JP2017113172A - Vacuum cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vacuum cleaner with enhanced cleaning performance of a floor surface having a recessed step.SOLUTION: A vacuum cleaner 11 has: a body case 20; driving wheels; a cleaning part 22; a time counting part; a step sensor; and control means 27. The driving wheels causes the body case 20 to move. The cleaning part 22 cleans a floor surface F. The time counting part counts a time at a prescribed timing. The step sensor detects a recessed step D of the floor surface F. The control means 27 causes the body case 20 to autonomously move by controlling operation of the driving wheels. The control means 27 controls operation of the driving wheels so that the cleaner does not decent the recessed step D until a time measured by time counting part passes a prescribed time in the case that the recessed step D of the floor surface F detected by the step sensor is as deep as or deeper than a first prescribed depth and shallower than a second prescribed depth that is deeper than the first prescribed depth.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  Embodiments of the present invention relate to a vacuum cleaner provided with a level difference detecting means for detecting a concave level difference on a surface to be cleaned.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a so-called autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner (cleaning robot) that cleans a floor surface while autonomously traveling on the floor surface as a surface to be cleaned is known.

  Such a vacuum cleaner has a suction port in the lower part of the main body case facing the floor surface, and cleans up by sucking up or sucking dust from the suction port. In particular, in the case of a vacuum cleaner that sucks in dust and cleans it, the gap between the lower part of the main body case and the floor surface is narrowed to improve the degree of vacuum, and dust is sucked in efficiently. That is, a predetermined narrow gap of about 1 cm is provided between the lower part of the main body case and the floor surface. For this reason, when a considerably high level difference is detected on the floor surface compared to the gap or the diameter of the drive wheel, traveling control is performed so as to prohibit overstepping in consideration of the risk of stacking.

  On the other hand, if there is a concave step on the floor, the risk of causing damage such as stacking or dropping is low unless the concave step is deeper than a predetermined level. Since the level difference cannot be detected, the vehicle travels as it is even if it is a concave level deeper than the level of the level forbidden to get over.

  Therefore, in the case of an autonomously traveling electric vacuum cleaner, a difference occurs between the ability to climb a step and the ability to descend. For this reason, for example, when cleaning a floor surface with a relatively high surface and a relatively low surface, if cleaning is started from a high surface, once it has moved to a low surface during cleaning There is a risk that the high surface cannot be restored and cleaning of the high surface may be insufficient.

JP-A-6-125861 JP-A-7-322977

  Problem to be solved by the invention is providing the vacuum cleaner which improved the cleaning performance of the to-be-cleaned surface which has a concave level | step difference.

  The vacuum cleaner of the embodiment includes a main body case, a driving wheel, a cleaning unit, a time measuring unit, a step detecting unit, and a control unit. The drive wheel is allowed to travel in the main body case. The cleaning unit cleans the surface to be cleaned. The time measuring means measures time from a predetermined timing. The level difference detecting means detects a concave level difference on the surface to be cleaned. The control means causes the main body case to autonomously travel by controlling the operation of the drive wheels. The control means measures the time when the concave step on the surface to be cleaned detected by the step detection means is deeper than the first predetermined depth and shallower than the second predetermined depth deeper than the first predetermined depth. The operation of the driving wheels is controlled so as not to descend the concave step until the time measured by the means elapses for a predetermined time.

It is a perspective view which shows typically cleaning operation | movement of the vacuum cleaner of one Embodiment. It is a perspective view of a vacuum cleaner same as the above. It is a side view of a vacuum cleaner same as the above. It is a top view which shows a vacuum cleaner same as the above from the downward direction. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure of a vacuum cleaner same as the above. It is a flowchart which shows driving | running | working control of a vacuum cleaner same as the above.

  The configuration of one embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  In FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, reference numeral 11 denotes a vacuum cleaner. This vacuum cleaner 11 is a vacuum cleaner together with a charging device (charging stand) as a base device (not shown) that serves as a charging base portion of the vacuum cleaner 11. It constitutes a device (electric cleaning system). In this embodiment, the vacuum cleaner 11 is a so-called self-propelled robot cleaner (cleaning robot) that cleans the floor surface while autonomously traveling (self-propelled) on the floor surface to be cleaned as a traveling surface. ).

