US20130291319A1

US20130291319A1 - Cleaning structure for autonomous moving floor sweeping machines

Info

Publication number: US20130291319A1
Application number: US13/465,279
Authority: US
Inventors: Joseph Y. Ko
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2012-05-07
Filing date: 2012-05-07
Publication date: 2013-11-07

Abstract

A cleaning structure for autonomous moving floor sweeping machines includes a floor sweeping roller driven by a second servomotor to spin and clear dirt on the floor, a dust guide plate located at one side of the floor sweeping roller and interposed between a driving wheel and the floor sweeping roller, a flexible barrier plate located below the dust guide plate in contact with the floor to prevent the dirt from passing through under the dust guide plate towards the driving wheel, a dust guarding hood located at another side of the floor sweeping roller and a fender jutting and extended below the dust guarding hood to prevent residual dirt from forming falling dust dropping to the floor. The floor sweeping roller also can spin at high speeds to sweep the floor quickly and efficiently.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a floor sweeping machine and particularly to a cleaning structure for autonomous moving floor sweeping machines.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

U.S. Pat. No. 6,883,201 entitled: “Autonomous floor-cleaning robot” and No. 6,594,844 entitled: “Coverage robot mobility” disclose two types of autonomous moving floor sweeping machines. They have a plurality of sensors located at the lower side, front side or periphery to prevent strong impact when encounter obstacles, or falling to a descending staircase and resulting in damage occurred to the floor sweeping machines, or vacuum cleaners or floor moping apparatus. They have a sweeping roller which sweeps the dirt backwards in the direction of drive wheels at the rear end. To prevent such happening the motor driving the sweeping roller has limitation in spinning speed, and higher speed motors cannot be used to improve sweeping efficiency. As a result, sweeping operation has to be performed back and forth many times to thoroughly clean the floor. Hence the aforesaid conventional techniques cannot sweep floor rapidly and efficiently. This is a big problem pending to be resolved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary object of the present invention is to overcome the disadvantages of the conventional techniques by providing a flexible barrier plate to prevent dirt from passing through under a dust guide plate and moving rearward to achieve rapid and efficient floor sweeping operation.
Another object of the invention is to resolve the shortcomings of the conventional techniques by providing a sweeping roller spinning at high speeds to sweep floor quickly and efficiently.
To achieve the aforesaid primary object the present invention provides a cleaning structure for an autonomous moving floor sweeping machine. The autonomous moving floor sweeping machine includes at least a cleaning structure, a battery to support operation of the floor sweeping machine, a driving wheel to drive movement of the floor sweeping machine, a first servomotor to drive the driving wheel, a second servomotor to drive the cleaning structure to perform cleaning tasks that spins at high speeds preferably between 2700 and 4100 rpm, a microcontroller unit (MCU in short hereinafter) to control spinning of the first and second servomotors, a light emission member activated by a voltage sent and converted by the MCU, a light receiving member to receive light from the light emission member and convert the light to send to operate the MCU, and a function key to select preset functions provided by the MCU to control the first and second servomotors. The cleaning structure includes a floor sweeping roller driven by the second servomotor to spin and clear dirt on the floor, a dust guide plate located at one side of the floor sweeping roller and interposed between the driving wheel and floor sweeping roller, a flexible barrier plate located below the dust guide plate in contact with the floor to prevent the dirt from passing through under the dust guide plate towards the driving wheel, a dust guarding hood located at another side of the floor sweeping roller, and a fender jutting and extended below the dust guarding hood to prevent residual dirt from forming falling dust dropping to the floor.
In one aspect the cleaning structure of the invention also includes a dust collection chamber partitioned by the dust guide plate that has a passage communicating with the floor sweeping roller.
In another aspect the cleaning structure of the invention further includes a floor sweeping side roller located at a distal end of the floor sweeping roller and driven to spin synchronously with the floor sweeping roller.
In yet another aspect the barrier plate is coupled on a lower side of the dust guide plate in a detachable manner.
In yet another aspect the spinning speed of the second servomotor is ranged from 2700 rpm to 4100 rpm.
The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary exploded view of an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is another fragmentary exploded view according to FIG. 2 seen from another angle.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary cross section of an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Please refer to FIGS. 1 through 4 for an embodiment of the invention adopted for use on an autonomous moving floor sweeping machine 10. The autonomous moving floor sweeping machine 10 includes at least a cleaning structure 16, a battery 11 to support operation of the floor sweeping machine 10, a driving wheel 15 to drive movement of the floor sweeping machine 10, a first servomotor 14 a to drive the driving wheel 15, a second servomotor 14 b to drive the cleaning structure 16 to perform cleaning tasks that spins at high speeds preferably between 2700 and 4100 rpm, a microcontroller unit (MCU) 13 to control spinning of the first and second servomotors 14 a and 14 b, a light emission member 17 activated by a voltage sent and converted by the MCU 13, a light receiving member 18 to receive light emitted from the light emission member 17 and reflected by an obstacle 30 and convert the light to send to operate the MCU 13, and a function key 12 to select preset functions provided by the MCU 13 to control the first and second servomotors 14 a and 14 b. The cleaning structure 16 includes a floor sweeping roller 161 driven by the second servomotor 14 b to spin and clear dirt on the floor, a dust guide plate 162 located at one side of the floor sweeping roller 161 and interposed between the driving wheel 15 and floor sweeping roller 161, a flexible barrier plate 163 detachably coupled on a lower side of the dust guide plate 162 in contact with the floor to prevent the dirt from passing through under the dust guide plate 162 towards the driving wheel 15, a dust guarding hood 166 located at another side of the floor sweeping roller 161, and a fender 167 jutting and extended below the dust guarding hood 166 to prevent residual dirt from forming falling dust dropping to the floor. The cleaning structure 16 also includes a dust collection chamber 165 formed by partitioning of the dust guide plate 162 that has a passage 164 communicating with the floor sweeping roller 161. The cleaning structure 16 further includes a floor sweeping side roller 168 located at a distal end of the floor sweeping roller 161 and driven to spin synchronously with the floor sweeping roller 161. By means of the construction set forth above, the flexible barrier plate can prevent dirt from passing through under the dust guide plate and moving rearwards. The floor sweeping roller also can spin at high speeds to quickly and efficiently perform floor sweeping operation.
While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been set forth for the purpose of disclosure, it is not the limitation of the invention, modifications of the disclosed embodiment of the invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to cover all embodiments which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A cleaning structure for an autonomous moving floor sweeping machine which includes at least a cleaning structure, a battery to support operation of the floor sweeping machine, a driving wheel to drive movement of the floor sweeping machine, a first servomotor to drive the driving wheel, a second servomotor to drive the cleaning structure to perform cleaning tasks, a microcontroller unit to control spinning of the first and second servomotors, a light emission member activated by a voltage sent and converted by the microcontroller unit, a light receiving member to receive light from the light emission member and convert the light to send to operate the microcontroller unit and a function key to select preset functions provided by the microcontroller unit to control the first and second servomotors, the cleaning structure comprising:

