Suction head for application in a vacuum cleaner

Abstract

In a suction head configured to be applied in a vacuum cleaner and to perform a cleaning action on a surface, and that includes a housing and two rotatable brushes in a substantially parallel arrangement in the housing, a surface of the housing facing the brushes having two adjacent concavely curved areas, wherein each of those areas covers a portion of a respective one of the brushes. Further, the surface is provided with an outlet opening that is in fluid communication with a coupling area of the suction head, and the outlet opening is at a position of an interface of the concavely curved areas and is dimensioned to cover only a portion of a length of the brushes.

1 . A suction head configured to be applied in a vacuum cleaner and to perform a cleaning action on a surface, the suction head comprising:
 a housing that includes a coupling area configured to enable coupling of the housing to an air suction source of the vacuum cleaner,   two brushes in a substantially parallel arrangement in the housing, wherein each of the two brushes is rotatable about a rotation axis and is configured to interact with the surface to be cleaned, and wherein each of the two brushes is designed to be capable to pick up liquids from the surface,   wherein a surface of the housing facing the two brushes comprises two adjacent concavely curved areas,   wherein each of the two adjacent concavely curved areas covers a portion of a respective one of the two brushes,   wherein the surface of the housing facing the two brushes is provided with an outlet opening that is in fluid communication with the coupling area, and   wherein the outlet opening is at a position of an interface of the two adjacent concavely curved areas and is dimensioned to cover only a portion of a dimension of the two brushes in a longitudinal direction (l) being the direction in which the rotation axes of the two brushes extend.   
     
     
         2 . The suction head of  claim 1 , wherein each of the two adjacent concavely curved areas of the surface of the housing facing the two brushes follows an operational outline of the portion of the respective one of the two brushes at a distance that is at most 10 mm. 
     
     
         3 . The suction head of  claim 2 , wherein each of the two adjacent concavely curved areas of the surface of the housing facing the two brushes follows the operational outline of the portion of the respective one of the two brushes at a distance in a range of 0 mm to 2 mm. 
     
     
         4 . The suction head of  claim 1 , wherein each of the two adjacent concavely curved areas of the surface of the housing facing the two brushes covers at least a portion of the respective one of the two brushes being a top half of the brush. 
     
     
         5 . The suction head of  claim 1 , wherein at least 65% of a dimension of each of the two brushes about the respective rotation axis is covered at a distance in a range of 0 mm to 2 mm. 
     
     
         6 . The suction head of  claim 1 , wherein each of the two adjacent concavely curved areas of the surface of the housing facing the two brushes covers the respective one of the two brushes along entire dimension of the brush in the longitudinal direction (l). 
     
     
         7 . The suction head of  claim 1 , wherein an operational shape of each of the two brushes is generally the shape of a cylinder having a circular periphery, wherein each of the two adjacent concavely curved areas of the surface of the housing facing the two brushes covers the respective one of the two brushes at the position of a portion of a curved operational outline thereof, and wherein the surface of the housing facing the two brushes also comprises areas covering the ends of the two brushes. 
     
     
         8 . The suction head of  claim 1 , further comprising an airflow directing component including a tube-shaped element that is in fluid communication with the outlet opening in the surface of the housing facing the two brushes, and wherein the tube-shaped element extends towards the coupling area. 
     
     
         9 . The suction head of  claim 8 , wherein the airflow directing component comprises fang-like parts being in fluid communication with the outlet opening in the surface of the housing and extending on sides of the tube-shaped element which are opposite sides in a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal direction (l) of the tube-shaped element, and at a position of the interface of the two adjacent concavely curved areas of the surface of the housing facing the two brushes. 
     
     
         10 . The suction head of  claim 8 , wherein a part of a wall of the tube-shaped element that is at a position above the outlet opening in the surface of the housing facing the two brushes is oriented non-perpendicular relative to a flow direction being an upward direction from the surface to be cleaned through the outlet opening and in between the two brushes. 
     
     
         11 . The suction head of  claim 10 , wherein the part of the wall of the tube-shaped element is generally arc-shaped as seen in a cross-section of the tube-shaped element at a position of the interface of the two adjacent concavely curved areas of the surface of the housing facing the two brushes. 
     
     
         12 . The suction head of  claim 1 , further comprising an elongated intermediate component that is located in an area between the two brushes, and wherein the elongated intermediate component comprises two concavely curved portions configured to cover portions of the two brushes. 
     
     
         13 . The suction head of  claim 12 , wherein the elongated intermediate component is suspended from a portion of the housing of the suction head at a position of the two adjacent concavely curved areas of the surface of the housing facing the two brushes. 
     
     
         14 . The suction head of  claim 1 , further comprising a wetting arrangement that is configured to enable a supply of liquid to at least one area of the surface to be cleaned and/or at least one area in the suction head. 
     
     
         15 . A cordless vacuum cleaner, comprising the suction head of  claim 1 .