Electronic vacuum cleaner control system
First Claim
1. A vacuum cleaner comprising:
- a canister having a portion that defines an intake port;
a hose connected to the intake port for providing air to the intake port;
a suction motor contained within the canister for drawing air through the hose and through the intake port;
a handle separate from the canister and having a portion defining an air passageway that is connected to the hose;
an optical dust sensor located in the handle for detecting dust particles as they are drawn past the optical dust sensor into the hose, the optical dust sensor generating corresponding dust sensor signals whenever a dust particle is detected; and
a control unit for counting a predetermined fixed number of the dust sensor signals and determining with what frequency the dust particles are detected, the control unit selecting, based on the frequency, a particular one of a finite plurality of discrete motor power settings at which the suction motor is to be powered, wherein;
the control unit has an internal timer for measuring an initial time when an initial dust particle is detected;
the control unit subsequently counts each detected dust particle up to a predetermined fixed number at which point the control unit uses the internal timer to measure a final time; and
the control unit selects the motor power setting based on a calculation of average time elapsed between successive detected dust particles using the initial and final times and the predetermined fixed number.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic control system for a vacuum cleaner is provided that supports two-way communications between a microcontroller in the handle of the vacuum cleaner and a suction motor and various sensors in the canister of the vacuum cleaner. The vacuum cleaner may be placed in one of two user-selectable bag change modes. In a maximum suction bag change mode, the electronic control system of vacuum cleaner will shut off the vacuum cleaner when the vacuum cleaner bag has filled and the suction power of the unit has been degraded as a result. If the maximum fill bag change mode is selected, the electronic control system will shut off the vacuum cleaner only after the bag has filled to the maximum extent allowable. The control system has indicator lights to display to the user whether the maximum suction or the maximum fill mode has been selected. The control system also has an optical dust sensor based on one-piece lens units located in the vacuum cleaner handle for monitoring the frequency with which dust particles flow into the vacuum cleaner. The control system can automatically adjust the power setting of the vacuum cleaner based on the measured frequency.
385 Citations
18 Claims
-
1. A vacuum cleaner comprising:
-
a canister having a portion that defines an intake port; a hose connected to the intake port for providing air to the intake port; a suction motor contained within the canister for drawing air through the hose and through the intake port; a handle separate from the canister and having a portion defining an air passageway that is connected to the hose; an optical dust sensor located in the handle for detecting dust particles as they are drawn past the optical dust sensor into the hose, the optical dust sensor generating corresponding dust sensor signals whenever a dust particle is detected; and a control unit for counting a predetermined fixed number of the dust sensor signals and determining with what frequency the dust particles are detected, the control unit selecting, based on the frequency, a particular one of a finite plurality of discrete motor power settings at which the suction motor is to be powered, wherein; the control unit has an internal timer for measuring an initial time when an initial dust particle is detected; the control unit subsequently counts each detected dust particle up to a predetermined fixed number at which point the control unit uses the internal timer to measure a final time; and the control unit selects the motor power setting based on a calculation of average time elapsed between successive detected dust particles using the initial and final times and the predetermined fixed number. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 9)
-
-
2. A vacuum cleaner comprising:
-
a canister having a portion that defines an intake port; a hose connected to the intake port for providing air to the intake port; a suction motor contained within the canister for drawing air through the hose and through the intake port; a handle separate from the canister and having a portion defining an air passageway that is connected to the hose; an optical dust sensor located in the handle for detecting dust particles as they are drawn past the optical dust sensor into the hose, the optical dust sensor generating corresponding dust sensor signals whenever a dust particle is detected; and a control unit for counting a predetermined number of the dust sensor signals and determining with what frequency the dust particles are detected, the control unit selecting, based on the frequency, a particular one of a finite plurality of discrete motor power settings at which the suction motor is to be powered;
wherein;the control unit has an internal timer for measuring an initial time when an initial dust particle is detected; the control unit subsequently counts each detected dust particle up to a predetermined number at which point the control unit uses the internal timer to measure a final time; the control unit selects the motor power setting based on a calculation of the average time elapsed between successive detected dust particles using the initial and final times and the predetermined number; and the control unit selects a low power setting when the average time elapsed is more than a first level, and selects a medium power setting when the average time elapsed is less than the first level. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4)
-
-
7. A vacuum cleaner comprising:
-
a canister having a portion that defines an intake port; a hose connected to the intake port for providing air to the intake port; a suction motor contained within the canister for drawing air through the hose and through the intake port; a handle separate from the canister and having a portion defining an air passageway that is connected to the hose; an optical dust sensor located in the handle for detecting dust particles as they are drawn past the optical dust sensor into the hose, the optical dust sensor generating corresponding dust sensor signals whenever a dust particle is detected; and a control unit for counting a predetermined number of the dust sensor signals and determining with what frequency the dust particles are detected, the control unit selecting, based on the frequency, a particular one of a finite plurality of discrete motor power settings at which the suction motor is to be powered, wherein; the optical dust sensor comprises a light-emitting diode and a photodetector; the light-emitting diode and the photodetector are mounted on opposing sides of the air passageway in the handle, so that light that is emitted from the light-emitting diode is received by the photodetector; when a dust particle passes between the light-emitting diode and the photodetector the light received by the photodetector is reduced; and the dust sensor further comprises a lens unit in which the light-emitting diode is mounted, the lens unit having an integral lens for focusing the light emitted from the light-emitting diode toward the photodetector.
-
-
8. A vacuum cleaner comprising;
-
a canister having a portion that defines an intake port; a hose connected to the intake port for providing air to the intake port; a suction motor contained within the canister for drawing air through the hose and through the intake port; a handle separate from the canister and having a portion defining an air passageway that is connected to the hose; an optical dust sensor located in the handle for detecting dust particles as they are drawn past the optical dust sensor into the hose, the optical dust sensor generating corresponding dust sensor signals whenever a dust particle is detected; and a control unit for counting a predetermined number of the dust sensor signals and determining with what frequency the dust particles are detected, the control unit selecting, based on the frequency, a particular one of a finite plurality of discrete motor power settings at which the suction motor is to be powered, wherein; the optical dust sensor comprises a light-emitting diode and a photodetector; the light-emitting diode and the photodetector are mounted on opposing sides of the air passageway in the handle, so that light that is emitted from the light-emitting diode is received by the photodetector; when a dust particle passes between the light-emitting diode and the photodetector the light received by the photodetector is reduced; and the dust sensor further comprises a lens unit in which the photodetector is mounted, the lens unit having an integral lens for focusing light received by the lens unit onto the photodetector.
-
-
10. A vacuum cleaner comprising:
-
a housing; a passageway through which dust-laden air is drawn; a suction motor contained within the housing for drawing air into the housing and through the passageway; a first lens unit having a first integral lens; a light source mounted in the first lens unit for emitting light across the passageway, the light being focused by the first integral lens; a photodetector located adjacent to the passageway across from the light source for detecting the light emitted from the light source and generating corresponding photodetector signals, such that as dust particles are drawn between the light source and the photodetector the photodetector signals are reduced; a dust detection circuit for processing the photodetector signals into processed signals; and a control unit for controlling the suction motor based on the processed signals. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
Specification