WO2023117042A1

WO2023117042A1 - Nozzle and vacuum cleaner

Info

Publication number: WO2023117042A1
Application number: PCT/EP2021/086857
Authority: WO
Inventors: Roger Karlsson
Original assignee: Aktiebolaget Electrolux
Priority date: 2021-12-20
Filing date: 2021-12-20
Publication date: 2023-06-29

Abstract

Described is a nozzle (6) for a vacuum cleaner and a vacuum cleaner. The nozzle comprises a forward brush roller (11), and a rear roller (13). The nozzle further comprises a motor (12) driving the forward brush roller and the rear roller where the rear roller is driven via a first belt (16). Hereby a belt drive of the rear roller is provided such that noise is reduced and the complexity of a motor drive of the rear roller can be reduced. The drive of the rear roller can advantageously be in the opposite direction to the drive of the forward brush roller to improve pick up of particles.

Description

NOZZLE AND VACUUM CLEANER

Technical field

The present disclosure relates to a vacuum cleaner comprising a nozzle and also to a nozzle for the vacuum cleaner.

Background

Vacuum cleaners, such as battery powered stick vacuum cleaners, can be provided with different types of nozzles, for example with a motor driven agitator of different types such as a brush. Other types of vacuum cleaners also include nozzles. For example, stick, canister and robotic vacuum cleaners also have different types of nozzles.

The nozzles can be designed to optimize cleaning of different types of material and for different types of environments. The nozzle may have different size and different type of agitator depending on the specific cleaning situation, e.g., hard floor cleaning, carpet cleaning or furniture cleaning.

One particular type of nozzle can be provided with multiple brushes. For example, a forward brush can be supplemented with a rear brush. Such a nozzle is known from W02020 147431.

There is a constant desire to improve vacuum cleaners to make them more efficient.

Summary

One object of the present disclosure is therefore to provide an improved vacuum cleaner with a nozzle and an improved nozzle for a vacuum cleaner. This object is achieved by a nozzle and a vacuum cleaner as set out in the appended claims.

In accordance with the invention a nozzle for a vacuum cleaner is provided. The nozzle comprises a forward brush roller, and a rear roller. The nozzle further comprises a motor driving the forward brush roller and the rear roller where the rear roller is driven via a first belt. Hereby a belt drive of the rear roller is provided such that noise is reduced and the complexity of a motor drive of the rear roller can be reduced. The drive of the rear roller can advantageously be in the opposite direction to the drive of the forward brush roller to improve pick up of particles.

In accordance with one embodiment the first belt is toothed. Hereby a secure drive can be achieved.

In accordance with one embodiment the first belt is toothed on both the inside and outside. Hereby a secure drive that enables easy shift of direction drive for the rear roller in relation to the forward roller can be achieved.

In accordance with one embodiment the forward brush roller is driven via a belt.

In accordance with one embodiment, the belt driving the forward brush roller is a second belt interconnecting the motor and the forward brush roller.

In accordance with one embodiment the first belt is driven by the rotation of the forward brush roller. In accordance with one embodiment, a gear wheel is provided to press the outside of the first belt against the drive of the rear roller.

The invention also extends to a vacuum cleaner comprising a nozzle as set out above.

Brief description of the drawings

The invention will now be described in more detail by means of examples and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

- Fig. 1 is a general view in perspective of a vacuum cleaner,

- Fig. 2 is a cross sectional side view of a vacuum cleaner nozzle, and

- Fig. 3 is a view of a toothed belt for driving a roller of a vacuum cleaner nozzle.

Detailed description

Aspects of the present invention will now be described more fully. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. Well-known functions or constructions will not necessarily be described in detail for ease of understanding and/or clarity. It is further to be understood that the features described can be combined in any suitable manner to meet different implementational needs.

The present disclosure relates to a vacuum cleaner. In Fig. 1 , a vacuum cleaner 1 is placed in a stand 2. The vacuum cleaner 1 is of a type where a part of the vacuum cleaner can be separated from the rest of the vacuum cleaner to form a hand-held unit. In Fig. 1 . The vacuum cleaner 1 is a of a stick type and the top part of the vacuum cleaner 1 can be separated to form a hand-held unit (main unit) 3. However, the vacuum cleaner could be of any type. For example, the vacuum cleaner can be a stick, canister or robotic vacuum cleaner.

