JPH11225930A - Vacuum cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vacuum cleaner capable of maintaining the cleaning efficiency with a less input and saving power consumption. SOLUTION: Such control that increases the sensitivity of dust detection sensor 3 for detecting dust when the revolutions of a fan motor 6 are reduced by an input changeover means 2 is done so that an amount of dust collection is not changed when compared with a case where the revolutions of the fan motor 6 are large even when revolutions of the fan motor 6 are reduced. Moreover, noise generated by the fan motor 6 can be reduced because the revolutions of the fan motor 6 are reduced at the same time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a household vacuum cleaner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional vacuum cleaner will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in the figure, a hose 14, an extension pipe 15, and a floor nozzle 16 are connected to a suction port 13 of a cleaner body 12. A hand switch 1 is provided at the tip of the hose 14.
7. A pair of dust detection sensors 3 are provided, and a hand switch 1 is provided.
7. The operation of the dust sensor 3 controls the rotation of the fan motor 6 disposed in the cleaner body 12. When dust is detected by the dust sensor 3 or when a predetermined amount or more is detected, the rotation speed of the fan motor 6 is increased to increase suction power, and when there is no dust, the rotation speed of the fan motor 6 is reduced to reduce suction. We were trying to reduce power, reduce noise, and save power.

Further, by operating the input switching means 2 disposed on the rear side of the cleaner body 12, control is performed to reduce the number of revolutions of the fan motor 6, thereby further reducing noise and power consumption. .

[0005]

In such a conventional vacuum cleaner, the number of rotations of the fan motor 6 is determined by the amount of sucked dust. However, when the amount of sucked dust is large, the fan When the number of rotations of the motor 6 is increased and the amount of dust is small, control is performed such that the number of rotations of the fan motor 6 is reduced. Further, when the number of revolutions of the fan motor 6 is reduced by the input switching means 2, the amount of dust sucked in is reduced by the reduced number of revolutions, and the cleaning effect cannot be sufficiently obtained.

An object of the present invention is to provide a low-noise vacuum cleaner in which the amount of dust collected does not decrease even if the rotation speed of the fan motor 6 is reduced by the input switching means 2.

[0007]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a control for increasing the sensitivity of a dust detection sensor for detecting dust when the rotation speed of a fan motor is reduced by an input switching means. The fan motor 6
Even when the rotation speed of the fan motor is reduced, the amount of collected dust can be made to remain the same as compared with the case where the rotation speed of the fan motor is high, and at the same time, the rotation speed of the fan motor is reduced. In order to reduce the noise, the noise generated from the fan motor can be reduced.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
A fan motor that generates a suction force; a dust sensor that detects dust passing through the dust suction passage; a control unit that controls an input of the fan motor in accordance with a signal from the dust sensor; and an input of the fan motor. Input switching means for manually switching between, and the detection sensitivity of the dust sensor is changed in conjunction with the input switching means, without reducing the amount of dust collected, low input, Low noise is achieved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an operation time detecting means for measuring an energizing time to a main body or a fan motor, and a time during which an input of the fan motor is increased according to an output of a dust sensor. The detection sensitivity of the dust sensor is changed according to the ratio of the time measured by the operation time detection means. The sensitivity can be changed according to the degree of dirt on the surface to be cleaned, and cleaning can be performed efficiently. Things.

[0010]

(Embodiment 1) Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The same parts as those in the conventional example are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram of a vacuum cleaner according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an operation switch for turning on / off the fan motor 6, and reference numeral 2 denotes an input switching unit for switching the number of revolutions of the fan motor 6. Reference numeral 3 denotes a dust detection sensor for detecting dust sucked from the floor and detecting the amount of sucked dust. Reference numeral 5 denotes fan motor control means for controlling the number of rotations of the fan motor 6. Reference numeral 4 denotes a microcomputer for controlling the fan motor control means 5. Reference numeral 7 denotes sensitivity switching means for adjusting the detection sensitivity of the dust detection sensor 3.

The operation of the above configuration will be described. First, the operation switch 1 is used to rotate the fan motor 6 to operate the cleaner, thereby sucking dust. When the sucked dust passes through the dust detection sensor 3 and detects the presence of dust, the rotation speed of the fan motor 6 is increased as shown in FIG. 2 (a) so that the dust is strongly sucked. Where the number is small, the number of revolutions of the fan motor 6 is reduced to save power. When the user operates the input switching means 2 to lower the rotation speed of the fan motor 6 during the control for changing the rotation speed of the fan motor 6 according to the amount of dust, the fan motor 6 generates the rotation. Noise can be reduced.

