When the furnace is on in the winter, humidity levels in the home can drop by 10%. Dry air can lead to sore throats, chafed nasal passages and dry skin, especially for little ones.
"It's common in Colorado to use humidifiers," says Robin Deterding, MD, medical director of our Breathing Institute. "But people should use them cautiously."
People should be especially cautious with ultrasonic or "cool mist" humidifiers. On the market since the late s, these types are popular because they're cheap, quiet and energy efficient. They work by basically pulverizing water into a fine mist with high-frequency vibration. The problem, says Dr. Deterding, is that they turn everything that's in the water into mist, too.
"Bacteria, chemicals, minerals, mold ' they aerosolize all that stuff to the right particulate size that you breathe it right into your lungs, and it can be toxic," says Dr. Deterding. "One of our patients developed chronic lung disease symptoms. We eventually figured out it was the humidifier."
That's because water from the tap, and even bottled water, has minerals in it ' basically rock dust. That's not a problem when it's suspended in water. When it's floating around in the air, it is. The telltale sign for that is the "white dust" that settles around the room.
Minerals aren't the only problem. Any bacteria or mold in the humidifier gets shot right into the air, too ' and Consumer Reports found that humidifier models claiming to be anti-bacterial aren't particularly effective.
And if parents use chemicals to clean the humidifier, those chemicals go right into the lungs, too, sometimes to disastrous effect. In South Korea, dozens of children were sickened or died from breathing a humidifier disinfectant that turned out to be toxic.
Almost needless to say, the popular practice of dropping a little essential oil or vapor rub in these humidifiers is also not good.
"It's a cost-benefit scenario," says Dr. Deterding. "Humidifiers are fine for what they do, but you have to be willing to maintain them, to hold onto that manual and follow all the cleaning instructions and the fine print ' or they're harmful. And I think for most parents, myself included, you can't maintain it like you should, because life just gets in the way."
That's why, for Dr. Deterding's money, she prefers saline nasal drops for dry throats and nasal passages. "They're just as effective, and they're safer," she says.
So there's hope, even for parents who already own an ultrasonic humidifier and are feeling understandably reluctant to throw it out ' as long as they're willing to put in the work. Another option: switch to an evaporative humidifier, which will emit neither minerals nor bacteria, although the filter will need frequent changing.
Whatever you decide to use, clean it often ' without chemicals. The best way to go: every week, fill the tank with enough distilled white vinegar to cover any parts in contact with the water. Let that sit for 20 minutes. Then use a toothbrush to scrub the cracks and corners, rinse it well and let it air dry.
'That,' says Dr. Deterding, 'will do nicely.'
No matter what type of humidifier you have, here's how to use it safely:
The oldest and most basic type of humidifier, these create steam by boiling water.
These run room-temperature water through a wet wick to evaporate it into the air.
These humidifiers turn water into a fine mist via high-frequency vibration.
LAB WET FILM HUMIDIFIER
WET FILM HUMIDIFIER
The wet film humidifier is an air conditioning built-in humidifying device, which is mainly composed of a wet film, a fan motor, a fan blade, a water pump, an electric control, etc. The core component of the humidifying system is an evaporation medium-wet film. The material is made of plant fiber or glass fiber added to special chemical raw materials, and has good water absorption and evaporation.
HUMIDIFICATION MECHANISM
The basic principle of humidification of the wet film humidifier is that the water is sent from the pipeline to the watering system through the upper pump, and the lower part is a highly water-absorptive humidifying material-wet film. The water penetrates down the wet film material under the action of gravity, and the water is absorbed by the wet film material to form a uniform water film; when the dry air passes through the wet film material, the water molecules fully absorb the heat in the air to vaporize and evaporate, so that The humidity of the air increases to form moist air. The increase in humidity of the air causes the temperature to drop, but the enthalpy of the air remains the same. The wet film humidifier is divided into two types: direct drainage humidification and circulating water humidification.
1)The working principle of the wet film direct drainage humidification system: the clean tap water through the solenoid valve is sent to the wet film top water distributor through the water supply pipe, and the water flows down the wet film surface under the action of gravity, thereby the wet film. The surface is wetted and the water flowing into the water tray is drained through the drain elbow into the sewer line, which is not recycled.
2)The working principle of wet film circulating water humidification system: clean tap water (or chilled water) is sent to the circulating water tank of the wet film circulating water through the water inlet pipe, and the water entering the circulating water tank is float valve or liquid level switch. To control. The water pump of the wet film circulating water sends the water in the water tank to the water distributor at the top of the wet film, and the water is evenly distributed through the wet film water distributor, and the water flows down the surface of the wet film under the action of gravity to wet the surface of the wet film. The unvaporized water flowing from the wet film flows into the circulating water tank, and then is sent to the top of the wet film by the circulating water pump, and the process is repeated to achieve the purpose of water saving.
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From the theoretical analysis, it can be known that the low temperature water has a low enthalpy value, and the heat of the air to be absorbed from the liquid state to the gaseous state is also large, and the water is still flowing from the top of the wet film to the bottom without being vaporized. Although it has risen, it has flowed away in vain, causing waste of energy and failing to reach the predetermined amount of humidification. The water temperature of the wet film circulating water humidifier will be higher after working for a period of time. It is much higher than the tap value of tap water in winter, so vaporization is easier and the humidification effect is good. A wet film circulating water humidifier is generally preferred in engineering.
WET FILM MATERIAL
The wet film material is the core of the wet film humidifier, and is divided into an organic wet film, an inorganic wet film, an aluminum mesh reticulated wet film, a stainless steel puncture wet film, a ceramic wet film, and the like. The wet film material has strong water absorption, good self-cleaning ability, non-toxicity, acid and alkali resistance, mold resistance, flame retardancy and the largest contact surface area between water and air.
