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EP-4356807-B1 - CLEANER STATION AND CLEANER SYSTEM

EP4356807B1EP 4356807 B1EP4356807 B1EP 4356807B1EP-4356807-B1

Inventors

  • JANG, JAEWON
  • LEE, SANGIK
  • Hyun, Kietak
  • SONG, HYUNSUP

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20220616

Claims (15)

  1. A cleaner station (100) comprising: a housing (110); a coupling part (120) disposed in the housing (110) and including a coupling surface (121) to which at least a part of a cleaner (200) may be coupled; a dust collecting part (170) accommodated in the housing (110), disposed below the coupling part (120), and configured to capture dust in a dust bin (220) of the cleaner (200); a dust collecting motor (191) accommodated in the housing (110), disposed below the dust collecting part (170), and configured to generate a suction force for sucking the dust in the dust bin (220); a door unit (140) including a door (141) hingedly coupled to the coupling surface (121) to open or close a dust passage hole (121a) formed in the coupling surface (121); and a flow path part (180) provided in a flow path tube (185) disposed in the housing (110), the flow path part (180) being configured to connect the dust bin (220) of the cleaner (200) and the dust collecting part (170), characterized in that the door unit (140) comprises a scraper (145) coupled to the door (141) and configured to come into contact with at least a part of the flow path tube (185) when the door (141) blocks the dust passage hole (121a).
  2. The cleaner station (100) of claim 1, wherein the door (141) comprises: a first door (141a) hingedly coupled to the coupling surface (121); and a second door (141b) hingedly coupled to the first door (141a), and wherein the scraper (145) is coupled to the second door (141b) and protrudes downward from the second door (141b).
  3. The cleaner station (100) of claim 1, wherein the door (141) comprises: a first door (141a) hingedly coupled to the coupling surface (121); and a second door (141b) hingedly coupled to the first door (141a), wherein the second door (141b) comprises: a second door main body (141ba) hingedly coupled to the first door (141a); and a second door outer wall surface (141bb) formed at an outer end of the second door main body (141ba) and configured to face a sidewall (121b) of the dust passage hole (121a) when the door (141) blocks the dust passage hole (121a), and wherein the scraper (145) is coupled to the second door outer wall surface (141bb) and protrudes outward from the second door outer wall surface (141bb).
  4. The cleaner station (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the scraper (125) comprises: a door coupling part (145a) coupled to an outer peripheral surface of the door (141); a first scraper (145b) protruding and extending outward from the door coupling part (145); and a second scraper (145c) protruding from the door coupling part (145) in parallel with the first scraper (145b).
  5. The cleaner station (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the scraper (145) is a squeegee.
  6. The cleaner station (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the scraper (2145) comprises: a door coupling part (2145a) coupled to an outer peripheral surface of the door (141); a friction part (2145b) configured to rub against the flow path tube (185) when the door (145) blocks the dust passage hole (121a); and a connection part (2145c) configured to connect the door coupling part (2145a) and the friction part (2145b) and define a space therein.
  7. The cleaner station (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the scraper (145; 2145; 3145) is made of a felt material.
  8. The cleaner station (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the scraper (145; 2145; 3145) comprises a brush.
  9. The cleaner station (100) of claim 4, wherein the scraper (1145) further comprises a blade (1145d) provided between the first scraper (1145b) and the second scraper (1145c).
  10. The cleaner station (100) of claim 4, wherein the second scraper (1145) comprises a plurality of scraper teeth (1145ca) protruding and disposed in parallel at predetermined intervals along the outer peripheral surface of the door (141).
  11. The cleaner station (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the flow path part (180) comprises: a first flow path (181a) configured to communicate with an internal space of the dust bin (220) when the dust passage hole (121a) is opened; and a second flow path (181b) formed at a predetermined angle with respect to the first flow path (181a) and configured to allow the first flow path (181a) and an internal space of the dust collecting part (170) to communicate with each other, and wherein the scraper (145; 1145; 2145; 3145) comes into contact with at least a part of a first flow path tube (185a), which constitutes the first flow path (181a), when the door blocks the dust passage hole (121a).
  12. The cleaner station (100) according to any one of claim 1 to 11, wherein the flow path part (180) comprises: a first flow path (181a) penetrated by a longitudinal axis of the dust bin (220) in a state in which the cleaner (200) is coupled to the cleaner station (100); and a second flow path (181b) configured to communicate with the first flow path (181a) and penetrated by a longitudinal axis of the cleaner station (100), wherein the longitudinal axis of the dust bin (220) and the longitudinal axis of the cleaner station (100) are configured to intersect each other in the state in which the cleaner (100) is coupled to the cleaner station (100), and wherein the scraper (145; 1145; 2145; 3145) comes into contact with at least a part of a first flow path tube (185a), which constitutes the first flow path (181a), when the door (141) blocks the dust passage hole (121a).
  13. The cleaner station (100) of claim 11 or 12, wherein the scraper (145) is made of a material configured to allow the scraper (145) to be elastically deformed while coming into contact with the first flow path tube (185a) and generate friction between the scraper (145) and the first flow path tube (185a).
  14. The cleaner station (100) of claim 4, wherein the first scraper (145b) is disposed to be closer to the dust passage hole (121a) than the second scraper (145c) to the dust passage hole (121a).
  15. A cleaner system (10) comprising: a cleaner (200) including a suction part (212) having a suction flow path through which air flows, a main body (210) having a dust separating part (213) having at least one cyclone part, and a dust bin (220) configured to store dust separated by the dust separating part (213); and a cleaner station (100) including a dust collecting part (170) configured to capture the dust in the dust bin (220), a dust collecting motor (191) configured to generate a suction force for sucking the dust in the dust bin (220) into the dust collecting part (191), and a housing (110) configured to accommodate the dust collecting part (170) and the dust collecting motor (191) in a longitudinal direction, wherein a longitudinal axis of the dust bin (220) and a longitudinal axis of the cleaner station (100) intersect each other in a state in which the cleaner (200) is coupled to the cleaner station (100), and characterized by a scraper (145; 1145; 2145; 3145) coupled to a door (141) of the cleaner station (100) rubs against at least a part of a flow path tube (185), which constitutes a flow path part (180), when the door of the cleaner station (100) is closed.

