JP2019111161A - Autonomous travel type vacuum cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an autonomous travel type vacuum cleaner that is improved in radio communication performance.SOLUTION: An autonomous travel type vacuum cleaner includes: a body; a pair of drive wheels for moving the body; a control device for autonomously driving the drive wheels; and a radio communication module capable of performing radio communication. The radio communication module has an antenna part. The radio communication module is installed in a position overlapping on an axis connecting the pair of drive wheels in top face view.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner.

  Patent Document 1 discloses an autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner which communicates with an external device by the built-in wireless communication means and exchanges operation signals and information (claims 10, 0065, FIG. 15).

JP, 2016-105823, A

  Patent Document 1 does not study at all in terms of what form it is preferable to provide the wireless communication means (wireless communication module) in the autonomous traveling vacuum cleaner. However, depending on the arrangement of the wireless communication module, it is assumed that operation becomes difficult due to the inclination and direction of the autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner main body, and noise during operation of the main body.

  The present invention made in view of the above circumstances includes a main body, a pair of drive wheels for moving the main body, a control device for autonomously driving the drive wheels, and a wireless communication module capable of wireless communication. The wireless communication module is an autonomous traveling vacuum cleaner provided at a position overlapping the shaft connecting the pair of drive wheels in a top view, the wireless communication module having an antenna unit.

It is an appearance perspective view of a vacuum cleaner concerning an embodiment. It is a perspective view of the state which removed the upper surface cover from the upper case of the vacuum cleaner which concerns on embodiment. It is a perspective view in the state where the upper case and dust case of the vacuum cleaner concerning an embodiment were removed. It is an appearance perspective view of a wireless-communications module installed in a vacuum cleaner concerning an embodiment. It is AA sectional drawing of FIG. It is a sectional view of an electric blower concerning an embodiment. It is a bottom view of a vacuum cleaner concerning an embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. Among the directions in which the vacuum cleaner 1 travels, the direction in which the vacuum cleaner 1 normally travels is forward, the direction opposite to the direction of gravity is upward, the direction in which the drive wheel 116 (see FIG. 5) faces is left and Be on the right. That is, as shown in FIG. In the present embodiment, a side brush 15 is attached to the front side of the vacuum cleaner 1.

[Installation of wireless communication module 23]
In the wireless communication module 23 of the present embodiment, an antenna 231 is disposed, and directivity is provided in the communication range by the antenna 231. The autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner 1 frequently changes the position and orientation, such as super power turning, turning operation, step crossing operation, etc., so the direction and inclination of the antenna 231 with respect to the signal of the external device at the time of wireless communication is frequent. The communication sensitivity is likely to change depending on the arrangement of the wireless communication module 23.

  When the wireless communication module 23 is installed near the electric blower 16, the rotation of the electric blower 16 generates an electromagnetic noise in the radial direction. As a result, the communication sensitivity of the wireless communication module 23 may be adversely affected.

[Autonomy type vacuum cleaner 1]
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of the autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner according to the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a state in which the top cover 111a is removed from the upper case 111 of the vacuum cleaner according to the present embodiment, FIG. It is a perspective view in the state where upper case 111 and dust case 4 of a vacuum cleaner concerning an embodiment were removed. The top cover 111a is configured to be removable by the user of the autonomous traveling vacuum cleaner 1. The bottom surface of the upper case 111 is configured to be nonremovable or at least more difficult to remove than the top cover 111a.
The autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner 1 (hereinafter also abbreviated as the vacuum cleaner 1) is a vacuum cleaner which cleans while moving autonomously a cleaning area (for example, the room).
The electric vacuum cleaner 1 has a main body 11 forming an outer shell, an upper case 111 and a switch sheet 22 provided on the upper surface of the main body 11, a communication module 23 disposed in the upper case 111, and a lower surface provided on the main body 11. A control unit 2 provided between a case 112, an upper case 111 and a lower case 112, an electric blower 16, traveling motors 1161 and 1161, and a rotating brush motor 1133 are provided.

