KR20030081443A - Vacuum cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner (10) integrally coupled with a cyclone separating apparatus (100) including a plurality of cyclones (104) disposed in parallel with each other, wherein each of the cyclones ( 104 has a tapering body 104a having an outer wall 104b, wherein at least a portion 104d of each outer wall 104b forms part of an outer surface of the vacuum cleaner 10. It provides a vacuum cleaner characterized in.

Description

Vacuum cleaner {VACUUM CLEANER}

Over the last decade or so, the use of cyclone separators has been developed and introduced to the market to separate particles from the air stream of vacuum cleaners. Details of cyclone separation devices for use in vacuum cleaners are described in particular in US Pat. No. 3,425,192, US 4,373,228 and European Patent EP 0 042 723. It can be seen from these and other prior art documents that it is known to provide two cyclone devices in series such that the air flow passes through at least two cyclones continuously. This allows larger dust and debris to be extracted from the air stream of the first cyclone and allows the second cyclone to operate in an optimal state and to remove very fine particles very effectively in an efficient manner. It has been found that this type of structure is efficient when handling airflows involving various materials with a wide particle size distribution, as in the case of vacuum cleaners.

A structure has been proposed in which downstream cyclones have been replaced by a plurality of downstream cyclones arranged in parallel. For example in US Pat. No. 3,452,192 and Japanese Patent JP 52-14775. In both of these structures, the downstream cyclone is housed in the case surrounding the cyclone such that the volume occupied by the cyclone is not minimized.

The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner. In particular, the present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner integrally coupled with a cyclone separation device.

1A and 1B are front and side views, respectively, of a vacuum cleaner according to the present invention.

2A, 2B and 2C are front, side and plan views, respectively, of a first embodiment of a cyclone separation apparatus forming part of the vacuum cleaner of FIGS. 1A and 1B, respectively.

3A and 3B are front and side cross-sectional views of the cyclone of FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C, respectively, and FIG. 3B is a view along the III-III line of FIG. 3A.

4A, 4B and 4C are perspective, top and side cross-sectional views, respectively, of a portion of the cyclone separation apparatus of FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C, and FIG. 4C is a view along the line IV-IV of FIG. 4B.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a cyclone separation device which occupies a relatively small volume. Another object of the present invention is to provide a cyclone separation apparatus which is suitable for the use of a vacuum cleaner and which can ensure that the size of the vacuum cleaner is as small as possible in comparison with the prior art. It is another object of the present invention to provide a cyclone separation apparatus that can alleviate the disadvantages of the prior art.

The present invention is integrally coupled with a cyclone separating apparatus comprising a plurality of cyclones disposed in parallel with each other, in the vacuum cleaner having an outer surface, each cyclone has a tapering body having an outer wall And at least a portion of each outer wall forms a portion of an outer surface of the vacuum cleaner.

Forming at least a portion of the outer wall of the tapered body of the cyclone to the outer surface of the vacuum cleaner allows the overall volume of the vacuum cleaner to be kept to a minimum. Otherwise, a cover that has simply been provided to smooth or streamline the outer surface of the vacuum cleaner becomes unnecessary. In addition, the visual effect of viewing the shape of the functional part of the cyclone separation device satisfies the consumer and is therefore preferable. This effect can be enhanced by placing the cyclone at an isometric angle around the axis of the cyclone separation device and / or by having each axis inclined towards the axis of the cyclone separation device.

In a preferred embodiment, the cyclone separation device comprises at least one additional cyclone disposed parallel to the plurality of cyclones, each of the cyclones or the additional cyclones having an outer wall which does not form part of the outer surface of the vacuum cleaner. Having a tapered body. Therefore, the number of cyclones arranged parallel to each other is not limited by the physical limitations of the present vacuum cleaner. An additional cyclone that does not form part of the outer side of the vacuum cleaner may be located inside the ring of the cyclone that forms part of the outer side of the vacuum cleaner.

Other preferred features are set out in the dependent claims.

Embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1A and 1B show another household vacuum cleaner 10 according to the present invention. The vacuum cleaner 10 includes an upstanding body 12, and a motor casing 14 is located at the lower end of the upright body 12. A cleaner head 16 is mounted in articulated form on the motor case 14. A suction inlet 18 is provided on the cleaner head 16 and rotatably mounted to the motor case 14 so that wheels 20 can be guided over the surface to be cleaned by the vacuum cleaner 10. do.

