JP2006034734A - Rechargeable vacuum cleaner system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a charge waiting time extremely short by rapidly lowering the temperature of a battery pack to a chargeable upper limit temperature with simple structure when the battery pack is over the chargeable upper limit temperature in charging the battery pack. <P>SOLUTION: An elastic member for applying energizing force to thermally connect the battery pack 8 and a storage chamber heat transfer wall, is provided in the storage chamber, and a charger 40 is provided with a heat transfer part 42 having a heat transfer face constituting a part of a charging base 41. In charging the battery pack 8, the storage chamber heat transfer wall and the heat transfer face of the charging base 41 are thermally connected, and a connecting structure having a connection part for forming a circuit for charging the battery pack 8 including a charge control part is provided. The charge control part is constituted to control the charging current of the battery pack 8 while comparing the temperature of the battery pack 8 detected by a temperature detecting element during the charge of the battery pack 8, with a preset chargeable temperature range. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a rechargeable vacuum cleaner system that can efficiently charge an assembled battery mounted on a vacuum cleaner.

  Conventionally, in a rechargeable vacuum cleaner, various inventions have been proposed and put into practical use for a charger for charging an assembled battery including a plurality of secondary batteries housed in a main body case of the vacuum cleaner. When charging such an assembled battery, a point to be particularly noted is that charging cannot be performed in a state where the temperature of the assembled battery is high from the viewpoint of safety. Therefore, in the conventional rechargeable vacuum cleaner, when the temperature of the assembled battery and the temperature of the assembled battery measured by the thermistor are outside the chargeable temperature range (for example, 0 to 55 ° C.) Control means is provided for starting charging of the assembled battery when the assembled battery is not charged and the temperature of the assembled battery is within the chargeable temperature range. In a rechargeable vacuum cleaner provided with such a thermistor and control means, even if an attempt is made to charge the assembled battery immediately after the operation of the vacuum cleaner is stopped, the temperature of the assembled battery is set to the upper limit temperature at which charging is possible. Often exceeded. Therefore, the charging control means must wait for charging until the temperature of the assembled battery falls to the upper limit temperature for charging. Since the assembled battery is housed in the housing, the heat dissipation is low, and if the assembled battery is waiting for the temperature of the assembled battery to fall to the maximum chargeable temperature due to natural heat dissipation, charging cannot be started for a long time. there were.

For this reason, for example, Patent Document 1 proposes a technique in which the temperature of the assembled battery that is at a high temperature is quickly lowered to shorten the waiting time until the assembled battery can be charged. According to the invention disclosed in this patent document, when the rechargeable vacuum cleaner is coupled to the charger (AC adapter main body) for charging the assembled battery, the charger and the rechargeable vacuum cleaner are communicated with each other. An air path is formed so that the assembled battery is arranged in the middle. Further, the charger is provided with a blower, and by driving the blower, cooling air is caused to flow in the air passage, and the assembled battery is forcibly cooled by the cooling air.
JP 2002-65535 A

However, in the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above, an air passage through which cooling air for cooling the assembled battery flows must be formed in the charger and the rechargeable vacuum cleaner, and the structure of the vacuum cleaner Was complicated.
In addition, by forming an air passage in the rechargeable vacuum cleaner, the rechargeable vacuum cleaner becomes larger, which is contrary to the downsizing that is a demand for home appliances in general.
Furthermore, in the charger, in addition to the charging mechanism, a cooling fan and various mechanisms associated with the fan must be provided, and there is a problem that the charger becomes large and expensive. there were.

  The object of the present invention is to quickly reduce the temperature of the assembled battery to a chargeable upper limit temperature with a simple structure when the assembled battery exceeds the upper limit temperature for charging, and wait for charging. It is an object of the present invention to provide a rechargeable vacuum cleaner system capable of extremely shortening the time.

  To achieve the above object, a rechargeable vacuum cleaner system according to the present invention includes a vacuum cleaner having a main body case, a storage chamber provided in the main body case, having an opening, and being stored in the storage chamber. An assembled battery composed of a plurality of possible battery cells, a storage chamber heat transfer wall forming a part of the storage chamber, a temperature detecting element for detecting the temperature of the assembled battery, and charging and charging the assembled battery In a rechargeable vacuum cleaner system comprising a charger having a base and a charge control unit for controlling charging of the assembled battery, the assembled battery and the storage chamber heat transfer wall are thermally connected An elastic member for applying an urging force to the charging chamber is provided in the storage chamber, and the charger is provided with a heat transfer portion that constitutes a part of the charging base and has a heat transfer surface. Thermally connecting the heat transfer wall and the heat transfer surface of the charging stand, A connection structure having a connection part for forming a circuit for charging the assembled battery including the charge control part, wherein the charge control part is detected by the temperature detection element during charging of the assembled battery; The charging current of the assembled battery is controlled while comparing the temperature of the assembled battery with a preset chargeable temperature range.

