CN116172460A

CN116172460A - Surface cleaning machine

Info

Publication number: CN116172460A
Application number: CN202111423392.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 卞庄
Original assignee: Suzhou Chenghe Cleaning Equipment Co Ltd
Current assignee: Suzhou Chenghe Cleaning Equipment Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-11-26
Filing date: 2021-11-26
Publication date: 2023-05-30

Abstract

The invention relates to a surface cleaning machine comprising: a base housing; at least one cleaning pad rotatably disposed at the bottom of the base housing and configured to scrub the floor during operation of the surface cleaning machine; a fluid supply system comprising a fluid supply container and a fluid dispenser located at the bottom of the base housing and configured to dispense fluid to at least one cleaning pad; the fluid dispenser includes at least one nozzle group, the number of nozzle groups is consistent with the number of cleaning pads, and the fluid dispenser dispenses fluid to the at least one cleaning pad through the at least one nozzle group; each group of orifices contains at least one orifice and the at least one orifice is configured to be positioned on an underside of a respective cleaning pad such that the at least one orifice is capable of ejecting fluid toward the respective cleaning pad in a downward-upward direction. The surface cleaning machine can use the same volume of fluid for a longer time, and the wiped surface is drier and cleaner.

Description

Surface cleaning machine

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of cleaning devices, and in particular to a surface cleaning machine that utilizes a cleaning pad to scrub a surface to be cleaned.

Background

Rotary mop-type surface cleaning apparatuses, which achieve wiping cleaning of a surface to be cleaned by using a rotary cleaning pad, have been widely used. In order to meet the requirement of wet scrubbing a surface to be cleaned, the surface cleaning apparatus is required to continuously apply a fluid such as water or steam to the cleaning pad or the surface to be cleaned during operation, and as the surface cleaning apparatus moves over the surface to be cleaned, the released fluid is absorbed by the cleaning pad and remains on the surface to be cleaned.

In a rotary mop-type surface cleaning apparatus of the type described above, the fluid dispenser for supplying the fluid is typically disposed on the upper side of the cleaning pad; as disclosed in korean patent publication No. KR1020200007190a, a suction nozzle for a vacuum cleaner has a pair of rotary cleaning pads at the bottom thereof, fluid in a water tank flows down from the upper side of the cleaning pad and permeates the cleaning pad, and the cleaning pad has a water-absorbing layer so that the fluid can permeate down until reaching the bottom surface of the cleaning pad. The mode of supplying water to the cleaning pad is realized by means of the permeation mode, and the water content in the middle permeation layer is higher, so that a plurality of water stains are easily left on the ground after the cleaning pad is wiped, the cleaning effect is affected, and a user needs to wait for a period of time to enter the ground area after cleaning, so that the user is puzzled.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve the problem of residual water stains on the ground caused by high water content of a cleaning pad in operation in the surface cleaning equipment in the prior art, the invention aims to provide the surface cleaning equipment with low residual water stain on the surface to be cleaned.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following technical solutions: a surface cleaning machine comprising:

a base housing adapted to move over a surface to be cleaned;

at least one cleaning pad rotatably disposed at a bottom of the base housing and configured to scrub a floor during operation of the surface cleaning machine;

a fluid supply system comprising a fluid supply container for storing a fluid and a fluid dispenser in fluid communication with the supply tank, the fluid dispenser being located at the bottom of the base housing and configured to dispense the fluid to the at least one cleaning pad;

the fluid dispenser comprises at least one spray hole group, the number of the spray hole groups is consistent with that of the cleaning pads, and the fluid dispenser distributes fluid to the at least one cleaning pad through the at least one spray hole group; each of the nozzle groups includes at least one nozzle and the at least one nozzle is configured to be positioned at an underside of a corresponding cleaning pad such that the at least one nozzle is capable of ejecting the fluid toward the corresponding cleaning pad in a downward-upward direction.

