Patent Grant
11786090
Priority is claimed to German Patent Application No. DE 10 2017 100 346.0, filed on Jan. 10, 2017, and German Patent Application No. DE 10 2017 115 523.6, filed on Jul. 11, 2017, the entire disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a floor nozzle for a vacuum cleaner, the floor nozzle having a housing including a sole plate which faces the floor surface when in the working position, the sole plate having provided therein a suction opening, the suction opening being surrounded by a rear portion of the sole plate, a front portion of the sole plate, and lateral portions of the sole plate. The present invention also relates to a vacuum cleaner having such a floor nozzle.
Vacuum cleaners are used in private homes and commercial establishments to clean surfaces such as textile floor coverings and smooth floors. In order to pick up dust, a floor nozzle of the vacuum cleaner is continuously moved back and forth on a floor surface. The dust pick-up efficiency of the vacuum cleaner is highly dependent on the design of the floor nozzle. A floor nozzle having a flat sole plate along the suction opening at the sole plate has the disadvantage that when the floor nozzle is moved backward in the working direction during cleaning of, for example, long-pile grounds, the sole plate partially lifts the carpet off the floor surface in response to the user pulling the floor nozzle backward. Thus, the carpet to be cleaned is lifted in the region of highest vacuum, generally in the middle of the oblong suction opening, while at the outer ends of the oblong suction opening, the carpet remains on the floor surface due to the lower vacuum. This partial lifting of the carpet leads to insufficient floor contact, so that the vacuum at the floor nozzle drops to a range where effective pick-up of dust is no longer possible. In order to address this problem, the prior art has proposed sole plates which are slightly curved. However, these have the disadvantage that during forward movement of the floor nozzle in the working direction, they do no optimally rest on the underlying surface to be cleaned and, due to the lack of floor contact, do not optimally clean long-pile carpets, for example. Firstly, the slightly curved sole plates do not comb the carpet to be cleaned in the middle of the suction opening because of the lack of floor contact resulting from the greater distance and, secondly, this lack of floor contact causes the vacuum present at the floor nozzle to drop to a range where optimum cleaning is no longer possible. With a view to reducing the energy consumption of vacuum cleaners, the design of the floor nozzle plays an increasingly important role. The rating of vacuum cleaner fans follows a trend toward less power, which first of all leads to a reduction of the volumetric flow rates available at the floor nozzle. Because of the continuity relationship, this generally results in lower flow velocities at the floor nozzles. Moreover, in order to nevertheless allow for adequate pick-up of dust, the sole plates of the floor nozzles are configured to be movable to ensure an optimum cleaning effect.
DE 196 08 188 C2 describes a floor nozzle for a floor care appliance whose sole plate with the gliding sole can be inclined and moved in several directions to compensate for irregularities in the floor and ensure better floor contact. However, the movability of the sole plate is limited by stops, and the adaptability of the rigid sole plate is limited.
WO 2017/051148 A1 describes a floor nozzle for a floor care appliance where individual portions of the sole plate are movable to compensate for floor contours and to seal the suction opening from the environment. However, the movability of the sole plate is limited by the degrees of freedom of the bearing of the individual portions. In addition, the manufacture of such a floor nozzle is relatively complex and costly.
The approaches described here have the disadvantage that the adaptability of the floor nozzles to the underlying surface to be cleaned is limited, and thus optimum cleaning of the underlying surface is not ensured.
In an embodiment, the present invention provides a floor nozzle for a vacuum cleaner, the floor nozzle comprising: a housing including a sole plate which faces a floor surface when in a working position, the sole plate having provided therein a suction opening, the suction opening being surrounded by a rear portion of the sole plate, a front portion of the sole plate, and lateral portions of the sole plate, wherein the rear portion and the lateral portions of the sole plate are deformable.
The present invention will be described in even greater detail below based on the exemplary figures. The invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments. Other features and advantages of various embodiments of the present invention will become apparent by reading the following detailed description with reference to the attached drawings which illustrate the following:
In an embodiment, the present invention provides a floor nozzle. In an embodiment, the present invention provides a vacuum cleaner with a floor nozzle. Because the rear portion and the lateral portions of the sole plate are made deformable, the floor nozzle can optimally adapt to floor contours during the cleaning operation. This enables effective cleaning of the floor surface at sufficiently high flow velocities, even with low volumetric flow rates.
Using an adaptable floor nozzle, the dust pick-up efficiency can be advantageously increased, in particular on carpeted floors, so that good performance classes and dust pick-up levels can be achieved, even at low input powers. The suction opening rests better on the underlying surface and is capable of cleaning a wide area of the floor surface with a significantly higher flow velocity, without requiring higher volumetric flow rates. The deformable sole plate conforms to the floor bellows, so that the suction opening or suction opening edges rest at least nearly sealingly on the floor covering. This allows the dust pick-up efficiency to be increased without significantly increasing the push forces. In addition, the volume flow rate required for effective cleaning can be further reduced, thereby allowing more economical fans to be installed in the vacuum cleaner. The reduction in volumetric flow rates also leads to reduced flow losses, especially in the case of bagless separators, so that additional energy can be saved here.
