EP2255709B1 - Appareil séparateur à cyclone - Google Patents

Appareil séparateur à cyclone Download PDF

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Publication number
EP2255709B1
EP2255709B1 EP09723103.9A EP09723103A EP2255709B1 EP 2255709 B1 EP2255709 B1 EP 2255709B1 EP 09723103 A EP09723103 A EP 09723103A EP 2255709 B1 EP2255709 B1 EP 2255709B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
dust
collection container
separation apparatus
collection
compression member
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Not-in-force
Application number
EP09723103.9A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP2255709A1 (fr
EP2255709A4 (fr
Inventor
Choji Yoshida
Tsuyoshi Ogawa
Yukimichi Matsumoto
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Sharp Corp
Original Assignee
Sharp Corp
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from JP2008214033A external-priority patent/JP4478191B2/ja
Priority claimed from JP2008271640A external-priority patent/JP4378420B2/ja
Application filed by Sharp Corp filed Critical Sharp Corp
Publication of EP2255709A1 publication Critical patent/EP2255709A1/fr
Publication of EP2255709A4 publication Critical patent/EP2255709A4/fr
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP2255709B1 publication Critical patent/EP2255709B1/fr
Not-in-force legal-status Critical Current
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B04—CENTRIFUGAL APPARATUS OR MACHINES FOR CARRYING-OUT PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES
    • B04C—APPARATUS USING FREE VORTEX FLOW, e.g. CYCLONES
    • B04C5/00—Apparatus in which the axial direction of the vortex is reversed
    • B04C5/08—Vortex chamber constructions
    • B04C5/103—Bodies or members, e.g. bulkheads, guides, in the vortex chamber
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
    • A47L—DOMESTIC WASHING OR CLEANING; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
    • A47L9/00—Details or accessories of suction cleaners, e.g. mechanical means for controlling the suction or for effecting pulsating action; Storing devices specially adapted to suction cleaners or parts thereof; Carrying-vehicles specially adapted for suction cleaners
    • A47L9/10—Filters; Dust separators; Dust removal; Automatic exchange of filters
    • A47L9/106—Dust removal
    • A47L9/108—Dust compression means
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
    • A47L—DOMESTIC WASHING OR CLEANING; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
    • A47L9/00—Details or accessories of suction cleaners, e.g. mechanical means for controlling the suction or for effecting pulsating action; Storing devices specially adapted to suction cleaners or parts thereof; Carrying-vehicles specially adapted for suction cleaners
    • A47L9/10—Filters; Dust separators; Dust removal; Automatic exchange of filters
    • A47L9/16—Arrangement or disposition of cyclones or other devices with centrifugal action
    • A47L9/1683—Dust collecting chambers; Dust collecting receptacles
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B04—CENTRIFUGAL APPARATUS OR MACHINES FOR CARRYING-OUT PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES
    • B04C—APPARATUS USING FREE VORTEX FLOW, e.g. CYCLONES
    • B04C5/00—Apparatus in which the axial direction of the vortex is reversed
    • B04C5/12—Construction of the overflow ducting, e.g. diffusing or spiral exits
    • B04C5/13—Construction of the overflow ducting, e.g. diffusing or spiral exits formed as a vortex finder and extending into the vortex chamber; Discharge from vortex finder otherwise than at the top of the cyclone; Devices for controlling the overflow

Definitions

  • the present invention generally relates to a cyclone separation apparatus that centrifuges the material targeted for collection and specifically to a cyclone separation apparatus that can increase the collected amount of the relatively large material targeted for collection and collected.
  • Patent Literature 1 A cyclone dust collection apparatus has been reported in Patent Literature 1 as an example of the cyclone separation apparatus that is equipped with a collection container with a roughly cylindrical interior surface, wherein by discharging air within the collection container from an air outlet disposed in the center of the collection container, causing air drawn in from an air inlet disposed in the periphery of the collection container to spiral along the interior periphery surface of the collection container, and then discharging the air from the air outlet through a filter means, relatively large dust contained in the air is collected at the bottom of the collection container and relatively small dust is collected in the filter means.
  • This cyclone dust collection apparatus is designed to swirl relatively large dust for collecting by centrifugal force and collect relatively small dust that flies by flowing air by a filter means disposed in the flow of air, thereby resulting in less noise and attaining an improvement of dust collection efficiency.
  • Patent Literature 1 As the cyclone dust collection apparatus described in the aforementioned Patent Literature 1 is designed to collect dust relying absolutely on the flow of air, however, it cannot compress dust with low density such as the collected fiber to more than a certain volume and increase so much dust accumulation degree in a limited dust collection space. Therefore, such problems cannot be solved that dust collection efficiency decrease unless the collected dust is frequently discarded so that it takes a lot of trouble with discarding dust, or dust is likely to disperse in air so that the user feels uncomfortable with the fluttering and re-entrainment of dust when discarding it in a garbage bucket or the like.
  • the dust collection apparatus equipped with such a mechanical compression means can compress and harden the collected dust, and thereby results in little decline in dust collection efficiency even after continuous use for a long time.
  • Japanese utility application number JP 55-068553 discloses a cyclone apparatus with a collection container, having an air inlet and air outlet, and also a sprially curved member.
  • the dust collection apparatus described in the Patent Literature 2 compresses dust or the like simply in a linear manner (without rotation) by pushing down the compression circular plate, so that this causes such a problem that, when the doughnut-shaped compression disk is raised at the time of start of operation next time, dust including cotton dust or the like, which is likely to restore to the original shape, recovers back to almost the same volume as that before compression, and thereby results in the loss of effect of compression behavior.
  • the aforementioned problems equally occur with not only a dust collection apparatus like an electric vacuum cleaner but also a cyclone separation apparatus that separates materials including powder and fiber or various materials with different particle size contained in air from the air by particle size.
  • the present invention is directed to solve the above problems occurred in the cyclone separation apparatus that separates widely various materials as well as the aforementioned typical dust collection apparatus.