In a first possible preferred embodiment, each of the nozzle hole groups includes a plurality of nozzle holes, and the plurality of nozzle holes are arranged in a direction parallel to a radius of the corresponding cleaning pad. In combination with the first possible preferred solution, in a second possible preferred solution, the injection direction of the injection hole is perpendicular to the plane of the corresponding cleaning pad.

In a third possible preferred embodiment, the surface cleaning machine further comprises: at least one wiper strip, the number of the wiper strips is consistent with the number of the cleaning pads, and each cleaning pad is provided with a bottom surface; each of said wiper strips being configured to abut a portion of the bottom surface of a corresponding one of said cleaning pads to remove excess liquid from the cleaning pad; the wiper strip is located downstream of the respective nozzle hole group with respect to the rotational direction of the cleaning pad.

With reference to the third possible preferred embodiment, in a fourth possible preferred embodiment, the surface cleaning machine further includes: the upper portion has an open sump defining a chamber for collecting liquid, the sump being located on the underside of the at least one cleaning pad and configured to receive liquid removed from the cleaning pad via the opening.

In combination with the fourth possible preferred aspect, in a fifth possible preferred aspect, the at least one wiper strip and the at least one nozzle group are both disposed at the chamber of the liquid collecting box.

With reference to the fifth possible preferred embodiment, in a sixth possible preferred embodiment, the surface cleaning machine further includes: a stud array and/or a bristle tuft array disposed at the chamber of the cartridge and configured to contact a portion of the bottom surface of the cleaning pad.

In combination with the sixth possible preferred embodiment, in a seventh possible preferred embodiment, the liquid collecting box, the fluid distributor, the array of posts and/or the array of bristle tufts and the wiper strip are integrated as a unitary module that is detachable from the bottom of the base housing.

In combination with the fourth possible preferred embodiment, in an eighth possible preferred embodiment, the surface cleaning machine further includes: the vacuum recovery system is provided with a suction port, a dirty liquid recovery box, a suction channel and a suction motor, wherein the suction port, the dirty liquid recovery box, the suction channel and the suction motor are sequentially communicated with fluid, the suction port is positioned at the bottom of the base shell and faces to a surface to be cleaned, and the chamber is in fluid communication with the suction channel.

With reference to the third possible preferred embodiment, in a ninth possible preferred embodiment, the surface cleaning machine further includes: a pad holder to which the cleaning pad is attached, the pad holder being configured to be capable of maintaining a bottom surface of the cleaning pad in a posture in which it is at least partially in contact with a surface to be cleaned while being at least partially in contact with the respective wiper strip during operation of the surface cleaning machine.

In combination with the ninth possible preferred aspect, in a tenth possible preferred aspect, the pad holder is formed of an elastically deformable material, or is at least partially of a deformable structure.

In an eleventh possible preferred embodiment, each of said wiper strips extends in a direction parallel to the radius of the respective cleaning pad.

In a twelfth possible preferred embodiment, the surface cleaning machine is a surface cleaning robot or an upright surface cleaning machine or a portable hand-held surface cleaning machine.

Compared with the prior art, the fluid dispenser provided by the invention can directly apply fluid to the bottom surface of the cleaning pad from the lower side of the cleaning pad; thus, the fluid can not excessively enter the permeable layer, and even the functional layer of the permeable layer can be eliminated in the cleaning pad, so that the surface cleaning machine arranged according to the fluid distribution scheme can be used for a longer time by the same volume of fluid, and the wiped surface is drier and more refreshing.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an upright surface cleaning machine according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of a cleaning base according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a bottom perspective view of a cleaning base according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic exploded view of the cleaning base of FIG. 3; wherein the viewing angle is a top view angle;

FIG. 5 is a schematic exploded view of the cleaning base of FIG. 3; wherein the viewing angle is a look-up angle

