EP1600094A1 - Waste collecting device for vacuum cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

The cleaner has a frame (86) with housing (90) in which a container (70) slides vertically. A sleeve pack (60) of a dust bag is placed on one side of the container. The bag has an opening to provide access to volume of a filtering envelope fixed on the sleeve pack. The container has a gripping handle (80) for extracting the container from the frame. The container side makes a part of an upper side of the cleaner.

Description

The present invention relates to a device for recovering dust housed in a vacuum cleaner, using a dust bag, and more particularly a hygienic and easy to use device.

The use of dust bags in vacuum cleaners, in order to store, temporarily, waste is widespread. The bag allows a simple handling of this waste. The binding, or fixing, of the bag inside the vacuum cleaner is usually provided by a relatively rigid part, integral part of the bag, often made in the form of a cardboard sheet, provided with an opening, allowing the aeraulic connection between the duct suction connected to the nozzle, and the dust bag. In the continuation of the description, the term cardboard will be used to designate this part.

One of the disadvantages of this type of dust separator is relative to its renewal. Indeed, when the bag needs to be changed, its replacement often involves its direct manipulation that can generate a dust discharge in the room that has just been treated, and / or on the user in train to change said bag.

It is known from document WO 00/353331 a vacuum cleaner comprising a frame in which is housed a removable tray with a filter at its part lower as well as a disposable paper bag. The tray has a handle on its front wall. The bag is equipped with a cardboard placed on one of the open sides of the tray, which is the upper face. In this way, the vacuum cleaner has a pivoting top cover for covering the cardboard and performing the aeraulic connection between a flexible hose connected to the nozzle and the dust bag. It is thus necessary to rotate this cover to access to the dust bin, as well as to unlock the bin, which complicates the operation of changing the dust bag.

One of the aims of the present invention is to remedy these disadvantages by proposing a simplification of the replacement of the bag with dust, while maintaining the hygienic aspect of this replacement by the only manipulation of the container containing the bag.

• le bac est disposé verticalement dans le logement,
• la poignée est agencée sur la face supérieure du bac, ladite face du bac réalisant une partie de la face supérieure de l'aspirateur, de telle sorte à rendre le bac directement accessible par l'utilisateur.

The present invention is achieved by means of an electric vacuum cleaner comprising a frame, inside which is housed a motor-fan unit, and a removable waste collection tray disposed in a housing of the frame, the frame having an open air connection end at one of its ends in the housing, said container being of substantially parallelepiped shape, and wherein a dust bag can be arranged, said bag comprising a cardboard made of a relatively rigid material and provided with an opening giving access to the volume of a filter envelope fixed on the cardboard, the tray comprising a handle for its extraction from the frame, characterized in that:

• the tray is arranged vertically in the housing,
• the handle is arranged on the upper face of the tray, said tank face forming part of the upper face of the vacuum cleaner, so as to make the tray directly accessible by the user.

Thus, by this arrangement, the tank is constantly visible by the user and easily accessible. The vertical arrangement helps a practical handling of the tray.

Advantageously, when a bag is placed in the tray, the cardboard of the bag occupies one of the lateral faces of the tray, and the end of the mouthpiece of Aeraulic connection is then weakly inserted into the opening of the cardboard or vis-à-vis said cardboard, when the tray is disposed in the accommodation.

The cardboard of the bag being arranged laterally, the suppression of its interaction with the tip, when the tip is weakly inserted into the opening of the cardboard, can be achieved by forcing the cardboard to bend to escape the interaction with the tip. By the expression weakly inserted, it must be understood that the connection tip penetrates inside the bag over a distance of less than one centimeter.

The rigidity presented by the cardboard must be understood in the sense that the cardboard has good mechanical strength, but also has a certain flexibility, and in particular a transverse elasticity to allow, after bending, to return to its initial rectilinear position when the interaction between the cardboard and the connection tip ceases, especially when the latter penetrates slightly into the opening of said cardboard.
Preferably, the tray is slidably disposed in the housing. In this way, the removal of the tray is simplified, without manipulation other than slide the tray from its housing in the vacuum cleaner.

