NOZZLE AND VACUUM CLEANER

Abstract

Described is a nozzle (6) for a vacuum cleaner and a vacuum cleaner. The nozzle comprises at least one electrical terminal and an electrical circuit (10) configured to provide identity data about the nozzle via said at least one electrical terminal. Hereby it is enabled to via a wire line connection identify the nozzle in a unit such as the main unit (3) of a vacuum cleaner. This in turn enables correct control of the nozzle from the main unit since the main unit can gain access to important data about the nozzle and thereby provide an improved control of the nozzle.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a vacuum cleaner comprising a nozzle and also to a nozzle for the vacuum cleaner.

BACKGROUND

Vacuum cleaners, such as battery powered stick vacuum cleaners, can be provided with different types of nozzles, for example with a motor driven agitator of different types or lightning

The nozzles can be designed to optimize cleaning of different types of material and for different types of environments. The nozzle may have different size and different type of agitator depending on the specific cleaning situation, e.g., hard floor cleaning, carpet cleaning or furniture cleaning.

The cleaning performance of a nozzle is dependent on the rotational speed of the agitator. The vacuum cleaner powering the nozzle therefore needs to know which type of nozzle which is attached, and then provide the correct power.

To further improve the cleaning performance the rotational speed of the fan unit of the vacuum cleaner may also be adjusted dependent on the attached nozzle.

Depending of the nozzle in use the vacuum cleaner should be operated to support the nozzle such that the nozzle is operated in the best possible manner to optimize the vacuum cleaning.

There is a constant desire to improve vacuum cleaners to make them more efficient and user friendly.

SUMMARY

One object of the present disclosure is therefore to provide an improved vacuum cleaner with a nozzle and an improved nozzle for a vacuum cleaner.

This object is achieved by a nozzle and a vacuum cleaner as set out in the appended claims.

As has been realized by the inventors, it would be advantageous to provide information in the vacuum cleaner of the type of nozzle in use without having to involve the user of the vacuum cleaner. Also, it would be advantageous if such information could be made available in a robust, efficient manner and at low cost.

In accordance with the invention, a nozzle for a vacuum cleaner is provided. The nozzle comprises at least one electrical terminal and an electrical circuit configured to provide identity data about the nozzle via said at least one electrical terminal. Hereby it is enabled to via a wire line connection identify the nozzle in a unit such as the main unit of a vacuum cleaner. This in turn enables correct control of the nozzle from the vacuum cleaner/main unit since the main unit can gain access to important data about the nozzle and thereby provide an improved control of the nozzle.

In accordance with one embodiment, the electrical circuit is a constant current generator. Hereby the nozzle is identified by the current magnitude generated by the constant current generator when voltage is applied. This makes it easy to identify the nozzle and many different types of nozzles can be identified. Further, the use of a constant power generator enables an identification of the nozzle with high accuracy whereby the risk for a wrong determination of the nozzle can be reduced.

In accordance with one embodiment, the nozzle comprises at least one additional electrical terminal for receiving electrical power. Hereby power can be provided to the nozzle from outside the nozzle. Hereby different components that require high power can be provided in the nozzle. For example, the nozzle can comprise a motor driven by power received via said at least one additional electrical terminal. The motor can be configured to drive an agitator and/or brush of the nozzle, LED lights for illumination or other purposes, or other devices that can be powered in the nozzle. If the nozzle does not have any powered device, e.g., a passive nozzle, the vacuum cleaner/main unit can identify this and adapt the fan speed/suction power according to the nozzle attached, this may also be done for non-passive nozzles.

In accordance with some embodiments, the electrical circuit can be configured to identify the motor. Hereby the correct power and other drive parameters can be supplied to the nozzle. In accordance with some embodiments, the nozzle can comprise UVC LED(s). In such embodiments the UVC LED(s) can be powered via the additional electrical terminal. The identity data about the nozzle then comprise data about a motor and/or data about a UVC LED configuration.

The nozzle can also comprise a switch configured to start up the main unit from the nozzle. Hereby additional functionality can be achieved that facilitates the operation of the nozzle when attached to a vacuum cleaner.