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a fluid supply system according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the integration of a liquid collection box, fluid dispenser, scraping strip, post array and fluff comb brush into a unitary module according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a vacuum recovery system according to one embodiment of the invention;

fig. 9 is a perspective view of a surface cleaning robot in a bottom view according to one embodiment of the invention;

fig. 10 is a schematic perspective view of a hand-held surface cleaning apparatus according to one embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

The present invention relates to a surface cleaning machine (such as a self-rotating mop having only a mopping function, a dust-collecting mop having a vacuum dust-collecting function, a surface cleaning robot having only a mopping function, and a surface cleaning robot having both vacuum dust collection and mopping) that cleans a surface using a cleaning fluid (such as water, an aqueous solution to which a detergent is added, high-temperature steam). More particularly, the present invention relates to a surface cleaning machine having a rotatable pad wiping system and a cleaning pad for delivering fluid to the pad wiping system, the cleaning pad being driven by a drive means drivingly connected thereto to effect scrubbing of a surface to be cleaned as the machine moves over the surface to be cleaned.

Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of an upright surface cleaning machine 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The surface cleaning machine 10 may be provided in any desired configuration other than a stand-up configuration, such as a canister machine, a self-moving surface cleaning robot (as shown in fig. 9), a portable hand-held machine (as shown in fig. 10).

As shown in fig. 1, the surface cleaning machine 10 includes an upright body 1, a lower portion of which is rotatably connected to a rear portion of a cleaning base 2 that is movable along and cleans a surface to be cleaned (e.g., a floor surface, a tile surface), the upright body 1 being for guiding movement of the cleaning base 2 over the surface to be cleaned. The surface cleaning machine 10 may include a fluid supply system for storing cleaning fluid and delivering the cleaning fluid to a cleaning pad, a pad wiping system for scrubbing a surface to be cleaned with the cleaning fluid on the surface to be cleaned, and a vacuum recovery system for removing debris from the surface to be cleaned and recovering the used cleaning fluid that becomes a dirty liquid. In other embodiments of machine 10, a steam supply system for generating steam and delivering the steam to the surface to be cleaned or to the cleaning pad may also be included.

For purposes of the description with reference to the drawings, references hereinafter to "upper", "lower", "right", "left", "rear", "front", "vertical", "horizontal", "inner", "outer" and the like are defined in terms of the perspective of a user standing on the rear side of machine 10. In other ways, the invention may take on a variety of alternative orientations.

The vertical fuselage 1 includes a chassis 11 that supports part of the components of the fluid supply system and the vacuum recovery system. The upright body 1 also has a handle assembly 12 extending upwardly from the housing 11, the handle assembly 12 comprising a vertical pole 121 mounted on the lower portion of the housing 11 and a handle 122 at the top end of the vertical pole 121, the handle 122 being configured to be grasped by a user to operate the surface cleaning apparatus 10 to perform a cleaning operation on a surface to be cleaned. In other embodiments, the various components of the fluid supply system and vacuum recovery system may also be entirely supported by the cleaning base 2.

Referring to fig. 2 to 5, the cleaning base 2 of the apparatus according to one embodiment may include a base housing 201, and a rotatably rotating connection pipe 202 is installed at the rear of the base housing 201. The cleaning base 2 according to the present embodiment may be used for connection to, for example, a portable hand-held surface cleaning apparatus or an upright surface cleaning apparatus. The cleaning base 2 itself may be self-contained with a battery to supply electrical power to the power consuming components or may receive electrical power from an attached cleaning device for operation.

In this case, since the apparatus 10 in which the cleaning base 2 is located is provided with a vacuum recovery system, a suction force generated by a suction motor of the vacuum recovery system can act on the cleaning base 2 to suck up debris on the surface to be cleaned through the cleaning base 2. The pad wiping system 203 may be rotatably disposed at the bottom of the base housing 201. The pad wiping system 203 effects wiping on a surface to be cleaned by driving at least one cleaning pad in rotation.