The floor surface can be formed by a textile floor covering, such as a carpet or wall-to-wall carpeting, or by hard flooring, such as wooden parquet, laminate or PVC floor covering.
The vacuum cleaner may have a fan for creating a vacuum that causes dust and dirt to be picked up from a floor surface to be cleaned by the floor nozzle as it is moved across the floor surface. To this end, the user moves the floor nozzle back and forth by pulling and pushing movements in the working direction. This causes the floor nozzle to glide across the floor surface to be cleaned. In particular, in the case of long-pile carpets, the sole plate of the floor nozzle glides across the carpet, while in the case of hard floors, the sole plate hovers across these floor surfaces at a distance therefrom, possibly established by spacer bristles. To this end, the user may, for example, manipulate a vacuum cleaner handle connected to the suction wand. For most effective cleaning and care of the floor covering, the suction opening is oblong in shape and extends substantially transversely to the working direction. In this context, “oblong in shape” means that the preferably substantially rectangular suction opening area has a greater length transverse to the working direction than width in the working direction. The suction opening area has a length of preferably between 20 and 30 cm transverse to the working direction and a width of preferably between one and three cm in the working direction. The floor nozzle may also be mounted on an autonomously moving vacuum cleaner, in particular a robot vacuum cleaner, so that the working direction of the floor nozzle corresponds to the direction of travel of the autonomously moving vacuum cleaner. A housing of the vacuum cleaner may have a dust collection chamber in which the dust picked up through the floor nozzle can be collected, for example, in a dust bag.
Advantageous embodiments and refinements of the present invention will become apparent from the following dependent claims.
It is especially preferred that the front portion of the sole plate be made deformable. The deformability of the rear portion, the front portion, and the later portions of the sole plate allows optimum adaptation of the sole plate over nearly its entire base area. By this means, the suction opening of the floor nozzle is sealed off from the environment in all directions during the cleaning operation.
Furthermore, it is preferred that the sole plate be made of an elastic plastic material. It is conceivable for the sole plate to be formed in one piece from an elastic plastic material. This is advantageous, especially with respect to the resulting complexity of manufacture and a homogeneous deformability over the entire area of the sole plate. However, in an alternative embodiment, it is also conceivable to form the sole plate from different plastic materials having different properties in terms of deformability, hardness or friction. This makes it possible to establish specific deformation characteristics in individual portions of the sole plate in order to further improve the cleaning performance.
In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, the sole plate or sole plate is composed of multiple segments, the individual segments of the sole plate being pivotable relative to one another. A sole plate composed of multiple segments provides excellent adaptability of the floor nozzle to the underlying surface. The floor nozzle is also adaptable to the changing conditions during forward and backward movement of the floor nozzle. This adaptability is provided very simply by making the individual segments of the sole plate pivotable relative to one another.
In an advantageous embodiment, the segments are pivotable relative to one another about respective pivot axes extending parallel to the working direction. Due to the pivot axes extending parallel to the working direction, the segments are suspended such that they can easily adapt to the underlying surface. The pivot axes extending in this manner prevent movement of the segments in the working direction, so that the suction opening edges bounding the suction opening can work effectively on the underlying surface. In the process, especially in the case of long-pile carpets, the suction mouth edges comb the carpet fibers up, thus enabling deep cleaning of the fibers.
In a preferred embodiment, at least one segment is designed to be pivotable from neutral position toward the floor surface. The ability of a segment to pivot from the neutral position toward the floor surface allows for easy but effective adaptation of the floor nozzle to the underlying surface to be cleaned and to the changing conditions during forward and backward movement of the floor nozzle in the working direction.
In a particularly advantageous refinement, the sole plate is formed of two segments having a pivot axis extending centrally therebetween. Such an embodiment is distinguished in particular by the simple design and the good adaptability of the floor nozzle to the underlying surface to be cleaned. The changing conditions during forward and backward movement of the floor nozzle in the working direction are also optimally corrected by the floor nozzle.
In another advantageous embodiment, the sole plate is configured of segments arranged symmetrically with respect to the center of the suction opening. The arrangement of a plurality of segments at the sole plate of the floor nozzle in symmetrical relationship with respect to the center provides for uniform cleaning of the floor surface and offers a high level of adaptability to the underlying surface to be cleaned and to the changing conditions during forward and backward movement of the floor nozzle in the working direction.
An advantageous embodiment of the present invention provides that the segments form at least one lateral margin at the sole plate. By forming the sole plate of movable segments at the margin thereof, the adaptability of the floor nozzle to the underlying surface is improved and the cleaning of corners, such as at baseboards or carpet edges, is optimized.
In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, the segments are made of a rigid plastic material. The segments formed from rigid plastic material offer a sole plate that is rugged, lightweight and flexibly adaptable to the floor to be cleaned and to the changing conditions during forward and backward movement.
