Priority is claimed to German Patent Application No. DE 10 2013 101 809.2, filed on Feb. 25, 2013, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner, in particular a bagless vacuum cleaner.
Bagless vacuum cleaners are per se known. German Patent Application DE102009035619A1 discloses a bagless vacuum cleaner having a removable dust collection device. For emptying purposes, the top cover can be removed from the removed dust collection device. In the case of this vacuum cleaner, emptying is accomplished by simply tipping the removed dust collection device over.
The present invention deals with the problem that there has not yet been provided an optimal method for emptying the dust collection device of such bagless vacuum cleaners having a central filter system. Until now, in order to empty the dust collection container of the dust collection device, it is usually required to remove a top cover from the dust collection container, and to then empty the dust collection container by turning it 180°. When emptying the dust collection container in this way, the dirt collected therein is sometimes heavily stirred up. This is unpleasant and also unhygienic for the user.
Furthermore, a circumferential horizontal coarse dirt separator collar is disposed in the dust collection container to separate coarse and fine dust. This coarse dirt separator collar is connected to the removable top cover. Typically, dirt particles are present on the coarse dirt separator collar and, therefore, these particles fall off in an uncontrolled manner when removing the top cover from the dust collection container. Even in the case of a bagless vacuum cleaner, where the bottom of the dust collection container can be opened to dispose of the fine dust collected there, any dirt that is separated by the circumferential coarse dirt separator collar remains above the collar. The circumferential coarse dirt separator collar would have to be removed separately by hand. In this case, too, dust can fall off the collar in an uncontrolled manner. This is unpleasant and unhygienic. In addition, the coarse dirt separator collar is relatively difficult to handle. Although the bagless vacuum cleaner must be cleaned at regular intervals to maintain its suction power, it is nevertheless likely that the user does not clean the dust collection device as often as would be required. This not only results in a decrease in the suction power of the bagless vacuum cleaner, but may also lead to unhygienic conditions due to the dirt which then remains in the dust collection container for a longer period of time.
In an embodiment, the present invention provides a bagless vacuum cleaner including a dust collection device. The dust collection device includes a dust collection container. The dust collection container includes a top cover disposed to close the dust collection container at a first end thereof. A hinged bottom lid is disposed to close the dust collection container at a second end thereof. The hinged bottom lid is adapted to be tilted to open the dust collection container. The dust collection device includes a coarse dirt separator disposed inside the dust collection container. The coarse dirt separator is movable vertically along a guide.
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. All features described and/or illustrated herein can be used alone or combined in different combinations in embodiments of the invention. The 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 vacuum cleaner, in particular a bagless vacuum cleaner, having a dust collection device including a dust collection container with a top cover closing the dust collection container at a first end and a hinged bottom lid which closes the dust collection container at a second end and can be tilted to open the dust collection container, a coarse dirt separator which is movable vertically along a guide is provided inside the dust collection container.
The vertical movability of the coarse dirt separator along a guide provided for this purpose allows the coarse dirt separator to move out from the interior of the dust collection container in a controlled manner, so that it is then accessible for cleaning, and dirt deposited on the coarse dirt separator collar can fall off in a controlled manner.
In an embodiment, the present invention also provides a method for using such a vacuum cleaner or bagless vacuum cleaner, as will be described hereinbelow, in which in order to clean the dust collection container of the dust collection device, an opening button externally accessible on the dust collection device is pressed, thereby opening the bottom lid, whereupon the coarse dirt separator, which is vertically movable along its guide, moves down and slides out from the interior of the dust collection container.
An embodiment of the vacuum cleaner, in particular of the bagless vacuum cleaner, which allows this method to be implemented in a particularly simple way has the feature that the vertical movement of the coarse dirt separator can be caused by the user opening the bottom lid, and that the opening of the bottom lid can be caused by pressing an opening button provided on the outside of the top cover.