The pad wiping system 203 comprises at least one pad rotating assembly 21 adapted to rotate on a surface to be cleaned and a driving device 22 coupled to the at least one pad rotating assembly 21 for providing a rotational driving force to the pad rotating assemblies 21. In this embodiment, the pad wiping system 203 includes two pad rotating assemblies 21. Two pad rotating assemblies 21 are disposed side by side in the horizontal direction and are disposed at the bottom of the cleaning base 2 spaced apart from each other. The driving device 22 includes two driving motors 221 each provided with a reduction gear box 222, one driving motor 221 being assigned to each pad rotating assembly 21, each pad rotating assembly 21 being capable of achieving independent rotation. The two pad rotating assemblies 21 will be rotatable about the respective axes of rotation Y by the action of a pair of drive motors 221, respectively. In other embodiments of the pad wiping system, a pair of pad rotating assemblies may be driven to rotate simultaneously by a single drive motor, such as by a dual output shaft motor, or by a set of drive mechanisms that drivingly connect a pair of pad rotating assemblies to a single drive motor. In the orientation of the axis of rotation Y, the axis of rotation Y may be perpendicular to the surface to be cleaned or may form an acute included angle with the surface to be cleaned. The preferred arrangement direction of the axis of rotation Y is optimized to meet the set function and to maximize the contact with the surface to be cleaned, for example, the included angle between the axis of rotation Y and the surface to be cleaned is in the range of 70-90 degrees. To facilitate movement of the cleaning base 2 over the surface to be cleaned, the rotational directions of the two pad rotating assemblies 21 are preferably set to be opposite.

The pad rotating assembly 21 according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a pad holder 211 and a cleaning pad 212 capable of being held on the pad holder 211. The cleaning pad 212 is also removable from the pad holder 211, the cleaning pad 212 having a bottom surface 2121 for contacting the surface to be cleaned, typically with a number of wiping bristles disposed on the bottom surface 2121. The pad holder 211 is fixedly connected with the output shaft 2221 of the reduction gear box 222, and the pad holder 211 can be driven to rotate around the rotation axis Y and drive the cleaning pad 212 to rotate together under the driving of the driving motor 221. The pad holder 211 may be formed of an elastically deformable material, or at least partially of a deformable structure; thereby enabling the cleaning pad 212 held on the holder 211 to be deformed up and down. The rotating cleaning pad 212 may enable scrubbing of the surface to be cleaned so that stains on the surface to be cleaned are more easily removed.

The base housing 201 includes an upper housing 2011 and a lower housing 2012 defining an appearance thereof. The front of the lower housing 2012 is arranged with the suction opening 2013 facing the surface to be cleaned. The base housing 201 may provide a suction tube 2014 for sucking debris, the suction tube 2014 guiding the debris and air sucked from the suction port 2013 toward the rear side connection tube 202. A pair of pad rotating assemblies 21 are each mounted on the underside of the lower housing 2012, and a driving device 22 is mounted between the upper housing 2011 and the lower housing 2012.

Also provided in the base housing 201 are a fluid pump 34 for delivering fluid in a fluid supply system and a suction nozzle 2015 provided on the lower housing 2012 and located at the rear side of the suction port 2013. The suction tube 2014 has a first mouthpiece 20141 interfacing with the suction opening 2013 and a second mouthpiece 20142 interfacing with the suction nozzle 2015, i.e., the suction opening 2013 communicates with the suction tube 2014 simultaneously with the suction nozzle 2015.

Referring to fig. 6, which illustrates a fluid supply system 3 according to one embodiment of the present invention, may include a fluid supply container 31 for storing fluid, a fluid dispenser 32 for delivering fluid to a cleaning pad 212 in each pad rotating assembly 21, and a fluid delivery path 33 through which fluid is delivered from the fluid supply container 31 to the fluid dispenser 32; a fluid pump 34 is arranged in the fluid transport path 33 and is arranged to be controllable.

