GB2387317A

GB2387317A - Discharging duct for an upright vacuum cleaner

Info

Publication number: GB2387317A
Application number: GB0306314A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Byung-Jo Lee
Original assignee: Samsung Gwangju Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2002-03-21
Filing date: 2003-03-19
Publication date: 2003-10-15
Anticipated expiration: 2023-03-19
Also published as: KR20030076738A; AU2002300466A1; KR100433411B1; CA2397437A1; GB0306314D0; CA2397437C; US20030177604A1; GB2387317B

Abstract

A discharging duct 60 for an upright-type vacuum cleaner includes side walls 60a and a pair of inner ribs 60b defining part of a passage 61. The passage 61 is arranged to connect an air outlet pipe 13 and a motor driving chamber of a vacuum cleaner body 10. A cover 62 is connected to the duct 60 and seals the passage 61. The cover 62 includes side walls 62a and sealing strips 64 integrally formed thereon to engage the ribs 60b in an airtight manner. The sealing strips 64 preferably contact the complete outer surface of the ribs 60b. Accordingly, the contact area between the cover 62 and the ribs 60b of the duct is lengthened, and a sufficient sealing effect is established without the use of a separate sealing member. Since the need for a separate sealing member is eliminated, the duct is easier to assemble and costs less to manufacture.

Description

P50S248GB

DISCHARGING DUCT FOR AN UPRIGHT-TYPE VACUUM CLEANER

The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner, and more particularly, to a discharging duct for an upright-type vacuum cleaner having a cyclone dust collecting 5 apparatus. Generally, an upright-type vacuum cleaner will have a suction brush movably disposed on a lower portion of a cleaner body, the suction brush being moved along a cleaning surface during a cleaning operation. The cleaner body is divided into a dust collecting 10 chamber and a motor driving chamber. The motor driving chamber has a motor mounted therein which is arranged to generate a suction force. The dust collecting chamber has a dust bag removably disposed therein. During a cleaning operation, dust-laden air is drawn into the cleaner body, through the suction brush, and passes through the dust bag. The dust in the dust-laden air is filtered by the dust bag, and the 15 'clean' air is discharged from the cleaner body.

However, the above-described upright-type vacuum has disadvantages since the dust bag has to be replaced frequently. To overcome this disadvantage, so-called "bagless" upright-type vacuum cleaners have been introduced. One example of a bagless 20 upright-type vacuum cleaner employs a permanent cyclone dust collecting apparatus rather than a disposable dust bag.

Figure 1 shows a conventional bagless upright-type vacuum cleaner, which includes a cleaner body 10 having a dust collecting chamber 11, a motor driving chamber (not 25 shown), a suction brush 20 pivotally connected to the cleaner body 10, and cyclone dust collecting apparatus 30 which can be removably disposed in the dust collecting chamber 1 1.

In this conventional vacuum cleaner, dust-laden air is drawn through the suction brush 30 20. The air then passes through a suction hose 40, an air inlet pipe 12 and a cyclone inlet pipe 32 into the interior of the cyclone dust collecting apparatus 30. In the cyclone

dust collecting apparatus 30, the air moves in a whirling current around its inner wall.

Due to the resulting centrifugal force, dust is separated from the air and is collected within a collecting portion of the cyclone dust collecting apparatus 30. Clean air is then discharged from the cyclone dust collecting apparatus 30 via an outlet 31, an air outlet 5 pipe 13 and discharging duct 50.

Referring to Figure 2, the discharging duct 50 has a passage 51 that connects the air outlet pipe 13 with the motor driving chamber. As shown in Figure 2, a cover 52 and a sealing member 53 are placed around the passage 51 to seal the discharging duct 50.

Referring to Figure 3, it will be seen that the duct 50 has a substantially rectangular cross-sectional shape, with a pair of ribs 51a being formed at a predetermined distance; from side walls 50a of the duct 50. The space between the ribs 5 la and the side walls 50a define grooves 51b. The cover 52 has side walls 52a which are arranged to engage 15 the ribs 51 a.

The sealing member 53 is disposed in the duct grooves 51b to maintain an airtight seal between the duct 50 and the cover 52. Accordingly, the passage 51 remains sealed, the j suction force is maintained, and noise is reduced during the cleaning process.: However, since the sealing member 53 is manufactured as a separate element, i manufacturing and assembly costs are increased. Furthermore, a sealing effect is only guaranteed when the sealing member is tightly pressed by the cover. Therefore, if accurate mounting of the cover is not ensured, external air can flow in, the suction force 25 of the vacuum cleaner will decrease, and there will be increased noise.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a discharging duct for an upright-type vacuum cleaner having an improved structure.

