JP2016131744A - Self-propelled cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To protect ultrasonic sensors from electrostatic trouble.SOLUTION: A self-propelled cleaner comprises: a self-propelled case including a suction port and a discharge port; an air blowing section that sucks air on a floor surface with dust into the case from the suction port and discharges the air from which the dust is removed, to the outside from the discharge port; ultrasonic sensors that transmit/receive ultrasonic waves to detect outside objects; and a control section that receives output of the ultrasonic sensors to control self-propelled operation of the case. The ultrasonic sensors are arranged in the case, the case comprises windows that allow the passage of the ultrasonic waves transmitted/received by the ultrasonic sensors and electrically conductive rings fitted into the windows, and the rings are grounded.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

  The present invention relates to a self-propelled cleaner.

  In a self-propelled cleaner, an obstacle is detected by an ultrasonic sensor, thereby stopping traveling or changing a traveling direction. However, since the ultrasonic sensor malfunctions or is destroyed due to static electricity failure, countermeasures have been taken. By the way, as a countermeasure against static electricity for an electronic device, when an electronic component is arranged in an opening of an exterior body, an electric conductive member is projected from a part of the opening (for example, Patent Documents). 1).

JP 2007-220530 A

  However, the above-described countermeasures against static electricity are applied to a structure having an opening through which a connector is inserted from the outside into a board disposed inside an electronic device, and is applied to an ultrasonic sensor of a self-propelled cleaner. However, it was difficult to apply effectively. The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and provides a self-propelled cleaner that effectively takes countermeasures against static electricity for an ultrasonic sensor.

  The present invention provides a self-propelled housing having a suction port and an exhaust port, and sucks air on the floor surface together with dust from the suction port into the housing, and removes the dust-removed air from the exhaust port to the outside. An air blowing unit that exhausts, an ultrasonic sensor that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to detect an external object, and a control unit that receives the output of the ultrasonic sensor and controls the self-running operation of the housing. A self-propelled type that is arranged in a housing, the housing includes a window through which an ultrasonic wave transmitted and received by an ultrasonic sensor passes, and a conductive ring fitted in the window, and the ring is grounded A vacuum cleaner is provided.

  A conductive ring is provided in the window of the housing that allows ultrasonic waves to pass through, and the ring is grounded, so static electricity that tries to enter the housing from the outside is applied to the ring and flows to the ground to eliminate static electricity. The sound wave sensor is not damaged by static electricity.

It is an upper surface perspective view of the self-propelled cleaner concerning a 1st embodiment of this invention. It is a bottom view of the self-propelled cleaner shown in FIG. It is a block diagram of the control circuit of the self-propelled cleaner shown in FIG. It is internal structure explanatory drawing seen from the side of the self-propelled cleaner shown in FIG. It is attachment explanatory drawing of the ultrasonic sensor to the self-propelled cleaner shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a configuration explanatory diagram of the ultrasonic sensor shown in FIG. 5. It is explanatory drawing of the ring attached to the ultrasonic sensor shown in FIG. It is a figure corresponding to Drawing 1 of a self-propelled cleaner of a 2nd embodiment. It is a figure corresponding to Drawing 5 of a self-propelled cleaner of a 2nd embodiment. It is a FIG. 1 corresponding view of the self-propelled cleaner of a 3rd embodiment. It is a FIG. 5 corresponding view of the self-propelled cleaner of a 3rd embodiment.

  A self-propelled cleaner of the present invention has a self-propelled housing having a suction port and an exhaust port, air on the floor surface is sucked into the housing together with dust from the suction port, and air from which dust is removed A blower that exhausts the air from the exhaust port, an ultrasonic sensor that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to detect an external object, and a control unit that controls the self-running operation of the housing by receiving the output of the ultrasonic sensor The ultrasonic sensor is disposed in the casing, the casing includes a window through which ultrasonic waves transmitted and received by the ultrasonic sensor pass, and a conductive ring fitted in the window, and the ring is grounded. Features.

The housing may include a bumper that relieves an impact at the time of a collision with an external object on the outer periphery of the side surface, and the bumper may have electrical conductivity and be electrically connected to the ring.
The ultrasonic sensor may include a sensor including an ultrasonic transmission element and a sensor including an ultrasonic reception element.
The ultrasonic sensor may be composed of an ultrasonic transmission / reception combined element.
The bumper may be made of conductive rubber.