The fluid supply container 31 may be disposed on the cleaning base 2 or on the upright body 1; the fluid supply container 31 may be provided to be detachable from the cleaning base 2 or the upright body 1 so that a user can remove the fluid supply container 3 from the apparatus 10 to fill with new cleaning fluid, or the fluid supply container 31 may be provided with an openable cover structure so that the user supplements the inside of the fluid supply container 31 with cleaning fluid by means of an external water injection member.

Fluid dispenser 32 includes a pair of nozzle groups each having a plurality of nozzle holes 321 for ejecting fluid to cleaning pad 212. In other embodiments, the fluid dispenser may also be positioned to deliver fluid directly to the surface to be cleaned, or by delivering fluid to individual cleaning pads. As shown in fig. 6, the plurality of spray holes 321 are located below the respective cleaning pads 212, so that the plurality of spray holes 321 can spray fluid toward the respective cleaning pads 212 in a downward-upward direction; and in order to spray uniformity of the fluid, the plurality of spray holes 321 are preferentially arranged in a direction parallel to a radius of the corresponding cleaning pad 212 so as to achieve uniform spray of the fluid onto the cleaning pad 212; the spraying direction of each spraying hole 321 is upward spraying, and the spraying direction of the spraying hole 321 is preferably set to be perpendicular to the plane of the bottom surface 2121 of the corresponding cleaning pad 212; thus, as the cleaning pad 212 rotates, portions of the bottom surface 2121 of the cleaning pad 212 will be able to pass through the spray holes 321 in sequence, thereby being wetted by the upwardly sprayed cleaning fluid.

As further shown in fig. 2-5, the bottom of the base housing 201 is also provided with a liquid trap 204. The fluid dispenser 32 is integrated with the sump 204. The drip box 204 of this example is removably mounted to the bottom wall of the lower housing 2012. The liquid collecting box 204 is located below the pair of cleaning pads 212 and between the suction opening 2013 and a center point line X connecting the pair of cleaning pads 212. As each cleaning pad 212 rotates about its respective axis, a portion of each cleaning pad 212 of a pair will pass directly above the sump 204. The liquid collecting box 204 is preferably designed in an integrated box body manner; in other embodiments, the drip box 204 may be distributed as a plurality of components. In addition to being removably mounted to the bottom of the lower housing 2012, the drip chamber 204 may be configured to be hingedly disposed to the bottom of the lower housing 2012 in a reversible manner to facilitate cleaning of the drip chamber 204 by a user.

Referring to fig. 7, the upper portion of the drip box 204 has an opening, with a chamber 2045 formed therein, the chamber 2045 being configured to allow liquid and debris to collect therewith. The drip box 204 is provided with a pair of liquid inlets 2046, each liquid inlet 2046 corresponding to one nozzle group, and the pair of liquid inlets 2046 are to be connected into the fluid conveying path 33.

On the liquid collecting box 204, in addition to the fluid distributor 32, a pair of scraping strips 2042, two sets of stud arrays 2043 and two sets of fluff comb brushes 2044 are integrated; the drip box 204 forms an integral module with the various components integrated thereon.

A pair of wiper strips 2042 fixedly disposed within the chamber 2045 of the liquid trap 204 and respectively configured to be capable of abutting against a portion of the bottom surface 2121 of one of the cleaning pads 212; during rotation of a pair of cleaning pads 212, a pair of wiper strips 2042 will each be able to rub against the bottom surface 2121 of the respective cleaning pad 212. The pair of wiper strips 2042 may be made of polyvinyl chloride, rubber, metal, or any material known in the art that is sufficiently rigid to not substantially deform during contact with the cleaning pad 212. The wiper strips 2042 each extend in a direction parallel to the radius of the respective cleaning pad 212, e.g., may be of a length consistent with or slightly longer than the radius of the cleaning pad 212, which enables each portion of the cleaning pad 212 to be wiped. As the cleaning base 2 moves over the surface to be cleaned, the pair of pad rotating assemblies 21 rotate about their respective axes Y, during which the pair of wiper strips 2042 will contact the respective partial bottom surfaces 2121 of the respective cleaning pads 212, thereby wiping off excess liquid and debris from the cleaning pads 212, which will fall into the chamber 2045. Since the pad holder 211 may be provided in a flexibly deformable or at least partly deformable structure, the pad holder 211 is capable of maintaining a posture in which the bottom surface 2121 of the cleaning pad 212 is at least partly in contact with the surface to be cleaned while being at least partly in contact with the respective wiper strip 2042 during operation of the surface cleaning machine 10.

