How to Make a Negative Ion air ionizer

Two models will be shown, one full-wave rectified and the other a half-wave rectified negative ion ionizer. Featuring an optional fan on the full-wave model.

Benefits of negative ions supposedly include
• freshen and purify the air
• help lift mood
• alleviate depression including winter depression(SAD)
• eliminate most tiny particles suspended in the air (indoors)

CAUTION

• HIGH VOLTAGES present in both devices is high enough to induce a bad case of temporary Tourettes. ie twitching/profanity.
• Be aware of the hazards when working with loose CARBON FIBRE filaments if using this option for high voltage grid instead of pins.

Step 1 Components and Design

Tools required:

• soldering iron and solder.
• screwdrivers, flat and star
• cordless drill.
• hot melt glue gun.

Optional tool:

• wire wrapper.

The full wave rectified version has better performance but is a bit noisier if using the optional fan. The fan is a 60mm x 60mm CPU 12 brushless fan which I'm driving at
5v to reduce current consumption and noise.

The half wave version uses fewer components and less current, the smaller size is also trickier to build.

In both versions the negative band on the diode must point towards the ac voltage input.
If you follow the green arrows on the component diagrams, you will first encounter the negative side on the diode first, indicated by the white band.

Comments

[petercd]

Yes, ozone is produced, however I'm speculating that the amount would be dependent on the working voltage. Possibly a good indicator would be the amount of corona (cute purple glow) on the pin tips, however I don't really know and am unable to give any facts concerning ozone production

[rimar2000]

Thanks for the information.

[t.rohner]

Nice instructable. I made one of these some 30 years ago. My mum wasn't that happy about it, because the high voltage charges fine dust particles and they are attracted by more or less grounded surfaces like walls and even windows ;-) If you direct the ion flow trough a grounded tube, you have a electrostatic air cleaner. (you can have a thin wire insulated in the center of the tube and connect the high voltage there. As it's done in laser printers.) You can also make a ion propulsion propeller...

[R.A.T.M]

whats the resistor do?

[anupam040]

can u estimate and tell me the approx cost of making the above project?

[moris_zen]

Nice instructable !
Two questions :
1. Isn't the total voltage too high for these capacitors ?
2. What would happen if I use 100v capacitors?
3. Would I get better performance with higher capacity capacitirs (0.56uf) ?
Thanks

[Skyriam]

So, do you know how many kV your device produces peter? Or any calculations to find out. Thanks!

[petercd]

I built a 100M ohm and 100K ohm voltage divider to check as well as an electroscope to check the output. The electroscope is basically 2pieces of Aluminum  foil hanging on a copper wire, when the ionizer is touched to the copper wire then the 2 foil pieces repel each other.

So with tools in hand I first checked the Ioncare usb ionizer which was 2.65kV, the half-wave ionizer popped every diode after playing with ion propulsion so I dont know what its output is.

The full wave ionizer proved a bit tricky to record a voltage level. When at first it touches the output pins I see readings of 12 to 24kV but a steady 4.2kV when I clip the voltage divider resistors to the pins. Im guessing that my 100Mohm resistors place too much load on the ionizer hence the fluctuating readings.

Nice to know is that the usb ionizer uses 26.7ma (milliamp) at 5.26V DC, which works out to about 0.1399 mW which is why you cant see its power draw in the "windows usb power managment".

I dont know any calculations or formula for these devices, but the usb ionizer had roughly 600V after each diode/capacitor pair, with 4 diodes and 4 caps in total giving the 2600kV output....for what its worth.

[strmrnnr]

I have been thinking on this and trying to figure out why a Microwave Oven Transformer could not be used if 4 HV diodes make up a rectifier. The tranformer would have to be seperate but if I didn't plan on moving the unit very much that shouldn't be a problem.

Do you see a problem? Am I way out in left field on this one?

[duckythescientist]

Here is a link to a website explaining the math behind the CW multiplier. There is a link at the bottom of the page for a calculator that will do the equations for you, but it wasn't working today when I checked. It has worked in the past, so it might work later.

http://www.blazelabs.com/e-exp15.asp

[erdosain9]

Hello. It is not dangerous or harmful to the capacitors to touch each other?
I know almost nothing about electronics. I ask just in case ...
regards

[mr. clean]

Something interesting is that if you have ever used a plasma cutter you will smell ozone, weather or not it is ozone i don't know, it may just be the smell of burning steel.

[lucek]

WARNING! Devices like this have produced O3 aka Ozone. This has shown to aggravate breathing conditions like asthma. DO NOT repeat DO NOT use ionic cleaners if you or someone in the residence has breathing conditions. Further there is some risk of developing breathing conditions including but not limited to lung cancer. http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/ozonegen.html

[IncrediblyCondensedBlackMatter]

but ozone smells so good! like lightning!

[Thoth]

A way too avoid or minimize the the dangers associated with breathing ozone, is simply to run the device while no one is in the room and turn it off before the room is to be occupied, it has a short half-life.

[Wesley666]

Isn't Ozone's half life like 3 days?

