GB2358126A

GB2358126A - Air exhaust structure of an upright-type vacuum cleaner

Info

Publication number: GB2358126A
Application number: GB0101000A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Nae-Jung Kim
Original assignee: Samsung Gwangju Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2000-01-17
Filing date: 2001-01-15
Publication date: 2001-07-18
Anticipated expiration: 2021-01-15
Also published as: GB0101000D0; GB2358126B

Abstract

An air exhaust structure of an upright-type vacuum cleaner includes a duct 30 vertically formed in a side of a cleaner body 100, communicating with a motor driving chamber 20, a supporting member 32 protruding from an inner wall 31 of the duct 30 to a predetermined height, a filter 40 supported by the supporting member 32 and received in the duct 30, and a grill 50 hinged to the cleaner body 100 for opening and closing an air discharge opening of the duct 30. The air exhaust structure enables simple fabrication with a reduced number of parts and reduced fabrication cost.

Description

1 2358126 AIR EXHAUST STRUCTURE OF AN UPRIGHT-TYPE VACUUM CLEANER The

present invention relates to an upright-type vacuum cleaner, and more particularly to an air exhaust structure of the upright-type vacuum cleaner.

Generally, an upright-type vacuum cleaner has a suction brush that is movably connected to a cleaner body.

The suction brush moves along the cleaning surface during the cleaning process. A dust collecting chamber is defined in an upper portion of the cleaner body, and a motor driving chamber is defined in a lower portion of the cleaner body. A dust filter is detachably disposed in the dust collecting chamber, and a motor is disposed in the motor driving chamber.

When the motor operates, it generates a strong suction force at the suction brush. The suction force draws contaminants with air from the cleaning surface through the suction brush into the cleaner body. The air is then discharged through the dust filter in the dust collecting chamber to the motor driving chamber. The contaminants entrained in the air are collected by the dust filter, and the clean air is discharged into the atmosphere through the motor driving chamber.

The air must be discharged into the atmosphere without contaminants residue in an unobstructed manner. Many designs of air exhaust structures are suggested for an efficient air discharge from the motor driving chamber into the atmosphere.

2 An example of an air exhaust structure of the uprighttype vacuum cleaner is disclosed in the U.S. Patent No. 5,946,771 (published on September 7, 1999). As shown in Figure 1, the disclosed air exhaust structure of the upright-type vacuum cleaner has a discharge duct 3 disposed at a side of a cleaner body 1, communicating with a motor driving chamber 2, a plurality of louvers 4 vertically extended at a predetermined space from each other, inside the discharge duct 3, a filter pad 5 externally disposed on the louvers 4, a supporting frame 6 attached to the cleaner body 1 for supporting the filter pad 5, and a grill 7 hingedly to the supporting frame 6 for covering the filter pad 6.

The air discharged through the motor driving chamber 2 is distributed through the louvers 4. Air carry velocity increases as the air flows through the louvers 4. Contaminants entrained in the air are filtered through the filter pad 6, and the clean air is discharged through the grill 7 into the atmosphere.

According to the conventional air exhaust structure of the upright-type vacuum cleaner as constructed above, the louvers 4 of complex shape are disposed inside the discharge duct 3, and the supporting frame 6 for supporting the filter pad 5 is additionally fabricated and attached to the cleaner body 1. Accordingly, fabrication process becomes complex and the number of parts and fabrication cost are increased.

It is desired to overcome the above-mentioned problems of the related art. An aim of the present invention is to provide an improved air exhaust structure of an 3 upright-type vacuum cleaner enabling a simple fabrication process and a decreased number of parts.

According to the present invention there is provided an air exhaust structure of an upright-type vacuum cleaner, which includes a duct vertically formed in a side of a cleaner body, communicating with a motor driving chamber, a supporting member protruded from an inner wall of the duct to a predetermined height, a filter supported by the supporting member and received in the duct, and a grill hinged to the cleaner body for opening and closing an air discharge opening of the duct.

The inner wall of the duct is inclined from an air inflow channel formed in a lower portion of the duct, upwardly to the grill at a soft slopness. The supporting member is protruded from a center of the inner wall of the duct to a predetermined height, the supporting member being spaced apart from the grill.

A supporting frame protrudes from an outer circumference of the air discharge opening of the duct for supporting outer blocks of the filter. A semi-circular recess is formed at a side of the supporting frame, for enabling easy detachment of the filter.

For a better understanding of the invention, and to show how embodiments of the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which:

4 Figure 1 is a cross sectional elevation view showing a cleaner body of a conventional upright-type vacuum cleaner; Figure 2 is a schematic perspective view showing an upright-type vacuum cleaner according to the present invention; Figure 3 is a schematic perspective view showing a cleaner body of Figure 2; Figure 4 is a cross sectional elevation view taken on line I - I of Figure 3; and Figure 5 is a cross sectional horizontal view taken on line II - II of Figure 3.

As shown in Figure 2, the preferred upright-type vacuum cleaner includes a suction brush 200 movably connected to a lower portion of a cleaner body 100, which moves along the cleaning surface during the cleaning process. The cleaner body 100 has a dust collecting chamber 10 and a motor driving chamber 20. A dust filter (not shown) is detachably disposed in the dust collecting chamber 10, and a motor (not shown) is disposed in the motor driving chamber 20. A grill 50 is hinged to a side of the cleaner body 100.

