EP0663808A1

EP0663808A1 - Process and device for cleaning and/or care of floors and/or floor coverings of all kinds.

Info

Publication number: EP0663808A1
Application number: EP93922918A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Reinhard Hoersch; Guido Hoersch
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1992-10-10
Filing date: 1993-10-07
Publication date: 1995-07-26
Anticipated expiration: 2013-10-07
Also published as: US5587021A; JPH08502189A; DE59306134D1; AU6240994A; GR3023604T3; EP0663808B1; WO1994008504A1; ATE151246T1; DE4233888A1; JP3452571B2; DK0663808T3; ES2102066T3

Abstract

PCT No. PCT/EP93/02747 Sec. 371 Date Apr. 6, 1995 Sec. 102(e) Date Apr. 6, 1995 PCT Filed Oct. 7, 1993 PCT Pub. No. WO94/08504 PCT Pub. Date Apr. 28, 1994In a method for cleaning and/or care or floors and/or floor coverings of all types such as carpets, plastics, linoleum, parquet, ceramic, ceramic tiles or marble, etc., with a single-disk or multi-disk rotary machine having at least one drive dish, whereby the floor covering is treated with a cleaning and/or care substrate upon application of heat on a case-by-case basis, an especially good and economical operation succeeds in that a stream of hot air and/or heated auxiliary medium is employed as heat carrier and activation medium, and the hot air stream and/or heated auxiliary medium proceeds onto the floor surface through the drive dish. An apparatus suitable for this purpose comprises a drive dish provided with clearances and comprises a hot air generator. The drive dish can be fashioned as a brush at its underside and/or can have an interactive connection to a co-rotating pad.

Description

Process and device for cleaning and / or maintaining floors and / or floor coverings of all kinds

The invention relates to a method and a device for cleaning and / or maintaining floors and / or floor coverings of all kinds, such as carpets, plastics, linoleum, parquet, ceramics, stone tiles or marble etc. by means of a single or multi-disc rotor machine.

Devices for cleaning floors and / or floor coverings are known in large numbers. The vast majority of these are designed and equipped exclusively for cleaning textile floor coverings and are not suitable for cleaning or maintaining other floor coverings such as plastic, linoleum, parquet or marble.

A carpet cleaning device is known from DE-U-8 304 300.7, which makes use of the electrostatic charging of the dirt particles. Cleaning at elevated temperatures is therefore not intended; however, EP-B1-0188475 suggests cleaning at elevated temperatures between 40 and 80 degrees for carpets. It is not intended to treat other soils at elevated temperatures.

Single-disc machines for cleaning and maintaining plastic, wooden or stone floors are known, which are often designed with rotating brushes. However, such rotor cleaning machines generally do not have any

REPLACEMENT LEAF Means to apply heat to the surface to be worked. If an old gloss layer, which had become unsightly due to contamination or abrasion, had to be removed from the floor before the application of a new gloss layer, then this was usually done with considerable use of chemical cleaning agents, in particular with an ecologically questionable so-called basic cleaner, a strongly alkaline or acidic substrate, as well as made using hot water. The basic cleaner dissolved in the hot water was then poured onto the floor or spread with mop rags, and the soiled layer was removed using the cleaning machine after a predetermined exposure time. An uneconomically high level of manual labor was then required in order to carry out this complex work, which was questionable from the point of view of environmental pollution. The effect of warm water in this type of floor cleaning quickly diminishes because the water film applied to the floor represents so little heat storage that effective heating of the floor layer to be cleaned is not guaranteed.

A carpet cleaning machine is also described in DE-A-26 15 501. This is a vacuum cleaner compressed air spray and suction system for wet cleaning of permanently installed materials, with which cleaning fluid is pressed by means of a flat jet nozzle by means of compressed air onto the material to be cleaned and immediately removed by forced suction. The compressed air can be heated by an electric heater, and the fabric is also dried by forced hot air. A major disadvantage of this system is

REPLACEMENT LEAF due to the structurally extremely complex and complex design, moreover an effective application requires considerable experience. In addition, large amounts of cleaning agents are required and the drying time is relatively long despite heating.

