JPH02224720A - Electric vacuum cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To sense whether there is water tank by forming a sensor switch from No.1 sensing element which is energized downward from a bottom plate and contacts a water tank, No.2 sensing element energized upward from the No.1 sensing element, and a switch body to be actuated when the top of this No.2 sensing element comes into contact. CONSTITUTION:A sensor switch 50 to sense whether there is water tank 40 within a body lower case 3 is composed of No.1 sensing element 53 energized by No.1 coil spring 52 downward from a bottom plate 8, No.2 sensing element 57 energized upward by No.2 coil spring 54, and a microswitch 58. The bottom end face 53a of this No.1 sensing element 53 comes into contact with an upper lid 43 of water tank 40, and the top 57a of the No.2 sensing element 57 makes pressure contact with a switch lever 58a of the microswitch 58 from under. Actuation/deactuation of this microswitch 58 serves sensing surely whether water tank 40 exists or not, and if this switch 58 is actuated, a motor-driven blower 9 is put into operation with turning-on of a power switch 64 through a control circuit part 63 mounted on a control circuit board 26.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner that collects dust using water stored in a water tank.

(B) Conventional technology In this type of water-removal type vacuum cleaner that collects dust using water stored in a water tank, the water tank must be housed inside the vacuum cleaner body, and detection is required to do so. A known switch mechanism uses a proximity switch such as a reed switch (for example, see Japanese Utility Model Application No. 61-54739).

This proximity switch has a certain range of switching range, and can detect the presence or absence of the water tank even if the water tank shakes slightly due to vibrations that occur when the vacuum cleaner is moved during cleaning. It has the disadvantage of being expensive and requiring high manufacturing costs.

(c) Problems to be Solved by the Invention The present invention has a simple configuration for a detection switch that detects the presence or absence of a water tank, so that it operates reliably, thereby accurately detecting the presence or absence of a water tank. The purpose is to get a vacuum cleaner.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems The vacuum cleaner of the present invention houses an electric blower in the upper case of the main body, and has a communication port and a suction port communicating with the electric blower in the lower case of the main body. In a device that detachably stores a water tank and separates dust by blowing suction air containing dust onto the water stored in the water tank, a detection switch is provided on the bottom plate of the upper case of the main body to detect the presence or absence of the water tank. The detection switch includes a first detection body that is biased downwardly from the bottom plate and comes into contact with the water tank;
It is characterized in that it consists of a second sensing body urged upward by the sensing body, and a switch body that is activated when the upper end of the second sensing body comes into contact with it.

(e) Effect With the above configuration, when the water tank is stored in the lower case of the main body, the first sensing body of the detection switch comes into contact with the water tank and moves upward, and the first sensing body moves upward from the first sensing body. The switch body is pressed and activated by the second sensing body which is energized by the second sensing body.

Here, even if the water tank swings up and down a little due to vibrations that occur when the vacuum cleaner is moved during cleaning, the second sensing body moves up and down with respect to the first sensing body to absorb this rocking. The second sensing body continues to press the switch body to maintain the switch body in an activated state.

On the other hand, when the water tank is not housed in the lower case of the main body, the first sensing body is biased downward and is displaced downward by a larger amount than the displacement of the second sensing body, thereby putting the switch body in an inoperable state. Hold.

(f) Example Hereinafter, the vacuum cleaner of the present invention will be explained based on the drawings.

(1) is a vacuum cleaner main body case of a vacuum cleaner, in which a removable main body upper case (2) and a main body lower case (3) are fixed and integrated with a fixing clamp (4).

The main body upper case (2) has an outer case (5) and an inner case (
6) has a double-walled structure, and is provided with an upper cover (7) which can be moved up and down at the upper part, and a bottom plate (8) which serves as a partition wall from the main body lower case (3) at the lower part.

(9) is an air guide tube that covers the electric blower (9), and the electric blower (11) is equipped with a cooling fan (10) at the rear, and the air guide tube (11) is the motor part of the electric blower (9). It consists of a motor cover tube (12) that covers the fan part (9a) and a fan cover tube (13) that covers the fan part (9b).
The fan part (9b) is located in the center of the fan cover cylinder (13).
) An intake port (14) as an intake port communicating with the intake side of the
It is equipped with The electric blower (9) is connected to the intake side and exhaust side of the fan section (9b), and the fan section (9b).
b) and the motor part (9a), respectively, are elastically held by first and second annular gaskets (15) and (16) and housed in the air guide cylinder (11), and the air guide cylinder ( 11) is located on the left side of the center inside the inner case (6) with the intake port (14) facing downward from the lower opening (17) of the bottom plate (8) and the lower part thereof is held by the air guide support annular gasket (18). will be stored in. Further, the rear part of the motor part (9a) of the electric blower (9) is connected to the outer case (
5) is supported on the upper bottom surface.

The outer case (5) has a notch (21) at the top of the upper bottom surface.
It has a closed-loop rib (22) with ... in several places,
A cooling air flow hole (23) communicating with the motor support tube (19) is formed within the knob (22).

