JP2005218578A - Self-propelled vacuum cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a self-propelled vacuum cleaner prevented from going out of a room by detecting a boundary of the room without providing a member for clarifying a cleaning area in the room, even if a door of an entrance/exit is opened. <P>SOLUTION: A body 1 of the self-propelled vacuum cleaner is provided with an upper wall detecting sensor 32 for detecting a ceiling and a wall near the ceiling in the room and, while traveling the body 1 of the self-propelled vacuum cleaner, detects the wall near the ceiling. This constitution, even if the door of the entrance/exit of the room is opened, allows the vacuum cleaner to detect the wall of the entrance/exit upper part and grasp the boundary of the room to prevent the body 1 of the self-propelled vacuum cleaner from going outside the room without providing a magnetic tape or a boundary detector near the entrance/exit like the conventional self-propelled vacuum cleaner, without leaving some part uncleaned, and clean the whole of the room. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a self-propelled cleaner that performs self-propelled cleaning without going out of the room.

  Conventionally, a self-propelled cleaner has been provided with a contact sensor such as a non-contact sensor such as a photoelectric sensor or an ultrasonic sensor, or a collision detection sensor for detecting a collision of the main body. Cleaning was performed while detecting obstacles in the direction, and when there were obstacles, the course was changed and cleaning was performed. However, the conventional self-propelled cleaner cannot detect the door as an obstacle when the door of the room is open, so it goes out of the room as it is, leaving a place that is not cleaned in the room. There was a problem that.

  Therefore, as a solution to this problem, a self-propelled vacuum cleaner is provided with a sensor that detects this magnetic tape, and a magnetic tape is affixed to the floor near the door. There was a self-propelled cleaner that was set to change the direction of travel (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

In addition, a boundary detector is arranged at the boundary of the room instead of the magnetic tape, and a boundary detector is provided in the self-propelled cleaner to clean the area defined by the plurality of boundary detectors. (For example, refer to Patent Document 2).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-196396 JP-T 2002-533797

  However, in the case of the configurations disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2, there is a problem in that these operations are troublesome because it is necessary to attach a magnetic tape or provide a boundary detector near the door of the room. Further, when these operations are performed on a plurality of rooms, there is a problem that a magnetic tape or a boundary detector may be insufficient, and these members must be purchased separately. In addition, since magnetic tape and boundary detectors are usually installed at the corners of the room, dust tends to accumulate around these members, but this area is outside the cleaning area of the self-propelled cleaner. Therefore, there was a problem that the user had to clean it by himself.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a self-propelled cleaner that does not detect the boundary of the room and does not go out of the room even if the door of the entrance is open without providing a member for clarifying the cleaning area in the room. The purpose is to provide.

  The present invention has the following configuration as means for solving the above problems.

(1) Self-running provided with cleaning means for cleaning the floor, traveling means for moving and rotating the main body, and control means for controlling the cleaning means and the traveling means to perform cleaning while traveling In the vacuum cleaner,
A detecting means for detecting a wall near the ceiling in a direction in which the main body travels;
When the detecting means detects the wall, the control means controls the traveling means to change the traveling direction of the main body immediately before the wall.

  In this configuration, the self-propelled vacuum cleaner detects the wall near the ceiling in the direction of travel of the main body, so even if the door of the room is open or not installed at the boundary of the room A doorway can be detected. Therefore, when the self-propelled cleaner is cleaning the floor of the room, the door of the room is open, so the self-propelled cleaner can be prevented from going out of the room. The entire floor surface of the room can be surely cleaned without any remaining cleaning.

(2) The detection means detects a distance to an arbitrary point on the wall near the ceiling and an angle from the reference line to the arbitrary point,
The control means calculates a horizontal distance between a wall near the ceiling and the main body using the detection result.

  In this configuration, the self-propelled vacuum cleaner detects the distance to an arbitrary point on the wall near the ceiling and the zenith angle or elevation angle of this arbitrary point, for example, based on these values. The horizontal distance between the wall and the main body is calculated. Therefore, even if the doorway of the room is open, the distance from the main body to the doorway can be obtained in the same way as when the door is closed, and the self-propelled vacuum cleaner turns before it goes out of the room. It becomes possible to control to do. The zenith angle is the angle from the vertical line (reference line) to the object, and the elevation angle is the angle from the horizontal line (reference line) to the object.

  (3) The detection means scans a predetermined range above the main body substantially parallel to the traveling direction, and the distance to the ceiling and the wall near the ceiling and the position where the distance is detected from the reference line. The relationship between the angle and the angle is detected for this range.

