Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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CYCLONE-TYPE DITST COLLECTING r~IPPARA~'US FOR VfICTJU1~I
CLEANER
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner, and more particularly, to a
cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner disposed at an
extension
pipe of the vacuum cleaner for separating and collecting foreign substances
(hereinafter
called 'dust') included in the air by generating a cyclone stream in the drawn
air.
Background of the Invention
I O As shown in FIGs. 1 and 2, a conventional cyclone-type dust collecting
apparatus 10 for a vacuum cleaner comprises a cyclone body 20, a dust
collecting
receptacle 30, and a grill assembly 40.
The cyclone body 20 comprises an air inlet pipe 21 connected to an extension
pipe la (See FIG. 2) of the suction port side ofthe vacuum clearer, an air
discharge
I 5 pipe 22 connected to an extension pipe Ib of the vacuum cleaner body side,
an air inlet
port 23 fluidly communicating with the air inlet pipe 21, and an air discharge
port 24
fluidly communicating with the air discharge pipe 22, where the cyclone body
20
generates a cyclone stream in the dust-laden air drawn in through the air
inlet port 23.
The dust collecting receptacle 30 is removably connected to the cyclone body
20
20 and collects dusts separated from air by the cyclone stream formed by the
cyclone body
20.
The grill assembly 40 is mounted at an end of the air discharge port 24 inside
the
cyclone body 20 and prevents the dusts collected in the dust collecting
receptacle from
flowing back through the air discharge port 24. The grill assembly 40
comprises a grill
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body 41, a plurality of paths 42 formed on the outer circumfexential surface
of the grill
body 41 to fluidly communicate with the air discharge port 24, and a dust
blocking
member 43 disposed at an end of the grill body 4I.
Such conventional cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner
structured as above has the air inlet and discharge pipes 21, 22 fluidly
communicating
with the extension pipes la, lb of tile vacuum cleaner as shown in FIG. 3.
Accordingly,
dusts, together with air, are drawn in through the air inlet pipe 21 in an
oblique direction
with respect to the cyclone body 20 by a suction force generated at a suction
port E of
the vacuum cleaner, and the drawn in air flows towards the bottom of the dust
collecting
receptacle 30 forming a cyclone stream. In this process, the dusts included in
air are
separated from air by a centrifugal force and collected in the dust collecting
receptacle
30. Air flaws towards the cleaner body B through the paths 42 of the grill
assembly 40,
air discharge port 24, and air discharge pipe 22 by the cyclone stream
reversed at the
bottom of the dust collecting receptacle 30 and rising up having a radius
smaller than
that of the descending cyclone stream.
The cleaned air towards the cleaner body B is discharged outside through a
paper filter (not shown) provided in the cleaner body B, and thus, fine dusts
which are
not separated by the cyclone dust collecting apparatus is filtered'by the
paper filter and
collected.
Such cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus is capable of reducing the amount
of dusts collected by the paper filter as the dusts in air drawn in through
the suction port
E of the cleaner is initially separated and collected before the paper filter
of the cleaner
body B filters the dusts.
However, such canverltional cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus cannot
prevent fine dusts smaller than the palms 42 flowing back through the paths 42
together
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with the discharged air although it can effectively separate and collect the
dusts larger
than the paths 42 of the grill assembly. As a result, reversing fine dusts are
collected in
the paper filter provided in the cleaner body B and the amount of the dusts
collected in
the paper filter increases. Accordingly, the life span of the paper filter is
shortened and
an improvement with respect to such a problem is required.
SUIVINIA~E~Y OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cyclone
type
dust collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner, which has a seca~.d filtering
means for
filtering the minute dusts in air reversing along the air path of the grill
assembly, and
thereby reducing the amount of dusts to be filtered at the paper filter and
extending the
life span of the paper filter.
In order to achieve the above object and/or other features of the present
invention, there is provided a cyclone type dust collecting apparatus for a
vacuum
cleaner including a cyclone body comprising an air inlet port and air
discharge port,
thus fom>ing a cyclone streamin air including dust drawn in through the air
inletport.
A dust collecting receptacle is rernovably connected to the cyclone body for
collecting
dust separated from air by the cyclone stream. A grill assembly is disposed at
an end of
the air discharge port inside the cyclone body for preventing dusts from being
flowing
back through the air discharge port of the cyclone body, and a fine dust
filtering means
disposed at a downstream end of the grill assembly of the cyclone body for
separating
fine dusts which has not beg separated by the grill assembly.
The fine dust filtering means includes a filter mounting pol ion formed on the
cyclone body and has an opening portion open in a direction orthogonal with
respect to
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the air discharge port, and a filter assembly removably inserted into the
filter moLmting
portion.
The filter assembly includes a filter case having an external shape
corresponding
to a shape and structure of the filter mounting portion, and a fine dust
filter connected to
the filter case.
A part of the filter case which comes in contact with the opening portion of
the
filter mounting portion has a packing member disposed thereon for sealing.
A grip portion is provided on a front surface of the filter case for easy
handling.