  The vacuum cleaner 11 includes a hollow main body case 20, a traveling unit 21 that travels the main body case 20 on the floor, a cleaning unit 22 that cleans dust such as the floor, and a sensor unit 26. 5 that is a controller that controls the traveling unit 21, the cleaning unit 22, and the like, and a secondary that supplies power to the traveling unit 21, the cleaning unit 22, the sensor unit 26, the control unit 27, and the like. A battery 28 is provided. The vacuum cleaner 11 may include a communication unit that communicates with an external device including a charging device, for example. Further, hereinafter, the direction along the traveling direction of the vacuum cleaner 11 (main body case 20) is defined as the front-rear direction (arrow FR, RR direction shown in FIG. 3), and the left-right direction intersecting (orthogonal) with the front-rear direction ( The description will be made assuming that the width direction is the width direction.

  The main body case 20 shown in FIG. 2 is formed in a flat cylindrical shape (disk shape) or the like, for example, with synthetic resin or the like. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the main body case 20 includes a side surface portion 20a, and an upper surface portion 20b and a lower surface portion 20c that are continuous with the upper and lower portions of the side surface portion 20a, respectively. The side surface portion 20a of the main body case 20 is formed in a substantially cylindrical surface shape. Further, the upper surface portion 20b and the lower surface portion 20c of the main body case 20 are each formed in a substantially circular shape. As shown in FIG. 3, the lower surface portion 20c facing the floor surface has a suction port that is a dust collection port. 31 and the exhaust port 32 are opened.

  The lower surface portion 20c has a flat portion facing the floor surface F, which is the surface to be cleaned. A narrow gap G is set between the lower surface portion 20c and the floor surface F. The gap G is, for example, 1 cm.

  The suction port 31 is provided in the suction port unit 33, and the suction port unit 33 can move up and down with respect to the main body case 20.

  The traveling unit 21 includes a plurality of (a pair of) drive wheels 34 and 34 as drive units, motors 35 and 35 (FIG. 5) as drive means as drive units for driving the drive wheels 34 and 34, and a turning unit. The swivel wheel 36 is provided.

  Each drive wheel 34 causes the vacuum cleaner 11 (main body case 20) to travel in the forward and backward directions on the floor (autonomous traveling), that is, for traveling, and rotates not shown along the left-right width direction. It has an axis and is arranged symmetrically in the width direction. These drive wheels 34 may be, for example, endless tracks.

  Each motor 35 shown in FIG. 5 is arranged corresponding to each of the drive wheels 34 shown in FIG. 4, for example, and can drive each drive wheel 34 independently.

  The swivel wheel 36 shown in FIG. 3 is a driven wheel that is positioned at the front and substantially at the center in the width direction of the lower surface portion 20c of the main body case 20, and can be swung along the floor surface.

  The cleaning unit 22 is located in the main body case 20, for example, an electric blower 41 that sucks dust together with air from the suction port 31 and exhausts it from the exhaust port 32, and a rotary cleaning body that is rotatably attached to the suction port 31 and scrapes up dust. A rotating brush 42 and a brush motor 43 (FIG. 5) for rotationally driving the rotating brush 42, and auxiliary cleaning means as a swivel cleaning unit that is rotatably attached to both sides such as the front side of the main body case 20 and scrapes dust. A side brush 44 that is an auxiliary cleaning unit), a side brush motor 45 that drives the side brush 44 (FIG. 5), and a dust collecting unit 46 (FIG. 2) that communicates with the suction port 31 and collects dust. Yes. The electric blower 41, the rotating brush 42 and the brush motor 43 (FIG. 5), and the side brush 44 and the side brush motor 45 (FIG. 5) may be provided with at least one of them.

  The sensor unit 26 shown in FIG. 5 includes an object sensor 51 as an object detection unit (object detection unit) that detects an object positioned in front of the vacuum cleaner 11 (main body case 20 (FIG. 3)), and the floor surface. A step sensor 52 as a step detecting means (step detecting unit) for detecting the concave step is provided. The sensor unit 26 detects the rotation angle and travel distance of the vacuum cleaner 11 (main body case 20 (FIG. 3)) by detecting, for example, the rotational speed of each drive wheel 34 (each motor 35). A dust amount sensor such as a number sensor or an optical sensor that detects the amount of dust sucked from the suction port 31 may be provided.

