Bagless non-concentric cyclones for vacuum cleaners

Abstract

A floor cleaning apparatus includes a body, a cyclonic dirt collection vessel and a suction generator. The cyclonic dirt collection vessel includes at least one non-concentric cyclone.

1 . A floor cleaning apparatus, comprising:
 a body;   a cyclonic dirt collection vessel carried on said body; and   a suction generator carried on said body;   said cyclonic dirt collection vessel including at least one non-concentric cyclone.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said at least one non-concentric cyclone includes a tangentially directed dirty air inlet, an axially directed clean air outlet and a dirt particle discharge outlet, a first centerline of said clean air outlet and a second centerline of said dirt particle discharge outlet forming an included angle of between about 8 and about 14 degrees. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said at least one non-concentric cyclone includes a tangentially directed dirty air inlet, an axially directed clean air outlet and a dirt particle discharge outlet, a first centerline of said clean air outlet and a second centerline of said dirt particle discharge outlet forming an included angle of about 10.9 degrees. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said at least one non-concentric cyclone includes a first tubular sidewall section, a second tubular sidewall section and a curved transition sidewall section connecting said first and second tubular sidewall sections. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein said first tubular sidewall section includes a tangentially directed dirty air inlet and an axially directed clean air outlet. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 5 , wherein said second tubular sidewall section includes a dirt particle discharge outlet. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , including multiple non-concentric cyclones radially arrayed around a central axis. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein said first tubular sections of said radially arrayed multiple non-concentric cyclones extend parallel to one another. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein said second tubular sections of said radially arrayed multiple non-concentric cyclones extend toward said central axis. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein each axially directed clean air outlet of each of said multiple non-concentric cyclones includes a first centerline and each particle discharge outlet of each of said multiple non-concentric cyclones includes a second centerline. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein said first and second centerlines of each of said multiple non-concentric cyclones forms an included angle of between about 8 and about 14 degrees. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein said first centerlines of said multiple non-concentric cyclones are all spaced a distance D 1  from said central axis. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein said distance D 1  is between about 11.0 and about 7.0 centimeters. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein said second centerlines at said dirt particle discharge outlets of said multiple non-concentric cyclones are all spaced a distance D 2  from said central axis where D 2 <D 1 . 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein said distance D 2  is between about 10.0 and about 6.0 centimeters. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein said cyclonic dirt collection vessel includes a primary cyclone having a primary cyclone chamber with a primary tangentially directed inlet and a primary axially directed outlet. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein said multiple non-concentric cyclones form a secondary cyclone assembly provided downstream from said primary cyclone where said primary axially directed outlet is connected to said tangentially directed dirty air inlets of said multiple non-concentric cyclones. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein said cyclonic dirt collection vessel includes a fine particle dirt collection chamber, said particle discharge outlets of said multiple non-concentric cyclones discharging fine dirt particles into said fine particle dirt collection chamber. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , wherein said fine particle dirt collection chamber is concentrically positioned within said primary cyclone chamber. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , further including a filter shroud covering said primary axially directed outlet.