Vacuum cleaner with small area extraction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional vacuum cleaners lack the capability to effectively dispense and collect liquid, limiting their versatility in cleaning surfaces that require wet cleaning methods.
Innovation Solution
The vacuum cleaner is equipped with a fluid delivery system for storing and dispensing cleaning fluid, and a recovery system for removing spent fluid and debris, allowing for both dry and wet cleaning modes, including small area extraction for treating spots and stains.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional vacuum cleaners are used, then dry vacuum cleaning function is provided, but the capability to dispense and collect liquid is lacking
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines a fluid delivery system and a recovery system into the vacuum cleaner housing. The fluid delivery system includes a fluid supply tank and fluid distributor, while the recovery system includes a wet/dry recovery tank with separate chambers for liquid and debris collection. This merging allows the vacuum cleaner to perform both dry vacuum cleaning and wet extraction cleaning with a single device, significantly improving versatility without excessive complexity increase.
Solution Approach 2:
The vacuum cleaner is designed with multi-functional capability through the integration of dry vacuum cleaning, wet extraction cleaning, spot treatment, and stain removal functions. The air flow diverter assembly enables selective switching between dry and wet pathways, allowing the single device to adapt to various cleaning scenarios including carpets, rugs, hard floors, and upholstery.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a fluid delivery system and recovery system are added, then wet cleaning capability is enabled, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The recovery system is segmented into separate chambers: a liquid collection chamber and a debris collection chamber. The wet/dry recovery tank uses an internal baffle or separator to divide these chambers, allowing independent collection and disposal of liquids and debris. This segmentation simplifies the overall system design by handling different waste types separately, reducing complexity compared to a mixed collection system.
Solution Approach 2:
The air flow diverter assembly acts as an intermediary component that directs air flow between the dry pathway and wet pathway based on operational mode. This mediator component simplifies the switching mechanism between dry and wet cleaning functions, reducing the complexity of control systems while enabling versatile operation.
3Reliability
If separate equipment is used for dry and wet cleaning, then specialized functionality is achieved, but the need for multiple devices increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the functionality of separate dry vacuum cleaners and wet extraction cleaners into a single unified device. The housing contains both a dry vacuum pathway and a wet extraction pathway with separate suction nozzles, allowing users to replace one device with another rather than maintaining multiple separate cleaning equipment for different surfaces and stains.
Solution Approach 2:
The vacuum cleaner achieves universal cleaning capability across multiple surfaces (carpets, rugs, hard floors, upholstery) and multiple cleaning modes (dry vacuum cleaning, wet extraction, spot treatment, stain removal) through integrated design, eliminating the need for users to own and operate multiple specialized cleaning devices.
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
This solution enables the vacuum cleaner to efficiently perform both dry vacuum cleaning and small area extraction wet cleaning, providing users with a versatile cleaning tool that can handle various cleaning tasks without the need for separate equipment.
Implementation Method 1
a vacuum collection system for creating a partial vacuum to suck up debris
Implementation Method 2
a suction source in selective fluid communication with the wet suction nozzle and the dry suction nozzle via the air flow diverter assembly
Data Source
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AI summary
A vacuum cleaner includes a vacuum collection system for sucking up debris from a surface to be cleaned, a fluid delivery system for delivering a cleaning fluid to the surface to be cleaned, and a recovery system for removing spent cleaning fluid and debris from the surface to be cleaned. The fluid delivery and recovery systems can be particularly configured for small area extraction, such as in treating spots and stains on a carpet.