Description

[Technical Field] The present invention of relates to a cleaner station and a cleaner system, and more particularly, to a cleaner station and a cleaner system, which are capable of sucking dust, which is stored in a cleaner, into the cleaner station and removing foreign substances remaining at the periphery of a cleaner door. [Background Art] In general, a cleaner refers to an electrical appliance that draws in small garbage or dust by sucking air using electricity and fills a dust bin provided in a product with the garbage or dust. Such a cleaner is generally called a vacuum cleaner. The cleaners may be classified into a manual cleaner which is moved directly by a user to perform a cleaning operation, and an automatic cleaner which performs a cleaning operation while autonomously traveling. Depending on the shape of the cleaner, the manual cleaners may be classified into a canister cleaner, an upright cleaner, a handy cleaner, a stick cleaner, and the like. The canister cleaners were widely used in the past as household cleaners. However, recently, there is an increasing tendency to use the handy cleaner and the stick cleaner in which a dust bin and a cleaner main body are integrally provided to improve convenience of use. In the case of the canister cleaner, a main body and a suction port are connected by a rubber hose or pipe, and in some instances, the canister cleaner may be used in a state in which a brush is fitted into the suction port. The handy cleaner (hand vacuum cleaner) has maximized portability and is light in weight. However, because the handy cleaner has a short length, there may be a limitation to a cleaning region. Therefore, the handy cleaner is used to clean a local place such as a desk, a sofa, or an interior of a vehicle. A user may use the stick cleaner while standing and thus may perform a cleaning operation without bending his/her waist. Therefore, the stick cleaner is advantageous for the user to clean a wide region while moving in the region. The handy cleaner may be used to clean a narrow space, whereas the stick cleaner may be used to clean a wide space and also used to a high place that the user's hand cannot reach. Recently, modularized stick cleaners are provided, such that types of cleaners are actively changed and used to clean various places. In addition, recently, a robot cleaner, which autonomously performs a cleaning operation without a user's manipulation, is used. The robot cleaner automatically cleans a zone to be cleaned by sucking foreign substances such as dust from the floor while autonomously traveling in the zone to be cleaned. However, because the handy cleaner, the stick cleaner, or the robot cleaner in the related art has a dust bin with a small capacity for storing collected dust, which inconveniences the user because the user needs to empty the dust bin frequently. In addition, because the dust scatters during the process of emptying the dust bin, there is a problem in that the scattering dust has a harmful effect on the user's health. In addition, if residual dust is not removed from the dust bin, there is a problem in that a suction force of the cleaner deteriorates. In addition, if the residual dust is not removed from the dust bin, there is a problem in that the residual dust causes an offensive odor. As a document of the related art, Korean Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-2020-0074001 discloses a cleaning apparatus including a vacuum cleaner and a docking station. The cleaning apparatus disclosed in Korean Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-2020-0074001 includes the vacuum cleaner including a dust collecting container for collecting foreign substances, and the docking station connected to the dust collecting container and configured to remove the foreign substances collected in the dust collecting container. The dust collecting container is configured to be docked to the docking station, and the docking station includes a suction device configured to suck foreign substances and inside air in the dust collecting container docked to the docking station. In addition, Korean Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-2020-0074001 includes a trapping part disposed in the docking station and configured to trap foreign substances. However, according to Korean Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-2020-0074001, there is a problem in that after stopping the suction operation, the suction device (a suction fan) cannot remove foreign substances remaining at the periphery of a seating portion, to which the dust collecting container is coupled, and remaining in a suction flow path through which foreign substances are sucked. For this reason, a user experiences the inconvenience of having to manually remove residual dust with wet wipes or the like after the process of sucking foreign substances ends. In addition, the foreign substances may be accumulated in the docking station, which contaminates the interior of the docking station. Documents US2021/052121 and KR20110