EP3925504B1

EP3925504B1 - Lifting device for a mopping roller of cleaner robot

Info

Publication number: EP3925504B1
Application number: EP20213287.4A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Shengfang ZHOU
Original assignee: Shenzhen Tecbot Intelligent Robot Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Tecbot Intelligent Robot Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-06-16
Filing date: 2020-12-11
Publication date: 2024-05-01
Anticipated expiration: 2040-12-11
Also published as: EP3925504A1; US20210386265A1; CN111568326A

Description

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of cleaner robots, and more particularly to a lifting device for a mopping roller of a cleaner robot.

Background of the Invention

At present, mopping rags of most of cleaner robots on the market each are fixed on the bottom of the robot in an externally-mounted manner. Because of the externally-mounted manner, there are mainly the following disadvantages that: 1). the rag cannot be automatically cleaned and needs to be removed for cleaning frequently during a process of floor mopping; and 2). the rag is fixed on the bottom of the robot and cannot be lifted, and the rag needs to be close to the floor in order to achieve cleaning effect.
In this way, the cleaner robot will not be able to cross obstacles. Now the general home environment requires the cleaner robot to be able to cross the obstacle with at least 15mm high or a step with 15mm high. But because the rag is fixed on the bottom of the robot and close to the floor, the mopping rags of the cleaner robots on the market cannot cross such obstacles.
However, the actual home environment will have a variety of small steps, such as small carpets, wire raceways, floor decoration corners and other obstacles. Now the mopping rag installed on the cleaner robot on the market cannot cross the obstacles, or the robot will be stuck because of the obstacles, which seriously affects user's experience of the cleaner robot and seriously affects normal operations of intelligent robots in the actual home environment.
Moreover, since the mopping rag on the cleaner robot is fixed and close to the floor, if the rag is wet and/or if there is hard rubbish stuck on the rag, it will damage the floor if the rag contacts the ground or wood floor for a long time.
A Chinese patent application No. 201110007817.8 (with a publication No. CN102578958A), filed on January 5, 2011 , published on July 18, 2012 and entitled "robot with a workpiece lifting device", discloses a robot with a workpiece lifting device. The robot with a workpiece lifting device includes a robot body and the workpiece lifting device disposed inside the robot body. The workpiece lifting device includes a workpiece and a lifting drive assembly. The lifting drive assembly includes a drive motor and a rotator connected to a drive shaft of the drive motor, the rotator is provided with a bevel cam, and a fixing frame is arranged above the workpiece and movably connected inside the robot body. A top end of the fixing frame abuts against an inclined surface on a lower side of the bevel cam. The robot with the workpiece lifting device as disclosed is simple in structure, convenient in operation and high in working efficiency, and can be used for effectively cleaning a glass to-be-cleaned.
The above patent document discloses a robot with a workpiece lifting device, however the robot with a workpiece lifting device still has a relatively complex structure, is not flexible enough to use, the control of lifting is not accurate and the lifting automation is not high.
A second patent application No. CN 109 316 126 A discloses a mopping and sweeping integrated sweeping machine with a self-cleaning function and a sewage recovery function, comprising an upper cover, a water pump, a lower cover base, a middle sweep brush assembly, a universal wheel, a side brush, left and right wheel assemblies, a lifting gear box, a roller, a sewage recovery tank, a roller bracket, a roller gear box, a water purifying tank and a medium sweep gear box. The roller bracket rises and descends by the gear of the lifting gear box, resulting in the lifting and lowering of the mopping roller mechanism.
A third patent application No. CN 105 581 740 A discloses a floor mopping robot which comprises a base, which is rotated and provided with a rotating bracket. The front end of the rotating bracket is provided with a supporting shaft. A roller is disposed outside the support shaft, and a layer of soft material is disposed outside the roller. A first driving mechanism driving the roller to rotate around the supporting shaft. The base is also provided with a second driving mechanism, the height of the roller can be adjusted by the second driving mechanism through rotating bracket.
A fourth patent application No. WO 2020/103835 A1 discloses a robot cleaner and an automatic cleaning method capable of realizing automatic cleaning. The robot cleaner comprises a lifting mechanism and a cleaning base. The cleaning base comprises a base body, a wiper mechanism disposed on the base body, and a spraying assembly having nozzles. The lifting mechanism includes a crank rocker mechanism, gear pair or ball screw and controls the mopping component to move up and down.

