Cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner, and more particularly, to a cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner having an automatic dusting structure.

[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art

[0004] A cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus was disclosed by the applicant of the present invention in Korean Patent No. 1999-20704 and its schematic structure is shown in FIG. 1.

[0005] An example of such cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus is shown in FIG. 1. The cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus shown in FIG. 1 comprises a cyclone body 20, a dirt-collecting receptacle 30, and a grill assembly 40.

[0006] The cyclone body 20 is divided into an upper and lower bodies 21, 22 and the upper and lower bodies 21, 22 are connected with each other by a plurality of screws 23. Formed on the lower body 22 are a first connection pipe 24 connected with a connection pipe 1a on the suction port side of a cleaner, and an air inlet port 25 in communication with the first connection pipe 24. On the upper body 21 are formed a second connection pipe 26 connected with a connection pipe 16 on the body side of the cleaner, and an air discharge port 27 in communication with the second connection pipe 26. Air flows in through the air inlet port 25 in an oblique direction. Accordingly, a vortex is formed inside the cyclone body 20 and the dirt-collecting receptacle 30, and the contaminants included in the air are separated from the air by a centrifugal force created by the vortex.

[0007] The dirt-collecting receptacle 30 is removably connected to the cyclone body 20, causes the flown in air to create a vortex in cooperation with the cyclone body 20, and collects contaminants separated from the air by the vortex.

[0008] The grill assembly 40 is disposed at the air discharge port 27 of the cyclone body 20 for preventing the collected contaminants from flowing back through the air discharge port 27. The grill assembly 40 comprises a grill body 41, a plurality of fine dust holes 42 disposed on the outer circumferential surface of the grill body 41 in communication with the air discharge port 27, and a frusto-conical shape contaminant reverse preventing member 43 formed at the end portion of the grill body 41.

[0009] However, such cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus often has the fine dust holes 42 of the grill assembly 40 blocked by fine dusts when used for a long period of time. Therefore, the dirt-collecting receptacle 30 needs to be separated for removing dusts on the grill assembly 40 even when the dirt-collecting receptacle 30 is not full of contaminants yet.

[0010] In addition, a separate operation is required for dusting off the grill assembly 40.

[0011] An aspect of the invention is to solve at least the above problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantages described hereinafter.

[0012] Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention is to solve the foregoing problems by providing a cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner with an improved structure in which a grill assembly can be automatically dusted off.

[0013] The foregoing and other aspects and advantages are realized by providing a cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner which is disposed in a dust collecting chamber connected with an air inlet path and an air discharge path of the cleaner for separating dusts and contaminants from air drawn in through a suction brush and then the air inlet path by a centrifugal force, the cyclone-dust collecting apparatus comprising a cylindrical cyclone body having an air inlet port and air discharge port respectively corresponding to the air inlet path and the air discharge path and fixed in an upper portion of the dust collecting chamber, a dirt-collecting receptacle removably disposed in a lower side of the cyclone body for collecting dusts and contaminants separated in the cyclone body by a centrifugal force, a filter assembly disposed in a lower part of the cyclone body and having a rotation filter rotated by air flow moving from the dirt-collecting receptacle to the air discharge port and preventing contaminants from flowing back, and a dusting member for automatically removing dusts on the rotation filter.

[0014] The filter assembly comprises a pipe member connected to a lower part of the cyclone body and formed to allow air to pass through, a cover connected to an upper end of the pipe member and having an air hole, and a shaft penetrating the pipe member, supporting the rotation filter and rotatably connected to the cover, wherein the rotation filter is connected to a lower end of the pipe member and rotated by air flow while being supported by the shaft.

[0015] In addition, the rotation filter comprises a turbine having a plurality of wings inserted into a lower end of the pipe member, a filtering net on an outer circumferential surface of the turbine, and a reverse prevention member connected to a lower end of the turbine and fixed to a lower end of the shaft for preventing contaminants from flowing back.

