Background Art Conventional humidifiers for indoor cultivation may be classified into two types; a stationary type that is fixedly positioned on one side of the interior of a cultivating house, and a duct type that is disposed in an air circulation duct so as to overcome the shortcoming of the stationary type.

The stationary type humidifier is installed at the center of or on one side of the interior of a cultivating house independently from an air circulation apparatus. The stationary type humidifier has a shortcoming in that the humidity of air around the humidifier is different from the humidity of air remote from the humidifier, thereby preventing crops from being uniformly grown.

The duct type humidifier is installed in an air circulation duct to overcome the shortcoming of the stationary type humidifier, and uniformly humidifies the interior of a cultivating house. However, the structure of such type humidifier is complicated, so high maintenance costs are incurred.

In addition, both the stationary and duct type humidifiers are problematic in that their inspection and repair are inconvenient to perform owing to the separation of components, and disassembly and assembly are required for the change of its installation location.

Disclosure of the Invention

Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a humidifier for indoor cultivation, which has an integrated structure to allow the inspection and repair of the humidifier to be conveniently performed and to make the movement of the humidifier easy.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a humidifier, comprising: a casing provided at its one side with an outlet for discharging water and at its other side with an inlet for sucking air; a water tank mounted under the casing for storing water for humidification ; a rotor situated between the inlet and outlet of the casing, connected at its one side to an electric motor for generating driving force and at its other side to a water conduit connected to the water tank for allowing water into its interior, and provided with a plurality of water discharge holes radially and outwardly extended; a stator formed to enclose the rotor, provided with a plurality of slits, and secured to one side of a housing enclosing the motor; and a blower mounted near the inlet of the casing to discharge water, spouted from the slits of the stator, through the outlet. of the casing.

Brief Description of the Drawings The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a partially sectional view showing a humidifier for indoor cultivation in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 is a partially sectional view showing the rotor of the humidifier of the present invention; Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the stator of the humidifier of the present invention; and Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the rotor of the humidifier of the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrving Out the Invention A preferred embodiment of the present invention is described in detail with reference to accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a partially sectional view showing a humidifier for indoor cultivation in accordance with the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a partially sectional view showing the rotor of the humidifier of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the stator of the humidifier of the present invention, and Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the rotor of the humidifier of the present invention.

The humidifier for indoor cultivation of the present invention comprises a casing 2 provided with air passages for sucking and discharging air, a water tank 6 formed on a portion of the exterior surface of the casing 1 to store water for humidification, a pump 7 for pumping water contained in the water tank 6 through a water conduit 8, a rotor 20 connected at its one side to the water conduit 8 to receive water and at its other side to an electric motor through a shaft to circumferentially discharge water for humidification by centrifugal force, a stator 40 for atomizing water particles discharged through the rotor, and a blower 5 for sending atomized water particles toward outlets 4.

A plurality of inlets 3 are formed on one side of the casing 2 to suck exterior air, and a plurality of outlets 4 are formed on the other side of the casing 2 to discharge sucked, humidified air for humidification. The blower 5 is positioned in the casing 2 near the inlets 3 to produce a current of humidified air.

The pump 7 is mounted to one side of the interior of the water tank 6 that stores water for humidification. The pump 7 is powered to pump water for humidification through the water conduit 8.

A cavity of a predetermined size is formed on the central portion of the rotor 20 to receive water for humidification, and a plurality of sets of water discharge holes 21 are radially and outwardly extended from the central cavity with the water discharge holes 21 of each set circumferentially and regularly spaced apart from one another.

In this case, for ease of fabrication, the rotor 20 is fabricated by stacking a plurality of disks 24 each having a set of water discharge holes 21. A plurality of bolt holes 20a are formed through the disks 24 to assemble the disks 24 together using bolts and nuts.

A water introducing member 22 and a blocking member 23 are mounted on both sides of the central cavity of the rotor 20, respectively. The water introducing member 22 is connected to the water conduit 8 to supply water into the central portion of the rotor 20.