  According to the present invention, when charging the assembled battery, if the assembled battery exceeds the rechargeable upper limit temperature, the temperature of the assembled battery is quickly reduced to a rechargeable upper limit temperature with a simple structure, and charging is performed. A rechargeable vacuum cleaner system capable of extremely shortening the waiting time can be provided.

Several embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The vacuum cleaner of a rechargeable vacuum cleaner system is demonstrated using FIGS. As shown in FIG. 1, the vacuum cleaner 1 includes a main body case 2, a hose 3 that is detachably attached to the main body case 2, and an extension pipe 4 that is detachably connected to the tip of the hose 3. The suction pipe body 5 is detachably attached to the distal end portion of the extension pipe 4. The main body case 2 has a pair of traveling wheels 6 arranged at intervals in the lower rear part, and a traveling wheel 6a is attached to the lower front part thereof. Inside the main body case 2, an assembled battery 8 and an electric blower 9 driven by using the assembled battery 8 as a drive source are housed. The structure and storage structure of the assembled battery 8 will be described later. The hose 3 is connected to the main body case 2 so that its base end communicates with the suction side of the electric blower 9 via a dust collection chamber (not shown). Near the tip of the hose 3 where the extension pipe 4 is connected, the operator's grip 10 branched from the hose 3 toward the rear, and the operator's finger holding the grip 10 And an operating means 11 located in an operable range.
The operation means 11 also serves as a power switch for the electric blower 9 and is configured to be able to select and set a plurality of types of operation modes that make the electric blower 9 different drive states. Specifically, from the grip portion 10 toward the extension pipe 4, an operation button 11a for stop setting which is one of the operation modes, an operation button 11b for weak operation setting which is one of the operation modes, The change buttons 11c for setting the strong operation, which is one of the operation modes, are arranged in a row.

  As shown in FIG. 3A, the assembled battery 8 includes a plurality of rechargeable secondary battery cells 12 such as a cylindrical nickel cadmium battery, a nickel hydride battery, and a lithium ion battery, and the secondary battery cells 12. It is composed of a heat-shrinkable tube 13 that is joined and covered. The assembled battery 8 is preferably configured by collecting secondary battery cells having uniform temperature characteristics and capacity. In this embodiment, the assembled battery 8 has eight secondary battery cells arranged side by side. FIG. 3B shows an arrangement relationship with the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 constituting a part of the storage chamber 16 in which the assembled battery is stored. FIG. 3C shows an example in which the temperature detection element 15 that detects the temperature of the assembled battery 8 is arranged in the gap between the adjacent secondary battery cells 12. The temperature detection element 15 is composed of a thermistor 15 as shown in FIG. 3D, for example. The thermistor 15 can be provided at one place or a plurality of places of the assembled battery 8.

  When the plurality of secondary battery cells 12 are appropriately disposed and electrically connected, and the thermistor 15 is disposed, the connected secondary battery cells 12 and the thermistor 15 are packaged by the heat shrinkable tube 13. As a result, the assembled battery 8 for a vacuum cleaner is formed, the periphery of which is electrically insulated. As shown in FIG. 7, a main body case side charging terminal 35 for charging the assembled battery 8 is provided on the rear side of the main body case 2.

    As shown in FIG. 2, the main body case 2 is formed of an upper case 2a and a lower case 2b. A storage chamber 17 for storing the assembled battery 8 is formed in the lower case 2 b of the main body case 2. The storage chamber 17 is detachably attached to the lower case 2b so that the assembled battery 8 can be taken in and out, a storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 that closes the substantially rectangular opening 19, and a pair of side fixing plates 20. The storage room side wall 22 and the storage room floor wall 23 (see FIG. 6A). The storage chamber side wall 22 is provided with a protruding portion 24 in which a screw hole 25 is formed on the opening 19 side. On the other hand, the convex part 26 in which the through-hole 27 was formed is provided in each upper and lower end part of the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 (refer FIG. 4B). The storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 is fixed to the lower case 2b by the screw 28, the through hole 27, and the screw hole 25 (see FIG. 6A).

