Patent Publication Number: US-2007119129-A1

Title: Dust collecting apparatus of vacuum cleaner

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
      This application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119 (a) of Korean Patent Application No. 2005-102614 filed on Oct. 28, 2005, the entire content of which are incorporated herein by reference.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner. More particularly, the present invention relates to a dust collecting apparatus that separates and collects dusts from drawn-in air.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      Generally, a vacuum cleaner draws in dust-laden air from a cleaning surface and separates dust from the drawn-in air to clean the surface. The vacuum cleaner includes a dust collecting apparatus to separate dust from the drawn-in air and collect the dust.  
      Recently, a cyclone dust collecting apparatus has been developed that separates dust from drawn-in air using a centrifugal force. The cyclone dust collecting apparatus has been popularized since it can be sanitarily used for a permanent lifespan in comparison with a conventional dust bag.  
      International Patent Publication No. WO 01/07168 and Canadian Patent Publication No. CA2330801 disclose the conventional cyclone dust collecting apparatus. The conventional cyclone dust collecting apparatus is formed in a cleaner body and has a structure in which dust-laden air is drawn along a suction nozzle and a suction pipe into a dust receptacle, and air is separated from dust by a centrifugal force and discharged via a discharge pipe and a vacuum motor to the outside of the cleaner.  
      The conventional dust collecting apparatus has a single inlet pipe that extends from a top end of the suction pipe and faced with a predetermined curvature toward an inside of the dust receptacle to exert a centrifugal force on air drawn in via the suction pipe.  
      As air is vertically and upwardly drawn in along the suction pipe, it collides with an inner wall of the inlet pipe and the direction of air is suddenly changed. Then, air collides with the inner wall of the dust receptacle while flowing via the single inlet pipe into the dust receptacle so that a pressure is greatly lost. The loss of pressure is generated when drawn-in air rapidly flowing through the suction pipe passes the single inlet and the flowing direction is concentrated on one point. The conventional cyclone dust collecting apparatus having a single inlet has difficulty in preventing the loss of pressure.  
      Additionally, dust discharged via the single inlet is not evenly distributed and flows continuously only from one direction. Therefore, it is difficult to evenly distribute the dust along a circumferential direction of the dust receptacle and the whole separation efficiency of dust is decreased.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention has been conceived to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and an aspect of the present invention is to provide a dust collecting apparatus that can reduce a loss of pressure generated in a dust receptacle when drawn-in air flows into the dust receptacle.  
      Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a dust collecting apparatus that evenly distributes drawn-in air in a plurality of directions when air flows into a dust receptacle so that a separation efficiency of dust included in the drawn-in air can be enhanced.  
      In order to achieve the above aspects, there is provided a dust collecting apparatus of a vacuum cleaner, which is installed into a vacuum cleaner body to centrifugally separate dust from drawn-in air, the apparatus including a dust receptacle to collect the dust, and a cyclone part inserted in the dust receptacle. The cyclone part guides the drawn-in air vertically through a center of the cyclone part, allows the drawn-in air to flow in a tangential direction inside of the dust receptacle simultaneously from a plurality of directions into the dust receptacle and centrifugally separates the dust from the drawn-in air to discharge along the center.  
      The cyclone part may include a suction passage vertically penetrating a lower portion of the dust receptacle to guide air drawn in via a suction nozzle of the vacuum cleaner from the lower portion to an upper portion, a plurality of inlets disposed at an upper portion of the suction passage to guide the drawn-in air flowed along the suction passage into the dust receptacle, a grille part disposed to enclose the suction passage to flow in air discharged from the plurality of inlets and separated from the dust and prevent the dust from discharging, and a discharge passage connected with the grille part in a fluid-communication to guide air passing the grille part to a vacuum source.  
      The plurality of inlets may be arranged at same angles based on the center of the suction passage.  
      The cyclone part may further include a plurality of guides spirally extended from each of leading ends of the plurality of inlets. The plurality of guides may be downwardly formed from one side to the other side of each inlet.  
      The dust collecting apparatus may further include a skirt formed along a lower end of the grille part to prevent the dust collected in the dust receptacle from re-ascending. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent and more readily appreciated from the following detailed description of the embodiment taken with reference to the accompanying drawings of which:  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view illustrating a cyclone part of a dust collecting apparatus of a vacuum cleaner according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and  
       FIG. 2  is a longitudinal-sectional view of a cyclone dust collecting apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS  
      Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the annexed drawings. In the drawings, the same elements are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the drawings. In the following description, detailed descriptions of known functions and configurations incorporated herein have been omitted for conciseness and clarity.  
      As shown in  FIG. 1 , a dust collecting apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention comprises a dust receptacle  100  and a cyclone part  200  detachably inserted in the dust receptacle  100 .  
      The dust receptacle  100  may be configured as a cylinder so that drawn-in air flowing from the cyclone part  200  can freely rotate in the dust receptacle  100 .  
      The cyclone part  200  exerts a centrifugal force on drawn-in air by a vacuum source (not shown) to separate a dust from the drawn-in air in the dust receptacle  100 .  
