Patent ID: 7597730

Claim:
A dust collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner comprising a cyclone body provided with a cyclone chamber and a contaminant collecting chamber formed therein, the cyclone chamber being a space in which air entering from the exterior of the cyclone body ascends in a whirling manner and contaminants are separated from the air by a centrifugal force generated by the air, and the contaminant collecting chamber being a space in which the contaminants separated from the air are accumulated; a cyclone case provided in the cyclone body and disposed at an upper side of the contaminant collecting chamber, the cyclone case having the cyclone chamber and the contaminant collecting chamber separated from each other; an air inflow tube penetrating an outer wall of the cyclone body such that a suction passage at an outside of the cyclone body is fluidly communicated with a lower end of the cyclone chamber; and an air outlet tube penetrating sequentially a bottom of the cyclone case and a bottom the cyclone body to guide the air discharged from the cyclone chamber to a discharge passage placed at an outside of the cyclone body, wherein the contaminant collecting chamber is connected to the cyclone chamber through a contaminant discharge port formed at a side surface of an upper end of the cyclone chamber, wherein the cyclone body comprises an upper case surrounding the cyclone case with a certain gap and having an opened lower end; a contaminant collecting receptacle being combined detachably with a lower end of the upper case and having the contaminant collecting chamber formed therein; a support body provided at a combining portion of the upper case and the contaminant collecting receptacle; and at least one supporting rib connecting the support body and the cyclone case to support the cyclone case on an upper side of the contaminant collecting receptacle, wherein the contaminants discharged through the contaminant discharge port fall due to their own weight, are passed sequentially between the cyclone case and the upper case and between the at least one supporting rib and are then collected in the contaminant collecting chamber.