  The storage room heat transfer wall 18 uses a material having a higher thermal conductivity than the materials of the side fixing plate 20, the storage room side wall 22, and the storage room floor wall 23. For example, when the material constituting the side fixing plate 20 is a low-density foam material, and the material of the storage chamber side wall 22 and storage chamber floor wall 23 formed integrally with the lower case 2b is ABS resin, the storage chamber heat transfer wall For 18, a resin material mixed with metal powder having higher thermal conductivity than ABS, a metal material of aluminum or magnesium alloy, or the like is used. In this embodiment, the storage room side wall 22 and the storage room floor wall 23 are part of the lower case 2b. However, the lower case 2b, the storage room side wall 22 and the storage room floor wall 23 are formed separately. Can do.

Furthermore, at least the side of the battery pack 8 that contacts the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 or the opposite side of the battery pack 8 stored in the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 and the storage section 16 fixed to the lower case 2b. Either one is provided with an elastic member 30 (see FIG. 6B). This elastic member 30 functions to contact the assembled battery 8 with the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 while always applying pressure. The elastic member 30 is, for example, a sheet-like material as shown in FIG. 4A and is made of natural rubber or synthetic rubber containing a predetermined amount of carbon filler having heat conductivity and elasticity. The elastic member 30 may be disposed separately from the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 or may be fixed to the inner surface of the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 in advance. In addition, when the assembled battery 8 is arrange | positioned in the storage chamber 17, the secondary battery 12 of the assembled battery 8 is arrange | positioned as shown in FIG.
When the elastic member 30 is disposed on the side opposite to the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18, the elastic member 30 is, for example, a metal leaf spring, a metal coil spring, a natural rubber foam, or a synthetic rubber foam. Formed with. As shown in FIG. 6A, the tightening of the screw 28 increases the pressing force at the contact portion between the assembled battery 8 and the elastic member 31 and the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18. The thermal connection with the wall 18 is strengthened. That is, the thermal resistance between the assembled battery 8 and the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 is reduced.

  Next, the positional relationship between the charger 40 and the electric vacuum cleaner 1 and the charger 40 during charging will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 8, 9 </ b> A, and 9 </ b> B. The charger 40 shown in FIG. 1 is configured to charge the assembled battery 8 in a state horizontal to the direction in which the main body case 2 moves, that is, a horizontal charging method. The charger 40 includes a charging base 41 having a substantially L-shaped cross section, a heat transfer section 42 on which the main body case 2 is placed below the charging base 41, and the main body case 2 as the heat transfer section 42. When placed, the housing portion 43 for housing the rear portion of the main body case 2, the charger side charging terminal 44 disposed in the housing portion 43, and the charging circuit 45 </ b> A connected to the charger side charging terminal 44 or 45B (see FIG. 9A and FIG. 9B) and a charging control unit 46 for controlling the charging circuit 45A or 45B. A main body case side charging terminal 35 of the vacuum cleaner 1 is connected to the charger side charging terminal 44. Further, the main body case side charging terminal port 35a (see FIG. 7) and the charger side charging terminal port 44a (see FIG. 1) also function as positions where the main body case 2 and the charger 40 are aligned. Although not shown, magnets are arranged around the main body case side charging terminal port 35a and the charger side charging terminal port 44a to improve connection reliability.

  The heat transfer part 42 is a part of the charging stand 41, is formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped, and a flat heat transfer part upper surface 42a is formed on the upper surface thereof. When the main body case 2 is coupled to the charger 40 for charging the battery pack 8, the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 (see FIG. 2) that is thermally connected to the battery pack 8 is the heat transfer section upper surface 42a. In surface contact. Here, the distance H1 from the installation surface 70 of the charger 40 to the heat transfer unit upper surface 42a is such that the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 and the heat transfer unit upper surface 42a can come into surface contact with each other. Is set to be larger than the distance H2 from the surface of the wheel to the lower surface of the wheel 6 or 6a.

