Nested Multistage Cyclone Design for Compact Hand Vacuum Cleaners
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional hand vacuum cleaners with cyclonic cleaning stages are bulky and difficult to maneuver, limiting their ability to clean tight spaces and corners effectively.
Innovation Solution
A hand vacuum cleaner design featuring a multistage cyclone construction with a first stage cyclone and a second stage cyclone that is at least partially nested within the first stage, along with a screen positioned around the second stage cyclone to enhance air flow and circulation, allowing for a compact and more maneuverable device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional hand vacuum cleaners use cyclonic cleaning stages, then effective dirt collection is achieved, but the device becomes bulky and difficult to maneuver
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a nested cyclone configuration where a second-stage cyclone is positioned inside the first-stage cyclone chamber. The inner cyclone's separation chamber is surrounded by the outer cyclone's chamber, allowing both cyclonic separation stages to occupy the same spatial envelope. This nesting arrangement maintains effective dirt collection through dual-stage cyclonic separation while significantly reducing the overall device footprint, thereby improving maneuverability in tight spaces
2Ease of operation
If the cyclone assembly is made compact, then maneuverability and access to tight spaces improve, but the complexity of the nested structure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The nested cyclone design places the second-stage cyclone inside the first-stage cyclone chamber, with the inner cyclone's separation chamber surrounded by the outer cyclone's chamber. This configuration achieves compact dimensions for improved maneuverability while managing structural complexity through systematic spatial arrangement of the cyclone components
Solution Approach 2:
The cyclone assembly is divided into distinct functional segments: the outer first-stage cyclone with its inlet, separation chamber, and outlet; and the inner second-stage cyclone with its own inlet, separation chamber, and outlet. This segmentation allows each cyclone stage to be optimized independently while maintaining overall compactness, managing the complexity through modular functional division
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The compact design enables better access to corners and tight spaces while maintaining effective dirt collection, improving the overall usability and efficiency of the hand vacuum cleaner.
Implementation Method 1
a first stage cyclone having a first stage cyclone chamber, a first stage cyclone air inlet, a first stage cyclone air outlet and a first stage longitudinal cyclone axis about which the air rotates in the first stage cyclone chamber
Implementation Method 2
about which the air rotates in the first stage cyclone chamber
Data Source
AI summary
A hand vacuum cleaner may have a first stage cyclone having a first stage cyclone chamber and a second stage cyclone downstream from the first stage cyclone and at least substantially nested in the first stage cyclone. A screen is positioned laterally outwardly from the second stage cyclone and defines a passage positioned between an inner side of the screen and the outer wall of the second stage cyclone. A directing member is located in the passage, the directing member having, in the rotational direction, a directing surface facing towards the flow of air in the passage, the directing surface extending from an upstream end located in the passage and a downstream end located proximate the second stage cyclone air inlet port wherein the directing surface extends generally linearly.