  As the object sensor 51, for example, a non-contact sensor or a contact sensor is used alone or in combination. As the non-contact type sensor, for example, an image sensor or the like is used in addition to an infrared sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, or the like. The object sensor 51 is normally disposed on the front side of the side surface portion 20a of the main body case 20 shown in FIG.

  3 is a non-contact type sensor such as an infrared sensor or an ultrasonic sensor. The step sensor 52 is disposed on the lower surface portion 20c of the main body case 20, and measures the distance between itself and the lower floor surface. In the present embodiment, the step sensor 52 is disposed on the lower surface portion 20c of the main body case 20 before and after the drive wheels 34, 34, in front of the swivel wheel 36, and the like. Accordingly, the step sensor 52 is disposed symmetrically with respect to the main body case 20.

  The control means 27 shown in FIG. 5 includes, for example, a CPU which is a control means main body (control part main body), a ROM which is a storage portion storing fixed data such as a program read by the CPU, and data processing by the program. The microcomputer includes a RAM (not shown) that is an area storage unit that dynamically forms various memory areas such as a work area serving as a work area. The control unit 27 includes a determination unit 64 that determines an obstacle or a concave step detected by the sensor unit 26, a time measuring unit (timer) 65 that is a time measuring unit that measures time, and motors 35 and 35 ( The driving control unit 66 that controls the operation of the drive wheels 34 and 34 (FIG. 3), the electric blower 41 of the cleaning unit 22, the cleaning control unit 67 that controls the operation of the brush motor 43 and the side brush motor 45, and the like are provided. . The control means 27 includes, for example, a driving mode in which the driving wheels 34 and 34 (FIG. 4), that is, the motors 35 and 35 are driven to autonomously run the vacuum cleaner 11 (main body case 20 (FIG. 3)), and a charging device. A charging mode in which the secondary battery 28 is charged through the standby mode, and a standby mode in standby mode. The control means 27 may include a memory that is a storage means (storage section), a communication control section that controls the communication section, and the like.

  The determination unit 64 determines whether the object detected by the object sensor 51 is an obstacle. That is, the determination unit 64 determines whether or not the object is an obstacle that causes a running obstacle based on the size, height, width, and the like of the object detected by the object sensor 51. The determination unit 64 determines the type of the depth of the step detected by the step sensor 52. In this embodiment, the type of depth of the step determined by the determination unit 64 is a shallow step (hereinafter referred to as type 1) that is lower than a first predetermined depth that can be climbed and climbed, and descend. Although it is possible to climb, it may not be able to climb, but a level difference between the first predetermined depth and less than the second predetermined depth (hereinafter referred to as type 2) and the lowering limit, that is, it is not possible to descend (it is not recommended to descend) ) And a deep step (hereinafter referred to as type 3) that cannot be climbed and is not less than a second predetermined depth. Specifically, the determination unit 64 includes threshold values of the first predetermined depth and the second predetermined depth, and the depth of the concave step detected by the step sensor 52, the first predetermined depth, and the second predetermined depth. The type of the concave step is determined by comparing the depth threshold. Further, the determination unit 64 determines whether or not the time measured by the time measuring unit 65 is equal to or longer than a predetermined time. Note that these functions of the determination unit 64 may be provided separately from each other.

  Here, the first predetermined depth and the second predetermined depth are, for example, the diameter dimensions of the drive wheels 34 and 34 (FIG. 3) and the frictional force between the drive wheels 34 and 34 (FIG. 3) and the floor surface, respectively. And a depth set based on at least one of the gap between the lower surface portion 20c of the main body case 20 and the floor surface.

  The timer unit 65 measures time from a predetermined timing. This timer 65 may be incorporated in the control means 27, or may be provided separately from the control means 27.

  The traveling control unit 66 controls the driving of the motors 35 and 35 by controlling the magnitude and direction of the current flowing through the motors 35 and 35, thereby rotating the motors 35 and 35 forward or backward. The drive of drive wheels 34 and 34 (FIG. 3) is controlled by controlling the drive of 35 and 35. Further, the traveling control unit 66 is configured to control the traveling direction and / or traveling speed of the electric vacuum cleaner 11 (main body case 20 (FIG. 3)) according to the determination of the determining unit 64.

