JP2006204758A - Robot cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a robot cleaner which assures an electrically conductive state between a cleaner body and a charging apparatus in an electric charge. <P>SOLUTION: The robot cleaner 1 is provided with a cleaner body 3 which is provided with an electric blower 16, a dust collecting chamber 17, an air intake port 22, a gas exhaust port 19, a travelling control part 25, wheels for travelling 26, and a second battery 4 and can be autonomously travelled. When the second battery 4 is charged, the cleaner body 3 climbs over the upward slope 50 of a charging base 6 with the wheels 26 for travelling. Then, the charging electrode 40 of the cleaner body 3 is always brought into pressure contact with the output electrode 57 of a charging stand 7 by gravity at the position of a downward slope 51. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a robot cleaner in which a main body of a cleaner that carries a cleaning operation by self-running with a secondary battery moves to a charging device and performs charging.

  A conventional robot cleaner has a suction port (injection port), an electric blower (vacuum motor), a dust collection chamber (dirt storage chamber), a travel control unit (microcomputer), a battery (secondary battery), and a drive roller. The charging device for the battery is provided with an automatic power charging means provided with a vertical side wall at the end of the floor panel having an ascending slope from the floor and a horizontal flat surface continuous thereto. There is. These automatic power supply charging means and the cleaner body are provided with a DC power supply plug and a charging outlet, respectively.

  And when charging the battery, rotate the drive roller in the vacuum cleaner body and move it to the upper surface of the floor panel, close the charging outlet of the vacuum cleaner body to the DC power injection plug of the automatic power charging means, The driving roller is locked by a locking piece provided on the floor panel to prevent the automatic power supply charging means from separating from the robot cleaner. By operating the solenoid in this state, the plug for injecting the DC power supply is advanced, inserted into the conductor of the charging outlet and electrically connected, and it is possible to supply electricity from the automatic power supply charging means to the battery for charging. ing. (For example, see Patent Document 1)

  In addition, another conventional charging base for a vacuum cleaner has a convex portion having an inclined surface with a semi-cylindrical cross section, and a concave portion in which a car can fall into an adjacent portion behind the convex portion. A pair of terminal boards is provided above. On the other hand, the stationary rechargeable vacuum cleaner is provided with a moving car at the front and rear of the suction part below the main body case of the vacuum cleaner body, and above the car at the rear is in contact with the terminal board of the charging stand. A possible pair of terminal boards is provided.

And when charging this stationary rechargeable vacuum cleaner, the worker moves the suction part of the cleaner body toward the charging stand, and the rear car in the suction part gets over the convex part having the inclined surface. Then, by fixing at a position where the vacuum cleaner body falls into the recess due to its own weight, the pair of terminal plates are connected to each other and charging is possible. In addition, when the vacuum cleaner main body is detached from the charging stand after charging, the worker moves the vacuum cleaner main body backward, and suction is performed with the main body case above the rear car and the contact portion of the charging stand as fulcrums. The part rotates, and the rear car can be lifted upward from the recess and separated. (For example, see Patent Document 2)
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-8428 (page 9, FIG. 10) Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-361727 (second page, FIG. 2)

  These conventional rechargeable vacuum cleaners, in the former case, lock the drive roller in order to reliably maintain the proximity of the DC power injection plug and the charging outlet and the electrical conduction between them. And a solenoid for pushing the plug for direct current power supply injection toward the charging outlet. In the latter case, the operator needs to move the cleaner body toward the charging stand, and the position of the rear car provided in the suction portion is fixed by dropping into the recess of the charging stand. However, when the terminal board of the charging base or the terminal board of the vacuum cleaner body is deformed or its spring performance is reduced, it is difficult to ensure the electrical continuity between the two at the start of charging or during charging. there were.

  This invention is made | formed by the said situation, Comprising: It aims at provision of the robot cleaner which ensures the electrical continuity state of the cleaner body and charging device at the time of charge.