  Further, the width Dj of the heat transfer section 42 of the charger 40 is set to be smaller than the distance Ds between the wheels 6. Therefore, the main body case 2 is arranged on the heat transfer section 42 so that the heat transfer section 42 is inserted between the wheels 6, and when the main body case 2 is on the heat transfer section 42, the wheels 6 and 6 a are installed. The surface 70 is lifted from the surface 70. As a result, the main body case 2 is placed on the heat transfer section 42 by its own weight, and at this time, the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 is in surface contact with the heat transfer section upper surface 42a. Here, it should be noted that in order to prioritize surface contact between the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 and the heat transfer portion upper surface 42a, the connection between the charger side charging terminal 44 and the main body case side charging terminal 35 is 3 It is designed with a degree of freedom.

  It is desirable that the material constituting the heat transfer section 42 has a thermal conductivity equivalent to or higher than that of the material forming the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18. For example, a resin material mixed with metal powder having a higher thermal conductivity than ABS or a metal material such as aluminum is suitable. Furthermore, the heat transfer part 42 desirably has a heat capacity that absorbs the heat of the assembled battery 8 to some extent, and its volume is designed in advance according to the number of secondary battery cells 12 and the operation method of the vacuum cleaner 1. . In such a charged state, the assembled battery 8 is thermally connected to the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 by the elastic member 30, so that the heat of the assembled battery 8 is quickly radiated to the heat transfer section 42. The heat transfer section 42 may be formed integrally with the charging stand 41 or may be fixed to the charging stand 41 by being formed separately from the charger main body. Further, in the present embodiment, the heat transfer section 42 is formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, but can be formed in an arbitrary shape as long as it can come into surface contact with the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18. For example, the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 and the heat transfer unit upper surface 42a may not be flat, but may be formed in an uneven surface shape that fits together.

  Next, the charge control method will be described with reference to FIGS. 9A and 9B. The charging circuit 45A shown in FIG. 9A includes a reactor 47 on the charger side charging terminal 44, a capacitor 48, an insulating unit 50 such as a transformer, a switching unit 51, a rectifying unit 49, and a rectifying unit 49. And an AC input unit 52 connected thereto. The charging circuit 45A is configured to rectify and insulate commercial AC power, and to control the charging current by inputting a signal to the switching element 51. When the assembled battery 8 is disconnected from the charging circuit 45A, the electric power of the assembled battery 8 is supplied to the electric blower 9 (see FIG. 1). The charging control unit 46 that controls the charging circuit 45A is mainly composed of a microcomputer, and a detection unit 60 that detects the charging voltage and temperature of the assembled battery 8 connected to the charger side charging terminal 44, and this A comparison unit 61 connected to the detection unit 60, an abnormality detection unit 62, a signal generation / output unit 66 that generates a signal and outputs the signal to the switching element 51, and a memory 150 such as a ROM and a RAM.

  The charging control unit 46 monitors the battery voltage and temperature of the assembled battery 8 charged by the charging circuit 45A during charging. The output voltage and the battery voltage from the thermistor 15 at the time of charging are compared with values preset in the memory 150 in the comparison unit 61, and a signal is output from the signal generation / output unit 66 to the switching unit 51 based on the comparison result. The The switching unit 51 is an element such as a transistor, an FET, or a thyristor, for example. Further, for example, a PWM signal is used as the signal to the switching unit 51, and the charging current is controlled according to the duty of the PWM signal.

  In the case of temperature monitoring, the temperature of the assembled battery 8 is detected by the thermistor 15, and charging is stopped if the temperature is outside the chargeable temperature range set in advance in the memory 150, for example, 0 ° C. to 55 ° C. A program for starting charging when the temperature is within the chargeable temperature range is stored in the memory 150. The charging circuit 45B shown in FIG. 9B includes a switching unit 51 provided on the primary side of the insulating unit 50, and an AC input via the insulating unit 50 and the switching unit 51 on the input side of the rectifying unit 49. Unlike the charging circuit 45A in that the unit 52 is connected, the other points are the same.

  Next, a series of charge control operations by the charge control unit 46 when the main body case 2 is coupled to the charger 40 for charging the assembled battery 8 will be described based on the flowchart of FIG. First, based on the battery voltage detection value from the detection part 60, it is determined whether the main body case side charging terminal 35 and the charger side charging terminal 44 are connected (step S1). When the main body case side charging terminal 35 and the charger side charging terminal 44 are connected, whether or not the temperature of the assembled battery 8 is within the chargeable temperature range based on the temperature detection value from the thermistor 15. Is determined (step S2). When the temperature of the assembled battery 8 is outside the chargeable temperature range, the charging operation is not started. While waiting for the charging operation, as described above, the thermal resistance between the assembled battery 8 and the heat transfer section 42 is reduced, a heat dissipation path is formed, and the temperature drop of the assembled battery 8 is promoted.