_ 30 According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a discharging duct assembly for an upright-type vacuum cleaner, comprising: a pair of side walls and a pair of ribs formed adjacent the side walls, the side walls defining a passage portion _

connecting an air outlet pipe and a motor driving chamber of a vacuum cleaner body; and a cover attachable to the side walls of the duct, the cover having side walls and sealing strips integrally formed thereon, the sealing strips being arranged to contact the ribs to seal the passage portion.

The sealing strip may completely contact an outer surface of the ribs.

In the preferred embodiment, the discharging duct has side walls and a pair of ribs defining a groove therebetween. A passage portion is located between the duct side 10 walls and connects an air outlet pipe and a motor driving chamber of the cleaner body.

A cover having side walls and an integrally formed sealing strip is connected to the cleaner body and seals the passage portion. The sealing strip is sufficiently sized so that it completely contacts the outer surface of the ribs and the inner surface of the duct side walls to seal the passage.

The sealing strip allows the contact area of the cover, with respect to the duct side walls and the ribs, to be lengthened so that the passage is sufficiently sealed without having to use a separate sealing member. Because the sealing member is omitted, the manufacturing and assembly costs are reduced.

In the preferred embodiment, the discharging duct is easy to manufacture and assemble, and provides an improved airtight seal around a passage, without having to use a separate sealing member.

25 According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a vacuum cleaner comprising: a cleaner body having a wall shaped to define an externally open channel formed from side wall portions and a base wall portion, the cleaner body wall having a pair of flanges each overlying but spaced from a respective one of the side wall portions, each extending in a direction away from the base wall portion and each 30 having a laterally directed sealing surface; and an elongate channel cover shaped to close the channel opening and having a pair of elongate side walls each having a

laterally directed sealing surface so arranged on the respective side walls to engage the sealing surface of one of the said flanges face-toface to form a sealed duct.

According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a vacuum cleaner 5 comprising: a cleaner body having a cavity formed therein, first and second flanges being provided in the cavity and projecting from a back wall of the cavity towards a cavity opening formed in a wall of the cleaner body, each flange having a lateral engagement surface; and a cover arranged to substantially seal the cavity opening, the cover having first and second arms projecting therefrom respectively arranged to 10 engage a major part of the lateral engagement surface of the first and second flanges The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 1 S Figure 1 is a front perspective view showing the structure of a conventional upright- type vacuum cleaner; Figure 2 is a rear perspective view showing the structure of an upright type vacuum cleaner employing a conventional discharging duct; Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line I-I shown in Figure 2; Figure 4 is a rear perspective view showing the structure of an upright type vacuum cleaner employing a discharging duct according to a preferred embodiment of the 25 present invention; Ficure 5 is a cross-sectional view taken alone the line II-II shown in Figure 4; Figure 6 is a graph which indicates the suction force generated by the vacuum cleaner 30 employing a discharging duct according to the present invention, as compared with the vacuum cleaner employing the conventional discharging duct; and

Figure 7 is a graph which indicates the noise generated by the vacuum cleaner employing the discharging duct according to the present invention, as compared with the vacuum cleaner employing the conventional discharging duct.

5 An upright-type vacuum cleaner having a discharging duct according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention employs a discharge duct 60 having a different structure to that of a conventional upright-type vacuum cleaner.

As shown in Figures 4 and 5, the uprigllt-type vacuum cleaner includes a suction brush 10 20, a cleaner body 10, and a discharging duct 60 formed in the rear of the cleaner body 10. A description of the cleaner body 10 and the suction brush 20 are omitted here

since they are substantially identical, and have already been described in relation to, the vacuum cleaner employing the conventional discharging duct.

1 S The discharging duct 60 of the preferred embodiment comments the air outlet pipe 13 of the cleaner body 10 with the motor driving chamber. The duct 60 includes side walls 60a and ribs 61 a, which, in co-operation with a cover 62, define an air passage 61.

The duct 60 is substantially square or rectangular in shape, with the ribs 61a being 20 formed at a predetermined distance from an inner surface of the side walls 60a. The space between the ribs 61a and the side walls 60a define grooves bib.