A cyclonic separating apparatus 100 is mounted to the upright body 12 above the motor case 14. The cyclone separation device 100 is installed on a generally horizontal surface formed by a filter cover 22. The filter cover 22 is located above the motor case 14 and provides a cover for a post-motor filter (not shown). In addition, the cyclone separation device 100 is fixed to the upright body 12 by a clip 24 located at the top of the cyclone separation device 100. The upright body 12 includes an upstream duct (not shown) for transporting dirty air to the inlet of the cyclone separation device 100 and a downstream duct 26 for taking fresh air from the cyclone separation device 100. To combine.

The upright body 12 also incorporates a hose and wand assembly 28 that can be maintained in the shape shown in the figure to act as a handle for guiding the vacuum cleaner 10 over the surface to be cleaned. do. Instead, the hose and rod assembly 28 is provided with a floor tool (not shown) for the distal end 28a of the rod to perform a cleaning function, for example on a staircase, upholstery, or the like. It can be separated for use. The construction and operation of the hose and rod assembly 28 is not critical to the present invention and will no longer be described herein. The general structure and operation of the hose and rod assembly 28 illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B is similar to that described in US Pat. No. Re 32,257, which is incorporated herein by reference. In addition, a plurality of instruments and accessories 30a, 30b, 30c are detachably mounted to the upright body 12 for storage purposes during the period of use.

The details of the features of the vacuum cleaner 10 described above are not critical to the invention. The present invention relates to the details of a cyclone separator 100 forming part of the vacuum cleaner 10. In order to allow the cyclone separation device 100 to operate, a motor located in the motor case 14 is activated such that air is drawn through the inlet 18 or the distal end 28a of the hose and rod assembly 28. Sucked In With A Vacuum Cleaner This dust air (which is dust and dust entrained therein) passes through the cyclone separator 100 through the upstream duct. The air passes through the cyclone separation device 100 and is then transported from the cyclone separation device 100 to the motor case 14 through the downstream duct 26 below the upright body 12. Fresh air is used to cool the motor located in the motor case 14 before being discharged from the vacuum cleaner 10 via the filter cover 22.

This principle of operation of the vacuum cleaner 10 is known in the art. The present invention relates to the cyclone separation device 100 illustrated in FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C apart from the vacuum cleaner 10.

The cyclone separation device 100 illustrated in FIG. 2 includes an upstream cyclone unit 101 consisting of one upstream cyclone 102 and a downstream cyclone unit 102 consisting of a plurality of downstream cyclones 104. The upstream cyclone 102 consists essentially of a cylindrical bin 106 with an enclosed base 108. The open top end 110 of the cylindrical container is in contact with a circular top molding 112 which forms the top end of the upstream cyclone 102. An inlet port 114 is provided in the cylindrical vessel 106 to allow dirty air to be introduced into the upstream cyclone 102. The inlet port 114 is shaped, positioned and formed to communicate with an upstream duct that transports a lot of dusty air from the cleaner head 16 to the cyclone separator 100. Handle 116 and catch 118 the cylindrical container 106 to provide a means for separating the cylindrical container 106 from the upper molding 112 when the cylindrical container 106 needs to be emptied. ) And top molding 112, respectively. If necessary, a seal (not shown) may be provided between the cylindrical container 106 and the upper molding 112.

The base 108 of the cylindrical container can be hinged to the rest of the cylindrical container for further access into the cylindrical container 106 for emptying if necessary. While the embodiment illustrated herein includes an apparatus that can be hinged to allow the base 108 to be emptied, the details of such apparatus form the subject of a co-pending application and are no longer described herein.

Seven identical downstream cyclones 104 are provided in the downstream cyclone unit 103. The downstream cyclone 104 is spaced at the same angle with respect to the central longitudinal axis 150 of the downstream cyclone unit 103, which coincides with the longitudinal axis of the upstream cyclone unit 101. The structure is illustrated in Figure 2c. Each downstream cyclone 104 is in a frusto-conical shape with a large end located at its bottom and a small top end at the top thereof. Each downstream cyclone 104 has a longitudinal axis 148 (see FIG. 3B) that is slightly inclined toward the longitudinal axis 150 of the downstream cyclone unit 103. This feature is described in more detail below. In addition, the outermost point of the lowest end of each downstream cyclone 104 extends radially further from the longitudinal axis 150 of the downstream cyclone unit 103 than the wall of the cylindrical vessel 106. The top end of the downstream cyclone 104 protrudes into a collection molding 120 extending upward from the surface of the downstream cyclone 104. The collection molding 120 supports a handle 122 that can carry the entire cyclone separation device 100. A catch 124 is provided on the handle 122 for the purpose of securing the cyclone separation device 100 to the upright body 12 at its upper end. An outlet port 128 is provided on the upper molding 112 to direct fresh air from the cyclone separation device 100. The outlet port 126 is arranged and configured to cooperate with the downstream duct 26 to deliver the fresh air to the motor case 14.

