JP3241090B2 - Electric vacuum cleaner - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to improving the usability of an electric vacuum cleaner, and more particularly to adapting to a floor surface and reducing a load.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various studies have been made to improve the usability of a vacuum cleaner. Vacuum cleaners are one of the most widely used electric appliances in homes, and improving their usability is very beneficial. In particular, in recent years, various devices have been devised to control the operation of the vacuum cleaner or to reduce the load associated with routing the suction nozzle of the vacuum cleaner in accordance with the type of floor surface. .

FIG. 29 shows the structure of a vacuum cleaner according to a first conventional example, in particular, a suction nozzle portion thereof. The vacuum cleaner shown in FIG.
This figure is a perspective view particularly showing the suction nozzle portion 1 from the side in contact with the floor surface.

The suction nozzle portion 1 shown in FIG. 1 has a structure in which a front wheel 3 and a rear wheel 4 are provided on a lower surface of a suction nozzle portion main body 2, and when the suction nozzle portion 1 is drawn around, the front wheel 3 and the rear wheel are provided. 4 rotates. Further, a pressure-sensitive conductor 5 is provided on the lower surface of the suction nozzle unit main body 2, and convex portions 6 are further formed on both left and right sides of the pressure-sensitive conductor 5.

[0005] The pressure-sensitive conductor 5 is an element whose electric resistance changes according to the applied pressure. A predetermined gap is secured between the plane formed by the front wheel 3 and the rear wheel 4 and the tip of the pressure-sensitive conductor 5. Therefore, when the floor to be cleaned is a hard floor, the pressure-sensitive conductive No pressing force is applied to the body 5 from the floor surface. Therefore, in this case, the electric resistance value of the pressure-sensitive conductor 5 does not change.

[0006] Conversely, if the floor is soft like a carpet,
A negative pressure is applied to the suction port of the suction nozzle unit 1 by the suction force of an electric blower (not shown), the carpet at the suction port is sucked up, and a pressing force is applied to the pressure-sensitive conductor from below. Due to this pressure, the electric resistance value of the pressure-sensitive conductor 5 becomes smaller than that of a hard floor.

When the floor is a tatami floor, the tatami mat is sucked up by the suction force of the electric blower, and a pressing force is applied to the pressure-sensitive conductor 5 from below. The pressing force is smaller than that of a carpet. . That is, since the tatami mat is locked by the convex portions 6 provided on the left and right sides of the pressure-sensitive conductor 5, the pressing force is reduced, and the electric resistance of the pressure-sensitive conductor 5 becomes an intermediate value.

Therefore, when the suction nozzle unit 1 as in the conventional example is used, the type of floor surface can be detected and the drive control of the electric vacuum cleaner can be suitably performed.

FIG. 30 shows a structure of a vacuum cleaner according to a second conventional example, particularly a structure of a suction nozzle portion thereof. This drawing is a drawing in which the suction nozzle portion is viewed from below, and a part thereof is represented by a cross section. This conventional example is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-243125.

The conventional example shown in FIG. 1 also has a structure in which a front wheel 3 and a rear wheel 4 are provided on a suction nozzle portion main body 2. In the figure, reference numeral 8 denotes a rotating brush, and the rotating brush 8 is connected to a rotating brush motor 10 via a belt 9. Therefore, when the rotating brush motor 10 is driven to rotate, the rotating brush 8 is rotated accordingly, and the rotating brush 8 cleans the floor surface.

Further, in FIG.
1 is shown. The rotation sensor 11 is a sensor that detects the rotation of the rear wheel 4 that occurs with the movement when the suction nozzle unit 7 contacts and moves on the floor surface to be cleaned. Control circuit components are arranged on the printed circuit board 12, and when the rotation sensor 11 detects that the wheels 4 have stopped, a blower motor (not shown) is stopped. That is, the rotation sensor 11 can control the operation of the blower motor.

[0012]

In the above-described first conventional vacuum cleaner, when the suction nozzle 7 moves, the pressing force applied to the pressure-sensitive conductor 5 is not uniform. In particular, the change in the pressing force during start, middle, and stop during one operation of the suction nozzle unit 1 is large, and the pressing force changes when the suction nozzle unit 1 is pushed and when it is pulled. There was a problem that it could not be determined.

Further, in the vacuum cleaner of the second conventional example, it is possible to detect whether the suction nozzle portion 7 is moving or stopped on the floor surface to be cleaned, thereby controlling the operation of the blower motor. However, there is a problem that the blower and the rotating brush 8 cannot be finely controlled according to the moving direction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum cleaner which is not affected by the operation of a suction nozzle and can accurately determine a floor type. Is what you do.