The cover 62 is connected to the duct 60 in order to define a sealed passage 61, and has side walls 62a with integrally-formed sealing strips 64 that are arranged to engage the 25 ribs 61a of the duct 60. The sealing strips 64 are inserted into the grooves 61b and completely engage the ribs 61a when the cover 62 is connected. Accordingly, a sufficient sealing effect is provided without requiring a separate sealing member.

Although it is preferred that the sealing strips 64 engage the lateral outer surface of the 30 ribs 61a, as shown in Figure 5, this is not essential. For example, the sealing strip 64 can be fonned so as to engage the inner lateral surface of the ribs 61a, or can even be formed to engage both sides of the ribs 61 a.

The cover 62 can be provided with a supporting plate 63 for receiving the suction hose 40, or the like.

5 In the above-described upright-type vacuum cleaner, dust-laden air is drawn through the suction brush 20, and flows to the cyclone dust collecting apparatus 30 via the suction hose 40. Dust is separated by the centrifugal force of the whirling air curTent in the cyclone dust collecting apparatus 30, and clean air is then discharged. The discharged air flows into the motor driving chamber through the passage 61 defined by the 10 discharging duct 60 and the cover 62. The air is then discharged outside the cleaner body 10. Since there are large contact areas between the sealing strips 64 of the cover, and the duct side walls 60a and ribs 61a, air leakage between the passage 61 and the outside environment is substantially prevented, and indeed, rarely occurs.

15 Since external air will not leak into the passageway 61 during a cleaning process, the suction force is maintained and noise is reduced.

Figures 6 and 7 are graphs which represent, respectively, the levels of suction force and noise generated by the above-described vacuum cleaner (indicated by the solid line) and 20 a vacuum cleaner having a conventional discharging duct 60 (indicated by the dotted line). The vertical axis "N" of the graph of Figure 6 represents the number of times that a suction force of a particular level is measured, whilst in the graph of Figure 7, the vertical axis "N" represents the number of times that noise of a particular level is measured. As shown in the graphs, the vacuum cleaner employing the discharging duct 25 60 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention has an increased level of suction force (by approximately 40 watts), whilst exhibiting a decrease in noise level by approximately 2 decibels.

Since the contact area between the cover side walls 62a, and the duct side walls 60a and 30 ribs 61a is increased, a sufficient tight-ftting seal is provided without requiring a separate sealing member. Since no such separate sealing member is required, the vacuum cleaner is easy to assembly and its manufacturing costs are decreased.

Claims

1. A discharging duct assembly for an upright-type vacuum cleaner, comprising: a pair of side walls and a pair of ribs formed adjacent the side walls, the side 5 walls defining a passage portion connecting an air outlet pipe and a motor driving chamber of a vacuum cleaner body; and a cover attachable to the side walls of the duct, the cover having side walls and sealing strips integrally formed thereon, the sealing strips being arranged to contact the ribs to seal the passage portion.

2. The discharging duct of an upright-type vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein the sealing strip completely contacts an outer surface of the ribs.

3. A vacuum cleaner comprising: 15 a cleaner body having a wall shaped to define an externally open channel formed from side wall portions and a base wall portion, the cleaner body wall having a pair of flanges each overlying but spaced from a respective one of the side wall portions, each extending in a direction away from the base wall portion and each having a laterally directed sealing surface; and 20 an elongate channel cover shaped to close the channel opening and having a pair of elongate side walls each having a laterally directed sealing surface so arranged on the respective side walls to engage the sealing surface of one of the said flanges face-to-face to form a sealed duct.

25

4. A vacuum cleaner according to claim 3, wherein the flanges and side wall portions on the cleaner body are configured to form grooves therebetween, the sealing surfaces of the flanges each facing the adjacent side wall portions, and wherein the side walls of the cover are dimensioned and arranged to fit within the grooves, the parts of the side walls bearing the lateral sealing surfaces being supported in the grooves by the 30 side wall portions of the cleaner body.

5. A vacuum cleaner comprising: a cleaner body having a cavity formed therein, first and second flanges being provided in the cavity and projecting from a back wall of the cavity towards a cavity opening formed in a wall of the cleaner body, each flange having a lateral engagemen 5 surface; and a cover arranged to substantially seal the cavity opening, the cover having first and second arms projecting therefrom respectively arranged to engage a major part of the lateral engagement surface of the first and second flanges.

10

6. A discharging duct assembly constructed and arranged substantially as herein shown and described with reference to Figures 4 to 6 of the accompanying drawings.

7. A vacuum cleaner constructed and arranged substantially as herein shown and described with reference to Figures 4 to 6 of the accompanying drawings