Patent Publication Number: US-8984712-B2

Title: Cyclone separation device and cyclone vacuum cleaner mounted with same

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention belongs to the technical field of cleaning equipment, and relates to a cyclone separation device and a cyclone vacuum cleaner mounted with such device. 
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART 
     A vacuum cleaner is configured to clean dust with a negative pressure generated by its built-in motor-driven air blower. During its operation, the vacuum cleaner can suck out the dust in the slits or on the carpet which are uneasy to be removed in normal way while not making the dust floating upward, which has the advantages of convenient usage and easy operation, so such vacuum cleaner is widely used either at home or in public. 
     As the living conditions of the people are increasingly improved, their consciousness to environmental protection is also gradually heightened, that is, the users not only require that the vacuum cleaner can effectively collect dust, some other factors such as service life, noise and dust collection efficiency are also their concern. Therefore, the vacuum cleaner mounted with a cyclone separation device has emerged accordingly, which has been popularly approved by the user. 
     The cyclone vacuum cleaner is a kind of cleaning equipment configured to separate the dusts from the air by means of a centrifugal force generated by a swirling airflow. The typical cyclone vacuum cleaner available commercially includes two cyclone units connected in series, in which, the bigger dirt in the air are separated within the first cyclone unit, while the fine particles are separated within the second cyclone unit. A Chinese invention (publication number: CN101862165A) has disclosed a cyclone separation device unit, in which a cyclone body in its second cyclone unit adopts a dual-inlet air intake mode, so as to improve or suppress the vortex core deformation of airflow in the cyclone body and thus improve the separation efficiency of cyclone barrels. However, as shown in  FIG. 1 , said invention has the following disadvantages, that is, in the second cyclone unit, each of the cyclone barrels has at least two air inlets, and a part of airflow respectively enters each of the first air inlets  21   a  from the side through the airflow passage  3 , while another part of airflow is respectively introduced into each of the second air inlets  21   b  through a sub-passage  502 . To assure that the positions of the two air inlets on the cyclone barrels are separated by phase difference of 180 degree around the rotation axis of cyclone barrels, the airflow passage  3  and the sub-passage  502  occupy a considerably big space of the second cyclone separation unit, thus interfering the arrangement and dimension of cyclone barrels and restricting the maximized utilization of the space. Additionally, in such design of airflow passages, because the adjacent airflow passages have substantially the same wind speed, both ends of the dirty substances are subjected to substantially the same force. When the dirty substances are blocked by the cyclone barrels, they cannot escape. As the result, some dusts such as hairs or other strip-shaped dirt will accumulate on the outer walls of the cyclone barrels near the adjacent airflow passages, thus affecting the cleaning effect later. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of above disadvantage of the prior art, the technical problem of the present invention is directed to provide a cyclone separation device, which can change the direction of travel of airflow and increase the cross-sectional area of air inlets on the cyclone barrels, so as to evenly distribute the airflows which enter the cyclone barrels and thus improve the separation efficiency. 
     The present invention also provides a cyclone vacuum cleaner mounted with said cyclone separation device, which can improve the overall separation efficiency and air cleaning effect. 
     The technical problem of the present invention is solved by the following technical solution. 
     The invention provides a cyclone separation device, comprising a first cyclone separation unit and a second cyclone separation unit, in which, 
     the first cyclone separation unit includes a dust bucket  10  having a tangential inlet  10   a  and a mesh filter  7  having air holes  7   a , airflow enters the first cyclone separation unit from the tangential inlet  10   a  to undergo a first gas-solid separation, the airflow after the first gas-solid separation enters the second cyclone separation unit through the air hole  7   a;    
     the second cyclone separation unit includes a separator  3  and a connecting barrel  5 , the separator  3  comprises a plurality of cyclone barrels  31 , the upper end and lower end of the clone barrels  31  are opened, a first air inlet  31   a  and a second air inlet  31   b  are provided on the side wall of the clone barrels  31 ; 