In a preferred embodiment, a hinge is formed between the segments. Providing a hinge between the segments is a simple but effective way to increase the adaptability of the floor nozzle. The hinge defines the pivot axis between the two segments connected by the hinge.
In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, a spring element is disposed between the segments, the spring element producing a restoring force that returns the segments to a neutral position. Such placement of a spring element between the segments allows the floor nozzle to optimally adapt to the floor surface to be cleaned and to the changing conditions during forward and backward movement. Lifting of the floor nozzle off the underlying surface causes so that the sole plate of the floor nozzle returns to a neutral position.
In an advantageous embodiment, an elastomer is disposed as a hinge between the segments. Placement of an elastomer as a hinge provides a simple but robust way of providing a tight yet adaptable hinge between the segments. Such sealing between the segments makes it possible to effectively achieve that the flow provided by the fan nevertheless flows through the created suction opening.
In a particularly advantageous refinement, the elastomer produces a restoring force that returns the segments to a neutral position. The use of an elastomer as a hinge also makes it possible to produce a restoring force that enables optimum adaptation of the floor nozzle. If the floor nozzle is lifted off the underlying surface, the elastomer causes the sole plate of the floor nozzle to return to a neutral position.
In a preferred embodiment, the sole plate is formed from an elastic plastic material. Making the sole plate from an elastic material provides a particularly adaptable floor nozzle.
In an advantageous embodiment, the suction opening edge is configured to be deformable with the suction opening. A suction mouth edge that is deformable with the suction opening improves the adaptability of the floor nozzle to the underlying surface to be cleaned and ensures that long-pile carpets, in particular, are optimally cleaned by the suction mouth edges during both forward and backward movement of the floor nozzle in the working direction. This arrangement also offers the advantage of ensuring that no areas of the surface to be cleaned are omitted. A sharp-edged configuration of the suction opening edge ensures that the fibers of the carpet pile are effectively bent up. This increases the resistance to pushing on the floor surface only minimally because the suction opening edge adapted to the underlying surface effectively bends up the carpet. Due to the deformable suction opening edge, the traversed carpet fibers are effectively bent up across the entire area of the suction opening without the user having to exert excessive force during forward and backward movement.
It applies to all embodiments that in the initial position or in the neutral position, the underside of the sole plate extends straight or substantially straight in a direction transverse to the working direction. In the event of deformation, the outer ends of the sole plate relative to the central portion thereof deform downwardly, resulting in a curvature in the form of an inverted U as seen from the front. All positions and directions are described herein with reference to the normal use of the floor nozzle.
A further embodiment of the invention provides a vacuum cleaner for cleaning and care of floor surfaces, the vacuum cleaner having a fan for creating a vacuum to cause dirt to be picked up by an air stream, and further having a separating system for cleaning the drawn-in air from dirt. The vacuum cleaner, which has been described already and will be further described below, has a floor nozzle according to the descriptions above and below.
In the figures, an inventive floor nozzle, denoted by reference numeral 1, is shown purely schematically. The view of
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Of course, the present invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments shown. Other embodiments are possible without departing from the basic concept thereof. For example, floor nozzle 1 may also be designed as part of an autonomously moving vacuum cleaner.
While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive. It will be understood that changes and modifications may be made by those of ordinary skill within the scope of the following claims. In particular, the present invention covers further embodiments with any combination of features from different embodiments described above and below. Additionally, statements made herein characterizing the invention refer to an embodiment of the invention and not necessarily all embodiments.
The terms used in the claims should be construed to have the broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the foregoing description. For example, the use of the article “a” or “the” in introducing an element should not be interpreted as being exclusive of a plurality of elements. Likewise, the recitation of “or” should be interpreted as being inclusive, such that the recitation of “A or B” is not exclusive of “A and B,” unless it is clear from the context or the foregoing description that only one of A and B is intended. Further, the recitation of “at least one of A, B and C” should be interpreted as one or more of a group of elements consisting of A, B and C, and should not be interpreted as requiring at least one of each of the listed elements A, B and C, regardless of whether A, B and C are related as categories or otherwise. Moreover, the recitation of “A, B and/or C” or “at least one of A, B or C” should be interpreted as including any singular entity from the listed elements, e.g., A, any subset from the listed elements, e.g., A and B, or the entire list of elements A, B and C.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2017 100 346.0 | Jan 2017 | DE | national |
| 10 2017 115 523.6 | Jul 2017 | DE | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2520942 | Leslie | Sep 1950 | A |
| 3085267 | Jacuzzi | Apr 1963 | A |
| 4240174 | Thiem | Dec 1980 | A |
| 5033149 | Russo | Jul 1991 | A |
| 5398361 | Cason | Mar 1995 | A |
| 20150082570 | Davidshofer | Mar 2015 | A1 |
| 20170347852 | Dant | Dec 2017 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 19608188 | Sep 1997 | DE |
| 102008029687 | Jan 2009 | DE |
| 2937029 | Oct 2015 | EP |
| 2965678 | Jan 2016 | EP |
| WO 2017051148 | Mar 2017 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20180192835 A1 | Jul 2018 | US |