The present invention has for its object to provide a method and a device that are suitable for universal cleaning and / or maintenance of floors and / or floor coverings of all kinds such as carpets, plastics, linoleum, parquet, kerami, stone tiles or marble etc. avoid the aforementioned difficulties, disadvantages and technical limitations of known devices. In particular, an essentially constant temperature should be adjustable in the area of the working area without the need to separately heat the supply of water and / or cleaning or care agents. Furthermore, the method and the device should be able to achieve such an effective cleaning effect that thorough cleaning of floors or floor coverings of all types with extremely economical use of workers and cleaning or care products while avoiding the use of chemical, in particular ecologically questionable, basic cleaners with less work than is currently feasible.

The problem is solved in a method of the type mentioned with the invention in that a He i ßLuftst rom and / or heated additional medium is used as the heat carrier and activation medium and the He ißluftst rom or the heated additional medium through the TreibteLler on the Floor area.

REPLACEMENT LEAF With the method it is surprisingly achieved for the first time that an essentially constant temperature of the processed floor or floor covering is generated and maintained in the area of the working area without the need for separate heating of the treated water or cleaning or care agent is. This achieves such an effective cleaning or care effect that, for example, a basic cleaning of all types of floors with extremely economical use of workers and cleaning or care products while avoiding the use of chemical, especially ecologically questionable basic cleaners with relatively less work than previously feasible is. In particular, greasy soiling (approximately 50% of all soiling is greasy) is solved and removed much faster with the method using controlled heat input than with known methods. In view of the large shortage of personnel and rising personnel costs, for example in the hospital sector, the significant improvement in the cleaning effect which has been proven in experiments leads to a noticeable reduction in costs and personnel.

An embodiment of the method provides that the additional medium is heated in stages, whereby it is preheated in a first stage in the hot air current and then further heated in the passage through the drive plate.

Another embodiment of the method provides that the additional medium is preheated as the first heating stage using a heatable collecting pan.

E _RS ATZB _L ATT Another embodiment provides that the additional medium is applied through the center of rotation onto the surface to be treated. This results in a very good distribution with simultaneous heating of cleaning or care products and floor space.

Another embodiment provides that the hot air stream exits at a comparatively high speed with the formation of an ene rgi e rich flow against the drive plate and the mat, additional medium such as water or fluid or fluid or pasty cleaning or care substrate being passed through the drive plate by the flow pressure through to the floor and evenly distributed.

A further embodiment of the method provides that the temperature of the machined surface is checked using a temperature sensor which is preferably located in the center of rotation of the rotor.

A further embodiment provides that the temperature of the processed surface is set according to a predetermined cleaning or maintenance program and / or according to the type of floor covering. As a result, the use of energy can be set to a comparatively economical level.

Overall, with an optimal cleaning or care effect, extremely economical and effective use of cleaning or care products as well as energy and labor is achieved.

REPLACEMENT LEAF A device for cleaning and / or maintenance of floors and / or floor coverings of all kinds, with a drive unit arranged above a machine housing in a motor housing as well as a rotor driven by this via a shaft and a drive plate arranged on the underside of the rotor for carrying out the method according to the invention, is characterized

- That this has a generator for generating a high-energy hot air current with a hot air line and a hot air outlet nozzle directed downward within the machine housing, the hot air generator being equipped for several temperature levels with a temperature selector switch ,

- That the drive plate has holes or openings; t, and

- That the blow-out device of the generator is arranged in an axis approximately parallel to the axis of the rotor and its «? Mouth preferably just above the drive plate approximately in the middle between the center of rotation and the periphery; the drive plate is arranged.

Further advantageous configurations are provided in accordance with the subclaims. Details, features and advantages of the invention result from the following explanation of the exemplary embodiments shown schematically in the drawings.