[0016] The dusting member has one end fixed on an outer side of the filter assembly and the other end provided with a brush in contact with an outer surface of the rotation filter, and dusts are automatically brushed off by the brush when the rotation filter rotates.

[0017] In addition, the dusting member is disposed in an oblique direction declining in a rotation direction of the rotation filter.

[0018] In addition, the dusting member has one end fixed on an outer circumference of the pipe member and the other end provided with a brush in contact with the filtering net.

[0019] In addition, the dusting member is disposed in an oblique direction declining in a rotation direction of the turbine member.

[0020] The above object and the feature of the present invention will be more apparent by describing a preferred embodiment of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0021] FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a conventional cyclone-type dust colleting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner;

[0022] FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing a cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0023] FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the filter assembly shown in FIG. 2;

[0024] FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the filer assembly shown in FIG. 2 when assembled; and

[0025] FIG. 5 is a drawing for illustrating the operation of a cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0026] Hereinafter, a cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0027] FIG. 2 shows an exploded perspective view showing an upright-type vacuum cleaner employing a cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0028] Referring to FIG. 2, the cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises a cyclone body 50, a dirt-collecting receptacle 60, a filter assembly 70, and a dusting member 90.

[0029] The cyclone body 50 is divided into an upper and lower bodies 51, 52. The upper and lower bodies 51, 52 are connected by a plurality of screws 53. The lower body 52 has a first connection pipe 54 connected with an extension pipe 1a on the suction port side of the cleaner, and an air inlet port 55 connected with the first connection pipe 54 formed thereon. The upper body 51 has a second connection pipe 56 connected with an extension pipe 1b on the cleaner body side, and an air discharge port 57 connected with the second connection pipe 56 formed thereon.

[0030] The contaminant-laden air drawn in through the suction port of the cleaner flows in through the first connection pipe 54 and the air inlet port 55 in an oblique direction with respect to the cyclone body 50. Accordingly, a vortex is created inside the cyclone body 50 and the dirt-collecting receptacle 60, and the contaminant included in the air is separated from the air by a centrifugal force formed by the vortex.

[0031] The dirt-collecting receptacle 60 is removably connected to the air discharge port 57 of the cyclone body 50. The dirt-collecting receptacle 60 creates a vortex with respect to the flown in air in cooperation with the cyclone body 50, and also collects the contaminants separated from the air by the vortex.

[0032] Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the filter assembly 70 is disposed at the air discharge port 57 of the cyclone body 50 and prevents the contaminant collected in the dirt-collecting receptacle 60 from flowing back through the air discharge port 57. Such filter assembly 70 comprises a pipe member 71 connected to the air discharge port 57, a cover 73, a shaft 75 rotatably supporting the cover 73, and a rotation filter 77 disposed on the lower portion of the pipe member 71 as shown in FIG. 3.

[0033] The pipe member 71 has a tubular structure with the upper end enlarged in a predetermined shape, and provides a path for air being discharged. The cover 73 is connected to the upper portion of the pipe member 71. The cover 73 is fitted into the upper portion of the pipe member 71. The cover 73 has a plurality of ribs provided around the shaft portion 73a at predetermined intervals for allowing air to be discharged. The shaft portion 73a has an upper end of the shaft 75 rotatably connected thereto by a bearing 76. Therefore, the shaft 75 is disposed to pass through the pipe member 71 without interfering with it.

[0034] The rotation filter 77 is disposed at the lower end of the pipe member 71, and rotatably supported by the shaft 75. Such rotation filter 77 comprises a turbine 81 fitted into the lower portion of the pipe member 71, a filtering net 83 covering the outer circumferential surface of the turbine 81, and a reverse prevention member 85 connected with the lower end of the turbine 81. The turbine 81 has a plurality of rotation wings 81a provided at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction and therefore rotates by the air flown into the pipe member 71. The filtering net 83 rotates together with the turbine on the outer circumferential surface for filtering fine dusts that are not separated by the centrifugal force inside the dirt-collecting receptacle. The reverse prevention member 85 is fixed at the lower end of the shaft 75 by the screws 53 inside the lower portion of the turbine 81. Accordingly, the rotation filter 77 can rotate together around the shaft 75. The reverse prevention member 85 has a flange portion 85a with the lower end extended outward thereby preventing light contaminants from flowing back.