  The main body 11 includes an upper case 111 which is an upper wall (and a part of side walls), a lower case 112 which is a bottom wall (and a part of side walls), and a bumper 18. The bumper 18 constitutes a front surface portion 18 a of the main body 11 and a part of the left and right side surface portions 18 b.

A substantially rectangular substrate installation groove 111e having a short side in the front-rear direction of the main body 11 and a long side in the left-right direction is provided in a substantially central region under the upper surface cover 111a of the upper case 111 A communication module 23 can be stored. By installing the wireless communication module 23 substantially at the center, the direction and tilt of the antenna with respect to the signal of the external device at the time of wireless communication can be obtained even if the main unit 11 performs supervising, turning, step over, etc. The installation structure is unlikely to affect the wireless communication sensitivity. In particular, in the present embodiment, when viewed from the top of the substrate installation groove 111e, it overlaps with the axis connecting the pair of drive wheels 116 facing each other in the left-right direction, and is located at the approximate midpoint of this axis (line segment). In the present embodiment, the vacuum cleaner 1 is disposed substantially at the center in the front-rear direction.
Further, as described later, the side surface (the end surface in the radial direction) of the electric blower 16 is located immediately below the substrate installation groove 111e.

(Wireless communication module 23)
FIG. 4 is an external perspective view of the wireless communication module 23 installed in the vacuum cleaner 1 according to the present embodiment.
The wireless communication module 23 includes an antenna unit 231, a wireless communication module connector 232, a notch 233, and a fixing hole 234.

  The antenna unit 231 transmits and receives a radio signal, and the transmission and reception sensitivity in one direction is higher than the transmission and reception sensitivity in the other direction. In the present embodiment, directivity in the horizontal direction of the vacuum cleaner 1 is obtained. The antenna unit 231 is provided at a position overlapping with a line connecting the axes of the pair of drive wheels 116 in top view. Preferably, it is provided at a position overlapping the approximate midpoint of this axis (line segment).

  The wireless communication module connector 232 is a connector to which the other end of the wiring (lead wire) whose one end is connected is connected to the control device 2 (see FIG. 3) which exchanges signal information. The control device 2 is disposed in an area between the upper case 111 and the case 112, and the wireless communication module 23 is separately provided. Therefore, the wireless communication module 23 can be easily maintained. The control device 2 can wirelessly transmit detection statuses of various operation logs and sensors of the vacuum cleaner 1 via the antenna unit 231, and can receive commands and programs from an external device such as a server and a portable terminal. The control device 2 can drive the drive wheel 116 or the like according to the received command or update the program on the RAM.

  The notch 233 provided extending in a parallel direction from the edge of the main surface (the extension surface of the substrate) of the wireless communication module 23 and the circular fixing hole 234 are for antenna attachment of the wireless communication module 23. They exist at mutually diagonal positions on the surface, and serve as guides for positioning the wireless communication module 23 on the upper case 111.

  The substrate installation groove 111 e has a rib and a boss that can be used for alignment with the notch 233 and the fixing hole 234 of the wireless communication module 23. Using these, the wireless communication module 23 is fixed to the substrate installation groove 111 e such that the surface provided with the antenna unit 231 is directed upward.

(Electric blower 16)
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A of FIG. 1 and FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the electric blower 16. The electric blower 16 is disposed with the front-rear direction as an axial direction, and is provided with an electric motor 165 having a rotor 165a and a stator 165b in the front direction, and the fan 164 in the rear direction. One of the rotor 165a and the stator 165b has a permanent magnet and the other has iron or a magnetic steel plate, and electromagnetic noise is generated as the motor 165 is driven.
The elastic body 163 and the bottom surface of the upper case 111 are located in the information of the electric blower 16, and the wireless communication module 23 is provided above the bottom surface of the upper case 111. The axial direction of the electric blower 16 is substantially parallel to the front-rear direction.