  The cleaning control unit 67 separately controls the conduction angle of the electric blower 41, the brush motor 43, and the side brush motor 45, so that the electric blower 41, the brush motor 43 (the rotating brush 42 (FIG. 3)), and The driving of the side brush motor 45 (side brush 44 (FIG. 4)) is controlled. Further, the cleaning control unit 67 is configured to control the operation of the cleaning unit 22 in accordance with the determination of the determination unit 64. A controller may be provided separately for each of the electric blower 41, the brush motor 43, and the side brush motor 45.

  For example, the secondary battery 28 is electrically connected to charging terminals 71 and 71 as connection portions exposed on both sides of the rear portion of the lower surface portion 20c of the main body case 20 shown in FIG. By being electrically and mechanically connected to the charging device side, charging is performed via this charging device.

  Next, the operation of the one embodiment will be described.

  Generally, the electric vacuum cleaner is roughly classified into a cleaning operation for cleaning with the electric vacuum cleaner 11 and a charging operation for charging the secondary battery 28 with the charging device. Since a known method using a charging circuit such as a constant current circuit built in the charging device is used for the charging operation, only the cleaning operation will be described.

  As an outline of the cleaning work, the vacuum cleaner 11 is controlled at a predetermined timing, for example, when a preset cleaning start time is reached or when a cleaning start command signal transmitted by a remote controller or an external device is received. When the means 27 is switched from the standby mode to the cleaning mode, the control means 27 (travel control unit 66) controls the driving of the motors 35 and 35 (drive wheels 34 and 34) and is detached from the charging device. Next, the vacuum cleaner 11 detects the obstacles and concave steps around the sensor unit 26 (the object sensor 51 and the step sensor 52) and autonomously travels on the floor surface in the cleaning region while avoiding the cleaning unit. Use 22 to clean the floor dust. In the cleaning unit 22, dust on the floor surface is sucked by the electric blower 41, the rotating brush 42 (brush motor 43), or the side brush 44 (side brush motor 45) driven by the control means 27 (cleaning control unit 67). It collects in the dust collection part 46 through 31. Then, when the cleaning of the cleaning area is completed, or during the cleaning operation, the capacity of the secondary battery 28 is reduced to a predetermined amount and is insufficient to complete the cleaning (the voltage of the secondary battery 28 is the discharge end voltage). When the vacuum cleaner 11 returns to the charging device and finishes the cleaning work, the control means 27 is charged in the standby mode or the secondary battery 28 is charged by the charging device. Enter mode.

  Here, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, cleaning of a floor surface F having a concave step D will be described. The floor surface F has a relatively high surface (upper stage F1) and a relatively low surface (lower stage F2) through a concave step D, and the charging device is arranged in the upper stage F1. That is, the vacuum cleaner 11 starts cleaning from the upper stage F1.

  First, as a general rule, when the vacuum cleaner 11 detects the concave step D by the step sensor 52 during the cleaning of the upper stage F1, the controller 27 (determination unit 64) determines the type of the concave step D. When the type of the concave step D is the above type 1, the upper step F1 and the lower step F2 are cleaned in the same manner as a normal flat floor surface while ignoring the concave step D. Further, when the type of the concave step D is the above type 3, only the upper stage F1 is cleaned while avoiding the concave step D. Further, when the type of the concave step D is the above-mentioned type 2, after cleaning the upper stage F1 for a first predetermined time, which is a predetermined time, descends the concave step D and moves to the lower stage F2, and moves the lower stage F2 to the second stage F2. Clean for a predetermined time and finish cleaning. When the type of the concave step D is the above type 1, the same control as in the above type 2 may be performed. The first predetermined time and the second predetermined time may be set in advance, respectively, or may be set arbitrarily by the user or selected from a plurality of presets. Further, the first predetermined time and the second predetermined time may be different from each other or the same. Further, the first predetermined time may be varied based on the size of the cleaning area. The width of the cleaning area is estimated based on, for example, the maximum straight travel distance at the upper stage F1 of the electric vacuum cleaner 11, or the map of the upper stage F1 stored in a memory or the like. In addition, the second predetermined time may be a time until the vacuum cleaner 11 becomes inoperable, for example, the secondary battery 28 (FIG. 5) reaches a discharge end voltage.

