JP2006110088A - Vacuum cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vacuum cleaner capable of saving a space and suppressing production cost. <P>SOLUTION: A control means 16 controlling a power supply from secondary batteries 15 to an electric blower to control the driving of the electric blower 2 is provided with a pair of FETs (Field Effect Transistors) 17 and 17 in parallel so that a loss can be distributed to the respective FETs 17 and 17. This constitution dispenses with enlargement of heat sinks of the FETs 17 and 17 so as to save the space, and enables to use the respective FETs 17 and 17 having large on-resistances and produced at relatively low cost to suppress production cost. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner including a secondary battery that supplies power to an electric blower.

Conventionally, this type of electric vacuum cleaner includes a vacuum cleaner body that houses an electric blower. A hose body, an extension pipe, and a floor brush are sequentially connected to the vacuum cleaner main body in communication with the suction side of the electric blower. Further, in the cleaner body, there are provided a secondary battery for supplying power to the electric blower, and a control means for controlling the drive of the electric blower by controlling the electric power from the secondary battery to the electric blower. This control means controls the driving of the electric blower by a single triac electrically connected to the electric blower (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 1-40613 (Page 2, Figure 2)

  Generally, a vacuum cleaner using a secondary battery as a power source has a power consumption of 300 W to 500 W, and a suction work rate representing a suction performance of about 100 W. On the other hand, in a vacuum cleaner using a commercial (alternating current) power supply, the power consumption is 1000 W, and the suction power is 500 W to 600 W. In other words, a vacuum cleaner that uses a secondary battery as a power source has a drawback that the suction force is relatively weak.

  For this reason, in order to produce the suction performance equivalent to the vacuum cleaner which uses a commercial power supply with the vacuum cleaner which uses a secondary battery as a power supply, about 1000 W of power consumption is required.

  For this purpose, in a secondary battery with a limited battery capacity, the discharge current must be much larger than in the past.

  However, in the above vacuum cleaner, since the drive of the electric blower is controlled by a single triac, if the discharge current of the electric blower increases, the loss of the triac increases, and the heat dissipation plate for heat dissipation of this triac increases. However, it is necessary to use a control element with a low loss and a high unit price instead of a triac, and there is a problem that it is not easy to secure a space and to suppress a manufacturing cost.

  This invention is made | formed in view of such a point, and it aims at providing the vacuum cleaner which can save space and can suppress manufacturing cost.

  The present invention includes a secondary battery that supplies power to the electric blower, and a control unit that controls power supply from the secondary battery to the electric blower to control driving of the electric blower, and the control means are connected in parallel. A plurality of control elements.

  According to the present invention, since the control means for controlling the power supply from the secondary battery to the electric blower to control the driving of the electric blower includes the plurality of control elements in parallel, the loss can be distributed to the plurality of control elements. For example, it is not necessary to increase the heat dissipation plate for heat dissipation of the control element, and the space can be saved. In addition, since it is possible to use inexpensive control elements, the manufacturing cost can be suppressed.

  Hereinafter, the configuration of a vacuum cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a vacuum cleaner main body. The vacuum cleaner main body 1 performs cyclone separation in the dust collecting unit 3 on dust sucked together with intake air generated by driving a DC electric blower 2 housed therein. A vacuum cleaner that collects dust. The cleaner body 1 is provided with swirling wheels and traveling wheels (not shown) so that the cleaner body 1 can travel on the floor as a surface to be cleaned.

  Furthermore, a main body suction port 4 for sucking air from the outside is opened at the front portion of the cleaner body 1. An elongated substantially cylindrical hose body 5 that is flexible and can be bent is connected to the main body suction port 4. At the tip of the hose body 5, a hand operation unit 6 that can select an operation mode of the electric blower 2 is provided. The hand operating unit 6 is provided with a plurality of setting buttons 7 for setting the electric blower 2 and the like to a plurality of driving modes, and a gripping unit 8 gripped by an operator when cleaning is directed toward the base end side. Projecting.

  Furthermore, an elongated, substantially cylindrical extension tube 9 that can be extended and retracted is detachably connected to the distal end of the hand operation unit 6. Furthermore, the extension brush 9 is detachably connected to a floor brush 10 that is placed on a carpet on the floor of the room, for example, and sucks dust on the carpet. ing.

  Next, the internal configuration of the above embodiment will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 1, in the cleaner body 1, an electric blower 2, a secondary battery 15 that feeds power to the electric blower 2, and power feeding from the secondary battery 15 to the electric blower 2 are controlled. A series circuit with a control means 16 for controlling the driving of the electric blower 2 is provided.