Further, the hand-held unit or main unit 3 comprises a dust separation arrangement, an air inlet, an air out, a motor-fan unit creating an airflow from the air inlet through the dust separation arrangement to the air outlet, and a battery powering the motor fan unit as is known in the art. The main unit 3 can also comprise a controller configured to control different operational parameters of the vacuum cleaner 1 .

The vacuum cleaner 1 comprises a stick/tube 5 and a nozzle 6. The dust sucked by the vacuum cleaner from the nozzle 6 can be collected in a dust container 4.

To provide efficient cleaning the nozzle 6 can be provided with a motor driven forward brush roller. This is illustrated in Fig. 2. Fig. 2 depicts a cross sectional side view of a nozzle 6 for a vacuum cleaner with such a motor driven forward roller 11 . The nozzle 6 is provided with a rear support wheel 30 that rolls on the surface to be cleaned. The nozzle can be moved in a forward direction as is indicated by the arrow 10 and back in a backstroke in the opposite direction of the arrow 10. In Fig. 2, the forward motor driven roller 11 , typically a forward brush roller, is driven by a motor 12. Further, a rear roller 13 is provided. The rear roller 13 can be used to facilitate pick up of large particles on a back stroke of the nozzle 6 without a negative impact of the performance with regard to dust pickup, especially dust pickup in a crevice. Typically, the forward roller 11 can be a brush roller such as a roller provided with bristles. Further the rear roller 13 can have a coating made of a fluffy material and or soft material and not provided with bristles. Also, the rear roller 13 can have a diameter that is smaller than the forward roller 11 to facilitate pick up of larger particles.

Thus, in order to clean a recess or crevice in the surface to be cleaned, such as a crack, groove or joint, as effectively as possible, the suction mouth of the nozzle 6 can be surrounded by a seal so that a high vacuum can be generated in the suction space defined by the seal between the suction mouth and the surface to be cleaned. If the vacuum cleaner nozzle 6 is moved over the recess in the ground, air flows at high speed through the recess into the suction space, whereby the recess is effectively cleaned. However, such a seal can be disadvantageous when the vacuum cleaner nozzle is moved in the sealed state on the surface, because larger dirt particles can then be pushed I swept in front of the seal, making it difficult or impossible to vacuum the large dirt particles. The provision of the rear roller mitigates this problem by allowing for large particles to enter the suction space without negatively impacting the vacuum formed in the suction space.

However, as has been realized, it can be advantageous for the rear roller 13 to be motor driven to further enhance pick-up of larger particles. For example, if no drive is provided, it can happen that the rear roller 13 stops to rotate when particles touch the rear roller 13 whereby pick-up of larger particles is hindered. The rear roller 13 should then preferably be driven in the opposite direction of the forward roller /brush 11 when a motor driven forward roller brush is provided.

In order to make the implementation of both a motor driven front roller/brush 11 and the rear roller 13 efficient, it can be possible to drive the front roller/brush 11 and the rear roller 13 by the same motor 12. Hereby only one motor 12 is required to drive both the motor driven front roller/brush 11 and the rear roller 13. However, because the motor driven front roller/brush 11 and the rear roller 13 should be driven in opposite directions, a gear arrangement is required to shift the drive direction for the rear roller 13 (or the front roller/brush 11 ).

Conventional gear arrangement typically will add to the complexity and weight of the nozzle 6. Also, space will be required to house the gear arrangement which is not desired because the nozzle should be as small as possible given some required performance such as cleaning width and pick-up performance of dirt and similar, etc. In addition, a conventional drive with conventional gear mechanisms can be noisy which is not desired.

In order to provide a drive with gear at least one belt can be used to drive the front roller 11 and the back roller 13. In Fig. 2 a forward belt 14 is used to drive the front roller 11 . The forward belt 14 can be driven in the direction of the arrow 15. A suitable rotational speed can be obtained by a first gear wheel 21 at the motor 12 and a second gear wheel 22 of the front roller 11. The gear wheels 21 , 22 can have teeth if a toothed belt 14 is used. In accordance with one embodiment a rear belt 16 is provided to shift the driving direction of the motor 12 for the rear roller 13. The forward and rear belt 14, 16 can be of any type. However, in accordance with some embodiments at least one of the belts 14, 16 and in particular both the belt 14 and the belt 16 are toothed belts. The toothed belt(s) can work like a timing belt to drive the motor driven front roller/brush 11 and or the rear roller 13.

