Dust separating apparatus of a vacuum cleaner

A dust separating apparatus of a vacuum cleaner, includes a housing, a first cyclone separator integrated within the housing, and second cyclone separators arranged around the first cyclone separator, wherein the second cyclone separators are removably mounted into the housing. The first and second cyclone separators respectively have a separate dust receiving cavity and separate dust collecting chambers.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to a dust separating apparatus of a vacuum cleaner.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Usually a vacuum cleaner is provided with a cleaning device for filtering the dust-laden air sucked in with the dust and particles collected in a dust cup and discharging the filtered air. That is, the cleaning device of the traditional vacuum cleaner is actually a filtering device. Therefore, the users should have the filter devices cleaned or replaced after using for a while. Otherwise, fine dust may clog the filtering apertures of the filtering devices, thereby increasing the resistance of the vacuum motor or even burning it out. That will bring troubles to the users, and will affect the performance and lifetime of the vacuum cleaners.

In recent years, according to the principle of cyclone separation, some vacuum cleaner manufacturers use a cyclone separator to replace the filtering device and achieve favorable results. Therefore, that has been widely used in vacuum cleaners. The cyclone separator is provided in its dust cup with a conical cyclone cylinder, which is provided vertically at the top end with an airflow outlet pipe connected through with the air outlet of dust cup. The cyclone cylinder is also provided at its bottom end with an opening for dust falling into the dust collecting case at the bottom of the dust cup. The airflow inlet pipe is provided on the side wall of the upper portion of the cyclone cylinder and along the tangential direction, so that air flow carrying dust will generate cyclone in the cyclone cylinder. Dust and particles will fall along the side wall of the cyclone cylinder into the bottom of the dust collecting case under centrifugal force, and the filtered air flow is discharged out of the dust cup upwards through the airflow outlet pipe.

However, with the reinforcement of the environment protection consciousness of the customers, vacuum cleaners of single stage can not meet their requirements. Vacuum cleaners which have better filtering performance and cleaner air discharged and have not secondary pollution are required. However, the vacuum cleaners with two stages of separating apparatus may result in defects that the cyclone raises dust and cleaning the dust is inconvenient.

Moreover, the customers of different area in the international market have different requirements. Some customers, e.g. supermarkets, need vacuum cleaners of lower price and middle-level performance, and a single cyclone separation is usually required in the filtering performance of the dust cup of the vacuum cleaner. Some customers, e.g. high-end customers, require vacuum cleaners of high filtering performance. Therefore vacuum cleaners of two cyclone separation stages and the second cyclone separation carried in multiple cyclone cylinders are required. Therefore, different dust cups need developing for the design of the same contour of vacuum cleaners, thereby resulting in increased production cost and waste in design and production resources. In order to solve the above problems, a vacuum cleaner which can meet the forgoing two different requirements and won't affect the contour is required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a dust separating apparatus of a vacuum cleaner which comprises several removable second cyclone separators mounted around a first cyclone separator. The first and second cyclone separators respectively have a separate dust receiving cavity and separate dust collecting chambers, so that the dust could be thoroughly separated from the air to enable the expelled air cleaner without secondary pollution. Furthermore, the dust could be disposed independently for convenience.

One aspect of the present invention is to provide a dust separating apparatus of a vacuum cleaner, which comprises a housing, a first cyclone separator integrated within the housing, and several second cyclone separators arranged around the first cyclone separator, wherein the second cyclone separators are removably mounted into the housing, and the first cyclone separator and each of the second cyclone separators respectively have a separate dust receiving cavity and a separate dust collecting chamber.

Furthermore, the housing comprises an outer cylinder body and an inner cylinder body, which share a common bottom cover and between which a dust receiving cavity is defined. In the inner cylinder body, a cyclonical chamber is arranged and in the upper portion of the inner cylinder body, a dust outlet is arranged. An airflow inlet pipe enters the inner cylinder body through the outer cylinder body. An annular shelf is arranged in the middle portion of the inner side of the outer cylinder body, and from whose inner edge a middle cylinder body extends upwardly. The second cyclone separators are arranged between the middle cylinder body and the outer cylinder body, and stand on the shelf. An upper lid is arranged at the top end of the middle cylinder body and a filter member fixed on the upper lid is arranged above the inner cylinder body, with an opening at the top end of the filter member being connected through with the second cyclone separators via an air outlet on the upper lid.

