JP2006223617A - Vacuum cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vacuum cleaner having a suction tool for a floor which is simple in construction and can be reduced in size. <P>SOLUTION: In the vacuum cleaner equipped with a rotary brush 51 in the suction tool for the floor, an outer rotor type brushless motor 52 is arranged within the rotary brush 51. Further, the blade 58 (or a brush body) of the rotary brush 51 is directly attached to the outer periphery (rotor 56) of the outer rotor type brushless motor 52. Furthermore, a driving motor of an electric blower is driven and controlled by using a rechargeable battery as a power source, and the power generated by the brushless motor 52 is used for charging the battery. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  This invention relates to the vacuum cleaner provided with the rotating brush in the suction tool for floors.

  The rotary brush provided in the floor suction tool includes a rotary brush that is driven to rotate by a motor and a rotary brush that is driven to rotate by a suction wind by suction of an electric blower.

  A rotating brush driven to rotate by a motor is generally connected to a motor built in a suction tool main body adjacent to the rotating brush via a belt or the like, and is driven to rotate. Since a space for arranging the speed reduction mechanism and power transmission mechanism and the parts that hold them is required, the suction tool main body becomes larger by that amount, and it must be connected by the movement of the speed reduction mechanism or power transmission mechanism such as a belt. Since it does not become, the structure becomes complicated.

  In addition, a motor with a general motor or battery built in a holder of a rotating brush has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).

On the other hand, in recent years, many types of rechargeable vacuum cleaners that can be driven by a rechargeable battery (secondary battery) as a power source and can be cleaned without a power cord (cordless) have been developed (for example, see Patent Document 3). .
JP 2000-296082 A JP 2001-204657 A JP 2002-34877 A

  However, in the devices disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, since a general motor or battery is built in the holder of the rotating brush, a speed reduction mechanism for rotationally driving the brush holder by this motor. And a power transmission mechanism or the like need to be incorporated, and the rotating brush itself becomes larger and the configuration becomes more complicated.

  Moreover, not only a rechargeable vacuum cleaner but large input electric power is required in order to enlarge suction power. In particular, in the case of a rechargeable vacuum cleaner, there is a problem that if the input power is increased, the operation time that can be used by one charge is shortened and the life of the battery is also affected. To solve these problems, there are methods such as increasing the charging capacity of the battery and increasing the battery voltage. However, in all cases, the size of the battery itself increases, the vacuum cleaner body becomes heavy, and operations are performed. In this case, the operating time is limited by the charge capacity of the battery.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve such problems, and an object thereof is to provide a vacuum cleaner including a floor suction tool that can be downsized with a simple configuration. .

  It is another object of the present invention to provide a rechargeable vacuum cleaner that includes a floor suction tool that can be downsized with a simple configuration and that can extend the operation time limited by the charge capacity of the battery.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention is characterized in that an outer rotor type brushless motor is incorporated in the rotary brush in a vacuum cleaner provided with a rotary brush in a floor suction tool. .

  Further, the brush body and the blade of the rotating brush are directly attached to the outer peripheral portion of the outer rotor type brushless motor.

  Further, the brushless motor is operated as a generator using suction wind power.

  Meanwhile, the drive motor of the electric blower is driven and controlled using a rechargeable battery as a power source, and the electric power generated by the brushless motor is used to charge the battery.

  The electric power generated by the brushless motor is used to operate a low power consumption device such as a vacuum cleaner main body or a display unit of a hand control unit.

  Furthermore, the brushless motor can be selected to drive the battery as a power source or to operate as a generator using suction wind power.

  According to the present invention, since the rotary brush itself functions as a motor by incorporating the outer rotor type brushless motor in the rotary brush, there is provided a vacuum cleaner including a floor suction tool that can be downsized with a simple configuration. can get.

  Further, since the brush body and the blade of the rotating brush are directly mounted on the outer peripheral portion of the outer rotor type brushless motor, a vacuum cleaner provided with a floor suction tool that is extremely simplified and miniaturized can be obtained. .

  In addition, by operating the brushless motor as a generator using suction wind, for example, when the flooring floor or the like is cleaned, there is almost no load on the rotary brush, so the remaining power of the rotation brush rotated by the suction wind is effectively used. It can generate electricity.

  On the other hand, by using the electric power generated by the brushless motor to charge the battery of the rechargeable vacuum cleaner, the battery is provided with a floor suction tool that can be reduced in size with a simple structure, and is being cleaned. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a rechargeable vacuum cleaner that can extend the operation time limited by the charge capacity of the battery.