  The present invention provides an electric blower, a dust collection chamber, a gas suction port and an exhaust port, a travel control unit, a travel wheel, a secondary battery, and a vacuum cleaner body capable of running independently, and an outer peripheral portion of the vacuum cleaner body A charging electrode provided on the secondary battery and connected to the secondary battery; a charging base having an upslope continuous from the floor and a downslope continuous from the upslope; and a lower end of the downslope of the charging base A charging station, an output electrode provided on the charging station and disposed at a position where the charging electrode can contact the charging electrode, and a power supply device that supplies power to the output electrode, and charging the secondary battery The robot cleaner is configured such that the main body of the cleaner passes over the ascending slope by the traveling wheel, and the charging electrode is always pressed against the output electrode by gravity at the position of the descending slope. Features To.

  The robot cleaner of the present invention can ensure the electrical continuity when the cleaner body and the charging device are charged.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the robot cleaner according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6.

  1 and 3 show a cleaner body 3 of a robot cleaner 1 according to the present invention. This cleaner body 3 generally performs a cleaning operation by running independently on a floor surface to be cleaned in a residence. . The vacuum cleaner body 3 is equipped with a battery 4 as a secondary battery that stores electric power as a power source in order to perform independent running and cleaning work in the cleaning chamber. As shown in FIG. 1, after the cleaning operation of the room in which the cleaner body 3 is installed is completed, the battery 4 automatically moves the cleaner body 3 up to the upper surface of the charging stand 6 constituting a part of the charging device 5. The mobile phone is charged and supplied with electricity from the charging station 7 to be charged.

  The vacuum cleaner main body 3 has an appearance formed by a case main body 12 in which a lower end edge of a substantially cylindrical upper case 11 whose upper surface is closed is fitted to an outer peripheral edge of a bottom plate portion 10 having a substantially circular flat plate shape. The inside of the case main body 12 is provided with a partition plate 13 in which an intermediate part is partitioned in a confidential state, and an electric motor composed of a motor part 14 and a fan part 15 disposed integrally with the front part on the upper surface thereof. The blower 16 is fixed. In front of the electric blower 16, there is provided a dust collector housing portion 17 serving as a dust collecting portion having a gas filtering action. The dust collector housing portion 17 can be inserted and removed from the outside of the case body 12. A dust collection cup (not shown) is accommodated. Further, an exhaust port 19 made of a large number of slits provided on the wall surface of the upper case 11 is provided behind the electric blower 16 via an exhaust air passage 18. An operation panel 20 having a power switch and control buttons (not shown) is provided on the upper surface of the upper case 11.

  Below the partition plate 13, there is provided a connecting pipe 21 whose upper end communicates with the dust collector housing part 17, and the lower end of the connecting pipe 21 has a main body suction projecting slightly downward from the bottom plate part 10. A mouth 22 is provided. As shown in FIG. 2, the main body suction port 22 is opened as a long and narrow rectangle in the left-right direction of the cleaner body 3. Further, the battery 4, which is a secondary battery having a rectangular parallelepiped shape, is fixed to the bottom plate portion 10 behind the connecting pipe 21.

  A pair of traveling wheels 26 having a large number of irregularities on the outer peripheral surface are pivotally supported on the left and right sides of the case main body 12 so as to be rotatable. The traveling wheel 26 is housed in the main body case 12 and is driven by the wheel motor 27 shown in FIG. 4 and is controlled by the traveling control unit 25 to perform forward rotation, reverse rotation and stop by the magnetic clutch 28. It is possible for each left and right independently. A single rear wheel 30 having a cylindrical shape is rotatably supported at the center of the lower rear end of the case body 12. Further, an inclined surface 29 is provided below the front portion of the main body case 12 so that obstacles such as door rails can be easily overcome.

  In addition, an electrode housing chamber 33 is provided on the upper side of the rear wheel 30, and a lead wire 34 that is electrically connected to the battery 4 that is a secondary battery is drawn. As shown in FIG. 5, the lead wire 34 is connected to a columnar support bar 36 to which a disc-like stopper 35 is fixed. The support bar 36 is connected to a guide wall 37 of the upper case 11. The charging electrode 40 is fixed to the tip end of the through hole 38 so as to be slidable. A compressed coil spring 41 is disposed between the charging electrode 40 and the guide wall 37, so that the charging electrode 40 is stepwise in a range until the stopper 35 contacts the guide wall 37. It is possible to invade outside. The lead wire 34, the stopper 35, the support rod 36, the through hole 38 of the guide wall 37, and the charging electrode 40 are accommodated in the electrode accommodating chamber 33 in pairs.

