Gas separation – Plural serial basically diverse separating media – Plural stages in unitary casing
Reexamination Certificate
2001-01-25
2003-02-25
Hopkins, Robert A. (Department: 1724)
Gas separation
Plural serial basically diverse separating media
Plural stages in unitary casing
C055S426000, C055S433000, C055S459100, C055S505000, C055S521000, C055SDIG003, C015S353000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06524358
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to dust collectors for vacuum cleaners and, more particularly, to a cyclone dust collector for such vacuum cleaners having a simple construction and effectively removing solids, including microparticles, from dust-laden air.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As well known to those skilled in the art, conventional vacuum cleaners are designed to suck dust-laden air under pressure from a target surface using strong suction force generated from a suction motor set within the cleaner body, and to filter the dust-laden air to remove dust, small or powdered solids from the air prior to discharging the filtered air from the cleaner body to the atmosphere.
In the prior art, paper filter bags have been used in such vacuum cleaners for filtering dust-laden air. However, the conventional paper filter bags are problematic in that such a filter bag has to be changed with a new one after a lapse of predetermined time, thus being inconvenient to users. Another problem of the conventional paper filter bags resides in that the filter bags reduce the suction force of the vacuum cleaners due to dust contained in the filter bags. In such a case, the cleaning effect of the vacuum cleaner is reduced.
In an effort to overcome the above problems experienced in the conventional paper filter bags, cyclone dust collectors designed to be almost semi-permanently used without being changed with a new one have been proposed.
Such cyclone dust collectors are conventionally classified into several types. The representative example of the conventional cyclone dust collectors is a dual-type cyclone dust collector, which comprises first and second collecting units connected to each other to form a desired cyclone collector.
In such a dual-type cyclone dust collector, the first collecting unit is used for removing relatively heavier or large-sized solids from dust-laden air, while the second collecting unit is used for removing relatively lighter or small-sized solids from the air.
Such conventional dual-type cyclone dust collectors are advantageous in that they don't require separate paper filter bags, and are improved in their dust collecting effect in comparison with conventional single-type cyclone dust collectors since the dual-type collectors remove dust from dust-laden air twice through first and second cyclone dust collecting processes.
FIG. 1
shows the construction and operation of a conventional dual-type cyclone dust collector. As shown in the drawing, the conventional dual-type cyclone dust collector comprises first and second collecting units
1
and
2
, which are connected to each other to form a desired cyclone collector. Of the two collecting units, the first unit
1
is used for removing relatively heavier or large-sized solids from dust-laden air, while the second unit
2
is used for removing relatively lighter or small-sized solids from the air discharged from the first unit
1
.
The first collecting unit
1
has an external casing
1
a
, which forms the external housing of the dual-type cyclone dust collector and acts as a dust collection tub of the first unit
1
. A first air guide port
1
b
is mounted to the upper portion of the external casing
1
a
, and is used for guiding dust-laden air into the external casing
1
a
. The first collecting unit
1
also has an air discharging tub
1
c
, which is concentrically set within the external casing
1
a
and is provided with a plurality of air discharging holes for allowing primarily processed air from the interior of the external casing
1
a
into the air discharging tub
1
c.
That is, the external casing
1
a
of the first collecting unit
1
forms the external housing of the dual-type cyclone dust collector, and primarily processes dust-laden air to remove relatively heavier or large-sized solids from the dust-laden air. In the first collecting unit
1
, the removed solids are collected in the lower portion of the external casing
1
a
. The first air guide port
1
b
guides dust-laden air under pressure from a target surface into the external casing
1
a
using a suction force formed by a suction unit, comprising a suction fan
3
and a suction motor
4
. The air discharging tub
1
c
is a cylindrical tub, which is concentrically set within the external casing
1
a
and is provided with air discharging holes for allowing the primarily processed air from the interior of the external casing
1
a
into the air discharging tub
1
c.
The primarily processed air, discharged into the air discharging tub
1
c
through the air discharging holes of the tub
1
c
, is introduced into the second collecting unit
2
so as to be secondarily and finally processed by said second collecting unit
2
as will be described later herein.
The second collecting unit
2
has an internal casing
2
a
, which is concentrically set within the air discharging tub
1
c
of the first collecting unit
1
at the central portion of said tub
1
c.
A second air guide port
2
b
is mounted to the upper portion of the internal casing
2
a
, and is used for guiding the primarily processed air from the interior of the air discharging tub
1
c
into the internal casing
2
a
. The second collecting unit
2
also has an air exhaust port
2
c
, which is used for discharging the finally processed air from the internal casing
2
a
into the atmosphere. A dust collecting chamber
2
d
is provided within the second collecting unit
2
at a position under the internal casing
2
a
. In the embodiment of
FIG. 1
, the dust collecting chamber
2
d
is defined within the bottom of the external casing
1
a
while communicating with the lower open end of the internal casing
2
a
and being separated from the first collecting unit
1
by a partition wall
2
e.
That is, the internal casing
2
a
of the second collecting unit
2
forms the body of said second collecting unit
2
, and receives the primarily processed air from the air discharging tub
1
c
of the first collecting unit
1
through the second air guide port
2
b
. The above internal casing
2
a
has a conical hopper shape, with the diameter of the casing
2
a
being gradually reduced in a direction from the upper end to the lower open end. The interior of the internal casing
2
a
communicates with the dust collecting chamber
2
d
through its lower open end.
An air exhaust pipe
3
a
extends from the air exhaust port
2
c
of the second collecting unit
2
, with the suction unit comprising the suction fan
3
and the suction motor
4
mounted to the outside end of the air exhaust pipe
3
a
, thus forming an air suction force for the first and second collecting units
1
and
2
. In an operation of the dual-type cyclone dust collector, the suction unit generates a suction force for the dust collector. Due to such a suction force, dust-laden air is forcibly sucked from a target surface into the dust collector through the first air guide port
1
b
while being pressurized, and is primarily and secondarily processed by the first and second collecting units
1
and
2
prior to being discharged to the atmosphere through the air exhaust port
2
c.
The operational effect of such a conventional dual-type cyclone dust collector will be described in detail herein below. When the suction fan
3
is rotated by the suction motor
4
, a desired suction force or suction pressure is formed within the dust collector. Therefore, dust-laden air under pressure is sucked from a target surface into the external casing
1
a
through the first air guide port
1
b.
After the dust-laden air is introduced into the external casing
1
a
through the first air guide port
1
b
, the air under pressure swirls within the external casing
1
a
at a high speed. In such a case, some relatively heavier solids are removed from the dust-laden air due to gravity, and are collected on the lower portion of the external casing
1
a
. The operational theory of such a cyclone dust collector is well known to those skilled in the art, and further explanation is thus not deemed necessary.
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