  • the present invention has been devised in view of such circumstances as mentioned above, and the object of the present invention is to provide an excellent cyclone dust collection apparatus that can maintain the material targeted for collection in a firmly compressed state by compressing the material targeted for collection by the rotation of a compression portion even when the compression force for the material targeted for collection is released in order to discharge the material targeted for collection, whereby a high suction force can be maintained even if a large amount of the material targeted for collection is stored in the collection container, high collection efficiency can be maintained for a long time, and such a problem does not exist as the material targeted for collection flying apart again in air when the compression force is released at the time of discharging the material targeted for collection by maintaining the material targeted for collection in a firmly compressed state as mentioned above.
  • Another object is to provide a cyclone dust collection apparatus that takes into account a decrease in driving load of the compression portion and a downsizing of the whole apparatus by downsizing the compression portion.
  • a cyclone separation apparatus that is equipped with a collection container with a roughly cylindrical interior surface, wherein, by causing air drawn in from an air inlet disposed in the circumferential direction in the periphery of the collection container to spiral along the roughly cylindrical interior surface, and then discharging the air from the center of the collection container through a filter means, provided in an upper portion of the collection container the relatively large material targeted for collection and contained in the air is collected at the bottom of the collection container and the relatively small material targeted for collection is collected in the filter means, and wherein the cyclone separation apparatus is equipped, inside the collection container, with a compression member that has a spiral curved surface centered around the vertical central shaft of the collection container, that can rotate around the vertical central shaft, and that compresses the material targeted for collection, the compression member has a disk-shaped shielding member arranged above the spiral curved surface for separating the upper portion of the collection container from a lower portion thereof, and the compression member has a rotation
  • a conceivable configuration is that the collection container, in an upper portion thereof, is equipped with a separation apparatus body having an air outlet through which air is discharged via the filter means.
  • An embodiment of the compression of the material targeted for collection by the compression member is conceivable in which the spiral curved surface of the compression member is rotated around the vertical central shaft by the rotation of the compression member, whereby the material targeted for collection accumulated in the collection container is pushed out toward the bottom surface of the collection container by the spiral curved surface and compressed.
  • the shape of the spiral curved surface of the compression member is conceivable in which assuming the spiral curved surface as a screw, the spiral curved surface of the compression member is formed so as to have the screw go backward by the rotation of the compression member.
  • Archimedes' screw as a screw pump can be mentioned.
  • a possible configuration of the present invention may include the spiral curved surface of the compression member being formed in the opposite direction from the direction of rotation of airflow descending in a whirl along the interior periphery surface of the collection container.
  • the collection container is further equipped with a driving means for providing a rotary drive of the compression member.
  • the compression member can be controlled to be automatically rotary driven after the completion of the process of collecting the material targeted for collection or to be rotary driven during the same process, thereby attaining an enhancement of laborsaving.
  • control the compression member it is also possible to control the compression member to be intermittently rotary driven during the process of collecting the material targeted for collection.
  • a cyclone separation apparatus with the compression member that is stored in the collection container with a roughly cylindrical space between the collection container and the interior periphery surface of the collection container.
  • the width in the direction of the radius of the roughly cylindrical space surrounded by the interior periphery surface of the collection container may be configured to become reduced in size downward.
  • the spiral curved surface of the compression member may be formed so as to twist along the interior periphery surface of the collection container with less than one complete circle thereof, thereby attaining a downsizing of the compression member.
  • the compression member is configured to comprise the rotation shaft portion disposed at the vertical center thereof, the spiral curved surface formed around the rotation shaft portion and the disk-shaped shielding member disposed above the spiral curved surface, with a clearance being vertically interposed between the spiral curved surface and the disk-shaped shielding member.
  • the spiral curved surface is formed from the start end on the side of the upper portion opening of the collection container through the termination end on the side of the lower bottom surface of the collection container, so that if the outer edge of the start end s formed in a curved line so as to have the radius from the center to the outer periphery of the compression member gradually enlarge, it may prevents waste textile or the like from catching in the start end.
  • the above-mentioned cyclone separation apparatus is usable as a cyclone dust collection apparatus when the material targeted for collection is dust.
  • a cyclone separation apparatus that is equipped with a collection container with a roughly cylindrical interior surface, wherein, by causing air drawn in from an air inlet disposed in the circumferential direction in the periphery of the collection container to spiral along the roughly cylindrical interior surface, and then discharging the air from the center of the collection container through a filter means, the relatively large material targeted for collection and contained in the air is collected at the bottom of the collection container and the relatively small material targeted for collection is collected in the filter means, and wherein the cyclone separation apparatus is equipped with a spiral curved surface inside the collection container centered around the vertical central shaft of the collection container, and is equipped with a compression member that can rotate around the vertical central shaft.
  • a compression member that can rotate around the vertical central shaft.
  • the compression force to the material targeted for collection like dust can be maintained, and at the same time, the upper side of the spiral curved surface can be secured as the space of the dust collection container, so that even if a large amount of material targeted for collection is accumulated in the collection container, as the performance of the cyclone separation apparatus can be maintained, the suction force doesn't decrease, thereby maintaining a high collection efficiency for a long time.
  • an excellent cyclone separation apparatus that can maintain the material targeted for collection in a firmly compressed state as mentioned above, and when the compression force is released, without causing any issue such as the material targeted for collection flying apart again in the air, can pass it to the post-processing or discarded it.
  • the compression member to be rotary driven can be downsized, thereby attaining a decrease in driving load of the compression member and a downsizing of the apparatus.
  • the electric vacuum cleaner X is schematically configured to comprise a cleaner body 1, an intake port 2, a connector 3, a connecting hose 4 and an operating handle 5.
  • the cleaner body 1 is embedded with an electric blower (not shown), a cyclone dust collection apparatus Y, a control apparatus (not shown) or the like. It is to be noted that the cyclone dust collection apparatus Y will be described in detail in the latter clause.