  As shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of surrounding sensors 45 that detect the surroundings of the main body case 12 are disposed around the front half of the upper case 11. A height sensor 46 for detecting the height of an obstacle in the traveling direction of the cleaner body 3, and a step sensor 47 for detecting the height of a front step or the like above the inclined surface 29; A charging stand sensor 48 for detecting a charging stand 40 described later is provided below the upper case 11. These sensors are non-contact type sensors such as an infrared sensor or an image sensor, and are controlled by a traveling program and a charging program stored in the traveling control unit 25 built in the main body case 12.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the above-described charging device 5 includes a charging stand 6 disposed at one corner of a room requiring cleaning, and a charging stand 7 coupled to an end of the charging stand 6. . The charging base 6 has a lower surface 49 which is a flat surface in the horizontal direction and is in surface contact with a floor surface such as a surface to be cleaned. The upper surface is a gentle upward slope 50 continuous with the floor surface and a downward slope 51 continuous with the upper end. And have. The charging stand 7 is coupled to the lower end portion of the descending slope 51 and has a fitting wall 53 having a curved surface that is substantially the same as the outer peripheral surface of the main body case 12 that is substantially cylindrical, and a power supply device 54 that houses a charging control circuit. And the to-be-detected hole 52 which the said charging stand sensor 48 detects is provided. Further, from the power supply device 54, a cord 60 having one end connected to the charge control circuit and the other end connected to a plug 55 to be plugged into a commercial power outlet extends outward.

  An electrode opening 56 is provided at the center of the fitting wall 53 of the charging stand 7, and a pair of output electrodes 57 disposed at positions where the pair of charging electrodes 40 can be contacted from the electrode opening 56. Each protrudes. These output electrodes 57 can be stepped in and out with the same mounting structure as the charging electrode 40 shown in FIG. 5, and are electrically connected to the charging control circuit of the power supply device 54 through the lead wires 58. Yes.

  Next, the cleaning operation by the robot cleaner 1 having these configurations will be described. In the room where the robot cleaner 1 is installed, first, when an operator turns on a power switch and a cleaning start button provided on the operation panel 20 of the cleaner body 3, or when a preset time is reached, the travel control is performed. In accordance with the traveling program stored in the unit 25, the driving of the wheel motor 27 is started and the magnetic clutch 28 is controlled to rotate the traveling wheel 26 in the normal direction. As a result, the cleaner body 3 rises in the reverse direction on the down slope 51 of the charging stand 6 so as to be separated from the charging stand 7, thereby charging the output electrode 57 provided on the charging stand 7 and the cleaner body 3. Contact with the electrode 40 is released. Then, when the traveling wheel 26 goes up the down slope 51 and further down the up slope 50 to reach the indoor floor from the charging stand 6, a plurality of surrounding sensors 45 provided in the cleaner body 3 are next used. While detecting, the vehicle travels automatically toward a predetermined starting point of the surface to be cleaned.

  When the cleaner body 3 arrives at the surface to be cleaned, which is a predetermined start point, the fan unit 15 is rotated by starting the driving of the motor unit 14 of the electric blower 16, and the object to be cleaned is discharged from the body suction port 22. Start sucking air and dust on the surface. Next, the cleaner body 3 automatically travels on the surface to be cleaned on the surface to be cleaned set by the traveling program while detecting by the peripheral sensor 45, the height sensor 46, and the step sensor 47, and sets the cleaning range. Expand. During this time, of the air and dust sucked from the main body suction port 22 and passed through the connecting pipe 21, the dust trapped in the dust collector housing portion 17, which is a dust collection chamber, is housed in the dust collection cup and filtered. The air passes through the electric blower 16 and is discharged from the exhaust port 19 to the outside of the cleaner body 3 via the exhaust air passage 18.

