CN107019471B

CN107019471B - Steam cleaner

Info

Publication number: CN107019471B
Application number: CN201710059547.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 席尔瑞·浦鲁尼尔; 达达诺·托克
Original assignee: SEB SA
Current assignee: SEB SA
Priority date: 2016-02-02
Filing date: 2017-01-24
Publication date: 2022-08-02
Anticipated expiration: 2037-01-24
Also published as: FR3047161A1; CN207152545U; RU2717670C2; EP3202299A1; ES2707348T3; CN107019471A; FR3047161B1; RU2017102711A3; RU2017102711A; KR20170092116A; EP3202299B1; TR201900657T4

Abstract

The present invention relates to a steam cleaner, comprising: a suction mechanism; a main suction duct (10) connected to the suction means; -a suction head having a sole plate comprising a front suction slot (14), a rear suction slot (15), and a steam diffuser (21), said steam diffuser (21) being arranged between said front suction slot (14) and said rear suction slot (15); a secondary air circuit having a first branch (11) and a second branch (12), said first branch (11) connecting said main suction duct (10) and said front suction slit (14), said second branch (12) connecting said main suction duct (10) and said rear suction slit (15), said first branch (11) and said second branch (12) each comprising a plurality of air flow passage sections, each defined by one surface, characterized in that said second branch (12) comprises at least one passage section having an area less than or equal to half the area of the smallest passage section of the passage sections of said first branch (11).

Description

Steam cleaner

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to a steam cleaner, and more particularly to a steam cleaning mop.

Background

In the prior art, steam cleaners are known, such as disclosed in document FR3011455(a1), which direct the suction flow either on the front side of the nozzle or on the rear side of the nozzle, depending on the direction of movement (pushing or pulling the mop). However, this system has the disadvantage, in particular, that the suction head is complex, said suction head having cost-intensive mechanisms.

Disclosure of Invention

The object of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks of the above-mentioned prior art documents and in particular to provide firstly a steam cleaner which is efficient (that is to say which cleans the floor well) while being simple in design and manufacture.

To this end, a first aspect of the present invention relates to a steam cleaner comprising:

-a suction mechanism for sucking in the liquid,

-a main suction duct connected to said suction means,

-a suction head having a sole plate comprising a front suction slot, a rear suction slot, and a steam diffuser arranged between the front suction slot and the rear suction slot,

-a secondary air circuit having a first branch connecting the main suction duct and the front suction slit and a second branch connecting the main suction duct and the rear suction slit,

the first and second legs each including a plurality of air flow passing cross sections each defined by one surface,

characterized in that said second branch comprises at least one passage section having an area less than or equal to half the area of the smallest passage section of the passage sections of said first branch.

The steam cleaner according to the present invention includes a front suction slit which sucks in more than a rear suction slit because the first branch suppresses the suction flow less than the second branch (and thus the passing cross-section of the first branch is larger than that of the second branch). This embodiment allows to facilitate the suction of dirt (dust and large particles such as rice grains, coffee beans, noodles, cat food, etc.) from the front, since the applicant has observed that, according to statistics, these dirt are more often collected in a forward movement (when the head of the cleaner or mop is pushed). The suction power of the front suction slit is therefore greater than the suction power of the rear suction slit, which is well adapted to the actual conditions of cleaning. The construction is simple, since there is no mechanism for directing the flow towards the front or the rear, the invention allows to achieve a greater suction over the front suction gap than over the rear suction gap by a fixed simple geometrical design of the parts of the suction head/cleaner: the ducts of the second branch have a much smaller passage section than the ducts of the first branch. The dirt suction is efficient, as is the steam cleaner itself, because there is no longer dirt (dust, etc.) on the floor surface opposite the steam diffuser that might "stick" to the floor surface by the steam flow.

Advantageously, the suction head has a width (in other words a dimension in the transverse direction or a dimension perpendicular to the direction of the cleaning back-and-forth movement) and the front suction slit and/or the rear suction slit are arranged in the direction of the width over at least 70% of the width.

Advantageously, the second branch comprises at least one passage section, the area of which is less than or equal to one third of the area of the smallest of the passage sections of the first branch.

For example, for a steam cleaner with a power of about 1500W, the minimum pass-through cross-section of the first branch may have a diameter of 725mm ² ±25mm ² And the second branch may comprise at least one through section having an area of 240mm ² ±15mm ² 。

Advantageously, the steam cleaner comprises a Y-shaped connection at which the first and second branches join the main suction duct, and the air flow from the second branch undergoes a change in flow direction of more than 90 ° when passing through the Y-shaped connection, and the air flow from the first branch undergoes a change in flow direction of less than 60 ° when passing through the Y-shaped connection. In other words, if the velocity vectors of the air streams of the first branch upstream and downstream of the Y-shaped connection are compared, the upstream velocity vector is almost collinear with the downstream velocity vector, forming an angle of about ± 60 °. However, if the velocity vectors of the air flow of the second branch upstream and downstream of the Y-connection are compared, the upstream velocity vector is directed opposite to and in the opposite direction to the downstream velocity vector. In other words, the air flow of the second branch makes a "pin-head turn, or hairpin turn" when passing through the Y-connection, without the air flow of the first branch undergoing a significant change in direction. Thus, the air flow of the second branch is suppressed, which further facilitates the suction through the front suction slit.

