JP2008508012A - Vacuum cleaner with foamed polypropylene components - Google Patents

Abstract

  The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner having a component made of expanded polypropylene, wherein at least one component of the apparatus main body or at least one insert fixed to the main body is made of expanded polypropylene.

Description

  The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner for household electrical equipment, and more particularly to the structure of a vacuum cleaner.

  Historically, the field of consumer electronics, including vacuum cleaners, has become available due to advances in polymer manufacturing technology, each with a specific function, ie heat resistance, rigidity or flexibility, due to different performance. It is made from a combination of various plastics specifically selected for performance, sound attenuation, and aesthetic appearance. Today, more than half a dozen plastics are found in the body of vacuum cleaners, such as ABS, polyamide, polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC, and elastomer.

  In this way, several elements are manufactured and attached separately to form the body of the device, the housing of the filter element, the lid of the housing of the dust collection bag, and the like.

  These plastics used in vacuum cleaners are made as thin as possible, limiting the weight of the equipment and reducing the effort required to handle it when using the vacuum cleaner. This handling is an important cause of fatigue, for example when the stairs must be climbed.

The first problem encountered in the manufacture of vacuum cleaners is the reduction of equipment weight, which is a constant concern for vacuum cleaner manufacturers.
The desired weight reduction is achieved by thinning the shell and body, but this reduces the strength of the device. In fact, the weight of plastic used in the manufacture of vacuum cleaners quickly reaches a limit determined by the strength of the assembly.

  The second problem is to maintain the strength of the shell and body while substantially reducing the weight of plastic used and that of the vacuum cleaner.

  The reduction in shell thickness in actual vacuum cleaners has a negative effect on equipment noise. As a result of the material reduction, the motor noise is often not sufficiently restricted and the vacuum cleaner is noisy and the motor must often be surrounded by foam.

  Household noise caused by people and in particular all kinds of noise pollution caused by the work in the home are now very problematic.

  A third problem is to reduce the noise of the vacuum cleaner while reducing the weight of the assembly and maintaining the rigidity of the shell and body.

  Moving a vacuum cleaner inside a house is usually a task that is not considered very comfortable, and in fact, this equipment is used with care, so it can be placed in furniture, walls or homes. Often collide with other objects. In this case, if the rigidity of the frame of the vacuum cleaner is taken into consideration, the colliding part is often damaged.

  A fourth problem that arises for vacuum cleaner manufacturers is to combine the good mechanical properties of the frame with shock absorption to reduce the effects caused by low handling. A solution to this problem can be found in particular by a rubber band that surrounds the body of the device like a belt. This solution results in a cost that cannot be ignored.

  In addition, in the recent trend of recycling all types of waste, especially household electrical appliances at the end of their useful life, all interested in the environment and cooperating for permanent development. Manufacturers seek solutions that limit material weight and recycle, and use as much of the easy-to-recover material as possible. In fact, it is known that much of the environmental impact of vacuum cleaners is due to its composition.

  The fifth problem presented is to produce a vacuum cleaner whose materials are easily and preferably fully recyclable.

  The present invention aims to solve these main problems, i.e. it has excellent rigidity, has a lower noise level than is known in this type of equipment, is capable of absorbing shocks and has a service life. It aims to manufacture a lightweight vacuum cleaner with good recyclability at the end of the period.

  According to the invention, this vacuum cleaner made of plastic parts is characterized in that at least one of the components of the body of the device is made of foamed polypropylene.

  It should be understood that the main body of the device is a visible outer portion of the device and has various names such as a case, shell, and housing.

  Preferably, the fixed at least one insert of the body of the device is made of expanded polypropylene.

  Expanded polypropylene (EPP) is made from beads that shape the object using a press in the presence of steam or steam. EPP, which is mainly used in automobiles as a shock absorbing material recently, has many qualities: heat resistance up to 110 ° C, excellent stability, lightness, impact resistance, recyclability, etc. , Making this material attractive. At present, however, its low mechanical strength has made this material an auxiliary material in the manufacture of subassemblies.

  The present invention proposes to provide a vacuum cleaner body component made of EPP that was not previously anticipated for this application and which requires a certain rigidity, robustness and mechanical strength. .

  Another object of the present invention is to give greater importance to polypropylene in the selection of plastics. Yet another object of the present invention is to use more than 90% of a single plastic, i.e. polypropylene, throughout the body of the vacuum cleaner. Polypropylene is then used in two forms: conventional polypropylene (PP) and expanded polypropylene (EPP), which have the traditional properties of plastic.

  Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the description set forth below with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate a single, non-limiting example.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the vacuum cleaner conventionally generates exhaustion and exhausts air from the end of a pipe (not shown) to be connected to an opening disposed in the main body of the vacuum cleaner toward the back of the device. It has a motor 4 that circulates air to the hole. In this process of removing dust, the airflow traverses the housing 10 containing a filter bag for collecting dust.

The main body of the vacuum cleaner is composed of two main parts that are manufactured separately and assembled together. That is,
-Various spaces arranged for moving bodies 9 such as wheels and casters, through the housing for the motor 4, the soundproof element in the shape of the internal partition plate 8, and the wires, to position the filter of the motor Lower body 1 having. The lower body 1 also has a pipe connection insert 7 connected to the suction nozzle.
An upper body 2 comprising a housing with a control unit 5, a lid 3 for closing the dust bag housing, and a lid for receiving various vacuum cleaning accessories such as small brushes or suction nozzles.

  A foldable or fixed handle 6 or a recess that serves as a handle may be provided on the shell, preferably on the lower body 1 of the device.

  According to the invention, the constituent material of the vacuum cleaner is made of expanded polypropylene (EPP) at least in the lower body 1 and preferably also in the upper body 2.

  Like any material that contains a large amount of air, EPP has a very high insulation and sound insulation, making it a particularly good material for absorbing the noise of this type of household appliance.

  By using EPP for all possible elements in a vacuum cleaner, the ability to attenuate the motor noise, depending on its shape, is a vacuum cleaner made of ordinary plastic made of ABS or non-foamed polypropylene Compared to the machine, this harmful effect can be reduced.

  However, since the mechanical strength of EPP is low, it is necessary to increase the wall thickness considerably to provide sufficient rigidity. Surprisingly, however, because of the large volume of material required, even if the vacuum cleaner is larger than usual, the mass of the plastic is greatly reduced, halving the weight of the finished vacuum cleaner. Is possible.

  The small amount of material is also advantageous from an economic point of view, since vacuum cleaners are manufactured cheaper.

  Because EPP has great flexibility, it has improved shock absorption compared to other plastics conventionally used to manufacture vacuum cleaners. Depending on the degree of foaming, this great flexibility is related to the elastic memory of the material, which also has important advantages in assembling various supplementary parts that are fixed to the body of the device. In fact, for example, various lids can be pivotably mounted without a hinge, and the material can be deformed to easily fix them in place. This interesting feature also makes it possible to easily fix the inserts by nesting or interconnecting them.

  In fact, to lock or secure the insert, it is sufficient to force the material to deform, and after the material deforms, it will regain its shape and hold the assembly.

  The various parts are thus assembled very firmly, which has great advantages due to the effectiveness of suction by the motor and the efficiency of the various filter bodies with respect to sound propagation. The great flexibility of EPP makes it possible to lock a large number of parts, inserts or wires to the absorbent material over the course of time, especially under the influence of motor vibration.

  This excellent seal by the material itself makes it possible to eliminate or at least greatly reduce the use of the seal, especially at the level of the suction duct, which means the amount of material required to assemble the vacuum cleaner. Save time.

  Preferably, the vacuum cleaner includes at least one operation of assembling a foamed polypropylene part and another part, which includes deforming the foamed polypropylene part. This deformation allows a seal to be made apart from the mechanical strength of the part.

  Since the material can be greatly deformed, various inserts can be attached to the lower body 1 or the upper body 2 during the assembly process. The inserted part is easily manufactured without requiring a counterpart part for fixing to the main body of the device.

  Thanks to the sensible and effective fixture construction and material flexibility and its shape resilience, all fixing screws for different components (such as electronic circuit cards and wheels) and parts between them are eliminated. Thus, it is desirable to facilitate removal at the end of the useful life.

  Due to the large amount of air trapped in the material, EPP materials tend to absorb vibrations that often generate noise, for example at the level of the operating body, in addition to motor noise.

  According to the present invention, as many EPP parts as possible are made, and when this material cannot be used, standard type polypropylene is adopted to facilitate recycling of the vacuum cleaner at the end of its useful life. Intended. This recycling is facilitated when the motor is removed if the same polymer is used for the various components.