As the cyclone type dud collecting apparatus has relatively large particles of
dusts separated from the drawn air by the grill assembly, and fme dusts
separated
secondly from air by the fine dust filtering means disposed at a downstream
end of the
grill assembly, it thus has less dust presented to the cleaner body. As a
result, the
amount of dust to be filtered at the paper filter is greatly reduced.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above aspects and other features of the present invention will becorr~
more
apparent by describing in detail a preferred embodiment thereof with reference
to the
attached drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a general cyclone-conventional
type
dust collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner,
FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing FIG. 1 assembled;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a general conventional cyclone-type dust
collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner mounted to an extension pipe of a
canister-
type vacuum cleaner,
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FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing a cyclone-type dust collecting
apparatus for a vacuum cleaner according to an embodiment of the present
invention;
and
FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing FIG. 4 assembled.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference
to
the accompanying drawings. With respect to the elements identical to those of
the
cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus shown in FIGs. 1 through 3, like
reference
numerals will be assigned and the detailed description thereof will be omitted
As shown in FIGs. 4 and 5, the cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus 10 for a
vacuum cleaner according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises
a
cyclone body 20, a dust collecting receptacle 30, a grill assembly 40 and a
fine dust
filtering means 50.
The cyclone body 20 comprises an air inlet pipe 21 connected to an extension
pipe 1 a (See FIG. 5) of the suction port side of the vacuum cleaner, an air
discharge
pipe 22 connected to an extension pipe 1b of the vacuum cleaner body side, an
air inlet
port 23 fluidly communicating with the air inlet pipe 21, and an air discharge
port 24
fluidly communicating with the air discharge pipe 22, where the cyclone body
20
generates a cyclone stream in the dust lac~n air drawn in through the air
inlet port 23.
The dust collecting receptacle 30 is removably connected to the cyclone body
20
and collects dusts separated from air by the cyclone stream formed by the
cyclone body
20.
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The grill assembly 40 is mounted at an end of the air discharge port 24
ilzside the
cyclone body 20 and prevents the dusts collected in the dust collecting
receptacle from
flowing backthrough the air discharge port 24. Such grill assembly 40
comprises a grill
body 41, a plurality of paths 42 formed on the outer circumferential surface
of the grill
body 41 to fluidly communica~ with the air discharge port 24, and a dust
blocking
member 43 disposed at an end of the grill body 41.
'The fine dust filtering means 50 separates the fide dust flowing back through
the
paths 42 of the grill assembly 40 without prior separation by the grill
assembly 40, and
comprises a filter mounting portion 60 and a filter assembly 70.
The filter mounting portion 60 is disposed at one side of the cyclone body 20,
and has an opening portion 60a open in the direction orthogonal with respect
to the air
discharge port 24.
The filter assembly 70 is removably inserted into the filter mounting portion
60,
and separates fine dust included in the discharged air through the air
discharge port 24.
The filter assembly 70 comprises a filter case 71 and a fine dust filter 72.
The filter case 71 has an external shape corresponding to the shape and
structure
of the filter mounting portion 60, and the fine dust filter 72 is fixes. to
the filter case 71.
It is preferable that the fine dust filter 72 is made of a porous material
such as sponge.
In addition, it is preferable that a part of the filter case 71 which comes in
contact with
the opening portion 60a of the filter mounting portion 60 has a packing member
71 a
disposed thereon for sealing. The reference numeral 71b in FIG. 4 is a grip
portion
enabling easy handling of the filter assembly 70.
The cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleans- structured as
above according to the present embodiment has air inlet pipe 21 and air
discharge pipe
22 fluidly communicating with the extension pipes la, 1b of the vacuum cleaner
as
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shown in FIGS. 3 and 5. Accordingly, dusts, together with air, are drawn in
through the
air inlet pipe 21 in an oblique direction with respect to the cyclone body 20
by a suction
force generated at a suction port E of the vacuum cleaner, and the drawn air
flows
towards the bottom of the dust collecting receptacle 30 forming a cyclone
stream. In
this process, the dusts included in air is separated from ait~ by a
centrifugal force and
collected in the dust collecting receptacle 30.
Air, from which dusts are initially separated by the above operation, flows
towards the cleaner body B through the paths 42 of the grill assembly 40, the
fine dust
filtering means 50 and air discharge pipe 22, is disposed at the air discharge
port 24, and
by the cyclone stream is reversed at the bottom of the dust collecting
receptacle 30, and
thus rising up with a radius smaller than that of the descending cyclone
stream
The fine dusts still remaining in the discharged air after the grill assembly
40 are
separated secc»ldly by the fine dust filtering means 50 of the filter assembly
70. Air
cleaned at the above two stages is discharged towards the cleaner body B.
Air discharged towards the cleaner body B is finally discharged outside via a
paper filter provided in the cleaner body B.
As described above, the cyclone-type dust collecting apparatus for a vacuum
cleaner according to the present invention has relatively large panicles of
dusts
separated from the drawn air by the grill assembly and fine dusts secondly
separated
from the air by the fine dust filtering means, and thus has the amount of
dusts presented
to the cleaner body significantly reduced
According to the present invention as described above, fire dust filtering
operation by the fine dust filtering means significantly reduces the axrlount
of dusts
flowing towards the cleaner body and therefore extends the life span of a
paper filter.
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Accordingly, the number of pair filters changed rnay be reduced and tlxe life
span of a paper filter can be extended thereby reducing the maintenance costs.
Although a few preferred embodiments of the present invention have been
illustrated and described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art
that the present
invention should not be limited to the described preferred embodiments, but
various
changes and modifications can be made within the spirit aryl scope of the
present
invention as defined by the appended claims.
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