Alternatively, the number product between the air flow velocity vector of the first branch upstream of the wye connection and the velocity vector of the air flow of the first branch downstream of the wye connection is a positive number, whereas the number product between the air flow velocity vector of the second branch upstream of the wye connection and the air flow velocity vector of the second branch downstream of the wye connection is a negative number.

"upstream" refers to a velocity vector within 3cm upstream of the Y-junction, and "downstream" refers to a velocity vector within 5cm downstream of the Y-junction.

Advantageously, the steam cleaner comprises:

-a front face of the suction head comprising a plurality of recesses opening into the front suction slit,

-a rear face of the suction head comprising a plurality of recesses opening into the rear suction slit,

and the number of said notches on said front face is greater than the number of said notches on said rear face. Such a recess is a groove arranged in the suction head floor between the outer face and each of the suction slots in order to optimize the collection and suction of dust and in particular large particles such as rice grains, coffee beans, noodles, cat food and the like. Such a groove may have a height of, for example, 3mm to 4 mm.

Advantageously, said front face comprises at least four notches.

Advantageously, the steam cleaner comprises at least one suspension brush arranged between the front suction aperture and the steam diffuser and/or between the rear suction aperture and the steam diffuser.

Advantageously, the suction head is arranged for removably receiving a cleaning cloth strip between the steam diffuser and the floor to be cleaned. The cleaning cloth strip at least partially covers the steam diffuser.

Advantageously, the steam cleaner comprises:

at least three wheels, and

-a cleaning cloth strip mounted on the suction head,

at least one of the at least three wheels is remote from the ground.

According to this embodiment, the cleaning of the floor is effective because the cloth strip is constantly rubbed against the floor.

Advantageously, the steam cleaner forms a steam cleaning mop.

Drawings

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will be better understood on reading the following detailed description of an embodiment thereof, given by way of non-limiting example and illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which:

figure 1 shows a perspective view of a cleaning head for a steam cleaner according to the invention;

figure 2 shows a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the suction head of figure 1;

figure 3 shows a cross-section of the suction head of figure 2 along the axis III-III of figure 2.

Detailed Description

Figure 1 shows a cleaning head for a steam cleaner in the form of a steam mop having a sole plate comprising a steam diffuser 21 disposed between a front face 22 and a rear face 23. The front face 22 and the rear face 23 are of course defined according to the cleaning round trip performed by the user.

Wheels

32 and 33 are provided to facilitate the cleaning motion.

The cleaner head is connected to the remainder of the steam cleaner by a hinge 31. The steam cleaner includes a suction circuit and a steam distribution circuit. With respect to the suction circuit, the steam cleaner comprises a suction mechanism (typically a ventilation motor) and a main suction conduit 10 arranged for connecting the cleaner head to the suction mechanism.

Finally, the cleaner head is arranged to receive a cleaning cloth strip (not shown) located beneath the steam diffuser 21, between the steam diffuser 21 and the floor to be cleaned.

Figure 2 shows a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the cleaner head of figure 1. The floor of the cleaner head comprises a front suction slot 14 and a rear suction slot 15. The nozzle comprises a secondary air circuit, which is formed by a first branch 11 and a second branch 12, said first branch 11 connecting the front suction slit 14 and the main suction duct 10, and said second branch 12 connecting the rear suction slit 15 and the main suction duct 10. The steam diffuser 21 is thus arranged between the rear suction slit 15 and the front suction slit 14.

The soleplate further comprises two

suspension brushes

16, 17, said two

suspension brushes

16, 17 being arranged between the steam diffuser 21 and the front suction slit 14 and between the steam diffuser 21 and the rear suction slit 15. The main function of the two

suspension brushes

16, 17 is to separate the suction flow between the front suction slit 14/rear suction slit 15 and the steam diffuser 21.

The first branch 11 and the second branch 12 are connected to the main suction duct at a Y-shaped junction 13, and arrow a shows the direction in which the air flow from the front suction slit 14 and the first branch 11 passes, and arrow B shows the direction in which the air flow from the rear suction slit 15 and the second branch 12 passes.

The configuration of the connection 13 is such that the main suction duct 10 is almost aligned with the first branch 11, which results in the air flow from this branch hardly changing direction. The velocity vector of the air flow upstream of the connection 13 is almost collinear with the velocity vector of the air flow downstream of the connection 13. In any case, the sense and direction of the two velocity vectors are the same, and in the projection plane of fig. 2 the change in flow direction when passing through the connection 13 is less than 60 °.