  • the electric blower comprises a blower fan for intaking air and a blower drive motor for driving the blower fan to rotate.
  • the control apparatus comprises CPU, RAM, ROM or the like for integrally controlling the electric vacuum cleaner X. More specifically, in the control apparatus, the CPU performs various processing tasks in accordance with the control program(s) stored in the ROM.
  • the operating handle 5 is equipped with an operating switch (not shown) in order for the user to start and stop the operation, and selectively operate a plurality of operation modes of the electric vacuum cleaner X.
  • a display portion such as LED for displaying the current status of the electric vacuum cleaner X is also disposed adjacent to the operating switch.
  • the cleaner body 1 is connected to the intake port 2 via the connecting hose 4 connected to the front end of the cleaner body 1 and the connector 3 connected to the connecting hose 4.
  • the operation of the electric blower (not shown) embedded in the cleaner body 1 allows the intake port 2 to intake air. Then the air drawn in from the intake port 2 flows into the cyclone dust collection apparatus Y through the connector 3 and the connecting hose 4. In the cyclone dust collection apparatus Y, dust is centrifuged from the air drawn in. It is to be noted that the air after dust removal in the cyclone dust collection apparatus Y is discharged from an exhaust port (not shown) disposed to the rear end of the cleaner body 1.
  • the cyclone dust collection apparatus Y will de described in details as an example of the cyclone dust collection apparatus in accordance with the present invention.
  • the cyclone dust collection apparatus Y is schematically configured to comprise a housing 10, a dust collection container 11 (one example of collection containers) having roughly cylindrical interior surface and being detachably connected to the housing 10, an interior cylinder 12, an upper portion filter 13, a dust receiving portion 14, a dust removal drive mechanism 15 or the like.
  • the dust collection container 11, the interior cylinder 12, the upper portion filter unit 13 and the dust receiving portion 14 are coaxially arranged centered around a vertical central shaft P. Furthermore, the cyclone dust collection apparatus Y is configured to be detachably connected to the cleaner body 1.
  • the housing 10 comprises the interior cylinder 12 with a filter 122.
  • This cyclone dust collection apparatus Y is configured to be equipped with the collection container 11 with a roughly cylindrical interior surface, wherein by discharging air within the collection container 11 from the interior cylinder 12 disposed in the center thereof, causing air drawn in from an air inlet 111a (Refer to FIG.7 ) disposed in the periphery of the collection container 11 to spiral along the interior periphery surface of the collection container 11, and then discharging the air from the interior cylinder 12 through the upper portion filter unit 13 that is one example of a filter means, the relatively large dust targeted for collection and contained in the air is collected at the bottom of the collection container 11 and the relatively small dust targeted for collection is collected by the upper portion filter unit 13 or the like.
  • the dust collection container 11 is a container with the interior periphery surface as well as the external form being cylindrical for holding dust separated from the air drawn in.
  • the dust collection container 11 is configured to be detachably connected to the housing 10 of the cyclone dust collection apparatus Y. After removing the cyclone dust collection apparatus Y from the cleaner body 1, the user removes the dust collection container 11 from the cyclone dust collection apparatus Y and discards dust in the dust collection container 11.
  • a circular seal member 161 is disposed between the housing 10 of the cyclone dust collection apparatus Y and the dust collection container 11. This seal member 161 prevents leak of air between the housing 10 and the dust collection container 11.
  • a fitting portion 11a that is fitted to a rotating shaft portion 123b disposed in the interior cylinder 12 to be described later is disposed at the bottom of the dust collection container 11.
  • a circular seal member 11b is disposed in the outer periphery of the fitting section 11a to fill a clearance between the fitting section 11 a and the rotating shaft portion 123b of the interior cylinder 12. This seal member 11b prevents leak of air between the rotating shaft portion 123b and the dust collection container11.
  • the dust collection container 11 is equipped with a connecting portion 111 to which the connecting hose 4 (Refer to FIG. 1 ) is connected.
  • the air drawn in through the connector 3 and the connecting hose from the intake port 2 flows into the dust collection container 11 through the connecting portion 111.
  • An air inlet 111a ( Fig.7 ) of the connecting portion 111 directed to the dust collection container 11 is formed so as to allow the air from the connecting hose 4 to spiral within the dust collection container 11. More specifically, the air inlet 111a( Fig.7 ) is formed so as to have the outlet at the side of the dust collection container 11 being directed to the circumferential direction of the dust collection container 11. Therefore, in the dust collection container 11, by whirling the air drawn in, dust contained in the air is separated by centrifugal force (centrifugal separation). Then the dust centrifugally separated by the dust collection container 11 will be held at the bottom of the dust collection container 11 (Dust shown in FIG. 9 and 10 ).
  • the air after dust removal passes along an exhaust path 112 as indicated by arrow ( FIG.2 ) and is discharged outward from the dust collection container 11 through an exhaust port (not shown) disposed to the cleaner body 1.
  • the exhaust path 112 from the dust collection container 11 through the exhaust port (not shown) is arranged with the interior cylinder 12, the dust receiving portion 14 and the upper portion filter unit 13 in order.
  • the interior cylinder 12 is a cylindrical member arranged in the dust collection container 11.
  • the interior cylinder 12 is rotatably supported by the dust receiving portion 14. More specifically, a circular recess 12a disposed at the upper end of the interior cylinder 12 is supported by a circular support 14c disposed at the lower end of the dust receiving portion 14, allowing the interior cylinder 12 to be rotatably hung from the dust receiving portion 14.
  • the configuration for rotatably supporting the interior cylinder 12 is not limited to this. As an example, it may be conceivable to pivotably support, for example, the upper and lower ends of the interior cylinder 12.
  • connection 12b is a rib that is disposed on an open edge portion of the interior cylinder 12 so as to protrude upward.