(First embodiment)
1 is a top perspective view of the self-propelled cleaner according to the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the self-propelled cleaner shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. It is a block diagram of the control circuit of the self-propelled cleaner shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the internal structure as seen from the side of the self-propelled cleaner shown in FIG.

  A self-propelled cleaner (hereinafter referred to as a cleaning robot) according to the present invention cleans a floor surface by sucking dust on the floor surface together with air and exhausting the air from which the dust is removed while traveling on the floor surface. It is supposed to be.

  The cleaning robot 1 </ b> A includes a disk-shaped housing 2, and an exhaust port 41 is provided on the upper surface of the housing 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the bottom plate 2 a is provided with a rotating brush 3, a pair of side brushes 4, a suction port 11, a pair of drive wheels 5, a rear wheel 7 and a front wheel 8, and a floor surface detection sensor 12. The housing 2 is formed using an electrically insulating material.

  Further, in the housing 2, as shown in FIG. 4, a suction path 10 connected to the suction port 11, a dust collection unit 20 provided on the downstream side of the suction path 10, and a downstream side of the dust collection unit 20 And an exhaust passage 40 that connects the electric blower 30 and the exhaust port 41 to each other.

Housing 2, as shown in FIG. 1, a top plate 2b in plan view a circle having a lid 2b ₁ and the exhaust port 41 formed in the rear position of the lid 2b _1, the outer peripheral portion of the bottom plate 2a and the top plate 2b And a side plate 2c having an annular shape in plan view. The top panel 2b is provided with an operation panel 31 for inputting operation conditions and operation commands for the cleaning robot 1A.

  The bottom plate 2a (FIG. 2) is formed with a plurality of holes for projecting the lower portions of the front wheel 8 and the pair of drive wheels 5 from the inside of the housing 2 to the outside. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of ultrasonic sensors 9 for detecting obstacles in the traveling direction of the cleaning robot 1A are provided in front of the side plate 2c. In this embodiment, the ultrasonic sensor 9 includes three ultrasonic receivers 23a and two ultrasonic transmitters 23b alternately.

  The pair of drive wheels 5 are provided so as to be rotatable around an axis 5a (FIG. 2) parallel to the bottom plate 2a of the housing 2. When the pair of drive wheels 5 rotate in the same direction, the housing 2 advances and retreats. When the drive wheels 5 rotate in opposite directions, the housing 2 rotates.

  The rotation shafts of the pair of drive wheels 5 are connected to each other so that rotational force can be obtained individually from a pair of travel motors described later, and each travel motor has a suspension mechanism directly or on the inner surface of the bottom plate 2a of the housing 2. Is fixed through.

  The front wheel 8 is made of a roller, and when contacting the step appearing on the path, the bottom plate of the housing 2 is positioned so as to slightly lift from the floor surface with which the driving wheel 5 contacts so that the housing 2 can easily get over the upstep. 2a is rotatably provided.

The rear wheel 7 is a free wheel and is rotatably provided on a part of the bottom plate 2a of the housing 2 so as to be in contact with the floor surface.
In this way, the pair of drive wheels 5 are arranged in the middle of the front and rear direction with respect to the housing 2, the front wheels 8 are lifted from the floor surface, and the entire weight of the cleaning robot 1 </ b> A is supported by the pair of drive wheels 5 and the rear wheels 7. The weight is distributed in the front-rear direction with respect to the housing 2 so that it is possible. Thereby, the dust in front of the course can be guided to the suction port 11 without being blocked by the front wheel 8.

  The aforementioned rotating brush 3 is provided at the inlet of the suction port 11 so as to be rotatable about an axis parallel to the bottom plate 2a of the housing 2. The side brushes 4 on the left and right sides of the suction port 11 in the bottom plate 2a rotate about an axis perpendicular to the bottom plate 2a. The rotating brush 3 is formed by implanting a brush spirally on the outer peripheral surface of a roller that is a rotating shaft.

