Rotary brush device and vacuum cleaner using the same

Abstract
A motor is incorporated in a cylindrical body which is a rotary brush. Rotation of a rotor of the motor, directly or via a speed reduction mechanism, drives the rotary brush. Cooling air runs through the cylindrical body so that the motor is cooled and protected. The rotary brush and an electric apparatus using the rotary brush can be downsized and easily.
Description




FIELD OF THE INVENTION




The present invention relates to a rotary brush device used in an electric vacuum cleaner and an electric apparatus using the same.




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




A rotary brush device of a conventional upright vacuum cleaner has been formed with a rotary brush which is housed in a floor nozzle and is driven by an electric blower motor for sucking dust. The motor is built in the main body of vacuum cleaner, and the motor through a belt or gears drives the rotary brush, or a dedicated motor is provided outside the rotary brush somewhere in a floor nozzle to drive the brush.




The conventional construction discussed above requires a considerably large space for the mechanism transmitting the rotating force. This has been a blocking factor for making an apparatus smaller in size and lighter in weight. This also has caused inconvenience of handling the apparatus.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




The present invention addresses the problems discussed above and aims to provide an apparatus where a rotary brush is provided within a cylindrical body forming the rotary brush; the rotary brush is driven by rotating force of a rotor of the motor. The present invention also contains a consideration to an airflow channel for cooling and protecting the motor. Therefore, by employing the invented rotary brush device, a compact and lightweight apparatus can be realized. The apparatus also can be handled with ease.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

is a perspective view of a rotary brush device in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.





FIG. 2

is a cross sectional top view showing an essential part of an electric apparatus incorporating a rotary brush device of the present invention.





FIG. 3

is a cross sectional top view showing an essential part of an electric apparatus incorporating a rotary brush device in accordance with other embodiment of the present invention.





FIG. 4

is a cross sectional side elevation showing an essential part of an electric apparatus incorporating a rotary brush device in accordance with other embodiment of the present invention.





FIG. 5

is a cross sectional top view showing an essential part of an electric apparatus incorporating a rotary brush device in accordance with still other embodiment of the present invention.





FIG. 6

is a cross sectional side view taken on A—A side of FIG.


2


.




FIG.


7


(


a


) is a cross sectional side view taken on B—B side of FIG.


3


. (A bottom of the apparatus is on the floor.)




FIG.


7


(


b


) is a cross sectional side view taken on B—B side of FIG.


3


. (A bottom of the apparatus is off the floor.)





FIG. 8

shows an outlook of an upright vacuum cleaner, an example of electric apparatuses.





FIG. 9

is a rear view of the vacuum cleaner shown in FIG.


8


.





FIG. 10

is a cross sectional side view showing an essential part of the vacuum cleaner shown in FIG.


8


.





FIG. 11

is a bottom view of an essential part of a floor nozzle of the vacuum cleaner shown in FIG.


8


.




FIG.


12


(


a


) is a cross sectional side elevation showing an electric apparatus incorporating a floor detector.




FIG.


12


(


b


) is a cross sectional side view showing the active floor detector.




FIG.


12


(


c


) is an electric circuit diagram of the floor detector.




FIG.


13


(


a


) is a cross sectional side view of an apparatus provided with a handle and a dust detector in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.




FIG.


13


(


b


) is an electric circuit diagram of the above apparatus.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS




The entire disclosure of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/286,340 filed Apr. 5, 1999 is expressly incorporated by reference herein.




Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. In

FIG. 1

, cylindrical body


1


and brush


2


form a rotary brush. Bristles are transplanted in a V-shape on the outer surface of cylindrical body


1


to form brush


2


. In place of the brush, an agitator, a thin plate scraper, or the like, may be used depending on objectives or applications. Numeral


3


denotes a reduction gear bracket which is a part of speed reduction mechanism, and a motor bracket


4


holds a motor housed in cylindrical body


1


. First opening


6


, a ventilation hole, is provided on an edge portion of the outer wall of cylindrical body


1


. Numeral


32


denotes a ventilation hole provided in motor bracket


4


. The bristle arrangement of brush


2


, or agitator, is not limited to the V-shape, but may be of a helical shaped or another patterns for an improved capacity of dust agitation/collection.