Two sets of post arrays 2043 are also disposed on the drip box 204, in this example, the two sets of post arrays 2043 are disposed within the chamber 2045. The upper ends of the two sets of stud arrays 2043 will abut the bottom surfaces 2121 of the respective cleaning pads 212, respectively; the two sets of stud arrays 2043 are configured to be configured as a hair scraper to effect scraping of the bottom surface 2121 of the corresponding cleaning pad 212. The stud array 2043 is made of polyvinyl chloride, rubber, or a material known in the art. In other embodiments, the stud array 2043 may be replaced by an array of bristle tufts that also enable wiping of the bristles on the bottom surface of the cleaning pad.

Two sets of fluff comb brushes 2044 fixedly arranged on the collector 204 and located outside the chamber 2045. The lint carding brush 2044 is capable of scattering the lint of the cleaning pad scraped by the scraping bar 2042 of the dirt and debris and brushing out fine particles held between the lint so that the cleaning pad 212 can scrub the surface to be cleaned better later.

The drip box 204, fluid distributor 32, two sets of stud arrays 2043, two sets of fluff comb brushes 2044, and a pair of wiper strips 2042 are integrated into a unitary module that is removable from the bottom of the lower housing 2012. In the pad cleaner 204, as for the rotation direction of the pad rotating assembly 21, the nozzle holes 321, the stud arrays 2043, the wiper strip 2042, and the lint comb brush 2044 are sequentially arranged along the rotation direction of the corresponding cleaning pad 212. Once the device 10 is turned on, as the pad rotating assembly 21 continues to rotate, the bottom surfaces 2121 of the cleaning pads 212 of the pad rotating assembly pass through the nozzle 321, then through the scraper bar 2043, and finally through the lint comb 2044, respectively; the bottom surface 2121 of the cleaning pad 212 gets cleaning fluid while passing through the spray holes 321, and the cleaning pad 212 wetted by the fluid will scrape off surplus liquid and contaminants entrained in the cleaning pad 212 after the scraping bar 2043 and the fluff comb brush 2044, and the cleaning pad 212 can be in continuous contact with the surface to be cleaned after becoming wet and clean, thereby achieving better wiping of the surface to be cleaned.

As shown in fig. 8, which illustrates the vacuum recovery system 5 according to an embodiment of the present invention, includes a dirt recovery container 51 for storing a recovery fluid, a suction motor 52 for providing suction power, a suction port 2013 disposed at the bottom of the cleaning base 2 (disposed at the base housing 201 as described above), and a suction passage 53 (the suction tube 2014 mentioned above defining part of the suction passage 53) through which dirt and debris passes from the suction port 2013 to the dirt recovery container 51. In other embodiments, two or more suction openings may be provided.

The dirt recovery container 51 may be disposed on the cleaning base 2 or on the upright body 1; the dirty recovery container 51 may be arranged to be detachable from the cleaning base 2 or the upright body 1 so that a user empties the dirty liquid and debris in the dirty recovery container 51.

The suction ports 2013 are located on the front side of the pair of pad rotating assemblies 21. The liquid collection box 204 is connected to the suction nozzle 2015 so that the contaminated liquid in the chamber 2045 can be transferred to the suction pipe 2014 through the suction nozzle 2015 and finally sent to the contaminated recovery container 51 to be stored therein. The vacuum recovery system 5 of this example is capable of removing debris from a surface to be cleaned in addition to recovering the used fluid that becomes the dirty liquid from the surface to be cleaned; moreover, the liquid and debris within the drip chamber 204 can be transferred together, which can effectively ensure that there is sufficient space within the chamber 2045 for the dirt and debris on the cleaning pad 212 to fall into.