  • the interior cylinder 12 is connected to the inclined dust removal member 134 so as to be rotatable together with each other by having the connection 12b to be engaged in the engaging portion 134c. This enables the interior cylinder 12 to rotate in conjunction with the inclined dust removal member 134.
  • connection structure of the interior cylinder 12 and the inclined dust removal member 134 is not limited to this. For example, such a configuration may be provided where the interior cylinder 12 is connected to the inclined dust removal member 134 so as to rotate together with each other by fitting the fitting portions attached to the interior cylinder 12 and the inclined dust removal member 134 respectively.
  • an interior cylinder exhaust port 121 is formed for discharging the air after the separation of dust in the dust collection container 11 to the upper portion filter unit 13. Then, the interior cylinder exhaust port 121 is equipped with a cylindrical interior cylinder filter 122 covering the whole interior cylinder exhaust port 121. The interior cylinder filter 122 filters the air that passes through the interior cylinder exhaust port 121.
  • the interior cylinder filter 122 is an air filter or the like made in a mesh form. It is to be noted that the interior cylinder filter 122 may be equipped either the inside or the outside of the interior cylinder exhaust port 121. Instead of the exhaust port 121 and the interior cylinder filter 122, a porosity in a mesh form may be configured to be formed in the interior cylinder 12. In this case, the porosity in a mesh form functions as the interior cylinder exhaust port 121 and the interior cylinder filter 122.
  • the lower portion of the interior cylinder 12 is equipped with a spirally rotating compression portion 123 for compressing dust within the dust collection container 11.
  • the spirally rotating compression portion 123 comprises at least the rotation shaft portion 123b that is the center of rotation, a spiral portion 123a with a spiral curved surface formed around the rotation shaft portion 123b and a disk-shaped shielding member 123c disposed on the upper part of the spiral portion 123a.
  • the rotation shaft portion 123b is a hollow circular cylinder fitted to the fitting portion 11a disposed at the bottom of the dust collection container 11. As described above, a seal member 11b is interposed between the rotation shaft portion 123b and the fitting portion 11a (Refer to FIG. 2 and 3 ).
  • the disk-shaped shielding member 123c serves as a divider between an upper space portion (a dust separation portion 104) where dust is separated by centrifugal force of spiral flow to be described below and a lower space portion (a dust collection portion 105). This prevents the collected dust from rolling and clogging the interior cylinder filter 122. Furthermore, the disk-shape prevents dust contained in cyclone air flow from getting stuck therewith and can efficiently introduce dust to the bottom surface of the dust collection container 11.
  • the rotating shaft portion 123b is equipped with a plate-like spiral portion 123a (an example of compression member) that extends spirally centered around the rotating shaft portion 123b toward the bottom surface of the dust collection portion 105 with the upper and under surface thereof being curved with a spiral curved surface centered around the vertical central shaft P.
  • the spiral portion 123a is formed from a start end 123s at the side of upper portion opening of the dust collection container 11 to a terminating end 123e at the side of the lower portion bottom surface of the dust collection container 11.
  • the start end 123s is connected to the under surface of the disk-shaped shielding member 123c, but the terminating end 123e is free.
  • the spiral portion 123a in accordance with the present invention is not limited to this shape.
  • the start end 123s of the spiral portion 123a may be separated from the disk-shaped shielding member 123c and a clearance may be interposed between the spiral portion 123a and the disk-shaped shielding member 123c. Such an embodiment will be described below.
  • the spiral portion 123a moves dust accumulated within the dust collection container 11 to the bottom portion of the dust collection container 11 when the interior cylinder 12 is rotated as described below.
  • the spiral curved surface of the compression member as a screw
  • the spiral curved surface is formed so as to have the screw go backward by the rotation of the compression member, thereby enabling the dust to be compressed on this spiral curved surface.
  • the spiral curved surface of the spiral portion 123a is formed to have the same direction of inclination as that of the swirling airflow as indicated by arrow A in FIG.6 .
  • the spiral portion 123a By rotating the spiral portion 123a in the opposite direction from the rotation of arrow A in FIG.6 , the dust within the dust collection container 11 is moved to the bottom surface of the dust collection container 11 due to the friction against the interior surface of the dust collection container 11.
  • the spiral curved surface of the spiral portion 123a may be inclined to the opposite direction from the direction of inclination of the swirling airflow swirling along the interior periphery surface of the dust collection container 11.
  • the direction of rotation of the spiral portion 123a is the same as that of the swirling airflow of arrow A in FIG.6 . More specifically, assuming the spiral portion 123a as a screw, the direction of rotation of the spiral portion 123a is the direction for the screw to go backward by the rotation of the spiral portion 123a.
  • the spiral portion 123a pushes, between the bottom surface of the dust collection container 11 and thereof, the dust that has moved to the bottom surface of the dust collection container 11 outward from the center of rotation shaft and compresses it by the rotation of the interior cylinder 12 and the friction with the bottom surface of the dust collection container 11.
  • the dust is firmly compressed by rotation so that the possible amount of accumulation of dust of the dust collection container 11 can be increased. Therefore, for example, it may be possible to realize a downsizing of the dust collection container 11.
  • the dust firmly compressed does not easily come loose, thereby not causing a problem of fling apart when it is taken out and allowing it to be discarded as it is as dust.
  • the air after filtration by the interior cylinder filter 122 of the interior cylinder 12 is introduced to the upper portion filter unit 13 through the inside of the interior cylinder 12.
  • FIG.5 (a) is a perspective view of the upper portion filter unit 13 as viewed from up above
  • FIG.5 (b) is a perspective view of the upper portion filter unit 13 as viewed from underneath.
  • the upper portion filter unit 13 includes a HEPA filter (High Efficiency Particulate Air Filter) 131, a filter dust removal member 132, the inclined dust removable member 134, or the like.
  • HEPA filter High Efficiency Particulate Air Filter
  • the HEPA filter 131 is a kind of air filters that further filters the air flowing on the exhaust path 112 after being discharged from the interior cylinder 12.
