Alkaline humidifier
An alkaline humidifier for humidifying the environment with alkaline water ions, wherein water contained in a water tank and allowed to drain into the electrolysis unit where water is ionized into, negative alkaline water and positive acidic water and stored in respective reservoirs whereby the acidic water stored in the acidic reservoir is emptied at a later time and the alkaline water stored in the alkaline reservoir is allowed to drain into an evaporation cavity where it is vaporized by a heating element whereby humidifying the surrounding environment.
The present invention relates to humidifiers, particularly alkaline humidifier. The invention relates to a humidifier producing ionized water through electrolysis of water, producing hydroxyl ion OH− enriched alkaline water and producing hydrogen ion H+ enriched acidic water, wherein the alkaline water is vaporized with a negative charge to humidify the air and the acidic water is stored and later drained from humidifier.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONA wide variety of methods have been utilized for conditioning the air by increasing the air humidity. Maintaining a proper humidity level in a home is important during periods of dry weather, winter and the summer so that the relative humidity within the home is comfortable.
Humidifiers vaporizes water and expel the vapor into the surrounding environment whereby increasing the moisture in the air. There are several types of humidifiers and they come in different shapes and sizes. There are small portable units to humidify small rooms and large console units to humidify entire homes and buildings. Humidifiers are well known in the art and they include ultrasonic, steam, warm air and evaporation type humidifiers. These types of humidifiers typically include a housing with an inlet and outlet, a tank for holding water and a fan to create airflow. The tank is usually removable and holds the water, which can be refilled. Water is usually transferred form the tank to base reservoirs through a value assembly located at the bottom of tank. When the tank is placed on the humidifier unit the valve opens and allows water to flow into the reservoir. As water flows from tank to the reservoir, air simultaneously is drawn into tank through the valve by a vacuum created from the exiting water. When the water level in the reservoir rises to such a degree that the valve opening becomes covered with water, a hydrostatic balance is reached and the flow of water ceases. As water is vaporized, the reservoir level drops disturbing the balance and resulting in the continued flow of water from the tank. This controlled flow cycle ensures that the humidification device will have a supply of water with which to vaporize, as well as, limiting the amount of water such that no water spills over the edge of the base reservoir. There are many different concepts in humidifiers from utilization of ultraviolet light, having different types of filtration to having aesthetic appearance of the vapor mist. The invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,073,781 B2 to Mulvanancy et al. utilizes ultraviolet radiation to sterilize the water from microorganism. The invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,066,452 B2 to Rotering et al. has a reverse osmosis filter to trap small particles. The invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,473 et al. has a heated cartridge for delivering humidified respiratory gases to patients.
Humidifiers primary goal is to provide moisture to the environment, but there is not a humidifier, which provides humidity to the air by alkaline water vapor ions. This not only increases humidity in the air but also aids in the health benefits associated with alkaline water. The air with negatively charged alkaline water molecule has beneficial effects in removing particulate contaminants such as smoking particles or pollens from the air by transferring charges to such particles. The charged particles are electrically attracted to nearby surfaces that are electrically neutral or oppositely charged and are then deposited against surfaces, therefore purifying the air, similar to air ionizers, whereas alkaline humidifier also adds humidity to the air. Additionally, air with a high content of negative ions, alkaline vapor, is believed to have beneficial physiological effects on persons who breaths the air. This happens by increasing absorption and therefore hydrating and moistening the skin due to the microionization of the water molecule. Acidic water which are positively charged ions have a multitude of health hazards due to the acidification of air. Free radicals damage the mucous membrane in the lung, as well as skin, therefore it is not beneficial to vaporize. Thus it is desirable to provide a humidifier with an electrolysis unit, which transforms regular water to ionized water, which is then separated into alkaline and acidic water, wherein the negatively charged alkaline water is vaporized.