Image courtesy of http://www.toonpool.com/
Don’t lie- I know there’s a small part of you that actually wonders how vacuum cleaners work. For that tiny part of you- I aim to please. Are you ready? Good, so am I.
So, let’s go over a brief history of the v-a-c-u-u-m. The very first version was designed in 1860, but was called the “carpet sweeper”… which sounds vaguely similar to a broom. Perhaps it’s a nice way of saying “we dressed the broom for Halloween. Do you know what its name is?!” Needless to say, it hardly resembles the modern electric vacuum. Over the next century and a half, innovators racked their brains and made upgrades to the vacuum that would dramatically improve its performance.
As a result, there are now hundreds of vacuum cleaners (of all pretty shapes and sizes) made by dozens of manufacturers. This cleaning tool has become a part of practically every modern household and a great house warming gift to boot. The original concepts were so simple that they required no power to function outside the pushing of the device itself. So, how do vacuum cleaners work?
As the name “vacuum” implies, the suction that is created by this powerful cleaning device relies on a simple law of physics: nature abhors a vacuum. When a vacuum or, more commonly, a partial vacuum, defined as an area lacking any air pressure, is created, the air in the surrounding area will react by shifting in a way that aims to equalize that air pressure. This is a simple attempt for the air to return to a normalized state, eliminating the dissonance caused by the unequal air pressure. It is this dissonance that creates the suction for a number of simple inventions, including items like straws, airplane propellers, and vacuum cleaners.
….did I lose you yet?
So, how is this vacuum of air created by a vacuum cleaner?
This complex device, despite all the extras, actually achieves this function using only a couple of major parts. At the very base of the vacuum is an opening, known as the intake port, which covers the area that you intend to vacuum. Above the intake port and behind the rotating brush that you’ll find in most vacuums, is a propeller shaped fan powered by an electric motor.
- Electric motor begins spinning
- Fan twirls at rapid pace
- Spinning reduces air pressure to internal portions of the vacuum cleaner.
To try to compensate for this lower air pressure, the higher density air near the intake port will shift almost instantaneously, lifting dust, dirt, and small objects with it. Due to the rotating brush near the intake of the vacuum, more dust and dirt will be coming along, since it has been kicked up from the carpet by the brush’s movements. The dust and dirt then travels to the bag area, or another containment area if you’re using a bagless vacuum. The air itself moves out towards the exhaust port located above the vacuum’s bag, but the dust and dirt are trapped inside.
How is that dust and dirt trapped?
A standard vacuum filtration system will pass the dust-filled air through a porous bag that has pores big enough for the air to pass through, but small enough for dirt and dust particles to be trapped. Another technology that is used in some vacuums is a static filter, which uses static electricity to pull the dust and dirt into the vacuum’s filtration system.
And THAT, my friends, is how a vacuum works. Now go clean something and make your house pretty, so that you can do some amazing upgrades and live in the house of your dreams. 