Patent Publication Number: US-2005126396-A1

Title: Fine dust removing apparatus for vacuum cleaner

Description:
PRIORITY  
      This application claims priority to an application entitled “Fine Dust Removing Apparatus For Vacuum Cleaner” filed with the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Dec. 10, 2003 and assigned Serial No. 2003-89873, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a fine dust removing apparatus for a vacuum cleaner using a cyclone, the apparatus being adapted to supply liquid droplets so that fine dust, which is drawn into the cyclone of the vacuum cleaner, can adhere to the liquid droplets.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      Various kinds of canister-type vacuum cleaners using the principle of a cyclone are generally known in the art and a typical embodiment thereof will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
      As show in FIGS.  1  to  5 , a cyclone vacuum cleaner has a body  1 , the interior of which is divided into a cyclone mounting compartment  3  and a motor mounting compartment  4  by an intermediate partition  2 .  
      The cyclone mounting compartment  3  has a cyclone  5  having a conventional structure positioned therein to separate and collect contaminants from air drawn in. The motor mounting compartment  4  has a driving motor  6  retained therein to provide a drawing force.  
      The cyclone  5  includes a cylindrical body  8 ; a cone portion  7  positioned on the lower portion of the cylindrical body  8 ; an air drawing connection pipe  9  fixedly connected to the outer peripheral edge of the cylindrical body  8  to guide the drawn air and contaminants in such a manner that they are drawn along the tangential direction; an air discharge pipe  10  positioned on the middle portion of the upper surface of the cylindrical body  8  to discharge air; and a hopper  11  fixedly coupled to the lower portion of the cone portion  7  to collect contaminants.  
      The hopper  11  has a male screw portion  12  formed on the outer peripheral surface thereof and a cap  13  coupled to the lower surface thereof in such a manner that it can be released when disposing of the contaminants.  
      The hopper  11  has a cylindrical shape in order to prevent contaminants, which are separated from the drawn air, from rebounding and being discharged to the air discharge pipe  10 .  
      The cyclone mounting compartment  3  has a fixation plate  15  positioned on the bottom surface thereof. The fixation plate  15  has a screw portion  14  formed on the internal wall thereof so that the hopper  11  of the cyclone  5  can be fixedly screw-coupled thereto.  
      In the drawings, reference numeral  16  refers to a motor protection filter;  17  a fine dust removing filter;  18  and  19  are wheels;  20  is a seal; and  21  a connection pipe.  
      The canister-type vacuum cleaner using the principle of a conventional cyclone, as mentioned above, is operated as follows: if power is supplied to the driving motor  6  for cleaning work, contaminants are drawn into the body  1  together with drawn air A 1  via a drawing opening (not shown) which is connected to the body  1  by the connection pipe  21 .  
      After being drawn into the body  1 , the drawn air A 1  and the contaminants pass through the air drawing connection pipe  9  of the cyclone  5  mounted in the cyclone mounting compartment  3  of the body  1  and travel in the tangential direction along the inner peripheral wall of the cylindrical body  8 .  
      After being drawn into the cyclone  5  via the air drawing connection pipe  9  of the cyclone  5 , the drawn air A 1  and the contaminants descend helically along the inner peripheral wall of the cone portion  7 , as shown in  FIGS. 4 and 5 , when they are rotated in the tangential direction along the inner peripheral wall of the cylindrical body.  
      As the inner diameter of the cone portion decreases, the velocity of the drawn stream made up of the drawn air A 1  and the contaminants increases gradually according to the principle of rotational moment.  
      The drawn air A 1  and the contaminants are subject to different centrifugal forces due to their differences in density. The heavier contaminants descend along the inner peripheral wall of the cone portion  7  and are collected by the hopper  11 . The drawn air A 1 , in contrast, changes direction at the bottom of the cone portion  7  and begins to ascend. The drawn air A 1  is rotated with a smaller radius while ascending and is discharged out of the cyclone via the air discharge pipe  10 . After being subject to such a primary purification, the drawn air A 1  is discharged out of the body  1  via the motor protection filter  16  and the fine dust removing filter  17  by means of the continuous driving of the driving motor  6 .  
      When a large amount of contaminants are collected in the hopper  11  of the cyclone  5 , which is screw-coupled to the fixation plate  15 , the hopper  11  is separated from the fixation plate  15  and the cap  13  is separated from the lower portion of the hopper  11  to dispose of the contaminants.  
      Conventional cyclone cleaners separate and remove fine dust from drawn air A 1  by a centrifugal force. The force acting on the dust includes a centrifugal force and a drag force caused by the flow of the air A 1 . The drag force may also be referred to as a resistant force of fluid.  
      Although dust can be easily separated when the centrifugal force is larger than the drag force, dust is not separated but is entrained by the flow of air A 1  in the opposite case. The centrifugal force is proportional to the cube of the diameter of the dust, while the drag force to the square thereof. Accordingly, the smaller the diameter is, the more the centrifugal force decreases as compared to the drag force, and the more difficult the separation becomes. As a result, conventional cyclone cleaners have a problem in that they must be separately equipped with a fine dust removing paper filter in order to separate fine dust and the filter must be replaced periodically.  
      U.S. Pat. No. 6,623,539 (the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference) discloses a cyclone cleaner including a cyclone dust collecting apparatus; an air drawing pipe; an air inlet formed on the air drawing pipe; and a guide for causing air to flow into the air inlet. However, the guide is merely adapted to guide the flow of air in an efficient manner and the cleaner still has the problem of having to be separately equipped with a fine dust removing filter in order to separate fine dust.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a fine dust removing apparatus for a vacuum cleaner using a cyclone, the apparatus being adapted to supply liquid droplets so that fine dust particles, which are drawn into the cyclone of the vacuum cleaner, can adhere to the liquid droplets and can be removed with improved efficiency.  