(24) is a control component storage part formed inside the rib (22), the upper part of which is covered with a partition plate (25) and stores a control circuit board (26) of the electric blower (9). The partition plate (
25) has a rotatable handle (27) and an integral control part cover (28).

(29) is a power cord wrapping portion formed on the outside of the rib (22), covered with the above-mentioned vertically movable upper cover (7), and winds and stores the power cord (30) inside.

When the upper cover (7) slides to the lowest position, the dimension (X) of the gap (31) between the peripheral flange of the upper cover (7) and the upper bottom surface of the outer case (5) is determined by the power cord. (30)
The power cord (30) is made smaller than the diameter dimension (Y) of the power cord (30) to prevent it from falling out when it is stored.

Further, (31) and (32) are an exhaust port and a cooling air exhaust port respectively provided in the outer case (5), and (33) is an integrated particulate filter, which is connected to the fan part (9a) of the electric blower (9).
The suction air coming out from the exhaust side of the fan enters between the air guide tube (11) and the inner case (6) through the outlet (34) of the fan cover tube (13), and goes around the outside of the air guide tube (11). After that, it passes through the integrated fine dust filter (33) and exits the exhaust port (
It passes through the exhaust passage (35) leading to the exhaust port (31).
1).

On the other hand, inside the main body upper case (2), from the gap (31) there is a power cord wrapping part (29) and a control parts storage part (24).
from the cooling airflow population (23) to the motor section (9a
), and further passes through the inside of the air guide cylinder (11) from the motor part (9a), and reaches the cooling air exhaust port (32) via the cooling air passage port (36) of the inner case (6). An air passage (37) is provided separately from the exhaust passage (35), and when the cooling fan (10) is driven, cooling air from the motor part (9a) is supplied to the power cord wrapping part (2).
After cooling the power cord (30) wound around the power cord (30) and the control circuit board (26), the motor unit (9a) is cooled by passing through the motor unit (9a), and then the cooling air exhaust port (
32).

Reference numeral (38) denotes a suction hose connection tube, which is located at the suction opening (39) that can be opened and closed by the opening/closing lid (39a), and has a lower end opening (38a) formed in the bottom plate.

(40) is a cylindrical water tank that is removably stored in the lower case (3) of the main body, and has a cylindrical lower container with an opening on the top that stores water (41) as a dust collection filter! (42
) and a top cover (43) that is removably attached to cover this top opening. The upper lid (43)
A communication port (44) airtightly communicates with the intake port (14) through the lower opening (17) of the bottom plate (8).
A suction port (45) communicating with the lower end opening (38a) of the connecting tube (38) is formed on the side thereof. The suction port (45) is formed to pass through the top lid (43) and communicate with the back side, and further includes a lateral outlet (4) that opens laterally in the circumferential direction of the water tank (40).
5a).

Further, the water tank (40) is arranged such that the central axis (P) of the communication port (44) and the central axis (Q) of the intake port (14) are non-coaxial with each other, and (3
), and in this stored state, the communication port (4)
4) is disposed at a position shifted to the left side of the intake port (14).

(46) is a pre-filter that prevents dust from being sucked into the electric blower (9), and when a large amount of liquid such as water is sucked into the water tank (40), it floats up and enters the communication port (
44) is provided with a float valve body (47) that closes the valve. Furthermore, (48) is an annular wall formed to hang down from the back surface of the upper lid (43).

(50) is the water tank (
40) is provided on the bottom plate (8) of the upper case (2) of the main body. As shown in FIGS. 8 to 11, the detection switch (50) includes a bottomed detection rod storage tube (1) that is formed on the bottom plate (8) in the vicinity of the suction hose connection tube (38) and protrudes upward. 5
1) is held slidably up and down in the storage cylinder (51), and the bottom plate (
A first sensing body (53) biased downward so as to protrude downward from the first sensing body (53); and a second coil spring (54) held slidably up and down within the first sensing body (53). The through hole (5) of the upper base (55) of the storage tube (51)
The second detection body (57) which is urged upward so as to protrude upward from the second detection body (57) and the switch lever (58a) are positioned on the upper surface of the upper base (55), and the detection rod storage cylinder (
51) and a microswitch (58) disposed near the microswitch (51).

Then, the lower end surface (53a) of the first detector (53) comes into contact with the upper lid (43) of the water tank (40), and the upper end (57a) of the second detector (57) contacts the microswitch ( The switch lever (58a) of 58) is pressed into contact with it from below.

The storage f1 is located outside the upper end of the first sensing body (53).
There is a claw body (60) that enters the side opening (59) of the M (so) and prevents the first detection body (53) from being removed, and the side face part has a claw body (60) that locks the second detection body (57). Claws (61)
enters the first sensing body (5) of the second sensing body (57).
A locking port (62) is provided to restrict the amount of displacement relative to 3).