Further, according to the present invention, by performing finer control according to the moving direction of the suction nozzle portion,
It is an object of the present invention to realize effects such as reducing a load related to the drawing of the suction nozzle portion.

[0016]

[0017]

[0018]

[0019]

[0020]

[0021]

[0022]

[0023]

[0024]

[0025]

[0026]

Means for Solving the Problems To achieve such an object
To achieve this, the first aspect of the present invention relates to a suction nozzle portion contacting the floor, two light-emitting elements, two light-receiving elements provided corresponding to each light-emitting element, and dust collection. A blocking photointerrupter having a rotating circular light-shielding plate, means for detecting the rotation direction of the circular light-shielding plate based on the sum of outputs of two light receiving elements, and a vacuum cleaner for collecting dust from the floor via a suction nozzle portion A circular light shielding plate, comprising: a main body; and a control unit configured to control an operation of the suction nozzle unit and / or the cleaner main body in accordance with a rotation direction of the circular light shielding plate to reduce a load caused by movement of the suction nozzle unit. A plurality of two types of blades having different lengths are provided on the circumference of the light source, respectively, and light beams emitted from both light emitting elements toward the corresponding light receiving elements are blocked / transmitted by the long length blades. The corresponding light receiving element from one light emitting element Characterized in that to shut off / transmission light rays emitted toward the.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reflection type photointerrupter having a suction nozzle portion which is in contact with a floor surface, a light emitting element, a light receiving element provided corresponding to the light emitting element, and a reflecting plate which rotates with dust collection. Means for detecting the rotation direction of the reflection plate based on the output of the light receiving element, a cleaner body for collecting dust from the floor surface via the suction nozzle portion, and suction nozzle portion and / or cleaning according to the rotation direction of the reflection plate. A control unit that controls the operation of the main body of the machine to reduce the load associated with the movement of the suction nozzle unit, and that the reflecting plate reflects the light emitted by the light emitting element toward the light receiving element so as to reflect the light toward the light receiving element. And at least three levels of reflectance along the area.

A third aspect of the present invention is a blocking type having a suction nozzle portion which is in contact with a floor surface, a light emitting element, a light receiving element provided corresponding to the light emitting element, and a circular light shielding plate which rotates with dust collection. A photo interrupter, means for detecting the rotation direction of the circular light shielding plate based on the output of the light receiving element, a cleaner body for collecting dust from the floor via a suction nozzle portion, and a suction nozzle according to the rotation direction of the circular light shielding plate And a control unit that controls the operation of the cleaning unit and / or the cleaner body to reduce the load caused by the movement of the suction nozzle unit. arranged a plurality of blades so as to cut off / transmit light, and spacing of the blades is characterized that it has been arranged in the non-equal intervals in at least a part.

[0029]

[0030]

[0031]

SUMMARY OF] The onset Oite to Ming, mobile pressing force applied to the nozzle portion bottom suction from the floor by floor sensor, the moving speed and moving distance of the nozzle portion suction by the movement sensor, the nozzle portion suction by the direction sensor Directions are respectively detected. The control unit drives and controls the cleaner body and / or the suction nozzle unit based on the detection results. Thus, even if the output of the floor sensor changes due to the start of the suction nozzle, etc., the type of floor can be accurately determined. In addition, by using the outputs of the floor sensor, the movement sensor, and the direction sensor, the drive control of the cleaner body and / or the suction nozzle unit is performed more precisely and more accurately.

[0032]

In particular, in the first , second and third aspects, the moving direction of the suction nozzle is detected based on the output of the photo interrupter. The photo-interrupter according to the first and third aspects is a cut-off type photo-interrupter, and the photo-interrupter according to the second aspect is a reflection type photo-interrupter.

The photo interrupter according to claim 1 is
It has two light emitting elements, two light receiving elements and a circular light shielding plate. The light receiving elements are provided corresponding to the respective light emitting elements, and the light rays emitted by the respective light emitting elements are blocked / transmitted by the blades on the circumference of the circular light shielding plate. As the blades, two types of blades having different lengths are provided. The longer blades are provided so as to block light beams of both light emitting elements, and the shorter blades are provided so as to block light beams of one light emitting element. As a result, the light receiving timing of each light receiving element is different, so that the rotation direction of the circular light shielding plate accompanying dust collection can be detected based on how the sum of the outputs changes.

According to a second aspect of the present invention,
It has a light emitting element, a light receiving element and a reflector. Light emitted by the light emitting element is reflected by the reflector and received by the light receiving element. At this time, the reflection plate is painted in order with at least three levels of reflectance along the circumference, so the rotation direction of the circular light shielding plate accompanying dust collection can be detected based on how the output of the light receiving element changes. It is.

