JP2005342381A - Vacuum cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vacuum cleaner with stable dust collecting performance by automatically removing dust which clogs a filter. <P>SOLUTION: The cleaner is constituted by arranging an elastic body 25 whose lower part is freely turnably held, in a nearly vertical direction with respect to the negative pressure side surface of a main filter 21, flipping the lower part of the elastic body 25 with the use of a pin 36 which projects in the normal direction of a shaft 35 connected to a motor 34, and adding an impact vibration in a positive pressure side direction from the negative pressure side of the main filter 21. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner having a dust removal mechanism for a filter.

  In the conventional vacuum cleaner, the dust removing body driven by the rotational force of the cord reel rotates on the filter surface, and the dust adhering to the filter is dropped (for example, see Patent Document 1).

FIG. 16 shows a filter dust removal mechanism of a conventional vacuum cleaner described in Patent Document 1. Reference numeral 45 is a cord reel, 46 is a gear that transmits the rotational force of the cord reel to the dust removal mechanism, 47 is a drive gear that meshes with the gear 46, 48 is a face gear that meshes with the drive gear 47 and changes its rotation axis by 90 °, and 49 is a face A drive coupling provided integrally with the gear 48, a dust removing gear 50, a transmission gear 51, and a passive coupling 52 are arranged behind the filter 54 for capturing dust. A dust removing body 53 that slides on the back surface of the filter 54 is attached to the dust removing gear 50.
JP-A 61-29323

  However, in the conventional configuration, as shown in FIG. 17, when the dust removing body 53 slides in an arc shape on the back surface of the filter 54 configured in a pleat shape, the peak portion 55 of the pleated filter 54 is repelled. Dust was removed.

  This principle is that while the dust removing body 53 is in contact with the peak portion 55 of the filter 54, the pleated filter 54 is compressed and deformed in a direction in which the angle of the peak portion 55 is reduced, and the dust removing body 53 is released at the moment. The dust is removed by utilizing the repulsive force when the filter 54 is restored to the original pleated shape.

  For this reason, in order to increase the repulsive force by increasing the dust removal performance, it is necessary to increase the rigidity by increasing the thickness of the filter 54 or increasing the density of the material. Along with this, there was a problem that the airflow pressure loss of the filter 54 was increased, leading to a decrease in suction force.

  In addition, in order to reliably remove the dust adhering to the filter 54, the repulsive force that the filter 54 tries to restore is not sufficient, so that the dust accumulates in the reed space 59 of the filter 54 and is completely removed from the filter 54. However, when the fan is energized again, the dust adheres to the filter 54 again to reduce the air volume of the vacuum cleaner, and the dust removal effect is hardly exhibited.

  The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and reliably removes dust on the filter surface from the filter with a strong impact force that strikes the filter surface against the floor surface, and reduces the initial air volume regardless of the amount of dust suction. It aims to provide a vacuum cleaner to maintain.

  In order to solve the above-described conventional problems, a vacuum cleaner according to the present invention includes a main body that contains a suction fan, a dust collection chamber that is disposed in a suction path to the blower and accumulates dust, and the dust collector. A filter that filters dust in the air that is installed indoors and is taken into the dust collection chamber, and a vibration unit that applies impact vibration in a direction substantially perpendicular to the negative pressure side surface of the filter in the suction path. is there.

  This applies force to the filter surface in the direction where there are no obstacles, and ensures that the dust falls from the space surrounded by the filter wall to the bottom of the filter. It becomes the vacuum cleaner which maintained.

  The vacuum cleaner of the present invention can realize a cleaner having a stable suction performance regardless of the use time by realizing the cleaning of a filter that separates dust and air.

  A first invention includes a main body including a suction fan, a dust collection chamber disposed in a suction path to the blower, and collecting dust, and in the air that is attached to the dust collection chamber and is taken into the dust collection chamber. The dust attached to the surface of the filter is removed by a vacuum cleaner having a filter for filtering the dust and an excitation unit that applies impact vibration in a direction substantially perpendicular to the suction side surface of the filter in the suction path. Therefore, stable suction performance can be exhibited.

