Vacuum Cleaner Nozzle with Movable Brush Roll for Self-Cleaning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Vacuum cleaner nozzles with rotatable members, such as brush rolls, often suffer from debris like threads and hairs wrapping around the brush roll, causing wear on surfaces during cleaning and requiring significant manual force for removal, which can damage carpets or floors.
Innovation Solution
A nozzle design with a rotatable member that moves between a debris-picking position and a cleaning position, where a resilient cleaning member contacts the brush roll to remove entangled debris without direct contact with the surface, reducing wear and the power required for rotation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the rotatable member rotates during cleaning action to remove entangled articles, then the cleaning function is improved, but wear on the surface (carpet or wooden floor) increases
Solution Approach 1:
The rotatable member is made movable between a first position (for cleaning surfaces) and a second position (for cleaning the rotatable member itself). This dynamic repositioning allows the system to adapt its function: when debris needs to be picked up, the rotatable member contacts the surface; when entangled articles need removal, the rotatable member is moved away from the surface and contacted by the cleaning member instead. This resolves the contradiction by making the cleaning action conditional on position rather than continuous rotation during surface cleaning.
2Reliability
If a significant force is applied to thread off entangled threads by a cleaning member pressing against a friction member, then the cleaning effectiveness is improved, but the power required to rotate the brush roll increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning action is extracted from the continuous rotation process. Instead of requiring the brush roll to rotate while under significant cleaning force (which would demand high power), the rotatable member is moved to a specific cleaning position where the cleaning member contacts it. The cleaning action occurs during this positioned contact rather than during rotation, eliminating the need for high power during the cleaning phase while maintaining cleaning effectiveness.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4a~4b
AI summary
Nozzle (1) for a vacuum cleaner (2), such as a battery powered vacuum cleaner, a mains operated vacuum cleaners, or a robotic vacuum cleaner, the nozzle (1) comprising a rotatable member (3), such as a brush roll, for picking up particles from a surface to be cleaned, the rotatable member (3) being arranged around a longitudinal axis (10), and a cleaning arrangement for removing articles entangled to the rotatable member (3), wherein the cleaning arrangement comprises at least one cleaning member (5), the rotatable member (3) is movable between a first position in which the cleaning member (5) is arranged at a distance from the rotatable member (3) and a second position in in which the cleaning member (5) is arranged to remove any entangled articles from the rotatable member (3).