  When it is determined in step S2 that the temperature of the assembled battery 8 is within the chargeable temperature, a signal is output from the charging control unit 46 to the switching unit 51, the charging circuit 45 is driven, and the assembled battery 8 is charged. It starts (step S3). During the charging operation, the charging time length of the assembled battery 8 is measured by the timer 64, and the temperature of the assembled battery 8 and the voltage detection of the assembled battery 8 are periodically performed by the thermistor 15. The measurement of the charging time length by the timer 64 is used as detection of charging abnormality (step S4). If charging is not completed even after the preset time length set in the memory 150 is exceeded, it is determined that charging is abnormal, and a signal is output to a display unit (not shown) such as an LED (step S8). Further, whether or not the temperature of the assembled battery 8 is within the chargeable temperature range set in the memory 150 in advance, that is, whether or not the temperature of the assembled battery 8 is outside the chargeable temperature range due to the charging operation. The determination is periodically made based on the detection value from the thermistor 15. (Step S5). When the temperature of the assembled battery 8 is out of the chargeable temperature range, the charging operation is temporarily stopped for safety, and the charging operation waiting state is returned (step S1).

  Further, whether or not charging of the assembled battery 8 is completed, that is, whether or not the battery voltage has reached the end-of-charge voltage preset in the memory 150 is determined based on the detection value from the detection unit 60. (Step S6). When the voltage of the assembled battery 8 reaches the end-of-charge voltage, it is determined that the charging operation is completed, and the charging operation is terminated (step S7). After the end of charging, the main body case side charging terminal 35 is detached from the charger side charging terminal 44, and the main body case 2 is separated from the charger 40. Thereby, it becomes possible to restart the cleaning by the electric vacuum cleaner 1 immediately. Thus, by implementing this invention, the thermal resistance between the assembled battery 8 and the heat transfer part 42 becomes small, a heat dissipation path is formed, and the temperature drop of the assembled battery 8 is promoted. Therefore, after the cleaning operation of the vacuum cleaner is stopped, it is possible to shorten the time required to enter a chargeable temperature that can be safely charged. In addition, the structure is simple, and it is easy to downsize the entire apparatus.

  Further, during the rapid charging operation in which the duty of the PWM signal output from the signal output unit 66 is increased to increase the charging current of the charging circuit 45, the temperature of the assembled battery 8 is higher than that during the charging operation with a normal charging current. Although it rises, the temperature rise of the assembled battery 8 is reduced by the heat dissipation path between the assembled battery 8 and the heat transfer section 42 as described above. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the storage chamber 17 for storing the assembled battery 8 has a pair of traveling wheels 6 provided in the lower rear part of the main body case 2 as alignment guides. It arrange | positions in the intermediate part with the one wheel 6a. With this arrangement, the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 is surrounded by the pair of wheels 6 and 6a. Therefore, the pair of wheels 6 and 6a can be used for alignment when the main body case 2 is combined with the charger 40, and the positional accuracy between the heat transfer section 42 and the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 is improved. Heat dissipation of the battery 8 is also promoted. More specifically, when charging the assembled battery 8, the main body case 2 is moved backward toward the coupling position with the charger 40 using the wheels 6, 6 a so that the wheels 6 straddle the heat transfer section 42. The main body case 2 is disposed on the heat transfer section 42, and then the main body case side charging terminal 35 and the charging terminal 44 of the charger side charger 40 are connected.

  In addition, the charger 140 of another embodiment includes a heat dissipation structure 80. As shown in FIG. 11, the heat dissipation structure 80 includes heat dissipation fins 82 attached to the rear surface of the charging stand 141. The heat dissipating fins 82 are directly formed on the charging stand 141 or a pre-formed fin body is attached to the charging stand 141. Further, the heat radiation fin 82 and the heat transfer portion 142 are directly contacted and fixed, or are fixed with an adhesive or sheet material having good thermal conductivity interposed therebetween. By providing the heat radiating structure 80 having the above-described configuration on the charging stand 141, the heat of the heat transfer section 42 holding the heat of the assembled battery 8 is transmitted to the heat radiating fins 82, and the heat is quickly radiated from the heat radiating fins 82 to the air. be able to. In the modified example, the heat radiation fins 82 can be provided inside the charging stand 141. In this case, it is desirable to provide a heat radiating hole (not shown) in the wall of the charging stand 141 adjacent to the radiating fin 82.