a floor sweeping roller driven by the second servomotor to spin and clear dirt on a floor;

a dust guide plate located at one side of the floor sweeping roller and interposed between the driving wheel and the floor sweeping roller;

a flexible barrier plate located below the dust guide plate in contact with the floor to prevent the dirt from passing through under the dust guide plate towards the driving wheel;

a dust guarding hood located at another side of the floor sweeping roller; and

a fender jutting and extended below the dust guarding hood to prevent residual dirt from forming falling dust dropping to the floor.

2. The cleaning structure for an autonomous moving floor sweeping machine of claim 1 further including a dust collection chamber formed by partitioning of the dust guide plate, the dust collection chamber including a passage communicating with the floor sweeping roller.

3. The cleaning structure for an autonomous moving floor sweeping machine of claim 1 further including a floor sweeping side roller located at a distal end of the floor sweeping roller and driven to spin synchronously with the floor sweeping roller.

4. The cleaning structure for an autonomous moving floor sweeping machine of claim 2 further including a floor sweeping side roller located at a distal end of the floor sweeping roller and driven to spin synchronously with the floor sweeping roller.

5. The cleaning structure for an autonomous moving floor sweeping machine of claim 1, wherein the barrier plate is detachably coupled on a lower side of the dust guide plate.

6. The cleaning structure for an autonomous moving floor sweeping machine of claim 2, wherein the barrier plate is detachably coupled on a lower side of the dust guide plate.

7. The cleaning structure for an autonomous moving floor sweeping machine of claim 3, wherein the barrier plate is detachably coupled on a lower side of the dust guide plate.

8. The cleaning structure for an autonomous moving floor sweeping machine of claim 4, wherein the barrier plate is detachably coupled on a lower side of the dust guide plate.

9. The cleaning structure for an autonomous moving floor sweeping machine of claim 1, wherein the second servomotor spins at a speed ranged from 2700 rpm to 4100 rpm.

10. The cleaning structure for an autonomous moving floor sweeping machine of claim 2, wherein the second servomotor spins at a speed ranged from 2700 rpm to 4100 rpm.

11. The cleaning structure for an autonomous moving floor sweeping machine of claim 3, wherein the second servomotor spins at a speed ranged from 2700 rpm to 4100 rpm.

12. The cleaning structure for an autonomous moving floor sweeping machine of claim 4, wherein the second servomotor spins at a speed ranged from 2700 rpm to 4100 rpm.

13. The cleaning structure for an autonomous moving floor sweeping machine of claim 5, wherein the second servomotor spins at a speed ranged from 2700 rpm to 4100 rpm.

14. The cleaning structure for an autonomous moving floor sweeping machine of claim 6, wherein the second servomotor spins at a speed ranged from 2700 rpm to 4100 rpm.

15. The cleaning structure for an autonomous moving floor sweeping machine of claim 7, wherein the second servomotor spins at a speed ranged from 2700 rpm to 4100 rpm.

16. The cleaning structure for an autonomous moving floor sweeping machine of claim 8, wherein the second servomotor spins at a speed ranged from 2700 rpm to 4100 rpm.