  This control will be described in more detail with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 6. First, in the vacuum cleaner 11, the control means 27 (cleaning control unit 67) drives the cleaning unit 22 to perform cleaning (step 1). Then, the control means 27 (determination unit 64) determines whether or not the concave step D is detected by the step sensor 52 (step 2). In the present embodiment, at this time, the control means 27 (determination unit 64) detects the distance between the step sensor 52 and the floor surface F detected by the step sensor 52, for example, the lower surface portion 20c of the main body case 20 and the floor surface F. If it is less than the sum of the gap G (FIG. 4) and the first predetermined depth, it is determined that the concave step D has not been detected. That is, in this embodiment, the concave step D less than the first predetermined depth (type 1 concave step D) is determined in the same manner as when there is no concave step.

  If it is determined in step 2 that the concave step D is not detected (the concave step D is of type 1), the control means 27 (determination unit 64) determines whether or not to end the cleaning (step 3). ). In this step 3, the control means 27 (determination unit 64) determines whether or not the cleaning time has exceeded a predetermined cleaning continuation time (longer than the first predetermined time and the second predetermined time), for example, or two It is determined whether or not to end cleaning based on whether or not the capacity (voltage) of the secondary battery 28 has become equal to or less than a predetermined value. This cleaning duration time may also be set in advance, or may be set by the user arbitrarily or selected from a plurality of presets. If it is determined in step 3 that the cleaning is to be finished, the process proceeds to step 15 to be described later, and the cleaning is finished. If it is determined that the cleaning is not finished, the process returns to step 1 as it is. That is, the electric vacuum cleaner 11 has a concave step D when the floor surface F has no concave step D (the concave step D is of type 1) unless the control means 27 (determination unit 64) determines that the cleaning is finished. Do not work to avoid. In step 2, the determination of the control means 27 (determination unit 64) is detected by the step sensor 52. The distance between the step sensor 52 and the floor surface F is, for example, the lower surface portion 20c of the main body case 20 and the floor surface F. The control of the type 1 concave step D can be made the same as the control of the type 2 concave step D.

  If it is determined in step 2 that the concave step D is detected (the concave step D is not type 1), the control means 27 (determination unit 64) determines that the depth of the concave step D is the second predetermined depth. It is determined whether or not it is less than (step 4).

  If it is determined in step 4 that the depth of the concave step D is not less than the second predetermined depth (greater than or equal to the second predetermined depth), it is determined that the concave step D is type 3, and the control means 27 (determination unit 64) determines whether or not to end the cleaning, similarly to step 3 (step 5). If it is determined in step 5 that cleaning is to be terminated, the process proceeds to step 15 described later to end cleaning, and if it is determined that cleaning is not to be terminated, the control means 27 (travel control unit 66) The operation of 35, 35 (drive wheels 34, 34) is controlled to cause the vacuum cleaner 11 to avoid the concave step D (step 6), and the process returns to step 1. In Step 4, when it is determined that the depth of the concave step D is less than the second predetermined depth (not greater than the second predetermined depth), it is determined that the concave step D is Type 2. The control means 27 (determination unit 64) determines whether or not the timer unit 65 is operating (step 7).

  If it is determined in step 7 that the time measuring unit 65 is not in operation, the time measuring unit 65 is initialized to start measuring time (step 8), and the control means 27 (running control unit 66) The operation of 35 (drive wheels 34, 34) is controlled to cause the vacuum cleaner 11 to avoid the concave step D (step 9), and the process returns to step 1. If it is determined in step 7 that the timer unit 65 is operating, the control means 27 (determination unit 64) determines whether the time measured by the timer unit 65 is (first) a predetermined time or more. (Step 10).

  If it is determined in step 10 that the measured time is not (first) a predetermined time or longer (less than (first) a predetermined time), it is determined that the upper stage F1 is not sufficiently cleaned, step 1 Return to. If it is determined in step 10 that the measured time is (first) a predetermined time or more, it is determined that the cleaning of the upper stage F1 has been completed, and the control means 27 (travel control unit 66) The operation of 35, 35 (drive wheels 34, 34) is controlled to cause the vacuum cleaner 11 to descend the concave step D (step 11), and the vacuum cleaner 11 is moved to the lower stage F2.

  Thereafter, the vacuum cleaner 11 initializes the time measuring unit 65 and starts measuring time (step 12), and the control means 27 (cleaning control unit 67) drives the cleaning unit 22 to perform cleaning (step 13). ).

