Apparatus for removing static electricity from charged articles existing in clean space

Claim 1

An apparatus for removing static electricity from charged articles existing in a clean space comprising an AC ionizer having a plurality of needle-like emitters disposed in a flow of filtered clean air, wherein an AC high voltage is applied to said emitters to effect corona discharge for ionizing air, whereby a flow of thus ionized air is supplied onto said charged articles to neutralize static electricity thereon, said apparatus characterized in that: a discharge end of each of said needle-like emitters is coated with a dielectric ceramic material; each of said emitters is disposed with its discharge end spaced apart by a predetermined distance from a grid-like or loop-like opposite conductor, each emitter and associated opposite conductor forming a discharge pair; a plurality of such discharge pairs are arranged in a two dimensional expanse in a direction transversing a flow direction of said flow filtered clean air; each opposite conductor of said discharge pairs is connected to a DC voltage source; and there is provided a means for adjusting a DC voltage applied to each opposite conductor from said DC voltage source.

Claim 2

An apparatus for removing static electricity from charged articles existing in a clean space comprising an AC ionizer having a plurality of needle-like emitters disposed in a flow of filtered clean air, wherein an AC high voltage is applied to said emitters to effect corona discharge for ionizing air, whereby a flow of thus ionized air is supplied onto said charged articles to neutralize static electricity thereon, said apparatus characterized in that: a discharge end of each of said needle-like emitters is coated with a dielectric ceramic material; each of said emitters is disposed with its discharge end spaced apart by a predetermined distance from a grid-like or loop-like opposite conductor, each emitter and associated opposite conductor forming a discharge pair; a plurality of such discharge pairs are arranged in a two dimensional expanse in a direction transversing a flow direction of said flow filtered clean air; each opposite conductor of said discharge pairs is connected to a DC voltage source; and there is provided a means for adjusting a DC voltage applied to each opposite conductor from said DC voltage source.

Claim 3

An apparatus for removing static electricity from charged articles existing in a clean space comprising an AC ionizer having a plurality of needle-like emitters disposed in a flow of filtered clean air, wherein an AC high voltage is applied to said emitters to effect corona discharge for ionizing air, whereby a flow of thus ionized air is supplied onto said charged articles to neutralize static electricity thereon, said apparatus characterized in that: a discharge end of each of said needle-like emitters is coated with a dielectric ceramic material; each of said emitters is disposed with its discharge end spaced apart by a predetermined distance from a grid-like or loop-like opposite conductor, each emitter and associated opposite conductor forming a discharge pair; a plurality of such discharge pairs are arranged in a two dimensional expanse in a direction transversing a flow direction of said flow of filtered clean air; opposite conductors of said discharge pairs are connected to a common DC voltage source; and there is provided a means for adjusting a DC voltage applied to said opposite conductors from said common DC voltage source, wherein each of said discharge pairs ionizes air to provide substantially balanced positive and negative ion densities.

Claim 4

An apparatus for removing static electricity from charged articles existing in a clean space comprising an AC ionizer having a plurality of needle-like emitters disposed in a flow of filtered clean air, wherein an AC high voltage is applied to said emitters to effect corona discharge for ionizing air, whereby a flow of thus ionized air is supplied onto said charged articles to neutralize static electricity thereon, said apparatus characterized in that: a discharge end of each of said needle-like emitters is coated with a dielectric ceramic material; each of said emitters is disposed with its discharge end spaced apart by a predetermined distance from a grid-like or loop-like opposite conductor, each emitter and associated opposite conductor forming a discharge pair; a plurality of such discharge pairs are arranged in a two dimensional expanse in a direction transversing a flow direction of said flow of filtered clean air; opposite conductors of said discharge pairs are connected to a common DC voltage source; and there is provided a means for adjusting a DC voltage applied to said opposite conductors from said common DC voltage source, wherein each of said discharge pairs ionizes air to provide substantially balanced positive and negative ion densities.