  In this configuration, the self-propelled cleaner detects the relationship between the distance to the ceiling and the wall near the ceiling and the zenith angle and elevation angle of the position where the distance is detected for a predetermined range above the main body, By confirming the change in distance, it is possible to easily detect that the tangent line between the ceiling and the wall near the ceiling or that the door of the doorway is open. Therefore, not only when the doorway is open but also when the doorway is closed, the distance from the main body of the self-propelled cleaner to the doorway can be quickly obtained.

  According to the present invention, the self-propelled cleaner can detect the boundary of the room by detecting the upper wall of the entrance even if the door of the room is open, so that it is like a conventional self-propelled cleaner. Even if there is no magnetic tape or boundary detector near the doorway, the self-propelled vacuum cleaner does not go out of the room during cleaning, and the entire interior of the room is not left behind. Can be cleaned.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a self-propelled cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention. The self-propelled cleaner includes a traveling unit 2 that moves and turns the main body 1, a cleaning unit 3 that removes and accommodates dust on the floor, a detection unit 4 that detects an obstacle in the main body traveling direction, An operation / display unit 5 that accepts operation settings and displays information to be transmitted to the user, and a control unit 6 that controls the traveling unit 2 and the cleaning unit 3 according to the detection result of the detection unit are provided.

  The traveling unit 2 includes two drive wheels 11 provided on the left and right sides of the center of the main body 1 near the center or on the bottom of the rear part with the center line of the main body interposed therebetween, a drive motor 12 that rotates the drive wheels 11, and the main body 1. And a battery 14 for supplying power to the drive motor 12 and the like.

  The cleaning unit 3 rotates the brush 21 provided in the opening with a motor (not shown) to scrape off dust on the floor, and the suction surface generated by rotating the intake fan 26 with the intake motor 27. A nozzle 22 that removes dust, a box-shaped dust collection chamber 24 that stores the dust, a dust transport pipe 25 that connects the nozzle 22 and the dust collection chamber 24 to guide the dust to the dust collection chamber 24, and a suction force An intake fan 26 and an intake motor 27 are generated. The intake fan 26 is attached to an intake motor 27, and these are installed on the surface of the dust collection chamber 24 opposite to the surface provided with the connection portion with the dust transport pipe 25.

  The detection unit 4 is accommodated in the dust collection chamber 24, an obstacle detection sensor 31 that detects an obstacle in front of or in the direction of travel of the main body, an upper wall detection sensor 32 that detects a wall at the upper part of the entrance / exit of the room. And a storage capacity sensor 33 for detecting the amount of dust.

  The operation / display unit 5 includes an operation switch 41 that receives operation settings of the main body 1 and an LCD 42 that displays information to be transmitted to the user.

  The control unit 6 controls the rotation of the drive motor 12 to move and rotate the main body 1, the cleaning control unit 52 that controls the amount of rotation of the intake motor 27, and the main body 1 of the self-propelled cleaner. The control unit 53 includes a detection control unit 53 that controls the whole and outputs a signal to the travel control unit 51 and the cleaning control unit 52 based on the detection results of the sensors of the detection unit 4.

  Next, the operation of the self-propelled cleaner according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a cleaning path of the main body of the self-propelled cleaner. In the following description, a case where there is no obstacle other than a wall in the room will be described. The main body 1 of the self-propelled cleaner (hereinafter also referred to as the self-propelled cleaner 1) is placed on the floor surface of the corner portion of the room and turned on by the obstacle detection sensor 31, for example. The presence or absence of the wall is detected, and as shown in FIG. 2A, it moves linearly along the wall. When the wall is detected, it turns 90 degrees right before the wall and moves linearly by the length of the width of the nozzle 22. Subsequently, the self-propelled cleaner 1 turns to the right by 90 degrees and moves linearly. The self-propelled cleaner 1 can clean the entire floor of the room by repeating the above operation (hereinafter, this operation is referred to as an automatic cleaning operation).

  The self-propelled cleaner 1 can switch the setting as to whether or not to leave the room during cleaning even if the doorway of the room is open. When the self-propelled cleaner 1 is not set so as not to go out of the room, there is no step at the entrance of the room, and when the door is open or no door is provided, FIG. As shown to A), it moves out of a room, cleaning, without detecting the boundary of a room.

  On the other hand, when the self-propelled vacuum cleaner 1 is set so as not to leave the room during cleaning, the upper wall detection sensor 32 detects the wall at the upper part of the entrance and exit in order to detect the boundary of the room. To detect. FIG. 3 is a graph showing the detection area of the upper wall detection sensor of the self-propelled cleaner and the relationship between the angle and distance of the wall detected by this sensor. As shown in FIG. 3A, the upper wall detection sensor 32 is, for example, a traveling direction between a vertical direction of the self-propelled cleaner 1 and an angle inclined by 45 degrees with respect to the traveling direction (zenith angle 45 degrees). A beam or ultrasonic wave that scans almost parallel to the beam is emitted. And the light ray (return light) or the ultrasonic wave (reflected wave) reflected from the ceiling or the wall near the ceiling is received. At this time, the control unit 43 causes the upper wall detection sensor 32 to emit a light beam or an ultrasonic wave for each zenith angle (angle from the vertical line to the object) at which the upper wall detection sensor 32 emits a light beam or an ultrasonic wave. The time from return to reception of return light or reflected wave is measured. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 3B, 3D, and 3F, the control unit 43 holds the relationship between the zenith angle and the distance to the ceiling or wall in association with each other.

