The present invention relates to a suction head of a vacuum cleaner, and more particularly, to a suction head of a vacuum cleaner capable of smoothly sucking dust.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, an upright type vacuum cleaner in accordance with the conventional art comprises: a body 1 having an accommodation space therein; a handgrip 6 installed at an upper side of the body 1; a fan motor 2 installed in the body 1 and generating a suction force; a filter 3 arranged at a suction side of the fan motor 2 and filtering dust; a dust chamber 4 for accommodating the filter 3 and dust filtered by the filter 3; and a suction head 5 connected to the dust chamber 4 by a connection hose 7, for sucking external dust by an operation of the fan motor 2.

The suction head 5 includes: a housing 10 provided with a suction port 11 having a structure opened towards a floor; a suction duct 14 for collecting dust sucked by the suction port 11; a connection pipe 15 for connecting the suction duct 14 and the connection hose 7; a brush 13 rotatably installed at an inner side of the suction port 11 and having a plurality of bristles 12 at an outer surface thereof, for collecting dust on a floor with being rotated; a driving motor 16 for providing a driving force to rotate the brush 13; and a rotational force transmitting mechanism for transmitting a rotational force of the driving motor 16 to the brush 13. The rotational force transmitting mechanism is composed of a driving pulley 17 connected to a motor shaft of the driving motor 16, a driven pulley 18 installed at an outer circumference of the brush 13, and a belt 19 for connecting the driving pulley 17 and the driven pulley 18.

In the conventional vacuum cleaner, when a power source is applied to the vacuum cleaner, a suction force is generated at the suction port 11 of the suction head 5 by a suction force generated at the fan motor 2. By the suction force, dust on a floor is sucked through the suction port 11 thus to be introduced into the body 1 through the suction duct 14, the connection pipe 15, and the connection hose 7.

At this time, when the driving motor 16 is rotated, a rotational force of the driving motor 16 is transmitted to the brush 13 through the driving pulley 17, the belt 19, and the driven pulley 18 and thereby the brush 13 is rotated by 360°. As the brush 13 is rotated, the bristles 12 installed on an outer surface of the brush 13 separate dust from the floor thereby to facilitate a suction of dust attached on the floor.

However, in the suction head 5 of the conventional vacuum cleaner, the brush 13 is rotated by 360° in a single direction. According to this, the bristles 12 of the brush 13 brush the floor in a single direction thereby to have a limitation in brushing the floor.

US Patent No.4,430,768 discloses an agitator structure for suction cleaners having an oscillating brush. US Patent No.4,426,751 discloses a vacuum cleaner nozzle having two brushes rotated in opposite directions.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a suction head of a vacuum cleaner capable of enhancing a cleaning function by constructing a brush installed in a suction port to reciprocatingly rotate within a predetermined angle.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a suction head of a vacuum cleaner capable of properly sucking brushed dust into a body by constructing a brush to be respectively provided with a suction duct at both sides of a brushing direction of a floor.

To achieve these and other advantages and In accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, there is provided a suction head of a vacuum cleaner as set out in claim 1.

The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.

In the drawings:

• Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an upright type vacuum cleaner in accordance with the conventional art;
• Fig. 2 is a cross-section view showing a suction head of the vacuum cleaner in accordance with the conventional art;
• Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing an upright type vacuum cleaner according to the present invention;
• Fig. 4 is a cross-section view showing a suction head of the vacuum cleaner according to the present invention;
• Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing a brush and a brush driving device provided at the suction head of the vacuum cleaner according to the present invention;
• Fig. 6 is a frontal view showing the suction head of the vacuum cleaner according to the present invention;
• Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken along line VII-VII of Fig. 6; and
• Figs. 8 and 9 are sectional views showing an operation state of the suction head of the vacuum cleaner according to the present invention.

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, an upright type vacuum cleaner according to the present invention comprises: a body 1 having an accommodation space therein; a handgrip 6 installed at an upper side of the body 1; a fan motor 2 installed in the body 1 and generating a suction force; a filter 3 arranged at a suction side of the fan motor 2 and filtering dust; a dust chamber 4 for accommodating the filter 3 and dust filtered by the filter 3; and a suction head 100 connected to the dust chamber 4 by a connection hose 7, for sucking external dust by an operation of the fan motor 2.

The suction head 100 includes: a housing 110 provided with a suction port 20 having a structure opened towards a floor; a cylindrical brush 30 rotatably installed in the suction port 20 and having a plurality of bristles 31 arranged in a longitudinal direction thereof; a brush driving device 40 for reciprocatingly rotating the brush 30 forwardly and backwardly within a range of a predetermined angle; a first suction duct 50 having an inlet 51 positioned corresponding to a direction of dust movement when the brush 30 rotates in a forward direction; a second suction duct 60 having an inlet 61 positioned corresponding to a direction of dust movement when the brush 30 rotates in a backward direction; and a connection pipe 115 for connecting the first suction duct 50 and the second suction duct 60 to the connection hose 7.

The bristles 31 are uniformly installed on the brush 30 in a longitudinal direction of the brush 30 as a plurality of rows.

As shown in Fig. 5, the brush driving device 40 is composed of: a driving motor 41 for providing a driving force; and a driving force transmitting unit 42 for transmitting a driving force of the driving motor 41 to the brush 30 so that the brush 30 can be reciprocatingly rotated within a range of a predetermined angle.