Summary of the Invention

Accordingly, a primary objective of the invention is to provide a lifting device for a mopping roller of a cleaner robot that is simple in structure, flexible in use, accurate in control of lifting and high in automation.
In order to achieve the above objective, an embodiment of the invention provides a lifting device for a mopping roller of a cleaner robot. A robot body is disposed with a cleaning device, and the cleaning device includes the mopping roller. The mopping roller is provided with a rag. The lifting device is disposed inside the robot body. The lifting device includes a driving mechanism, and the driving mechanism is connected with the cleaning device.
In an embodiment, the robot body is provided with a roller-support frame, and the cleaning device is disposed on the roller-support frame.
In an embodiment, the driving mechanism includes a slider.
In an embodiment, the slider is made of a metal material.
In an embodiment, the cleaning device is provided with a bump, and the driving mechanism is configured to control lifting and lowering of the cleaning device by the bump.
In an embodiment, the bump is formed at a middle position of an edge of the cleaning device.
In an embodiment, two sides of the cleaning device are disposed with springs respectively, one end of each of the springs is connected to the cleaning device, and the other end of each of the springs is connected to the robot body.
In an embodiment, the robot body is provided with spring limiting mechanisms, the other ends of the springs are connected to the spring limiting mechanisms respectively.
In an embodiment, two sides of the roller-support frame are provided with rotation shafts respectively, a base is disposed below the roller-support frame, and the base is connected with the roller-support frame by the rotation shafts.
In an embodiment, the roller-support frame is made of a plastic material.
The technical solutions as proposed by the embodiments of the invention may have following beneficial effects that:1) the invention uses the lifting device to control the cleaner robot to effectively cross obstacles during a process of floor mopping, when the cleaner robot stops working, the mopping roller is lifted up under the control of a host software and the rag leaves the floor, and when there is a need of floor mopping, under the control of the host software, the mopping roller is lowered to mop the floor, which is flexible in lifting and easy to operate; 2) the invention has the advantages of accurate control, diversified lifting control manners and strong reliability; and 3) the cleaning device hangs on the roller-support frame, the lifting device can effectively control the lifting and lowering of the cleaning device through the driving mechanism, and the operation is simple and convenient, so that the cleaning device of the robot can realize the operation easily and quickly under the action of the lifting device.

Brief description of the Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate technical solutions of embodiments of the disclosure, drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly described below. Apparently, the drawings described below are merely some embodiments of the disclosure, and those skilled in the art can obtain other drawings based on these drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective structural view of a cleaner robot with a lifting device for a mopping roller according to an embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective structural view of a cleaner robot with a lifting device for a mopping roller according to another embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 3 is a schematic disassembled view of a cleaner robot with a lifting device for a mopping roller according to an embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 4 is a schematic structural view of a cleaning device and a lifting device for a mopping roller of a cleaner robot according to an embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a cleaner robot with a lifting device for a mopping roller according to an embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a cleaner robot with a lifting device for a mopping roller according to another embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a being-not-lifted-upstate of a cleaning device associated with a lifting device for a mopping roller of a cleaner robot according to an embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a been-lifted-upstate of the cleaning device associated with the lifting device for a mopping roller of a cleaner robot according to an embodiment of the invention.

Description of numerical references in drawings:

Numeric al reference	description	Numeric al reference	description
1	Robot body	2	Lifting device
3	Metal slider	31	Bump
4	Rotation shaft	5	Spring
51	Spring limiting mechanism	6	Floor
7	Mopping roller	8	Cleaning device
9	Base	81	Roller-support frame

The realization of objective, functional features and advantages of the invention will be further described in combination with embodiments with reference to accompanying drawings.