  Moreover, by using the electric power generated by the brushless motor to operate low power consumption devices such as a vacuum cleaner main body and a display unit of a hand control unit, the electric power generated by the brushless motor is sufficiently operated. be able to.

  Furthermore, by configuring the brushless motor to be able to select whether to drive the battery as a power source or to operate as a generator using suction wind power, for example, a carpet with a large load by an operation from the hand control unit The battery power is used in addition to the sucked wind power when cleaning, etc., and the cleaning power of the rotating brush of the rotating wind power generated by the sucked wind power is generated when cleaning the flooring, etc. with a small load. The cleaning performance and power generation performance can be efficiently exhibited by using.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a rechargeable vacuum cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a central sectional view of a cleaner body, FIG. 3 is a bottom view of a floor suction tool, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of the power control system.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the electric vacuum cleaner of the present embodiment is connected to a rechargeable vacuum cleaner main body 1, a flexible hose 2 connected to the vacuum cleaner main body 1, and the flexible hose 2. Extension pipe 3, floor suction tool 4 connected to extension pipe 3, and charging base 5 that can be charged in a state where vacuum cleaner main body 1 is placed with its rear surface side down. .

  As shown in FIG. 2, the cleaner body 1 has a dust collection chamber 8 on the front side and a dust collection bag 8 such as a paper pack detachably attached to the intake port 6, and a rear side. The electric blower storage chamber 10 in which the electric blower 9 is stored, and the battery storage chamber 12 in which the battery 11 serving as a power source for driving the electric blower 9 and a rotating brush to be described later are stored on the rear bottom surface side are formed. .

  The upper surface opening of the dust collecting chamber 8 is hermetically sealed by a dust collecting lid 13. The electric blower 9 sucks air containing dust from the air inlet 6 through the floor suction tool 4, the extension pipe 3, the flexible hose 2 and the like, and removes the dust through the dust bag 7. A centrifugal fan (not shown) for taking in the air, and a drive motor 14 (shown in FIG. 5) composed of a brushless motor that rotationally drives the centrifugal fan.

  The bottom opening of the battery storage chamber 12 for storing the battery 11 is covered with a lid 15 that can be opened and closed. A large-diameter rear wheel 16 is attached to both sides of the rear portion of the vacuum cleaner main body 1, and a small-diameter caster-type front wheel 17 is attached to the bottom side central portion. Moreover, the insertion port 19 which inserts the joint part 18 of the flexible hose 2 shown in FIG. 1 is formed in the front side by which the inlet port 6 of the cleaner body 1 was formed, The extension mentioned later is formed below that A recess 21 into which a hook 20 attached to the tube 3 is inserted and a main body side handle portion 22 are formed.

  Further, a terminal (not shown) for charging the battery 11 is provided on the rear surface side of the cleaner body 1, and the rear surface side of the cleaner body 1 is mounted on the charging stand 5 as shown in FIG. 1. By placing the battery 11 in contact with a terminal (not shown) on the charging stand 5 side, the battery 11 is charged.

  On the other hand, the flexible hose 2 is provided with a handle 23 that can carry the cleaner body 1 in a hose-attached state at a joint 18 on one end attached to the hose insertion port 19 of the cleaner body 1. A grip portion 25 having a hand operation portion 24 (also shown in FIG. 5) equipped with a switch for switching notches such as strong, medium, and weak and a power-off switch is attached to the other end. .

  Further, the extension pipe 3 on the side to which the floor suction tool 4 is connected is an extension to which the floor suction tool 4 is connected in a state where the cleaner body 1 is placed on the charging stand 5 as shown in FIG. A hook 20 that is inserted into a recess 21 formed in front of the bottom surface side of the cleaner body 1 is attached with the tube 3 in an upright state.

  Although not shown, the charging stand 5 has a built-in charger for charging the battery 11 of the cleaner body 1 and is recessed on the upper surface side in accordance with the shape of the rear surface of the cleaner body 1. A charging terminal is provided so as to be in contact with the charging terminal on the cleaner body 1 side.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the suction tool main body 41 in the floor suction tool 4 is an upper case (not shown), a lower case 43, a lid (not shown) that is detachably attached to the upper case and the lower case 43. And a connecting pipe 44 that is rotatably supported between the upper and lower cases is provided at the rear central portion, and is connected to the cleaner main body 1 by the connecting pipe 44. The flexible hose 2 and the extension pipe 3 are connected.