As can be seen from FIGS. 4A and 4B, each cyclone 104 has a tapering body 104a that is conical in shape. Each cyclone 104 has an outer wall 104b. The first portion 104c of the outer wall 104b is located inside the collection molding 120 and the additional portion 104d is located outside the collection molding 120. The portion 104d of each outer wall 104b located outside of the collecting molding 12 forms part of the outer surface of the vacuum cleaner, as can be evident from FIGS. 1A and 1B.

The collecting molding 120 also supports an actuating lever 128 which is configured to activate a device for opening the base 108 of the cylindrical container 106 for emptying as mentioned above. .

Internal features of the cyclone separation device 100 are described with reference to FIG. 3B. FIG. 3A shows lines III-III corresponding to FIG. 2A and the cross section of FIG. 3B taken.

The interior feature of the upstream cyclone 102 includes an inner wall 132 extending along its entire length. The interior space defined by the inner wall 132 is in communication with the interior of the collection molding 120 as described below. The purpose of the inner wall 132 is to form a fine dust collecting space 134. A component is located within the inner wall 132 and within the collection space 134 to allow the base 108 to open when the actuation lever 128 is actuated. The precise details and operation of these components are not critical to the invention and are not described herein any further.

Four equally spaced baffles or fins 136 projecting radially outwardly from the inner wall 132 to the cylindrical vessel 106 are mounted to the outside of the inner wall 132. The baffle 136 assists in the deposition of large dust and dust particles in the collection space 138 formed between the inner wall 132 and the cylindrical container 106 adjacent to the base 108. The unique features of the baffle 136 are described in more detail in WO 00/04816.

A shroud 140 is located outside the inner wall 132 at the top of the upstream cyclone 102. The shroud extends upwardly from the baffle 136 and, together with the inner wall 132, forms an air passage 142. The shroud 140 has a perforated portion 144 through which air can pass from the interior of the upstream cyclone to the air passage 142. The air passage 142 is in communication with the inlet 146 of each of the downstream cyclones 104. Each inlet 146 is arranged in a scrolling manner such that air entering each downstream cyclone 104 is forced to follow a spiral passage within each downstream cyclone 104.

As mentioned above, the longitudinal axis 148 of each downstream cyclone 104 is inclined toward the longitudinal axis 150 of the downstream cyclone unit 103. The upper end of each downstream cyclone 104 is closer to the longitudinal axis 150 than the lower end thereof. In this embodiment, the inclination angle of the associated axis 148 is approximately 7.5 degrees.

The upper end of the downstream cyclone 104 protrudes into the collection molding 120, as mentioned above. The interior of the collection molding 120 defines a chamber 152 in which the upper end of the downstream cyclone 104 communicates. The surfaces of the collection molding 120 and the downstream cyclone 104 together extend axially, located between the downstream cyclones 104, in communication with the collection space 134 formed by the inner wall 132. The passage 154 is formed. Thus, dust and dust discharged to the minimum end of the downstream cyclone 104 may pass from the chamber 152 through the passage 154 into the collection space 134.

Each downstream cyclone 104 has an air outlet in the form of a vortex finder 156. Each vortex finder 156 is generally located at the center of the lowest end of each downstream cyclone 104. In this embodiment, a central body 158 is located in each vortex finder 156. Each vortex finder alternately communicates with an annular chamber 160 in communication with the outlet port 126 (see FIG. 2C).

4A, 4B and 4C illustrate the structure of the downstream cyclone 104 in more detail. In particular, this helps to illustrate the configuration of the passage 154. 4B also helps to illustrate the fact that the sides of each of the downstream cyclones 104 closest to the longitudinal axis of the downstream cyclone unit 103 are positioned substantially parallel thereto.

4A, 4B and 4C also illustrate the fact that each of the seven downstream cyclones 104 is formed integrally with the remaining six cyclones 104. The moldings illustrated in FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C can be made integrally and made integrally, which has advantages in terms of fabrication and assembly. In particular, the cost of manufacturing these structures in one piece is cheaper than the cost of manufacturing the cyclones individually and assembling them into the required shape. In addition, the risk of errors occurring in the assembly process is eliminated by making the cyclone integrally. If the cyclones are manufactured separately and then assembled, the risk that the pressures generated in the system are not equal is increased and this may affect the separation performance of the cyclone assembly as a whole.