Show it:

_ERSA TZB _L ATT 1 is a side view of the device,

A plan view of the perforated drive plate,

Fig. 3 is a side view of the device, partly in section.

3a shows the upper end of the guide rod in a view with an integrated hand switch,

4 is a view of the underside of the device,

5 shows a section through the drive plate along the section line V-V in FIG. 6,

6 is a plan view of the drive plate according to FIG. 5,

7 is a view of the liquid pipe for additional medium of approximately natural size,

Fig. 8 is a view of the device with heated Auffangscha le.

Fig. 9 is a plan view of a drive plate with integrated electric heating.

The device shown in FIG. 1 has a rotor (1) with a drive unit (5) in a motor housing (25). The rotor (1) sits on one (not

REPLACEMENT LEAF Shown) in the machine housing (24) and has a drive plate (2), preferably profiled on its underside, with an underlying rotating mat (50). As can be seen from FIG. 2, the driver (2) is designed with holes (3) or slot-shaped openings (4) and, if appropriate, on its underside as a brush.

The mat (50) can be designed differently depending on the type of floor covering (49) being processed; for example, when used for carpet cleaning, it has a covering with cleaning bristles. The mat (50) can consist of a porous textile body, such as a needle fleece, and carries on its underside a structural covering adapted to the respective cleaning procedure. Depending on the type of cleaning, there are very different mats (50), which are also referred to as "pads". They can consist of fabrics with more or less hard text i Imate r i a l, they can be air-permeable or impermeable for cleaning carpets or fabrics and z. B. consist of Po lyvi ny l fibers. Harder fabrics for basic cleaning are made of polyester or polyethylene (nylon). Brushes with hard bristles are used for roughing or shampooing. Other pads made of disc-shaped nonwovens, e.g. B. consist of polyester or nylon, depending on the hardness embedded Seh le i fkörper. For their identification, such pads are colored differently depending on their lower or greater abrasion. Green colored pads have medium abrasion. They are mostly used in sheet metal processes, black pads are used for basic cleaning. Occasionally, pads can also make breakthroughs

REPLACEMENT LEAF exhibit .

The device has a generator (20) for generating a hot air current (23), the temperature of which can be adjusted to match the type of floor or floor covering (49) to be worked. A favorable cleaning temperature is, for example, 40 ° Celsius for textile coverings, and a maximum of 80 ° Celsius for non-textile floors and / or coverings.

The hot air generator (20) has a blow-out element (21), the mouth (22) of which is arranged just above the drive plate (2). The mouth (22) of the blow-out member (21) is located approximately in the middle between the center of rotation and the periphery of the drive plate (2).

As a result of this arrangement, the hot air current (23) and the cleaning or maintenance substrate applied together with it are advantageously applied through the drive plate or the brush (2) and / or the mat (50) onto the floor surface (49) to be cleaned . The industrial hair dryer (20) produces a hot air stream (23) escaping at a comparatively high speed, the action of the hot air, for example through pores in the mat (50) against the floor surface (49), advantageously increasing the cleaning action has the consequence. The advantage is that the amount of heat transported in the hot air stream (23) is passed through the drive plate (2) and the rotating mat (50) to the floor covering surface (4-9) being cleaned or maintained. is brought to effect.

REPLACEMENT LEAF The cleaning and care device according to the invention is equipped with a conventional chassis, for example with two wheels (44), and with a guide rod (45) on the preferably heavy machine housing (24). It has a metering device (38) for cleaning or care products, the outlet opening of which is arranged above the drive plate (2). It can therefore also be made use of the measure that the metering device (38) has an outlet channel L arranged in the axis of rotation (xx) of the shaft of the rotor (1). It is thereby achieved that cleaning or care agent emerging through the rotation center is applied evenly and extremely economically to the surface (49) to be cleaned and distributed there by the rotating mat (50). Furthermore, a temperature sensor extending up to the floor covering (49) to be worked is arranged in the axis of rotation (xx). This then works together with a control device known per se in the sense that the temperature of the surface (49) to be cleaned is optimally set in accordance with a predetermined cleaning or care program and / or the type of floor covering.

