1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for electrical corona discharge, and particularly to the use of corona discharge technology to generate ions and electrical fields for the movement and control of fluids such as air, other fluids, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
A number of patents (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,847 by Shannon, et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,766 by Spurgin) describe ion generation using an electrode (termed the “corona electrode”), which accelerates ions toward another electrode (termed the “accelerating”, “collecting” or “target” electrode, references herein to any to include the others unless otherwise specified or apparent from the context of usage), thereby imparting momentum to the ions in a direction toward the accelerating electrode. Collisions between the ions and an intervening fluid, such as surrounding air molecules, transfer the momentum of the ions to the fluid inducing a corresponding movement of the fluid to achieve an overall movement in a desired fluid flow direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,801 of Lee, U.S. Pat. No. 5,667,564 of Weinberg, U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,977 of Taylor, et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,745 of Sakakibara, et al. also describe air movement devices that accelerate air using an electrostatic field. U.S. Pat. No. 6,350,417 and 2001/0048906, Pub. Date Dec. 6, 2001 of Lau, et al. describe a cleaning arrangement that mechanically cleans the corona electrode while removing another set of electrodes from the housing.
While these arrangements provide for some degree of corona electrode cleaning, they do not fully address electrode contamination. Accordingly, a need exists for a system and method that provides for electrode maintenance including cleaning.