The photointerrupter according to the third aspect has a light emitting element, a light receiving element, and a circular light shielding plate. Light emitted by the light emitting element is blocked / transmitted by the blades on the circumference of the circular light shielding plate. At this time, since the blades are arranged at least partially at non-equidistant intervals, it is possible to detect the rotation direction of the circular light-shielding plate accompanying dust collection based on how the output of the light receiving element changes.

[0037]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The same components as those of the conventional example shown in FIGS. 29 and 30 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a vacuum cleaner according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The vacuum cleaner shown in FIG.
And the pipe 15 are connected, and the suction nozzle 16 is connected to the end of the pipe 15. A hand operation unit 17 is provided at one end of the hose 14, and the user operates the hand operation unit 17 to operate the entire operation of the vacuum cleaner.

The cleaner body 13 has a built-in blower motor 18. A dust collection chamber 19 is formed on the hose 14 side when viewed from the blower motor 18, and when the blower motor 18 is driven to rotate, dust is collected in the dust collection chamber 19 via the intake port 20. The motor 1 for the blower
An exhaust port 21 is formed on the back surface of 8.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of the suction nozzle section 16 in this embodiment.

The suction nozzle portion 16 has a rotary brush 8 supported at the suction port 22 so as to be rotatable forward and backward in the longitudinal direction of the suction nozzle portion main body 2. A pulley 23 is provided. Further, a rotary brush drive motor 10 is provided near the rotary brush 8, and a timing belt 9 is wound around a pulley 24 fixed to a shaft of the rotary brush drive motor 10 and the pulley 23. . Therefore, the rotating brush drive motor 1
The rotating brush 8 is rotated by the zero driving force.

The suction nozzle portion main body 2 has a front wheel 3
And the rear wheel 4 is supported so as to be freely rotatable forward and backward in parallel with the rotary brush 8.
Slightly exposed from the bottom plate.

Further, a circular light shielding plate 26 (see FIG. 3) of a movement sensor 25 for detecting the movement of the suction nozzle portion 1 is provided on the shaft of one rear wheel 4. The circular light-shielding plate 26 has a large number of blades separated by a large number of slits. The circular light-shielding plate 26 constitutes a blocking photointerrupter 27 together with the light-emitting element and the light-receiving element.

A floor sensor 28 is provided near the movement sensor 25. As shown in detail in FIG. 4, the floor surface sensor 28 is provided with a groove 2 provided in the suction nozzle portion main body 2.
9, a pressure-sensitive conductor 30 made of a conductive rubber is arranged. The lower part of the pressure-sensitive conductor 30 is supported by a support part 32 via a spring 31 so as to be able to move up and down. A roller 33 is rotatably supported by the support portion 32, and the lower end of the roller 33 slightly protrudes from the front wheel 3 and the rear wheel 4 of the suction nozzle unit main body 2. Therefore, when cleaning hard floors, for example P tiles, tatami mats, the roller 33
Is located at the same position as the lower surface of the front wheel 3 and the lower surface of the rear wheel 4, and a force is applied to the pressure-sensitive conductor 30 to greatly change the resistance value. When cleaning a soft floor, for example, a carpet, the vertical position of the lower end of the roller 33 slightly protrudes from the front wheel 3 and the rear wheel 4, and the force applied to the pressure-sensitive conductor 30 is smaller than that of the hard floor. As a result, the change in the resistance value is reduced. As the length of the carpet becomes longer, the amount of protrusion of the roller 33 increases, and the change in the resistance value further decreases. Therefore, the type of the floor surface can be determined by detecting the resistance value of the pressure-sensitive conductor 30.

In addition, the analog floor sensor 2 described above
Instead of 8, a digital floor sensor 34 as shown in FIG. 5 may be used. The floor sensor 34 has a light-shielding shaft 33 whose lower end is connected to a support portion 32 that is guided up and down by a housing 35 forming a groove 29.
A photo interrupter 36 for detecting the light-shielding shaft 33 is disposed above the housing 35. Hereinafter, a description will be given using a digital floor sensor 22.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a control system for a vacuum cleaner according to this embodiment.