      Another object of the present invention is to provide a fine dust removing apparatus for a vacuum cleaner using a cyclone, the apparatus being adapted to supply liquid droplets so that fine dust particles, which are drawn into the cyclone of the vacuum cleaner, can adhere to the liquid droplets without any need for a fine dust removing filter, thus substantially eliminating any inconvenience resulting from the periodic replacement of the filter.  
      In order to accomplish this object, there is provided a fine dust removing apparatus for a vacuum cleaner using a cyclone, the apparatus including a liquid droplet supplying pipe connected to the cyclone, and a liquid droplet spraying apparatus connected to the liquid droplet supplying pipe to supply the cyclone with liquid droplets to which fine dust particles become attached.  
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:  
       FIG. 1  is a sectional top view showing the construction of a vacuum cleaner using the principle of a cyclone according to the prior art;  
       FIG. 2  is a sectional side view showing the construction of a cleaner using the principle of a cyclone according to the prior art;  
       FIG. 3  is a top view illustrating the principle of a cyclone according to the prior art;  
       FIG. 4  is a front view illustrating the principle of a cyclone according to the prior art;  
       FIG. 5  is a perspective view showing a cyclone according to the prior art;  
       FIG. 6  is a perspective view showing the construction of a fine dust removing apparatus for a vacuum cleaner according to the present invention;  
       FIG. 7  is a sectional side view showing the movement of fine dust as the fine dust removing apparatus for a vacuum cleaner according to the present invention is operated;  
       FIG. 8  is a side sectional view showing the attachment of fine dust to liquid droplets created by the fine dust removing apparatus for a vacuum cleaner according to the present invention; and  
       FIG. 9  is a top view showing the principle of a cyclone for removing fine dust which attaches to liquid droplets created by the fine dust removing apparatus for a vacuum cleaner according to the present invention.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention unclear.  
      As shown in FIGS.  6  to  9 , a fine dust removing apparatus  100  for a vacuum cleaner includes a liquid droplet supply pipe  200  and a liquid droplet spraying apparatus  300 .  
      The liquid droplet supply pipe  200  is connected to a cyclone  5  so that liquid droplets  400  supplied from the liquid droplet spraying apparatus  300  can reach the cyclone  5 .  
      The liquid droplet spraying apparatus  300  is connected to the liquid droplet supply pipe  200  so that the cyclone  5  can be supplied with liquid droplets  400 , to which fine dust particles  500  become attached, via the liquid droplet supply pipe  200 .  
      The liquid droplets  400  have a shape larger than that of the fine dust particles  500  so that fine dust particles  500 , upon being drawn into the cyclone  5 , can be attached around the surface of the liquid droplets  400 .  
      The liquid droplet supply pipe  200  has an end connected to an air drawing connection pipe  9  formed on the cyclone  5  and the other end connected to the liquid droplet spraying apparatus  300 .  
      While having fine dust particles  500  attached to the surface thereof, the liquid droplets  400  are separated from the stream of air A 1  by the centrifugal force of the cyclone  5 .  
      The operation of the fine dust removing apparatus for a vacuum cleaner according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, configured as above, will now be described with reference to FIGS.  6  to  9 .  
      As shown in  FIG. 6 , the fine dust removing apparatus  100  for a vacuum cleaner includes a liquid droplet supply pipe  200  and a liquid droplet spraying apparatus  300 .  
      Fine dust particles  500  are drawn into the cyclone  5  of the vacuum cleaner as shown in  FIG. 7 .  
      When the fine dust particles  500  are drawn into the air drawing connection pipe  9  formed on the cyclone  5 , the liquid droplet spraying apparatus  300  supplies liquid droplets  400 , to which the fine dust particles  500  attach, into the air drawing connection pipe  9  via the liquid droplet supply pipe  200 .  
      The liquid droplet supply pipe  200  has an end connected to the air drawing connection pipe  9  and the other end connected to the liquid droplet spraying apparatus  300 .  
      After being drawn into the air drawing connection pipe  9 , the fine dust particles  500  pass through the connection pipe  9  as shown in  FIG. 8  and attach to the surface of the liquid droplets  400 , which are supplied into the air drawing connection pipe  9 .  
      The liquid droplets  400  have a shape larger than that of the fine dust particles  500  so that the fine dust particles  500 , which are drawn via the air drawing connection pipe  9 , attach around the surface thereof.  
      While coarse dust particles  600  are rotated together with the rotating air A 1  and are separated from the flow path by way of the centrifugal force, as shown in  FIG. 9 , fine dust particles  500  follow the flow path because they are subjected to a smaller centrifugal force. Upon attaching to the surface of liquid droplets  400 , the fine dust particles  500  are separated and removed from the stream of air A 1  together with the liquid droplets  400 , because the fine dust particles  500  are then subjected to a larger centrifugal force than the coarse dust particles  600 , together with the liquid droplets  400 .  
      After being separated, the fine dust particles  500  and the liquid droplets  400  descend toward the lower portion of the cyclone  5  and are collected into the hopper  11  positioned thereon.  
      As mentioned above, the fine dust removing apparatus for a vacuum cleaner according to the present invention supplies liquid droplets so that fine dust, which is drawn into the cyclone, can attach thereto. Therefore, the vacuum cleaner can remove fine dust with an improved efficiency and dispense with the need for a fine dust removing filter. This avoids the inconvenience of having to replace the filter periodically and improves the service of the vacuum cleaner.  
      While the invention has been shown and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.