Handheld vacuum attachment with ultraviolet light
AssigneeOreck Holdings, LLC
InventorsErnest Matthew Chavana, JR., Steven Wayne Myers
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vacuum cleaner attachment and a method of control of the vacuum cleaner attachment are described. The vacuum cleaner attachment comprises an ultraviolet light source to irradiate and disinfect various cleaning surfaces. Various embodiments of the attachment include one or more safety features concerning activation, enabling, and disabling of the ultraviolet light source based on various parameters such as distance between the attachment and a cleaning surface, time that such a distance is greater than a predetermined time period, and temperature of the ultraviolet light source in order to enable safe and effective operation of the attachment.
Claims25
A vacuum cleaner attachment for cleaning surfaces, the attachment comprising:
- an ultraviolet light source to irradiate a cleaning surface;
- a proximity sensor to generate a distance signal representing the distance between a point on the vacuum cleaner attachment and the cleaning surface;
- a timer to obtain a time period during which the determined distance is greater than a predetermined distance;
- and
- a control circuit
- to receive the distance signal,
- to determine a distance based on the distance signal,
- to compare the distance with a predetermined distance, and
- to measure a time period during which the determined distance is greater than a predetermined distance;
- wherein the control circuit disables the ultraviolet lamp when the time period is greater than a predetermined time period and the predetermined time period is greater than zero seconds.
A method of cleaning a surface with a vacuum cleaner attachment comprising:
- irradiating a cleaning surface with an ultraviolet light;
- determining a distance between a point on the vacuum cleaner attachment and the cleaning surface;
- measuring the time period that the distance determined by the proximity sensor is greater than a predetermined distance;
- and
- disabling the ultraviolet light source during the time when the measured time period is greater than a predetermined time period.
The method of claim 22 wherein the ultraviolet light source is enabled when the determined temperature is less than 85° C.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.