This vacuum cleaner has a control unit 37 in the operation unit 17 at hand. The control unit 37 controls each motor and determines the type of the floor surface based on the outputs of the movement sensor 25 and the floor surface sensor 34. The control unit 37 includes a movement sensor 25, a floor surface sensor 34, a rotating brush drive motor 10,
And an electric blower 18 provided in the cleaner body is connected. Further, the controller 37 includes an “H” level time (model value) of the floor sensor 34 corresponding to various floors.
Is connected.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the power is turned on, the control unit 37 turns off the rotary brush drive motor 10, controls the electric blower 18 to rotate at the minimum rotation, and initializes each counter (step 1). The control unit 37 includes the movement sensor 25
It is determined whether or not the suction nozzle 16 is moving (step 2). If it is determined that the suction nozzle 16 is moving, one stroke (1) of the movement of the suction nozzle 16 is determined by the output of the movement sensor 25. (Operation 3) is determined (step 3). If it is determined that one stroke of the movement of the suction nozzle unit 16 has been completed, the stroke counter is incremented (step 4), and the pulse width of the movement sensor 25 is determined by adding the value of the pulse width counter to the pulse width. Assume that the edges of the 25 pulses are obtained by adding the value of the edge counter to the number of edges (step 5).

Then, the control section 37 determines whether or not the stroke counter has reached 2 (step 6). If it determines that the stroke counter has reached 2, the control section 37 sets the stroke counter to 0 (step 7). As shown,
The outputs for two strokes of the floor sensor 34 during a predetermined period during which the suction nozzle section 16 moves are obtained twice and averaged (step 8). Further, the control unit 37 performs a neural network process described later (step 9), and performs an LED display process of the determined floor type (step 10). Then, the control unit 37 performs a rotary brush control process such as a rotary brush OFF for a floor or a tatami mat and a rotary brush ON for a mat or a carpet based on the determined floor type (step 1).
1) Maintain the current power on the floor and tatami mats, and change the power on the mats and short carpets to one level greater than the current power.
For a carpet with long hairs, an electric blower control process such as changing the power to a power two steps higher than the current power is performed (step 12).

It should be noted that the motor 18 for the blower may be controlled by a cleaning operation detected by the output of the movement sensor 25, and the output of the motor 18 for stratification may be corrected according to the type of floor surface. Next, various detection methods for the type of floor surface will be described.

(1) The controller 37, as shown in FIG.
A predetermined time (for example, 100 ms) T of the top speed portion in one stroke is obtained from the output of the movement sensor 25, and only the output of the floor sensor 34 during the period T is taken as valid. However, the output of the floor surface sensor 34 may greatly differ between the pushing operation and the pulling operation of the suction nozzle unit 1 depending on the type of the floor surface. The output of the surface sensor 34 is added, and the value is compared with the model value stored in the memory 38 to determine the type of the floor surface.

As shown in FIG. 10, the present applicant has experimentally obtained the outputs of the movement sensor 25 and the floor sensor 34 for various floors. As a result, a predetermined time (for example, 1
00 mS x 2 strokes) "H" of the floor sensor 22 of T
Level output time is about 200m for floor (P tile) and tatami
S, about 125mS on mat, about 75m on carpet with 7mm fur
It has been found that S is about 50 ms for a carpet with a hair length of 14 mm, and about 25 ms for a carpet with a hair length of 25 mm. These values are stored in the memory 38 in advance as model values.

(2) The "H" level time of the floor sensor 22 of the patterns A to E as shown in FIG. 11 is previously stored in the memory 38, and one stroke of the pushing operation obtained in the same manner as described above. Floor sensor 34 for a predetermined time T in
The output "H" level time is classified into A to E, and the floor surface sensor 3 of the predetermined time T in one stroke of the pulling operation is similarly drawn.
The output “H” level time of No. 4 is classified into A to E, and the type of floor surface is determined based on a combination of the classification patterns.

For example, if E and E are combined, the floor (P
Tiles) or tatami mats, mats if a combination of E and B,
If it is a combination of D and A, the carpet is 7mm thick, C and A
Is determined to be a carpet having a hair length of 14 mm, and a combination of B and A is determined to be a carpet having a hair length of 25 mm.

(3) The "H" level time of the floor sensor 34 obtained by adding the output "H" level time of the floor sensor 34 for a predetermined time T in one stroke obtained in the same manner as above for two strokes, and the floor surface The mapping relationship after learning by giving the representative floor sensor information and the answer (teacher) of the floor type at that time to the input / output layer of the neural network, using the number of edges of the output pulse signal of the sensor 34 as input data. Is used to determine the type of floor surface.

As shown in FIG. 12, the "H" level time is allocated as time neurons of 0 to 200 ms at intervals of, for example, 25 ms, and the number of edges of the output pulse signal of the floor sensor 34 is allocated as the number neurons of pulse change. The time neuron has a continuous value of 0 to 1 and a resolution of 1
mS, and several neurons are discrete values of 0 or 1.
Then, learning is performed to give the neural network desired characteristics. As the learning data, as shown in FIG. 13, a representative value is input with the time neuron as a discrete value, and a desired neural network is constructed.