  In the second invention, the filter of the first invention is formed in a pleat shape, and the vibration unit is configured so that the dust adhering to the filter surface separates in the direction in which the width of adjacent filter surfaces in the pleat shape is increased. By adopting a configuration in which shock vibration is applied to the filter, dust attached to the filter surface is surely removed, so that stable suction performance can be exhibited.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the excitation unit of the first or second aspect comprises an elastic body disposed on the negative pressure side of the filter, and an action portion that applies a stress to a part of the elastic body. The body is rotatably supported in a substantially vertical direction with respect to the suction side surface of the filter and is disposed in contact with the suction side surface of the filter, and the action portion has a free end of the elastic body at the filter side. By applying an impact vibration to the elastic body by applying an elastic stress to the elastic body intermittently by applying an elastic stress to the elastic body. Since dust adhering to the filter surface is removed, stable suction performance can be exhibited.

  According to a fourth aspect of the invention, the action part of the third aspect of the invention comprises a motor, a shaft to which the rotation of the motor is transmitted, and a pin protruding in a normal direction from the shaft. By applying an impact vibration to the elastic body by applying an elastic stress to the elastic body by acting in a direction away from the suction side and applying the elastic stress to the suction side of the filter efficiently Since the dust is removed by vibrating, stable dust collection performance can be demonstrated.

  In the fifth invention, since the elastic body of the third invention or the fourth invention is a comb shape having a plurality of rectangles, the force applied to one divided rectangular portion is reduced, and the motor can be reduced in size. The small size and light weight and stable suction performance can be demonstrated.

  In the sixth aspect of the present invention, since the plurality of free ends of the fifth aspect are connected, the pressure loss due to the elastic body is reduced and the force applied to the filter is maintained, so that stable dust collection performance can be exhibited.

  According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, by operating the vibration unit for a certain period of time when the blower energization is turned off according to the first to sixth aspects, dust can be efficiently removed and excellent dust collecting performance can be exhibited.

  In the eighth aspect of the invention, the porous film is exposed on the pressure side surface of the filter of the first to seventh aspects of the invention and the surface of the porous film is lubricated to remove dust from the filter surface. Since it becomes very easy, stable dust collection performance can be demonstrated.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the electric vacuum cleaner according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 16 denotes a main body which contains the blower 11. The blower 11 includes a motor unit 12 and a fan unit 13. A suction part 14 is provided at the center of the fan part 13. Reference numeral 15 denotes an exhaust port provided in the motor unit 12. The blower 11 is supported by a main body 16 via a vibration isolator front 17 and a vibration isolator rear 18 which also serve as a seal. A dust collection chamber 19 is detachably attached to the main body 16. The dust collection chamber 19 has a pre-filter 20 and a main filter 21 inside thereof. The pre-filter 20 is relatively large dust such as paper waste and cotton dust. Each fine dust of about several tens of μm is captured.

  2 shows a front view of the prefilter 20, FIG. 3A shows a cross section of the main filter 21, and FIG. 3B shows a front view of the main filter 21. FIG. The filter medium of the prefilter 20 is composed of a coarse mesh, and the filter medium of the main filter 21 is formed by bonding a porous film 8 having a pore diameter of about 2 μm on the upstream side of the intake flow and a nonwoven fabric 9 on the downstream side of the porous film 8. The surface is subjected to a lubrication treatment such as vapor deposition of metal. Further, when the filter medium of the main filter 21 is a flat plate, the ventilation resistance is very large. Therefore, the main filter 21 is folded in a pleated shape having a valley to widen the surface area, thereby reducing the ventilation resistance and reducing the pressure loss. As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the filter medium is simply folded into a pleat shape, so that the durability against the pressure of the blower 11 is low, and if a large amount of dust adheres to the filter medium surface, the initial pleat shape cannot be maintained. Further, a plurality of filter backups 22 having the same shape as the filter medium pleats and valleys are used to reinforce the filter medium from the downstream side to constitute a filter unit 23 shown in FIGS.

  Next, a dust removal mechanism for removing dust adhering to the main filter 21 will be described.

  1 is arranged on the negative pressure side of the main filter 21 and applies a force to the main filter 21 in the positive pressure direction to cause the main filter 21 to undergo impact vibration.

  Due to this impact vibration, dust on the main filter 21 is removed and stored in the fine dust chamber 10 in the dust collection chamber. The vibration unit 24 includes an elastic body 25 made of a sheet metal or a resin plate having spring properties, and an action unit 27 that applies impact vibration from the positive pressure side to the negative pressure side of the lower end 26 of the elastic body.

