JP2627298B2 - Self-propelled vacuum cleaner - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a self-propelled cleaner that travels while being supplied with power from the outside by a power cord.

(B) Prior Art As a prior art to the present invention, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-268305 discloses a technique in which a power cord is connected to an outlet on a wall of a room, and power is supplied by the power cord. A self-propelled cleaner in which a cleaning operation is performed while freely moving and a length of a power cord drawn out is adjusted in accordance with the movement is shown. And the adjustment of the drawer length of this power cord, the cord reel of the power cord,
A reel motor is connected via a clutch body that engages only in one direction, and the power cord is wound on and pulled out of the cord reel by detecting the slack of the power cord by detecting means and rotating the reel motor forward and backward. I do it.

In addition, a rotating support having a cord pull-out portion for pulling out a power cord from the cord reel is made coaxial and rotatable below the code reel so that the cord pull-out portion always faces a power supply portion such as an outlet. However, when a large slack occurs in the power cord, the rotating support may rotate together with the cord reel in the winding direction of the cord reel, and the cord drawer may not face the power supply section.

(C) Problems to be Solved by the Invention The present invention enables a length of a power cord to be drawn out from a cord reel with a simple configuration, so that the length can be automatically and smoothly adjusted according to the traveling of a vacuum cleaner. The rotation support does not rotate together with the code reel during winding on the code reel. Further, the cord wound around the cord reel is cleaned, and the power cord is prevented from coming out when the power is stopped.

(D) Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a base having a suction tool, and a self-propelled wheel disposed on the base and driven by a running motor. And a dust suction portion provided on the base portion and communicating with the suction tool, and a cord reel rotatably supported substantially horizontally on a support standing upright on the base portion upper surface,
A rotating support rotatably supported by the support and guiding the power cord to the code reel; a drive unit for rotating the cord reel in a direction in which the power cord is wound; and a power cord winding on the cord reel A one-way brake means for restricting rotation of the rotary support toward the power cord winding side.

Further, the present invention provides a base having a suction tool, a self-propelled wheel disposed on the base and driven by a running motor, and dust suction provided on the base and communicating with the suction tool. And a code reel rotatably supported substantially horizontally on a support standing upright on the upper surface of the base, and a rotary support rotatably supported on the support and guiding the power cord to the code reel. And a drive unit for rotating the cord reel in a direction in which the power cord is wound up, and a cleaning brush provided on a cord drawer of the rotary support and slidingly contacting the power cord. .

Further, the present invention provides a base unit having a suction device, a self-propelled wheel disposed on the base unit and driven by a traveling motor, and a dust suction device provided on the base portion and communicating with the suction device. And a code reel rotatably supported substantially horizontally on a support standing upright on the upper surface of the base, and a rotary support rotatably supported on the support and guiding the power cord to the code reel. A body, a drive unit for rotating the code reel in a direction in which a power cord is wound, and brake means for allowing the code reel to rotate when power is supplied and for preventing rotation of the code reel when power is cut off. It is characterized by.

(E) Operation According to the above configuration, when the power cord is wound on the cord reel, the rotation of the rotating support toward the power cord winding side is braked by the one-way brake means, so that the rotating support is shared with the cord reel. Because the rotation is regulated, when the power cord is loosened, the cord drawer does not rotate to the power cord take-up side, and the cord drawer always faces the power supply such as an outlet, and winds the power cord securely. .

In addition, dust and the like attached to the power cord wound on the cord reel by the cleaning brush in the cord drawer are removed.

Further, when the power is stopped, the rotation of the code reel is braked and prevented by the code reel brake means, so that the power cord does not come out of the code reel when the power is stopped.

(F) Embodiment Hereinafter, a self-propelled cleaner according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

(1) A cleaner body of the self-propelled cleaner according to the present invention, wherein a base part (2), a cord winding part (3) and a dust suction part (4) are sequentially formed upward, and the cord winding part is formed. A code reel drive section (5) is connected to the section (3), and the whole is covered with a synthetic resin main body case (6).

