Panasonic Corporation of North America

Gary P Charbonneau

Donald Eugene Proffitt

Eric J Streciwilk

Alan T Pullins

Michael S Yacobi

James Todd Crouch

Michael L Fry

Jason D Bowden

Nathan A Gogel

A floor cleaning apparatus includes a housing and a dirt collection vessel carried on that housing. The dirt collection vessel includes a first air inlet, a second air inlet, a dirt collection chamber, a filter chamber and a clean air outlet. A filter is received in the filter chamber. A suction generator is carried on the housing. The floor cleaning apparatus also includes a flow control valve assembly. The flow control valve assembly is selectively displaceable between a first or home position wherein dirt and debris are captured in the dirt collection vessel and a second or filter cleaning position wherein clean air is drawn through at least a portion of the filter to clean the filter. An activator is provided for automatically displacing the flow control valve assembly between the first and second positions.

Floor cleaning apparatus with filter cleaning system

A floor care apparatus has a housing with a wall having a contour. A flexible membrane circuit includes an adhesive side that attaches the circuit to the wall to generally follow the contour. A controller connects to the circuit and illuminates a visual indicator as a relative function of the cleanliness or dirtiness of a signal of a dirt sensor connected to the controller. A motor is also controlled by the controller as a relative function of the dirt sensor signal. Further, the flexible membrane circuit includes a side opposite the adhesive side to friction fit the visual indicator against the housing. Preferably, the visual indicator includes a plurality of colors, from light emitting diodes, wherein the side opposite the adhesive side of the circuit connects to the light emitting diodes.

Floor care apparatus having visual dirt indicator with flexible membrane circuit

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Clifton Park, NY, United States of America

Gary P Charbonneau