  The side brush 4 has a rotating shaft and a plurality of brush bundles provided radially at the lower end of the rotating shaft. The rotating shaft of the rotating brush 3 and the rotating shaft of the pair of side brushes 4 are supported on the inner surface of the bottom plate 2a of the housing 2, and include a brush drive motor, which will be described later, and power including a pulley and a belt. It is connected via a transmission mechanism.

  When an obstacle is detected in the traveling direction by the ultrasonic sensor 9 shown in FIG. 1, the detection signal is transmitted to a control unit described later, and the control unit controls the cleaning robot 1A to stop or change direction.

  Since the floor surface detection sensor 12 for detecting the floor surface is arranged in front of the front wheel 8 in the bottom plate 2a of the housing 2 shown in FIG. When detected, the detection signal is transmitted to a control unit which will be described later, and the control unit controls the drive wheels 5 to stop. As a result, the cleaning robot 1A is prevented from falling to the down step. In addition, when the floor surface detection sensor 12 detects a down step, the control unit may perform control so as to avoid the down step.

  A charging terminal (not shown) for charging a built-in battery is provided at the rear end of the side plate 2 c of the housing 2. The cleaning robot 1 </ b> A that cleans the room while traveling by itself returns to the charging stand installed in the room when the cleaning is completed.

  As a result, the charging terminal of the cleaning robot 1A comes into contact with the power supply terminal portion provided on the charging stand, the power supply terminal portion is connected to the positive electrode terminal and the negative electrode terminal of the battery via the charging terminal, and the battery is charged. Done. The charging stand connected to the commercial power source (outlet) is usually installed along the side wall of the room. The battery supplies power to each drive control element such as various motors described later and a control circuit.

The dust collection unit 20 illustrated in FIG. 4 includes a dust collection box 21 connected to the suction path 10 and a filter 22 provided in the dust collection box 21 so as to be detachable. The dust collection box 21 is usually housed in the housing 2. However, when the dust collected in the dust collection box 21 is discarded, the lid 2 b ₁ (FIG. 1) of the housing 2 is opened. It comes to be taken in and out.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the control circuit for controlling the operation of the entire cleaning robot 1A has a control unit 15a, an operation panel 31 for inputting setting conditions and operation commands related to the operation of the cleaning robot 1A, and a memory for storing a travel map 18a. Unit 18, motor driver 30 a for driving the electric blower 30, motor driver 51 a for driving the traveling motor 51 of the drive wheel 5, and brush motor 17 for driving the rotating brush 3 and the side brush 4. A motor driver 17a, a control unit 12a for controlling the floor detection sensor 12, a control unit 9a for controlling the ultrasonic sensor 9, and the like are provided.

  The control unit 15a includes a microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM, and individually transmits control signals to the motor drivers 30a, 51a, and 17a based on program data stored in advance in the storage unit 18, and the electric blower 30, A series of cleaning operations are performed by drivingly controlling the travel motor 51 and the brush motor 17. Note that the program data includes program data for a normal mode for cleaning a wide area of the floor, and for a wall-side mode for cleaning along a wall.

  In addition, the control unit 15 a accepts the setting conditions and operation commands by the user from the operation panel 31 and stores them in the storage unit 18. The travel map 18a stored in the storage unit 18 is information related to travel such as a travel route and travel speed around the installation location of the cleaning robot 1A, and is stored in the storage unit 18 in advance by the user or the cleaning robot 1A. It can automatically record itself during cleaning operation.

  In the cleaning robot 1 </ b> A configured as described above, the electric blower 30, the drive wheel 5, the rotating brush 3, and the side brush 4 are driven by a cleaning operation start command from the operation panel 31. As a result, the cleaning robot 1A is in a state where the rotating brush 3, the side brush 4, the drive wheel 5, and the rear wheel 7 are in contact with the floor surface, and the air containing dust on the floor surface from the suction port 11 while traveling in a predetermined range. Inhale.

  At this time, the dust on the floor surface is scraped up by the rotation of the rotating brush 3 and guided to the suction port 11. Further, the dust on the side of the suction port 11 is guided to the suction port 11 by the rotation of the side brush 4.