     the airflow after the first gas-solid separation includes a first airflow ( 41   a ) and a second airflow  41   b , the first airflow  41   a  enters each of the first air inlets  31   a  through a first airflow passage, the second airflow  41   b  enters each of the second air inlets  31   b  through the gaps among the outer walls of the plurality of cyclone barrels  31  in a second airflow passage, the first airflow  41   a  and the second airflow  41   b  undergo a second gas-solid separation within the cyclone barrels  31 , the airflow after the second gas-solid separation flows to the opening of the upper end of the cyclone barrels  31 . 
     The first air inlet  31   a  and the second air inlet  3   1  b are symmetrically distributed on the side walls of the cyclone barrels  31 . 
     A connecting barrel sealing cover  4  is provided below the separator  3 , a circular hole is provided on the connecting barrel sealing cover  4 , wherein the number of circular holes on the connecting barrel sealing cover  4  is equal to the number of the cyclone barrels  31 . 
     A diameter of the circular hole on the connecting barrel sealing cover  4  is greater than or equal to a diameter of the lower end of each cyclone barrel  31 , but is smaller than a diameter of the upper end of the cyclone barrel  31 , the cyclone barrels  31  are connected with a connecting barrel  5  through the circular holes of the connecting barrel sealing cover  4 . 
     The connecting barrel sealing cover  4  is hermetically connected with the connecting barrel  5 . 
     Both the first airflow passage and the second airflow passage comprise a gap between the inner wall of the mesh filter  7  and the outer wall of the connecting barrel  5 . 
     The cyclone separation device comprises a tapered hole cover  1 , which is located above the dust bucket  10 , the first airflow passage also comprises a gap among the outer wall of the separator  3 , the inner wall of the tapered hole cover  1  as well as the inner walls of the mesh filter  7 . 
     The second airflow passage also comprises a recess  301  provided on the outer walls of the separator  3 , the second airflow  41   b  enters the gaps between the outer walls of the plurality of cyclone barrels  31  through the recess  301 . 
     The air holes  7   a  are a plurality of through holes provided on the mesh filter  7 . 
     The first air inlet  31   a  and the second air inlet  31   b  have the same cross-sectional areas. 
     The number of the cyclone barrels  31  is 6 to 12, which are evenly distributed around the central axis of the separator  3 . 
     Preferably, the number of the cyclone barrels  31  is 8. 
     The first air inlet  31   a  of the cyclone barrels  31  opens towards the outer side of the separator  3 , and the second air inlet  31   b  of the cyclone barrels  31  opens towards the inner side of the separator  3 . 
     Preferably, the cyclone separation device is further provided with a central cyclone barrel  32 , which is provided at the central position of the separator  3 , two air inlets  32   a  are provided on the side wall of the central cyclone barrel  32 , the second airflow  41   b  enters the two air inlets  32   a  through the second airflow passage. 
     An angle between the axis of the cyclone barrels  31  and the axis of the cyclone separation device is 6°˜12°. 
     Preferably, the angle between the axis of the cyclone barrels  31  and the axis of the cyclone separation device is 8°. 
     The invention also provides a cyclone vacuum cleaner, comprising a vacuum cleaner body and a suction head, the cyclone separation device described as above is provided in the vacuum cleaner body. 
     As compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects: 
     The cyclone separation device of the present invention features simple structure, the airflow entering the second cyclone separation unit is evenly distributed into each of the cyclone barrels. Under a predetermined cross-sectional area of cyclone barrels, the cross-sectional areas of two air inlets of the cyclone barrels can be expanded. The cyclone vacuum cleaner mounted with this cyclone separation device may further improve the overall efficiency of vacuum cleaner, so as to reduce accumulation of the dusts on the outside of cyclone barrels and to improve the air cleaning effect. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is the top view of the cyclone separation device used for the cyclone vacuum cleaner in the prior art; 
         FIG. 2  is the 3D exploded view of the specific structure of the cyclone separation device according to the first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is the schematic structure of the cyclone separation device according to the first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is the top view of the separator in the cyclone separation device according to the first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is the partial schematic view of the separator of the cyclone separation device according to the first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is the schematic structure of the separator of the cyclone separation device according to the second embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 7  is the perspective view of the vertical cyclone vacuum cleaner of the present invention; 
         FIG. 8  is the perspective view of the horizontal cyclone vacuum cleaner of the present invention. 
       