  • the HEPA filter 131 comprises an aggregate of a plurality of filters circularly disposed and fixed around the vertical central shaft P. It is to be noted that each of a plurality of filters, for example, is fixed to the framework shown in FIG.5 (b) . In addition, a plurality of filters included in the HEPA filter 131 are arranged in a pleated shape with a repeated concavo-convex pattern in a roughly horizontal direction, thereby securing enough filter area of the HEP filter 131. It should be noted that a circular seal member 162 is disposed between the lower end of the HEPA filter 131 and the housing 10, thereby preventing the leak of air therebetween.
  • a hollow portion 131a is formed, into which a coupling portion 133 disposed in a filter dust removal member 132 is fit to be described below. Also the hollow portion 131a is equipped with a supporting portion 131b that rotatably supports the coupling member 133.
  • the cyclone dust collection apparatus Y attains an enhancement of the power of dust collection by filtering air in two stages such as the interior cylinder filter 122 and the HEPA filter 131.
  • the upper portion filter unit 13 is equipped with the filter dust removal member 132 that removes dust attached to the HEPA filter 131.
  • the filter dust removal member 132 is rotatably supported by the supporting portion 131b disposed at the center of the HEPA filter 131. More specifically, the filter dust removal member 132 is equipped with the coupling member 133 rotatably supported by the supporting portion 131b.
  • the coupling portion 133 is equipped with the inclined dust removable member 134 that is screwed by a screw 133b into a screw hole 133a disposed to the coupling portion 133, thereby allowing the filter dust removal member 132 and the inclined dust removable member 134 to be coupled so as to rotate together.
  • a seal member 163 that fills a clearance between the inclined dust removable member 134 and the HEPA filter 131 is disposed therebetween. Thus it helps preventing the leak of air between the inclined dust removable member 134 and the HEPA filter 131.
  • the filter dust removable member 132 comprises two contact portions (132a) that are arranged at a predetermined interval along the HEPA filter 131 so as to contact the upper end portion of the HEPA filter 131.
  • the contact portion 132a is a plate spring-form elastic member. It is to be noted that the contact portion 132a is not limited to the plate spring-form elastic member. Also, with regards to the contact portion 132a, either one or a plurality thereof may be disposed.
  • the filter dust removable member 132 is equipped with a gear 132b around the outer perphery thereof. As shown in FIG. 2 and 3 , this gear 132b is meshed with a gear 15a attached to a dust removal drive mechanism 15 disposed in the cyclone dust collection apparatus Y.
  • the dust removal drive mechanism 15 comprises a decelerator coupled to a driving motor (not shown, but a driving means as an example and hereinafter called "a dust removal driving motor") disposed on the side of the cleaner body 1 and a gear 15a coupled the driving motor.
  • the dust removal drive mechanism 15 allows the rotating force of the dust removal driving motor to be transmitted to the gear 15a via the decelerator. And the rotating force of the gear 15 of the dust removal drive mechanism 15 is transmitted to the gear 132b, thereby enabling the filter dust removal member 132 to rotate.
  • the rotation of the filter dust removal member 132 is transmitted to the inclined dust removable member 134, thereby allowing the interior cylinder 12 that rotates together with the inclined dust removable member 134 and the spirally rotating compression portion 123 that rotates together with the interior cylinder 12 to rotate around the vertical central shaft P.
  • the invention is described as embodied in such an example that the filter dust removal member 132 is rotated by the dust removal driving motor.
  • the filter dust removal member 132 can be rotated manually instead of by the dust removal driving motor.
  • the dust receiving portion 14 rotatably supports the interior cylinder 12. More specifically, the circular support 14c that is fit to the circular recess 12a disposed at the upper end of the interior cylinder 12 is arranged at the lower end of the open edge portion 14a of the dust receiving portion 14, thereby enabling the interior cylinder 12 to be rotatably hung up by the dust receiving portion 14.
  • the cyclone dust collection apparatus Y is formed to be roughly cylindrical in shape, and configured to comprise the upper portion filter unit 13 arranged at the upper portion thereof and the dust collection container 11 arranged at the lower portion thereof.
  • the disk-shaped shielding member 123c that serves as a boundary division between the dust separation portion 104 and the dust collection portion 105 is integrally joined to the lower end of the interior cylinder 12 housed in the dust collection container 11.
  • the external diameter of the disk-shaped shielding member 123c is almost the same as that of the spiral portion 123a thereunder, and smaller than the internal diameter of the dust separation portion 104.
  • a clearance 106 ( FIG.6 ) is interposed between the periphery of disk-shaped shielding member 123c and the interior wall of the dust collection container 11.
  • the clearance 106 is suitable in size to such a situation that when transferring the dust separated at the dust separation portion 104 to the dust collection portion 105, even the dust at a certain volume can be smoothly transferred, and the dust once transferred and accumulated at the dust collection portion 105 can be rolled up without clogging the interior cylinder filter 122. It was confirmed that about 13mm is preferable by experiment.
  • a clearance 107 (equivalent to the roughly cylindrical space in accordance with the present invention) between the spiral portion 123a and the interior surface of the dust collection container 11 is configured to become smaller toward the bottom surface of the dust collection container 11 as the diameter of the dust collection container 11 is designed to become smaller toward the bottom surface thereof.
  • the disk-shaped shielding member 123c has a predetermined thickness in the direction of height.
  • the thickness of the disk-shaped shielding member 123c in the direction of height affects the performance of centrifugal separation in the dust separation portion 104, and in this embodiment, about 13 mm is employed as the thickness, which was experimentally determined.
  • the spiral portion 123a of the spirally rotating compression portion 123 is formed in a plate-like shape that is curved by being sandwiched between spirally curved surfaces thereabove and therebelow. It is also formed so as to twist around the rotating shaft portion 123b that extends almost vertically downward from the disk-shaped shielding member 123c to the bottom surface of the dust collection container 11 with more than one complete circle from the start end 123s (the connection portion to the disk-shaped shielding member 123c) to the termination end 123e (the lower end).