  FIG. 6 and FIG. 7B are front views of the elastic body 25, and FIG. 7A is a side view of the elastic body 25. The elastic body 25 is provided with several notches 28 in the substantially rectangular sheet metal or resin plate to form a comb shape in which a rectangle 29 having a width a is continuous, and a lower end 26 (comb-shaped tip portion) of the elastic body is pressed. Two plates 30 are connected to each other.

  As shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, the elastic body upper part 31 is detachably attached to the upper part of the filter unit 23 with a screw b while the impact plate 32 protruding from the elastic body 25 is in contact with the filter backup 22. It is fixed. At this time, the lower end 26 of the elastic body is rotatable about the screw b in the air flow direction 33 of the suction path of the blower 11.

  The action portion 27 shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B for shock-vibrating the elastic body 25 includes a motor 34, a shaft 35 to which the rotation of the motor 34 is transmitted, and a pin 36 protruding in the normal direction from the shaft 35. Consists of. FIG. 10 shows a state in which the filter unit 23 and the vibrating portion 24 (the elastic body 25 and the action portion 27) are viewed from the negative pressure side, and the action portion 27 is disposed in front of the pressure plate 30 on the positive pressure side of the elastic body 25. The elastic body 25 is disposed in the suction path of the blower 11 so as to oppose the air flow, but by reducing the width a of the rectangle 29 to 3 to 5 mm, air resistance is suppressed and pressure loss is caused. Suction power loss can be minimized.

  The number of pins 36 is the same as that of the pressing plate 30, and the thrust direction position of the pin 36 on the shaft 35 is arranged so that the pin 36 is positioned at the center of the pressing plate 30. As shown, adjacent pins 36 are provided in the circumferential direction of the shaft 35 at positions shifted from each other by an equal angle by an angle obtained by dividing 360 ° by the number of attached pins 36.

  In this embodiment, since the number of pins 36 is four, 360 ° ÷ 4 = 90 °, and the adjacent pins 36 are arranged 90 ° apart.

  Energization of the motor 34 is controlled so that the motor 34 is energized for a certain period of time when a filter vibration button (not shown) is pressed while the blower 11 is not energized. When the motor 34 is energized, the shaft 35 rotates in the direction of arrow 37 in FIG. 10, and when the pin 36a contacts the pressing plate 30a, a part of the rotational force of the shaft 35 is transmitted to the pressing plate 30a via the pin 36a. As a result, a configuration is such that stress is applied to a part of the rectangle 29 of the elastic body 25 from the positive pressure side toward the negative pressure side. The width a of the rectangle 29 of the elastic body 25 is very thin, 3 to 5 mm, but the elastic force is increased by connecting the free ends of a plurality of (two in this embodiment) rectangles 29, and the impact applied to the main filter 21 Has increased.

  FIGS. 11 to 15 are views for explaining the movement of the vibration unit 24 to apply impact vibration to the main filter 21. For the sake of simplification, the action unit 27 does not show a motor and only the shaft 35 and the pin 36 are drawn. It is. As shown in FIG. 11, when the motor is energized with none of the pins 36a, 36b, 36c, and 36d being in contact with the pressing plate 30, the shaft 35 starts to rotate in the direction of the arrow 37, as shown in FIG. When the pin 36a comes into contact with the pressing plate 30a, a part of the rotational force of the shaft 35 begins to apply stress in the direction of the arrow 38 to the pressing plate 30a via the pin 36a.

  When the shaft further rotates, the pin 36a lifts the pressing plate 30a in the direction of the arrow 38 as shown in FIG. 13, and when the shaft further rotates from the state shown in FIG. 14 where the pressing plate 30a is most lifted, the pin 36a is separated from the pressing plate 30a. When the pin 36a is separated from the pressing plate 30a as shown in FIG. 15, the stress in the arrow 38 direction applied to the pressing plate 30a disappears, and the elastic body 25 is moved to the initial position by the force in the arrow 39 direction due to the elastic force of the elastic body 25. The impact plate 32 protruding from the elastic body 25 gives an impact to the filter backup 22.