Detailed Description of Embodiments

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the invention will be clearly and completely described below, with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the invention. Apparently, the described embodiments are merely some of the embodiments of the invention, not all embodiments. Based on the described embodiments of the invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without any creativity should belong to the protective scope of the invention.
It is noted that, in the embodiments of the invention, all directional indications(such as "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "front", "rear", ......)are merely for indicating relative positional relationships and motions among various components under certain specific postures (as shown in the drawings),if the specific postures change, the directional indication will change accordingly.
In the description of the invention, unless otherwise clearly stated and limited, terms "connected", "fixed" and so on should be understood broadly. For instance, "fixed" can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection or an integral connection; can be a mechanical connection, can also be an electrical connection; can be a direct connection, can also be an indirect connection by an intermediary, can be an internal communication of two elements or an interaction between two elements, unless otherwise clearly defined. A person skilled in the art can understand concrete meanings of the terms in the invention as per specific circumstances.
Moreover, terms such as "first" and "second" are merely for the purpose of illustration and cannot be understood as indicating or implying the relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the technical feature. Therefore, features defined by "first" and "second" can explicitly or implicitly include one or more the features.
The invention provides a lifting device for a mopping roller of a cleaner robot.
Referring to FIG. 1 through FIG. 8, in an embodiment of the invention, as to the lifting device for a mopping roller of a cleaner robot, the cleaner robot includes a robot body 1, and the robot body 1 is disposed with a cleaning device 8. The cleaning device 8 includes the mopping roller 7. The mopping roller 7 is disposed with a rag. The lifting device 2 is disposed inside the robot body 1. The lifting device 2 includes a driving mechanism, and the driving mechanism is connected with the cleaning device 8.
The robot body 1 is provided with a roller-support frame 81, and the cleaning device 8 is disposed on the roller-support frame 81.
In the embodiment, preferably, the driving mechanism includes a slider 3.
In the embodiment, further and preferably, the slider 3 is a made of a metal material. That is, the driving mechanism includes a metal slider 3.
In the embodiment, preferably, the driving mechanism may include a drive motor, a fixing frame, a screw rod and the metal slider 3.
In the embodiment, the cleaning device 8 is installed on the roller-support frame 81, and preferably, two sides of the roller-support frame 81 are provided with rotation shafts 4 respectively, a base 9 is disposed below the roller-support frame 81, and the base 9 is connected with the roller-support frame 81 by the rotation shafts 4.
Furthermore, preferably, the roller-support frame 81 is made of a plastic material.
The cleaning device 8 of the invention can realize the lifting and lowering of the mopping roller 7 or the rag on the mopping roller 7, under the control of the lifting device 2.
At present, under the action of the lifting device, it can realize the lifting and lowering of the rag of the mopping roller. When a floor mopping is required, the rag can be lowered and close to the floor under the control of the host software to realize floor mopping, and when there is no need of floor mopping, under the control of the host software, the mopping roller is lifted up and leaves the floor/ground.
In the embodiment, the cleaning device 8 of the invention is hung on the roller-support frame 81, and thus the lifting device 2 can lift up the mopping roller 7 based on the roller-support frame 81.
Since the cleaning device 8 is disposed on the roller-support frame 81 in a non-fixed way (i.e., in a movable way), when being lifted up by an external force, the cleaning device 8 can be lifted without the control of software and other mechanisms, which makes it easier for the actual operation of the invention to randomly deal with problems such as crossing obstacles or steps. The cleaning device 8 can automatically rise when encountering obstacles on the floor, during a process of floor cleaning.
In the embodiment, the cleaning device 8 is provided with a bump 31, the driving mechanism or the metal slider 3 is configured (i.e., structured and arranged) to control lifting and lowering of the cleaning device 8 by the bump 31.
The configuration of the bump 31 makes the connection between the lifting device 2 and the cleaning device 8 is more firmly, and the lifting control of the cleaning device 8 is more effective.
Moreover, preferably, the bump 31 is disposed at a middle position of an edge of the cleaning device 8.
As shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 5 shows a state of the lifting device 2 is not working, the slider 3 is at a lowest position, the mopping roller 7 of the cleaning device 8 is in free contact with the floor 6, and at this time, the cleaning device 8 is in a working state or a ready working state.
As shown in FIG. 6, FIG. 6 shows the slider 3 of the lifting device 2 is lifted up, the cleaning device 8 is lifted up correspondingly, so that the mopping roller 7 of the cleaning device 8 leaves the floor 6 to a suitable height and stops working.
In another embodiment of the invention, two sides of the cleaning device 8 are provided with springs 5 respectively, one end (first end) of each of the springs 5 is connected to the cleaning device 8, and the other end (second end opposite to the first end) of each of the springs 5 is connected to the robot body 1.
Preferably, the robot body 1 is provided with spring limiting mechanisms (may also be referred to as spring limiters) 51, and the other ends (second ends) of the springs 5 are connected with the spring limiting mechanisms 51 respectively.
In the embodiment, during the cleaning device 8 cleans a floor, a friction force applied from the cleaning device 8 onto the floor 6 is resulting from a downward force generated by the springs 5 on the two sides of the cleaning device 8, i.e., the springs 5 make the mopping roller 7 have a certain friction force against the floor 6, so as to achieve the improved effect of floor mopping.
In the embodiment, FIG. 7 is a schematic state view of the cleaning device 8 being not lifted up, and FIG. 8 is a schematic state view of the cleaning device 8 been lifted up.

Claims

A lifting device (2) for a mopping roller (7) of a cleaner robot, wherein the cleaner robot comprises a robot body (1), the robot body (1) is disposed with a cleaning device (8), the cleaning device (8) comprises the mopping roller (7), and the mopping roller (7) is disposed with a rag;
the lifting device (2) is disposed in the robot body (1), the lifting device (2) comprises a driving mechanism, and the driving mechanism is connected with the cleaning device (8); and
the robot body is disposed with a roller-support frame (81), and the cleaning device (8) is disposed on the roller-support frame (81); characterized in that:
the cleaning device (8) is disposed with a bump (31), and the driving mechanism is configured to control lifting and lowering of the cleaning device (8) by the bump (31).
The lifting device (2) for a mopping roller (7) of a cleaner robot as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the driving mechanism comprises a slider (3).
The lifting device (2) for a mopping roller (7) of a cleaner robot as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that the slider (3) is made of a metal material.
The lifting device (2) for a mopping roller (7) of a cleaner robot as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the bump (31) is disposed at a middle position of an edge of the cleaning device (8).
The lifting device (2) for a mopping roller (7) of a cleaner robot as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that two sides of the cleaning device (8) are provided with springs (5) respectively, a first end of each of the springs (5) is connected to the cleaning device (8), and a second end of each of the springs (5) is connected to the robot body (1).
The lifting device (2) for a mopping roller (7) of a cleaner robot as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that the robot body (1) is provided with spring limiters (51), and the second ends of the springs (5) are connected with the spring limiters (51) respectively.
The lifting device (2) for a mopping roller (7) of a cleaner robot as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that two sides of the roller-support frame (81) are provided with rotation shafts (4) respectively, a base (9) is disposed below the roller-support frame (81), and the base (9) is connected with the roller-support frame (81) by the rotation shafts (4).
The lifting device (2) for a mopping roller (7) of a cleaner robot as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the roller-support frame (81) is made of a plastic material.