Method for emptying a container provided on or in a vacuum cleaner, container, vacuum cleaner with the container and dust collecting system for carrying out the method

A method for emptying a dirt-filled container that is disposed in or on a transportable mobile vacuum cleaner includes the steps of coupling the transportable mobile vacuum cleaner via an emptying orifice of the container to a filling orifice of a structure that defines a receiving space and then emptying dirt accumulated in the container into the receiving space. A container, a vacuum cleaner and a dust collecting system are also provided.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the figures of the drawings in detail and first, particularly, to FIG. 1 thereof, there is shown a vacuum cleaner 30 having a housing 32 , which is only schematically indicated by a dash-dotted line, and a container 1 , to which suction air laden with dirt or dust 3 is supplied via a feed 2 . The container 1 is separated from a blower space 5 and a corresponding blower 33 through the use of a filter 4 which is configured, in particular, as a fine dust filter. The air supplied is sucked away through the filter 4 . The container 1 is provided either on or in the vacuum cleaner. The vacuum cleaner is a transportable mobile vacuum cleaner. The dirt which has accumulated in the container 1 as a result of vacuum cleaning can be conveyed into a receiving space 6 located outside the vacuum cleaner and equipped with a fixed wall 26 by the container 1 being coupled to the receiving space. Either the dust 3 falls into the receiving space 6 simply due to gravity or it is blown into the latter, for which purpose, for example, the motor of the vacuum cleaner rotates, instead of in the suction direction, as is customary, in the opposite direction, assuming that the motor has an axial blower wheel instead of the conventional radial blower wheel, or that there are, for the blow-out air of the blower, mechanical deflection devices by which the blow-out air is forced into the container 1 , instead of suction air, so that the dust 3 is forced out of the container 1 . The precondition for this is that the feed 2 is closed with respect to the container 1 by a closing device, for example a slide bolt 7 , and that a connection which transmits the dust 3 is made to the receiving space 6 . The latter can be connected to an emptying orifice 27 of the container 1 via a form-locking and/or a force-locking coupling 8 . The coupling 8 includes a container-side connection piece 9 which can be assembled positively and in an airtight manner together with a flange 10 located on the receiving-space side. Alternatively, the coupling 8 includes mutually associated conical connections of the container 1 , on the one hand, and of the receiving space 6 , on the other hand. The coupling 8 may also be formed by magnetically or electrically mutually attracting connection pieces on the side of the container 1 and of the receiving space 6 respectively. Rubber lips as sealing elements are preferably provided at these connections. The container 1 has a closure formed by a displaceable or pivotable bolt 11 . Preferably, but not necessarily, the receiving space 6 likewise also has a closure 12 , for example likewise a bolt for closing its filling orifice 28 . A region 13 between the bolt 11 and the closure 12 thus forms a (transfer) lock after the receiving space 6 has been coupled to the container 1 . Only after the bolt 11 and the closure 12 have been drawn out or pivoted out is a continuous connection made between the container 1 and the receiving space 6 , so that the dirt 3 is conducted into the receiving space 6 either by its own weight or by being forced out of the container 1 or by being sucked in from the receiving space. A hermetic closure is ensured, even during the coupling and the separation of the receiving space 6 , by virtue of the region 13 . Dirt 3 is prevented from emerging from the filling orifice 28 . When the dust 3 is blown out of the container 1 by an air stream, there is in the receiving space a fine filter 14 (cf. FIG. 4 ) through which the air emerges again. Alternatively, instead of a blowing-air stream generated in the vacuum cleaner, a suction device is provided in or on the receiving space 6 and conveys the air through a fine filter out of the receiving space 6 , so that the dirt 3 accumulates in the latter. In another embodiment of the vacuum cleaner ( FIGS. 2, 3 ), there is a device for compressing the dust 3 accumulated in the container 1 . This device includes a plate 15 , by which the dust 3 can be compressed against a wall 16 or preferably against the bolt 11 , insofar as the latter is closed. The device includes, for example, a piston rod 17 which can be pushed preferably in a motor-driven manner out of the blower space 5 into the container 1 , so that the dust 3 is compressed. The piston rod 17 is led through the filter 14 . The dust 3 is preferably compressed until the dust 3 produces briquettes 18 which are conveyed into the receiving space 6 after the opening of the bolt 11 and of the closure 12 . The production of the briquettes is assisted by the addition of a binder which is introduced from a storage and metering vessel 20 via a feed line into the container 1 , in particular into the region in which the briquettes 18 are to be produced. In another exemplary embodiment ( FIG. 4 ), the receiving space 6 is formed in a bag 21 which is suitable for receiving both loose or compressed dust 3 or the briquettes 18 . The bag 21 either has the connection piece 12 or has an elastic orifice 22 which comes to bear in an airtight manner against the connection piece 9 of the container 1 . In a further exemplary embodiment, a receiving device configured elastically as a whole, for example in the form of a shrinkable tube which assumes its final shape only as a result of the dust 3 being forced in, is provided in a comparable way to the production of a sausage by meat material being forced into an initially folded-together receiving medium. After the filling-up of the receiving space 6 in the bag 21 has ended, the latter is closed, for example by its orifice region 22 being contracted and/or multiply twisted to form a closure 23 ( FIG. 5 ). In another exemplary embodiment ( FIG. 6 ), the container 1 is shaped as a cylindrical space, so that a plate 24 occupies its entire cross section, with the result that the dust 3 can be compressed particularly effectively. The plate 24 is configured at the same time as a fine filter, so that, during vacuum cleaning, the air is sucked in through it. The bolt 11 , too, has the cross section of the plate 24 . The closure 12 is also shaped correspondingly. The piston rod 17 is moved either hydraulically, pneumatically, electromagnetically or mechanically, for example through the use of a spindle drive. Instead of a piston with the piston rod 17 and the plate 15 or 24 , a compacting worm 31 can also be used, as is disclosed in Published, Non-Prosecuted German Paten Application No. DE 37 333 A1, in particular in FIG. 4 thereof.