For stainless steel wet film, it is the newly developed wet film product after passing through organic, inorganic and aluminum alloy materials. It uses very thin stainless steel plate as raw material, through surface punching, puncture, rolling and water storage. Corrugated and treated with passivation and hydrophilicity. The water flows in a zigzag manner in the wet material, and the puncture hole on the surface of the stainless steel wet film is blocked by the water film tension connection, thereby overcoming the disadvantage of poor wettability. Due to the presence of punching and the use of high-density cloth water, the humidifying efficiency is relatively high, which is suitable for industrial humidification places with high cleaning requirements.
The wet film generally adopts the form of overlapping corrugated plates, which can simultaneously control the direction in which the water flow and the air flow cross flow, and provide the maximum contact surface area between the water flow and the air flow. In this structure, the corrugation with a large inclination angle faces the air entering direction to ensure a large amount of water flows to the air inlet direction, where the evaporation phenomenon is the strongest, and the humidification efficiency is relatively high. This type of construction also provides a good self-cleaning effect of the medium.
Wet film humidifier advantages: clean and no noise. It has the function of washing and filtering the air. With humidification and cooling effect. Clean, equal to humidification, does not produce "white powder" phenomenon.
CHARACTERISTIC
1.The humidifying capacity is self-adjusting, the saturation efficiency is high, and no supersaturation or condensation occurs.
2. The humidification distance is short, saving the volume of the air conditioning unit.
3. High strength, corrosion resistance and long life.
4. Reduce noise, easy maintenance and maintenance, low operating costs, etc.
5. Good cooling effect.
PERFORMANCE INFLUENCING FACTORS
(1) Effect of evaporation area of humidifying material on moisture content
There are many factors affecting the humidification performance of the wet film humidifier. Increasing the evaporation area is the main way to improve the humidification efficiency. In order to overcome the shortcomings of low humidification capacity, it is necessary to greatly expand the evaporation area without changing the size of the humidifier. The wet film adopts the form of overlapping corrugated plates to simultaneously control the direction in which the water flow and the air flow cross flow, and provides the maximum contact surface area between the water flow and the air flow to ensure a large amount of water flow evaporates here, thereby improving the humidification efficiency.
(2) Effect of the thickness of the humidifying material on the moisture content of the outlet air The increase in the thickness of the wet film increases the contact time between the air and the wetted filler, and it should be said that the humidifying effect is better. However, as the thickness increases, the moisture content also approaches the saturated moisture content. Therefore, if it is no longer meaningful to increase the thickness of the humidifying material for the treatment of air, a suitable thickness should be selected.
(3) The effect of air flow rate on moisture content
As the fan speed increases, the humidification amount gradually increases. When the humidification amount reaches a certain value, the fan speed is increased, and the humidification amount shows a downward trend. On the one hand, the wind speed increases, the heat and mass exchange coefficient increases, and the humidification effect will increase. However, if the wind speed is too high, the contact time between the air and the wet film will be shortened and the humidification effect will be weakened; on the other hand, during the humidification process, the air and the water will be humidified. The temperature difference between the saturated air layer on the surface and the partial pressure difference of water vapor are the driving force. When the relative humidity of the air increases to a certain value, the difference in partial pressure of water vapor decreases, and the water vapor entering the air decreases, so the humidifying effect is lowered. . As the oncoming wind speed increases, the humidification effect will increase, but the wind speed will cause the contact time between the air and the wet film to be shortened, and the humidification effect will be reduced, and the air resistance will also rise sharply, so there should be a suitable wind speed, not too large.
(4) Influence of inlet air temperature and water temperature on moisture content
For a certain structure of the wet film humidifier, the initial parameters of air and water determine the magnitude of the heat and humidity exchange driving force. The inlet air state determines the ability of the air to absorb moisture. The greater the temperature difference between the dry and wet bulbs of the inlet air, the greater the driving force of the heat and mass exchange, and the better the cooling and humidifying effect.
APPLICATION
The wet film humidifier is a new type of humidifying equipment that is clean and energy-saving. The main features are: no white powder when humidifying the air, the structure is simple, because only the circulating water pump consumes electricity, the energy consumption is low, and there is no special requirement for water quality. The air is cleaned and humidified. Therefore, it can be widely used in program-controlled computer rooms, computer rooms, paper workshops, tobacco processing workshops, electronic production workshops, offices, modern living rooms and other places.
The water absorbs heat when it evaporates and has an air cooling effect, so the wet film humidifier can be widely used in the field of air conditioning. The outdoor air is sent directly to the room after being treated by a wet film humidifier. The use of this form of air treatment in dry areas can meet the comfort requirements of indoors at lower energy consumption. In industrial places that require large ventilation, such as large and medium-sized grain depots, when the food is humidified and tempered, the indoor environment of the grain depot can be better improved with little equipment investment, so that the grain can meet the processing requirements. Improve the economic efficiency of the company. The humidification combined with the air conditioner is a humidification system that assembles the wet film humidifier into the air conditioner, which can pre-treat the outdoor fresh air, can reduce the energy consumption of the air conditioner, and is beneficial to improving the cooling efficiency of the air conditioner. It can also improve or improve the quality of the indoor air environment. When the cooling load is small during the transitional season, the wet film humidifier can be used to treat the air without opening the refrigerator, which is beneficial to the energy saving of the air conditioning system. In these place which the climate is dry and the power resources are tight.,The wet film humidifier can provide a comfortable indoor environment to meet the needs of life and work while consuming less electric energy.