         
           
             
                 
               
                 
                     
                 
                 
                   Reference numbers of the attached drawings: 
                 
                 
                     
                 
               
              
                 
                     
                 
              
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
              
                 
                   1. Tapered hole cover 
                   2. Separator sealing ring 
                   3. Separator 
                     
                 
                 
                   31. Cyclone barrels 
                   301. Recess 
                   31a. The first air inlet 
                 
                 
                   31b. The second air inlet 
                   32. Central cyclone barrel 
                   32a. Air inlets 
                 
                 
                   41a. The first Airflow 
                   41b. The second Airflow 
                   4. Connecting barrel sealing cover 
                 
                 
                   5. Connecting barrel 
                   6. Bottom cover sealing ring of 
                 
                 
                     
                   connecting barrel 
                 
                 
                   7. Mesh filter 
                   7a. Air hole 
                   8. Dust bucket sealing ring 
                   9. Dust-guard ring 
                 
                 
                   10. Dust bucket 
                   10a. Tangential air inlet 
                 
                 
                   11. Bottom cover sealing ring of 
                 
                 
                   dust bucket 
                 
                 
                   12. Bottom cover of dust bucket 
                   13. Filter pad 
                   13a. Airflow sub-passage 
                 
                 
                   14. Sealing ring of dust bucket cover 
                   15. Safety valve 
                 
                 
                   16. Dust bucket cover 
                   17. Handle cover 
                   18. Elastic member 
                 
                 
                   19. Release button of dust bucket 
                 
                 
                   100. Vertical cyclone vacuum cleaner 
                   200. Horizontal cyclone dust cleaner 
                 
                 
                   101, 201. Vacuum cleaner body 
                   102, 202. Cyclone separation device 
                 
                 
                   130, 230. Suction head 
                   25. Annular sub-passage 
                 
                 
                   502. Sub-passage 
                   21a. The first air inlet 
                   21b. The second air inlet 
                 
                 
                     
                 
              
             
           
         
       