The base part (2) is formed on the lower surface of the lower substrate (7), and a pair of left and right wheel units (8a) (8b) is provided on the left and right sides of the lower surface of the lower substrate (7). Is provided with a caster type rear wheel (9), a suction device (10) on the front side, and a collision sensor (1) on the entire lower periphery of the lower substrate (7).
1) is covered with a peripheral covering body (12). The left and right wheel units (8a) (8b) are connected to the left and right traveling motors (13a) (13b) and the motors (13a) (13b) via a reduction mechanism, respectively. ) Are driven by the left and right self-propelled wheels (14a) (14b). By controlling the forward and reverse rotation of the left and right traveling motors (13a) (13b), the cleaner body (1) ) Advance,
It controls the retreat, the left-right direction and the direction change to the opposite direction.

The cord take-up portion (3) is provided at a substantially central opening of the lower substrate (7).
The upper substrate (17) is connected to the upper end of 5) via an annular seat plate (16), and the lower surface of the upper substrate (17) and the lower substrate (7) are connected.
Is formed between the upper surface and the upper surface.

The dust suction part (4) is formed on the upper surface of the upper substrate (17) and communicates with the dust suction box (19) containing the electric blower (18) through the suction pipe (20). And a dust container (21) whose upper surface opening is opened and closed by a lid (21a), and the dust container (21) passes through the suction part and the inside of the cylindrical column (15). A disposable paper bag filter that communicates with the suction tool (10) through a flexible suction hose (22) and that communicates with the suction section is detachably housed therein.

A power switch (2
3), start switch (24), stop switch (2
5) A travel instructing part (27) consisting of an insertion slot (26a) of an IC card (26) storing travel paths and the like, a suction tool elevating lever (28), and an opening / closing unit located above the lid (21a) A free dust cover (29) is provided, and a plurality of ultrasonic position sensors (30) for measuring the distance from obstacles such as wall surfaces are provided on the front and left and right side surfaces.

In the cord winding section (3), (31) is a disk-shaped power distribution board fixed around the cylindrical support (15), and has four concentric conductive rings (32) for brush sliding contact on the lower surface. (33) is a slip ring that houses the power distribution board (31), and the slip ring (33) is an upper ring (34) that covers the power distribution board (31) from above. And a lower annular body (35) covering from below, and the upper and lower annular bodies (34) and (35) have their central openings formed on the cylindrical column (15) by bearings (36) and (37). It is rotatably supported around the cylindrical support (15). (38) is a terminal plate attached to the lower ring (35), and includes four brush pieces (39) slidingly contacting the conductive rings (32). (40) is a code reel gear integrally formed on the outer peripheral surface of the upper ring (34). (41) is a long power cord having a total length of about 20 m, (42) is a cord reel for winding the power cord (41), and the code reel (42) is the power cord (41).
Approximately 60 with a reel width just enough to take up a single roll
cm, and is attached and fixed to the lower surface of the lower ring (35), and is rotatably mounted around the cylindrical support (15) together with the slip ring (33).

Further, between the lower part of the code reel (42) and the lower substrate (7), a rotating support (43) for guiding the power cord (41) to the code reel (42), and a bearing (44) are provided. It is rotatably supported on the cylindrical support (15) through 360 ° through the shaft. The rotary support (43) is provided with a cover tube (45) for covering the outer periphery of the code reel (42) and a tangential line from the outer peripheral end for drawing out the power cord (41) in the tangential direction of the code reel (42). A cord lead-out portion (46) extending in the direction is provided. The cord lead-out section (46) is the sixth
As shown in the figure, a code passage notch (47) in which a part of the cover cylinder (45) is cut out is integrally formed in the tangential direction of the code reel (42), that is, obliquely from the rotary support (43). And a support table (49) having a guide plate (48) erected at the tip thereof so as to be orthogonal to the tangential direction. The guide plate (48) has guide rotating wheels (50) ) Is provided, and the power cord (41) passes through the cord passage hole (51), and is wound and pulled out on the cord reel (42).
Reference numerals (52) and (52) denote a pair of cord cleaning brushes provided on the support base (49).
a) The power cord (41) passes between (52a) to remove dust and dirt attached to the power cord (41) during winding.