For example, if the time is 25 mS and the edge is 1, the carpet (J1) has a 7 mm thick foot; if the time is 50 ms, the carpet has a 25 mm thick foot (J3); if the time is 150 mS and the edge is 2, If the mat (M), the time is 200 ms and the edge is 1, it is assumed that the floor or tatami (P) is set.

When an appropriate answer comes to the learning data, almost the same output can be obtained for the input in the vicinity thereof, and the blank portion of the learning data is gradually self-organized.

(4) Recognize the floor using fuzzy control rules.

The output “H” level time of the floor sensor 34 for a predetermined time T in the first stroke and the output “H” level time of the floor sensor 22 for a predetermined time T in the second stroke are input. A as shown in FIG.
The patterns up to E are the antecedent part 1 membership function (MF) and the antecedent part 2 membership function (MF) as shown in FIGS. 14A and 14B, and the consequent part is FIG. 14C. As shown in the figure, the floor or tatami (P), mat (M),
mm carpet (J1), carpet (J2) with a hair length of 14 mm, carpet (J3) with a hair length of 25 mm, rules (FIG. 14 (d))
The type of floor surface is obtained by the MIN-MAX method based on.
For example, "if the first stroke is A and the second stroke is C then, the floor type is a carpet (J2) having a hair length of 14 mm". In addition, the blank part of the rule maintains the previous floor recognition.

As shown in FIG. 15, the suction nozzle portion 16 is supported by the suction nozzle portion main body 2 so as to be swingable, and has an end 39 made of rubber or the like and having one end in contact with the floor surface. When a moving direction sensor 41 including a micro switch 40 for detecting the swing to one of the positions 39 is provided, the moving direction sensor 41
The suction nozzle 1 is turned on and off by turning the microswitch 40 on and off according to the swing direction of the actuator 39.
6 can be detected. Therefore, the first stroke and the second stroke are determined to be any of a pushing operation and a pulling operation, a pushing operation and a pushing operation, a pulling operation and a pulling operation, and different rules A and A for the respective second stroke operations.
If B and C (see FIG. 16) are set, the controller 37
As shown in the flowchart of FIG. 17, the operation of the first stroke and the second stroke is determined, and the floor can be recognized using the fuzzy control law by the same operation as described above.

In the above-described embodiment, the sampling time of the floor sensor is set to 100 seconds of the top speed of the movement of the suction nozzle 16 detected by the movement sensor 25.
However, the present invention is not limited to the sampling time.

In the above embodiment, the floor sensor using a pressure-sensitive conductor or a photo interrupter for detecting the elevation of the roller 33 which comes into contact with the floor is described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this. , Impact force, light reflection, light transmission and the like may be used.

Further, in the above embodiment, the averaging process is performed twice as the averaging process. However, the present invention is not limited to the number of times of the averaging process.

The present invention is not limited to the vacuum cleaner having the above operation. For example, the physical characteristics of the floor surface may be detected by a floor sensor, the moving speed and the moving distance of the suction nozzle unit may be detected by the movement sensor, and the moving direction of the suction nozzle unit may be detected by the direction sensor to perform the control. That is, by using the outputs of these sensors, suitable control can be executed according to the type of floor surface and the movement (speed, distance, direction, etc.) of the suction nozzle. The control target may be any of a member belonging to the cleaner main body such as an electric blower and a member near the suction nozzle portion such as a rotating brush.

FIG. 18 shows the structure of a vacuum cleaner according to a third embodiment of the present invention, in particular, the structure of a suction nozzle portion 42 thereof. The suction nozzle portion 42 shown in FIG.
Has substantially the same configuration as the suction nozzle portion of the first embodiment shown in FIG. The movement sensor 25 used in this embodiment has a blocking type photo interrupter.

FIG. 19 shows the structure of the movement sensor 25 used in this embodiment. As shown in this figure, the movement sensor 25 of the present embodiment constitutes a photo interrupter 27 using a circular light shielding plate 45 having two blades 43 and 44 having different lengths. The light emitting elements of the photo interrupter 27 are 46 and 47.
, And the light receiving elements are correspondingly 48 and 49.
It is two. The light emitted from the light emitting element 46 is blocked by the long blades 43, but is blocked by the short blades 44.
Is not blocked by The light emitted from the light emitting element 47 is blocked by both the long blade 43 and the short blade 44. Therefore, in this embodiment, the outputs of the light receiving elements 48 and 49 obtained with the rotation of the circular light shielding plate 45 change in different patterns depending on the rotation direction of the circular light shielding plate 45.

