Vacuum cleaner having an ion generator

• US 7,174,593 B2
• Filed: 12/26/2002
• Issued: 02/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Kitamura, Hidenori, Kajikawa, Saburo, Yamaguchi, Seiji, Kondo, Yasushi, Uratani, Hiroyuki, Taniguchi, Yoshihiro, Shibuya, Masaki, Yoshida, Ryohei, Soejima, Masakuni, Fujita, Kouichi, Ishikawa, Haruka
• Primary Examiner(s): Till; Terrence R.
• Application Number:
  US10/327,879
• Publication Number:
  US 20030140444A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,510 Days
• Field of Search: 15/15.1, 153/19, 153/39, 153271-3277, 153/47, 15350-353, 153/63, 153/66, 153/77, 153/83, 96/39, 96/61, 96/94, 96/97, 55D/IG.3, 361230-235, 422/186, 422/186.04, 422/186.05, 422/186.06, 422/186.07, 422/186.1, 422/186.13
• US Class Current: 15/1.51
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 7/04 for using the exhaust air for other purposes, e.g. for distribution of chemicals in a room, for sterilisation of the air spraying or atomising in general B05
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/0411 driven by electric motor
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/0488 Combinations or arrangements of several tools, e.g. edge cleaning tools
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/06 with fixed, e.g. adjustably fixed brushes or the like
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/0613 with means specially adapted for picking up threads, hair or the like, e.g. brushes, combs, lint pickers or bristles pads

Abstract

A vacuum cleaner includes an electric blower for generating a suction air flow, a suction head in communication with the electric blower for drawing in dirt, a filter bag communication with the electric blower for capturing and collecting dirt, an exhaust unit for discharging exhaust air from the electric blower to atmosphere, and an ion generator for generating negative ions and/or positive ions. The ion generator is placed between the suction head and the filter bag.

Claims

1. A vacuum cleaner comprising:

an electric blower for generating a suction air flow;

a suction head in communication with the electric blower for drawing in dirt;

a rotary brush having a plurality of bristle clusters; and

an ion generator for generating negative ions and/or positive ions by coming into frictional contact with the bristle clusters of the rotary brush,

wherein the ions generated from the ion generator are discharged and attracted to dirt particles so that the dirt particles are charged with the ions and drawn by opposite polarity of the bristle clusters.

2. The vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein the ion generator is installed at upstream of the air flow of the electric blower.

4. The vacuum cleaner of any one of claim 2, or 3, wherein the ion generator is made of a fabric readily charged with negative electricity and/or positive electricity, negative and/or positive ions are generated by making the suction air flow and/or the exhaust air flow formed by the electric blower pass through the fabric constituting the ion generator.

3. A vacuum cleaner comprising:

an electric blower for generating a suction air flow;

a suction head in communication with the electric blower for drawing in dirt;

a dirt collecting means for capturing and collecting dirt;

a rotary brush having a plurality of bristle clusters; and

an ion generator placed in the suction head, for generating negative ions and/or positive ions by coming into frictional contact with the bristle clusters of the rotary brush,

wherein the ions generated from the ion generator are discharged and attracted to dirt particles so that the dirt particles are charged with the ions and drawn by opposite polarity of the bristle clusters.

5. A suction head for use in a vacuum cleaner comprising:

a dirt sucking chamber provided with a rotary brush, the rotary brush having a plurality of bristle clusters and the bristle clusters being made of a first material to be charged with electricity; and

an ion generator for generating negative ions and/or positive ions, the ion generator being made of a second material to be charged with electricity, the second material having a different electrification rank from that of the first material,

wherein the ion generator is charged with electricity by coming into frictional contact with the bristle clusters of the rotary brush and the ions generated from the ion generator are discharged from the suction head to be attracted to dirt particles so that the dirt particles are charged with the ions and drawn by opposite polarity of the bristle clusters.

6. The suction head of claim 5, wherein the second material is more readily charged with negative electricity than the first material and thus the ion generator is charged with negative electricity by coming into frictional contact with the bristle clusters of the rotary brush, thereby generating the negative ions.

7. The suction head of claim 6, wherein the bristle clusters of the rotary brush are different in thickness and/or length from each other.

8. The suction head of claim 7, wherein the bristle clusters of the rotary brush are made of an identical material.

9. The suction head of claim 5, wherein the ion generator has thickness of about 0.1 mm or greater.

10. The suction head of claim 5, wherein the ion generator is installed on an inside front of the dirt sucking chamber to extend down to a position under a vertical position of the center of rotation of the rotary brush.

11. The suction head of claim 5, wherein the bristle clusters have a length greater by about 0.5 mm than a gap between the rotary brush and the ion generator.

12. The suction head of claim 5, wherein the bristle clusters of the rotary brush are different in thickness and/or length from each other.

13. The suction head of claim 12, wherein the bristle clusters of the rotary brush are made of an identical material.

14. The suction head of claim 5, wherein a first material constituting the bristle clusters of the rotary brush is more readily charged with negative electricity than a second material constituting the ion generator.

15. The suction head of claim 14, wherein the first material is made of polystyrene such as nylon to be readily charged with positive electricity and the second material is made of a thermoplastic resin or vinyl chloride.

16. The suction head of claim 5, wherein the rotary brush is rotated by an electric motor, or a suction air flow or an exhaust air flow generated by the electric blower.

18. A vacuum cleaner comprising:

a main body including an electric blower for providing a suction air flow; and

a suction head of any one of claims 5–

16 &

17, the suction head being communicated with the electric blower.

17. A suction head for use in a vacuum cleaner comprising:

a dirt sucking chamber provided with a rotary brush, the rotary brush having a plurality of bristle clusters and the bristle clusters being made of a first material to be charged with electricity; and

an ion generator for generating negative ions and/or positive ions, the ion generator being made of a second material to be charged with electricity, the second material having a different electrification rank from that of the first material,

wherein the ion generator is charged with electricity by coming into frictional contact with the bristle clusters of the rotary brush and the ions generated from the ion generator is discharged from the suction head to be attracted to dirt particles,

wherein the rotary brush further has a holder for holding the bristle clusters, the holder being made of a third material whose electrification rank is between those of the first and the second material.