Floor Vacuum Cleaner

Abstract

The invention relates to a floor vacuum cleaner comprising a dust collector arrangement mounted on rollers and/or runners, a suction hose, a suction tube, and a floor nozzle, wherein the floor nozzle is fluidically connected to the dust collector arrangement via the suction tube and the suction hose, wherein the dust collector arrangement comprises a dust separator, wherein the dust collector arrangement comprises a motorized fan unit for suctioning an air stream through the floor nozzle, wherein the motorized fan unit is arranged so that an air stream suctioned in through the floor nozzle, the suction tube, and the suction hose flows through the motorized fan unit and into the dust separator, wherein the dust collector arrangement has a housing and the motorized fan unit is mounted on or in the housing, wherein the dust separator is mounted in the housing.

Claims

1. A floor vacuum cleaner comprising a dust collector arrangement mounted on rollers or runners, a suction hose, a suction tube and a floor nozzle, wherein said floor nozzle is fluidically connected to said dust collector arrangement via said suction tube and said suction hose, wherein said dust collector arrangement comprises a dust separator, wherein said dust collector arrangement comprises a motorized fan unit for suctioning an air stream through said floor nozzle, wherein said motorized fan unit is arranged so that an air stream suctioned in through said floor nozzle, said suction tube and said suction hose flows through said motorized fan unit and into said dust separator, wherein said dust collector arrangement has a housing and said motorized fan unit is mounted on or in said housing, and wherein said dust separator is mounted in said housing.

2. The floor vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein said motorized fan unit is arranged on top of or above said dust separator or at the same height as said dust separator.

3. The floor vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein said motorized fan unit comprises a radial fan.

4. The floor vacuum cleaner according to claim 3, wherein the rotational axis of said radial fan is, during operation of said floor vacuum cleaner, oriented vertical or at an angle of at most 60°, relative to the vertical direction.

5. The floor vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein said motorized fan unit is arranged on said housing.

6. The floor vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein said motorized fan unit is configured such that, with an aperture of 8, the motorized fan unit has a volumetric flow of more than 30 l/s at an electrical input power of less than 900 W according to DIN EN 60312-1, with an aperture of 8, the motorized fan unit has a volumetric flow of more than 25 l/s at an electrical input power of less than 600 W according to DIN EN 60312-1, or with an aperture of 8, the motorized fan unit has a volumetric flow of more than 15 l/s at an electrical input power of less than 300 W according to DIN EN 60312-1.

7. The floor vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein said floor nozzle comprises a base plate with a base surface which during operation of said floor vacuum cleaner faces a surface to be suctioned, where said base plate has at least one air flow channel parallel to said base surface and with an opening provided laterally in said base plate.

8. The floor vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein said suction tube has a diameter in a range from 25 mm to 50 mm or a length in a range from 600 mm to 1200 mm.

9. The floor vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein said suction hose has a diameter in a range from 25 mm to 50 mm and/or a length in a range from 1000 mm to 2500 mm.

10. The floor vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein said dust separator comprises a blow-out filter.

11. The floor vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein said floor vacuum cleaner is a bag vacuum cleaner.

12. The floor vacuum cleaner according to claim 12, wherein said dust separator comprises a vacuum cleaner filter bag.

13. The floor vacuum cleaner according to claim 13, wherein the bag wall of said vacuum cleaner filter bag comprises one or more layers of a nonwoven or one or more layers of nonwoven fabric.

14. The floor vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein said floor vacuum cleaner is a bagless vacuum cleaner.

15. The floor vacuum cleaner according to claim 15, wherein said dust collector comprises an impact separator or a centrifugal separator.

16. The floor vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, further comprising a second motorized fan unit.

17. The floor vacuum cleaner according to claim 4, wherein said angle is at most 45°.

18. The floor vacuum cleaner according to claim 10, wherein said blow-out filter comprises a filter area of at least 800 cm2.

19. The floor vacuum cleaner according to claim 11, wherein said bag vacuum cleaner comprises a filter area of at least 800 cm2.

20. The floor vacuum cleaner according to claim 12, wherein said vacuum cleaner filter bag is a flat bag or a disposable bag.

Description

[0051] Further features are described with reference to the figures, where

[0052] FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of a floor vacuum cleaner;

[0053] FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of a floor vacuum cleaner;

[0054] FIG. 3 shows a third embodiment of a floor vacuum cleaner.