Next, the code reel driving unit (5) is mounted downward on the upper substrate (17) via a mounting cylinder (53) and constantly rotates in one direction, and the reel motor (54). A clutch mechanism for constantly applying a tension in the winding direction to the power cord (41) by transmitting a rotational driving force within a predetermined rotational torque range of the rotational driving force to the cord reel (42). (55), and a clutch gear (57) provided on an output shaft (56) of the clutch mechanism (55) is meshed with the code reel gear (40).

The clutch mechanism (55) is an electromagnetic hysteresis clutch as shown in FIG. 7, and a drive-side rotating magnet (59) is connected to an input shaft (58) connected when the reel motor (54) is driven.
And a control field (62) having a field winding (61) and a driven side rotating magnet (60) attached to the output shaft (56).
The input shaft (58) and the output shaft (56) are magnetically connected to transmit the rotational driving force applied to the input shaft (58) to the output shaft (56) up to a predetermined upper limit rotational torque. In addition, by controlling the current flowing through the winding (61), the upper limit rotational torque can be varied within a certain range. That is, the clutch mechanism (55) is connected to the reel motor (5).
By adjusting the control current flowing through the field winding (61), the rotation driving force of 4) acts as a limiter for transmitting the rotation torque within a certain range to the code reel (42). The tension in the winding direction is always applied to the power cord (41).

Here, the tension F in the winding direction of the code reel (42)
And will be described more in detail rotational torque of the clutch mechanism (55), the innermost of the radius R ₁ of the cord reel (42), the outermost radius R _2, the radius of the clutch gear (57) Rc, cord reel Assuming that the radius of the gear (40) is Rr, the rotational torque T on the output shaft (56) of the clutch mechanism (55) is as follows when the power cord (41) is at the innermost circumference of the cord reel (42).
T ₁ = R ₁ · Rc · F / Rr, and T ₂ = R ₂ · Rc · F / Rr when the outermost periphery of the code reel (42). Since the tension F in the winding direction of the cord reel (42) is experimentally appropriate at 500 g / 1 kg, in this embodiment, R ₁ = 10 cm, R ₂ = 30 cm,
Rr = 25cm, Rc = 5cm, F = 500g or less, clutch mechanism (5
5) When the input shaft (58) and the output shaft (56) are connected and the power supply (41) is at the innermost circumference, the upper limit rotational torque of the clutch mechanism (55) is set to ₁
= 1 kg · cm, and T ₂ = 3 kg · cm at the outermost periphery. That is, in order to keep the tension of the power cord (41) constant at 500 g, the upper limit rotational torque of the clutch mechanism (55) is set to 1 kg · cm to 3 kg.
It is necessary to control in the range of kg · cm, and for that purpose, the current flowing through the field winding (61) may be increased or decreased according to the winding radius of the power cord (41).

In this embodiment, in order to keep the tension of the cord reel (42) in the range of 500 g to 1 kg, the increase / decrease control of the current flowing through the field winding (61) is performed as follows. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, a pair of cords, that is, two cords on the same circle, are symmetrically positioned between the outermost and innermost peripheries of the upper surface of the cord reel (42) around the cylindrical support (15). The detection switches (63) and (63) are provided, and the detection switches (63)
(63) is incorporated in the code remaining amount detection circuit (64) shown in FIG. 8 to generate an L output when the detection switches (63) and (63) are simultaneously on, and generate an H output when the detection switches (63) and (63) are off;
By operating the rotation torque control circuit (65) shown in FIG. 9 (a) by the L output and the H output, the current is increased when the detection switches (63) and (63) are simultaneously turned on and simultaneously turned off. In this case, the current is decreased and the upper limit rotational torque of the clutch mechanism (55) is increased or decreased according to the amount of winding of the power cord (41) around the cord reel (42).
Switching to a column. As shown in FIG. 3, the code detection switch (63) projects from the detection hole (66) formed on the upper side of the code reel (42) into the code reel (42). ) A power switch detecting steel ball (67) having a larger diameter, and a microswitch (69) fixed to a code reel (42) by a mounting member (68) and having an operating rod (69a) positioned above the steel ball (67). 69) and the power cord (41) wound around the cord reel (42)
The steel ball (67) moves up and down depending on the presence or absence of the micro switch (69). The reason why the two cord detection switches (63) and (63) are provided symmetrically is that if only one cord detection switch is used, the power cord (41) can be used even when the winding amount of the power cord (41) is small. This is to eliminate the possibility that the power cord (41) is detected when passing through the cord detection switch, and is erroneously detected as a large winding amount. Further, as shown in FIG. 9 (a), the rotation torque control circuit (65) includes a triangular wave generation circuit (70), the code remaining amount detection circuit (64), a comparator circuit (71), and a clutch control circuit (72). The triangular wave generating circuit (70) generates a triangular wave (a), and the code remaining amount detecting circuit (64) outputs H when the code detecting switches (63) and (63) are off. When b ₁ ) is on, an L output (b ₂ ) is generated and the comparator circuit (7
Compared in 1), when the code detection switches (63) and (63) are off, a short square wave output (c ₁ ) is obtained, and when they are on, a long square wave output (c ₂ ) is obtained. Then, these square wave outputs (c ₁ ) and (c ₂ ) are input to the clutch control circuit (72), and the upper limit rotational torque of the clutch mechanism (55) is switched between two stages with an output corresponding to the duty ratio. is there.