  • the preferable value of the twist angle as described above is equivalent to 1.6 circles.
  • the spiral portion 123a is formed to have a spirally turning plane that is inclined downward along the direction of rotation of cyclone swirling airflow (indicated by arrow A in FIG.6 ) along the interior periphery surface of the dust collection container 11.
  • the twist angle whereby the aforementioned portion 123a twists around the rotating shaft portion 123b is not limited to the above figure.
  • Such a compact spiral portion 123a will be described below.
  • a clearance 108 (Refer to FIG.6 ) is interposed between the termination end (lower end) of the spiral portion 123a of the spirally rotating compression portion 123 and the bottom surface of the dust collection portion 105, thereby attaining a major increase of the amount of dust that can be pushed from the center of the rotating shaft outwardly and compressed.
  • the width of the clearance 108 is large enough to prevent the cyclone dust collection apparatus Y from being damaged by clogging of the dust that is pushed and compressed to the bottom surface of the dust collection portion 105 and foreign materials or the like between the termination end of the spiral portion and the bottom surface of the dust collection portion 105.
  • about 6 ⁇ 13mm is employed as the width of the aforementioned clearance 108 that was determined as by experiment using 10kg of DMT standard waste TYPE8 based on the IEC Standard as a test waste.
  • airflow that comes into the dust separation portion 104 of the dust collection container 11 through the air inlet 111a of the connection portion 111 that is formed in the circumferential direction of the dust separation portion 104 swirls along the interior periphery surface of the dust separation portion 104 at a high speed as indicated by arrow A in FIG.6 .
  • Relatively large dust in the swirling airflow is separated therefrom by centrifugal force and pushed to the interior wall of the dust collection container 11.
  • the exhaust port 121 is disposed down below so that the airflow, thereafter, spirally comes into the dust collection port 105.
  • the swirling airflow (main airflow) turns to climb upward after arriving at the bottom surface of the dust collection portion 105.
  • the rotation direction of airflow swirling in the clearance 107 surrounding the spirally rotating compression portion 123 matches the inclination direction of the spiral portion 123a of the spirally rotating compression portion 123 so that the cyclone swirling airflow is not prevented, thereby enabling efficient centrifugal separation with less pressure loss and achieving high suction power.
  • the dust transferred by the airflow indicated by the two dot chain line arrow A in FIG.6 gets lodged in (trapped in) and accumulated in the space 112a between the termination end (lower end portion) of the spiral portion 123a and the bottom surface of the dust collection container 11, wherein the dust is laminated from the underside but along the spiral curved surface of the spiral portion 123a, thereby preventing further pressure loss from increasing.
  • the rotation direction of the airflow swirling in the clearance 107 surrounding the spirally rotating compression portion 123 matches the inclination direction of the spiral portion 123a thereof, so that the dust accumulated and laminated is slightly compressed by the airflow as well, thereby decreasing the volume of dust accumulated / laminated and attaining more efficient dust collection.
  • the dust suck in is separated in the dust separation portion 104, passes through the clearance 106 ( FIG.6 ), and is introduced to the dust collection portion 105.
  • the dust is blocked (trapped) by the clearance 108 after passing through the clearance 107, and then is accumulated.
  • This accumulation of dust is laminated on the dust already accumulated by every rotation of spirally rotating compression portion 123.
  • the spiral portion 123a may be formed in a spiral shape having a direction of inclination toward downward along the direction of rotation of cyclone swirling airflow. In this case, compression effect by the cyclone airflow is also obtained, thereby attaining a further increase in dust collectable capacity.
  • the airflow stops swirling.
  • the dust removal drive mechanism 15 is driven after confirming the halt of driving of the blower drive motor, as described above, the interior cylinder 12, the exhaust port 121, the disk-shaped shielding member 123c, the spirally rotating compression portion 123 and the rotating shaft portion 123b, all together rotate as one in the direction of arrow D indicated in FIG. 8 (in a counterclockwise direction, viewed from the upper surface) around the vertical central shaft P.
  • the rotation by the dust removal drive mechanism 15 is transmitted to the rotating shaft portion 123b via the 1 st rotation shaft line 152 and 2 nd rotation shaft line 153 shown in FIG.8 .
  • the dust accumulated between the spiral portion 123a and the bottom surface of the dust collection container 11 is applied with the rotating force by the rotation of the spiral portion 123a.
  • the dust is compressed by being pushed out outwardly from the center shaft, so that the dust 200 between the spirally rotating compression portion 123 and the bottom surface of dust collection container 11 maintains itself in a firmly compressed state once it is compressed after the rotation stops or even after the dust collection container 11 is released and the compression force is released.
  • the dust can be held in the lower portion under the height 300 so that the dust is collected even when the new dust 201 is suck in from up above, and the new dust can be further compressed by the rotation of the spirally rotating compression portion 123, thereby attaining continuous compression efficiently.
  • the dust collectable capacity increased about threefold.
  • this dust collection apparatus Y even if a great deal of dust is collected by just one-time suction and the height of the dust reaches 300 shown in FIG. 10 , it comes together with the old one already contacted to the spiral portion 123a, and can be pushed out in the direction of the rotation shaft for compression.
  • the dust after compression is integrated so as to be solidified in a doughnut shape, thereby preventing waste from flying apart and dropping out when discarding waste, and attaining efficient waste discarding.
  • a rib 400 longitudinally to the interior wall surface of the dust collection container 11 as shown in FIG.14 , it becomes possible to make the clearance partially smaller between the spirally rotating compression portion 123 and the dust collection container 11.
  • Such configuration increases thrust force in the direction of the rotation shaft by the spirally rotating compression portion 123, thereby achieving more efficient compression.