The blocking member 23 blocks up one side of the central cavity of the rotor 20, and is connected to the rotating shaft 11 of the electric motor 10 to allow the rotor 20 to be rotated.

The water introducing member 22 and the blocking member 23 are each provided with a flange (not shown) having a plurality of bolt holes (not shown).

A plurality of bolts are inserted and tightened into these bolt holes that are aligned with the bolt boles of the rotor 20, respectively.

The electric motor 10 connected to the blocking member 23 to rotate the rotor 20 is mounted in a sealed housing 9. The sealed housing 9 is disposed along the longitudinal axis of the casing 2, and is held in the casing 2 by a support ring 12.

The stator 30 is shaped to enclose the rotor 20, and is provided on its circumferential surface with a plurality of slits 31 that are circumferentially spaced apart from one another. A plurality of plate portions 32 having filled the slits 31 are vertically bent and constitute collision plates 32.

A plurality of screw holes 33 are each formed on one end portion of the stator 30 to coincide with each of screw holes (not shown) formed on one end portion of the housing 9. The stator 30 and the housing 9 are attached to each other by screws.

The rotor 20 and the stator 30 are situated between the inlets 3 and outlets 4 to atomize the water for humidification through a plurality of stages, and atomize water particles are mixed with air sucked by the blower 5 situated near the inlets 3 and discharged through the outlets 4.

An air guide member 40 is provided to guide air blown by the blower 5 along the exterior surfaces of the rotor 20 and stator 30. The air guide member 40 has a truncated cone shape, and is secured at its one end to one side of the rotor 20 by bolts or a welding process and at its other end to one end portion of the water introducing member 22 by a welding process or the like.

The operation of the humidifier for indoor cultivation of the present invention constructed as described above is described, hereinafter.

When the pump 7 and electric motor 10 of the humidifier 1 is switched on, the pump 7 forcibly sends the water contained in the water tank 6 through the water conduit 8 to the water introducing member 22, and the electric motor 10 rotates the rotor 20 connected to the motor 10 through a shaft.

In this case, the rotor 20 generates centrifugal force while being rotated around the rotating axis 11 of the electrical motor 10. Water for humidification supplied to the central cavity of the rotor 20 through the water introducing member 22 is discharged by the centrifugal force from the rotor 20 through the water discharge holes 21 that cause relatively large flow resistance, thus atomizing the water.

In particular, each of the water discharge holes 22 is preferably formed in the rotor 20 to have a square sectional shape. The reason for this is that the square sectional shape of each water discharge hole 22 causes water for humidification to be widely distributed on the square sectional wall of the discharge hole 22, thereby promoting the atomization of the water for humidification.

Subsequently, water particles discharged from the water discharge holes 22 of the rotor 20 come into collision with the inner surface of the stator 30, and are scattered and atomized by the collision. The water particles are further atomized while passing through the slits 31. Additionally, the water particles come into collision with the collision plates 32 vertically bent beside the slits 31, thus forming more minute particles.

The atomized water particles discharged from the rotor 30 are mixed with sucked air by the blowing operation of the blower 5 mounted beside the inlet 3,

and discharged to the interior of a cultivating house through the outlets 4, resulting in the accomplishment of humidification of the cultivating house.

Industrial Applicability As described above, the present invention provides a humidifier for indoor cultivation, which is operated in such a way that a rotor receiving water from a water tank and being connected to an electric motor discharges water through its water discharge holes by centrifugal force and somewhat atomizes the water, the inner surface of a stator enclosing the rotor further scatters and atomizes the water by collision with the water discharged from the rotor, and the slits of the stator further atomizes the water while the water passes through the slits, thereby improving the humidifying effect of the humidifier.

In addition, the inspection and repair of the humidifier for indoor cultivation are easily performed owing to the simplicity of the structure of the humidifier, and the movement of the humidifier for indoor cultivation is easily carried out owing to the integration of the humidifier.