  A suction port 45 is formed on the bottom surface of the suction tool main body 41 over substantially the entire width in the longitudinal direction, and a substantially cylindrical rotating brush storage chamber 46 is formed in the suction tool main body 1.

  Further, front wheels 47 are rotatably attached to both sides in the longitudinal direction of the suction tool body 1. The front wheel 47 is formed to have substantially the same diameter as the outer shape of the suction tool main body 1 formed in a substantially cylindrical shape. On the other hand, a small-diameter rear wheel 48 is pivotally supported at the rear portion of the suction tool body 1 so as to be rotatable.

  Further, a suction keeper 49 made of soft rubber or the like is disposed before and after the suction port 45, and the deep suction force is improved by the suction keeper 49. Further, a bumper 50 made of soft rubber or the like is disposed on the foremost surface of the substantially cylindrical suction tool main body 1. Even if the bumper 50 hits a wall surface or furniture during cleaning, the wall surface, furniture and suction The tool body 41 itself can be prevented from being damaged.

  In the rotary brush storage chamber 46 of the suction tool main body 41, the rotary brush 51 is rotatably stored in a state of facing the suction port 45. As shown in FIG. 4, the rotary brush 51 incorporates an outer rotor type brushless motor 52. That is, a stator 54 around which a coil is wound is mounted on a fixed shaft 53 that is detachably attached to both ends of the rotary brush storage chamber 46, and a rotor 56 in which a magnet 55 is disposed on the outside thereof via a bearing 57. The fixed shaft 53 is rotatably attached. A blade (or brush body) 58 is directly attached to the outer peripheral portion of the rotor 56.

  The outer rotor type brushless motor 52 becomes a floor motor for driving the rotary brush 51 and causes air sucked by the electric blower 9 built in the cleaner body 1 to collide with the blade (or brush body) 58. The rotating brush 51 is rotated and functions as a generator by its rotational drive. Therefore, in addition to the rotating brush 51, a space for arranging a motor, a belt, parts for holding them, and a generator is not necessary, and the suction tool body 41 can be reduced in size to a substantially cylindrical shape. Further, since it is not necessary to connect with a belt or the like, the configuration becomes simple.

  Referring to the block diagram of FIG. 5, the drive motor 14 of the electric blower 9 built in the cleaner body 1 is driven by the control circuit unit 60 based on an operation input from the hand operation unit 24 using the battery 11 as a power source. Although the driving is controlled by controlling the circuit unit 61, the floor motor (outer rotor type brushless motor) 52 built in the rotating brush 51 drives the battery 11 as a power source, or generates power using suction wind power. It can be selected whether to operate as a machine.

  That is, a system for inputting the output of the battery 11 to the floor motor 52 via the floor brush motor driving unit 62 and a system for charging the battery 11 with the power generation output of the floor motor 52 via the charging circuit unit 63 are switched. A switching circuit unit 64 is provided, and the switching circuit unit 64 is configured to be controlled by the control circuit unit 60 based on an operation input from the hand operation unit 24. The charging circuit unit 63 includes a boosting circuit unit that boosts the power generation output of the floor motor 52 to a voltage higher than the voltage of the battery 11.

  In the above configuration, the drive motor 14 of the electric blower 9 built in the vacuum cleaner body 1 can be switched between strong, medium, weak, and other operation notches by the operation notch changeover switch of the hand operation unit 24. . In the control circuit unit 60, the duty ratio of the applied voltage is determined by the operated notch, the duty signal is sent to the drive circuit unit 61, and the input control of the drive motor 14 is performed. The duty is set to 100% for the strong notch and the drive motor 14 is operated at full power. However, for the middle notch and the weak notch, the duty is reduced to 70% and 30%, for example, 70% and 30% of the input at the strong notch. It is carried out.

  Since the battery 11 is powered by the battery 11 as shown in FIG. 1, when the battery 11 is placed on the charging stand 5 and fully charged, for example, if the strong notch is 10 minutes, the middle notch is 14.5 minutes, and the weak notch is The usage time is limited to 33 minutes. Of course, the lower the motor input, the longer the operation time.

  Further, when the user operates the hand operation unit 24 to select carpet cleaning or the like, the control circuit unit 60 controls the switching circuit unit 64 so that the power of the battery 11 is switched to the switching circuit unit 64, the floor brush motor driving unit. The rotary brush 51 is driven to rotate by being supplied to the floor motor 52 including an outer rotor type brushless motor built in the rotary brush 51 through 62. In this way, when cleaning a carpet or the like with a large load, by rotating the rotary brush 51 using the power of the battery 11 in addition to the sucked wind force, even when cleaning the load with a large load on the rotary brush 51 such as a carpet, The cleaning performance can be exhibited efficiently.