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Embodiment 1 
     As shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the cyclone separation device of the present invention comprises a first cyclone separation unit and a second cyclone separation unit. The first cyclone separation unit comprises a dust bucket  10  and a mesh filter  7 . The dust bucket  10  is provided with a tangential air inlet  10   a  and is used to perform the gas-solid separation among the gas and the dirt such as particles, and its bottom is used to collect dirt; The mesh filter  7  is provide with a plurality of air holes  7   a , which are through holes. The second cyclone separation unit is located at the downstream of the first cyclone separation unit, and comprises a separator  3  and a connecting barrel  5 . The separator  3  is configured to filter small particles of dirt, and comprises a plurality of cyclone barrels  31 , both the upper ends and lower ends of the cyclone barrels  31  are opened; Two tangential air inlets are provided on the side walls of the cyclone barrels  31 . Specifically, these two air inlets may be distributed by a phase difference of 180 degree around the rotation axis of the cyclone barrels. To make the layout of the cyclone barrels  31  compact, there is provided an angle ranged generally from 6° to 12° between the axis line of the cyclone barrels  31  and the axis line of the cyclone separation device. In the present embodiment, such angle is 8°. To improve the effect of the second airflow separation, two air inlets are symmetrically distributed on the side walls of the cyclone barrels  31 . A connecting barrel sealing cover  4  is provided under the separator  3  and also provided with circular holes. The number of the circular holes is same as that of the cyclone barrels  31 . The diameter of each circular hole is greater than that of the opening at the lower end of the cyclone barrels  31  and is smaller than the diameter of opening at the upper end of the cyclone barrels  31 . The cyclone barrels  31  pass through the circular holes of the connecting barrel sealing cover  4  and partially projected into the connecting barrel  5 , then are connected with the connecting barrel  5  through the circular holes of the connecting barrel sealing cover  4 . Alternatively, the diameter of the circular holes of the connecting barrel sealing cover  4  may also be equal to the diameter of the opening provided on the lower end of the cyclone barrels  31 , and is smaller than the opening diameter at the upper end of cyclone barrels  31 . The cyclone barrels  31  are provided on the connecting barrel  5  with their lower end openings corresponding to the circular hole of the connecting barrel sealing cover  4 . Through the circular holes on the connecting barrel sealing cover  4 , the cyclone barrels  31  are connected with the connecting barrel  5 . The connecting barrel sealing cover  4  is hermetically connected with the connecting barrel  5 . 
       FIG. 4  is the top view of the separator in the cyclone separation device. As shown in  FIG. 4 , the arrangement of the separator  3  is as follows: A plurality of cyclone barrels  31  are provided peripherally, the number of the cyclone barrels  31  may be 6˜12; In the present embodiment,  8  cyclone barrels are evenly and closely arranged around the central axis of the separator  3 . Two air inlets, namely the first air inlet  31   a  and the second air inlet  31   b , are respectively provided on the side walls of the cyclone barrels  31 . The first air inlet  31   a  opens towards the outer side of the separator  3 ; the second air inlet  31   b  opens towards the inner side of the separator  3 . The first air inlet  31   a  and the second air inlet  31   b  are symmetrically distributed, and have the same height and cross-sectional area. Wherein, the first air inlets  31   a  of the plurality of cyclone barrels  31  locate on the same height, and the second air inlets  31   b  of the plurality of cyclone barrels  31  locate on the same height. 
     As shown in  FIG. 4 , to improve the cyclone separation effect in a more efficient way, a central cyclone barrel  32  is additionally provided in the separator  3 . The central cyclone barrel  32  is provided at the central position of the separator  3 ; Two air inlets  32   a  are provided on the side walls of the central cyclone barrel  32  and have the same height. Correspondingly, a circular hole is provided at the central position of the connecting barrel sealing cover  4 , so that the number of the circular holes on the connecting barrel sealing cover corresponds to the total number of the cyclone barrels  31  and the central cyclone barrel  32  provided in the separator  3 . 
     The following description is further given of the operating process of the cyclone separation device in reference to the attached drawings. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 3 and 5 , an airflow carrying dirt such as dust and particles enters the dust bucket  10  through the tangential inlet  10   a  on the dust bucket  10 ; the airflow swirls in the dust bucket  10  to undergo the first gas-solid separation, so that big particles of dirt and some dusts are separated out from the airflow by means of the centrifugal force. Further, a dust-guard ring  9  provided on the mesh filter  7  can effectively prevent the dust from floating for the second time, and thus prevent the dust from blocking the air holes  7   a  provided on the mesh filter  7 . After the gas-solid separation, the dirt falls into the bottom of the dust bucket  10 . To guarantee the separation efficiency, the cyclone separation device has various sealing-rings provided at different positions thereof. For example, a bottom cover sealing ring  11  provided between the dust bucket  10  and the bottom cover  12  of dust bucket can effectively prevent the leakage of gas and dust; A dust bucket sealing ring  8  provided between the dust bucket  10  and the mesh filter  7  can effectively prevent the airflow in the dust bucket  10  from directly entering into the separator  3  without passing through the air holes  7   a  of the mesh filter  7 . After the first gas-solid separation, the airflow enters into the second separation unit through the air holes  7   a  on the mesh filter  7 , and then travels upwards along the outer walls of the connecting barrel  5 . 
     The airflows after the first gas-solid separation include a first airflow  41   a  and a second airflow  41   b ; the first airflow  41   a  enters the first air inlet  31   a  through the first airflow passage; and the second airflow  41   b  enters the second air inlet  31   b  through the second airflow passage, the process is as follows: 