  The pins 36 a, 36 b, 36 c, and 36 d continually apply impact vibration to the filter backup 22 by repeatedly lifting and releasing the pressing plates 30 a, 30 b, 30 c, and 30 d to predetermined positions in this order.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the filter backup 22 has the same shape as the filter medium pleats and valleys and is in close contact with the main filter 21, so that the filter backup 22 strikes the floor surface from the negative pressure side to the positive pressure side. Such shock vibration is transmitted to the entire surface of the peaks and valleys of the main filter 21, and dust is peeled off from the surface of the main filter 21.

  Further, as is apparent from FIGS. 11 to 15, while the pin 36 a is in contact with the pressing plate, none of the other pins 36 b, 36 c, 36 d contacts the pressing plate 30, so two pins 36, Compared to the case where the pressing plate 30 is lifted simultaneously with three or four, the torque load applied to the shaft 35 is small, and the motor load can be reduced, so the size of the motor can be reduced.

  If the width a of the rectangle 29 of the elastic body 25 is increased, a large impact force can be obtained. However, the air resistance increases and the suction force loss due to pressure loss increases, but the width a of the rectangle 29 is 3 to 5 mm. In the case of making it very thin, by connecting a plurality of free ends, each elastic force can be increased and the impact force applied to the main filter 21 can be increased, and the air resistance is suppressed and the suction force loss due to pressure loss is reduced. Can be kept to a minimum.

  Furthermore, the required torque is smaller when lifting a thin rectangular 29 connected than a single rectangular 29 having a large width dimension a, and the motor 34 can be smaller, reducing the overall size and weight. Is also connected.

  Since the surface of the porous membrane on the most upstream side of the filter medium of the main filter 21 is subjected to a lubrication process such as vapor deposition of metal, the dust does not get caught on the filter surface, and the dust is very smooth. Can be peeled off. Further, the surface of the main filter 21 that captures dust is a porous film, and it is possible to achieve good dust separation because dust does not get entangled with the fiber by a filter medium such as a nonwoven fabric.

  In addition, when the porous film uses a material with good dust separation such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), the same effect as described above can be obtained without a lubrication treatment such as metal deposition.

  The operation will be described with the above configuration. When the operation of the vacuum cleaner is started and the blower 11 is energized, dust is sucked from the suction port, and coarse dust is separated by the pre-filter 20, and the separated coarse dust is accumulated in the dust collection chamber 19.

  Fine dust is separated in the main filter 21, and the separated fine dust is accumulated in the fine dust chamber 10. Since very fine dust is trapped on the surface of the main filter 21 and the eyes are clogged and the pressure loss is increased, the suction force is reduced. At this time, the operation of the vacuum cleaner is stopped, the energization of the blower 11 is stopped, and when a filter vibration button (not shown) is pressed, the motor 34 is energized and the shaft 35 rotates to rotate the four Any one of the pins 36a, 36b, 36c, 36d lifts the pressing plates 30a, 30b, 30c, 30d corresponding to the respective pins to a predetermined position and releases them. When the elastic body 25 returns to the initial position, the impact plate 32 impacts the filter backup 22, and as a result, an impact force is applied to the main filter 21 from the negative pressure side to the positive pressure side in a very short time. While the motor 34 is energized for a certain period of time, the four pins 36 a, 36 b, 36 c, and 36 d repeat this in order to cause the main filter 21 to shock and vibrate, and the dust is separated from the main filter 21.

  That is, even if the main filter 21 is clogged with dust or the like and the pressure loss increases, the pressure loss is restored to the initial pressure loss. This makes it possible to reduce the change in suction force and to exhibit stable dust collection performance. .

  Here, the above-described vibration operation is performed in conjunction with the operation of stopping the operation of the vacuum cleaner, so that the shaft 35 automatically rotates without pressing the filter vibration button (not shown). It is also possible to constitute the filter 21 so as to perform the dust peeling operation.

  As a result, the dust on the surface of the main filter 21 in the dust collection chamber 19 continues to be intentionally or automatically separated, so that a vacuum cleaner user performs filter maintenance such as cleaning the main filter 21 or washing with water. The number of times can be greatly reduced.