  On the other hand, when the user operates the hand operation unit 24 to select flooring floor cleaning or the like, the switching circuit unit 64 is controlled by the control circuit unit 60, and the floor motor built in the rotating brush 51 rotated by the suction wind force. The electric power generated by the (outer rotor type brushless motor) 52 is guided to the charging circuit unit 63, smoothed, and boosted so that the battery 11 can be charged by the boosting circuit unit. The boosted electric power is charged into the battery 11, and the operation time limited by the charge capacity of the battery 11 is extended accordingly. As described above, since the rotating brush 51 is hardly loaded when cleaning the flooring floor or the like, the remaining power of the rotating brush 51 rotated by the suction wind force can be used effectively to generate electric power. Since charging can be performed, the operation time limited by the charging capacity of the battery 11 can be extended without increasing the size of the battery 11.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the outer rotor type brushless motor 52 is built in the rotating brush 51, the rotating brush 51 itself functions as the floor motor 52. A space for disposing a speed reduction mechanism such as a belt, a power transmission mechanism, and components for holding them becomes unnecessary, and the suction tool main body 41 can be reduced in size to a substantially cylindrical shape, and a speed reduction mechanism such as a belt. And the power transmission mechanism does not need to be connected, so the configuration is simplified.

  Further, since the blade (or brush body) 58 of the rotating brush 51 is directly attached to the outer peripheral portion of the outer rotor type brushless motor 52, the floor suction tool 4 is extremely simplified and miniaturized.

  Further, by using the electric power generated by the outer rotor type brushless motor (floor motor) 52 to charge the battery 11, it is possible to reduce the size with a simple configuration and to be limited by the charging capacity of the battery 11. Operating time can be extended.

  Furthermore, by configuring the outer rotor type brushless motor (floor motor) 52 to be driven by the battery 11 as a power source or to operate as a generator using the suction wind power, for example, the hand operating unit 24 By using the power from the battery 11 in addition to the sucked wind force when cleaning a heavy load carpet, etc., and generating power with the rotational remaining power of the rotating brush 51 by the sucked wind force when cleaning a small flooring floor, The power of the battery 11 can be used without waste according to the object to be cleaned, and the cleaning performance and the power generation performance can be efficiently exhibited.

  If the electric power generated by the outer rotor type brushless motor (floor motor) 52 is used to operate a low power consumption device such as the vacuum cleaner main body 1 or the display unit of the hand operation unit 24, the brushless motor 52 generates electric power. It is possible to operate them with sufficient power.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The whole block diagram of the rechargeable vacuum cleaner which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The center side sectional view of the vacuum cleaner main part. The bottom view of the suction tool for floors of the said embodiment. It is a block diagram of the rotary brush, (a) is a side view, (b) is an AA sectional view of (a), (c) is a longitudinal sectional view of the central portion of (a). The block diagram which shows the principal part structure of the power control system of the said embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vacuum cleaner main body 4 Floor suction tool 5 Charging stand 9 Electric blower 11 Battery 14 Drive motor 24 Hand operation part 41 Suction tool main body 45 Suction port 46 Rotary brush storage chamber 51 Rotary brush 52 Motor for floors (outer rotor type brushless motor)
53 Fixed shaft 54 Stator 55 Magnet 56 Rotor 57 Bearing 58 Blade (or brush body)
60 control circuit unit 61 drive circuit unit 62 brush motor drive unit for floor 63 charging circuit unit 64 switching circuit unit

Claims (6)

In a vacuum cleaner with a rotating brush on the floor suction tool,
An electric vacuum cleaner comprising an outer rotor type brushless motor built in the rotating brush.   3. The electric vacuum cleaner according to claim 2, wherein the brush body and the blade of the rotating brush are directly attached to an outer peripheral portion of the outer rotor type brushless motor.   The vacuum cleaner according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the brushless motor is operated as a generator using suction wind power.   4. The electric vacuum cleaner according to claim 3, wherein the drive motor of the electric blower is driven and controlled using a rechargeable battery as a power source, and the electric power generated by the brushless motor is used to charge the battery. .   4. The electric vacuum cleaner according to claim 3, wherein the electric power generated by the brushless motor is used to operate a low-power consumption device such as a vacuum cleaner main body or a display unit of a hand control unit. 6. The electric vacuum cleaner according to claim 4, wherein the brushless motor is configured to be able to select whether to drive the battery as a power source or to operate as a generator using suction wind power.

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