[Whitedude0728]

half life 3 you say? ;)

[Wesley666]

Don't they keep extending the date of release for that? I heard it was supposed to come out like 3 years ago and its still not here yet...

[Whitedude0728]

Yea the joke that people have been expecting it for like 7 years but valve will neither deny or confirm whether it is being worked on :/

[Wesley666]

If they make it, they should release it quietly in the dead of night with no warning, no advertising. I have always wanted to see what would happen if someone did that. I think it would cause quite a stir.

[lucek]

DNF came out so HL3 can't be far off. Or our fiery death.

[lucek]

or just not to use them at all.

[Skyriam]

Don't get in a car, you may die. Don't go out while raining, you can get struck by lightning... twice. Come on man, the benefits are greater than the risks, besides ozone is very easy to detect, its smell is very strong and if you don't smell it then its far too small to cause any harm. Chill.

[lucek]

There is a question of risk vs. benefit. The risk is real. The benefit is minor. you receive less dust in the air but the same results can be had with a simple filter. if you argue that the ionic air purifiers work better (witch isn't proven) I'll point that only people with severe respiratory problems need that purity of air and they are the most susceptible to Ozone. BTW the safety levels are set at 0.05 ppm by the FDA far less then is noticeable. OSHA sets the safety level at twice that over 8 hours but still to small to smell.

[Skyriam]

There's more ozone/negative ions in the sea, forest and mountain environments than this little thing produces. So if you live near any of this places do you get sick from ozone? NO.

[lucek]

Materialistic fallacy doesn't work sorry. Again I listed safety levels. We have no tests of this device so we can't judge it's safety or ones built on it's design. Until it is tested we should assume it can be dangerous and the same should go for every one built on the design. When it comes to O3 "good up high - bad nearby".

[lucek]

Typo:Naturalistic fallacy.

[Wesley666]

I like how you correct yourself more then a year later.

[lucek]

I didn't look at the post for a year. When I saw my error fixing it was important to me.

[Wesley666]

No worries, that's what I meant, it's nice to see someone worried about spelling. I have done that too, finding an old post and realizing something was wrong and correcting it.

[vov35]

how about placing the fan at the opposite end of the enclosure, so it pushes air through without obstructing it?

[petercd]

Thats also do-able, however in my case I was using the finger grid of the fan as an earthing grid to suck those neg ions off the needles which is why I had it at the exit end.

[yaly]

you can add a relay so when you plug it the relay turns on to connect the power lines to the capacitors and when you unplug it it shorts out the capacitors.

[leaualorin]

Hey Peter , could galvanized tin be used for the HIGH VOLTAGE "pins"?
I want an " negative ion canon" against these damm chemtrails!
Thank you kindly!
:-)

[wpte]

I'm confused with the yellow lines...
Is it wired just like the hand drawn thingy from this site: http://bigclive.com/ioniser.htm ?

Also I'm having trouble finding those capacitors, I'm not even sure what the 2x suppression means :)
Am I just looking for ceramic capacitors like on digikey: http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Cat=131083 ?

For the 10Mohm resistors (1/4W) what kind of film is preffered? (metal, carbon or think film) or can I pick any? :)

[petercd]

Yes its wired like the "big clive" version, the whole thing was drawn in a cad program, so the yellow lines are the physical outlines of the capacitors,. The green lines were just to illustrate the flow of electricity in the device.

Ceramic caps wont do the trick, these class x2 suppression caps, not 2 times, can be connected directly across power lines which is why they are used.

Heres a link to the exact product I bought, http://www.fort777.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2618

I used carbon film resistors but metal film will also do.

[wpte]

Cool :)

so these caps: http://industrial.panasonic.com/www-cgi/jvcr13pz.cgi?E+PZ+3+ABD0029+ECQU2A104ML+7+WW would work as well?
I'd like to buy things from local stores if possible, as you probably understand :)

[petercd]

yep, those are good, suppression means they can be connected across a power line.
The reason for me pasting the link was merely for the item description so you would have something to search for, not to buy per se, but its all good.

[computerman299]

here is a little reserch that backs one of ur negative ion effect claims...


Today, our modern homes and offices seal out negative ions. Computer terminals, fluorescent lighting, forced air ventilation systems, and modern building materials generate an over abundance of positive ions. Positive ions make us feel tired, depressed and irritable.
http://www.peakpureair.com/negative_ions.htm (good source of info)

When the amount of Negative Electric Ions contained one c.c. of air inhaled reached 5,000 to 50,000, it strengthens the body's resistance and immunity; and when the amount of Negative Electric Ions contained in one c.c. of air reached 100,000 to 500,000, it relieves illnesses. Negatively Charged Electric Ions in our body are essential in sustaining and improving our health. Whereas 85% of the Negative Electric Ions are absorbed from our skin, only 15% is inhaled and absorbed through our lungs. (quoted from page 56 of Negatively Charged electric Ion Treatment, issued by Youth Publishing)

[sam.steve24]

Window AC

Window AC s are the most convenient way of getting Cool.