The invention also extends to vacuum cleaner comprising a nozzle according to the above. The vacuum cleaner can comprise a battery powered main unit where the vacuum cleaner is provided with a controller configured to receive the identity data via a wireline connection and to control the operation of at least one setting of the vacuum cleaner based on the received identity data. The controller can be configured to identify a nozzle by comparing the received identity data with values pre-stored in a look-up table. Hereby an easy to implement identification procedure can be implemented in the main unit.

The controller which typically is part of the main unit can be configured to set the power supplied to the nozzle in accordance with the received identity data. The controller can also be configured to set the power of the motor or fan of the main unit in accordance with the received identity data. Hereby good control of the different settings can be achieved and the operation of the vacuum cleaner can be optimized.

In accordance with some embodiments at least three electrical wires run between the nozzle and the main unit of the vacuum cleaner. Hereby it is possible to achieve robust signaling and power transfer between the main unit and the nozzle.

In accordance with one embodiment, the at least one setting of the vacuum cleaner is a PWM power provided to the nozzle. Hereby the PWM controlled power can be set to provide an optimum drive of the power consuming components of the nozzle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described in more detail by means of examples and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a general view in perspective of a vacuum cleaner,

FIG. 2 schematically illustrate a connection between a main unit and a nozzle in a vacuum cleaner,

FIG. 3 is a view of an electrical circuit implementing a current generator, and

FIG. 4 shows some steps when initializing control of a nozzle for a vacuum cleaner.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the present invention will now be described more fully. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. Well-known functions or constructions will not necessarily be described in detail for ease of understanding and/or clarity. It is further to be understood that the features described can be combined in any suitable manner to meet different implementational needs.

The present disclosure relates to a vacuum cleaner. In FIG. 1 a vacuum cleaner 1 is placed in a stand 2. The vacuum cleaner 1 is of a type where a part of the vacuum cleaner can be separated from the rest of the vacuum cleaner to form a hand-held unit. In FIG. 1. The vacuum cleaner 1 is a of a stick type and the top part of the vacuum cleaner 1 can be separated to form a hand-held unit (main unit) 3. However, the vacuum cleaner could be of any type. Further, the hand-held unit or main unit 3 comprises a dust separation arrangement, an air inlet, an air out, a motor-fan unit creating an airflow from the air inlet through the dust separation arrangement to the air outlet, and a battery powering the motor fan unit as is known in the art. The main unit 3 can also comprise a controller configured to control different operational parameters of the vacuum cleaner 1.

The vacuum cleaner 1 comprises a stick/tube 5 and a nozzle 6. The dust sucked by the vacuum cleaner can be collected in a dust container 4.

The nozzle 6 can be provided with different functions. For example, the nozzle 6 can have a rotating agitator/brush to improve collection of dust by the vacuum cleaner. When the nozzle 6 has such functions requiring power, the power can be transmitted from the battery in the main unit via wires in the stick 5 to the nozzle 6. When power is present in the nozzle 6, the power can be used to drive different devices, such as a motor for a rotating agitator/brush and/or to provide light in the nozzle 6. In accordance with some embodiments power in the nozzle 6 can be used to drive Ultra Violet C (UVC) Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) for sanitation purpose or LED for lighting in front of the nozzle. Depending on the configuration of the nozzle, different control parameters such as power should be used by the nozzle of the vacuum cleaner to optimize the vacuum cleaning. Thus, a controller that typically is present in the main unit 3 should be provided with information about the type of nozzle 6 attached. Hereby it is possible to optimize the control so that the cleaning performance of the nozzle 6 can be improved. For example, if a rotating brush for furniture cleaning is present in the nozzle 6, the controller should transmit power that is optimized for the motor of that type of rotating agitator and/or brush.

In order to provide information to the main unit 3, and in particular the controller of the main unit 3, the nozzle 6 can be provided with an electrical circuit that identifies to the controller of the main unit the configuration of the nozzle currently attached to the vacuum cleaner. Thus, each particular configuration of a nozzle 6 can be provided with an electrical circuit that is unique to that particular nozzle configuration. The information from the electrical circuit is then used by the controller of the main unit to apply the correct parameter settings when driving the nozzle 6.

