Research around the world has shown that air enrichment with negative ions helps to breathe better, decreases muscular and articulatory pain, and transmits a sense of well-being, especially to people with pulmonary and allergic diseases to pollen. In contrast, the concentrations of positive ions in the air make us feel tired, fatigue, dizziness, and causes us difficulties when breathing. How to avoid the latter? With an air purifier capable of significantly reducing the dust particles suspended in the ambient air.
Definitions
As taught in school, the atom is composed of a positively charged nucleus formed by protons and neutrons, surrounded by a negatively charged electron orbit. On the other hand, an ion is a particle that is created when an atom or a group of atoms gains or loses one or more electrons. An atom that loses an electron forms a positively charged ion, while an atom that gains an electron forms a negative charge ion.
An excessive dose of positive ions is harmful to health, while an excessive amount of negative ions is healthy. Some factors drastically alter the proportion of ions of one or the other sign. The excess of positive ions is usually given in cities because air pollution destroys negative ions. The comfort elements also generate positive ions: air conditioning, central heating, computers, etc.
Negative ion generator
An ionizer generates negative ions to counteract the destructive action of positive ions. In this way, the positive and negative ions interlock, the particles become heavier and fall to the ground, where they can be collected. This way, we avoid directly sucking up those particles that can be harmful.
On the other hand, Ionizers should not be confused with Ozonizers. Many believe that they cause the same result in the air or that it is the same type of equipment. This is a conceptual error. The Ion and the Ozone are two very different elements from each other. The Ion, as it was said before, does not stop being an atom, whereas the Ozone is a molecule, that is to say, a set of three oxygen atoms. The Ozone (O3) and dioxygen (O2) are two simple substances, each with different properties. The chemical element that forms these two simple substances is the oxygen atom(OR). When oxygen from the air is subjected to a high-energy pulse, the O = O double bond of oxygen breaks down and delivers two oxygen atoms that are then recombined. These recombined molecules contain three oxygen atoms instead of two, which gives rise to Ozone. This O3 gas produces the elimination of bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, and odors present in the air, and its use at the domestic level must be very controlled since an excess in its concentration can be harmful to health. Although ionization is the energy that favors the generation of ozone, our equipment will not have enough power to generate high amounts of the gas above, so its construction and use are safe.
How to Make an Air Ionizer
Two models will appear, one full-wave rectified and the other a half-wave rectified negative ion ionizer. It has an optional fan in the full-wave model.
The benefits of negative ions include supposedly.
• freshening and purifying the air
• helping to lift the mood
• relieves depression including depression (SAD) of winter
• eliminate most small particles suspended in the air (indoors)
CAUTION
- High voltages present in both devices is high enough to induce a bad case of temporary Tourette’s. That is to say that crisp/vulgar words.
- Be aware of the risks when working with Carbon Fiber Loose Strands if you use this option for a high voltage network instead of pins.
Step 1: Components and design
Necessary tools :
- Soldering iron and solder
- screwdrivers, planes, and star
- Cordless drill.
- Melt hot glue gun.
Optional tool:
- wire container.
The full-wave rectified version has better performance but is a bit noisier if you use the optional fan. The fan is a brushless 60 x 60 mm 12 CPU fan that I am driving at
5V to reduce noise and current consumption.
The half-wave version uses fewer components and less current; the smaller size is also more complicated to build.
In both versions, the negative band on the diode should point towards the input voltage.
If you follow the green arrows in the component diagrams, you will first find the negative side of the first diode, indicated by the white band.
Step 2: Complete wave ionizer materials and component design
Materials needed for the full-wave version :
- ohm resistors 2 x 10meg. (current limit for safety)
- 40 x 1N4007 diode.
- 30 x suppression of condenser 100nF 275V class x2.
- One length 350mm ega trunking tube.
- Two mega tube end ferrules for the link.
- 4 x self-taps for tapas.
- Low amperage connection wire, ATX power type cable is OK.
- 1Metre 3 base 220v CA driver.
- Standard bolts (or fiber) for high voltage networks.
Optional components
- 60 x 60 mm 12V DC fan, old CPU fan works fine.
- Finger protector up the fan.
- Old mobile phone charger + -5V dc for fan power.
- A small switch for the fan is necessary for silent operation.
Step 3: Half-wave ionizer materials and component design
Materials required for the half-wave version:
- Approx. 50mm 330mm long PVC tube.
- 2 x 50mm PVC stops.
- 2 x 50mm tube couplings, necessary for mounting the stops.
- Two collectors of a small car, for the assembly of the removable stops.
- 220v power 1Metre dual-core, 5 amp is fine.
- Ohm resistors 2 x 10meg. (current limit for safety)
- 30 x 1N4007 diode.