  Further, the charging stand 141 is provided with a wheel guide 84 at the tip of the heat transfer section 142. By moving the main body case 2 along the wheel guide 84, the positioning of the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 and the heat transfer portion 142 is simplified.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3C, the thermistor 15 is a secondary battery disposed in the space between adjacent cells of the plurality of secondary battery cells 12 constituting the assembled battery 8 and on the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 side. Arranged inside the cell 12. For example, among the secondary battery cells 12 constituting the assembled battery 8, the secondary battery cells 12 arranged on the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 side are cooled relatively quickly and have a large temperature gradient. On the other hand, the cooling rate of the secondary battery cell 12 arranged inside the assembled battery 8 is slower to cool than the secondary battery cell 12 arranged on the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 side, and the temperature gradient is also small. For this reason, the thermistor 15 can be improved in safety and temperature detection accuracy by being disposed in a portion where the cooling is slow and the temperature gradient is small. In the case of the assembled battery 8 constituted by the eight secondary battery cells 12 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3A, the temperature sensitive part of the thermistor 15 is in contact with the secondary battery cell 12 in the gap at the center. Is preferably arranged. The thermistor 15 is slow to cool and is disposed at one or a plurality of locations in a portion where the temperature gradient is small. If it arrange | positions in multiple places, the accuracy of temperature detection can be raised more.

  A rechargeable vacuum cleaner system according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 to 15, the same parts as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals. In this embodiment, the charger 240 is formed in a vertical charging system in which the main body case 2 is arranged and charged in the vertical direction. As in the first embodiment, the charging base 242 includes an arcuate housing portion 243 that houses the rear portion of the main body case 302, and a heat transfer portion 242 that protrudes from the housing portion 243 and radiates heat from the assembled battery 8. And are provided. Here, first, the contact assist mechanism 100 provided on the charging stand 142 will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 13, the charging stand 242 is provided with a contact assist mechanism 100 that can contact the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 of the main body case 302 (see FIG. 15) during charging. The contact assist mechanism 100 includes a fixed shaft 101 fixed to the charging base 242, a link 102 that is arranged orthogonal to the fixed shaft 101 and is rotatably attached to the fixed shaft, and the link 102. A contact member 103 fixed to one end and a force applying member 104 fixed to the other end of the link 102 are provided. The contact member 103 is formed of a single rectangular member that is formed of a charger contact portion 105 and a main body case contact portion 106 and is arranged vertically. As shown in FIG. 14, the fixed shaft 101 is fixed in the charging base 242 below the bottom surface of the housing portion 243 so as to cross the substantially semicircular housing portion 243 of the charging base 242. The charger contact portion 105 and the main body case contact portion 106 of the contact member 103 are arranged on the side of the bottom surface of the housing portion 243, that is, at a position facing the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 on the side surface of the heat transfer portion 242, The force applying member 104 is disposed below the bottom surface of the accommodating portion 43. The charger contact portion 105, the main body case contact portion 106, and the force application member 104 are arranged in the charger so as to be exposed from the bottom surface of the housing portion 243.

  When a force is applied to the force applying member 104 in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 13, the link 102 rotates counterclockwise about the fixed shaft 101, and the contact member 103 is indicated by the arrow B as the link rotates. Rotates counterclockwise. If the force in the direction of arrow A on the force applying member 104 is removed, the contact member 103 rotates about the fixed shaft 101 in the clockwise direction. Here, it should be noted that when the contact member 103 is rotated in the direction of arrow B, only the main body case contact portion 106 moves, and the charger contact portion 105 remains in contact with the heat transfer portion 242. In addition, the contact member 103 is configured and attached to the charging base 242. The force applying member 104 is formed of, for example, a resin material, and the contact member 103 is formed of a member having thermal conductivity and elasticity, for example, a metal leaf spring. The size of the contact member 103 is set such that the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 is substantially covered.

  Next, a description will be given with reference to FIGS. When the main body case 302 is set in the housing portion 243, the main body case 2 presses the force applying member 104, whereby the contact member 103 is rotated toward the closing member 18 as described above, so that the contact member 103 contacts the main body case. The part 106 contacts the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 in a pressure state. At this time, the charger contact member 105 of the contact member 103 remains in contact with the heat transfer section 242 as described above.