     The first airflow  41   a  travels upwards to the upper end of the connecting barrel  5  through the gaps between the inner wall of the mesh filter  7  and the outer walls of the connecting barrel  5 , further travels upwards along the gaps located among the outer walls of the separator  3 , the inner walls of the tapered hole cover  1  and the inner walls of the mesh filter  7 , then directly enters into the cylinder barrels  31  from the first air inlet  31   a ; The first airflow passage comprises the gaps between the outer walls of connecting barrel  5  and the inner walls of the mesh filter  7  as well as the gaps among the outer walls of the separator  3 , the inner walls of the tapered hole cover  1  and the inner walls of the mesh filter  7 . The second gas current  41   b  travels upwards to the upper end of the connecting barrel  5  through the gaps between the inner walls of the mesh filter  7  and the outer walls of the connecting barrel  5 , and enters into the gaps between the outer walls of cyclone barrels  31  via the recess  301  on the outer walls of the separator  3 . At this time, the airflow travels upwards along the gaps between the outer walls of the cyclone barrels  31 , and then enters into the second air inlet  31   b  of the cyclone barrels  31 . The second airflow passage comprises the gaps between the outer walls of the connecting barrel  5  and the inner walls of the mesh filter  7  as well as the gaps between the recess  301  on the external surface of the separator  3  and the outer walls of the cyclone barrels  31 . The first airflow  41   a  from the first air inlet  31   a  and the second airflow  41   b  from the second air inlet  31   b  join together within the cyclone barrels  31 . The joined airflows are separated by means of a centrifugal force. The separated dirt falls into the connecting barrel through the lower openings of the cyclone barrels  31 . The airflows after a second gas-solid separation are discharged from the upper opening of the cyclone barrels  31 . The separator sealing ring  2  on the separator  3  seals the upper end of the separator  3  and the tapered hole cover  1 , so as to effectively prevent air leakage. A filter pad  13  is located between the tapered hole cover  1  and the dust bucket cover  16  and used to filter the airflow after the second separation within the cyclone barrels  31 , which can further filter the carried tiny dusts so as to make sure that the discharged airflow is clean. A sealing ring  14  of dust bucket cover is provided between the dust bucket cover  16  and the tapered hole cover  1  so as for sealing and effectively preventing air leakage. On the dust bucket cover, there are provided a safety valve  15 , a release button  19  for operating the dust bucket and an elastic member  18 . In case the cyclone device separator is blocked, the safety valve  15  may pop up to prevent the over-temperature of the motor, thus the motor is effectively protected; By operating the release button  19  of dust bucket, the dust bucket can be easily taken out from the cyclone separation device and properly place it back; the elastic member  18  is to make sure the release button  19  of dust bucket can be reset after being operated. 
     Second Embodiment 
       FIG. 6  schematically shows the structure of the separator in the cyclone separation device according to the second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 6 , the second embodiment differs from the first embodiment only in that: the separator  3  according to the second embodiment is configured by enclosing a plurality of cyclone barrels  31 , and the external surfaces of the plurality of cyclone barrels  31  do not include an outer wall with recess. This separator  3  is placed on a connecting barrel with a gap therebetween, and the connecting barrel has been mounted with a collecting barrel sealing cover. 
     In this cyclone separation device, after a gas-solid separation by the first cyclone separation unit, the separated airflow enters into the second cyclone separation unit. The airflow after this first separation is branched into the first airflow and the second airflow. The first airflow travels in the same way as that of the first embodiment, that is, the first current passes through the gaps between the inner walls of mesh filter and the outer walls of the connecting barrel as well as the gaps among the outer walls of filter, the inner walls of tapered hole cover and the inner walls of the mesh filter. The second airflow not only passes through the gaps between the inner walls of mesh filter and the connecting barrel, but also passes through the gaps among the outer walls of cyclone barrels to directly enter the second air inlet. 
     Unlike the first embodiment, the second embodiment eliminates the recess provided on the separator, so that the airflow passage of the second airflow is simpler, while the same technical effect as the first embodiment can be achieved by reducing material and cost. 
     To sum up, in the present invention, a part of air passages are disposed at the gaps among the cyclone barrels  31 , which makes the second cyclone separation unit has more utilizable space, thereby increasing the cross-sectional area of the air inlet of cyclone barrels  31  and further improving the air purification efficiency. 
       FIG. 7  is a perspective view of the vertical cyclone vacuum cleaner of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 7 , the vertical cyclone vacuum cleaner  100  comprises a vacuum cleaner body  101  and a suction head  130 , the body  101  is provided with an electric air blower unit (not shown in the drawing), and the electric air blower unit is used as a swirling wind generator for generating suction force. The suction head  130  is communicated with the vacuum cleaner body  101  and is used to suck dusty air into it from the surface to be cleaned. The vertical cyclone vacuum cleaner  100  comprises a cyclone separation device  102  which is mounted on the vacuum cleaner body  101  and is communicated with the vacuum cleaner body  101  and the suction head  130 ; the cyclone separation device  102  is used to perform gas-solid separation, by which a clean airflow is discharged from the outlet of the electric air blower unit to the atmosphere. When the dust particles are fully collected, the user may take the cyclone separation device  102  out from the vacuum cleaner body  101 , which implement the dust-dumping function. 
       FIG. 8  is a perspective view of the horizontal cyclone vacuum cleaner of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 8 , the horizontal cyclone vacuum cleaner  200  comprises a vacuum cleaner body  201  and a suction head  230 , the body  201  is provided with an electric air blower unit (not shown in the drawing), and the electric air blower unit is used as a swirling wind generator for generating suction force. The suction head  230  is communicated with the vacuum cleaner body  201  and is used to suck dusty air into it from the surface to be cleaned. The horizontal cyclone vacuum cleaner  200  comprises a cyclone separation device  202  which is mounted on the vacuum cleaner body  201  and is communicated with the vacuum cleaner body  201  and the suction head  230 ; the cyclone separation device  202  is used to perform gas-solid separation, by which a clean airflow is discharged from the outlet of the electric air blower unit to the atmosphere. After the dust particles have been fully collected, the user may take the cyclone separation device  202  out from the vacuum cleaner body  201 , which implements the dust-dumping function. 
     The present invention is not limited to the specific structural configuration described in the preferred embodiments of the specification. Obviously, there may be multiple modifications and structural combinations without going beyond the scope of the claims of the present invention.