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention is an alkaline humidifier, which through electrolysis, disperses alkaline water ions, which are negatively charged, into the air to increase the healthy alkaline humidity in the air. Water treated by electrolysis to increase its reduction potential is the best solution to the problem of providing a safe source of free electron to block the oxidation of normal tissues by free oxygen radicals. The alkaline water ions (OF) can donate its free election to the oxygen radical, whereby reducing damage to normal cell from oxidation process. Lung tissue and skin are directly exposed to this damage and this damage can be reduced by the antioxidant nature of the alkaline water ion vapors. Through electrolysis, reduced or alkaline water not only gains an excess amount of electrons but the cluster of water (H2O) seem to reduce in size from about 10 to 13 molecule per cluster to about 5 to 6 molecule per cluster increasing absorption. Therefore this microionization of the water hydrates and moistens the skin and reduces wrinkles in skin whereby having anti-ageing effects. This reduced cluster size also reduces the boiling point of ionized water for faster vaporization. Ordinary tap water is placed in a water tank through an opening located at the top of the water tank and a tank bottom opening allows water to flow from the water tank into an electrolysis unit through gravitation force where tap water is broken down into smaller clusters and then separated into alkaline and acidic concentrations, which are then drained into separate holding reservoirs. The reservoir containing the alkaline water is vaporized and the reservoir containing the acidic water is held in the reservoir and removed when full. The acidic water can be used as a sterilizing agent, ideal for the following; cleaning food, kitchen utensils, treating minor wounds, athletes foot, minor burns, insect bites, scratches and much more.
The electrolysis unit through electrolysis process produces alkaline and acidic water. The electrolysis unit is equipped with a platinum-coated titanium electrode where electrolysis takes place. As a direct electric potential is applied between the electrode, the hydroxyl ions OH− being present in water due to electrolytic dissociation of water molecule will donate electrons to the anode at the anode-water interface and are thereby oxidized to form oxygen gas which is then removed away from the system. As a result, the H+ concentration is enhanced at the anode-water interface so that H+ enriched acidic water is resulted at the anode-water interface. At the cathode-water interface, on the other hand, H+ accepts electron from the cathode and is reduced to hydrogen to from hydrogen gas, which is similarly eliminated from the system. As a result, the OH− concentration is increased whereby OH− enriched alkaline water is generated at the cathode side. After electrolysis, alkaline water comes out of the cathodic side and acidic water comes out of the anodic side and deposited into its respective reservoirs. The alkaline reservoir holding the alkaline water solution will be vaporized. The alkaline reservoir sits in a base defining a water supply cavity and supported on the base is a valve actuating stem which interacts with a valve assembly located at bottom of the alkaline reservoir whereby having a discharge opening in communication with the water supply cavity and adapted to maintain a given level of liquid in water supply cavity; and an electrically energized heater projecting into the water supply cavity to induce evaporation of the alkaline water and a vapor chamber where the alkaline water vapor ions are blown out through an exhaust grill opening by a fan to the surrounding environment. The acidic reservoir holding the acidic water solution can be a removable reservoir from the humidifier or removed through a drainage pipe and used for cleaning and treating minor wounds. Another embodiment of the alkaline humidifier is to add a facial hose attached to the exhaust grill whereby allowing direct vapor application to the face. The microionization of the alkaline water molecule increases the absorption therefore reduces wrinkles on the skin.
Therefore, in accordance with the present invention the alkaline humidifier through an electrolysis process ionizes tap water and vaporizes the negative alkaline water to humidify the surrounding environment. The alkaline humidifier has many beneficial effects such as reducing oxidation therefore biological molecules, in particular the lung and skin, are less susceptible to infection and disease. Ionized alkaline water gives up an extra electron and reduces the free radical oxygen, rendering it harmless. Ionized alkaline water is more readily absorbed by the body than untreated tap water. Ionized alkaline water quickly permeates the body and blocks the oxidation of biological molecules by donating its abundant electrons to active oxygen, enabling biological molecules to replace themselves naturally without damage caused by oxidation that can cause diseases. Also ionized alkaline water also has a lower boiling point therefore ionized water is vaporized faster then untreated tap water. These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and the specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustrations only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art.
The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawings, which are given by way of illustration only and are not limitative of the present invention, wherein:
Referring now to the drawings wherein the depictions are for purposes of illustrating a preferred embodiment of the present invention only and not for the purpose of limiting the same.