For example, when the circular light shielding plate 45 is rotated to the left in FIG. 19B, the output of the light receiving element 48 is as shown in FIG.
0 varies in a pattern as shown in (b), the output of the light receiving element 49, that will change in the pattern as shown in FIG. 20 (b).

On the other hand, when the circular light shielding plate 45 rotates clockwise in FIG. 19B, the output of the light receiving element 48 is as shown in FIG.
(B) varies in a pattern as shown in (d), the output of the light receiving element 49 that will change in the pattern as shown in FIG. 20 (b) (e).

As described above, the pattern of changes in the outputs of the light receiving elements 48 and 49 differs depending on whether the circular light shielding plate 45 rotates clockwise or counterclockwise. In the present embodiment, the sum of the outputs of the respective light receiving elements 48 and 49 is obtained, and by monitoring this sum, it is determined whether the circular light shielding plate 45 is rotating left or right. . For example, when the circular light-shielding plate 45 is rotated to the left, the sum of the output of the light receiving element 48 and the output of the light receiving element 49 is -L-H-M, as shown in FIGS. -L-
When rotating clockwise, as shown in FIG. 20 (b) (f), it changes to -L-M-H-L-. Therefore, depending on how the sum of the output of the light receiving element 48 and the output of the light receiving element 49 changes, the rotation direction of the circular light shielding plate 45 and, consequently, the moving direction of the suction nozzle portion 42 can be identified.

FIG. 21 shows an example of a circuit for obtaining the sum. As shown in FIG.
20 and 49 are added by the operational amplifier 50, amplified by the operational amplifier 51, and then output, a signal relating to the sum changing in a pattern as shown in FIG. 20 is obtained.

FIG. 22 shows a circuit configuration in this embodiment. As shown in this figure, the present embodiment has a configuration in which the output of the movement sensor 25 is amplified by the signal amplifier 52 and then processed by the control unit 37. The controller 37 includes a rotation detector 53 and an output converter 5
Four. The rotation detector 53 detects the rotation direction of the circular light-shielding plate 45 from the signal amplified by the signal amplifier 52,
That is, the moving direction of the suction nozzle unit 42 is detected. The output conversion unit 54 converts the detection result into an output signal, and supplies the rotary brush motor 10 and the blower motor 18 with the rotary brush motor control signal 56 or the blower motor control signal 58, respectively.

As described above, the rotating brush motor 10 and the blower motor 18 are controlled in accordance with the rotation direction of the circular light shielding plate 45.
Is controlled, the user is less likely to feel a load related to the drawing of the suction nozzle unit 42 when performing cleaning. For example, the rotation direction of the circular light-shielding plate 45 differs between when the user moves the suction nozzle unit 42 forward and when the user moves the suction nozzle unit 42 backward. If the rotation direction detected by the rotation detection unit 53 indicates that the suction nozzle unit 42 is moving forward, the control unit 37 controls the rotation brush motor 10 to rotate the rotation brush 8 forward in accordance with the rotation direction. Is supplied to the rotary brush motor control signal 56 to that effect. If the rotation direction obtained by the rotation detection unit 53 indicates that the suction nozzle unit 42 is retracted, the control unit 37 controls the rotary brush motor 10 in response to the rotation direction. Provide signal 56,
The rotating brush 8 is reversed. In this way, when the user cleans using the vacuum cleaner, the suction nozzle 4
It is less likely to feel the load associated with the routing of 2.

In this embodiment, the movement sensor 25 detects the movement of the suction nozzle portion 42 in the front-rear direction. However, the movement sensor 25 may detect the movement in the left-right direction. Even in this case, it is possible to reduce the load related to the drawing of the suction nozzle unit 42.

FIG. 23 shows the structure of a vacuum cleaner according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention, in particular, a movement sensor 59 thereof. As shown in this figure, the movement sensor 5 of the present embodiment
9 is configured as a reflection type photo interrupter. That is, a light is emitted from the light emitting element 62 to the reflector 60 using the reflector 60 axially connected to the rear wheel 4, and the reflected light is received by the light receiver 64 to detect the rotation of the reflector 60. I am trying to do it.

As shown in FIG. 23 (b), the reflection plate 60 is painted on regions 66, 68 and 70 having different reflectivities. The reflectance is highest in the region 66,
The area 70 is the lowest value. Therefore, the reflection plate 60
FIG. 24A shows a case where is rotated left in FIG.
, The output of the light receiving element 64 is -L-H-M
-L-, and when rotated right, -L-
It is converted as MHL-.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 25, by amplifying the output of the light receiving element 64 with the operational amplifiers 66 and 68, the output change is reflected by the reflection plate 60 as shown in FIG.
Will be obtained.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to reduce the load related to the drawing of the suction nozzle section 42 by using the control circuit having the same configuration as that of FIG.

