US-12622561-B2 - Vacuum cleaner and docking station for use with the same

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.

Inventors

• Daniel J. INNES
• Andre D. BROWN
• Jason B. Thorne
• Kai Xu
• Sam Liu

Assignees

• SHARKNINJA OPERATING LLC

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20250930

Claims (20)

1. 1 . A vacuum cleaner having a vacuum longitudinal axis extending lengthwise, the vacuum cleaner comprising: an air inlet; an air outlet; an airflow pathway extending between the air inlet and the air outlet; a motor operable to move air along the airflow pathway from the air inlet downstream toward the air outlet; a debris separator arranged between the air inlet and the motor along the vacuum longitudinal axis, the debris separator comprising: a debris collection chamber having a chamber longitudinal axis extending lengthwise parallel to the vacuum longitudinal axis; a clean air chamber arranged downstream of and lateral to the debris collection chamber; and an elongate filter arranged parallel to the chamber longitudinal axis, the elongate filter extending coaxially with a longitudinal axis of the motor, the elongate filter laterally separating the debris collection chamber and the clean air chamber, wherein the elongate filter comprises an arcuate cross section including a first side facing the debris collection chamber and a second side downstream of the first side facing the clean air chamber, wherein the air flows from the first side of the elongate filter to the second side of the elongate filter along the airflow pathway to catch at least some of debris in the elongate filter; a wiper configured to move relative to the elongate filter to dislodge debris from the elongate filter; and a battery.
2. 2 . The vacuum cleaner of claim 1 , wherein the elongate filter comprises a mesh filter.
3. 3 . The vacuum cleaner of claim 1 , wherein the wiper moves parallel to the chamber longitudinal axis to dislodge debris from the elongate filter.
4. 4 . The vacuum cleaner of claim 1 , further comprising a cylindrical-shape, elongate handle, wherein when the vacuum cleaner is in a stored configuration where the vacuum longitudinal axis is perpendicular to a surface of a floor, the motor is arranged above the debris separator and the elongate handle is arranged above the motor.
5. 5 . The vacuum cleaner of claim 1 , further comprising a wand, the wand including a wand longitudinal axis extending from a first end of the wand to a second end of the wand opposite the first end, the first end of the wand providing the air inlet, and the wand longitudinal axis parallel to the vacuum longitudinal axis and the chamber longitudinal axis.
6. 6 . The vacuum cleaner of claim 5 , further comprising a surface cleaning head, wherein the surface cleaning head is removably couplable to the first end of the wand to fluidly connect the air inlet to the surface cleaning head.
7. 7 . The vacuum cleaner of claim 6 , wherein the surface cleaning head comprises one or more rotatable agitators to engage a floor surface.
8. 8 . The vacuum cleaner of claim 7 , wherein the one or more rotatable agitators are powered.
9. 9 . The vacuum cleaner of claim 1 , wherein the elongate filter extends along more than half of a longitudinal length of the debris separator.
10. 10 . The vacuum cleaner of claim 1 , wherein the elongate filter extends along substantially all of a longitudinal length of the clean air chamber.
11. 11 . A vacuum cleaner comprising: a vacuum longitudinal axis extending lengthwise; a debris separator arranged along the vacuum longitudinal axis, the debris separator comprising: an air inlet; a filter; a dust cup; and a clean air chamber downstream of the dust cup, the filter laterally separating the dust cup and the clean air chamber, wherein the filter comprises an arcuate cross section including a debris collection side and a clean side downstream of the debris collection side, the debris collection side of the filter facing the dust cup and the clean side of the filter facing the clean air chamber; a motor configured to urge air along an airflow pathway through the air inlet and the debris separator, wherein the airflow pathway flows from the debris collection side of the filter to the clean side of the filter such that at least some of debris is caught by the debris collection side, the motor positioned coaxially with a longitudinal axis of the filter along the vacuum longitudinal axis; and a wiper configured to dislodge debris from the debris collection side of the filter.
12. 12 . The vacuum cleaner of claim 11 , further comprising a wand configured to couple to the air inlet at a first end of the wand, the wand comprising a longitudinal axis extending from the first end of the wand to a second end of the wand opposite the first end.
13. 13 . The vacuum cleaner of claim 12 , further comprising a surface cleaning head configured to couple to the second end of the wand to fluidly connect the air inlet to the surface cleaning head.
14. 14 . The vacuum cleaner of claim 13 , further comprising an elongate, cylindrical handle arranged at a first end of the vacuum cleaner opposite the surface cleaning head.
15. 15 . The vacuum cleaner of claim 14 , wherein the elongate, cylindrical handle is arranged above the motor and the motor is arranged above the debris separator when vacuum longitudinal axis is oriented perpendicular to a floor surface and the surface cleaning head rests on the floor surface.
16. 16 . The vacuum cleaner of claim 15 , wherein the elongate, cylindrical handle is angled relative to the longitudinal axis of the debris separator.