  When the traveling cleaning of the predetermined surface to be cleaned is completed in this way, the driving of the electric blower 16 is stopped and the cleaner body 3 automatically travels toward the charging device 5 by the traveling wheel 26. go. When the charging stand sensor 48 detects the detected hole 52 when reaching the charging stand 6, the cleaner body 3 is inverted to an angle of 180 degrees, and the charging stand is placed with the rear wheel 30 and the exhaust port 19 in front. 6 up the uphill slope 50 and down the downhill slope 51. And if the charging stand sensor 48 of the cleaner body 3 approaches the detected hole 52, the power supply to the wheel motor 27 is stopped according to the traveling program.

  Thereby, under the influence of the dead weight of the cleaner body 3, the pair of charging electrodes slightly protrude outward from the cleaner body 3 by the traveling wheel 26 freely rotating and slightly descending the down slope 51. 40 is in contact with a pair of output electrodes 57 provided on the charging stand 7. At this time, the fitting wall 53 of the charging stand 7 has substantially the same curved surface as the outer peripheral surface of the main body case 12 of the cleaner body 3, so that the charging electrode 40 and the output electrode 57 can be more smoothly contacted. Can be done.

  The charging control circuit of the power supply device 54 determines that the contact between the charging electrode 40 and the output electrode 57 has been made, and starts supplying power. Thereby, the battery 4 which is the secondary battery of the cleaner body 3 is charged from the charging device 5 to prepare for the next cleaning action. During this charging, the weight of the vacuum cleaner body 3 acts to cause the traveling wheel 26 to rotate downward relative to the downward slope 51 of the charging stand 6, so that the output electrode 57 is charged. The electrode 40 is always pressed and contact between the two is ensured. The contact between the charging electrode 40 and the output electrode 57 is performed step by step by the coil spring 41, thereby preventing the occurrence of impact and noise when both are in contact and increasing the continuity of the contact state. be able to.

  In place of the coil spring 41, a plate spring may be used, and even when these springs are not provided, the charging electrode 40 and the output electrode 57 do not become impossible to contact. Further, in the above embodiment, the charging stand 7 is coupled to the end of the charging stand 6. However, the charging stand 7 may be arranged slightly apart near the lower end of the downward slope 51 of the charging stand 6. Both of these are not necessarily combined.

  As described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be modified without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

1 is a partial cross-sectional view of a robot cleaner according to the present invention. Example 1 It is a bottom view of the cleaner body of the robot cleaner shown in FIG. It is a perspective view of the cleaner body of the robot cleaner shown in FIG. It is a control block diagram of the robot cleaner shown in FIG. It is an expanded sectional view of the electrode storage chamber which is a part of the cleaner body shown in FIG. It is a perspective view of the charging device of the robot cleaner shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 Robot vacuum cleaner 3 Vacuum cleaner body 4 Secondary battery (battery)
6 Charging stand 7 Charging stand (charging device)
16 Electric blower 17 Dust collection chamber (dust collector housing)
19 Exhaust port 25 Travel controller 26 Traveling wheel 50 Up slope 51 Down slope 54 Electric power supply device (charging device)
57 Output electrode (charging device)

Claims (2)

An electric blower, a dust collection chamber, a gas suction port and an exhaust port, a traveling control unit, a traveling wheel, a vacuum cleaner body capable of running independently by providing a secondary battery;
A charging electrode provided on the outer periphery of the vacuum cleaner body and conducted to the secondary battery;
A charging stand having an upward slope continuous from the floor and a downward slope continuous from the upward slope;
A charging stand close to the lower end of the downward slope of the charging stand;
An output electrode disposed in a position where the charging stand is in contact with the charging electrode; and
A power supply device for supplying power to the output electrode;
When charging the secondary battery, the main body of the vacuum cleaner gets over the up slope by the traveling wheel, and the charging electrode is always pressed against the output electrode by gravity at the position of the down slope. Robot cleaner characterized by that.   A spring is interposed in at least one of the charging electrode and the output electrode, respectively, and provided in the cleaner body and the charging stand, respectively, and the charging electrode and the output electrode can contact each other step by step. The robot cleaner according to claim 1, wherein

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