[0055] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an example of a floor vacuum cleaner 1. Floor vacuum cleaner 1 shown comprises a dust collector arrangement 2 which is mounted on rollers 3 and can therefore be moved in a rolling manner. Connected to dust collector arrangement 2 is a suction hose 4 which in turn is connected to a suction tube 5. Suction hose 4 comprises flexible material which is in particular deformable during operation. The material used is, for example, plastic material. The hose can be connected to dust collector arrangement 2 detachable in a nondestructive manner or detachable not in a nondestructive manner.

[0056] Suction tube 5 is formed to be rigid so that it can not be deformed by a user during the intended use. The material of suction tube 5 can be plastic material or metal. The connection between the suction tube and the suction hose can formed to be detachable in a nondestructive manner or detachable not in a nondestructive manner. A handle 6 is also attached to suction tube 5.

[0057] Floor vacuum cleaner 1 further comprises a floor nozzle 7 connected to suction tube 5.

[0058] Dust collector arrangement 2 comprises a housing 8, presently being shown schematically in a cross-sectional view, on which a motorized fan unit 9 is arranged. A tube member 10 leads from motorized fan unit 9 into the interior of housing 8. Arranged inside housing 8 is a vacuum cleaner filter bag 11 which forms the dust separator. The vacuum cleaner filter bag can be removably attached in the interior of the housing in a conventional manner, for example, by way of a holding plate.

[0059] In the arrangement shown, an continuous fluidic connection to dust separator 11 is therefore established by floor nozzle 7, suction tube 5, suction hose 4, motorized fan unit 9 and tube member 10. Motorized fan unit 9 is there arranged between suction hose 4 and dust separator 11 so that dirty air suctioned through the floor nozzle flows through motorized fan unit 9 (in particular via tube member 10) into vacuum cleaner filter bag 11.

[0060] Motorized fan unit 9 is therefore a dirty air motor. This is in particular a motorized fan unit comprising a radial fan. The motorized fan unit has a fan wheel the axis of which is during intended use tilted relative to the surface to be suctioned and relative to the intended sliding direction of the floor nozzle, and is thereby also arranged tilted with respect to the perpendicular direction. The angle between the perpendicular direction and the fan wheel axis is less than 45°, so that the fan wheel axis is also not arranged parallel to the surface to be suctioned and to the intended sliding direction.

[0061] The fan diameter can be 60 mm to 160 mm. A motorized fan unit, for example, from the company AMETEK, Inc. can be used, which is also used in Soniclean Upright vacuum cleaners (e.g. SONICLEAN VT PLUS).

[0062] The motorized fan unit of the SONICLEAN VT PLUS was characterized according to DIN EN 60312-1: 2014-01 as explained above. The motorized fan unit was measured without the vacuum cleaner housing. For possibly necessary adapters for connection to the measuring chamber, the descriptions in section 7.3.7.1 apply. The table shows that high volumetric flows are obtained at low rotational speeds and low input power.

TABLE-US-00001 AMETEK “dirty air” (fan wheel diameter 82 mm) with aperture 8 (40 mm) negative rotational pressure volumetric input power voltage speed box flow [W] [V] [RPM] [kPa] [l/s] 200 77 15,700 0.98 30.2 250 87 17,200 1.17 32.9 300 95 18,400 1.34 35.2 350 103 19,500 1.52 37.5 400 111 20,600 1.68 39.4 450 117 21,400 1.82 41.0

[0063] Air is during operation sucked in by motorized fan unit 9. The air stream there enters vacuum cleaner 1 through an opening of floor nozzle 7 and flows through suction tube 5 and suction hose 4 into motorized fan unit 9. Due to the arrangement of motorized fan unit 9—in the air stream direction—upstream of dust separator 11 (in the form of a vacuum cleaner filter bag), there is an overpressure in housing 8 as well as in dust separator 11.

[0064] In conventional floor vacuum cleaners, the motorized fan unit is installed in the dust collector arrangement in the air stream direction downstream of the dust separator, for example, the vacuum cleaner filter bag, which results in particular in that the housing of the dust collector arrangement is subjected to a negative pressure. In order to avoid deformation of the housing due to the negative pressure, the latter must typically be reinforced, for example, using respective reinforcement ribs. In the configuration illustrated in FIG. 1, this is not required or only to a small degree because of the overpressure in housing 8.