[0035] Meanwhile, the pipe member 71 has the dusting member 90 disposed at the outer end portion thereof. That is, one end of the dusting member 90 is fixed to an end of the pipe member 71 and the other end is positioned on the outer surface of the filtering net 83. A side of the dusting member 90, that is, the lower side of the dusting member 90 has a dusting brush 91 disposed thereon in contact with the filter net 83.

[0036] In addition, the dusting member 90 is disposed to decline in the rotation direction of the turbine 81, that is, in a direction oblique to the direction of the rotation direction of the turbine 81 (FIG. 3). Therefore, the dusts and contaminants are brushed off the filter net 83 while the rotation filter 77 rotates, and fall down without remaining on the dusting member 90. Such dusting member 90 may be fastened to the pipe member 71 by a screw, or connected by a generally-known connection means.

[0037] Hereinafter, the operation of the cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention structured as above will be described.

[0038] As shown in FIG. 5, the cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention is used with itself being connected to the extension pipes 1a, 1b of the cleaner as a conventional cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus. When the cleaning begins, the dusts and contaminants are flown in through the first connection pipe 54 and the air inlet port 55 in the oblique direction with respect to the cyclone body 50 together with the drawn in air by a suction force generated at the suction port of the cleaner. Accordingly, the air creates a vortex and descends towards the bottom of the dirt-collecting receptacle 60. In that process, the dusts and contaminants included in the air are separated from the air by a centrifugal force and then collected in the dirt-collecting receptacle 60.

[0039] Then, the air is flown into the pipe member 71 through the filtering net 83 and the turbine 81 of the filter assembly 70 by an air stream rising back up at the bottom of the dirt-collecting receptacle 60. The air flown into the pipe member 71 is discharged through the extension pipe 1b. At this time, a part of the contaminants rising with the air stream in the dirt-collecting receptacle 60 is blocked by the reverse prevention member 85 thereby descending back with the vortex.

[0040] In addition, the contaminants not separated by the reverse prevention member 85 are filtered by the filtering net 83. Accordingly, fine dusts are caught on the filtering net 83, and clean air passes through the filtering net 83 and is discharged through the turbine 81. The turbine 81 is rotated clockwise, that is, in the direction A, by the air being discharged. Therefore, the filtering net 83 and the turbine 81 rotate together while constantly being in contact with the dusting member 90 thereby having the contaminants covering the filtering net 83 automatically dusted off by the dusting member 90. Accordingly, airways can be prevented from being blocked by dusts covering the filtering net 83. In addition, since the filtering net 83 is automatically dusted, there is no need of separately dismounting and dusting the filter assembly 70 when emptying the dirt-collecting receptacle 60.

[0041] While the embodiment of the present invention illustrates a filter assembly 70 with a single dusting member 90, the dusting member 90 may be disposed in plural numbers at predetermined intervals.

[0042] According to the present invention described above, the cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner has a structure in which a filtering net is automatically dusted by a dusting member as the rotation filter of a filter assembly automatically rotates by air.

[0043] Accordingly, the rotation filter can be prevented from being blocked by dusts and therefore cleaning efficiency can be improved and it becomes convenient for use since there is no need of separately cleaning the rotation filter.

[0044] The foregoing embodiments and advantages are merely exemplary and are not to be construed as limiting the present invention. The present teaching can be readily applied to other types of apparatuses. The description of the present invention is intended to be illustrative, and not to limit the scope of the claims. Many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. In the claims, means-plus-function clauses are intended to cover the structures described herein as performing the recited function and not only structural equivalents but also equivalent structures.