Figure 3 shows the cleaning machine in side view and partially in section. This has a die-cast machine housing (24) with a chassis with two wheels (44) arranged thereon. Arranged on the chassis is the guide rod (45) and at the end thereof an operating handle (46) with an ON-OFF switch (47) as shown in FIG. 3a. The guide rod (45) can be opened and closed in a joint (43) with the machine housing (24). The device has

REPLACEMENT LEAF a liquid supply container (39), which optionally receives water as an additional medium or a cleaning or maintenance substrate. A flexible hose (37) is connected to this, which conducts the additional medium to a metering device (38). Starting from this, an outlet pipe r (40) is connected, which is formed with a pipe coil (42) with outlet nozzles (41) shown in FIG. The illustration also shows the motor housing (25) with an internal motor, the rotor (1) with a driver (2) and the mat (50) that is operatively connected to the floor or floor covering (49). The fixed machine housing (24) shown in section takes on the top of the hot air generator (20) with connected hot air line (29), which opens into the blow-out element (21) with hot air outlet nozzle (30).

Because the setting of the working temperature in the device in relation to the floors or floor coverings (49) to be processed plays a very important role, it is provided that the hot air generator (20) has several temperature levels and a temperature selection ( 31). To monitor the working temperature in the area of the floor (49) is advantageously arranged in the axis of rotation (x-x) Fig. 1 a temperature sensor (not shown) extending up to the floor (49) or floor covering to be worked. This is with one

Temperature control device (31) of the hot air generator (20) cooperatively designed so that a preset working temperature is maintained under all working conditions.

REPLACEMENT SHEET _j The machine housing (24) is shown in a view from below in FIG. It is a bell-shaped body forming a cavity divided by ribs (10), which in a plane (yy) Fig. 3 stretched over the ends of the ribs (10) with a preferably warm lid (11 ) down to complete. As can further be seen from FIGS. 4 and 7, the outlet pipe (40) equipped with outlet nozzles (41) for additional medium is designed at its outlet end to form a heat exchanger-forming pipe coil (42), and this underneath the outlet nozzle (30) existing Lasorgans (21) Fig. 3 in He i ß Luftst rom (23) Fig. 1 arranged. As a result, through the outlet tube (40), the additional medium which is passed through is heated intensively in the air stream (23) which is between 250 ° and 400 ° Celsius hot. Fig. 4 shows the rest of the arrangement of the outlet pipe (40) following the metering device (38) up to its formation as a pipe coil (42) in the region of the hot air stream (23) below the hot air outlet nozzle (30). . The wheels of the chassis (44) are arranged on a continuation (26) of the machine housing (24).

The drive plate (2) is shown in section and in plan view in FIGS. 5 and 6. This has on its top in several increasing from the center of rotation to the periphery increasing radial distances arranged concentric, the heat transfer from the hot air stream (23) Fig. 1 intensifying ribs (15). These are penetrated by radial ribs (17) with the formation of partially circular cells (16) which are open towards the top, each cell (16) having openings (4) for added medium

REPLACEMENT LEAF having. As seen in the direction of the rotary movement of the drive plate (2), these are arranged adjacent to the front of each radial rib (17).

A somewhat different embodiment of the device is shown in FIG. In this version, the additional medium is only heated by heating stages provided with electric heaters (6). As the first heating stage, a heatable collecting tray (7) is arranged above the drive plate (2). Additional medium is applied to this with the outlet nozzle (36). The collecting tray (7) has approximately evenly distributed outlet bores through which the additional medium flows in a uniform distribution onto the likewise electrically heated drive plate (2), which forms the second heating stage. The heated additional medium penetrates through this into the mat (50) and reaches the surface of the floor or floor covering (49) to be cleaned in an intended temperature state.