Moreover, the cardboard bag occupying one side of the tray, the replacing the bag is easy, the latter being easily accessible.

Advantageously, the housing of the tray is of complementary shape to the said bin, ensuring an automatic and identical positioning of the opening of the cardboard vis-à-vis the mouthpiece.

According to one of the preferred forms of implementation of the invention, the end of the aerodynamic connection tip is substantially section circular and arranged on the sliding path of the tray.

This mode of implementation makes it possible to generate automatically the interaction between the aeraulic connection tip and the cardboard, this the last to bend to realize the total introduction of the tray into the vacuum cleaner, the bending procuring, by the elastic effect of the cardboard, the necessary interaction between the end of the mouthpiece and the opening of the bag. This interaction therefore occurs without direct manipulation of the bag that is in Baccalaureat. Similarly, when removing the tray, the cardboard hinges to escape to the interaction of the tip, without direct manipulation of the bag, reducing the risk of getting dirty when changing said dust bag.

Advantageously, the cardboard is based on projections coming from peripheral faces to the face occupied by the cardboard, so that the bending of the cardboard can be fully realized.

According to a preferred embodiment of the cardboard, the latter is made of a relatively rigid material, said cardboard being formed an overlay of at least three leaves: a top sheet, a leaf intermediate and a lower sheet held together and presenting each at least one orifice defining an opening in the carton, the bottom sheet being in contact with the filtering envelope, the sheet intermediate being cut for a flap, substantially similarly thickness and having an orifice, can slide between the lower sheet and the top sheet between two extreme positions, one of its positions making the opening in the cardboard while the other position closes said opening, the outline of the opening of the corresponding top sheet substantially to the sliding area of the flap orifice, and in that the thickness of the contour of the flap orifice is at least 0.5 millimeters.

The main feature of this embodiment is related to the accessibility of the shutter to allow its sliding, which is achieved by the opening of the top sheet which covers the entire sliding area of the flap orifice.

In this way, given the thickness of the periphery of the flap, the tip of aeraulic connection, resting on the edge of the opening of the shutter, substantially perpendicular to the cardboard, can make it possible to slide the flap, by appropriate relative movement of the cardboard by report to this body. The latter is fixed, the proper movement of the tray, and therefore cardboard, may allow opening or closing automatic bag by this simple movement. This is particularly interesting when replacing the bag, since the closure, which is more automatic of the bag, prevents certain dust from being released into the atmosphere bag change.

It is thus possible to change the dust bag of the vacuum cleaner without handling of said bag, by closing it automatically also during the removing the tank from the vacuum cleaner, without having to remove the suction pipe, while offering a cost-effective and robust solution.

Advantageously, the extreme positions of the shutter are determined by the cooperation between stops made by a specific cut of the intermediate sheet, and projecting lugs in the flap, which avoids to use other elements external to the bag to limit the movements of the shutter, the thickness of the shutter and leaves allowing a net shutdown without degradation of the sliding of the flap.

Advantageously, the shutter slides in a direction substantially parallel to one of the edges of the cardboard, which simplifies, on the one hand the realization of the cardboard, and on the other hand the relative movement between the cardboard and the air connection connector actuating the shutter.

Advantageously, the openings of the lower sheet and the shutter are circular and of substantially the same diameter, thus defining the opening of the cardboard. The circular shape is particularly well suited for a waterproof connection and without indexing between the cardboard and the tip of aeraulic connection.

According to a preferred embodiment, the sheets are made of paperboard and have a thickness of at least 0.7 mm, the carton allowing a low cost but requiring a minimum thickness to ensure Expected interactions between the cardboard and the connection tip ventilation.

According to an alternative embodiment, the sheets are made of plastic, which confers in particular a better sliding of the shutter between the two leaves.

In order to achieve a strong interaction between the end of the tip and in particular the flap orifice, advantageously the diameter of the end of the tip is very slightly smaller than the diameter of the orifices of the sheet lower and flap.