  Air containing dust sucked into the housing 2 from the suction port 11 flows into the dust collection box 21 through the suction path 10 (FIG. 4) of the housing 2. The airflow that has flowed into the dust collection box 21 passes through the filter 22 and dust is removed, then flows into the electric blower 30, is guided to the exhaust path 40, and is discharged from the exhaust port 41 to the outside. At this time, the dust contained in the airflow in the dust collection box 21 is captured by the filter 22 and accumulated in the dust collection box 21.

  Further, in the cleaning robot 1 </ b> A, when the obstacle on the path is detected by the ultrasonic sensor 9 as described above and when the peripheral edge of the cleaning area is reached, the driving wheel 5 is temporarily stopped, and then the left and right driving wheels 5. Rotate in the opposite direction to change the direction. Accordingly, the cleaning robot 1A can perform self-propelled cleaning while avoiding obstacles in the entire installation place or the entire desired range.

  Further, as described above, the cleaning robot 1A is in contact at the three points of the left and right drive wheels 5 and the rear wheel 7, so that the rear wheel 7 does not lift from the floor surface even if it suddenly stops when moving forward. Weight distribution.

  Therefore, even if the cleaning robot 1A stops suddenly before the down step while moving forward, this prevents the cleaning robot 1A from leaning forward and falling to the down step. The drive wheel 5 is formed by fitting a rubber tire having a groove into the wheel so as not to slip even if suddenly stopped.

<Ultrasonic sensor and its anti-static measures>
In this embodiment, as described above, the ultrasonic sensor 9 shown in FIG. 1 includes the ultrasonic receivers 23a and the ultrasonic transmitters 23b that are alternately arranged in a line. The control unit 9a (FIG. 3) transmits ultrasonic waves from the ultrasonic transmission unit 23b, and reflects the transmitted ultrasonic waves from the obstacles until they are received by the ultrasonic reception unit 23a to the obstacles. The distance is calculated and transmitted as a detection signal to the control unit 15a.

FIG. 5A is an explanatory view of attaching the ultrasonic receiver 23a to the side plate 2c, and FIG. 5B is an explanatory view of attaching the ultrasonic transmitter 23b to the side plate 2c.
6A is a front view of the ultrasonic receiver 23a and the ultrasonic transmitter 23b, and FIG. 6B is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 6A.
7A is a front view of components (rings) used in the ultrasonic receiver 23a and the ultrasonic transmitter 23b, and FIG. 7B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. 7A. .

  As shown in these drawings, the ultrasonic receiver 23a and the ultrasonic transmitter 23b are installed such that the ring 27 is partially exposed from the circular window 35 of the side plate 2c of the housing 2 (FIG. 1). The

  The ultrasonic receiving unit 23a and the ultrasonic transmitting unit 23b include an ultrasonic receiving element 26a and an ultrasonic transmitting element 26b mounted on the surfaces of the control boards 29a and 29b, respectively, and a cap-shaped metal ring having conductivity. 27 and a support member 28 that supports the control boards 29a and 29b and the ring 27.

  As shown in FIG. 6B, the support member 28 has a through hole 34 to cover the ultrasonic receiving element 26 a and the ultrasonic transmitting element 26 b, respectively, and a ring 27 on the upper side is coaxial with the through hole 34. It is inserted.

  As shown in FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b), the control boards 29a and 29b and the support member 28 have a common screw through hole 36, and the side plate 2c as shown in FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b). A pair of bosses 32 projecting inward from each other are fixed with screws 33. Here, the support member 28 is formed of an electrically insulating material.

Moreover, for example, MA40S2R type and MA40S2S type manufactured by Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. can be used for the ultrasonic receiving element 26a and the ultrasonic transmitting element 26b, respectively.
The control boards 29a and 29b include amplifiers and various signal processing circuits for the ultrasonic receiving element 26a and the ultrasonic transmitting element 26b, respectively, and constitute the control unit 9a shown in FIG.

  The ring 27 is provided with a pair of ground connection terminals 37 as shown in FIGS. Then, each ground connection terminal 37 is connected to the ground of the cleaning robot 1A, and in this embodiment, to the negative terminal of the above-described battery that supplies power to drive control elements such as various motors built in the housing 2. Connected and grounded.