In

FIG. 2

, numeral


7


denotes a rotor of the motor, stator


8


of the motor is mounted inside of motor bracket


4


, and is disposed in an annular space between rotor


7


and bracket


4


. Rotor shaft


9


rotates together with the rotor


7


. Commutator


10


is disposed on an edge portion of rotor


7


and carbon brush


5


slidably contacts the circumference of commutator


10


. Rotor


7


is powered through carbon brush


5


and commutator


10


. A first bearing


11


receives the outer ring of motor bracket


4


press-fitted in its inner wall, while an outer ring of bearing


11


is press fitted into an inner wall of cylindrical body


1


at its left edge so that cylindrical body


1


is journaled at the motor end. Carbon brush


5


is mounted to part of motor bracket


4


which outwardly protrudes from cylindrical body


1


at the motor side, i.e. the motor bracket is provided outside of first bearing


11


. Carbon brush


5


is mounted outside of rotational cylindrical body


1


so that wiring for power is easily provided to carbon brush


5


, and so that a worn-out carbon brush could be easily replaced.




Numeral


12


denotes a third opening provided in the motor bracket


4


at the right end for taking the outside air into the motor for cooling. Numeral


13


denotes a second bearing which is press fitted to reduction gear bracket


3


and supports the right end (opposite end to the motor) of the rotor shaft with the inner ring. Numeral


14


denotes a third bearing the outer ring of which is press fitted to a portion of cylindrical body


1


(a recess on the wall opposite to motor of cylindrical body


1


), while rotor shaft


9


is press fitted to the inner ring of the bearing. First gear


15


is fixed to the rotor shaft


9


, and is held by and between the second bearing


13


and the third bearing


14


. Second gear


16


is supported by pin


17


provided in reduction gear bracket


3


, for transmitting the rotation of first gear


15


to third gear


18


formed around the inner edge of cylindrical body


1


; thus cylindrical body


1


is driven at a reduced speed. Motor bearings


19


are provided at both ends of the rotor


7


, the bearings


19


are held by motor bracket


4


.




The structure discussed above allows cylindrical body


11


to rotate in an accurate and smooth manner with less noise and to be journaled by first bearing


11


and third bearing


14


. When magnetic permeable material is used to form cylindrical body


11


, efficiency of the motor is further promoted. Since heavy items, such as the motor, the reduction gear and its bracket, are placed on both ends of cylindrical body


11


in well balanced manner, cylindrical body


11


rotates with little wobble thanks to the well-balanced weight. Further, heavy items are placed at both ends, i.e. near to the bearings, so that few chances of rotational wobble are available. Detector


20


detects abnormal pressure in a sucking passage, temperature or electric current and breaks electric supply to the motor; thus the detector is expected to function as a safety device for protecting the motor or preventing unusual heat generation. For instance, when dust is caught in the brush it may lock the rotary brush, and the temperature and the current supply to the motor exceeds a normal level. The detector detects these abnormal states so that the motor is protected and overheating is avoided. Sucked in air is utilized to cool down the motor (detailed later). However, when sucking power is lowered because a filter provided in a dust chamber (


48


in

FIG. 10

) is clogged or the like, the detector detects a lowered pressure in the sucking passage. Since the lowered pressure causes insufficient cooling of the motor, the detector can shut the current-supply to the motor to avoid overheat. Outside-air taking room


21


introduces outside-air to first opening


6


provided on cylindrical body


1


. Floor nozzle


22


incorporates the rotary brush therein. A first end of hose


23


is coupled to sucking mouth


38


provided at rear portion of floor nozzle


22


. A second end of hose


23


leads to dust chamber


48


and electric blower


43


, both are situated in the cleaner body that is disposed behind the floor nozzle (Ref. FIG.


10


). Partition


27


is protrusively provided in floor nozzle


22


so that partition


27


surrounds both ends of cylindrical body


1


. Partition


27


separates sucking chamber


28


, outside-air taking room


28


where first opening


6


is situated and a second opening


32


provided on the motor bracket. Chamber


28


is operated by the sucking power of the electric blower. Partition


27


has communication hole


27




a


on second opening


32


side, and the sucking operation is obtained through hole


27




a,


which aims to cool the motor by sucking outside-air through outside-air taking room


21


, first opening


6


, cylindrical body


1


, motor bracket


4


and second opening


32


.




The accompanying drawing in accordance with this exemplary embodiment shows two pieces of hose


23


. When only one hose


23


is used, communication hole


27




a


can communicate sucking chamber


28


so that sucking power directly works through second opening


32


. Therefore, the motor can be cooled down more efficiently. In this case, sucking mouth


38


is placed closely to communication hole


27




a


so that mouth


38


can get strong sucking power. In this case, i.e. with one hose


23


, when hose


23


is placed opposite to hole “


27




a


”, air sucked through second opening


32


and communication hole “


27




a


” efficiently transfers the dust collected by brush


2


and moved in sucking chamber


28


laterally into hose


23


. The placement of hose


23


opposite to communication hole “


27




a


” arranges sucking mouth


38


and first opening


6


on the same side of floor nozzle


22


with regard to lateral direction. The rotary brush is placed in sucking chamber


28


, and opening


45


is provided on the bottom of nozzle


22


corresponding to the lower portion of the rotary brush so that the rotary brush faces the floor side.