Furthermore, an air inlet cavity connected through with the air outlet is arranged above the upper lid, an air outlet cavity with an air discharging outlet thereon is arranged above the air inlet cavity, each second cyclone separator includes an inlet barrel in its upper portion, a tapered barrel in its middle portion and a dust collecting chamber in its lower portion. The inlet barrel extends upwardly into the air inlet cavity, and a cyclone inlet in the air inlet cavity is defined on the side wall of the inlet barrel. An airflow outlet pipe is arranged in the inlet barrel and the top end of airflow outlet pipe is connected through with the air outlet cavity via the air inlet cavity.

Preferably, the second cyclone separators comprise several cyclonic units, and the dust collecting chambers thereof share a common annular cover at their bottom ends.

Furthermore, at several connections of the tapered barrels and the dust collecting chambers umbrella-shaped reflecting plates are arranged, each of which has a ring gap for dust dropping defined along its peripheral and a reflowing hole defined at its center.

Still preferably, a cone-shaped protrusion is arranged on the bottom cover of the inner cylinder body, while an inverted cone protrusion corresponding to the air outlet of the upper lid is arranged at the top end of the air inlet cavity.

In another aspect of the present invention, it provides a vacuum cleaner comprising a dust separating apparatus. The dust separating apparatus comprises a housing and a first cyclone separator integrated within the housing, wherein second cyclone separators are optional.

Advantageously, the second cyclone separators comprise several cyclonical units, and the dust collecting chambers thereof share a common annular cover at their bottom ends.

Preferably, the second cyclone separators are removable together as a whole.

Additionally, the second cyclone separators comprise a handle above the top cover for convenience.

In still another aspect of the present invention, a dust separating apparatus of a vacuum cleaner is provided. It comprises a housing, a first cyclone separator integrated within the housing and several removable second cyclone separators arranged around the first cyclone separator, wherein on the inner side of said housing, a supporting member is arranged, which extends to the center of the housing for supporting the second cyclone separators.

Furthermore, a filter member is arranged in the first cyclone separator, which comprises a hollow cylinder with a longitudinal axis and a pair of openings at both ends of said hollow cylinder. A perforated portion comprising several apertures is arranged on the hollow cylinder between the two openings, and the protrusion in the hollow cylinder overlaps partly with the perforated portion along the longitudinal axis. The opening at the top end of the hollow cylinder is connected through with the air outlet, while the opening at the bottom end is sealed.

Alternatively, the protrusion is conical, and the protrusion is integrally connected with the hollow cylinder in its middle portion.

Preferably, the protrusion is conical, and the protrusion is connected with the hollow cylinder in its middle portion, and is mounted onto the inner side of the hollow cylinder as a separate element.

Furthermore, the supporting member is of a plate.

Alternatively, the supporting member is of several projections.

The advantages of the present invention are as follows:

1. The present invention comprises a first cyclone separator integrated with the housing and several removable second cyclone separators arranged around the first cyclone separator, so that the air could be separated from the dust thoroughly to enable the expelled air cleaner without secondary pollution. Furthermore the first cyclone separator and the second cyclone separators could be cleaned separately for convenience.

2. The present invention comprises a first cyclone separator and several second cyclone separators, thereby increasing the airflow volume without the increase of the volume of the machine, and keeping a better performance.

3. The second cyclone separators of the present invention adopt an expanding configuration, i.e. the tapered barrel is of a small top end and a large bottom end. The cyclone inlet is located in the upper portion of the inlet barrel. The air flow decelerates in a centrifugal manner during revolving in the tapered barrel, thereby resulting in less pressure loss. Therefore, a better cleaning performance could be obtained.