In other embodiments, the vacuum recovery system may not be provided, i.e., the dirty liquid in the chamber is transferred to a dirty recovery container with a larger volume by a pump; or the pump is omitted and the box-like body of the pad cleaner is provided with sufficient space to store the contaminated liquid.

Referring to fig. 9, a perspective view of a surface cleaning robot 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention is shown. The surface cleaning robot 100 has a cleaning base 1002 capable of autonomous movement over a surface to be cleaned, the cleaning base 1002 having a navigational drive mechanism (not shown) configured to drive the surface cleaning robot 100 to autonomously move over the surface to be cleaned.

The cleaning base 1002 also has disposed thereon a fluid supply system for storing and delivering a cleaning fluid to a surface to be cleaned or a cleaning pad and includes a pad wiping system for scrubbing the surface to be cleaned with the cleaning fluid on the surface to be cleaned and may include a vacuum recovery system for removing debris from the surface to be cleaned.

The cleaning base 1002 includes a base housing 10021, and the vacuum recovery system includes a suction port 1003 provided in the middle of the bottom of the base housing 10021, and a roller brush 1004 is provided at the suction port 1003. The bottom of the base housing 10021 is also provided with a pair of rotatable cleaning pads 1005 and a liquid sump 1006 integrating a fluid dispenser 1007 and a scraping member (not shown). The liquid collecting box 1006 is located at the lower side of the cleaning pads 1005, the fluid dispenser 1007 can spray fluid toward the pair of cleaning pads 1005 in a downward-upward direction, and the scraping bar can scrape the bottom surfaces of the pair of cleaning pads 1005 to remove excessive liquid and dirt; such as the structure of fig. 7. In other embodiments of the robot, such as a floor scrubbing robot having only a floor scrubbing function, the vacuum recovery system may also be omitted.

The surface cleaning robot can scrub a surface to be cleaned by using the cleaning pad, and simultaneously realize scrubbing and self-cleaning in the scrubbing process, so that the cleaning pad is always kept in a cleaner state, the liquid content of the cleaning pad can be controlled in a moist and non-wet state, the surface to be cleaned is not moist, and the robot is more beneficial to autonomous movement of the robot.

Referring to fig. 10, a perspective view of a handheld surface cleaning machine 800 is shown in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The hand-held surface cleaning machine 800 has, in addition to a cleaning base 8002 that is movable over a surface to be cleaned, a hand-held vacuum cleaner 8001 and a wand assembly 8003, the hand-held vacuum cleaner 8001 being capable of being used as a stand-alone cleaning apparatus after being separated from the wand assembly 8003. The wand assembly 8003 is used to fluidly connect the handheld cleaner 8001 and the cleaning base 8002, and to transfer the operating force acting on the handheld cleaner 8001 to the cleaning base 8002.

The hand-held surface cleaning machine 800 also includes a fluid supply system for storing and delivering cleaning fluid to the surface to be cleaned or to the cleaning pad and includes a pad wiping system for scrubbing the surface to be cleaned with the cleaning fluid on the surface to be cleaned; and may include a vacuum recovery system for removing debris from the surface to be cleaned. A fluid supply box 8005 in the fluid supply system and a dirt recovery container 8006 of the vacuum recovery system are both supported by a rod assembly 8003.

The cleaning base 8002 includes a base housing 80021, a pair of rotatable cleaning pads 8007 and a liquid collecting box 8008 integrated with a fluid dispenser and a liquid scraping member being provided at the bottom of the base housing 80021. The structure of the liquid collecting box 8008 integrated with the fluid dispenser and the liquid scraping member may employ any of the structures of liquid collecting boxes mentioned above. In other embodiments of the hand-held surface cleaning machine, such as a floor scrubbing robot having only a floor scrubbing function, the fluid supply tank and/or the dirt recovery container may also be supported on the cleaning base.