  Next, the pressure urging means 110 provided in the main body case 302 will be described. As shown in FIG. 15, a pressure urging means 110 is provided on the lower side of the main body case 302 together with the closing portion 13 and one wheel 6a for traveling. At this time, the pressure urging means 110 is provided in an intermediate portion between the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 of the main body case 302 and the wheel 6a, and is formed of a member thinner than the diameter of the wheel 6a. Further, the pressure urging means 110 is configured so that it can be rotated 90 degrees to either the left or right when removing the closing member 18 in order to replace the assembled battery 8. However, it is in the position shown in FIG. 16 during normal use and does not affect normal cleaning.

  Next, the relationship between the contact assist mechanism 100 provided on the charging stand 242 and the pressure urging means 110 provided on the main body case 302 will be described. When the main body case 302 is lowered onto the charging base 242, the charger contact portion 105 exposed from the housing portion 243 is pressed against the charging base 242 side by providing the pressure urging means 110 on the main body case 302. It is done. Thereafter, when the main body case 302 is further lowered toward the housing portion 243, the main body case 302 presses the force applying member 104. Thereby, a force in the same direction as the arrow A in FIG. 13 is applied to the contact assisting mechanism 100. As a result, a contact region is generated between the main body case contact portion 106 of the contact member 103 and the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18. At this time, the charger contact portion 105 remains in contact with the heat transfer portion 242. Therefore, the heat of the assembled battery 8 is radiated to the heat transfer section 242 through the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18, the main body case contact section 106, and the charger contact section 105. With the above configuration, the thermal resistance between the assembled battery 8 and the heat transfer section 242 is reduced, and the heat generated in the assembled battery 8 moves quickly and efficiently from the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 to the heat transfer section 242. As a result, the temperature of the assembled battery 8 quickly drops.

  As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, the case where the so-called “canister type” vacuum cleaner 1 is used has been described, but the present invention is similarly applied to the vertical type vacuum cleaner shown in FIG. 16 as another type. Can be applied.

  Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the storage chamber 17 for storing the assembled battery 8 is formed integrally with the main body case 2 is illustrated, but another embodiment is shown in FIG. The storage chamber box 350 is attached to the main body case 2b. The storage box 350 is fixed to the main body case 2b) after storing the assembled battery 8. In this case, the storage chamber heat transfer wall 18 constituting the storage chamber box 350 is thermally coupled to the heat transfer surface 42a of the heat transfer section 42 of the charger 40 when charged.

It is a perspective view which shows one Example of the rechargeable vacuum cleaner system which concerns on this invention. It is a partial perspective view of the rear-end side bottom face part of the vacuum cleaner which shows the part of the storage chamber of the assembled battery provided in the vacuum cleaner shown in FIG. FIG. 3A is a perspective view showing an assembled battery. FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating an arrangement relationship between the assembled battery and the storage chamber heat transfer wall. FIG. 3C is a diagram illustrating a cross-sectional structure of the assembled battery. FIG. 3D is a plan view of the thermistor incorporated in the assembled battery. FIG. 4A is an exploded perspective view of the battery pack storage chamber provided in the vacuum cleaner shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from the outside. FIG. 4B is a perspective view of a storage chamber heat transfer wall constituting the storage chamber of the assembled battery. It is a perspective view which shows the arrangement | positioning state of an assembled battery and a storage chamber. FIG. 6A is a perspective view showing the structure of a battery pack storage chamber provided in the electric vacuum cleaner shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 6B is a diagram showing a cross-sectional structure of the battery pack storage chamber. It is a partial perspective view which shows the part of the terminal for charge of the vacuum cleaner shown by FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the state which has couple | bonded the vacuum cleaner with the charger shown by FIG. 7 for charge of an assembled battery. FIG. 9A is a diagram showing an embodiment of a circuit showing a charging circuit and a charging control device for an assembled battery. FIG. 9B is a diagram showing another embodiment of the circuit showing the charging circuit and the charging control device for the assembled battery. It is a flowchart explaining charging operation. It is a perspective view which shows the thermal radiation mechanism provided in the charger. In the vacuum cleaner system in the other Example of this invention, it is a perspective view which shows the state with which the vacuum cleaner was attached to the charger of a vertical charging system. It is a perspective view which shows the outline of the contact assistance mechanism used for the vertical charging system in a vacuum cleaner system. It is a perspective view which shows a charger when a contact assistance mechanism is arrange | positioned at a charger. It is a perspective view which shows the lower structure of the main body case of the vacuum cleaner which contacts the contact member of a contact assistance mechanism. It is a perspective view which shows other embodiment of the vacuum cleaner used for implementation of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows other embodiment of the storage chamber of the assembled battery provided in the main body case of the vacuum cleaner.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vacuum cleaner 2 Main body case 5 Suction body 6 Wheel 8 Assembly battery 9 Electric blower 15 Temperature detection element 16 Storage chamber 18 Storage chamber heat transfer wall 22 Storage chamber wall 23 Storage chamber floor wall 30 Elastic member 35 Main body side charging terminal 40 Charger 41 Charging stand 42 Heat transfer part 43 Housing part 44 Charger side charging terminal 45A Charging circuit 46 Charge control part 51 Switching part 80 Heat radiation structure 82 Heat radiation fin 84 Wheel guide 100 Contact auxiliary mechanism 101 Fixed shaft 103 Contact member 105 Charger Contact member 140 Battery charger 242 Heat transfer section 350 Storage box