The mode of the device described above is as follows. Dirty air (air accompanied by dust and dust) is introduced into the cyclone separator 100 through the inlet port 114. The placement of the inlet port 114 inherently abuts a wall of the cylindrical vessel 106 that allows incoming air to follow a spiral passage around the interior of the cylindrical vessel 106. Larger dust and dust particles, as is well known, settle in the collection space 138 adjacent to the base 108 by the effect of centrifugal forces acting on the particles, along with fluff and other large debris. Partially fresh air is moved upwardly from the base 108 to the upstream cyclone 102 through the penetrating portion 144 of the shroud 140. Partially fresh air is also moved along the air passage 142, which is divided into seven parts. Each portion enters a downstream cyclone of one of the downstream cyclones 104 through each inlet 146. As described above, each inlet 146 is a scroll inlet forcing the incoming air along a spiral passage into the downstream cyclone 104. The tapered shape of the downstream cyclone 104 also allows strong cyclone separation to occur inside the downstream cyclone 104 so that very fine dust and dust particles are separated from the main air stream. The dust and dust particles are discharged to the top of the downstream cyclone 104 and fresh air is returned along the axis 148 to the bottom of the downstream cyclone 104 and discharged through the vortex finder 156. The fresh air is passed from the vortex finder 156 to the annular chamber 162 and from there to the outlet port 126. In contrast, the dust and dust that had been separated from the airflow in the downstream cyclone 104 fall from the chamber 152 through the passage 154 into the collection space 134.

If the cyclone separation device 100 is to be emptied, the base 108 can be hingedly separated from the sidewall of the cylindrical container 106 such that the dust and debris collected in the collection spaces 134 and 138 are suitable. May fall into the container. As explained above, the detailed operation of the emptying mechanism does not form an important part of the present invention and will not be described herein any further.

The invention is not limited to the details of the embodiments described above. It should be emphasized that the features of the vacuum cleaner outside the cyclone cleaning device are not critical to the invention. It will be appreciated that there is no particular need for the device to be placed so that the axis of the cyclone unit is vertical and the axis can actually be vertically or even horizontally tilted if desired. The fact that centrifugal separation is not greatly affected by gravity makes this possible as long as the collection area of the cyclone unit is arranged to collect debris without interfering with the airflow passages necessary to achieve separation. In other variations of the embodiments described in detail above, the downstream cyclones illustrated above may be arranged such that their respective axes are disposed parallel to each other instead of being inclined toward the axis of the downstream cyclone unit as shown in the figure. In addition, as described above, further downstream cyclones may be provided in parallel with those illustrated in the embodiments described above. This can be accomplished by increasing a plurality of cyclones equidistantly spaced about the axis of the cyclone separation device, by adding additional cyclones inside the ring of already provided cyclones, or by combining both. Other variations and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

The invention can be used in vacuum cleaners, in particular vacuum cleaners which are integrally integrated with cyclone separation devices.

Claims (13)

In the vacuum cleaner having an outer surface, integrally coupled with a cyclone separating apparatus (cyclone separating apparatus) comprising a plurality of cyclones disposed in parallel to each other, Each cyclone has a tapering body having an outer wall, At least a portion of each outer wall forms a portion of an outer surface of the vacuum cleaner. The method of claim 1, The cyclone is disposed at a conformal angle about the axis of the cyclone separator. The method of claim 2, Each cyclone having an axis inclined toward the cyclone separator. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The cyclone separation device comprises at least one additional cyclone disposed parallel to the plurality of cyclones, Each of said cyclones or said additional cyclones has a tapered body having an outer wall that does not form part of an outer surface of said vacuum cleaner. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, Each of the cyclones or the additional cyclones is disposed closer to the axis of the cyclone separator than to a cyclone that is isometrically disposed about the axis of the cyclone separator. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, The tapered body is a vacuum cleaner having a conical shape. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, Wherein said cyclones are all substantially the same size and shape. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, Wherein each cyclone has a large bottom portion and a small top portion. The method of claim 8, A small top of each cyclone opening to a common collection area. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, The cyclone separator comprises an upstream cyclone having an outer wall, at least a portion of the outer wall forming a portion of an outer surface of the vacuum cleaner. The method of claim 10, And the outer wall of the upstream cyclone is substantially cylindrical in shape. The method of claim 11, And the plurality of cyclones disposed in parallel to each other are entirely located outside the outer wall of the upstream cyclone. Vacuum cleaner as described in substantially detailed description with reference to the drawings.