(Relationship between wireless communication module 23 and other components)
The wireless communication module 23 is disposed above the blower 164 of the electric blower 16 and is relatively separated from the motor 165. For this reason, it becomes a structure which an electromagnetic noise does not propagate easily to the wireless communication module 23. Further, since the wireless communication module 23 is disposed separately from the power mechanism such as the traveling motors 1161 and 1161, the rotary brush motor 1133, and the electric blower 16 with the bottom surface of the upper case 111 interposed, heat generated by the power mechanism is It is a structure that is difficult to transmit.

[Other configuration]
The upper case 111 is provided with a switch sheet 22. The switch sheet 22 includes a circular operation button 221 as an operation button for the user to give an instruction to the control device 2 of the vacuum cleaner 1, and an annular operation button 222 provided so as to surround the circumference of the circular operation button 221. , Is configured. Further, the upper case 111 has a side wall 111 d at the rear of the side portion 18 b of the bumper 18.

  The control device 2 is, for example, a microcomputer (Microcomputer: not shown), reads a program stored in a ROM (Read Only Memory), expands it in a RAM (Random Access Memory), and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) performs various processing. The driving wheel 116 and the like can be autonomously driven. Further, the control device 2 executes arithmetic processing according to the signals input from the switch sheet 22 and the respective sensors, and outputs a command signal and supplies a voltage to the respective driving devices and the wireless communication module 23. The control device 2 is provided below the upper surface cover 111a (see FIG. 1).

  Each of the circuit boards 22a and 22b has a substantially rectangular shape. The circuit board 22b is smaller than the circuit board 22a, and is disposed adjacent to the rear side of the circuit board 22a.

  Further, a dust case 4 is provided on the rear side of the vacuum cleaner 1. Although the vacuum cleaner 1 of this embodiment autonomously drives and cleans the drive wheel 116 by the arithmetic processing of the control device 2, it may be driven by receiving a user's command by a remote control or the like.

  The lower case 112 has a bumper frame 1127 provided on the entire periphery or substantially the entire periphery of the side surface, preferably including the lower end side of the side surface. The bumper frame 1127 is formed of a softer material than a member forming the other part of the side surface, and for example, a resin material such as an elastomer can be employed.

  The bumper 18 is configured to be movable in the front-rear direction, preferably further in the left-right direction, in accordance with the pressure applied from the outside. The backward movement of the bumper 18 (that is, contact with an obstacle) is detected by a bumper sensor (infrared sensor), and the detection result is input to the control device 2. Since the displacement amount of the bumper 18 differs depending on the contact position of the obstacle or the like, it is also possible to detect the position of the obstacle or the like with respect to the main body 11.

  In the lower case 112, the control device 2 is disposed on the front side in the front-rear direction, and the electric blower 16 is disposed substantially in the center in the front-rear direction (below the circuit board 22b). Drive wheels 116 and 116 are provided on the lower case 112 located on the left and right sides of the electric blower 16.

  The distance measurement sensor 210 (obstacle detection means) is an infrared sensor that detects the distance to an obstacle in the horizontal direction. In the present embodiment, distance measurement sensors 210 are provided at four locations in total (two on the right side and two on the front and two on the side).

  FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the vacuum cleaner 1 according to the present embodiment. The lower case 112 is provided with drive mechanism accommodating portions 114, 114 for accommodating a drive mechanism configured to include drive wheels 116, 116, travel motors 1161, 1161, arms 1141, 1411, and reduction mechanisms 1142, 1142. There is. Lower case 112 includes side brush attachment sections 1121 and 1212, travel motors 1161 and 1161, rotating brush motors 1133, electric blower 16, battery 19 and battery storage unit 115 for storing battery 19, control device 2, and It is a thin disk-shaped member to which the suction port 113 is attached.