Further, (73) indicates that the power cord (41) is pulled out to the terminal end near the innermost circumference of the cord reel (42), that is, the power cord (41) is pulled out to a terminal end located at a position about 1 m from the final end. A code end detection switch for detecting that the cord reel (42) has been pulled out. The switch is disposed in the lower ring (35) of the upper surface of the code reel (42) and partially extends from the end detection hole (74).
2) Consisting of a detection steel ball (75) protruding inside and a microswitch (76) having a switch operating rod (76a), detecting the presence or absence of a power cord (41), and detecting the power cord (41).
When there is no power supply, the power supply to the traveling motors (13a) (13b) is stopped to stop the cleaner body (1).

(77) is a power cord (4) to the cord reel (42).
At the time of winding in 1), the rotary support (43) is
2) A one-way brake mechanism provided to prevent co-rotation in the winding direction. The brake mechanism (77) is a spring plate attached to the lower substrate (7) as shown in FIG. At the end of (78), a brake roller (80) having a one-way clutch (79) is supported, and the roller (80) is attached to the inner surface of the cover cylinder (45) of the rotary support (43). If the rotating support (43) tries to rotate in the winding direction when the power cord (41) is wound,
The one-way clutch (79) is actuated to stop the rotation of the brake roller (80) to increase the frictional force between the roller (80) and the inner surface of the cover cylinder (45).
It is configured such that the rotation of 3) in the winding direction of the cord reel (42) is braked, and the rotation is difficult. That is, the rotation support (43) is hard to rotate in the winding direction, and freely rotates in the direction opposite to the winding direction regardless of the one-way brake mechanism (77).

A code reel brake mechanism (81) is provided on the lower surface of the upper substrate (17) and brakes the code reel (42) so that it does not rotate when power is stopped. As shown in the figure, a brake roller (83) opposed to a brake surface (82) formed by engraving knurls on the outer peripheral surface of the upper ring (34) of the slip ring (33); A swinging plate (85) that supports the roller (83) via a torque limiter (84) and is swingably supported on the lower surface of the upper substrate (17); The brake roller (83) suspended between the end and the lower surface of the upper substrate (17) and
And a solenoid (87) having a plunger (87a) connected to the free end of the rocking plate (85) and attached to the lower surface of the upper substrate (17). When power is supplied, an electromagnetic solenoid (87)
By actuating the brake roller (83) and the brake surface (82), the cord reel (42) is rotatable, while the power supply is stopped. The code reel (42) does not rotate freely by being pressed against the brake surface (82). Even when the power supply is stopped, if the power cord (41) is pulled out for power supply or the like, the torque limiter (84) is activated at a predetermined tension or more to activate the brake roller (83).
Can be rotated freely, whereby the code reel (42) can be rotated.