  It is practically imaginable to make buttons, indicators, wheels, casters of materials other than EPP, especially for functional reasons, for example, the luminescent indicators must be made of transparent plastic. In such cases, standard polypropylene is preferred over other polymers to be compatible with the body of the device. After the motor has been removed, the entire vacuum cleaner can be melted or crushed to recover the polymer and reuse it in this way.

  The use of a single plastic material contributes significantly to a reduction in raw material stock and is an important way to increase the effective rate of equipment prices at the end of their useful life. The disassembly of the equipment is mainly to separate the metal parts (basically motors and wires) from a single plastic material.

  Another advantage of the EPP material is its soft touch, and the vacuum cleaner made with this product is easy to handle and has additional commercial advantages related to the main technical functionality described above.

  Several options are possible for the vacuum cleaner of the present invention, in particular a manual device in the form of a motor in the lower body 1 or a protruding member on its outer periphery without departing from the scope of the present invention. It is intended to manufacture a vacuum cleaner having various functions by installing an automatic reel device for connecting the two.

  Different shapes for the lower or upper body and EPP components are also contemplated without departing from the scope of the present invention. Various numbers of inserts, lids, handles or additional elements may be provided without departing from the scope of the present invention.

  In a preferred manner, the lower body 1, the upper body 2, the lid 3 and the transport handle 6 of the vacuum cleaner are manufactured from EPP. The indicator, the control unit 5 and the moving body 9 can be made of non-foamed polypropylene, but various additional parts such as moving bodies, wheels, casters etc. are also manufactured by EPP without departing from the scope of the present invention. Is possible.

  Some models of vacuum cleaners are made entirely of foamed or normal polypropylene plastic parts.

  Of course, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described and represented by way of example, but also includes their technical equivalents and combinations thereof.

  A foamed polypropylene having a degree of foaming defined by the amount of material (polypropylene) per liter is used. Materials with a content in the range of 40-80 g per liter are used.

  As an example, if a vacuum cleaner with a lower body, upper body, and lid is manufactured with EPP (60 g of material per liter), it will be the case of using mainly ABS to make these parts. In the case of EPP, even if the wall thickness is about quadrupled, the weight can be reduced to 3.5 kg.

  Furthermore, in operation, the equipment has excellent rigidity due to the very good behavior of the elements added to these EPP parts.

  Furthermore, the recycling rate of this equipment increases from 70% to over 90%.

  Furthermore, the walls are very thick, and by cutting them appropriately, a housing for a small cleaning accessory can be formed in this thickness.

The advantages of such a vacuum cleaner made of foamed polypropylene parts are numerous.
-Since the density of the expanded polypropylene is small, it is possible to significantly reduce the total weight of the vacuum cleaner without impairing the characteristics required for robustness.
-Since the air contained in the material absorbs the noise of the motor, the noise during operation of this equipment is low.
-Since the material is elastic, this vacuum cleaner is easy to absorb shocks and therefore less likely to damage furniture and walls.
-The amount of material is reduced.
-Different plastic parts for different uses of this vacuum cleaner can be manufactured with the same polypropylene polymer, preferably its foam type, so that it is easy to recycle at the end of the useful life of this vacuum cleaner .
・ Because vibration is absorbed by the material, it contributes to the comfort of use.
・ Especially because it is easy to assemble, elements can be easily configured, and specific parts such as seals can be omitted, the manufacturing cost of this vacuum cleaner is lower than that of conventional vacuum cleaners It is.
Finally, the material itself has a more pleasant feel than the plastics used in known vacuum cleaners used to date.

It is the simplified side view of the longitudinal section of a vacuum cleaner.

Claims (7)

  A vacuum cleaner characterized in that at least one of the components of the main body of the device is made of foamed polypropylene.   The vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein at least one insert fixed to the body of the device is made of foamed polypropylene.   6. The vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein the main body of the vacuum cleaner comprises a lower main body (1) and an upper main body (2), at least the lower main body (1) being made of foamed polypropylene. Vacuum cleaner as described in   4. Vacuum cleaning according to claim 3, characterized in that the lower body (1), the upper body (2), the lid (3) and the transport handle (6) of the vacuum cleaner are made of foamed polypropylene. Machine.   2. Vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, characterized in that the indicator, the control unit (5) and the moving body (9) are made of polypropylene.   6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising at least one assembly between one part made of expanded polypropylene and another part obtained by deformation of the expanded polypropylene part. Vacuum cleaner.   The vacuum cleaner according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the expanded polypropylene contains 40 to 80 g of material per liter.

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