How Do Vacuum Cleaners Really Work?

Let's assume you already saw my post with the short how vacuum cleaners work video.

Now, take a look at the narrative explaining the vacuum cleaner's function and its major parts.

The vacuum cleaner is less complex than you imagine it to be. The standard vacuum cleaner is made up of six essential elements: consumption port,exhaust port, electric motor, fan, porous bag, and a housing that stores all of the other elements.

It is quite simple. Vacuum cleaners are electric. Well, all of the ones I have ever seen or read about are. So the first step is to plug the electric cord into the electric outlet. Here is what happens next:

1. The electricity powers the motor that is attached to the fan. The fan is shaped somewhat like a pinwheel, or airplane propeller.

2. When the fan blades start turning, they force air up and towards the exhaust opening.

3. Okay, here is a little bit of the physics of moving air. As the air is forced towards the exhaust port, the pressure in front of the fan will increases. The pressure behind the fan decreases.

Think about drinking liquid through a straw. As you suck on the straw the liquid comes into it and up the straw. The pressure in the area behind the fan drops below the level of that outside the "straw", or in the case of the vacuum, outside the vacuum cleaner.

That is what makes suction inside the vacuum cleaner. The outside air and dirt particles are pulled into the vacuum cleaner a bit like the liquid you are drinking through that straw.

4. The flow of air that the vacuum generates responds like a stream of water moving up your straw. Moving air will pick up light weight debris near the front of the vacuum cleaner.

5. As the dirt continues on to the exhaust port, it will pass through the cleaner bag. The tiny holes in the vacuum cleaner bag are big enough to let the air pass through. However, they are too small for the dust particles to escape. Therefore, when the air gets into the bag, the dirt and debris are deposited there.

6. How much suction a vacuum cleaner has depends on several factors.

• Fan Power
• Air passageway size and cleanness
• Size of intake port
• Speed of fan

If you remember that straw comparison. You can draw more of your drink through your straw if it is not clogged and if it has an opening large enough for the drink to pass through. The speed of your drinking will determine how much suction you are using on the straw, unless it is clogged.