17. 17 . A vacuum cleaner for removing debris from a surface, the vacuum cleaner comprising: an airflow within the vacuum cleaner from a dirty air inlet to a clean air outlet; a front end proximate the dirty air inlet; a rear end opposite the front end; a surface cleaning head configured to removably couple to the front end to provide fluid communication between the surface cleaning head and the dirty air inlet; an axially extending air treatment chamber partitioned into a debris collection side and a clean air side by a filtration assembly arranged parallel to a longitudinal axis of the air treatment chamber, the filtration assembly comprising a particulate filter and a mesh filter, the filtration assembly arranged downstream of and lateral to the debris collection side and upstream of and lateral to the clean air side, the filtration assembly axially extending along the air treatment chamber and including an arcuate cross section; a suction motor operable to move air along the airflow, the particulate filter and the mesh filter extending coaxially with a longitudinal axis of the motor; a wiper linearly movable along the filtration assembly to dislodge debris; and an axially extending handle proximate the rear end.
18. 18 . The vacuum cleaner of claim 17 , further comprising a wand to couple the dirty air inlet to the surface cleaning head, the wand comprising a longitudinal axis extending from a first end of the wand to a second end of the wand opposite the first end, the longitudinal axis of the wand oriented parallel to the longitudinal axis of the air treatment chamber.
19. 19 . The vacuum cleaner of claim 17 , wherein the filtration assembly extends along more than half of a longitudinal length of the air treatment chamber.
20. 20 . The vacuum cleaner of claim 17 , wherein the filtration assembly extends along substantially all of a longitudinal length of the clean air side of the air treatment chamber.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/662,809, filed May 13, 2024, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/864,538, filed May 1, 2020, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/841,548 filed on May 1, 2019, entitled Docking Station for Vacuum Cleaner, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. Any and all applications, if any, for which a foreign or domestic priority claim is identified in the Application Data Sheet of the present application is hereby incorporated by reference under 37 CFR 1.57. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure is generally related to surface treatment apparatuses and more specifically related to vacuum cleaners and docking stations for use therewith. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Surface treatment apparatuses can include upright vacuum cleaners configured to be transitionable between a storage position and an in-use position. Upright vacuum cleaners can include a suction motor configured to draw air into an air inlet of the upright vacuum cleaner such that debris deposited on a surface can be urged into the air inlet. At least a portion of the debris urged into the air inlet can be deposited within a dust cup of the upright vacuum cleaner for later disposal. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other features and advantages will be better understood by reading the following detailed description, taken together with the drawings, wherein: FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of an example of a vacuum cleaner, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of an example of the vacuum cleaner of FIG. 1 engaging an example of a docking station, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an example of a vacuum cleaner, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an example of a docking station configured to engage, for example, the vacuum cleaner of FIG. 3, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 5 is another perspective view of the docking station of FIG. 4, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 6 is another perspective view of the docking station of FIG. 4, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 7 is another perspective view of the docking station of FIG. 4, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the docking station of FIG. 4 engaging the vacuum cleaner of FIG. 3, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the docking station and vacuum cleaner of FIG. 8, wherein a vacuum assembly of the vacuum cleaner is decoupled from a wand extension and surface cleaning head of the vacuum cleaner, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the vacuum cleaner of FIG. 3, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 11A is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the vacuum cleaner of FIG. 3 engaging the docking station of FIG. 4, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 11B shows an example of an actuatable valve in a cleaning position, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 11C shows an example of the actuatable valve of FIG. 11B in an evacuation position, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 11D shows a magnified schematic view of an example of an evacuation hatch in a closed position, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 11E shows a magnified schematic view of an example of the evacuation hatch of FIG. 11D in an open position, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 12 is another cross-sectional view of a portion of the vacuum cleaner of FIG. 3 engaging the docking station of FIG. 4, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the vacuum cleaner of FIG. 3 showing a wiper configured to move relative to a filter medium, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 14A is a perspective view of a vacuum cleaner engaging a docking station, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 14B is a schematic example of the vacuum cleaner engaging the docking station of FIG. 14A, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view of the vacuum cleaner of FIG. 14A, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view of the vacuum cleaner of FIG. 14A engaging the docking station of FIG. 14A, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 17 is another cross-sectional view of the vacuum cleaner of FIG. 14A engaging the docking station of FIG. 14A, consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 18 is a magnified cross-sectional view