  When the self-propelled cleaner 1 scans the upper part of the room with the upper wall detection sensor 32 at the position shown in FIG. 3 (A), it can detect from the ceiling of the room to the lower end of the upper wall of the door, In this case, a result as shown in FIG. That is, the distance gradually increases from the vertical direction of the self-propelled cleaner 1 to the position of the tangent between the wall at the top of the doorway (door) and the ceiling. The distance is gradually getting closer to. In the case of such a detection result, since the distance is far from the entrance of the room, the self-propelled cleaner 1 continues cleaning while moving as it is. At this time, the distance to the position of the tangent line between the upper wall of the doorway and the ceiling and the zenith angle of this position are obtained, and the horizontal distance to the upper wall of the door is calculated based on these values. You may set as follows.

  When the self-propelled cleaner 1 advances and the self-propelled cleaner 1 scans the room with the upper wall detection sensor 32 at the position shown in FIG. 3 to the ceiling of the adjacent room, the result as shown in FIG. 3D is obtained. That is, the distance gradually increases from the vertical direction of the self-propelled cleaner 1 to the position of the tangent between the wall at the top of the doorway (door) and the ceiling. The distance gradually decreases toward. Further, when the scan angle is larger than the detection angle at the lower wall of the upper part of the door, the detection distance is rapidly increased to detect the ceiling of the adjacent room, and the detection distance is gradually increased to the maximum value of the scan angle. In the case of such a detection result, it can be detected that the door of the room entrance is open. In this case, the control unit 6 of the self-propelled cleaner 1 determines, for example, the distance A to the wall lower end of the upper part of the door, which is the closest distance to the self-propelled cleaner 1, and the vertical line (reference line). Based on the angle θ to the position, the horizontal distance Xx (= Asin θ) to the wall at the top of the door is calculated. If the calculated distance is within a preset range, the control unit 6 turns 90 degrees to the right as shown in FIG. 3C, advances straight by the length of the nozzle, and further 90 degrees to the right. Turn straight and go straight.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3E, when the door of the entrance is closed, the self-propelled cleaner 1 scans the upper part of the room with the upper wall detection sensor 32 at the position shown in FIG. When it is performed, as shown in FIG. 3 (F), the distance gradually increases from the vertical direction of the self-propelled cleaner 1 to the position of the tangent line between the wall at the top of the doorway (door) and the ceiling. The distance is the farthest at the part, and the distance gradually decreases toward the lower end of the wall above the door. In the case of such a detection result, since it can be detected that the door of the room entrance is closed, the control unit 6 of the self-propelled cleaner 1 detects the distance to the door by the obstacle detection sensor 31. Alternatively, the distance to the door is detected by the upper wall detection sensor 32 based on the distance to an arbitrary point on the upper wall of the door or the door and the zenith angle at this point. And the control part 6 will roll in front of a door, if this calculated distance is the range set beforehand. In the case of the detection result shown in FIG. 3 (F), the pattern is similar to the detection result shown in FIG. 3 (B), and the height of the doorway may be low. Therefore, in this case, the presence or absence of the door may be detected using the obstacle detection sensor 31 in combination.

  As described above, in the present invention, the upper wall of the entrance / exit is detected, and the distance to the wall and its zenith angle are detected, so even if the door of the entrance / exit is empty or there is no door, the boundary of the room is detected. It can be easily detected and the entire room can be cleaned without leaving the room.

  The upper wall detection sensor 32 emits a light beam or an ultrasonic wave that scans from the vertical direction (vertical direction) of the self-propelled cleaner 1 to an angle (horizontal direction) inclined by 90 degrees with respect to the traveling direction. By providing the sensor, the obstacle detection sensor 31 can also be used.

In the above description, the top wall detection sensor 32 calculates the zenith angle that is an angle from the vertical line (reference line) to an arbitrary point on the upper wall of the doorway. An elevation angle that is an angle up to one point may be obtained.

  Next, the cleaning operation of the self-propelled cleaner according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described based on a flowchart. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the cleaning operation of the self-propelled cleaner. In the following description, a case is set in advance so as not to go outside the room.