4. The cyclonical chamber of the first cyclone separator of the present invention is isolated from a dust receiving cavity of the first cyclone separator by an inner cylinder body, thereby preventing dust at the bottom end of the barrel from being raised up under the cyclone, without causing secondary pollution.

5. The second cyclone separators of the present invention are set to be removable, and as an optional accessory of the vacuum cleaner. When the customers need vacuum cleaners of better performance, they simply need to add an accessory of the second cyclone separators to satisfy the requirement. The users can simply upgrade the vacuum cleaners of single cyclonical stage into two filtering stages by buying the accessory, which brings the users more convenience and increases their loyalty to the products.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The first embodiment of the present invention is shown inFIGS. 1-6. A dust separating apparatus of a vacuum cleaner is provided in this invention. It comprises a first cyclone separator1which is integrated and located within a housing10, and several second cyclone separators2which are removably arranged around the first cyclone separator1. The first cyclone separator1and the second cyclone separators2have respectively a separate dust receiving cavity101and separate dust collecting chambers201.

As best seen inFIG. 4, the housing10includes an outer cylinder body102and an inner cylinder body103which share a common bottom cover104, and therebetween a dust receiving cavity101is defined. A cyclonical chamber105is arranged in the inner cylinder body103, and a cone-shaped protrusion114on the bottom cover104is arranged at the bottom of the inner cylinder body103. A dust outlet106is arranged in the upper portion of the inner cylinder body103, and an airflow inlet pipe107enters into the inner cylinder body103through the outer cylinder body102. An annular shelf108is arranged in the middle portion of the inner surface of the outer cylinder body102and a middle cylinder body109extends upwardly from the inner edge of the shelf108. The second cyclone separator2is arranged between the middle cylinder body109and the outer cylinder body102, and stands on the shelf108. An upper lid110is arranged at the top end of the middle cylinder body109. A filter member111fixed to the upper lid110is arranged in the upper portion of the inner cylinder body103, an opening112at the top end of the filter member111being connected through to the second cyclone separator2via an air outlet113on the upper lid110. An air inlet cavity202connected through to the air outlet113is arranged above the upper lid110. Above the air inlet cavity202, an air outlet cavity203is arranged, with an air discharging outlet204arranged thereon. An inverted cone protrusion213corresponding to the air outlet113of the upper lid110is arranged in the top portion of the air inlet cavity202.

Referring toFIG. 2combined withFIG. 3, each second cyclone separator2comprises an inlet barrel205in its upper portion, a tapered barrel206in its middle portion, and a dust collecting chamber201in its lower portion. The dust collecting chambers201of several second cyclone separators2share a common annular cover209at their bottom end. The inlet barrel205extends upwardly into the air inlet cavity202, and downwardly into the tapered barrel206. As best seen fromFIG. 4, the tapered barrel206has a shape of a small top end and a large bottom end. The cyclone inlet207is located in the upper portion of the inlet barrel205, so that the air flow decelerates in a centrifugal manner during revolving in the tapered barrel206, thereby resulting in less pressure loss.

A cyclone inlet207located in the air inlet cavity202is arranged on the side wall of the inlet barrel205. An airflow outlet pipe208whose top end is connected through to the air outlet cavity203through the air inlet cavity202is arranged in the inlet barrel205. At the connection of the tapered barrel206and the dust collecting chamber201is an umbrella-shaped reflecting plate210, which has a ring gap211for dust dropping defined along its peripheral and a reflowing hole212defined at its center.

In this embodiment, the configuration of the cone-shaped protrusion114on the bottom cover104, the inverted cone protrusion213on the upper lid110and the umbrella-shaped reflecting plate210could all ensure the cyclonical performance advantageously.