Claims (8)

A vacuum cleaner having a body case;
A storage chamber provided in the main body case and having an opening;
An assembled battery composed of a plurality of rechargeable battery cells stored in the storage chamber;
A storage room heat transfer wall constituting a part of the storage room;
A temperature detecting element for detecting the temperature of the assembled battery;
A charger for charging the assembled battery and having a charging stand;
A charge control unit for controlling charging of the assembled battery;
In a rechargeable vacuum cleaner system with
An elastic member that provides an urging force so that the assembled battery and the storage chamber heat transfer wall are thermally connected is provided in the storage chamber;
The charger is provided with a heat transfer portion that constitutes a part of the charging stand and has a heat transfer surface,
When charging the assembled battery, to thermally connect the storage chamber heat transfer wall and the heat transfer surface of the charging stand, and to form a circuit for charging the assembled battery including the charge control unit A connection structure having a connection portion of
The charging control unit controls the charging current of the assembled battery while comparing the temperature of the assembled battery detected by the temperature detecting element during charging of the assembled battery with a preset chargeable temperature range. Rechargeable vacuum cleaner system that is configured as follows.   The main body case includes an upper case and a lower case, and the storage chamber is provided in the lower case with its opening communicating with the outside, and the opening of the storage chamber is blocked by the storage chamber heat transfer wall. The rechargeable vacuum cleaner system according to claim 1.   The rechargeable vacuum cleaner system according to claim 1, wherein the main body case includes an upper case and a lower case, and the storage chamber is detachably attached to the lower case. In the electric vacuum cleaner, a pair of traveling wheels that travel on a cleaning surface is provided in the main body case, and the storage chamber heat transfer wall is provided between the pair of traveling wheels so as to face the cleaning surface in parallel. And
When the vacuum cleaner is placed on the charging stand to charge the battery pack, the pair of heat transfer walls of the storage chamber and the heat transfer surface of the heat transfer unit are thermally joined to each other. The rechargeable vacuum cleaner system according to claim 1, wherein the rechargeable vacuum cleaner system is positioned by a traveling wheel.   The heat transfer surface of the heat transfer section of the charging stand is arranged in parallel to the cleaning surface, and the vacuum cleaner places the vertical distance of the heat transfer surface from the cleaning surface on the charging stand of the charger. The cleaning wheel grounding portion of the traveling wheel is set to have a predetermined distance from the cleaning surface when placed, and the weight of the vacuum cleaner is added to the heat transfer surface. The rechargeable vacuum cleaner system according to claim 4.   The temperature detecting element is disposed in a space between the battery cells adjacent to each other, and is disposed inside the storage chamber with respect to the battery cell disposed on the heat transfer wall side of the storage chamber. Rechargeable vacuum cleaner system.   The rechargeable vacuum cleaner system according to claim 1, further comprising a heat dissipating fin thermally connected to a heat transfer portion of the charging stand of the charger.   When the vacuum cleaner is placed on a charging stand, a contact assist mechanism is provided that thermally contacts the heat transfer wall of the storage chamber and the heat transfer surface of the heat transfer portion of the charging stand. The rechargeable vacuum cleaner system according to Item 1.

Images