Patented vacuum cleaner technology

 

Vacuum cleaners began to be distributed in Korea in the late 1980s. Although vacuum cleaners are needed for each house, they do not require high technology, so once they are purchased, they are unlikely to be replaced. For this reason, old vacuum cleaners could be seen in every house, and there was not much difference between the old vacuum cleaners and the modern ones. Then, in 2014, when the British company Dyson entered Korea, the vacuum cleaner market began to change significantly. Dyson shocked the industry worldwide by creating a new market for bagless cordless vacuums. Since then, a new field of cordless vacuum cleaners has emerged, and the growth rate is growing at a rate of 3-40% every year.

 

Dyson created the wireless vacuum cleaner market,

Dyson is regarded as one of the companies that has had a major impact on the home appliances trend of the 21st century. Only the appearance of a wireless vacuum cleaner without a dust bag, a fan without a blade, and a hair dryer without a sound is causing a big change in the industry. It started with a cordless vacuum cleaner. Dyson's founder, James Dyson, disassembled a poor vacuum and found that the bag's suction power decreased with use. Afterwards, a cyclone method was applied to the vacuum cleaner to separate dust and air without a dust bag. After more than 5,000 prototypes, he invented the world's first bagless vacuum cleaner. After that, Dyson's cordless vacuum cleaner achieved the No. 1 spot in UK vacuum cleaner sales 18 months after its launch, and began to change the world market.

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EP 1039828 B1, Dyson's cordless vacuum cleaner patent filed in 1997.
Which titled "A Handle for a vacuum cleaner"

LG regains No. 1 market share in Korea,

Since Dyson entered Korea, the proportion of sales of cordless vacuum cleaners has risen sharply, exceeding that of wired vacuum cleaners in 2016. The domestic vacuum cleaner industry, which has rapidly lost market share, hastily started developing cordless vacuum cleaners. But it took a long time to catch up with Dyson. It wasn't until 2018 that a competing product could be launched, but Dyson was already holding the market. However, LG did not stop there and succeeded in taking another leap forward by creating products tailored to Korean consumers. Korean customers with Ondol (Korean floor heating system) culture had a need for mop cleaning, and LG launched a cordless vacuum cleaner with a wet mop function without missing out on this point. After the product was launched, LG quickly increased its market share and achieved the No. 1 market share in the wireless vacuum cleaner market in about six months.

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KR 10-1634905 B, LG's patent for vacuum cleaner and water cleaning device, 
titled "Cleaner and water cleaning device"

⏫ drawing of water storage part

 

Samsung chasing with the docking station,

Samsung has developed vacuum cleaners in a different direction from LG. Usually, when you empty the dust bin of a cordless vacuum cleaner, you have to throw it out by hand. At this time, there was a lot of inconvenience because dust was spread out in the air. Samsung came up with a docking station to empty the dust bin to make it cleaner. Since the launch of the docking station, Samsung's wireless vacuum cleaner sales have doubled. However, the high price of the docking station and the need for a dedicated dust bag are pointed out as a disadvantage that the maintenance cost is continuously incurred.

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KR10-2020-0074055 A, Samsung's patent,
"Cleaning device having vacuum cleaner and docking station"

⏫ drawing of docking station

 What's next for a cordless vacuum cleaner?

The vacuum cleaner market has changed rapidly with the advent of cordless vacuum cleaners. However, as time passed, the scope of change diminished, and people's eyes began to turn elsewhere. Robot vacuum cleaners are currently attracting the most attention. There have been robot vacuum cleaners in the past, but they did not receive much attention because their performance was not satisfying due to lack of technology. However, the market is rapidly growing as the functions of robot cleaners are supplemented with the development of artificial intelligence and battery technology. In Korea, the robot cleaner market is also growing rapidly. Although Everybot is a new company established in 2015, it achieved the No. 1 market share in domestic robot cleaners. They have filed 46 patents on vacuum cleaners and is evaluated as being technologically robust.

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Robot vacuum cleaner patents filed by Everybot

With the advent of Dyson, a new market called cordless vacuum cleaners appeared in the market. What will be the new vacuum cleaners for the next market?