Vacuum cleaner

• US 9,958,031 B2
• Filed: 10/22/2014
• Issued: 05/01/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Park, Hyun Uk, Han, Seung Il, Seo, Jun Won, Lee, Jea Won
• Primary Examiner(s): Hansen, Colby M
• Application Number:
  US14/520,800
• Publication Number:
  US 20150114155A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,287 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/009 Carrying-vehicles; Arrangements of trollies or wheels; Means for avoiding mechanical obstacles
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 1/20 involving more than two intermeshing members
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 74/19614 Disconnecting means

Abstract

A vacuum cleaner including a wheel, a driving motor configured to provide the wheel with a driving force, and a clutch configured to connect transfer gears to the wheel or to cancel a connection between the transfer gears and the wheel. A body of the vacuum cleaner is able to actively travel because of the transfer gears are connected to the wheel when power is applied to the driving motor and the wheel smoothly rotates without having a detent torque of the driving motor when power is not applied to the driving motor. The wheel is provided with an internal gear, and one of the transfer gears is configured to transfer the driving force of the driving motor by making contact with the internal gear.

Claims

1. A vacuum cleaner comprising:

a wheel;

a driving motor configured to provide the wheel with a driving force;

transfer gears provided to be engaged with each other between the driving motor and the wheel; and

a clutch disposed between the wheel and one of the transfer gears most adjacent to the wheel, the clutch being configured to connect the transfer gears to the wheel such that the driving force of the driving motor is transferred to the wheel or to disconnect the transfer gears from the wheel to prevent a detent torque of the driving motor and a rolling friction of the transfer gears from being transferred to the wheel while preventing noise due to the detent torque and the rolling friction from occurring.

2. The vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein a driving shaft of the driving motor is provided to be parallel to a rotating shaft of the wheel.

3. The vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein the transfer gears are each provided as a spur gear or a helical gear.

4. The vacuum cleaner of claim 1, further comprising a gear housing configured to accommodate the transfer gears.

5. The vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein the clutch is an electronic clutch using an electromagnetic force.

6. The vacuum cleaner of claim 5, wherein if power is applied to the driving motor, power is applied to the electronic clutch to connect the transfer gears to the wheel, and if no power is applied to the driving motor, the electronic clutch is off and the transfer gears are disconnected from the wheel.

7. The vacuum cleaner of claim 5, wherein the electronic clutch includes a clutch engaged with the one of the transfer gears most adjacent to the wheel, and a clutch shaft inserted into the wheel to transfer the driving force to the wheel.

8. The vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein the clutch is a mechanical clutch using a thrust of a gear.

9. The vacuum cleaner of claim 8, wherein the mechanical clutch comprises:

a clutch gear engaged with the one of the transfer gears most adjacent to the wheel;

a clutch shaft connected to the clutch gear;

a cam provided at one end of the clutch shaft so as to be connected to the wheel; and

an elastic member allowing the cam to be elastically biased in a direction getting distant from the wheel when no power is applied to the driving motor.

10. The vacuum cleaner of claim 9, wherein if power is applied to the driving motor, the cam is connected to the wheel by a thrust of the clutch gear in an axial direction, and if no power is applied to the driving motor, the cam is disconnected from the wheel by an elastic force of the elastic member.

11. The vacuum cleaner of claim 1, further comprising a body, and

wherein the wheel being a plurality of wheels respectively provided at both sides of the body.

19. The vacuum cleaner of claim 11, further comprising a body, and

wherein the wheel being a plurality of wheels respectively provided at both sides of the body.

12. A vacuum cleaner comprising:

a wheel;

a driving motor configured to provide the wheel with a driving force; and

transfer gears provided to be engaged with each other between the driving motor and the wheel,

wherein the wheel comprises an internal gear engaged with a last transfer gear, which is one of the transfer gears most adjacent to the wheel, the internal gear to receive the driving force.

13. The vacuum cleaner of claim 12, wherein a rotating shaft of the last transfer gear is deviated from a rotating shaft of the wheel.

14. The vacuum cleaner of claim 12, wherein a driving shaft of the driving motor is provided to be parallel to a rotating shaft of the wheel.

15. The vacuum cleaner of claim 12, wherein the transfer gears are each provided as a spur gear or a helical gear.

16. The vacuum cleaner of claim 12, further comprising one or more idle gears provided to be engaged with the internal gear, the one or more idle gears to rotatably support the wheel.

17. The vacuum cleaner of claim 16, further comprising a support frame to support the last transfer gear and the one or more idle gears.

18. The vacuum cleaner of claim 17, further comprising a cover frame coupled to the support frame, the cover frame to accommodate the last transfer gear and the one or more idle gears.

20. A drive assembly of a vacuum cleaner, the drive assembly comprising:

a wheel to receive a driving force;

a driving motor configured to provide the wheel with the driving force;

transfer gears provided to be engaged with each other between the driving motor and the wheel, the transfer gears comprising a last transfer gear, which is one of the transfer gears most adjacent to the wheel, wherein the wheel comprises an internal gear engaged with the last transfer gear; and

a clutch disposed between the wheel and the last transfer gear, the clutch being configured to connect the transfer gears to the wheel such that the driving force of the driving motor is transferred to the wheel or to disconnect the transfer gears from the wheel to prevent a detent torque of the driving motor and a rolling friction of the transfer gears from being transferred to the wheel while preventing noise due to the detent torque and the rolling friction from occurring.