In such a configuration, when the cleaning robot 1A approaches an electrostatic charged body and the static electricity tries to enter from the window 35 of the side plate 2c, the static electricity is applied to the ring 27 and flows to the ground via the ground connection terminal 37. The charge is removed.
Therefore, the static elimination effect of the ring 27 prevents static electricity from entering the inside of the housing 2 and protects the ultrasonic sensor 9 from static electricity failure.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 8 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 1 of this embodiment, and FIG. 9 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 5 of this embodiment.
In this embodiment, a bumper 38 is provided in front of the side plate 2c of the housing 2 to alleviate an impact at the time of collision with an external object. The bumper 38 is obtained by bonding a conductive plate-like elastic member, for example, a conductive rubber plate, to the side plate 2c with an adhesive.

  A part of the bumper 38 rides on the periphery of the window 35 of the side plate 2 c as shown in FIG. 9 and is elastically in contact with the ring 27. That is, the bumper 38 is electrically connected to the ring 27 by this. Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment.

  In such a configuration, when the cleaning robot 1A approaches the electrostatic charging body, the static electricity is applied to the bumper 38 and flows to the ground (the negative terminal of the battery) via the ring 27 and the ground connection terminal to be neutralized. . Therefore, the ultrasonic sensor 9 is protected from static electricity failure by the neutralizing effect of the bumper 38.

(Third embodiment)
FIG. 10 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 1 of this embodiment, and FIG. 11 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 5 of this embodiment.
In this embodiment, the ultrasonic sensor 9 shown in FIG. 10 includes three ultrasonic transmission / reception units 23c arranged in a line. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11, the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 23c replaces the ultrasonic reception element 26a and the ultrasonic transmission element 26b of the first embodiment with the ultrasonic transmission / reception element 26c that is used for both transmission and reception, and the control boards 29a and 29b. Is replaced with a transmission / reception control board 29c.

For example, a C40-16KM type manufactured by Silicon House can be used for the ultrasonic transmitting / receiving element 26c.
The control board 29c includes an amplifier for the ultrasonic transmitting / receiving element 26c and various signal processing circuits, and constitutes the control unit 9a shown in FIG.
Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment. Also in this embodiment, the static electricity elimination effect equivalent to that of the first embodiment can be obtained.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1A Cleaning robot 2 Case 2a Bottom plate 2b ₁ Lid 2b Top plate 2c Side plate 3 Rotating brush 4 Side brush 5 Drive wheel 7 Rear wheel 8 Front wheel 9 Ultrasonic sensor 10 Suction path 11 Suction port 12 Floor detection sensor 12a Control unit 15a Control Unit 18 Storage unit 18a Travel map 20 Dust collector 21 Dust collection box 22 Filter 23a Ultrasonic receiver 23b Ultrasonic transmitter 23c Ultrasonic transmitter / receiver 26a Ultrasonic receiver 26b Ultrasonic transmitter 26c Ultrasonic transmitter / receiver 27 Ring 28 Support member 29a Control board 29b Control board 29c Control board 30 Electric blower 31 Operation panel 32 Boss 33 Screw 34 Through hole 35 Window 36 Screw through hole 37 Ground connection terminal 38 Bumper 40 Exhaust path 41 Exhaust port

Claims (5)

  A self-propelled housing having a suction port and an exhaust port, and a blower unit that sucks air on the floor surface together with dust from the suction port into the housing, and exhausts the air from which dust is removed to the outside from the exhaust port And an ultrasonic sensor that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to detect an external object, and a control unit that receives the output of the ultrasonic sensor and controls the self-running operation of the casing. The ultrasonic sensor is disposed in the casing. A self-propelled cleaner, wherein the housing includes a window through which an ultrasonic wave transmitted and received by an ultrasonic sensor passes and a conductive ring fitted in the window, and the ring is grounded.   The self-propelled type according to claim 1, wherein the casing includes a bumper on the outer periphery of the side surface that reduces a shock at the time of a collision with an external object, and the bumper has conductivity and is electrically connected to the ring. Vacuum cleaner.   The self-propelled cleaner according to claim 1, wherein the ultrasonic sensor includes a sensor including an ultrasonic transmission element and a sensor including an ultrasonic reception element.   The self-propelled cleaner according to claim 1, wherein the ultrasonic sensor includes an ultrasonic transmission / reception combined element.   The self-propelled cleaner according to claim 2, wherein the bumper is made of conductive rubber.