The foregoing has shown and described the basic principles, principal features and advantages of the invention. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the foregoing embodiments, which have been described in the foregoing embodiments and description merely illustrates the principles of the invention, and various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims, specification and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A surface cleaning machine comprising:

a base housing adapted to move over a surface to be cleaned;

at least one cleaning pad rotatably disposed at a bottom of the base housing and configured to scrub a floor during operation of the surface cleaning machine; and

a fluid supply system comprising a fluid supply container for storing a cleaning fluid and a fluid dispenser in fluid communication with the supply tank, the fluid dispenser being located at the bottom of the base housing and configured to dispense the fluid to the at least one cleaning pad; the method is characterized in that:

the fluid dispenser comprises at least one spray hole group, the number of the spray hole groups is consistent with that of the cleaning pads, and the fluid dispenser dispenses fluid to the at least one cleaning pad through the at least one spray hole group; each of the nozzle groups includes at least one nozzle and the at least one nozzle is configured to be positioned at an underside of a corresponding cleaning pad such that the at least one nozzle is capable of ejecting the fluid toward the corresponding cleaning pad in a downward-upward direction.

2. The surface cleaning machine of claim 1 wherein each of said sets of spray orifices includes a plurality of said spray orifices, and said plurality of spray orifices are arranged in a direction parallel to a radius of a respective said cleaning pad.

3. The surface cleaning machine of claim 2, wherein the spray direction of the spray holes is perpendicular to the plane of the respective cleaning pad.

4. The surface cleaning machine of claim 1, further comprising: at least one wiper strip, the number of the wiper strips is consistent with the number of the cleaning pads, and each cleaning pad is provided with a bottom surface; each of said wiper strips being configured to contact a portion of the bottom surface of a corresponding one of said cleaning pads to remove excess liquid from the cleaning pad; the wiper strip is located downstream of the respective nozzle hole group with respect to the rotational direction of the cleaning pad.

5. The surface cleaning machine of claim 4, further comprising: the upper portion has an open sump defining a chamber for collecting liquid, the sump being located on the underside of the at least one cleaning pad and configured to receive liquid removed from the cleaning pad via the opening.

6. The surface cleaning machine of claim 5, wherein the at least one wiper strip and the at least one nozzle set are each disposed at a chamber of the plenum.

7. The surface cleaning machine of claim 6, further comprising:

a stud array and/or a bristle tuft array disposed on the sump and configured to contact a portion of the bottom surface of the cleaning pad.

8. The surface cleaning machine of claim 7 wherein the sump, the fluid dispenser, the array of studs and/or bristle tufts and the wiper strip are integrated as a unitary module that is removable from the bottom of the base housing.

9. The surface cleaning machine of claim 5, further comprising: the vacuum recovery system is provided with a suction port, a dirty liquid recovery box, a suction channel and a suction motor, wherein the suction port, the dirty liquid recovery box, the suction channel and the suction motor are sequentially communicated with fluid, the suction port is positioned at the bottom of the base shell and faces to a surface to be cleaned, and the chamber is in fluid communication with the suction channel.

10. The surface cleaning machine of claim 4, further comprising: a pad holder to which the cleaning pad is attached, the pad holder being configured to be capable of maintaining a bottom surface of the cleaning pad in a posture in which it is at least partially in contact with a surface to be cleaned while being at least partially in contact with the respective wiper strip during operation of the surface cleaning machine.

11. The surface cleaning machine of claim 10, wherein the pad holder is formed of an elastically deformable material or is at least partially of a deformable construction.

12. The surface cleaning machine of claim 1 wherein each of said wiper strips extends in a direction parallel to a radius of the respective cleaning pad.

13. The surface cleaning machine of claim 1, wherein the surface cleaning machine is a surface cleaning robot or an upright surface cleaning machine or a portable hand-held surface cleaning machine.