  When the main body 1 is placed on the floor of the room by the user, the operation / display unit 5 is operated and the power is turned on, the control unit 6 of the self-propelled cleaner 1 The traveling direction is determined by detecting the presence or absence of the wall (s1). And the control part 6 makes the cleaning part 3 perform cleaning by the cleaning control part 52, and makes the traveling part 2 move linearly along the wall by the traveling control part 51 (s2).

When the control unit 6 is set in advance so as not to go outside the room, the upper wall detection sensor 32 performs a predetermined period on the front side in the traveling direction in the upper part of the self-propelled cleaner 1, for example, self-propelled. The space between the vertical direction at the top of the vacuum cleaner 1 and the zenith angle 45 degrees in the traveling direction is scanned substantially parallel to the traveling direction to detect the ceiling and the wall near the ceiling (s3). When the wall near the ceiling cannot be detected (s4), the control unit 6 performs the process of step s2. On the other hand, when the wall near the ceiling can be detected (s4), the control unit 6 determines whether the door of the entrance / exit is open or not provided at the entrance / exit (s5). In other words, when the distance obtained by scanning with the upper wall detection sensor 32 becomes maximum in the middle of the detection range and then gradually decreases and then increases rapidly, whether the door of the doorway is open, Alternatively, it can be detected that no door is provided at the doorway. If the control unit 6 detects that the door of the doorway is open or that no door is provided at the doorway, the control unit 6 is near the ceiling based on an arbitrary point on the wall near the ceiling and the zenith angle at the position. The horizontal distance to the wall, that is, the distance to the room boundary is calculated (s6).

  On the other hand, if it cannot be detected that the door of the doorway is open, the door may be closed. Therefore, after detecting the open / closed state of the door by the obstacle detection sensor 31 (s7), the process of step s6 is performed. Process.

  When the distance to the room boundary calculated in step s6 is within a predetermined range set in advance by the self-propelled cleaner 1 (s8), the control unit 6 does not go outside the room boundary. As described above, the control signal is output to the travel control unit 41 to turn the main body 1 90 degrees to the right, move straight by the width of the nozzle 22 and turn 90 degrees to the right (s9), and continue the automatic cleaning operation. (S2).

  In addition, when the distance to the room boundary calculated in step s5 is outside the predetermined range set in advance (s8), the control unit 6 causes the process of step s2 to be executed.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a self-propelled cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the cleaning path | route of the main body of a self-propelled cleaner. It is a graph which shows the relationship between the detection area | region of the upper wall detection sensor of a self-propelled cleaner, and the angle and distance of the wall which this sensor detected. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the cleaning operation | movement of a self-propelled cleaner.

Explanation of symbols

  1-self-propelled vacuum cleaner main body, 2-traveling unit, 3-cleaning unit, 4-detection unit, 5-operation / display unit, 6-control unit, 10-control unit, 11-drive wheel, 12-drive motor , 13-driven wheel, 14-battery, 21-brush, 22-nozzle, 24-dust collection chamber, 25-dust transfer pipe, 26-intake fan, 27-intake motor, 31-obstacle detection sensor, 32-upper Wall detection sensor, 41-operation switch, 42-LCD, 51-running control unit, 52-cleaning control unit, 53-detection control unit

Claims (4)

A self-propelled cleaner comprising: cleaning means for cleaning the floor; traveling means for moving and rotating the main body; and control means for controlling the cleaning means and the traveling means to execute cleaning while traveling. In
Detect a distance to an arbitrary point on the wall near the ceiling and an angle from the reference line to the arbitrary point, or a predetermined range above the main body approximately parallel to the direction in which the main body travels And detecting means for detecting the relationship between the distance to the ceiling and the wall near the ceiling and the angle from the reference line to the position where the distance is detected for this range,
The control means calculates a horizontal distance between the wall near the ceiling and the main body using the detection result, and controls the traveling means to change the traveling direction of the main body immediately before the wall. A self-propelled vacuum cleaner characterized by A self-propelled cleaner comprising: cleaning means for cleaning the floor; traveling means for moving and rotating the main body; and control means for controlling the cleaning means and the traveling means to execute cleaning while traveling. In
A detecting means for detecting a wall near the ceiling in a direction in which the main body travels;
The said control means is a self-propelled cleaner characterized by changing the advancing direction of a main body just before the said wall by controlling the said travel means, when the said detection means detects the said wall. The detection means detects a distance to an arbitrary point on the wall near the ceiling and an angle from the reference line to the arbitrary point,
The self-propelled cleaner according to claim 2, wherein the control means calculates a horizontal distance between the wall near the ceiling and the main body using the detection result.   The detection means scans a predetermined range above the main body substantially parallel to the traveling direction, the distance to the ceiling and the wall near the ceiling, and the angle from the reference line to the position where the distance is detected, The self-propelled cleaner according to claim 3, wherein the relationship is detected for this range.

Images