During operation, the dust-laden air flows into the cyclonical chamber105of the first cyclone separator1through the airflow inlet pipe107thereby forming a cyclone. The coarse dust goes through the dust outlet106upwardly and enters the dust receiving cavity101. The fine dust goes through the filter member111, then enters the air inlet cavity202of the second cyclone separator2from the air outlet113, and then enters each second cyclonic separator2from each corresponding cyclone inlet207, thereby forming a cyclone in the tapered barrel206of the second cyclone separator2. Fine dust enters the dust collecting chambers201downwardly along the inner wall of the tapered barrel206through the ring gap211. The clean air enters the air outlet cavity203via the airflow outlet pipe208, and then is discharged outwards through the air discharging outlet204.

After use, the user could clean the first cyclone separator1and dispose the dust by opening the bottom cover104, and could clean the second cyclone separators2and dispose the dust by removing the air outlet cavity203, the air inlet cavity202and each second cyclone separator2upwardly out of the outer cylinder body102and opening the annular cover209. Therefore, that's very convenient.

Furthermore, the embodiment also illustrates the whole structure of the vacuum cleaner of the present invention (as shown inFIGS. 1-4), wherein a handle4is arranged above a top cover3of the second cyclone separator2for convenience.

FIGS. 7-8show the second embodiment of the present invention. The dust separating apparatus of the second embodiment is substantially the same as that of the first embodiment in main structure and principle. Therefore, only the differences between the two embodiments will be described below.

As seen fromFIG. 7, the cone-shaped protrusion114arranged on the bottom cover104in the first embodiment is not adopted here. Instead as best seen inFIG. 8, the filter member111is improved in configuration. That is, the filter member111is configured as a hollow cylinder1110with a longitudinal axis, which includes a pair of openings at both ends. A perforated portion1111comprising several apertures is arranged on the hollow cylinder1110between the two openings. The filter member111further includes a protrusion1112arranged in the hollow cylinder1110, which at least partly overlap with the perforated portion1111along the longitudinal axis. The opening112at the top end of the hollow cylinder1110is connected through with the air outlet113arranged at the upper lid110, while the opening at the bottom end is sealed.

Advantageously, the protrusion1112is conical and connected with the hollow cylinder1110at its middle portion, for replacing the cone-shaped protrusion114of the first embodiment in function. Furthermore, the protrusion1112could be integrated within the hollow cylinder1110, or fitted on the inner side of the hollow cylinder as a separated element.

The difference between the two embodiments also exists in the design of the air discharging outlet204. The air discharging outlet204in this embodiment is arranged directly above the inverted cone protrusion213and connected through with the air discharging cavity214to deliver the airflow which has been filtered twice into the motor. Similarly, the arrow inFIG. 7also indicates the track of the airflow in the vacuum cleaner which is the same as that in the first embodiment.

Referring back toFIG. 5again, it shows the fitting relationship between the first cyclone separator1and the second cyclone separators2in the first embodiment. Wherein, several second cyclone separators2are arranged around the first cyclone separator1, so that the space between the outer cylinder body102and the inner cylinder body103is made best use of, while the cyclonical chamber105of the first cyclone separator is isolated from the dust receiving cavity101of the first cyclone separator by the inner cylinder body103, thereby avoiding secondary pollution.

FIG. 9illustrates the third embodiment of the dust separating apparatus in accordance with the invention, i.e. the second kind of fitting relationship between the first cyclone separator1and the second cyclone separator2. In this embodiment, the air laden with dust enters the first cyclone separator1via the airflow inlet pipe107, and is driven to rotate in clockwise direction by the generated cyclone. The air after the first filtering enters the tapered barrel206of the second cyclone separator for the second filtering under the guide of the guiding channel5. Such arrangement can further guide the clean air to avoid secondary pollution. It should be understood, the “clockwise” mentioned here only points to the arrangement adopted in the embodiment as shown, and it is not restrictive.

Furthermore, the supporting member for supporting the second cyclone separator2in this invention is arranged to extend from the inner side of housing to its center. In the first embodiment of this invention as shown inFIG. 6, the supporting member is a shelf108of plate shape. In the embodiment as shown inFIG. 9, the support member could be designed as several projections115which extend inwards from the inner side of housing.

The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been set forth in the foregoing descriptions and accompanying drawings. It could be envisaged that various modifications and variations will occur to a skilled person in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the appended claims.