Advantageously, the end of the tip is of conical shape, facilitating in particular the suppression of the interaction between the cardboard and the aerial connection tip.

• les figures 1 et 2 sont des vues en perspective du bac de récupération des poussières selon l'invention,
• la figure 3 est une vue de face du bac équipé du sac à poussières,
• la figure 4 et 5 sont des vues en perspective montrant le mode préféré de réalisation de l'invention,
• la figure 6 est une vue en perspective simplifiée d'un sac à poussières selon une variante avantageuse de réalisation de l'invention,
• la figure 7 est une vue de dessus montrant la coopération de la cartonnette du sac disposé dans le bâti d'un aspirateur, avec un embout d'aspiration, le bac ayant été simplifié dans sa représentation,
• la figure 8 est une vue schématique agrandie montrant le principe de fermeture du sac,
• la figure 9 est une vue en perspective illustrant le principe de remplacement du sac à poussières,
• la figure 10 présente une variante de réalisation de l'invention.

The present invention will be better understood from the description which follows, with reference to the appended figures, among which:

• Figures 1 and 2 are perspective views of the dust collection tank according to the invention,
• FIG. 3 is a front view of the container equipped with the dust bag,
• FIGS. 4 and 5 are perspective views showing the preferred embodiment of the invention,
• FIG. 6 is a simplified perspective view of a dust bag according to an advantageous variant embodiment of the invention,
• FIG. 7 is a view from above showing the cooperation of the cardboard of the bag arranged in the frame of a vacuum cleaner, with a suction nozzle, the tray having been simplified in its representation,
• FIG. 8 is an enlarged schematic view showing the principle of closing the bag,
• FIG. 9 is a perspective view illustrating the principle of replacing the dust bag,
• Figure 10 shows an alternative embodiment of the invention.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, presented 1 to 5, a paperboard 60 of dust bag is positioned in a tray 70, said tray being slidably guided in a housing provided in the built of a vacuum cleaner. The bag attached to the cardboard has been omitted to make the representation and explanations clearer.

As shown in FIG. 1, the tray 70 is substantially shaped parallelepipedic having a wall-free face. This face, which is the upper face shown in Figure 1, corresponding to the front of the tray in use, is intended to receive the cardboard 60, so that that the latter occupies substantially the entire surface of this free face wall, so as to close the tray, as is clearly visible in FIG. make, the cardboard 60 is positioned on a multitude of pins 72 from the tray, derived, according to the embodiment, ribs 74 made during the mold the tray, so that the cardboard is flush with the upper part of the walls side of the tank.

On the face opposite the wall-free face is provided an outlet of air by a multitude of openings 82, visible in FIG.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 2, the tray 70 has a wide handle 80 formed outside one of the faces of said tray, this face corresponding to the upper face of the tray in use.

FIG. 2 and the enlarged detail A also make it possible to visualize small studs holding 76 of the cardboard, these studs being located above some lugs 72 of the cardboard support.

Figures 4 and 5 show the tray equipped with the cardboard according to the invention during its use.

Thus, the vacuum cleaner 84 has a frame 86 on which are mounted including two big wheels 88 at the rear and a small wheel at the front. In the front part of the vacuum cleaner is provided a large housing 90. This housing resumes, with the game, the outer dimensions of the tray 70, except the handle, so that the tray is guided, when introduced into the vacuum cleaner, by the walls delimiting said housing.

As is clearly visible in FIG. 4, a connection tip 92 is protruding inside the housing 90. Thus, the cardboard, by its positioning restoring somehow the missing wall of the tank, faces the mouthpiece when the bin is introduced into the housing according to the provision presented FIG. 4. Furthermore, a recess 78 is formed in the tank 70, of which so that it allows the passage of the tip 92 when the tray is introduced into the housing 90, so that the tip only interacts with the cardboard 60. Figure 7 illustrates the mode of cooperation between cardboard and the connection tip.