An advantage of this method results in particular from the fact that the user can cause the emptying of the dust collection container in a particularly easy and simple manner, just by pressing the opening button. Pressing the opening button causes the bottom lid to open, and opening of the bottom lid in turn causes the coarse dirt separator to move out from the interior of the dust collection container in a controlled manner along its guide. Thus, the user can cause the dust collection container to be emptied at the press of a button. The user does not need to perform any further operations, such as, in particular, operations which were heretofore necessary and would bring the user into contact with the collected dirt.
If, when the bottom lid is in the closed position, the coarse dirt separator rests on the surface of the bottom lid that faces the interior of the dust collection container, then a particularly simple operative relationship is provided between the hinged bottom lid and the position of the coarse dirt separator in the dust collection container. This is because when the coarse dirt separator rests on the surface of the bottom lid, this supporting function ceases to exist as soon as the bottom lid is opened. Thus, the coarse dirt separator can move out of the dust collection container along its guide immediately after the bottom lid is opened.
In an embodiment of such a vacuum cleaner, the vertically movability of the coarse dirt separator causes the coarse dirt separator to slide out from the interior of the dust collection container under the action of gravity alone when the bottom lid is open. Thus, the coarse separator begins to slide out from the interior of the dust collection container immediately as the bottom lid is opened and only under the action of gravity, which eliminates the need for the user to separately trigger the sliding-out of the coarse dirt separator and also eliminates the need for complex kinematics to accomplish such sliding-out.
When the vertical movement of the coarse dirt separator can be caused by the user opening the bottom lid, and the opening of the bottom lid can, in turn, be caused by pressing an opening button provided on the outside of the top cover, then the emptying of the dust collection container can be initiated simply by pressing the opening button; i.e., with a single press of a button by the user.
In an embodiment of the vacuum cleaner, the guide enabling the vertical movement of the coarse dirt separator is formed by a plurality of vertically oriented and longitudinally slotted holders, the slots of which are each engaged by a nose formed or molded on the coarse dirt separator. The orientation of the holders; i.e., their vertical orientation parallel to the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical dust collection container determines the direction in which the coarse dirt separator is movable along the guide. In accordance with this orientation, the coarse dirt separator is therefore movable along the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical dust collection container itself. Since the holders, or at least individual holders, are slotted in the longitudinal direction and these slots are each by a nose that is formed or molded on the coarse dirt separator or attached thereto in any other suitable way, the coarse dirt separator is capable of moving vertically in a defined manner due to the movement of the noses within the respective slots. As a result of the friction occurring between the noses and the respective adjacent surface portions of the longitudinal slots during sliding-out of the coarse dirt separator from the dust collection container, the coarse dirt separator slides out from the dust collection container relatively slowly. The dimensions of the noses and the width of the longitudinal slots in the holders of the guide are suitably matched for this purpose. As an alternative to noses guided in such slots, in another possible variant, a non-slotted holder may be partially laterally embraced by U-shaped projections or the like.
In an embodiment of the vacuum cleaner, in which the guide terminates in a circumferential ring that limits the slots in the holders, the coarse dirt separator can slide out from the dust collection container only until the noses strike the ring, which acts as a stop for the vertical movement of the coarse dirt separator. Thus, the coarse dirt separator cannot completely detach from the dust collection container, so that the coarse dirt separator can be easily moved back into the dust collection container, for example, by simply turning the dust collection container over, so that the coarse dirt separator begins to move again under the action of gravity alone, this time sliding back into the interior of the dust collection chamber.
In another embodiment of the vacuum cleaner, the coarse dirt separator has a collar which slopes toward the outer edge and which may also be referred to as coarse dirt separator collar. The advantage of this embodiment is that as the coarse dirt separator slides out from the dust collection container, any dirt lying on the coarse dirt separator collar can immediately fall off as soon the coarse dirt separator collar is outside of the dust collection container. Thus, it is generally not necessary to shake the dust collection container, which may otherwise be required.