A portion of the heating element 48, held by a heating element holder 46, extends into an evaporation cavity 42 and evaporates the alkaline water and then the ionized alkaline vapor flows upwards into a vapor chamber 50, where the ionized alkaline vapor is expelled out of the vapor chamber 50 by a fan 54 through an exhaust grill 52 which provides vapor communication between the evaporation cavity 42 and the surrounding environment.
Claims
1) A humidifier comprising:
- a) a water tank;
- b) an electrolysis unit through electrolysis means ionizes water into alkaline water and acidic water;
- c) an alkaline reservoir;
- d) a humidification means to increase humidity into the surrounding environment;
2) The humidifier of claim 1, further comprising an acidic reservoir;
3) The humidifier of claim 2, wherein said acidic reservoir containing acidic water is removed by removable means;
4) The humidifier of claim 3, wherein said removable means is an acidic pipe;
5) The humidifier of claim 4, wherein said alkaline reservoir through an alkaline water supply means has a valve assembly to supply alkaline water for evaporation;
6) The humidifier of claim 5, wherein said humidification means includes a heating element whereby evaporating the alkaline water to have vapor communication between an evaporation cavity and the surrounding environment;
7) The humidifier of claim 6, wherein said water tank through regulation means supplies water into said electrolysis unit by a tank opening regulator;
8) The humidifier of claim 7, further comprising an ultra-violet light in the germicidal range;
9) The humidifier of claim 8, wherein said alkaline reservoir containing alkaline water is removed by removable means through an alkaline pipe;
10) The humidifier of claim 9, further comprising an water tank cap filter which removes any impurities out of water and stored in said water tank and a face hose and a hydration mask for direct hydration of skin.
11) A humidifier comprising:
- a) an electrolysis unit through electrolysis means ionizes water into alkaline water and acidic water;
- b) an alkaline reservoir;
- c) a humidification means to increase humidity into the surrounding environment;
12) The humidifier of claim 11, further comprising a water tank;
13) The humidifier of claim 12, further comprising an acidic reservoir where through removable means acidic water is removed through a acidic pipe
14) The humidifier of claim 13, wherein said alkaline reservoir through an alkaline water supply means has a valve assembly to supply alkaline water for evaporation by said humidification means which includes a heating element whereby evaporating the alkaline water to have vapor communication between an evaporation cavity and the surrounding environment;
15) The humidifier of claim 14, wherein said water tank through regulation means supplies water into said electrolysis unit by a tank opening regulator;
16) The humidifier of claim 15, further comprising an ultra-violet light in the germicidal range and an water tank cap filter which removes any impurities out of water, a face hose and a hydration mask for direct hydration of skin;
17) The humidifier of claim 16, wherein said alkaline reservoir containing alkaline water is removed by removable means through an alkaline pipe.
18) A humidifier comprising a water tank which through regulation means supplies water into an electrolysis unit by a tank opening regulator wherein said electrolysis unit through electrolysis means ionizes water into alkaline water and acidic water wherein the acidic water is stored in an acidic reservoir where through removable means acidic water is removed through an acidic pipe; and the alkaline water is stored in an alkaline reservoir and through an alkaline water supply means having a valve assembly to supply alkaline water for evaporation by a humidification means which includes a heating element for evaporating the alkaline water to have vapor communication between an evaporation cavity and a vapor chamber whereby a fan expel the alkaline vapor into the surrounding environment;
19) The humidifier of claim 18, further comprising an ultra-violet light in the germicidal range located adjacent to said alkaline reservoir and an water tank cap filter threaded onto said water tank which removes any impurities out of water and stored in said water tank and a face hose and a hydration mask for direct hydration of skin;
20) The humidifier of claim 19, wherein said alkaline reservoir containing alkaline water is removed by removable means through an alkaline pipe.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 6, 2009
Publication Date: Aug 12, 2010
Inventors: Devaraj Thiruppathi (Columbus, GA), Prakash Thiruppathi (Columbus, GA)
Application Number: 12/322,748
International Classification: C25B 9/00 (20060101);