Vacuum cleaner with spiral air guide

• US 20070289089A1
• Filed: 06/14/2006
• Published: 12/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation Of North America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation Of North America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Yacobi, Michael S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,581,287 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 15/353
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/1608 Cyclonic chamber constructions
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/1625 for series flow
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/1641 for parallel flow
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/1683 Dust collecting chambers; Dust collecting receptacles
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 45/12 by centrifugal forces centrifuges B04B; cyclones B04C
• CPC Class Codes: B04C 2009/005 with external rotors, e.g. impeller, ventilator, fan, blower, pump
• CPC Class Codes: B04C 5/12 Construction of the overflow ducting, e.g. diffusing or spiral exits
• CPC Class Codes: B04C 5/13 formed as a vortex finder and extending into the vortex chamber exits with bulkheads preventing reverse flow vortex B04C3/00; Discharge from vortex finder otherwise than at the top of the cyclone; Devices for controlling the overflow

Abstract

A vacuum cleaner includes a housing having a suction inlet, a dirt collection vessel carried on the housing and a suction generator carried on the housing. The dirt collection vessel includes a dirt collection chamber and a spiral air guide providing a spiral air path to improve cleaning efficiency. The suction generator is provided in fluid communication with the suction inlet, the dirt collection vessel and the spiral air guide.

Claims

1. A vacuum cleaner, comprising:

a housing including a suction inlet;

a dirt collection vessel carried on said housing, said dirt collection vessel including a dirt collection chamber;

a spiral air guide providing a spiral air path; and

a suction generator carried on said housing, said suction generator being in fluid communication with said suction inlet, said dirt collection vessel and said spiral air guide.

2. The vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein said dirt collection vessel includes a first dirt collection chamber, a primary inlet in communication with said first dirt collection chamber, a second dirt collection chamber, a secondary inlet in communication with said second dirt collection chamber and a chamber outlet.

3. The vacuum cleaner of claim 2, wherein said spiral air guide includes an inlet in fluid communication with said chamber outlet, at least one clean air discharge orifice along an inside portion of said spiral air path and an outlet in communication with said second dirt collection chamber through said secondary inlet.

4. The vacuum cleaner of claim 3, wherein said inlet is provided at a first end of said spiral air path and said outlet is provided at a second end of said spiral air path.

5. The vacuum cleaner of claim 4, wherein said spiral air guide comprises a spiral, tubular conduit and said spiral air path has a substantially constant cross sectional area from said first end to said second end.

6. The vacuum cleaner of claim 5, wherein said spiral air path has a cross sectional area of between about 250 mm² and about 1000 mm².

7. The vacuum cleaner of claim 4, wherein said spiral air path has a cross sectional area that decreases from said first end to said second end.

8. The vacuum cleaner of claim 4, wherein said spiral air path has a cross sectional area that increases from said first end to said second end.

9. The vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein said spiral air path is substantially flat.

10. The vacuum cleaner of claim 9, wherein said dirt collection vessel further includes a clean air manifold in fluid communication with said at least one clean air discharge orifice.

11. The vacuum cleaner of claim 10, wherein said clean air manifold includes a manifold outlet in fluid communication with said suction generator.

12. The vacuum cleaner of claim 11, wherein said spiral air guide partitions said dirt collection vessel into said dirt collection chamber and said clean air manifold.

13. The vacuum cleaner of claim 3, wherein said inlet, said at least one clean air discharge orifice and said outlet have cross sectional areas with a ratio of between about 10 to about 1 to about 10 and about 1 to about 1 to about 1.

14. The vacuum cleaner of claim 3, wherein said inlet has a cross sectional area of between about 250 mm² to about 1000 mm², said at least one discharge orifice has a cross sectional area of between about 20 mm² to about 360 mm² and said outlet has a cross sectional area of between about 250 mm² to about 360 mm².

15. The vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein said first dirt collection chamber is substantially cylindrical in shape, said primary inlet is tangentially directed with respect to said first dirt collection chamber and said chamber outlet is axially directed with respect to said first dirt collection chamber.

16. The vacuum cleaner of claim 15, wherein said chamber outlet includes a sieve having between about 1000 to about 1500 apertures and each of said apertures has a cross sectional area of between about 2.3 mm² to about 6.4 mm².

17. The vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein said housing includes a nozzle assembly and a canister assembly.

18. The vacuum cleaner of claim 17, wherein said suction inlet is provided on said nozzle assembly and at least one rotary agitator is provided adjacent said suction inlet.

19. The vacuum cleaner of claim 18, wherein said canister assembly is pivotally connected to said nozzle assembly.

20. The vacuum cleaner of claim 19, wherein a secondary filter is provided between said manifold outlet and said suction generator.

21. The vacuum cleaner of claim 20, wherein a final filter is provided downstream from said suction generator.

22. The vacuum cleaner of claim 1, including multiple spiral air guides.

23. A method of increasing the cleaning efficiency of a vacuum cleaner, comprising:

providing a dirt collection vessel with a spiral tubular conduit for returning relatively fine dirt particles to a dirt collection chamber and directing clean air toward an exhaust port.