In this embodiment, as shown schematically in FIG. 9, electric heating devices (6) are embedded in the drive plate (2). The drive plate (2) has water through holes (3) which, viewed in the direction of the rotary movement of the drive plate (2), are arranged adjacent to the front of each radial rib (17). A driving flange (8), indicated as a black circle, with an integrated power supply (not shown) is arranged in the area of the drive plate rotation center.

With the method and the device according to the invention

REPLACEMENT LEAF the following advantages are achieved:

Generation of a substantially constant temperature at the work field with economical use of thermal energy,

the separate heating of cleaning and / or care products, for example wax or wax emulsion, can be omitted,

- As a result of increased, very effective cleaning effects, the use of hot water, occasionally with

Cleaning agent solution, omitted, likewise the use of personnel in the task, distribution and processing of the care products is significantly reduced, whereby a significant cost saving is achieved,

- The use of ecologically questionable basic cleaners with a strongly alkaline or acidic concentration can be considerably reduced, if not completely eliminated, since "gentle" cleaners are used in the working area due to the increased working temperature.

For the application of the method and the cleaning machine, there is a very wide field of application due to the high performance with reduced personnel, such as. B.:

- Before department stores, in particular meat counters, cheese counters etc., which had previously been cleaned in a conventional manner with a scrubber and pick-up device, these were not accessible to automatic drives due to lack of space. The shorter, lighter and less expensive is advantageous

ER ^S ATZBLATT Way of working.

- So far, knobbed floors have been cleaned with a single-disc machine and a scrubbing brush. Furnishings were soiled by water splashes and required further work for subsequent cleaning. This is remedied by the method and the device according to the invention. Other applications are u. a .:

- Warm shaving with textiles that do not shrink at elevated temperatures. An increased level of protection and a lower chemical level due to heat treatment are advantageous.

- Cleaner process: heat supports the dirt solution and dirt absorption.

- Green roof maintenance cleaning (intermediate cleaning) of large areas is possible at low cost.

- Streaks, veils and streaks after cleaning shiny surfaces are reduced, since too much or too little detergent has usually been used in cold conventional working methods.

- Non-neutral cleaners can no longer damage the floor covering to be cleaned due to too high a dosage, since weaker cleaners and / or lower concentrations of the cleaning agent are required due to the heat factor.

- Optimal Po L i quality are without

REPLACEMENT LEAF High speed range possible, as well as repairs to damaged glossy surfaces due to the effects of heat.

Overall, the application possibilities are significantly expanded with the invention and the cleaning process is rationalized, as a result of which surprisingly favorable cost savings can be achieved and the service companies burdened by increasing personnel costs can work more economically and efficiently.

The measures according to the invention are not limited to the exemplary embodiments shown in the drawing figures. A possible modification of the device according to the invention can consist in that another type of temperature generation or guidance of the hot air current takes place. The drive plate (s) can also be designed in any way and have different perforation or opening patterns for the air and / or cleaning or maintenance elements, as well as different brush profiles. The respective constructional design is free to the person skilled in the art in adaptation to special uses of the device.

REPLACEMENT LEAF

Claims

Expectations

1. A method for cleaning and / or maintaining floors and / or floor coverings of all kinds such as carpets, plastics, linoleum, parquet, ceramics, stone tiles or marble etc. by means of a single or multi-disc rotor machine, with at least one drive plate (2), wherein the floor or floor covering (49) to be treated is treated with an additional medium such as water and / or a fluid or pasty cleaning or care substrate while supplying heat, characterized in that a hot air stream (23) and / or heated additional medium is used, and the hot air flow (23) and / or heated additional medium reaches the bottom surface (49) through the drive plate (2).

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the additional medium is heated in stages, wherein it is preheated in a first stage in the hot air stream and then further heated in the passage through the drive plate (2).

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the additional medium is preheated using a heatable drip tray (7) as the first heating stage.

4. The method according to one or more of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the additional medium is added through the center of rotation of the rotor (1).