In this embodiment, the reflecting plate 60 is applied to the three regions 66 to 70 having different reflectivities, but may be applied in three or more steps. Also, the reflection plate 6
The same effect can be obtained by partially changing the thickness of 0.

FIG. 26 shows a configuration of a vacuum cleaner according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention, particularly, a movement sensor 72 thereof. The movement sensor 72 shown in FIG.
4, a cut-off type photo interrupter 80 including a light emitting element 76 and a light receiving element 78 is provided. The feature of this embodiment is that, as shown in FIG. 26B, a part of the circular light shielding plate 74 is set so that the interval between the blade and the notch is different from the others. That is, the blades and notches shown in the lower part of the figure have twice the width of the other blades and notches.

Therefore, when the movement sensor 72 is used, the output of the light receiving element 78 differs depending on the rotation direction of the circular light shielding plate 74 as shown in FIG. In other words, at the blade and the notch portion having a long width, the width of the output signal of the light receiving element 78 due to the blocking / transmission of the light beam is twice as large as the width of the other portions. Thus, as shown in FIGS. 27A and 27B, it is possible to know whether the circular light shielding plate 74 is rotating left or right.

FIG. 28 shows the configuration of a circuit for amplifying the output signal of light receiving element 78. As shown in this figure, the output of the light receiving element 78 is amplified by operational amplifiers 80 and 82.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, by using the control circuit having the configuration as shown in FIG. 22, the load related to the drawing of the suction nozzle portion 42 can be reduced. In this case, the rotation detecting unit 53
Measures the time T ₁ and T ₂ shown in, by sequentially observing the measurement result, detects the rotation direction of the circular light shielding plate 74.

[0085] Specifically, FIG 27 the time T ₁ starts the measurement at point A (a), it does not come yet falling edge when the time T ₁ is passed according to the short blade 1
And the measurement is continued until time point B. After the falling edge arrives at time B, measurement of time T _I is started from this point. Since the rise H does not come even after the time T ₂ relating to the short blade has elapsed since the start of the measurement,
This is registered as 0. Similarly, when the circular light shielding plate 74 is rotating clockwise, as is clear from FIG.
First, 0 and then 1 are registered.

Therefore, the rotation detecting section 53 can know the rotation direction of the circular light-shielding plate 74 based on whether the registered value changes to -1-0- or -0-1-.

[0087]

[0088]

[0089]

As described above, according to the present invention, according to the present onset Akira,
The floor surface sensor detects the pressing force applied from the floor to the bottom surface of the suction nozzle, the movement sensor detects the moving speed and moving distance of the suction nozzle, and the direction sensor detects the moving direction of the suction nozzle. Judgment of the type of surface and drive control of the vacuum cleaner body and / or suction nozzle are performed, so that the type of floor can be accurately determined even if the output of the floor sensor changes due to the start of the suction nozzle or the like. Movement of the suction nozzle (speed, distance,
Direction, etc.).

[0090]

In particular, according to the first aspect of the present invention, since the cut-off type photointerrupter is constituted by using the circular reflector having two kinds of blades having different lengths, the circular reflection is obtained from the output change of the two light receiving elements. The direction of rotation of the plate can be detected, and the direction of movement of the suction nozzle can be detected based on the direction of rotation of the circular reflector. According to claim 2 of the present invention,
Since the reflection type photointerrupter is formed by using the reflection plates which are sequentially painted at three levels of reflectance, the rotation direction of the reflection plate is detected from the output change of the light receiving element, and the suction nozzle portion is moved according to the rotation direction of the reflection plate. The direction can be detected. According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the cut-off type photointerrupter is configured by using the circular light-shielding plate in which the interval between the blades is at least partially non-equidistant, the circular reflection is obtained from the output change of the light receiving element. The direction of rotation of the plate can be detected, and the direction of movement of the suction nozzle can be detected based on the direction of rotation of the circular reflector.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view illustrating an entire configuration of a vacuum cleaner according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a suction nozzle unit in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a movement sensor according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a floor sensor according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a floor sensor according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control circuit according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing outputs of a movement sensor and a floor sensor obtained by an experiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a sectional view showing a movement direction sensor according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing the operation of the second embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing the operation of the second embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a partial cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a suction nozzle unit according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a schematic cross-sectional view and a plan view illustrating a configuration of a movement sensor according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a change in the output of the light receiving element in the third embodiment.