At the end of the power cord (41), a locking device (8
8) is provided. As shown in FIG. 12, the locking device (88) fixes the weight (90) in the case (89), attaches the appliance outlet (91), and attaches the power supply cord (91) to the appliance outlet (91). 92) is electrically connected, and a plug (93) is provided at the end of the power supply power cord (92) for connection to an outlet (not shown) on the wall of the room. At the end of the power cord (41), a plug (94) with an engagement hook (94a) that is securely engaged with the appliance outlet (91) is provided, and the plug (94) is connected to the appliance outlet. (91), the locking device (8
8) supports the tension of the power cord (41), and prevents the tension of the power cord (41) from being transmitted to the plug (93) inserted into the wall outlet. The plug (93) does not come out of the wall outlet. Note that the appliance outlet (91) and plug (94) have been abolished and the power cord (4
1) may be pulled out after passing through the locking device (88), and a plug (93) may be attached to the tip.

FIG. 13 is an electric circuit block diagram of the self-propelled vacuum cleaner of the present invention. In FIG. 13, (95) is a microcomputer comprising a central processing unit (96), a memory (97), and an I / O interface (98). In the I / O interface (9
8) includes the IC card (29), collision sensor (11), position sensor (30), motor control circuit (99), rotation torque control circuit (65), code end detection switch (73), reel motor (54) ), An electromagnetic solenoid (87), an electric blower (18) are connected, and the motor control circuit (99) is connected to a left traveling motor (13a) and a right traveling motor (13b). The clutch mechanism (55) and the code detection switch (63) are connected to (65).

 The operation of the above configuration will be described below.

First, the power cord (41) is pulled out from the cord reel (42), the plug (93) at the tip of the locking device (88) is connected to the outlet on the wall of the room, and the power switch (23) is turned on. Then, commercial power (100V AC) is supplied to the cleaner body (1) via the brush pieces (39) in the slip ring body (33) and the conductive rings (32). Next, cleaning is started. The cleaning method includes a teaching travel in which the cleaning travel is performed according to the travel route stored in the IC card (26) while correcting with the information of the position sensor (30) and the collision sensor (11). Two modes of simple running, simply moving forward, changing the direction if there is a wall or obstacle ahead according to the information of the position sensor (30) and the collision sensor (11), and terminating cleaning if you can not go in any direction If the start button (24) is pressed after selecting one of them, the cleaning traveling starts. At this time, the electromagnetic solenoid (87) turns on,
The cord reel (42) is freely rotatable, and a power cord (4) is applied to the cord reel (42) via a clutch mechanism (55) by a reel motor (54) which always rotates in one direction.
A tension of 500 g to 1 kg is always applied in the winding direction of 1). At this time, the locking device (88) at the tip of the power cord (41)
As a result, the tension applied to the power cord (41) is not transmitted to the plug (93), so that the plug (93) does not come off from the wall outlet. Then, as the vacuum cleaner body (1) advances, as the power supply cord (41) moves away from the wall outlet, the power cord (41) is pulled against the cord tension (42) against the tension.
Drawn from. Further, as the cleaner body (1) retreats or moves forward after reversing its direction, the power cord (41) is wound on the cord reel (42) by the tension in the winding direction as the power cord approaches the outlet. However, at this time, the rotary support (43) having a cord lead-out portion (46) for guiding the power cord (41) to the cord reel (42).
The cord reel (4
Since it is difficult to rotate in the winding direction of 2), the rotating support (43) does not rotate around the code reel (42) and the power cord (41) does not wind around the cleaner body (1).
The cord drawer (46) always maintains a state facing the outlet. In addition, the power cord (41) has its dust and dirt removed by the cord cleaning brushes (52) and (52) at the time of winding, so that dust and the like are not brought into the cord reel (42).

Here, since the cord reel (42) is thin, the power cord (41) is wound around the cord reel (42) in large quantities at the outermost circumference, and when the power cord (41) is wound up in small quantities and located at the innermost circumference. Although the tension of the power cord (41) changes, the upper limit rotational torque of the clutch mechanism (55) is switched between two levels in order to keep the tension of the power cord (41) within the range of 500 g to 1 kg. This switching is performed by setting the upper limit rotation torque to be strong when both of the two code detection switches (63) and (63) are turned on, and making the upper limit rotation torque weak when both are turned off. Further, when the power cord (41) is almost pulled out from the cord reel (42), the cord end detection switch (73) is turned on to stop the traveling motors (13a) (13b), and By stopping the running of the main body (1), excessive tension is not applied to the power cord (41).