The electrical circuit used can be any type of electrical circuit that can provide information to the controller of the main unit 3. For example, the electrical circuit can be a resistor or a capacitor. Different configurations of the nozzle can then be provided with different electrical circuits. For example, different resistor values can be used. The controller then obtains (for example by measuring the resistance of the electrical circuit, the current or the voltage) the resistor value and applies a setting that corresponds to that particular resistor value. In accordance with some embodiments the electrical circuit can be a controller of some kind such as a micro-controller. This can be useful when a micro controller is already provided in the nozzle 6 for other purposes such as controlling operation of the nozzle 6. When a controller is provided in the nozzle 6. The controller of the nozzle 6 can signal via the wireline connection to the controller of the main unit 3 information about the nozzle 6.

In FIG. 2 a schematic view of a vacuum cleaner where a controller 20 in a main unit 3 is wireline connected to a nozzle 6. The nozzle 6 is provided with an electrical circuit 10 configured to make it possible to identify the configuration of the nozzle 6 by the controller 20. The nozzle 6 can further be provided with some electrical device 12 such as a motor driving a rotating agitator/brush or some illumination device or sanitation device such as UVC LEDs 13. In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 2 three wires 14, 16, 18 connect the main unit 3 with the nozzle 6. However, it is envisaged that fewer or more wires are connected between the main unit 3 and the nozzle 6. The electrical circuit can be connected to terminals of the electrical wires 14, 16, 18. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, a signaling wire 14 is used to obtain information from the electrical circuit 10. Further, a power wire 16 is used to transmit power from the main unit 3 to the nozzle. Also, a common ground wire 18 can be provided. The common ground wire can in some embodiments be omitted and ground can instead by provided by the stick 5. Other configurations of the wires can also be envisaged.

In operation, the main unit at startup first identifies the nozzle 6 by obtaining information from the electrical circuit 10. For example, a value of the electrical circuit can be measured as set out above. In another embodiment, the electrical circuit 10 is formed by a constant current generator. The current generated by the constant current generator when a voltage is applied by the main unit is measured and by the controller in the main unit and the controller can compare the measured current with a stored register to identify which nozzle attached.

The controller may measure voltage, resistance or current to identify the nozzle type. However, measuring current can be advantageous because it can increase the reliability and accuracy with which the nozzle 6 is identified.

In FIG. 3, an exemplary electrical circuit 10 is shown. The electrical circuit 10 of FIG. 3 is a constant current generator. The constant current generator in FIG. 3 is a standard constant current generator implemented by two transistors. By selecting the resistor value R4 shown at reference numeral 21 differently, the current generator 10 can be made to generate different current magnitudes. The current generator 10 of FIG. 3 can also comprises a switch 22. The switch 22 can be used to start up the main unit 3 from the nozzle 6. For example, if the main unit 3 is off and the switch 22 is switched to an on state, the circuit of FIG. 3 can trigger a start of the main unit 3 via the wireline connection to the main unit. The main unit 3 can then start up.

When the main unit 3 has obtained a value identifying the electrical circuit 10 and thereby the nozzle 6, the main unit 3 maps the obtained value to a setting that is suitable for that particular nozzle 6. Thus, when the main unit 3 gets the information/identity data about the electrical circuit such as a resistance, a capacitance or a current magnitude, the main unit can control the nozzle 6 in accordance with settings that can be pre-stored in the main unit 3 for the obtained identity data. For example, when a sanitation UVC light 13 is provided in the nozzle 6 together with a motor (such as a motor for driving a rotating brush), the identity data of the nozzle can identify what combination of motor and UVC LEDs that are present, and the main unit can supply power accordingly. The power can be provided via PWM (Pulse width Modulation) power transmission whereby the power in the nozzle 6 can be efficiently controlled. For example, the power to a motor can be controlled to not over heat the motor and power to UVC LEDs can be provided at a specified power rate.