  • the lib 400 is disposed to the interior wall surface of the dust collection container 11 so as to have the clearance between the spirally rotating compression portion 123 and the dust collection container 11 become smaller toward the bottom surface of the dust collection container 11, thereby achieving more efficient compression of dust.
  • One rib is effective, but it is preferable to have a plurality of ribs evenly distributed from the view point of balance.
  • the rib 400 disposed to the interior wall surface of the dust collection container 11 it is not limited to the rib 400 disposed to the interior wall surface of the dust collection container 11, but the interior wall surface thereof may be formed so as to be concavoconvex or be provided with surface treatment that becomes resistance.
  • the spirally rotating compression portion 123 shown in FIG.11 comprises the clearance 107 between the outer circumferential end of the spiral portion 123a and the interior wall surface of the dust collection portion 105 with the diameter of the internal periphery of the dust collection container 11 being constant whereby there is no space that becomes smaller toward the bottom surface of the dust collection container 11. More specifically, the clearance 107 is constant toward the bottom surface of the dust collection container 11.
  • Other configurations are the same as the 1 st embodiment of the present invention. In the case of the dust collection container 11, as the internal diameter does never become smaller toward the bottom surface of the dust collection container 11, the volume of the dust collection portion 105 increases and it is possible to compress dust by constant thrust force in the direction of rotation shaft, thereby achieving the accumulation and lamination of much mote dust.
  • the clearance 107 is constant toward the bottom surface of the dust collection container 11, the friction between dust and the interior wall surface of the dust collection container 11 doesn't change, so that compression can be performed by constant thrust force in the direction of rotation shaft, thereby attaining the effect of preventing the spirally rotating compression portion 123 from being immobilized and locked by clogging of dust.
  • the twist angle of the spiral portion 123a may be considered to have the twist angle of the spiral portion 123a less than one complete circle along the interior periphery of the dust collection container 11. It becomes possible to downsize the spiral portion 123a or the whole spirally rotating compression portion 123 including the spiral portion 123a by reducing the twist angle of the spiral portion 123a in this way. By so downsizing the spirally rotating compression portion 123, it is expected that rotation load is mitigated on the part of the spirally rotating compression portion 123, and the reduction in size and weight of the whole apparatus is realized.
  • FIG.19 shows the spirally rotating compression portion 123 with the twist angle of the spiral portion 123a being less than one complete circle as mentioned above.
  • a view of the spirally rotating compression portion 123 viewed from obliquely upward from a lower position is shown in (b) of the same figure is, and that viewed from obliquely downward from an upper position is shown in (a) thereof.
  • the spiral portion 123a formed around the spiral portion 123b disposed vertically at the center thereof is separated from the disk-shaped shielding member 123c disposed above the spiral portion 123a, and a clearance W is interposed vertically between the spiral portion 123a and the disk-shaped shielding member 123c.
  • the clearance W is shown in FIG. 16 corresponding to FIG.6 and FIG. 18 corresponding to FIG.8 , and should be clearly understood with reference thereto.
  • the start end 123s' that has been formed after cutting off the portion adjacent to the start end 123s may be formed in a circular arc shape.
  • the embodiment as mentioned above explained the case when as a result of cutting off a portion of the spiral portion 123a, the spiral portion 123a and the disk-shaped shielding member 123c were arranged discrete, resulting in the formation of the clearance W therebetween, but this is merely exemplary in nature.
  • the configuration is allowable in which without cutting off the portion of the spiral portion 123a, the start end 123s of the spiral portion 123a is formed so as to be continuously connected to the disk-shaped shielding member 123c, resulting in no clearance therebetween.
  • the present invention is applicable to cyclone separation apparatuses including a dust collector such as an electric vacuum cleaner.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Filters For Electric Vacuum Cleaners (AREA)
  • Cyclones (AREA)

Claims (15)

  1. Appareil séparateur à cyclone qui est équipé d'un récipient de récupération (11) avec une surface intérieure à peu près cylindrique, dans lequel, grâce au fait que l'air aspiré à partir d'une admission d'air (111a) disposée dans le sens circonférentiel dans la périphérie du récipient de récupération est amené à longer en spirale la surface intérieure à peu près cylindrique, et est ensuite évacué du centre dudit récipient de récupération en traversant des moyens filtrants (13) disposés dans une partie supérieure du récipient de récupération, le matériau relativement grand qui est destiné à être récupéré et qui est contenu dans l'air est récupéré en bas du récipient de récupération (11), et le matériau relativement petit destiné à être récupéré est récupéré dans les moyens filtrants (13),
    caractérisé en ce que l'appareil séparateur à cyclone est équipé, à l'intérieur du récipient de récupération, d'un organe de compression (123) qui présente une surface courbe en spirale (123a), centrée sur un axe central vertical (P) du récipient de récupération, qui peut tourner autour dudit axe central vertical (P) et qui comprime le matériau (200) destiné à être récupéré,
    l'organe de compression (123) comporte un organe de protection en forme de disque (123c), disposé au-dessus de la surface courbe en spirale (123a), pour séparer la partie supérieure et une partie inférieure du récipient de récupération, et
    l'organe de compression (123) présente une partie formant axe de rotation (123b) qui a la forme d'un cylindre circulaire creux, et ladite partie formant axe de rotation (123b) est montée sur une partie de montage (11a) disposée en bas du récipient de récupération (11).
  2. Appareil séparateur à cyclone selon la revendication 1, dans lequel un corps d'appareil séparateur (10) est disposé dans la partie supérieure du récipient de récupération (11), avec une sortie d'air par laquelle l'air est évacué à travers les moyens filtrants (13).
  3. Appareil séparateur à cyclone selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, dans lequel la surface courbe en spirale (123a) de l'organe de compression (123) tourne sur l'axe central vertical (P) du fait de la rotation dudit organe de compression (123), moyennant quoi le produit destiné à être récupéré qui est accumulé dans le récipient de récupération est comprimé par la surface courbe en spirale (123a).