5. The method according to one or more of claims 1 to

REPLACEMENT LEAF 4, characterized in that the hot air stream (23) emerges at a comparatively high speed with the formation of an energy-rich flow against the drive plate (2), with the flow pressure adding medium such as water or fluid or pasty cleaning or Care substrate through the drive plate (2) and is evenly distributed.

6. The method according to one or more of claims 1 to

5, characterized in that the temperature of the surface to be treated (49) is checked using a temperature sensor preferably located in the center of rotation of the rotor (1).

7. The method according to one or more of claims 1 to

6, characterized in that the temperature of the hot air stream (23) or the processed surface (49) according to a predetermined cleaning or

Maintenance program and / or according to the type of floor covering (49).

8. The method according to one or more of claims 1 to

7, characterized in that the heating of the floor surface (49) to be processed is carried out by means of wireless energy transmission by means of microwaves or infrared radiation.

9. Device for cleaning and / or maintaining floors or floor coverings (49) of all kinds, with a drive unit (5) arranged above a machine housing (24) in a motor housing (25), ie a rotor driven by the latter via a shaft (1 ) and one at the

REPLACEMENT LEAF Bottom of the rotor (1) arranged drive plate (2) for performing the method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that

- That this has a generator (20) for generating an energy-rich hot air stom (23) with a hot air line (29) and one inside the machine housing (24) directed downward hot air outlet nozzle (30), the hot air generator (20) for several temperature levels is equipped with a temperature selector switch (31).

- That the drive plate (2) has holes (3) or openings (4), and

- That the blow-out member (21) or (30) of the generator (20) in an axis approximately parallel to the axis of the rotor (1) and its mouth (22) preferably just above the drive plate (2) approximately in the middle between the center of rotation and the periphery of the drive plate (2) is arranged.

10. The device according to claim 9, characterized in that it has a metering device (38) for cleaning or care products, the outlet opening of which is arranged above the drive plate (2), with one of the metering device (38) upstream container (39) for cleaning - Or care products as well as with an outlet pipe (40) downstream of the metering device with outlet nozzles (41), the pipe (40) being formed at its aust rittssei end to a tube coil (42) forming a heat exchanger and this below

_ERSA TZBLATT the blow-out member (21) consisting of an outlet nozzle (30) is arranged in hot air (23).

11. The device according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the machine housing (24) is a bell-shaped, down to one of ribs (10) subdivided cavity from i ldender body, which in a over the ends of the ribs (10) tensioned plane (yy) with a preferably warm i so lying lid (11) is closed to the bottom.

12. The device according to one or more of claims 9 to 11, characterized in that the drive plate (2) arranged on its upper side in several increasing from the center of rotation to the periphery increasing Radiusabst nen concentric ribs (23) intensifying the heat transfer from the hot air flow (23 15) which, with the formation of partially circular, upwardly open cells (16), are penetrated by radial ribs (17), each cell (16) having holes (3) or openings (4) for added medium and these - in the direction of the rotational movement of the drive plate (2) - are arranged adjacent to the front of each radial rib (17).

13. The device according to one or more of claims 9 to 12, characterized in that in the drive plate (2) Elektro ro-Hei zvorr i chtungen (6) are embedded, and that above the drive plate (2) has a heatable collecting tray (7) for Additional medium is arranged, which has distribution holes distributed over its surface.

14. The device according to one or more of claims 9

REPLACEMENT LEAF to 13, characterized in that the rotor (1) has an arranged in the axis of rotation (xx) Aust ri 11 skana l, in which a temperature sensor extending up to the ground (49) or floor covering to be worked is arranged, and in that the Hot air generator (20) is equipped with a temperature selector switch (31) for several temperature levels.

15. The device according to one or more of claims 9 to 14, characterized in that the drive plate (2) is trained on its underside as a brush.

16. The device according to one or more of claims 9 to 15, characterized in that an infrared radiator or a microwave generator is arranged within the machine housing (24).

REPLACEMENT LEAF