Centri 9

What it does

Centri 9 is a dust-catching power drill for home use. It intakes chips and dust likes a vacuum cleaner while drilling, thus avoiding contamination of the room environment or inhalation of dust. It's also a power screwdriver when vacuum module is removed.

Your inspiration

When I want to assemble furniture or do DIY projects, the drill bit produces a large amount of chips and dust. These particles pollute the room and are harmful to health. In fact, dust protection for power drills has already been taken seriously in the industrial field. However, in the home environment, we need a more streamlined, stylish, and user-friendly product to address this problem. Currently, dust prevention during drilling mainly relies on covers or external vacuum cleaners. I thought, why not integrate them into the power drill itself to provide a simple and convenient solution without the need to purchase additional products?

How it works

Centri 9 consists of a centrifugal fan which provide high wind pressure and a well designed telescopic duct. The fan draws in the airflow mixed with chips, while the duct decelerates, captures, and filters them. During drilling, as the drill bit advances, the front part gradually retracts into the rear part. In the front section, due to the Venturi effect, the airflow around the drill bit reaches a higher velocity to draw in the fragments. The high-speed airflow rushes through the duct into the deceleration chamber, generating vortices that cause larger fragments to collide with the walls repeatedly and lose energy, thereby separating them from the lighter dust particles. In the rear section, a piece of filter paper blocks the fine dust. The entire duct can be disassembled. The motor used for drilling is integrated into the handle, and the drilling direction is changed through bevel gears. The use of electronic torque control reduces the size of the gearbox.

Design process

During the design process of Centri 9, the most important aspect was designing the vacuum system and proving its effectiveness. First, I disassembled some vacuum cleaners and other products to study their internal structures. Combining my previous experience in aerodynamics, I drew different vacuum structures. Before selecting a centrifugal fan for Centri 9, I had already passed two options: the first was a fan coaxial with the drill bit and a completely external telescopic duct. The fan was ineffective and the overall volume was too large. The second was a separate axial fan. This method provided sufficient airflow, but the exhaust to blow directly at the user. The centrifugal fan can generate enough wind pressure in a small size and can change the wind direction vertically, which is suitable for the structure of the power drill. I used CFD software to analyze the internal flow field, defined the fan rotation using a moving referance frame, simulated the filter paper with a porous baffle, and solved the complex motion using the K-epsilon turbulence model. I also parameterized the modeling of the fan and duct structure and iteratively optimized it based on the simulation results. After 11 iterative cycles, I finally obtained the most optimized duct structure.

How it is different

The current dust-removal products for power drills on the market can be mainly divided into the following three types: The first type involves installing a cover or bowl on the wall. This method obstructs the line of sight and affects positioning, and it cannot completely block dust, especially when removing the cover from the wall. The second type is independent drilling vacuum cleaners that are installed on the wall during use. These products are expensive and cannot effectively block the splashing debris in a timely manner. The third type is industrial-grade drilling vacuum equipment. They are only suitable for large impact drills or hammer drills and are not purchased by home users. Centri 9 perfectly realizes the functions of drilling and dust collection without the need for additional products. In terms of appearance and design, it is more streamlined and stylish than other power drill products and has irreplaceability.

Future plans

In the future, I will refine the structural design of Centri 9, enabling it to transition from the drawing board to reality by creating prototypes and verifying its functionality. I also plan to apply for invention and design patents for Centri 9. If all goes well, I will reach out to tool and home appliance manufacturers to explore the possibility of bringing it into mass production through collaboration.

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