  4. Appareil séparateur à cyclone selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, dans lequel la surface courbe en spirale (123a) de l'organe de compression (123), si on suppose qu'elle est conçue comme une vis, est formée de telle sorte que la vis recule sous l'action de la rotation de l'organe de compression.
  5. Appareil séparateur à cyclone selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, dans lequel la surface courbe en spirale (123a) de l'organe de compression (123) est formée dans le sens correspondant à peu près au sens de rotation de l'écoulement d'air qui descend en tourbillon le long de la surface périphérique intérieure du récipient de récupération (11).
  6. Appareil séparateur à cyclone selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, dans lequel des moyens d'entraînement (15) sont également prévus pour entraîner en rotation l'organe de compression (123).
  7. Appareil séparateur à cyclone selon la revendication 6, dans lequel l'organe de compression (123) est commandé pour être entraîné en rotation après achèvement de l'opération de récupération du matériau (200) destiné à être récupéré.
  8. Appareil séparateur à cyclone selon la revendication 6, dans lequel l'organe de compression (123) est commandé pour être entraîné en rotation pendant l'opération de récupération du matériau (200) destiné à être récupéré.
  9. Appareil séparateur à cyclone selon la revendication 8, dans lequel l'organe de compression (123) est commandé pour être entraîné en rotation par intermittence pendant l'opération de récupération du matériau (200) destiné à être récupéré.
  10. Appareil séparateur à cyclone selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, dans lequel l'organe de compression (123) est stocké dans le récipient de récupération (11) avec un espace à peu près cylindrique entre ledit organe de compression (123) et la surface périphérique intérieure du récipient de récupération (11).
  11. Appareil séparateur à cyclone selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, dans lequel la surface courbe en spirale (123a) de l'organe de compression (123) est formée de manière à s'étendre en hélice le long de la surface périphérique intérieure du récipient de récupération (11) avec plus ou moins d'un cercle complet de ladite surface périphérique intérieure.
  12. Appareil séparateur à cyclone selon la revendication 11, dans lequel le récipient de récupération (11) est équipé d'un organe de séparation présentant la surface courbe en spirale formée autour de l'axe central vertical (P) du récipient collecteur avec plus d'un cercle complet, et l'organe de protection en forme de disque (123c) est disposé au-dessus de l'organe de séparation.
  13. Appareil séparateur à cyclone selon la revendication 12, dans lequel un espace est intercalé à la verticale entre la surface courbe en spirale et l'organe de protection en forme de disque (123c).
  14. Appareil séparateur à cyclone selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, dans lequel la surface courbe en spirale (123a) est formée à partir d'une extrémité de commencement (123s), du côté de l'ouverture de partie supérieure du récipient de récupération, jusqu'à une extrémité terminale (123e), du côté de la surface inférieure de fond du récipient de récupération (11), et le bord extérieur de l'extrémité de commencement (123s) est formé suivant une ligne courbe de manière à présenter un rayon, à partir du centre de l'organe de compression jusqu'à la périphérie extérieure de celui-ci, qui augmente progressivement.
  15. Appareil séparateur à cyclone selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, qui est apte à être appliqué à un appareil de récupération de poussière à cyclone, avec la poussière (200) comme matériau destiné à être récupéré.
EP09723103.9A 2008-03-21 2009-03-19 Appareil séparateur à cyclone Not-in-force EP2255709B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP2008072942 2008-03-21
JP2008214033A JP4478191B2 (ja) 2008-08-22 2008-08-22 サイクロン分離装置
JP2008271640A JP4378420B2 (ja) 2008-03-21 2008-10-22 サイクロン分離装置
PCT/JP2009/055394 WO2009116611A1 (fr) 2008-03-21 2009-03-19 Appareil séparateur à cyclone

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP2255709A1 EP2255709A1 (fr) 2010-12-01
EP2255709A4 EP2255709A4 (fr) 2012-11-07
EP2255709B1 true EP2255709B1 (fr) 2015-11-04

Family

ID=43015780

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Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP09723103.9A Not-in-force EP2255709B1 (fr) 2008-03-21 2009-03-19 Appareil séparateur à cyclone

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EP (1) EP2255709B1 (fr)
CN (1) CN101965148A (fr)
WO (1) WO2009116611A1 (fr)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JP5406655B2 (ja) * 2009-10-05 2014-02-05 シャープ株式会社 電気掃除機
WO2015153943A1 (fr) 2014-04-04 2015-10-08 Techtronic Industries Co. Ltd. Aspirateur
CN105011861B (zh) * 2014-04-14 2018-11-27 江苏美的清洁电器股份有限公司 吸尘器的旋风分离器
KR102308661B1 (ko) * 2015-05-26 2021-10-05 엘지전자 주식회사 진공청소기용 집진장치 및 이를 구비하는 진공청소기
CN107468159B (zh) * 2017-10-10 2023-09-12 小狗电器互联网科技（北京）股份有限公司 吸尘组件及吸尘器
KR102021856B1 (ko) 2018-02-20 2019-09-17 엘지전자 주식회사 청소기

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS5541313Y2 (fr) * 1978-11-01 1980-09-27
JP4640542B2 (ja) * 2000-12-27 2011-03-02 有限会社吉工 サイクロン
KR100437117B1 (ko) * 2002-05-16 2004-06-23 삼성광주전자 주식회사 진공청소기용 사이클론 집진장치
JP2005013312A (ja) 2003-06-24 2005-01-20 Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd 電気掃除機
KR100607440B1 (ko) 2004-09-13 2006-08-02 삼성광주전자 주식회사 사이클론 집진장치 및 이를 구비한 진공 청소기

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WO2009116611A1 (fr) 2009-09-24
CN101965148A (zh) 2011-02-02
EP2255709A1 (fr) 2010-12-01
EP2255709A4 (fr) 2012-11-07

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