FIG. 3

illustrates a more compact structure where carbon brush


5


is integrated into cylindrical body


1


. This structure allows floor nozzle


22


to utilize its width more effectively, or to be smaller in size.

FIG. 3

also illustrates that fin


24


is provided on rotor shaft


9


, fin


25


is provided on the inner wall of cylindrical body


11


, and fin


26


is protruded on a side wall of cylindrical body


1


. These arrangements eliminates the speed reduction mechanism and realizes direct driving as well as blows air inside the motor in the cylindrical body


1


as wind creating means to cool the motor. Each fin can be independently used or combined with each other depending on the cooling effect.





FIG. 4

illustrates that manual reset type thermo-protector


29


functions as a detector. It has heat-sensitive section


30


and manual reset button


31


. In an operation, once a temperature rises abnormally, the apparatus stops working, and this manual reset button


31


prevents the apparatus from automatically starting again when the temperature lowers naturally. The apparatus can be started again by operating the manual reset button after identifying the abnormality.





FIG. 5

illustrates a rotary brush device incorporating an outer rotor motor. The major point of difference as compared to

FIG. 3

includes; rotor


33


comprising a magnet is fitted to inner wall of cylindrical body


1


, stator


34


is fixed to motor shaft


35


of which both ends are held and fixed by floor nozzle


22


, cylindrical body


1


at the left end is journaled by the outer ring of first bearing


11


which is press fitted in the inner ring with outer wall of stator bracket


36


, while at the right end of cylindrical body


1


is journaled with its side wall by bearing


37


. Sucking intake


38


for hose


23


to suck the air from sucking chamber


28


of floor nozzle


22


. In the present exemplary embodiment, hose


23


has been provided for two. However, there may be one hose


23


only, in which case only one sucking intake may be provided at one end.




In

FIG. 6

, outside-air intake


39


is provided on the top portion of floor nozzle


22


. The portion where outside-air intake


39


is placed corresponds to space F (ref.

FIG. 2

) of outside-air taking room


21


separated by partition


27


from sucking chamber


28


. While second opening


32


faces space “E” separated from sucking chamber


28


which is placed opposite to outside-air intake


39


. As shown in

FIG. 7



a,


partition


27


with regard to space “E” has communication hole “


27




a


” leading to sucking chamber


28


. Therefore, when electric blower


43


exerts its sucking power to sucking chamber


28


, sucking power is effected to communication hole “


27




a


”, second opening


32


, inside of cylindrical body


1


, first opening


21


and space “F” sequentially, thereby taking outside-air from outside-air intake


39


. This outside-air taken inside cools the motor. In FIG.


7


(


a


), floor


24


is to be cleaned. In FIG.


7


(


b


), recess


40


is provided in the bottom of floor nozzle


22


, opening


41


is provided in recess


40


. Opening


41


is connected through with space “E” and sucking chamber


28


. Consequently, the sucking power of sucking chamber


28


works to space “E”, thereby producing airflow indicated by the arrow mark. As a result, motor can be cooled as discussed previously. At the same time, the dust on the floor which recess


40


faces also can be sucked to sucking chamber


28


side. Outside-air intake


39


is provided on the upper face of the floor nozzle so that dust collected by the rotary brush can be restrained from sucking. As a result, the motor can be cooled with cooling air excluding the dust. In FIG.


8


and

FIG. 9

, vacuum cleaner body “G” incorporates dust chamber


48


and blower


43


, and the lower part of the body is mounted to the rear portion of floor nozzle


22


so that body “G” can be arbitrarily slanted.




In

FIG. 10

, numeral


43


denotes an electric blower for sucking the air, dust bag


44


is provided within dust chamber


48


, sucking mouth


45


is provided on the bottom of nozzle


22


, rotary brush


46


is provided within nozzle


22


. The floor nozzle and the rotary brush shown in

FIG. 1

though

FIG. 7

are employed. In

FIG. 11

, rotary brush “


46




a


” has bristles transplanted in a V-shape. Brushes


47


are fixedly mounted at both ends of the sucking mouth


45


, and brushes


47


have bristles planted with a certain orientation for picking up lint and the like.




