Vacuum cleaner with diagnostics
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing air moving appliances, such as vacuum cleaners, face challenges in accurately diagnosing fault conditions like blockages and filter maintenance due to variations in ambient conditions, leading to inconsistent performance and potential damage.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a control system that monitors motor load parameters, adjusts for ambient conditions using sensors for air density and temperature, and triggers operational events based on comparisons to ensure accurate diagnosis and prevention of blockages, including deactivation of the fan motor if necessary.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If motor load parameter monitoring is used to diagnose fault conditions, then blockage detection capability is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to ambient condition variations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by adjusting the reference motor load parameter based on ambient conditions (temperature, pressure, humidity). The control unit modifies the reference value dynamically to account for variations in air density and motor performance under different environmental conditions, thereby maintaining reliable blockage detection across varying ambient conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by continuously monitoring ambient conditions and using this information to adjust the reference motor load parameter. The control unit compares real-time motor load measurements against the adjusted reference value, creating a closed-loop system that adapts to environmental changes and maintains consistent diagnostic reliability.
2Reliability
If additional sensors and compensating mechanisms are added to improve diagnostic reliability, then diagnosis robustness is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit serves multiple functions: it monitors motor load parameters, reads ambient condition data from existing sensors, calculates compensated reference values, and triggers operational events. By making the control unit universal and multi-functional, the patent avoids adding dedicated separate components for each function, thereby improving diagnostic reliability without proportionally increasing device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses existing sensors (temperature, pressure, humidity sensors already present in the vacuum cleaner) to provide data for compensation calculations. Rather than requiring entirely new sensing systems, the patent makes the existing sensor infrastructure serve the additional purpose of ambient condition monitoring for diagnostic compensation, reducing the need for additional hardware.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
An air moving appliance comprising an electric motor coupled to a fan, a control system for controlling the motor, the control system including monitoring means configured to monitor a motor load parameter; memory means configured to store a predetermined reference motor load parameter value; compensating means that determines a compensated reference motor load parameter value based on the predetermined reference motor load parameter value and a set of ambient environment input conditions; comparison means configured to compare the motor load parameter and the compensated reference motor load parameter value and trigger an operational event based on the result of the comparison. The invention also relates to a method of controlling an air moving appliance.