Indeed, according to this scheme of principle, where the envelope of the bag was omitted and where the tray is represented only by some of its side walls, it is clearly visible that the connection tip is located on the path of the cartonette housed in the tray, and that the recess 78 allows the tray not to not interact with the tip. On the other hand, the tip is in interaction with the cardboard, resting on the pins 72. Thus, the arrangement of the endpiece oblige to bend the cardboard to slide the tray completely into his dwelling. The cardboard then enters into interaction, of friction type, with the end of the connection tip 92.

So that the bending is carried out as efficiently as possible, the ribs 74 are distributed on the inner periphery of the tray.

According to a first embodiment of the invention, no shown, the cardboard has a single hole for the connection of the tip inside the bag. The interaction between the cardboard and the endpiece stops then when the orifice is in front of the tip, the elasticity of the cardboard allowing the latter to resume its natural position, the orifice coming surround the connection tip. This provision allows a connection automatic cardboard on the tip.

The reverse operation is carried out when the tank is removed from its housing, the cardboard disconnecting from the mouthpiece while bending.

The handle 80 of the tray has, in addition, a wide edge to take on the perimeter of housing 90. In this way, the introduction and extraction the tray is simple and easy, the handle being arranged near the buttons control 94, 96 of the operation of the apparatus.

According to a second embodiment of the invention, such as shown in FIGS. 6 and 8, the cardboard 60 of a dust bag 40 is composed of three sheets of the same size: a top sheet 2, a intermediate sheet 10 and a lower sheet 30 on which is reported a filter envelope 42.

The upper sheet 2 has an oblong hole 4 as will be explained later.

The intermediate sheet 10 has a recess with indentations, and partially occupied by a flap 20 of substantially equal to that of the sheet 10, and having a circular orifice 26. Otherwise, this flap is cut in such a way as to have lugs capable of cooperate with the notches of the intermediate sheet 10. This cooperation allows the shutter to slide between two extreme positions.

Finally the bottom sheet 30, in connection with the envelope of the bag dust, has a circular orifice 34, the dimensions of which are substantially identical to those of the orifice 26. An elastic membrane 32 is preferably arranged, for example by gluing, under the sheet 30, in order to partially close the orifice in order to make a collar sealing.

The sheets 2, 10 and 30 are integral, for example by gluing or by stapling, so that the recess of the topsheet and the holes 34 and 4, are superimposed.

In one of the extreme positions of the flap 20, called the position opening, and presented in FIG. 1, the orifice 26 of the flap 20 coincides with the holes 4 and 34, so that the cardboard has an opening between inside and outside the dust bag. Moreover, in this position, contours substantially defining the upper half-perimeter of the orifice 26, coincide with the upper contour of the orifice 4.

In the other extreme position of the flap 20, called the closed position, and shown in FIG. 9, the opening 26 has moved with the shutter 20, said shutter mask then the opening 34 formed by the juxtaposition of the sheets 2 and 30. From same, the opening 26 of the flap 20 is masked, dust bag side, by the 30. There is thus no more aeraulic connection between the interior and the outside of the dust bag.

In this position, the contours substantially defining the half lower perimeter of the orifice 26, coincide with the lower contour of the orifice 4.

The shape of the orifice 4 corresponds to the displacement of the orifice 26 between the two extreme positions of the flap 20.

FIG. 8 shows the principle of cooperation between the dust bag, and in particular its constituent cardboard 60, and the suction nozzle 92 of a ventilation duct 50.

The end of the suction tip 92, interacting with the cardboard, is preferably of circular section, its diameter being very slightly smaller than the diameter of the orifices 26 and 34.

As previously explained, the cardboard is hinged in contact with the connector end 92, establishing a friction of the cardboard on the end of said tip. Thus, as the ferry is introduced into its housing, the end of the connector end 92 is firstly pressing against the sheet 2, then the orifice 4 comes into interaction with said tip, this interaction being immediate if the flap is in the closed position. The orifice 26 of the flap 20 allows the cardboard to be slightly decalcified, this orifice then, by a part of its contour, interacting with the mouthpiece 92.