However, in this case, as shown by the hatched portion in FIG.
As a result, the amount of dust detected by the dust detection sensor 3 is greatly reduced since the input is reduced compared to before the input is changed. Therefore, the sensitivity of the dust detection sensor 3 is raised by the sensitivity switching means 7 at the same time as the input is lowered by the input switching means 2. As a result, even if the amount of dust to be sucked becomes small as shown in FIG. 3, the time during which the dust detection sensor 3 detects dust and increases the rotation speed of the fan motor 6 becomes longer, and the input switching means 2 Is not operated, and a large amount of dust is absorbed and the rotation speed of the fan motor 6 is greatly increased at a normal sensitivity setting, so that there is no difference in the amount of sucked dust. As a result, the efficiency of cleaning can be kept unchanged, and at the same time, the noise generated from the fan motor 6 can be suppressed and the noise can be reduced at the same time.

(Embodiment 2) Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Components having the same configuration as in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a relationship between an operation time and an operation time of the dust detection sensor 3.

Reference numeral 8 denotes an operation time detecting means for measuring a period of time when power is supplied to the cleaner body.
This is a dirt condition detecting means for calculating the ratio of the time measured by the above and the time during which the rotation speed of the fan motor 6 is increased based on the detection result of the dust detection sensor 3 to determine the dirt degree.

Numeral 10 denotes a storage unit for storing the judgment result of the dirt condition detecting means 9. Reference numeral 11 denotes a comparison for comparing the current judgment result of the dirt condition detecting device 9 with the previous judgment result stored in the storage means 10. Means.

The operation of the above configuration is as follows.
As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, when the number of revolutions of the fan motor 6 is reduced by the input switching unit 2, the operation time detecting unit 8 performs the cleaning T1 between when the commercial power is turned on and when the commercial power is turned off. The dust detection sensor 3 determines that the amount of dust is large, measures the time T2 during which the fan motor 6 was rotated and operated, and calculated the ratio of the time T1 to the time T2 by the dirt condition detecting means 9. Then, based on the result, the degree of contamination of the entire cleaning place is calculated.
The value is stored in the storage means 10. Then, the value stored when the previous cleaning was performed is compared with the degree of contamination this time by the comparing means 11 to determine the degree of contamination.

For example, as shown in FIG.
If 1/30% and T2 / T1 = 40% this time, it can be understood that the amount of dust in the range to be cleaned this time is larger. Therefore, when cleaning is performed next time, it is considered that there is a lot of dust left in the same cleaning range, and the detection sensitivity of the dust detection sensor 3 is increased so that more dust can be absorbed. Conversely, when the degree of dirt is small, the range to be cleaned is clean, so that the sensitivity of the dust detection sensor 3 is lowered so that cleaning can be completed in a short time.

[0020]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
When the input is reduced, the dust suction force is reduced, but the dust detection sensor's sensitivity is increased to reduce the amount of dust sucked during cleaning, thereby reducing noise. Can be.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the sensitivity is changed in accordance with the degree of dirt in the range to be cleaned, when there is a lot of dust, it easily reacts to the dust and absorbs a lot of dust. Also, by lowering the sensitivity when dust is low, cleaning can be completed quickly,
Efficient and power saving can be achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram of a vacuum cleaner according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a diagram showing a relationship between an elapsed time and a rotation speed of a fan motor in the same vacuum cleaner (when input switching means is not used); Diagram showing the relationship (when the input switching means is operated)

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the relationship between the elapsed time and the rotation speed of a fan motor.

FIG. 4 is a circuit block diagram of a vacuum cleaner showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the vacuum cleaner.

FIG. 6A is a diagram showing the relationship between the number of revolutions of the fan motor of the vacuum cleaner and the elapsed time (when the dust detection sensor is set to high sensitivity); Diagram showing the relationship between the number of rotations and the elapsed time (when the dust detection sensor is set to low sensitivity)

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a conventional vacuum cleaner.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Operation switch 2 Input switching means 3 Dust detection sensor 4 Microcomputer 5 Fan motor control means 6 Fan motor 7 Sensitivity switching means 8 Operating time detection means 9 Dirty degree detection means 10 Storage means 11 Comparison means

Claims (2)

[Claims] A fan motor for generating a suction force; a dust sensor for detecting dust passing through a dust suction passage;
Control means for controlling the input of the fan motor according to a signal from the dust sensor, and input switching means for manually switching the input of the fan motor,
A vacuum cleaner in which the detection sensitivity of the dust sensor is changed in conjunction with the input switching means. 2. An operating time detecting means for measuring an energizing time to a main body or a fan motor, and a time during which an input of the fan motor is increased according to an output of a dust sensor and the operating time detecting means. An electric vacuum cleaner, wherein the detection sensitivity of the dust sensor is changed according to the ratio of time.