Vacuum cleaner and docking station for use with the same
AssigneeSharkNinja Operating LLC
InventorsDaniel J. Innes, Andre D. Brown, Jason B. Thorne, Kai Xu, Sam Liu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A docking station for a vacuum cleaner may include a receptacle configured to engage at least a portion of the vacuum cleaner such that, in response to engaging the receptacle, a vacuum cleaner flow path extending within the vacuum cleaner is transitioned from a cleaning flow path to an evacuation flow path, a suction motor of the vacuum cleaner being configured to urge air along the vacuum cleaner flow path and a docking station dust cup configured to receive debris from a vacuum cleaner dust cup of the vacuum cleaner.
Claims18
A docking station for a vacuum cleaner having a cleaner dust cup with a filter, the docking station comprising:
- a receptacle configured to engage at least a portion of the vacuum cleaner such that, in response to engaging the receptacle, a vacuum cleaner flow path extending within the vacuum cleaner is transitioned from a cleaning flow path to an evacuation flow path, wherein transitioning from the cleaning flow path to the evacuation flow path includes causing an evacuation hatch of the cleaner dust cup to open an evacuation opening of the cleaner dust cup and causing an inlet hatch of the cleaner dust cup to close an inlet of the cleaner dust cup, a suction motor of the vacuum cleaner being configured to urge air along the vacuum cleaner flow path, wherein air flowing along the evacuation flow path flows through the filter in a direction opposite to that of air flowing along the cleaning flow path;
- and
- a docking station dust cup configured to receive debris from the cleaner dust cup through the evacuation opening in response to the suction motor of the vacuum cleaner urging air along the evacuation flow path.
A vacuum cleaner configured to engage a docking station having a docking station dust cup, the vacuum cleaner comprising:
- a vacuum assembly configured such that, in response to the vacuum assembly engaging the docking station, a vacuum cleaner flow path extending within the vacuum assembly transitions from a cleaning flow path to an evacuation flow path, the vacuum assembly including:
- a vacuum cleaner dust cup having an inlet, an evacuation opening, an inlet hatch configured to selectively close the inlet, and an evacuation hatch configured to selectively close the evacuation opening, wherein, when the vacuum assembly is transitioned from the cleaning flow path to the evacuation flow path, the evacuation hatch is opened and the inlet hatch is closed;
- a filter;
- and
- a suction motor configured to urge air along the vacuum cleaner flow path, wherein, when the suction motor urges air to flow along the evacuation flow path, the air flows through the filter in a direction opposite to that of air flowing along the cleaning flow path and urges debris through the evacuation opening of the vacuum cleaner dust cup into the docking station dust cup.
A cleaning system comprising:
- a vacuum cleaner, the vacuum cleaner including a vacuum assembly, the vacuum assembly including:
- a vacuum cleaner dust cup having an inlet, an evacuation opening, an inlet hatch configured to selectively close the inlet, and an evacuation hatch configured to selectively close the evacuation opening;
- a filter;
- and
- a suction motor configured to urge air along a cleaning flow path;
- and
- a docking station, the docking station including:
- a receptacle configured to engage at least a portion of the vacuum cleaner such that, in response to at least a portion the vacuum cleaner engaging the receptacle, the cleaning flow path is transitioned to an evacuation flow path by transitioning the evacuation hatch to an open position and the inlet hatch to a closed position, the suction motor being further configured to urge air along the evacuation flow path, wherein air flowing along the evacuation flow path flows through the filter in a direction opposite to that of air flowing along the cleaning flow path;
- and
- a docking station dust cup configured to receive debris from the evacuation opening of the vacuum cleaner dust cup in response to the suction motor of the vacuum cleaner urging air along the evacuation flow path.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.