  In the present embodiment, the impact vibration is transmitted to the main filter 21 by hitting the filter backup 22 with the impact plate 32 provided on the elastic body 25, but even if the main filter 21 is directly struck with the impact plate 32. It is clear that the same effect can be obtained.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the case where the motor 34 is used as a drive source for shock-vibrating the elastic body 25 has been described. However, even when the drive source uses the rotational force of the cord reel or when the vibration of the solenoid is used. It is clear that the same effect can be obtained in any case.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the motor is energized in a state where none of the pins 36a, 36b, 36c, 36d is in contact with the pressing plate 30, but the motor is in a state where any of the pins is in contact with the pressing plate 30. It is clear that the same effect can be obtained even if energized.

  As described above, the electric vacuum cleaner according to the present invention realizes automatic cleaning of dust on the filter surface that separates dust and air, and thus has a stable suction performance regardless of the amount of dust suction. Can be realized.

Sectional drawing which shows the structure of the dust collecting part of the vacuum cleaner in Embodiment 1 of this invention Front view of the pre-filter of the vacuum cleaner (A) Sectional view of the main filter of the vacuum cleaner (b) Front view of the main filter Partial sectional view showing the relationship between the main filter and filter backup of the vacuum cleaner (A) Sectional view of the filter unit of the vacuum cleaner (b) Front view of the filter unit Front view of the elastic body of the vacuum cleaner (A) Side view showing the configuration of the elastic body of the vacuum cleaner (b) Front view showing the configuration of the elastic body (A) Side view showing the relationship between the filter unit and the elastic body of the vacuum cleaner, (b) Front view showing the relationship between the filter unit and the elastic body (A) Front view showing the configuration of the action part of the vacuum cleaner (b) Side view showing the configuration of the action part Relationship diagram between the filter unit and the excitation unit of the vacuum cleaner Operation diagram of the excitation unit Operation diagram of the excitation unit Operation diagram of the excitation unit Operation diagram of the excitation unit Operation diagram of the excitation unit Configuration diagram of filter dust removal mechanism of conventional vacuum cleaner (A) Cross-sectional view showing the operation of the filter dust removal mechanism of the vacuum cleaner (b) Cross-sectional view showing the operation of the filter dust removal mechanism (c) Front view showing the operation of the filter dust removal mechanism

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 8 Porous membrane 11 Blower 12 Suction part 16 Main body 19 Dust collection chamber 21 Main filter 24 Excitation part 25 Elastic body 27 Action part 29 Rectangular 34 Motor 35 Shaft 36 Pin

Claims (8)

A main body containing a suction blower, a dust collection chamber disposed in a suction path to the blower and collecting dust, and a filter that is installed in the dust collection chamber and filters dust in the air taken into the dust collection chamber And a vacuum cleaner having a vibration unit that applies impact vibration in a direction substantially perpendicular to the suction side surface of the filter in the suction path. The filter is formed in a pleat shape, and the vibration exciter is configured to apply an impact vibration so that the dust adhering to the filter surface separates in a direction in which the width of adjacent filter surfaces of the pleat shape widens. The vacuum cleaner described. The excitation unit includes an elastic body disposed on the suction side of the filter and an action unit that applies stress to a part of the elastic body, and the elastic body rotates in a direction substantially perpendicular to the suction side surface of the filter. The elastic body is supported freely and is disposed in contact with the suction side surface of the filter, and the action portion causes the free end of the elastic body to act away from the suction side surface of the filter. The electric vacuum cleaner according to claim 1 or 2, wherein impact vibration is applied by applying elastic stress to the filter and causing the elastic stress to act intermittently on the suction side surface of the filter. The action part comprises a motor, a shaft to which the rotation of the motor is transmitted, and a pin protruding in a normal direction from the shaft, and the pin acts to move the free end of the elastic body away from the suction side surface of the filter. 4. The electric vacuum cleaner according to claim 3, wherein the elastic body is given an elastic stress, and impact vibration is applied by causing the elastic stress to act intermittently on the suction side surface of the filter. The vacuum cleaner according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the elastic body has a comb shape having a plurality of rectangles. The vacuum cleaner according to claim 5, wherein a plurality of free ends are connected. The electric vacuum cleaner according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the vibration exciter is operated for a certain period of time when the blower is turned off. The vacuum cleaner according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein a porous film is exposed on a surface on the positive pressure side of the filter and the surface of the porous film is lubricated.

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