[0065] The example shown in FIG. 1 is a bag vacuum cleaner. This means that, arranged in dust collector arrangement 2 is a vacuum cleaner filter bag 11 in which the suctioned dirt and dust is separated. This vacuum cleaner filter bag can be, in particular, a flat bag, the bag walls of which comprise one or more layers of nonwoven and/or nonwoven fabric. The vacuum cleaner filter bag is embodied as a disposable bag.

[0066] When using in particular single-layer vacuum cleaner filter bags in which the bag wall is composed, for example, of exactly one nonwoven fabric layer in the form of a spunbond, the use of a blow-out filter is advantageous. The dust filter can be used to filter fine dust which has not been separated in the vacuum cleaner filter bag. Such a blow-out filter can have an area of at least 800 cm.sup.2. It can in particular be formed to be pleated or folded in order to have a large surface area at a smaller base area (than the surface area).

[0067] By virtue of the arrangement of the motorized fan unit 9 on and on top of housing 8, a compact structure of dust collector arrangement 2 can be obtained. In the example shown, the motorized fan unit is arranged above dust separator 11.

[0068] Suction hose 4 typically has a diameter in a range of 25 mm to 50 mm and a length in a range of 1000 mm to 2500 mm. Suction tube 5 typically has a diameter in a range of 25 mm to 50 mm and a length in a range of 600 mm to 1200 mm.

[0069] Suction tube 5 is formed to be rigid and suction hose 4 is formed to be flexible.

[0070] FIG. 2 schematically shows an alternative embodiment of a floor vacuum cleaner 1 in which the same elements are provided with the same reference symbols as in FIG. 1. In the example shown in FIG. 2, motorized fan unit 9 is likewise arranged directly on and on top of housing 8.

[0071] In this case, the rotational axis of the fan wheel of motorized fan unit 9 is during the intended use vertical, i.e., perpendicular (in particular perpendicular to the surface to be suctioned). The fan wheel therefore in this example rotates in a plane parallel to the surface to be suctioned.

[0072] The suctioned air enters from suction hose 4 into motorized fan unit 9, from where it flows into tube member 10 and thereafter into vacuum cleaner filter bag 11. Accordingly, an overpressure is present in tube member 10 and in housing 8.

[0073] The example shown in FIG. 2 is likewise a bag vacuum cleaner. As an alternative thereto, floor vacuum cleaner 1, as schematically illustrated in FIG. 3, can also be a vacuum cleaner in which the dust collector arrangement 2 comprises a centrifugal separator or a cyclone separator, respectively, in which the suctioned dirt and dust particles are separated by centrifugal force. Alternatively, the bagless floor vacuum cleaner can also be designed as an impact separator.

[0074] The centrifugal or cyclone separator shown comprises a housing 8, on and on top of which motorized fan unit 9 is arranged.

[0075] In particular in the case of bagless vacuum cleaners, the dust collector arrangement comprises a blow-out filter with which fine dust is filtered that has not been separated in the centrifugal separator. This blow-out filter can have an area of at least 800 cm.sup.2. It can in particular be formed to be pleated or folded in order to have a large surface area at a smaller base area. The blow-out filter can there be provided in a holder, as described in European patent application No. 14179375.2.

[0076] In addition to the one motorized fan unit employed in the examples shown, the floor vacuum cleaner can also comprise a second, assist motorized fan unit. It has been found that the use of two motorized fan units during operation of the floor vacuum cleaner can result in a lower suction power loss as compared to the use of a single motorized fan unit, even if the sum of the electric input power of the two motorized fan units is equal to the electric input power of the one motorized fan unit.

[0077] The second motorized fan unit can be designed as a dirty air motor and can be arranged fluidically (directly) upstream of the first motorized fan unit and therefore upstream of the dust collector unit so that the dirty air flows through the second motorized fan unit. The two motorized fan units can have identical or different electrical power inputs.

[0078] Alternatively, the second motorized fan unit can be designed as a clean air motor and can be arranged fluidically downstream of the dust collector unit. For example, a motorized fan unit from the company Domel with the model name 467.3.601-4 (to be acquired from Domel, doo Otoki 21, 4228 {circumflex over (Z)}elezniki, Slovenija) can be used. In either embodiments, it is not necessary that a brush roller (for example a beating brush and/or a rotating brush) be provided on or in floor nozzle 7.