As shown in Figure 3, an air exhaust structure of the upright-type vacuum cleaner according to the present invention includes a duct 30 vertically formed on a side of the cleaner body 100, communicating with the motor driving chamber 20, a supporting member 32 protruding from an inner wall 31 of the duct 30, to a predetermined height, a filter 40 received in the duct 30, and a grill 50 hinged to the cleaner body 100 for opening/closing an air discharge opening of the duct 30.

As shown in Figure 4, the duct 30 communicates with the motor driving chamber 20 through an air inflow channel 33. A plurality of cross-plates 34 are disposed across the air inflow channel 33. Air is discharged through the motor driving chamber 20, and distributed by the cross-plates 34 while being drawn into the duct 30 through the air inflow channel 33. The inner wall 31 of the duct 30 is inclined to the grill 50 at a shallow angle. Accordingly, since a cross sectional flow area of the duct 30 is decreased, air carry velocity increases as the air drawn into the duct 30 upwardly flows.

The supporting member 32 protrudes from a center of the inner wall 31 of the duct 30, for supporting the filter 40. The supporting member 32 is spaced apart from the grill 50 at a predetermined distance. It is preferable that the supporting member 32 has a streamline shape enabling ambient air to flow unobstructed.

A supporting frame 35 protrudes from a side wall of the duct 30 to an outer circumference of the air discharge opening of the duct 30, for supporting outer blocks of the filter 40.

As shown in Figure 5, since a surface of the filter 40 is supported by the supporting member 32 forming an air flow therebetween while the outer blocks of the filter 40 is supported by the supporting frame 35, the filter 40 can 6 be received in the duct 30 enabling unobstructed air flow. It is preferable that a thickness of the filter 40 is larger than a distance between an end portion of the supporting member 32 in contact with the filter 40, and an inner wall of the grill 50, so that the filter 40 can be received in a compressed manner between the supporting member 32 and the grill 50.

Semi-circular recesses 35a are formed at both sides of the supporting frame 35 (refer to Figure 4). Since the outer blocks of the filter 40 are partially exposed through the semi-circular recesses 35a, the filter 40 can be easily detached from the duct 30 when a user replaces or cleans the filter 40.

one side of the grill 50 is hinged to the cleaner body 100 proximate to the supporting frame 35, and hinges on a hinge 51 for opening/closing the air discharge opening of the duct 30. A hook 52 is disposed on the other side of the grill 50 to be selectively inserted in a joint recess 101 of the cleaner body 100.

An air exhausting in the air exhaust structure of the upright-type vacuum cleaner according to the present invention will be described below.

First, air is drawn into the dust collecting chamber 10 together with contaminants through the suction brush 200, then initially filtered through a dust filter (not shown) disposed in the dust collecting chamber 10. Next, the air is drawn into the motor driving chamber 20 and discharged to the duct 30 through the air inflow channel 33. Here, the air is distributed by the plurality of 7 crossplates 34 disposed across the air inflow channel 33, while being drawn into the duct 30. Then the air is finally filtered through the filter 40. The clean air is discharged into the atmosphere through the grill 50.

The air drawn through the air inflow channel 33 flows faster as upwardly flowing along the inner wall 31 of the duct 30. Accordingly, the air drawn into the duct 30 can be discharged into the atmosphere through the filter 40 and the grill 50 in an unobstructed manner, and less subjected to the distance from the air inflow channel 33.

As described above, the air exhaust structure of the upright-type vacuum cleaner according to the present is invention includes the supporting member 32 disposed in the inner wall 31 of the duct 30 for supporting the surface of the filter 40, and the supporting frame 35 integrally formed with the cleaner body 100 for supporting the outer blocks of the filter 40, so that simple fabrication and reduced number of parts and fabrication cost can be accomplished.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in this embodiment without departing from the principles of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims.

The reader's attention is directed to all papers and documents which are filed concurrently with or previous to this specification in connection with this application and which are open to public inspection with this 8 specification, and the contents of all such papers and documents are incorporated herein by reference.

All of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and/or all of the steps of any method or process so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive.

Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiment (s). The invention extend to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), or to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the steps of any method or process so disclosed.

9

Claims

1. An air exhaust structure of an upright-type vacuum cleaner, comprising:

a duct vertically formed in a side of a cleaner body, communicating with a motor driving chamber; a supporting member protruding from an inner wall of the duct to a predetermined height; a filter supported by the supporting member and received in the duct; and is a grill hinged to the cleaner body for opening and closing an air discharge opening of the duct.

2. The air exhaust structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the inner wall of the duct is inclined from an air inflow channel formed in a lower portion of the duct, upwardly to the grill at a shallow angle.

3. The air exhaust structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the supporting member protrudes from a center of the inner wall of the duct to a predetermined height, the supporting member being spaced apart from the grill.

4. The air exhaust structure as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a supporting frame protruding from an outer circumference of the air discharge opening of the duct for supporting outer blocks of the filter.

5. The air exhaust structure as claimed in claim 4, wherein the supporting frame further comprises a semi-circular recess formed at a side of the supporting frame, for enabling easy detachment of the filter.

6. An air exhaust structure of an upright-type vacuum cleaner, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 2-5 of the accompanying drawings.