The second sensing body (57) is biased in the opposite direction from the first sensing body (53) by the second coil spring (54), but when the second sensing body (57) moves by a certain displacement, the second sensing body (57) ) is constructed so as not to be displaced and matched with the operating range of the microswitch (58).

Further, the second coil spring (54) is connected to the first sensing body (54).
3) has a biasing force within the displacement of the first sensing body (
53) does not come into contact with the water tank (40), the first and second sensing bodies (51) and (53) are urged in opposite directions with a constant urging force.

FIGS. 9 to 11 are diagrams showing the operation of the detection switch (50) step by step, and when the upper lid (43) is not present, the first detection body (53) is biased downward, The second sensing body (57) does not protrude from the upper base (55), and the microswitch (58) remains inactive (see FIG. 11).

The lower end surface (
53a) comes into contact and pushes the first sensing body (53), the amount of displacement of the first sensing body (53) becomes the displacement (A-
B) Condition 1! (See Figure 10), the second sensing body (57)
The microswitch (58) reaches its operating point by pressing into contact with the switch lever (58a). At this time, the first
There is no change in the distance (a) between the second sensing bodies (53) and (57).

The final state (9th state) in which the first sensing body (53) is further pushed
(see figure), the amount of displacement of the first sensing body (53) is in the state of displacement (B-C), and at this time, the distance between the first and second sensing bodies (53) (57) is jlI (b). Become. Then, displacement (B-C)=displacement (a-b)=displacement (Z).

Here, even if the water tank (40) swings up and down a little due to vibrations generated when moving a vacuum cleaner for cleaning, the range of the swing is equal to the displacement (Z) of the second sensing body (57).
If inside, the second sensing object (57) is the first sensing object (53)
The second sensing body (5
7) continues to press the switch lever (58a) to keep the microswitch (58) in the activated state.

The presence or absence of the water tank (40) is reliably detected by activation/deactivation of this microswitch (58), and when the microswitch (58) is activated, the control circuit board (26) mounted on the microswitch (58) is activated. The electric blower (9) is turned on by turning on the power switch (64) via the circuit section (63).
) to drive. Therefore, when the water tank (40) is not present, the microswitch (58) remains inactive, so even if the power switch (64) is turned on, the electric blower (9) will not be driven, making it safe.

Furthermore, since the microswitch (58) constituting the detection switch (50) is cheaper than a reed switch or the like, manufacturing costs can be reduced.

Then, with the water tank (40) housed in the lower case (3) of the main body, when the suction hose (not shown) is connected to the suction hose connection tube (38) and the electric blower (9) is driven, dust is removed. The suction air containing the water is drawn into the water tank (40) through the suction port (45). At this time, since the lateral outlet (458) of the suction port (45) opens laterally in the circumferential direction of the water tank (40), the suction air flows in a vortex and is blown against the water (41). ,
As a result, the water (41) also rotates in a whirlpool to form a concave water surface, and dust is separated from the suction air by contact with the water (41), and the dust is collected in the water (41). Save up. The suction air from which dust has been separated is passed through the buri filter (46) and then from the communication port (44) to the intake port (14).
is sucked into the electric blower (9) through the exhaust passage (3).
5) and is exhausted from the exhaust port (31).

(g) Effects of the invention The present invention is configured as described above, and in particular, the first sensing body,
The presence or absence of a water tank can be accurately detected even if the water tank oscillates to some extent by a detection switch having a simple configuration consisting of a second detection body and a switch body. Therefore, there is no risk of operating the vacuum cleaner without a water tank, and it is safe.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings all relate to embodiments of the vacuum cleaner of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a vertical front view, FIG. 2 is a vertical right side view, FIG. 3 is a front view, FIG. 4 is a right side view, and FIG. Figure 2 is a sectional view taken along V-V, Figure 6 is a sectional view taken along 's2, Vl-Vl, and Figure 7 is a sectional view taken from Figure 2 -
■Cross-sectional view, Figure 8 is a cross-sectional view of the main part taken along ■--■ of Figure 2, Figures 9, 10, and 11 are cross-sectional views of the main part showing the operation of the detection switch step by step, respectively. FIG. 12 is an electrical circuit diagram. (2)... Main body upper case, (3)... Main body lower case, (40)... Cylindrical water tank, (50)... Detection switch, (53)... First detection body , (57)...Second detection body, (58)...Micro switch (switch body)

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In addition to storing the electric blower inside the upper case of the main unit,
A water tank having a communication port and a suction port communicating with the electric blower is removably housed in the lower case of the main body, and suction air containing dust is blown onto the water stored in the water tank to separate dust. A detection switch for detecting the presence or absence of the water tank is provided on the bottom plate of the upper case of the main body, and the detection switch includes a first detection body that is biased downwardly from the bottom plate and comes into contact with the water tank; A vacuum cleaner comprising: a second sensing body urged upward by the first sensing body; and a switch body that is activated when the upper end of the second sensing body comes into contact with it.