In FIG. 4 a flowchart illustrating some steps performed in the controller of the main unit when initializing the control of the nozzle in accordance with one embodiment. First in a step 401, the start sequence is activated. When the start sequence is activated, the controller 20 triggers a procedure to obtain a characteristic value of the electrical circuit 10 of the nozzle 6. Depending on the electrical circuit used in a particular implementation the value can be obtained in different manners. For example, the resistance or impedance of the electrical circuit could be measured, or the controller could receive a signal such as a current from the electrical circuit when power is supplied to the nozzle 6. Regardless of the implementation, the controller 20 obtains a value from the electrical circuit 10 via the electrical wire(s) running between the nozzle 6 and the main unit 3 in a step 403. Based on the value thus obtained, the controller 20 determines a setting of at least one parameter suitable for the nozzle 6 in a step 405. The determination can for example be made using a look-up table that sets particular parameter value(s) suitable for the nozzle 6. For example, the drive power for a rotating brush in the nozzle could be set. Finally, in a step 407, the controller 20 applies the parameter setting determined from the obtained value of the electrical circuit 10 when driving the nozzle 6. For example, the speed of the motor/fan in the main unit 3 can be set in accordance with the attached nozzle 6.

When implementing the vacuum cleaner 1 as described herein, it is possible to provide the electrical circuit 10 as a separate component in the nozzle 6. It is also envisaged that the electrical circuit is provided on a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) used for other purposes in the nozzle 6.

Using the nozzle drive set up as described herein it is possible to drive motors and other devices in the nozzle by a pulse width modulated (PWM) power transmission.

Power to the nozzle 6 and in particular any motors therein can be generated by the main unit and transmitted over a pair of wires.

Claims

1. A nozzle (6) for a vacuum cleaner comprising at least one electrical terminal and an electrical circuit (10) configured to provide identity data about the nozzle via said at least one electrical terminal.

2. The nozzle (6) according to claim 1, wherein the electrical circuit is a constant current generator and where the nozzle is identified by the current magnitude generated by the constant current generator when a voltage is applied.

3. The nozzle (6) in accordance with claim 1, wherein the nozzle comprises at least one additional electrical terminal for receiving electrical power.

4. The nozzle (6) according to claim 3, wherein the nozzle comprises an electric device such as a motor (12) and/or one or more LED: s, for illumination and/or sanitization, driven by power received via said at least one additional electrical terminal.

5. The nozzle (6) according to claim 4, wherein the motor is configured to drive an agitator and/or brush for cleaning.

6. The nozzle (6) according to claim 4 wherein the electrical circuit identifies the motor and the agitator/brush

7. The nozzle (6) according to claim 3 wherein the nozzle further comprises a UVC LED (13) powered via said additional electrical terminal, and wherein the identity data about the nozzle comprises data about a UVC LED configuration.

8. The nozzle (6) according to claim 1 wherein the nozzle further comprises a switch (22) configured to start up the main unit (3) from the nozzle (6).

9. A vacuum cleaner (1) comprising a motor/fan unit powered by a battery and a nozzle (6) according to claim 1, wherein the vacuum cleaner comprises a controller (20) configured to receive said identity data via a wireline connection and to control the operation of the at least one setting of the vacuum cleaner based on the received identity data.

10. The vacuum cleaner (1) according to claim 9, wherein said at least one setting of the vacuum cleaner is a PWM power provided to the nozzle.

11. The vacuum cleaner (1) according to claim 9 wherein the controller is configured to identify a nozzle (6) by comparing the received identity data with values pre-stored in a look-up table.

12. The vacuum cleaner (1) according to claim 9 wherein the controller is configured to set the power supplied to the nozzle (6) in accordance with the received identity data.

13. The vacuum cleaner (1) according to claim 9 wherein the controller is configured to set the power of the motor or fan of the main unit in accordance with the received identity data.

14. The vacuum cleaner (1) according to claim 9 wherein at least three electrical wires (14, 16, 18) run between the main unit (3) and the nozzle (6).