Together with power and silence, maneuverability is one of the most important aspects in a vacuum cleaner. It makes the users’ work lighter and more effective, helping them to reach even the most difficult places where dirt lurks. Cleaning in corners and tight spots is not easy. To make cleaning easier, New Ermes Europe has developed a nozzle with a high level of flexibility.
Variable geometry for greater comfort
The NE22 Flexy universal nozzle is suitable for canister and stick cleaner. The product can clean hard floors and carpets, and guarantees high flexibility and comfort. It is able to get around obstacles even in narrow spaces thanks to its variable geometry wings. The patented nozzle is capable of contracting and expanding in any direction.
The NE22 Flexy is made of PP and ABS for the main cover textured surfaces. And it presents brush strips in natural fiber. These ensure long life and soft action on delicate surfaces. Besides, the PP neck has a diameter of 32 – 35 mm. And the width of the product (available in black color) is equal to 350 mm.
Collaboration with the customer
NE22 Flexy was born from the collaboration with a customer of New Ermes Europe. The company had received a request for a universal nozzle for vacuum and stick cleaners, which could be used on hard floors, carpets and rugs. Once the main structure of the nozzle and the relative components had been defined, a co-design operation was carried out together with the customer, obtaining the NE22 Flexy model.
“Wings channel design – the company explains – ensures good dust pick-up performance, besides the mobile wings, together with the swivel neck, guarantee excellent maneuverability. Finally, to ensure a long life of the product, we have designed a specific obstacle course to test in our laboratory the nozzle continuously for more than 750 hours, forcing the wings into contraction and expansion movements, simulating real working life”.
The NE22 Flexy model highlights the company’s propensity to create innovative solutions (another recent examples are the NEPB19-R and NEPB19-R-SAN electric nozzles).
The important role of design
Design is confirmed as a strategic aspect in product definition. New Ermes Europe is able to manage this phase thanks to its staff. NEE can count on a team of people within the company, which includes the two offices of Crosio della Valle (VA) and the Chinese one of Yuyao (Ningbo Ermes).
As regards to the design tools, New Ermes Europe makes use of CAD systems for the development of the mathematics of the various components. “And since we also design and produce moulds for thermoplastic moulding for customers out of our products, we make use of the Mould-flow system and provide the customer with a complete DFM report” , the company adds.
Where necessary to verify potential problems of some components, the company internally use the rapid prototyping with the 3D printing.
The main aspects of product design relate to performance and durability. Another equally important factor is avoiding waste through, for example, reducing the number of components and using recycled plastics.