In the above exemplary embodiments the rotary brush is used for only one. It is of course possible to form a rotary brush device employing a plurality of rotary brushes.




FIG.


12


(


a


) includes rotary brush


46


discussed above, and an electric apparatus


49


having a pair of floor rollers


54


in the front and the rear sections respectively incorporating an invented rotary brush device. Floor contact roller


50


is provided at the bottom end of actuator


52


that is urged down by a spring


51


. As a result of detection of the floor, floor contact roller


50


is lifted up to turn switch


53


, situated in the OFF position, to the ON position which activates a motor built in a rotary brush device. FIG.


12


(


b


) illustrates a state where carpet


55


placed on floor


42


is detected and the switch


53


is turned ON. FIG.


12


(


c


) is an electrical circuit including power source


57


, detection switch


53


, motor


56


built in the rotary brush device, and variable resistor


58


for controlling the rotation of the motor which is to be discussed later. An electric vacuum cleaner for floor carpet having the construction discussed above starts operation when floor contact roller


50


is pushed up by carpet


55


.




In FIG.


13


(


a


), handle


59


is tiltably attached to floor nozzle


22


; when it is stood upright, switch


60


is turned OFF to break electric supply to the rotary brush device. Controller


61


is provided on the handle


59


, and controls a rotation speed of rotary brush


46


through the above described variable resistor


58


. Filter


62


is provided in dust chamber


48


for capturing the dusts stirred by rotary brush


46


. Dust detector


63


comprises light-emitting element and light-sensing element, etc. and detects quantity of dusts being sucked into dust chamber


48


. The dust detector senses the shift of output from the light-sensing element. The rotation speed of rotary brush


46


is varied in accordance with the dust quantity. FIG.


13


(


b


) illustrates the electrical circuit of detector


63


; where, phase controller


64


controls the rotation speed of the motor in accordance with result of the above described dust sensing. When controller


61


selects a rotational speed depending on the dust sensing, phase controller


64


follows the control process discussed above. In addition to this, high, mid, and low speeds are prepared so that users can arbitrarily select the rotational speed among them. This structure allows the vacuum cleaner to be handled with ease and work efficiently in terms of power consumption.



Claims
  • 1. An electric apparatus comprising: a pair of front and rear rollers, a floor detector for detecting a type of floor over which the electric apparatus is rolled, a switch operated by engagement with said floor detector, and a rotary brush device having a cylindrical body with a motor housed in the cylindrical body, an outer wall of the cylindrical body is provided with at least one of a brush, a thin-plate agitator, and a thin-plate scraper, the cylindrical body is provided at one end with a first opening for receiving outside air and a second opening at an opposite side of the cylindrical body, said first opening and said second opening being connected to one another through the inside of the motor;wherein the rotary brush device is operated by operation of the switch.
  • 2. An electric apparatus comprising: a pair of front and rear rollers, a floor detector for detecting a type of floor over which the electric apparatus is rolled, a switch operated by engagement with said floor detector, and a rotary brush device having a cylindrical body having at least one of a brush agitator, a thin-plate agitator and a thin-plate scraper;a motor disposed in said cylindrical body and for rotating said cylindrical body; a speed reduction mechanism for reducing rotational speed of said motor; wherein said motor is disposed on a first end of said cylindrical body and said speed reduction mechanism is disposed on a second end of said cylindrical body; wherein the rotary brush device is operated by operation of the switch.
  • 3. An electric apparatus comprising: a floor nozzle having disposed therein a rotary brush device having a cylindrical body having at least one of a brush agitator, a thin-plate agitator and a thin-plate scraper;a motor disposed in said cylindrical body and for rotating said cylindrical body; a speed reduction mechanism for reducing rotational speed of said motor; wherein said motor is disposed on a first end of said cylindrical body and said speed reduction mechanism is disposed on a second end of said cylindrical body, the floor nozzle having an intake chamber with a downwardly facing opening, an electric blower for air intake, a dust chamber for capturing dust, and a dust detector provided at a part of an air intake path connecting said intake chamber and the electric blower; wherein rotation of the cylindrical body of the rotary brush device is controlled in accordance with an output of said dust detector.
Parent Case Info

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/286,340, filed Apr. 5, 1999, which is a Continuation-In-Part of Application Ser. No. 09/055,020, filed Apr. 3, 1998. (Status: Abandoned).

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Entry
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Continuation in Parts (1)
Number Date Country
Parent 09/055020 Apr 1998 US
Child 09/286340 US