  The drive wheels 116, 116 are spaced apart on the left and right sides. Each drive wheel 116 is a member that receives the driving force of the traveling motor 1161 via the reduction mechanism 1142. In response to a command signal from the control device 2, the electric vacuum cleaner 1 can be advanced, retracted, turned, or turned around by rotating the drive wheel 116 itself.

  Behind the center of the lower case 112, a suction port 113 accommodating the rotating brush 14, a scraping brush 13 and the like are provided.

  The rotating brush 14 is disposed substantially parallel to an axis (left and right direction) passing through the rotation center of the drive wheel 116. The rotating brush 14 is a cylindrical shape having a rotation axis in the horizontal direction (in the left and right direction in the present embodiment), and is rotatably supported by the suction port 113. The rotary brush 14 is rotationally driven by receiving a driving force by a rotary brush motor 1133 (see FIG. 4).

  The front lid 117 is a substantially rectangular plate-like member that closes the opening of the battery housing portion 115 (see FIG. 6) formed on the front end side of the lower case 112 from the lower surface of the lower case 112.

  As described above, since the wireless communication module 23 is located approximately at the upper center of the main body, the positional fluctuation of the wireless communication module 23 accompanying the rotational movement of the main body can be suppressed, so that the change of the radio wave reception intensity can be reduced. Further, since the electric blower 16 is disposed on the upper side of the blower 164, noise from the electric motor 16 is not easily received. Furthermore, since the wireless communication module 23 is separately disposed with respect to the power mechanism with the upper case 111 interposed therebetween, the position of the wireless communication module 23 is not easily affected by heat.

  Thus, while driving the autonomous traveling vacuum cleaner 1, it is possible to easily search for a position susceptible to radio waves.

  Similarly, in the canister type vacuum cleaner and the stick type vacuum cleaner, for example, the wireless communication module 23 can be disposed in the vicinity of the axis of the drive wheel 116 in top view to obtain the same effect.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but includes various modifications. For example, the embodiments described above are described in detail to explain the present invention in an easy-to-understand manner, and are not necessarily limited to those having all the configurations described.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Self-propelled vacuum cleaner 11 Main body 111 Upper case 112 Lower case 1126 Exhaust port 1127 Bumper frame 113 Suction port 1131 Suction port 1133 Rotating brush motor 114 Drive mechanism accommodation section 1141 Arm (suspension)
1142 Speed Reduction Mechanism 115 Battery Housing 116 Drive Wheel 1161 Travel Motor 117 Front Cover 13 Take-off Brush 14 Rotary Brush 15 Side Brush 16 Electric Blower 163 Elastic Body 164 Blower 165 Electric Motor 165a Rotor 165b Stator 17 Auxiliary Wheel 18 Bumper 19 Charging Battery 2 Control device 21 Control board 210 Sensors (ranging sensor)
211 Sensors (ranging sensors for floor)
22 switch sheet 221 circular operation button 222 annular operation button 23 wireless communication module 231 antenna unit 232 connector 233 notch 234 fixing hole 4 dust case

Claims (3)

Body and
A pair of drive wheels for moving the body;
A control device for autonomously driving the drive wheel;
And a wireless communication module capable of performing wireless communication,
The wireless communication module has an antenna unit,
The autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner provided at a position where the wireless communication module overlaps the shaft connecting the pair of drive wheels in a top view. A blower and an electric blower having a motor,
The autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein the wireless communication module is positioned closer to the blower than the electric motor. The body is
An upper case provided on the upper surface side,
A lower case provided on the lower side,
A controller,
And an electric blower,
The wireless communication module is provided in the upper case,
The electric blower and the control device are provided in an area between the upper case and the lower case.
The control device and the wireless communication module are electrically connected by wiring.
The autonomous traveling vacuum cleaner according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the antenna unit is disposed at a position overlapping the substantially middle point of the shaft in a top view.

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