  The secondary battery 15 is a battery pack in which a plurality of cells are connected in series, and the negative electrode side is grounded.

  Further, the control means 16 has a plurality of, for example, a pair of FETs 17 and 17 as control elements connected in parallel, and a CPU 18 as a control unit connected to these FETs 17 and 17.

  The FET 17 is a power MOSFET, for example, and each gate is electrically connected to the CPU 18. Further, the FETs 17 have the same rating and have substantially the same on-resistance. This on-resistance determines the loss in each of the FETs 17 and 17, and in this embodiment, since a pair of FETs 17 and 17 are connected in parallel, one control element such as an FET is used. Since the current value flowing through each FET 17 and 17 is halved as compared with the case where each of the FETs 17 and 17 is used, each FET 17 and 17 is selected to have an ON resistance less than twice that when one control element is used. .

  Then, the CPU 18 controls the gate voltage of the FETs 17 and 17 according to the operation mode of the electric blower 2 set by the setting button 7 and controls the ON time of each FET 17 and 17 to drive the electric blower 2. I have control.

  Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.

  First, the operator sequentially connects the hose body 5, the extension pipe 9 and the floor brush 10 to the main body suction port 4 of the cleaner body 1.

  In this state, when the operator grips the grip portion 8 and operates a predetermined setting button 7, the CPU 18 controls the gate voltages of the FETs 17 and 17 in accordance with the operation mode set by the setting button 7, and each FET 17 , 17 is controlled to control the electric power supplied from the secondary battery 15 to the electric blower 2 to drive the electric blower 2.

  At this time, the current supplied from the secondary battery 15 to the electric blower 2 is diverted by half to each of the FETs 17 and 17, and a loss occurs in each FET 17.

  Further, the operator grips the grip portion 8, causes the floor brush 10 to run forward and backward on the floor surface, and sucks dust on the floor surface from the suction port of the floor brush 10.

  And the dust sucked together with air from the suction port of the floor brush 10 is sequentially guided from the floor brush 10 to the main body suction port 4 of the cleaner body 1 after passing through the extension tube 9 and the hose body 5 in order. It is collected in the dust part 3.

  As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, the control means 16 that controls the power supply from the secondary battery 15 to the electric blower 2 to control the drive of the electric blower 2 includes the FETs 17 and 17 in parallel. Since the loss can be distributed to each FET 17, 17, there is no need to increase the heat dissipation plate for heat dissipation of FET 17, 17 and space can be saved, and each FET 17, 17 uses a single control element. Compared to the above, it is possible to use an inexpensive one having a large on-resistance, so that the manufacturing cost can be suppressed.

  Specifically, by making the on-resistance of each FET 17, 17 less than twice that when one control element is used, the loss in each FET 17, 17 whose current value is halved by the shunt is reduced to 1 / Since it is less than 2, even if the losses in both FETs 17 and 17 are combined, it can be made smaller than the loss in one control element.

  In particular, when power is supplied from the secondary battery 15 to the electric blower 2, it is necessary to increase the current by the amount that the voltage is smaller than when the electric blower having the same output is driven by a commercial AC power supply. By configuring as described above, space saving and cost reduction can be surely achieved, and even when a large current flows through the electric blower 2, the current flowing through the FETs 17 and 17 is about half that. Further, the durability of the FETs 17 and 17 can be secured.

  Further, since the battery capacity of the secondary battery 15 is limited, by configuring as described above, the loss is suppressed and the efficiency is increased, and the limited battery capacity of the secondary battery 15 is efficiently obtained. Available.

  In the above-described embodiment, the number of control elements may be set as appropriate so that the manufacturing cost can be suppressed in consideration of each unit price, and can be set to three or more, for example. In this case, the selection is made so that the on-resistance of the control element does not become larger than when the control element is controlled by one control element.

  Further, the vacuum cleaner is not limited to the canister type vacuum cleaner, but is an upright type in which the floor brush 10 is directly formed on the lower surface of the vacuum cleaner body 1, and the vacuum cleaner body 1 and the floor brush 10 are integrated. Even a self-propelled electric vacuum cleaner or a handy type can be used correspondingly.

It is a circuit diagram which shows the vacuum cleaner of one embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows a vacuum cleaner same as the above.

Explanation of symbols

1 Vacuum cleaner body 2 Electric blower
15 Secondary battery
16 Control means
17 FET as control element

Claims (1)

A vacuum cleaner body containing an electric blower,
A secondary battery for supplying power to the electric blower;
Control means for controlling power feeding from the secondary battery to the electric blower to control driving of the electric blower,
The said control means is provided with the some control element connected in parallel. The vacuum cleaner characterized by the above-mentioned.

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