      The cyclone part  200  has at a center a suction passage  210  that penetrates a lower portion of the dust receptacle  100  to be vertically disposed. The suction passage  210  has a bottom end that is directly connected with a suction nozzle (not shown) that is in fluid communication or connected with a flexible hose (not shown), which is in turn connected with the suction nozzle so as to guide the drawn-in air upwardly.  
      At an upper end of the suction passage  210 , two inlets  221  and  222  (refer to  FIG. 2 ) are formed oppositely to each other and perpendicularly to the suction passage  210  so that the drawn-in air upwardly guided along the suction passage  210  can flow into the dust receptacle  100 .  
      Two guides  231  and  232  are spirally extended from the cyclone part  200 . Guides  231  and  232  extend from inlets  221  and  222 , respectively, to exert a centrifugal force so that dust can be separated from the drawn-in air flowing from the inlets  221  and  222 . As the drawn-in air flows simultaneously via the two inlets  221  and  222  into the dust receptacle  100 , it flows in at a constant rotating speed along a tangential direction of the dust receptacle  100  due to the guides  231  and  232 .  
      Here, in comparison with a conventional dust collecting apparatus having one inlet, the dust collecting apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention divides inflow directions of the drawn-in air into two ways to distribute an inflow pressure of the drawn-in air. Accordingly, a pressure loss can be reduced when the drawn-in air flowing into the dust receptacle  100  collides with an inner wall of the dust receptacle  100 .  
      Furthermore, since the drawn-in air flows into the dust receptacle  100  simultaneously from two directions, dust included in the drawn-in air flow from two directions simultaneously into the dust receptacle  100 . Accordingly, a separation efficiency of dust can be enhanced in comparison with a conventional dust receptacle having one inlet.  
      In the present embodiment, the inlets are exemplified as two. However, this should not be considered as limiting. The inlets can be provided with more than two. If the inlets are provided with more than two, the inlets may be arranged at the same angles one another based on a center of the suction passage  210 . If more than two inlets are provided, a distribution efficiency of dust can be more enhanced and a pressure loss in the dust receptacle can be more reduced.  
      Under the guides  231  and  232 , a grille part  240  is formed to filter air separated from dust. The grille part  240  has therein a space part  241  (refer to  FIG. 2 ) disposed between the grille part  240  and an outer circumference surface of the suction passage  210 . The space part  241  is in fluid communication with a pair of discharge passages  251  and  252 , which will be explained later. Air passing the grille part  240  flows through the space part  241  and is directly discharged through the discharge passages  251  and  252 .  
      A skirt  260  having a predetermined width is detachably formed along a lower end of the grille part  240 . The skirt  260  has a diameter little smaller than an inner circumferential surface of the dust receptacle  100  so as to prevent dust collected on a lower portion of the dust receptacle  100  from ascending again and discharging through the grille part  240  to the outside.  
      The operations and effects of a dust collecting apparatus of a vacuum cleaner according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be now explained.  
      First, as dust-laden air is drawn in via the suction passage  210  from a cleaning surface by a vacuum source (not shown), the drawn-in air flows upwardly along the suction passage  210  as shown in  FIG. 2 . After arriving at an upper end of the suction passage  210 , the drawn-in air flows via the inlets  221  and  222 , which are formed oppositely to each other, in directions A and B into the dust receptacle  100  (refer to  FIG. 1 ).  
      As spirally rotated by the guides  231  and  232 , the drawn-in air flows in the dust receptacle  100  gains a centrifugal force. The drawn-in air is rotated at a constant rotating force in the dust receptacle  100  to be separated from dust.  
      Since the drawn-in air continuously maintains a constant rotating speed, dust can be in prevented from flowing toward the grille part  240  or drawing via the grille part  240  into the discharge passage  251 .  
      The dust separated from the drawn-in air flows along the inner wall of the dust receptacle  100  and passes a space between the dust receptacle  100  and an outer circumferential end of the skirt  260  to fall toward a lower portion of the dust receptacle  100 . The collected dust is prevented from ascending again by the skirt  260 .  
      As shown in  FIG. 2 , air separated from the dust flows via the grille part  240  into the discharge passages  251  and  252  and ascends along an outer circumferential surface of the suction passage  210  to flow out of the discharge passages  251  and  252  in direction C.  
      Air discharged from the discharge passages  251  and  252  may pass a filter (not shown) and a vacuum source such as a vacuum motor to discharge to the outside of the vacuum cleaner, or flow into a separate second or third cyclone (not shown) to remove fine dusts.  
      As described above, if a dust collecting apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is applied, drawn-in air flows into a dust receptacle via a plurality of inlets. Accordingly, a loss of pressure can be reduced in the dust receptacle and a suction efficiency can be enhanced. Additionally, dusts flowing into the dust receptacle can be distributed in various directions so that separation of dust can be enhanced.  
      Furthermore, sensory noise of airflow can be reduced in comparison with a conventional dust collecting apparatus having a single inlet.  
      Additional advantages, objects, and features of the embodiments of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following, or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the embodiments of the invention may be realized and attained as particularly pointed out in the appended claims.