Accordingly, the power cord (41) is automatically pulled out of the cord reel (42) when the power cord (41) is separated from the wall outlet with the cleaning operation of the vacuum cleaner body (1), and is pulled out of the cord reel (42) when approaching the wall outlet. By being automatically wound, the optimum cord length is always obtained regardless of the position of the cleaner body (1). Further, when the power is stopped after cleaning is completed, the cord reel brake mechanism (81) is activated to prevent the cord reel (42) from freely rotating, and the power cord (4
1) is not withdrawn without permission.

(G) Effects of the Invention Since the self-propelled cleaner of the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

In the self-propelled vacuum cleaner according to the first aspect, when the power supply cord is wound, the one-way brake means restricts the rotating support from rotating together with the code reel. The part does not rotate to the power cord take-up side, the power cord can be securely wound, and the length of the power cord pulled out from the cord reel can be automatically and smoothly adjusted according to the traveling of the self-propelled vacuum cleaner, and smoothly. You can clean while running.

Further, in the self-propelled cleaner according to claim 2, dust or the like attached to the power cord is removed by the cleaning brush provided on the cord drawer of the rotating support, and dust and the like may be brought into the cord reel. Absent.

Further, in the self-propelled cleaner according to claim 3, since the rotation of the code reel is braked by the code reel brake means when the power is stopped, the power cord is not pulled out when the power is stopped. Even when transporting the vacuum cleaner, the power cord does not come out of the cord reel without permission, so that the transport is easy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 is a partially cutaway side view, FIG. 2 is a perspective view, FIG. 3 is a detailed vertical sectional side view of a main part, and FIG. 4 is a detailed vertical sectional front view of the same. FIG. 5 is FIG. 3A
-A view, Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the cord pull-out portion, Fig. 7 is a partially cutaway front view of the clutch mechanism, Fig. 8 is a circuit diagram of the remaining cord detection circuit, and Fig. 9 (a) is a rotational torque control. FIG. 9 (b) is a waveform diagram of FIG. 9 (a), FIG. 10 is a diagram of the one-way brake mechanism, (a) is a front view, (b) is a side sectional view,
Figure 11 is a bottom view of the main part showing the code reel brake mechanism,
FIG. 12 is a partially exploded sectional view of the locking device for explanation, and FIG. 13 is an electric circuit block diagram. (2) Base part, (4) Dust-absorbing part, (41) Power cord, (42) Cord reel, (43) Rotary support, (46) Cord lead-out part (52) Code cleaning brush, (77) One-way brake mechanism (one-way brake means), (81) Code reel brake mechanism (code reel brake means).

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-63-9413 (JP, A) JP-A-62-268305 (JP, A) JP-A-60-222905 (JP, A) 40168 (JP, U)

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A base portion having a suction device, a self-propelled wheel disposed on the base portion and driven by a traveling motor, and a dust suction portion provided on the base portion and communicating with the suction device. A code reel rotatably supported substantially horizontally on a support standing on the upper surface of the base, and a rotary support rotatably supported on the support and guiding a power cord to the code reel. A drive unit for rotating the cord reel in a direction in which the power cord is wound; and a one-way brake means for restricting rotation of the rotating support toward the power cord winding side when the power cord is wound on the code reel. A self-propelled vacuum cleaner comprising: 2. A base portion having a suction device, a self-propelled wheel disposed on the base portion and driven by a traveling motor, and a dust suction portion provided on the base portion and communicating with the suction device. A code reel rotatably supported substantially horizontally on a support standing on the upper surface of the base, and a rotary support rotatably supported on the support and guiding a power cord to the code reel. A driving unit for rotating the cord reel in a direction in which a power cord is wound, and a cleaning brush provided on a cord drawer of the rotary support and slidingly contacting the power cord. A traveling vacuum cleaner. 3. A base portion having a suction device, a self-propelled wheel disposed on the base portion and driven by a traveling motor, and a dust suction portion provided on the base portion and communicating with the suction device. A code reel rotatably supported substantially horizontally on a support standing on the upper surface of the base, and a rotary support rotatably supported on the support and guiding a power cord to the code reel. A drive unit for rotating the code reel in a direction in which a power cord is wound, and brake means for allowing the code reel to rotate when power is supplied and for preventing rotation of the code reel when power is cut off. Characteristic self-propelled vacuum cleaner.