Vacuum Cleaner with Motor Cooling Air Filtration

Abstract

A vacuum cleaner has cooling air from an agitator motor ported to a working air conduit upstream of an inlet to a fan motor assembly.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60 / 743,454, filed Mar. 10, 2006, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]This invention relates generally to vacuum cleaners. In one of its aspects, the invention relates to a vacuum cleaner that cleans motor cooling air before exhausting the air from the vacuum cleaner.[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]Upright vacuum cleaners having cyclone separators are well-known in the art. These vacuum cleaners may employ a frusto-conical shape separator, while others use high-speed rotational motion of the air / dirt in a cylindrical separator to separate the dirt by centrifugal force. Typically, working air enters and exits at an upper portion of the cyclone separator and the bottom portion of the cyclone separator is used to collect dirt. It is further known to employ multiple ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007]According to the invention, a vacuum cleaner comprises a housing, a cleaning head assembly in the housing having a suction nozzle and a working air path therethrough, a dirt separator in the housing for removing dirt from a dirt-containing airstream, a suction source having an inlet connected to the dirt separator and adapted to draw the dirt-containing airstream from the suction nozzle and through the dirt separator and an outlet, a first motor mounted in a motor housing, an air inlet provided in the motor housing for supplying cooling air to the first motor, a conduit extending from the motor housing to the suction source inlet downstream of the dirt separator to pass the cooling air from the motor housing to the suction source inlet, and a filter mounted in the housing and in fluid communication with and downstream of the suction source outlet for removing contaminants from the air that passes from the suction source outlet.

Problems solved by technology

As the air passes through the motor, carbon dust discharged from the motor brushes can become entrained in the air and thus also exhausted from the vacuum cleaner, leading to contamination of the home environment.

A filter can be placed at the inlet or exhaust port to remove carbon dust from the motor cooling air, however, this filter adds expense and bulk to the vacuum cleaner.

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