However, the configuration of the connection 13 results in a significant directional change of the air flow from the rear suction slit 15 and the second branch 12 and into the main suction duct 10. In practice, the velocity vector of the air flow upstream of the connection 13 is almost opposite to the velocity vector of the air flow downstream of the connection 13. In any case, the sense and direction of the two velocity vectors are opposite and, in the projection plane of fig. 2, the change in flow direction upon passage through the connection 13 is greater than 90 °.

Figure 3 shows a cross-sectional view of the cleaner head of figure 2, taken along the axis III-III of figure 2, in order to show, inter alia, a secondary air circuit having a first branch 11 and a second branch 12. It is observed that the first branch 11 comprises a passage section 11a, said passage section 11a being the smallest of the passage sections of the first branch 11.

At the second branch 12, it has a passage section that is smaller than the passage section of the first branch 11, and in particular, said second branch 12 comprises a passage section 12a, the area of said passage section 12a being approximately one third of the area of the passage section 11 a.

Therefore, the cleaner according to the present invention facilitates more suction through the front suction slit 14 than through the rear suction slit 15. In fact, due to the difference in the passage surface between the first branch 11 and the second branch 12, plus the difference in the path of the flow at the connection 13, a large part of the total suction flow passes through the first branch 11 and the front suction slit 14.

Thus, the preferred suction through the front suction slit 14 allows for efficient collection of the dirt to be sucked in, since most of the dirt meets the cleaner head as it moves forward. In fact, the applicant has observed that most users change the cleaning direction only in a movement in the forward direction, for example at the beginning of the movement in the forward direction. During the backward movement, most users pull the device towards themselves without changing the cleaning direction.

Also note is the recess 18 (or groove) of figure 3 which is arranged in the sole plate of the cleaner head so as to form a preferred inhalation path for dirt, and particularly large particles of dirt (rice, coffee beans, dough or noodles, cat food, companion bird food). Four recesses 18 are arranged on the front face 22 and three recesses 18 are arranged on the rear face 23. There are fewer notches 18 on the rear face 23 because, statistically, there is less dirt to collect during movement in the rearward direction.

It is to be understood that various changes and/or modifications obvious to those skilled in the art may be made to the various embodiments of the invention described in this specification without departing from the scope of the invention defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A steam cleaner, comprising:

-a suction mechanism for sucking in the liquid,

-a main suction duct (10) connected to said suction means,

-a suction head having a sole plate comprising a front suction slot (14), a rear suction slot (15), and a steam diffuser (21), said steam diffuser (21) being arranged between said front suction slot (14) and said rear suction slot (15),

-a secondary air circuit having a first branch (11) and a second branch (12), said first branch (11) connecting said main suction duct (10) and said front suction slit (14), said second branch (12) connecting said main suction duct (10) and said rear suction slit (15), said first branch (11) and said second branch (12) each comprising a plurality of air flow passing sections each defined by one surface,

wherein the second branch (12) comprises at least one passage section (12a), the area of the at least one passage section (12a) being less than or equal to half the area of the smallest passage section (11a) of the passage sections of the first branch (11), and the suction power of the front suction slit (14) being greater than the suction power of the rear suction slit (15),

characterized in that the steam cleaner comprises a Y-shaped connection (13), the first branch (11) and the second branch (12) are joined to the main suction duct (10) at the Y-shaped connection (13), and the air flow from the second branch (12) undergoes a change of flow direction of more than 90 ° when passing through the Y-shaped connection (13), and the air flow from the first branch (11) undergoes a change of flow direction of less than 60 ° when passing through the Y-shaped connection (13), so that the first branch (11) inhibits the suction flow less than the second branch (12) and the front suction slit (14) sucks in more dirt than the rear suction slit (15).

2. A steam cleaner according to claim 1, characterized in that the second branch (12) comprises at least one passage section (12a), the area of the passage section (12a) being smaller than or equal to one third of the area of the smallest passage section (11a) of the passage sections of the first branch (11).

3. The steam cleaner according to any one of claims 1-2,

-the front face (22) of the nozzle comprises a plurality of recesses (18) opening into the front suction slit,

-the rear face (23) of the suction head comprises a plurality of recesses (18) opening into the rear suction slit,

and the number of notches (18) on the front face (22) is greater than the number of notches (18) on the rear face (23).

4. A steam cleaner according to claim 3, wherein the front face (22) comprises at least four recesses (18).

5. A steam cleaner according to any of claims 1-2, characterized in that the steam cleaner comprises at least one suspension brush (16, 17), which at least one suspension brush (16, 17) is arranged between the front suction slit and the steam diffuser (21) and/or between the rear suction slit and the steam diffuser (21).

6. A steam cleaner according to any of claims 1-2, wherein the suction head is arranged for detachably receiving a cleaning cloth strip between the steam diffuser (21) and the floor to be cleaned.

7. The steam cleaner of claim 6, comprising:

-at least three wheels (32, 33), and

-a cleaning cloth strip mounted on the suction head,

characterized in that at least one of said at least three wheels (32, 33) is remote from the ground.

8. The steam cleaner of any of claims 1-2, wherein the steam cleaner forms a steam cleaning mop.