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an output circuit of a light receiving element in a third embodiment.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control circuit according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a partial sectional view and a plan view showing a configuration of a movement sensor in a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing a change in the output of the light receiving element in the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an output circuit of a light receiving element in a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 26 is a partial cross-sectional view and a plan view showing the configuration of a movement sensor according to a fifth embodiment.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing a change in the output of the light receiving element in the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating an output circuit of a light receiving element in a fifth embodiment.

FIG. 29 is a perspective view showing a suction nozzle portion according to a first conventional example.

FIG. 30 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a suction nozzle portion of a vacuum cleaner according to a second conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Suction nozzle part main body 3 Front wheel 4 Rear wheel 8 Rotary brush 10 Rotary brush motor 11 Rotation sensor 13 Vacuum cleaner main body 16, 42 Suction nozzle part 18 Blower motor 19 Dust collection chamber 25, 59, 72 Movement sensor 26 Circular light shielding plate 27,80 Photo interrupter 33,60 Reflector 34 Floor sensor 37 Controller 43,44 Blade 45,74 Circular light shield 46,47,62,76 Light emitting element 48,49,64,78 Light receiving element 53 Rotation detector 54 Output converter 56 Motor control signal for rotating brush 58 Motor control signal for blower 66, 68, 70 area

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Ryoji Minagawa 2-14-40 Ofuna, Kamakura City, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside the Living Systems Research Laboratory, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (72) Inventor Kenichi Ito 2--14, Ofuna, Kamakura City, Kanagawa Prefecture No. 40 Mitsui Electric Co., Ltd. Living System Research Institute (72) Inventor Kanji Goto 1728 Koeda, Hanazono-cho, Osato-gun, Saitama 1 Mitsubishi Electric Home Equipment Co., Ltd. (72) Hironori Taguchi Hanazono-cho, Osato-gun, Saitama 1728 Omae Koeda 1 Mitsubishi Electric Home Equipment Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Akihiro Iwahara 1728 Omae Omaeda, Hanazono-cho, Osato-gun, Saitama 1 Mitsubishi Electric Home Equipment Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-3-202032 (JP) JP-A-3-268729 (JP, A) JP-A-5-123276 (JP, A) JP-A-5-199968 (JP, A) P, A) (58) investigated the field (Int.Cl. ^7, DB name) A47L 9/28

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A suction nozzle portion which is in contact with a floor surface, two light emitting elements, and two light emitting elements provided corresponding to each light emitting element.
It has a light receiving element and a circular light blocking plate that rotates with dust collection
How to rotate the circular light shield based on the sum of the outputs of the blocking photointerrupter and the two light receiving elements
Means for detecting the direction, and a cleaner body for collecting dust from the floor via a suction nozzle portion
And the suction nozzle part and / or
By controlling the operation of the vacuum cleaner body,
And a control unit for reducing the load associated with the movement of the blade unit, and two types of blades of different lengths are provided on the circumference of the circular light-shielding plate.
The light receiving element corresponding to both light emitting elements by long blades
Cuts / transmits the light emitted toward the light source, and the corresponding light is received from one light emitting element by the short blade
An electric vacuum cleaner, wherein a light beam emitted toward an element is blocked / transmitted . A light-emitting element, a light-receiving element provided in correspondence with the light-emitting element, and a suction nozzle portion contacting the floor.
Reflection type photointerrupter with reflector that rotates with dust collection
And a means for detecting the rotation direction of the reflector based on the output of the light-receiving element.
Vacuum cleaner body that collects dust from the floor through steps and suction nozzles
And the suction nozzle and / or the sweep
By controlling the operation of the removal machine body, the suction nozzle
And a control unit to reduce the burden of the mobile, reflector, light rays emitted by the light emitting element to the light receiving element
At least three reflections along the circumference to reflect light
Vacuum cleaner characterized by being applied in order by rate . 3. A light-emitting element, a light-receiving element provided in correspondence with the light-emitting element, and a suction nozzle portion abutting on a floor surface.
Cut-off type photo with a circular shading plate that rotates with dust collection
The direction of rotation of the circular light-shielding plate is detected based on the output of the
And a cleaner body for collecting dust from the floor surface through the suction nozzle part
And the suction nozzle part and / or
By controlling the operation of the vacuum cleaner body,
And a control unit to reduce the load caused by the movement of the pole tip, and on the circumference of the circular light shielding plate, onset toward the light receiving element by the light emitting element
A plurality of blades are arranged to block / transmit the
Are placed at least partially apart from each other
An electric vacuum cleaner characterized by being arranged at an interval .