The driving force transmitting unit 42 is composed of: a rotary link 44 fixed to a motor shaft 43 of the driving motor 41 and coaxially rotated together with the motor shaft 43; a hinge bracket 45 installed at one side of an outer circumferential surface of the brush 30; and a connecting rod 46 of which one end is hingedly connected to the rotary link 44 at a position eccentric from a rotation center of the rotary link 44 and of which another end is hingedly connected to the hinge bracket 45 thus to perform an angular reciprocating motion by a rotation of the rotary link 44.

The driving force transmitting unit 42 converts a rotation motion of the motor shaft 43 of the driving motor 41 into a forward reciprocating rotation and a backward reciprocating rotation of the brush 30.

As shown in Figs. 6 and 7, the inlet 51 of the first suction duct 50 is arranged at a rear side of the brush 30 and extended to a rear side of the housing 110, and an outlet 52 of the first suction duct 50 is connected to the connection pipe 115.

When the brush 30 is forwardly rotated, that is, the brush 30 is rotated counterclockwise as shown in Fig. 7, the first suction duct 50 serves as a flow path of dust brushed by the bristles 31 thus to be moved to the rear side of the suction port 20.

Meanwhile, it is preferred that the inlet 51 of the first suction duct 50 is curvedly formed toward the suction port 20 for more effective suction of air.

The inlet 61 of the second suction duct 60 is arranged to be opened towards a floor at the front side of the brush 30 and is extended along an upper circumference of the suction port 20, and an outlet 62 of the second suction duct 60 is connected to the first suction duct 50.

When the brush 30 is backwardly rotated, that is, the brush 30 is rotated clockwise as shown in Fig. 7, the second suction duct 60 serves as a flow path of dust brushed by the bristles 31 thus to be moved to the front side of the suction port 20.

Preferably, a width in right and left directions of the inlet 61 of the second suction duct 60 is substantially same as a width in right and left directions of the suction port 20 in order to increase an area of a duct into which dust is sucked.

In order to increase a suction force inside the duct, a width in right and left directions of the second suction duct 60 is gradually decreased from the inlet 61 towards the outlet 62. According to this, a width in front and rear directions of the suction duct 60 is gradually decreased towards both sides of the second suction duct 60 (refer to Fig. 4).

Preferably, a guide portion 70 is formed at the outlet 62 of the second suction duct 60, for guiding air passing through the second suction duct 60 toward the first suction duct 50. The guide portion 70 maintains constant pressure and regular flow of air which flows from the second suction duct 60 to the first suction duct 50.

The guide portion 70 may be protruded from an inner wall of the second suction duct 60, and the thickness of the guide portion 70 becomes smaller toward the first suction duct 50. It is preferred that both surfaces 72 and 74 of the guide portion 70, the surfaces 72 and 74 facing the first and second suction ducts 50 and 60 are curvedly formed.

Hereinafter, an operation of the suction head of the vacuum cleaner according to the present invention will be explained as follows. A motion direction of each member is explained with reference to the attached drawings, and the present invention is not limited to the motion direction.

When a power source is applied to the vacuum cleaner, a suction force is generated at the suction port 20 of the suction head 100 by a suction force generated by the fan motor 2. By the suction force, dust on a floor is sucked through the suction port 20 thus to be introduced into the dust chamber 4 of the body 1.

As shown in Figs. 8 and 9, a rotational force is generated at the driving motor 41. When the rotational force of the driving motor 41 is transmitted to the brush 30 through the driving force transmitting unit 42, the brush 30 is reciprocatingly rotated within a range of a predetermined angle.

As shown in Fig. 8, when the brush 30 is forwardly rotated, that is, the brush 30 is rotated counterclockwise, the bristles 31 brush dust on the floor towards the rear side of the suction port 20. According to this, most of brushed dust is introduced into the inlet 51 of the first suction duct 50 arranged at the rear side of the suction port 20.

As shown in Fig. 9, when the brush 30 is backwardly rotated, that is, the brush 30 is rotated clockwise, the bristles 31 brush dust on the floor towards the front side of the suction port 20. According to this, most of brushed dust is introduced into the inlet 61 of the second suction duct 60 arranged at the front side of the suction port 20. Then, the dust flows along the second suction duct 60, and is introduced into the first suction duct 50 through the outlet 62 of the second suction duct 60.

The dust introduced into the first suction duct 50 and the second suction duct 60 is introduced into the connection pipe 115, and then is introduced into the dust chamber 4 of the body 1 through the connection hose 7. The dust filtered by the filter 3 inside the dust chamber 4 remains in the dust chamber 4, and the air filtered by the filter 3 is exhausted to outside of the body 1.

The suction head 100 of the vacuum cleaner according to the present invention is constructed so that the brush 30 can be reciprocatingly rotated within a range of a predetermined angle. According to this, an entire area occupied by the suction head 100 can be evenly brushed.

Also, the first suction duct 50 and the second suction duct 60 for introducing dust are respectively provided at both sides of a direction that the brush 30 brushes the floor. According to this, brushed dust can be smoothly sucked into the body 1.

Additionally, the width of right and left directions of the second suction duct 60 arranged at the front side of the suction port 20 is substantially same as the width of right and left directions of the suction port 20, and the width of right and left directions of the second suction duct 60 is gradually decreased from the inlet 61 towards the outlet 62. According to this, the entire region that the second suction duct 60 passes can be smoothly cleaned by using a proper suction force.

As the present invention may be embodied in several forms without departing from its scope defined by the claims, it should also be understood that the above-described embodiments are not limited by any of the details of the foregoing description, unless otherwise specified.