In an embodiment of the vacuum cleaner of the type discussed herein and described below, a central filter is positioned centrally within the dust collection container and is detachable from the vacuum cleaner by means of a central filter handle accessible on the outside of the vacuum cleaner. Since the central filter can be detached from the vacuum cleaner by an externally accessible handle, the user does not need to reach into the dust collection container to detach the central filter for cleaning, as is often required in the prior art. The ability to detach the central filter by performing a manipulation on the outside of the dust collection device, here by operating the central filter handle, greatly increases the ease of use for the user and also eliminates the need to touch dirt-laden, or potentially dirt-laden, parts inside the dust collection device, so that the cleaning of the central filter can be carried out by the user in a simple and hygienic manner.
In an embodiment of the vacuum cleaner, in which the central filter can be removed in the manner described by means of an externally accessible handle thereof, the central filter handle is in alignment with a fixed handle portion carrying the opening button when the central filter is fitted in the dust collection device. Thus, the central filter handle and the fixed handle portion together form a handle for manipulating the dust collection device. Accordingly, only those elements which are absolutely necessary are disposed on the outer surface of the vacuum cleaner. Moreover, the handle of the central filter and the fixed handle portion both have a double function in that the central filter handle can be used to remove the central filter and to manipulate the dust collection device when the central filter is in the inserted position, and in that the rigid handle portion functions as a mounting location for the opening button and also as a vacuum cleaner handle, or at least as a portion thereof, when the vacuum cleaner is being manipulated during vacuuming.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention is shown in the drawings in a purely schematic way and will be described in more detail below. Corresponding objects or elements are identified by the same reference numerals in all figures. The example embodiment or each example embodiment should not be understood as a restriction of the invention. Rather, numerous variations and modifications are possible in the context of the present disclosure, in particular those variants and combinations which can be inferred by the person skilled in the art with regard to achieving the object for example by combination or modification of individual features or elements or method steps that are described in connection with the general or specific part of the description and are contained in the claims and/or the drawings, and, by way of combinable features, lead to a new subject matter or to new method steps or sequences of method steps.
A cylindrical central filter 18 is positioned centrally within dust collection container 12. Central filter 18 includes a handle 20, which is accessible above top cover 14. In the interior of dust collection container 12, a coarse dirt separator 22 surrounds central filter 18. At its lower end, most remote from top cover 14, coarse dirt separator 22 has a coarse dirt separator collar, hereinafter often also referred to in short as collar 24. As can be seen, coarse dirt separator 22 includes a plurality of equidistantly spaced bars 26, which carry at their lower end a collar 24 extending beyond a circumferential line defined by the positions of bars 26. A filter mesh of coarse dirt separator 22 is disposed between bars 26 or behind bars 26. A gap remains between the outer edge of collar 24 and the inner surface of dust collection container 12, allowing dust and coarse dirt to fall therethrough to the bottom of dust collection container 12. A hollow cylindrical portion 28 extends from below collar 24 to bottom lid 16.
An opening button 30 for opening bottom lid 16 is provided on the outside of top cover 14 on a separate handle portion 32, which is independent from central filter handle 20. Central filter handle 20 and the handle portion 32 with opening button 30 are shaped such that when central filter 18 is inserted in dust collection device 10, both handle portions 20, 32 merge into one another in an edgeless manner and together form a handle for manipulating vacuum cleaner 1 and dust collection device 10. For this purpose, the handle portion 32 with opening button 30 is an integral part of top cover 14. Central filter handle 20 is an integral part of a carrier structure of central filter 18 receiving a filter medium. Central filter 18 is lockably attachable to top cover 14. In the locked position, central filter handle 20 is in alignment with the fixedly oriented handle portion 32, resulting in the described edgeless transition.