The rear belt 16 can be a toothed belt with teeth on both sides (inside and outside). Further, the rear belt 16 can be driven via a third gear wheel 23 on the forward brush roller 11 as is depicted in Fig. 2. By providing teeth on both sides of the toothed belt 16, the toothed belt 16 can drive the rear roller 13 and in opposite directions with a minimum of additional components. For example, there is no need for a pretensioning of the toothed belt 16. Hereby a very small amount of space is required and very little weight is added for enabling motor drive of the rear roller 13 and less noise is produced. The rear belt 16 makes it possible to change the rotation direction of the motor 12 in an easy way in that the outside of the rear belt 16 drives the rear roller 13. The rear roller 13 can be provided with a fourth gear wheel 24. To support the rear belt 16 against the rear roller a fifth gear wheel 25 can be provided. The fifth gear wheel rotates with the rear belt 16 and press the outside of rear belt 16 against the fourth gear wheel of the rear roller. Hereby the rear roller 13 can be driven. In particular the rear roller can hereby be driven in an opposite direction to the direction in which the forward brush roller is driven.

In Fig. 3 an implementation with a toothed rear belt 16 with teeth on both sides (inside and outside) is shown in more detail. In the embodiment of Fig. 3, the toothed rear belt 16 is driven by the third gear wheel 23 on the forward brush roller 11 . The inside of the toothed rear belt 16 is supported by the fifth gear wheel 25 such that the outside of the toothed rear belt 16 engages with the fourth gear wheel 24. The fourth gear wheel 24 and fifth gear wheel 25 can have a suitable number of gear teeth and a suitable dimension to provide a suitable rotational speed of the rear roller 13. In the exemplary embodiments described herein an embodiment employing 5 gear wheels and two belts to drive the front roller and rear roller has been set out. The implementation described above shows a first, rear, belt 16 and a second, forward, belt 14. However, it is of course possible to use fewer or more belts 14, 16 and or fewer or more gear wheel.

For example, only one, first, belt can be used to drive both the front roller 11 and rear roller 13. In another embodiment only the rear roller 13 is driven via a first belt 16.

The forward roller 11 can den be driven directly by the motor 12 or via a mechanic gear arrangement connecting the motor 12 with the forward roller 11 . If a different rotational direction is desired for one of the rollers the first or the second belt can be set up to drive one roller with its inside and the other roller with its outside. Also, whereas toothed belts can be advantageous in some implementations, it is also envisaged to use other types of belts. For example, V-belts, moulded notch V-belts, V-ribbed belts, multiribbed belts and timing belts can be used. A suitable gear ratio can then be obtained by sizing the gear wheels accordingly.

Claims

8 CLAIMS

1. A nozzle (6) for a vacuum cleaner comprising:

- a forward brush roller (11 ),

- a rear, roller (13),

- a motor (12) driving the forward brush roller and the rear roller, wherein the rear roller is adapted to be driven via a first belt (16).

2. The nozzle according to claim 1 , wherein the first belt is toothed.

3. The nozzle according to claim 2, wherein the first belt is toothed on both the inside and outside.

4. The nozzle according to any one of claims 1 - 3, wherein the forward brush roller is adapted to be driven via a belt (14,16).

5. The nozzle according to claim 4 wherein the belt driving the forward brush roller is a second belt (14) interconnecting the motor (12) and the forward brush roller (11 ).

6. The nozzle according to any one of claims 1 - 5, wherein the first belt (16) is adapted to be driven by the rotation of the forward brush roller (11).

7. The nozzle according to any one of claims 1 - 6, wherein a gear wheel (25) is provided to press the outside of the first belt (16) against the the rear roller (13) to drive the rear roller (13). 9

8. The nozzle according to any one of claims 1 - 7, wherein the rear roller adapted to be driven in an opposite direction to the direction in which the forward brush roller is adapted to be driven. 9. A vacuum cleaner (1 ) comprising the nozzle (6) according to any one of claims 1 -

8.