Claim 5

An apparatus for removing static electricity from charged articles existing in a clean space comprising an AC ionizer having a plurality of needle-like emitters disposed in a flow of filtered clean air, wherein an AC high voltage is applied to said emitters to effect corona discharge for ionizing air, whereby a flow of thus ionized air is supplied onto said charged articles to neutralize static electricity thereon, said apparatus characterized in that: a discharge end of each of said needle-like emitters is coated with a dielectric ceramic material; each of said emitters is disposed with its discharge end spaced apart by a predetermined distance from a grid-like or loop-like opposite conductor, each emitter and associated opposite conductor forming a discharge pair; a plurality of such discharge pairs are arranged in a two dimensional expanse in a direction transversing a flow direction of said flow of filtered clean air; opposite conductors of some of said discharge pairs are connected to a first DC voltage source, and opposite conductors of the other of said discharge pairs are connected to a second DC voltage source; and there is provided a means for independently adjusting a DC voltage output of each of said first and second DC voltage sources, wherein the discharge pairs connected to said first DC voltage source generate ions inclined to one of a positive and negative polarity, and the discharge pairs connected to said second DC voltage source generate ions inclined to the other one of a positive and negative polarity.

Claim 6

An apparatus for removing static electricity from charged articles existing in a clean space comprising an AC ionizer having a plurality of needle-like emitters disposed in a flow of filtered clean air, wherein an AC high voltage is applied to said emitters to effect corona discharge for ionizing air, whereby a flow of thus ionized air is supplied onto said charged articles to neutralize static electricity thereon, said apparatus characterized in that: a discharge end of each of said needle-like emitters is coated with a dielectric ceramic material; each of said emitters is disposed with its discharge end spaced apart by a predetermined distance from a grid-like or loop-like opposite conductor, each emitter and associated opposite conductor forming a discharge pair; a plurality of such discharge pairs are arranged in a two dimensional expanse in a direction transversing a flow direction of said flow of filtered clean air; opposite conductors of some of said discharge pairs are connected to a first DC voltage source, and opposite conductors of the other of said discharge pairs are connected to a second DC voltage source; and there is provided a means for independently adjusting a DC voltage output of each of said first and second DC voltage sources, wherein the discharge pairs connected to said first DC voltage source generate ions inclined to one of a positive and negative polarity, and the discharge pairs connected to said second DC voltage source generate ions inclined to the other one of a positive and negative polarity.

Claim 7

An apparatus for removing static electricity from charged articles existing in a clean space comprising an AC ionizer having a plurality of needle-like emitters disposed in a flow of filtered clean air, wherein an AC high voltage is applied to said emitters to effect corona discharge for ionizing air, whereby a flow of thus ionized air is supplied onto said charged articles to neutralize static electricity thereon, said apparatus characterized in that: a discharge end of each of said needle-like emitters is coated with a dielectric ceramic material; each of said emitters is disposed with is discharge end spaced apart by a predetermined distance from a grid-like or loop-like opposite conductor, each emitter and associated opposite conductor forming a discharge pair; a plurality of such discharge pairs are arranged in a two dimensional expanse in a direction transversing a flow direction of said flow of filtered clean air; each opposite conductor of said discharge pairs is connected to a DC voltage source; there is provided means for adjusting a DC voltage applied to each opposite conductor from said DC voltage source; each emitter of said discharged pairs is connected to a high voltage AC source having added thereto one of a positive and negative bias voltage; and there is provided a means for adjusting an intensity of a voltage output from said AC source and for adjusting an intensity and polarity of said bias voltage.

Claim 8

An apparatus for removing static electricity from charged articles existing in a clean space comprising an AC ionizer having a plurality of needle-like emitters disposed in a flow of filtered clean air, wherein an AC high voltage is applied to said emitters to effect corona discharge for ionizing air, whereby a flow of thus ionized air is supplied onto said charged articles to neutralize static electricity thereon, said apparatus characterized in that: a discharge end of each of said needle-like emitters is coated with a dielectric ceramic material; each of said emitters is disposed with is discharge end spaced apart by a predetermined distance from a grid-like or loop-like opposite conductor, each emitter and associated opposite conductor forming a discharge pair; a plurality of such discharge pairs are arranged in a two dimensional expanse in a direction transversing a flow direction of said flow of filtered clean air; each opposite conductor of said discharge pairs is connected to a DC voltage source; there is provided means for adjusting a DC voltage applied to each opposite conductor from said DC voltage source; each emitter of said discharged pairs is connected to a high voltage AC source having added thereto one of a positive and negative bias voltage; and there is provided a means for adjusting an intensity of a voltage output from said AC source and for adjusting an intensity and polarity of said bias voltage.