By pressing opening button 30, the bottom of dust collection container 12 can be opened by opening bottom lid 16, as is shown in the view of
Opening of dust collection container 12 serves for discharging dust and other dirt particles collected in dust collection container 12. The dust and dirt particles are shown in simplified schematic form as stars in
The view of
When opening bottom lid 16, coarse dirt separator 22, which previously rested with its lower hollow cylindrical portion 28 on the inner surface of bottom lid 16, hangs freely in guide 36. Then, coarse dirt separator 22 moves downwardly in guide 36 under the action of gravity until a configuration such as shown in
When opening bottom lid 16, it is immediately pivoted, either under the action of gravity alone or, for example, with the assistance of a spring. In contrast, due to the frictional engagement of noses 38 within guide 36, the downward movement of coarse dirt separator 22 along guide 36 takes place gradually and is thus delayed with respect to the opening of bottom lid 16. In any case, the lowermost position of coarse dirt separator 22 shown in
Further, the falling off of dirt 34 from collar 23 is assisted by the nature of the movement of coarse dirt separator 22 in guide 36. Since the vertical downward movement of coarse dirt separator 22 abruptly stops upon reaching the end of guide 36, the inertia of the mass that has previously been moved during the downward sliding of coarse dirt separator 22 causes a jerky movement of the vacuum cleaner 10 held by the user, thereby causing dirt 34 to be thrown off of collar 24. In a specific embodiment, the falling off of the dirt from collar 24 is additionally assisted by a slight slope of collar 24 toward the outer edge; i.e., in that collar 24 has an overall slightly conical configuration. Dirt 34 can then easily fall off of collar 24 already during the downward sliding of coarse dirt separator 22 in guide 36; i.e., at least once collar 24 moves out from the interior of dust collection container 12. Moreover, in the case of a downwardly sloping collar 24, the above-described jerk at the end of the downward movement of coarse dirt separator 22 can particularly facilitate the falling off of dirt 34 from collar 24.
In the configuration shown in
In order to close dust collection container 12, the user turns dust collection device 10 over, so that the lower edge of dust collection container 12, which has bottom lid 6 attached thereto and which previously faced downwardly during emptying, now faces upwardly, as is shown in
The further description given with reference to the following figures relates to a thorough cleaning of dust collection device 10. Such thorough cleaning is useful to keep the suction power of vacuum cleaner 1 (
In this regard,
As shown in
Referring now to
Finally,
Thus, various salient aspects of the description given herein can be summarized as follows: There is provided a vacuum cleaner 1, in particular a bagless vacuum cleaner, whose dust collection device 10 can be cleaned by the user in a particularly simple and easy way, and whose dust collection container 12 can be emptied particularly easily in a manner that is both simple and hygienic for the user. For this purpose, dust collection device 10 has a hinged bottom lid 16 at a lower end of the dust collection container, as well as a coarse dirt separator 22 which is vertically movable along a guide 36 provided in the interior of dust collection container 12. Hinged bottom lid 16 facilitates disposal of dirt 34 that has deposited in the bottom region of dust collection container 12. The vertical movability of coarse dirt separator 22 facilitates disposal of dirt 34 that has been retained by coarse dirt separator 22 and therefore has not reached the bottom of dust collection container 12.
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.
1 vacuum cleaner
2 suction port (suction hose)
3 air duct
4 fan
5 exhaust port (hygiene filter)
6 wheel
10 dust collection device
12 dust collection container
14 top cover
16 lid
18 central filter
20 central filter handle
22 coarse dirt separator
24 collar (coarse dirt separator collar)
26 bar (of the coarse dirt separator)
28 hollow cylindrical portion
30 opening button
32 handle portion
34 dirt
36 guide
38 nose
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10 2013 101 809 | Feb 2013 | DE | national |
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20060156508 | Khalil | Jul 2006 | A1 |
20100024367 | Howes | Feb 2010 | A1 |
20130160233 | Peace | Jun 2013 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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102009035619 | Apr 2011 | DE |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20140237761 A1 | Aug 2014 | US |