  Then, the control means 27 (determination unit 64) determines whether or not the measured time is (second) a predetermined time or more (step 14). If it is determined in step 14 that the measured time is not (second) a predetermined time or longer (less than (second) predetermined time), it is determined that the lower stage F2 is not sufficiently cleaned, and step 13 Return to. If it is determined in step 14 that the measured time is (second) a predetermined time or more, it is determined that the cleaning of the lower stage F2 has been completed, and the cleaning is terminated (step 15). At the time of step 15, the control means 27 (travel control unit 66) controls the operation of the motors 35 and 35 (drive wheels 34 and 34) to travel the vacuum cleaner 11 to a predetermined position. You may stop later or stop on the spot. Further, when the concave step D is of type 1, the control means 27 (travel control unit 66) controls the operation of the motors 35, 35 (drive wheels 34, 34) and climbs the concave step D to charge. You can also return to the device. Further, in the present embodiment, the vacuum cleaner 11 is controlled not to return to the upper stage F1 after descending to the lower stage F2, but depending on the height of the concave step D, the vacuum cleaner 11 is cleaning the lower stage F2. In some cases, the concave step D can be climbed, and in that case, the vacuum cleaner 11 is assumed to return to the upper stage F1. At this time, it is assumed that the cleaning of the upper stage F1 has been completed at the stage where the cleaning of the lower stage F2 is started (the upper stage F1 has already been cleaned for the first predetermined time). When climbing the step D and returning to the upper stage F1, the control may be performed so as to immediately descend to the lower stage F2. Also, in this embodiment, once returning to the lower stage F2 does not return to the upper stage F1, when cleaning is completed in the lower stage F2, the vacuum cleaner 11 cannot return to the charging device installed in the upper stage F1, so for example using a communication unit An e-mail or the like for informing the user may be transmitted.

  According to the embodiment described above, when the concave step on the floor detected by the step sensor 52 is deeper than the first predetermined depth and shallower than the second predetermined depth deeper than the first predetermined depth. The control means 27 controls the operation of the drive wheels 34 and 34 (motors 35 and 35) so as not to descend the concave step until the time (first) measured by the time measuring unit 65 elapses. It is possible to secure time to clean the upper stage before getting down the concave step that is difficult to climb when getting off. Therefore, the cleaning performance of the floor surface having a concave step can be improved.

  In addition, each step can be cleaned by the same control for a floor surface having a plurality of concave steps.

  In addition, since the (first) predetermined time for judging not to go down the concave step can be arbitrarily changed, the time until the concave step is lowered, that is, the time for cleaning the upper step, depends on the size of the cleaning area, etc. And can improve the cleaning performance of a floor surface having a concave step.

  In the above embodiment, the (first) predetermined time (and (second) predetermined time) is, for example, the size of the cleaning area determined by detecting the maximum straight travel distance of the vacuum cleaner 11, the suction port 31, and the like. It can also be automatically set based on the degree of dirt in the cleaning area determined by detecting the amount of dust sucked from the air.

  The time measurement by the time measuring unit 65 is started from the timing at which the concave step D is detected. However, for example, it is started from the timing at which cleaning is started. For example, any predetermined timing before the timing at which the concave step D is detected, preferably Can be started from an arbitrary predetermined timing before the timing of detecting the concave step D after the start of cleaning.

  Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described, this embodiment is presented as an example and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The novel embodiment can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. This embodiment and its modifications are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

11 Vacuum cleaner
20 Main unit case
22 Cleaning section
27 Control means
34 Drive wheels
52 Step sensor as step detection means
65 Timekeeping part for timekeeping means D Recessed step F Floor to be cleaned

Claims (2)

A body case,
A drive wheel that allows the main body case to travel,
A cleaning section for cleaning the surface to be cleaned;
A time measuring means for measuring time from a predetermined timing;
A level difference detecting means for detecting a concave level difference on the surface to be cleaned;
Control means for autonomously running the main body case by controlling the operation of the drive wheel,
When the concave step of the surface to be cleaned detected by the step detection unit is deeper than the first predetermined depth and shallower than the second predetermined depth deeper than the first predetermined depth, the control means measures the time. The operation of the driving wheel is controlled so as not to descend the concave step until the time measured by the means elapses for a predetermined time. The electric vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein the control means can arbitrarily change the predetermined time.

Images