upper side of the air purifier 402, passing soil 424 and roots (not represented), leaving the inner flower pot 406 through the holes 407, traversing the space between outer and inner flower pots 404, 406 and finally exiting the system through the control unit 412. A reverse flow in the opposite direction is also conceivable.

The above illustrated air purifiers, or variants of them, can be inserted in various types of furniture which present an opening or a recess to contain the air purifier. In some cases, where the air purifier has no direct contact with the ambient but is situated inside the closed furniture, it will be necessary to foresee a perforated wall, a grid or similar to permit air flow from and to the control unit of the air purifier.

FIG.8 shows in two perspective views, as a first furniture embodiment, a table 500 with an air purifier unit 502 inserted in an opening in the table. The air purifier unit 502 contains a plant 520. Since the air purifier unit 502 is in direct contact with the environment, it is not necessary to foresee a grid or similar in the table to let pass the air from the control unit (not represented) situated in the wall of the air purifier unit 502 into the room where the table 500 is located.

FIG. 9 shows in two perspective views, as a second furniture embodiment, a sideboard 600 with an air purifier unit 602 inserted in an opening. The air purifier unit 602 contains a plant 620. Since the air purifier unit is built in the furniture 600, the sideboard is provided with two grids 650 and 660 on two sides of the furniture. The dimension, shape, number and position of the grid obviously can vary and follow also aesthetic aspects.

This invention has been presented and described in connection with the embodiments, it will be clear to those who are familiar and skilled in these matters, that modifications and variation that may occur will not affect the spirit and the purpose of this invention as it has been defined by the appended claims.