- 30 x suppression of condenser 100nF 275V class x2.
- Standard bolts (or carbon fiber) for the high voltage network.
Step 4: Carbon fiber vs. high voltage network plugs
The two components of an air ionizer are high voltage and sharp points in the high voltage network.
I prefer due to the thousands of tiny points that the negative ions escape, versus only one as compared to carbon fiber (CF) bolt.
However, my method to get told that CF may seem a bit seedy to some people. What I did was use a broken tube of CF from one of my RC planes (crashed :() and broke three small 2 x 20 mm long splinters. Briefly set the ends on fire and then blew the flame out, then ignited the tips cleaning ash loose/fibers.
Try not to breathe these loose fibers, or the result can be a persistent cough.
The cleaned parts were wrapped with thin copper wire and act as a flexible cable for electrical connections of welds and, after shrink-wrapped. Keep the work tips about 3mm long to avoid burning out and shorting out on something.
Initially,y I sharpened standard bolt dressers that worked well in the full-wave version. However, I could still consider them an upgrade to CF tips for the full-wave ionizer.
Step 5: Speed wiring tip
After completing the full-wave ionizer, I discovered that things go much faster if you can acquire a wire container, see the image below.
Using one leg of the cover takes the post to the other 3.
It is also possible to do without the wrap, and you need to use the same technique, but it’s more uncomfortable and takes more time even though the final product will look more orderly.
Step 6: Full ionizer wave
The rectified full-wave ionizer seems to work a bit better than its half-wave brother; the optional fan also increases performance, although some people seem to think it gets in the way of ion flow, possibly absorbing some to the detriment of better understanding.
The performance increases considerably with the forehand to the ground, which is why the fan is inverted with the guard inward.
Step 7: Complete set of wave components
First, tall, the capacitors were glued end to end, three rows, then the diodes sat on top and soldiers. Observe the correct polarity of the diode with the white neg band pointing towards the AC input side.
The ground wire should be in the middle row of lids, and an outer row lives or neutral.
Once the components are welded, I put drops of glue on the welded edges to reduce the corona discharge that improves the performance of the HV (high voltage).
The array of disks finished high voltage multiplier is then glued to the sidewall of the ega tube, which also helps in component separation to avoid high voltages from jumping through components.
Step 8: The optional fan and its power supply
I have used a 5V charger from Nokia, although any 5V power cell charger will work, 4.5V does not seem, however.
A 60 x 60mm fan fits inside the ega tube tab system, which makes it easier to mount the switch, which splices the dc output cable nearby.
The fan does not work with the inverted power, so they connect to and see how it blows. Next, mount the one that sucks the air from the ionizer, with the finger guard inside, which is grounded to the green ground wire of the alternating current input.
The best to remove any metal in the ion path including the metal sheet label on the fan blades, which could absorb negative ions deficient performance.
Step 9: The high voltage grid pin
Once the cap/diode assembly sticks in place, then the HV plugs can be placed and mounted. I have used piping pieces of hot glued and perforated ega pipe for a small cable clamp. Then the fan / net assembly is spaced (1cm) from the pinpoints, and the trunking is sized.
I also drilled the caps to make them removable; four self extractors are all they need.
Step 10: The half-wave ionizer
Start by gluing all the capacitors, two rows of 15 each. This format provides voltage separation between all the components of high voltage, better performance, safer too.
Next, I insulation on all connections with glue drops. I heard a lot of whistling when the unit was upside down on a Formica counter, so I decided to make all the stripped wires with the hot melt glue.
It’s pretty safe and nothing hot enough to cause the glue to go transparent, not to mention the melting.
Step 11: The cover, grid HV and Neutral network
A bare copper wire was formed and glued on the PVC cover; this will connect to the neutral wire so it must be kept where fingers can not reach.
Once again, PVC chips are used for mounting the high voltage CF tips.
Step 12: Final Assembly
The reason why do not bother with any fuses in the leg at the AC input is that you can get seriously shocked by the high-voltage side of things, and the fuse will not even fly, let alone protect it.
I noticed that the matrix of the cap tends to rotate inside the PVC tube, so that I stuck some sections locate inside stop doing so.
The critical thing to remember is the unloading unit. If you want to work on it again, cut the neutral network towards the high voltage side via the 10Meg resistors avoiding highlighting any of the components.
Do not forget to short – circuit the AC 220V input once it has been removed from the socket; the covers still carry enough charge to awaken something grossly.
My list to do future could include:
- upgrade of the HV pins in the full-wave version to CF tips
- change the neutral cable network in the half-wave version to the appropriate ground grid, which only means that you will need a 3-wire cable for the input instead of the current twin-flex.
The latest image is a view of the CF tip updated matrix after a lot of use, so its something dusty there.
Leave a Reply