Through this interaction, the extra movement of the cardboard causes the automatic sliding of the flap 20 to the open position of the flap where the orifice 26 coincides with the orifice 34. The cardboard then resumes an almost rectilinear position, the tip penetrating then slightly to the inside of the bag. The interaction between the tip 92 and the cardboard is then realized only by the flange 32, which guarantees a good seal between the inside and the outside of the bag, during aspiration.

This cooperation is only possible if the leaves forming the cardboard, and in particular those constituting the shutter, have a thickness sufficient support for the interaction with the tip 92. Thus, according to the proposed example, the sheets are made of cardboard and have a thickness of 0.8 mm.

The bending and elasticity of the cardboard also allow to ensure this cooperation. However, the cardboard must have a certain rigidity to keep a good mechanical resistance.

In the same way, when the tray is removed, the cardboard hanger slightly and gradually exits the frame of the device, at the same time as the tray, by sliding of the latter without the housing 90. The tip between thus interacting with the orifice 26, thus moving the shutter so as to close the bag. Arrived in the closed position, the interaction with the orifice 26 and the orifice 4 ceases, the cardboard bowing more, until its withdrawal from the frame of the vacuum cleaner, by extracting the tray from its housing.

The end of the tip is advantageously conical, to facilitate the attachment or the detachment of the cardboard by the mouthpiece during inserting or removing the bin from its housing. he is also possible to arrange different slopes at the cone so in particular to promote the suppression of the interaction between the cardboard and the tip when removing the tray.

According to the proposed example, the maximum deflection due to bending does not not exceed 2 mm. Moreover, the movement of the shutter between its two extreme positions is of the order of 40 mm. The height of the step 78 is 8 mm.

Thus, by this variant embodiment, the user has a opening and automatic closing of his vacuum bag, when introducing and removing the container containing the bag vacuum cleaner, vacuum cleaner frame.

In addition, the replacement of the bag is simple and dirty. Indeed, after removing the tray from its housing by the handle 80, a simple operation, the user goes to a garbage bin, the bag being kept in the bin essentially by pressing the cardboard on the pins 72 and by the pads 76 avoiding the cardboard to switch easily. However, these studs are designed so that the bag can escape these pads, when the tray is reversed by placing the cardboard in front of the ground, as shown in Figure 9. By performing this operation over a bin, under the influence of the weight of bag, or even shaking the tray slightly, the interaction between the cardboard and the studs 76 stops and the bag falls into the bin, without any manipulation direct from the bag by the user.

A new bag can then be positioned for a new operation. cleaning.

This introduction and extraction of the tray allows, in addition to the simple handling of the bin for extracting the bag from the vacuum cleaner, respectively to open and close the shutter automatically linerboard.

Alternative embodiments can be envisaged without leaving the of the present invention. Thus, in the second embodiment variant, the interaction between the tip end and the flap orifice being related only to their respective shape, the delimitation of the orifice of the upper sheet must actually resume at least the shape corresponding to the zone of sliding of the flap orifice, but may be more extensive than this last. It is even possible to consider that the top sheet is reduced small areas with only the function of maintaining pressed against the lower sheet, and limit its sliding.

According to an alternative embodiment, the endpiece serves only to close the cardboard when removing the bag. The opening of the cardboard, by the sliding of the flap in its open position, can be carried out by pressing end 21 of the flap, which protrudes from the cardboard when the flap is in closing position, against the bottom of the bag housing, thereby allowing push the flap and thus position it in the open position of the linerboard.

In order to overcome any bending defects of the cardboard, it can be envisaged to have a pivoting flap 100 by lugs 102 housed in openings 104 of the tray 106. This flap comprises two flat parts rigid: the lower part 108 and the upper part 110, between which is arranged one of the edges of the cardboard 100.

This arrangement then makes it possible to straighten, if necessary, the cardboard during its positioning in the tank, in order to limit a possible defect of flatness.

The upper planar portion 110 is advantageously pivotable on the shutter, so as to release the cardboard when the tray is returned to make drop the bag in a bin.

