Information about Vacuum Cleaner Parts and Accessories

Vacuum cleaners work on the principle of suction. It uses an air pump to create a vacuum inside the pipe, which results in the sucking up of air from the atmosphere. The air, along with it, brings in the dirt and dust from the floors or carpets.

• Intake Embrasure - The intake port should be narrow for efficient suction of dust particles. As the speed of a vacuum cleaner is fixed, the volume of air passing through it in a certain duration of time would also remain constant.

• Irrespective of the size of the intake embrasure, the number of particles that go inside the machine remain the same, but, if the port is made smaller, the air particles will move faster, hence, the speed increases and the pressure decreases at a given place.

• The decrease in pressure leads to a greater suction force at the opening of the intake embrasure, and this enables it to suck heavier particles and perform better cleaning.

• Exhaust Embrasure - This is the opening through which air enters the vacuum cleaner. It should be noted that, the air that enters the machine is dust-filled, and the dust particles are then emptied into the vacuum bag.

• Electric Motor - The motor uses a magnet to create motion. Magnetic theory says that, like poles repel and unlike poles attract, therefore, inside the motor the forces of attraction and repulsion create a rotational motion.

Fan - The rotating fan creates a stream of moving air, which moves through the intake port and goes out of the exhaust embrasure. The air particles, when they move, create a frictional force between the dust particles and the air particles, hence, if the friction is strong enough and the dust particles are light, they are carried away by the moving air.

• Bag - Once the dust is sucked inside, it is accumulated in a porous bag. Air passes through the bag, which has pores big enough to let the air particles pass through, but retain the dust particles. These bags act as air filters. They are made of porous materials like cotton or paper.

In a nutshell, the motor works when it gets the supply of electricity. Since it is attached to the fan that has blades like a propeller, the fan rotates and the air is forced towards the exhaust port. The density simultaneously increases in front of the fan and decreases behind the fan.

The drop in pressure creates the suction that is required to pull the ambient air, along with the dust particles present. The air pressure inside the vacuum should be lower than the pressure outside, only then the air pushes itself through the intake post.

A vacuum cleaner can also act like a blower, which can blow the dry leaves off your garden or dust off your cupboard. This is made possible by not creating suction. Therefore, with its process reversed, the cleaner acts like a blower.