Motor-fan assembly for a floor cleaning machine
First Claim
1. An improved motor-fan assembly for a floor cleaning appliance, the motor-fan assembly having a motor housing having an inner chamber, a motor contained in the inner chamber, a working air cavity, a motor cooling fan for drawing a cooling airstream into the inner chamber of the motor housing to cool the motor, a working air fan for drawing dirty working air into the working air cavity, a working air fan cover attached to the motor housing to seal the working air cavity, a motor cooling fan housing cover attached to the motor housing to seal the inner chamber through which the cooling airstream exits the motor housing, the improvement comprising:
- a plurality of spiral shaped grooves formed on an inner surface of said working air fan cover to reduce the noise of the working air circulating in said working air cavity adjacent to said inner surface.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A motor-fan assembly for a floor care appliance having an improved working air fan for increased performance and noise reduction, a working air fan housing cover having a plurality of spiral shaped grooves, and a motor cooling air fan housing cover with slot shaped vent openings for increased cooling performance. The working air fan has a larger number of blades as compared to conventional fans wherein the blades are of two different lengths arranged in an alternating pattern circumferentially on an annular shaped disc. The blades are spaced closer together to prevent the passage of debris between adjacent blades and also to reduce flow noise. The passage between the edges of the fan blades and the working air fan cover has been widened and made uniform to aid in the passage of debris over the top of the working air fan. The spiral shaped grooves on the working air fan cover breaks the circulation patterns of the working airflow into smaller re-circulation patterns to reduce noise generated in the working air cavity. The slot shaped vent openings in the motor cooling air fan cover are oriented as close as possible to being parallel to the resultant direction of the motor cooling air exiting the motor housing through the vent openings to minimize drag and improve cooling efficiency.
57 Citations
41 Claims
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1. An improved motor-fan assembly for a floor cleaning appliance, the motor-fan assembly having a motor housing having an inner chamber, a motor contained in the inner chamber, a working air cavity, a motor cooling fan for drawing a cooling airstream into the inner chamber of the motor housing to cool the motor, a working air fan for drawing dirty working air into the working air cavity, a working air fan cover attached to the motor housing to seal the working air cavity, a motor cooling fan housing cover attached to the motor housing to seal the inner chamber through which the cooling airstream exits the motor housing, the improvement comprising:
a plurality of spiral shaped grooves formed on an inner surface of said working air fan cover to reduce the noise of the working air circulating in said working air cavity adjacent to said inner surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An improved motor-fan assembly for a floor cleaning appliance, the motor-fan assembly having a motor housing having an inner chamber, a motor contained in the inner chamber, a working air cavity, a motor cooling fan for drawing a cooling airstream into the inner chamber of the motor housing to cool the motor, a working air fan for drawing dirty working air into the working air cavity, a working air fan cover attached to the motor housing to seal the working air cavity, a motor cooling fan housing cover attached to the motor housing to seal the inner chamber through which the cooling airstream exits the motor housing, the improvement comprising:
a plurality of slot shaped vent openings having parallel sides in the motor cooling fan housing cover. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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12. An improved motor-fan assembly for a floor cleaning appliance, the motor-fan assembly having a motor housing having an inner chamber, a motor contained in the inner chamber, a working air cavity, a motor cooling fan for drawing a cooling airstream into the inner chamber of the motor housing to cool the motor, a working air fan for drawing dirty working air into the working air cavity, a working air fan cover attached to the motor housing to seal the working air cavity, a motor cooling fan housing cover attached to the motor housing to seal the inner chamber through which the cooling airstream exits the motor housing, the improvement comprising:
a plurality of vent openings and a plurality of planar shaped vanes formed in said motor cooling fan housing cover wherein adjacent vent openings are separated by one of said plurality of vanes.
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18. An improved motor-fan assembly for a floor cleaning appliance, the motor-fan assembly having a motor housing having an inner chamber, a motor contained in the inner chamber, a working air cavity, a motor cooling fan for drawing a cooling airstream into the inner chamber of the motor housing to cool the motor, a working air fan for drawing dirty working air into the working air cavity, a working air fan cover attached to the motor housing to seal the working air cavity, a motor cooling fan housing cover attached to the motor housing to seal the inner chamber through which the cooling airstream exits the motor housing, the improvement comprising a working air fan comprised of:
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a circular shaped back plate;
a hub integrally formed with the back plate; and
a plurality of curvilinear shaped fan blades integrally formed with said back plate projecting orthogonally upward from an upper surface of said back plate, said plurality of blades having a top edge and a trailing edge wherein said top edge is parallel to an inner surface of said working air fan cover.
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27. An improved motor-fan assembly for a floor cleaning appliance, the motor-fan assembly having a motor housing having an inner chamber, a motor contained in the inner chamber, a working air cavity, a motor cooling fan for drawing a cooling airstream into the inner chamber of the motor housing to cool the motor, a working air fan for drawing dirty working air into the working air cavity, a working air fan cover attached to the motor housing to seal the working air cavity, a motor cooling fan housing cover attached to the motor housing to seal the inner chamber through which the cooling airstream exits the motor housing, the improvement comprising a working air fan comprised of:
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a circular shaped back plate;
a hub integrally formed with the back plate, and a plurality of curvilinear shaped fan blades integrally formed with said back plate projecting orthogonally upward from an upper surface of said back plate, said plurality of fan blades having a top edge and a trailing edge wherein said trailing edge projects orthogonally upward from said back plate and is parallel to an outer circumferential wall of the working air fan cover.
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29. The improved motor-fan assembly of 28 wherein said plurality of long fan blades extend from said hub to an outer periphery of said back plate.
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35. An improved impeller for a floor cleaning appliance, comprised of:
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a circular shaped back plate;
a hub integrally formed with the back plate, and a plurality of curvilinear shaped fan blades integrally formed with said back plate and projecting orthogonally upward from an upper surface of said back plate, said plurality of fan blades being comprised of a plurality of long fan blades and a plurality of short fan blades in an alternating arrangement extending radially from said hub.
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Specification