Claims (14)

Electric vacuum cleaner (84) comprising a frame (86), inside which is housed a motor-fan unit, and a removable waste collection container (70, 106) arranged in a housing (90) of the frame ( 86), the frame (86) having a ventilation end cap (92) open, at one of its ends, in the housing, said tray (70, 106) being of substantially parallelepiped shape, and wherein a bag dust (40) can be arranged, said bag (40) comprising a cardboard (60, 100) made of a relatively rigid material and provided with an opening (34) giving access to the volume of a filter casing (42) fixed on the cardboard (60, 100), the tray (70, 106) having a handle (80) for gripping its extraction from the frame (86), characterized in that : the container (70, 106) is arranged vertically in the housing (90), the handle (80) is arranged on the upper face of the tray (70, 106), said tray face (70, 106) forming part of the upper face of the vacuum cleaner (84), so as to make the tray (70, 106) directly accessible by the user. Electric vacuum cleaner (84) according to the preceding claim, characterized in that it comprises a dust bag (40) arranged in the tray (70, 106), vacuum cleaner, and in that the cardboard (60, 100) occupies one of the lateral faces of the trough (70, 106), and in that the end of the aerodynamic connection piece (92) is slightly inserted in the opening of the cardboard (60, 100) or in said carton (60, 100) when the tray (70, 106) is disposed in the housing (90). Electric vacuum cleaner (84) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the tray (70, 106) is slidably disposed in the housing. Electric vacuum cleaner (84) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the housing (90) of the tray is of complementary shape to said tray (70, 106). Electric vacuum cleaner (84) according to one of claims 3 or 4, characterized in that the end of the aerodynamic connection piece (92) is of substantially circular section and disposed on the sliding path of the tray (70, 106). ). Electric vacuum cleaner (84) according to one of claims 3 to 5, characterized in that the cardboard (60, 100) rests on projections (72) coming from the sides of the tray (70, 106) peripheral to the face occupied by the cardboard (60, 100). Electric vacuum cleaner (84) according to one of claims 3 to 6, characterized in that the cardboard (60, 100) of the dust bag (40) is made of a relatively rigid material, said cardboard (60, 100) being formed a superposition of at least three sheets: an upper sheet (2), an intermediate sheet (10) and a lower sheet (30) held together and each having at least one orifice (4, 34) defining an opening in the cardboard (60, 100), the lower sheet (30) being in contact with the filter casing (42), the intermediate sheet (10) being cut so that a flap (20) of substantially the same thickness and having a orifice (26), can slide between the lower sheet (30) and the upper sheet (2) between two extreme positions, one of its positions making the opening in the cardboard (60, 100) while the other position closes said opening, the contour of the orifice (4) of the upper sheet (2) corresponding substantially to the sliding area of the orifice (26) of the flap (20), and in that the thickness of the contour of the orifice (26) of the flap (20) is at least 0.5 millimeter. Electric vacuum cleaner (84) according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the extreme positions of the flap (20) are determined by the cooperation between stops made by a specific cut of the intermediate sheet (10), and projecting lugs formed in the shutter (20). Electric vacuum cleaner (84) according to one of claims 7 or 8, characterized in that the flap (20) slides in a direction substantially parallel to one of the edges of the cardboard (60, 100). Electric vacuum cleaner (84) according to one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that the orifices (34, 26) of the lower sheet (30) and the flap (20) are circular and of substantially the same diameter. Electric vacuum cleaner (84) according to one of claims 7 to 10, characterized in that the sheets (2, 10, 30) are made of cardboard and have a thickness of at least 0.7 mm. Electric vacuum cleaner (84) according to one of claims 7 to 10, characterized in that the sheets (2, 10, 30) are made of plastic. Electric vacuum cleaner (84) according to one of claims 7 to 12, characterized in that the diameter of the end of the aeraulic connection piece (92) is very slightly less than the diameter of the orifices (34, 26) of the lower sheet (30) and the flap (20). Electric vacuum cleaner (84) according to one of claims 7 to 13, characterized in that the end of the aerodynamic connection piece (92) is conical.

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