Motor control apparatus for an electric vacuum cleaner
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for operating a vacuum cleaner having a filter to collect particles from a surface to be cleaned and a variable speed motor connected to a device to cause particles to be picked up from said surface and collected by said filter, comprising:
- detecting means for sequentially detecting a rotational speed of said motor at predetermined intervals during the cleaning of said surface;
surface identifying means for determining a characteristic of the surface being cleaned from a fluctuation pattern in the rotational speed detected by said detecting means within a predetermined sampling time; and
control means for automatically controlling said motor to set the rotational speed thereof to a speed predetermined for a characteristics of said surface indicated by said surface identifying means, whereby the rotational speed of the motor can be automatically set to an optimum condition in accordance with the surface being cleaned.
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Abstract
Method and apparatus for operating a vacuum cleaner in which by detecting a rotational speed of a variable speed fan motor adapted to give a suction force to the cleaner and its change range, the choking state of the filter and the state of the cleaned surface are discriminated, and a speed command of the fan motor is corrected on the basis of the result of the discrimination, and the comfortable cleaning can be performed by the optimum suction force.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. An apparatus for operating a vacuum cleaner having a filter to collect particles from a surface to be cleaned and a variable speed motor connected to a device to cause particles to be picked up from said surface and collected by said filter, comprising:
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detecting means for sequentially detecting a rotational speed of said motor at predetermined intervals during the cleaning of said surface; surface identifying means for determining a characteristic of the surface being cleaned from a fluctuation pattern in the rotational speed detected by said detecting means within a predetermined sampling time; and control means for automatically controlling said motor to set the rotational speed thereof to a speed predetermined for a characteristics of said surface indicated by said surface identifying means, whereby the rotational speed of the motor can be automatically set to an optimum condition in accordance with the surface being cleaned. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. An apparatus for operating a vacuum cleaner having a filter to collect particles from a surface to be cleaned and a variable speed motor connected to a device to cause particles to be picked up from said surface and collected by said filter, comprising:
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detecting means for detecting the rotational speed of said motor; means for determining the maximum speed and the minimum speed of said motor within a predetermined sampling time from the rotational speed detected by said detecting means; surface identifying means for identifying a characteristic of a surface being cleaned from values of the maximum and minimum speed of said motor during said predetermined sampling time; control means for generating a control command based on a characteristic of the surface being cleaned as identified by said surface identifying means; and means for controlling the speed of said motor in accordance with said control command. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An apparatus for operating a vacuum cleaner having an air flow passage through which particles are conveyed on an air stream from an inlet to an outlet and including a motor which operates to cause said particles to enter said inlet from a surface being cleaned and a filter in said air passage to collect said particles, said apparatus comprising:
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detecting means for detecting the rotational speed of said motor; means for determining the maximum speed and the minimum speed of said motor within a predetermined sampling time from the rotational speed indicated by said detecting means; surface identifying means for identifying a characteristic of said surface being cleaned and a degree of choking of said filter from values of the maximum and minimum speed indicated by said determining means; control means for generating a control command based on a characteristic of said surface and a degree of choking of said filter identified by said identifying means; and means for controlling the speed of said motor and the quantity of air per unit time in said air stream in accordance with said control command. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A vacuum cleaner, comprising:
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a housing having an air flow inlet, an air flow outlet and an air passage extending between said air flow inlet and said air flow outlet; a filter in said air passage to collect particles in air flowing in said passage; an electric blower including a fan and a fan motor for producing an air flow in said air passage from said air inlet to said air outlet; means for determining the rotational speed of said fan motor; means for detecting the maximum speed and the minimum speed of the said fan motor within a predetermined sampling time from the rotational speed indicated by said determining means; means for identifying a characteristic of a surface subjected to a suction force produced by said air flow and a degree of choking of said filter from values of the maximum and minimum speed detected by said detecting means; means for generating an output speed command based on the identified characteristic of the surface and the degree of choking of the filter identified by said identifying means; and means responsive to said speed command for controlling the speed of said fan motor. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A vacuum cleaner, comprising:
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a housing having an air flow inlet, an air flow outlet and an air passage extending between said air flow inlet and said air flow outlet; a filter in said air passage to collect particles in air flowing in said passage; a variable speed motor for causing particles to be picked up at said air flow inlet and collected by said filter; means for determining the rotational speed of said motor; means for detecting the maximum speed and the minimum speed of the said motor within a predetermined sampling time from the rotational speed indicated by said determining means; means for identifying a characteristic of a surface subjected to a suction force produced by said air flow and a degree of choking of said filter from values of the maximum and minimum speed detected by said detecting means; means for generating an output speed command based on the identified characteristic of the surface and the degree of choking of the filter identified by said identifying means; and means for responsive to said speed command for controlling the speed of said fan motor. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A vacuum cleaner, comprising:
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a filter to collect particles from a surface to be cleaned; a variable speed motor connected to a device to cause particles to be picked up from said surface and collected by said filter; detecting means for sequentially detecting a rotational speed of said motor at predetermined intervals during the cleaning of said surface; surface identifying means for determining a characteristic of the surface being cleaned from a fluctuation pattern in the rotational speed detected by said detecting means within a predetermined sampling time; and control means for automatically controlling said motor to set the rotational speed thereof to a speed predetermined for a characteristic of said surface indicated by said surface identifying means, whereby the rotational speed of the motor can be automatically set to an optimum condition in accordance with the surface being cleaned. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33)
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Specification