JPH03264020A - Self-advancing cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the deflection of the transfer direction by installing an angular speed sensor, a transfer distance detecting means, a transfer control means for controlling a steering/driving means, and a turning means for turning the angular speed sensor to a certain direction at each direction change of a body. CONSTITUTION:A body 1 starts transfer according to the contents which are previously programmed in a transfer control means 12, and when the body 1 detects a wall or an obstacle during the course of transfer by an ultrasonic sensor 9, contact sensor 11, etc., collision is prevented by the transfer control means 12, and cleaning is continued, and direction is detected by an angular speed sensor 8, and the transfer distance is detected by a transfer distance detecting means 6. Though, in the ordinary case, leftward deflection is gradually generated in the advance direction because of the drift of the angular speed sensor 8 during the straight advance, and the drift is corrected during the direction change in the B point, the leftward deflection in the advance direction is generated again by the drift during the straight advance after the direction change. Accordingly, the angular speed sensor 8 is directed to the direction before the direction change by a turning means 10, after the direction change in the B point, and the non-yet-cleaned region shown by the oblique lines is reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION This invention relates to a self-propelled vacuum cleaner that operates cordlessly and performs automatic cleaning.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years, vacuum cleaners have been developed in which a moving function is added to vacuum cleaners to improve operability during cleaning. Especially recently,
By equipping this with a microcomputer and various sensors, so-called self-propelled self-propelled vacuum cleaners are being developed that search for their own cleaning routes instead of following predetermined cleaning routes. . The guidance means for these self-propelled vacuum cleaners that move without a path include: an angular velocity sensor that detects the direction of the main body, and a rotary encoder directly connected to the moving motor that detects the distance traveled by the main body; It guides the main body while detecting its position. These self-propelled vacuum cleaners use a gas rate gyro or a vibration type gyro as an angular velocity sensor.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In such an angular velocity sensor, a drift occurs in the offset of the zero point in a short period of time, causing an error in position detection. Additionally, in the short term, this drift tends to occur in one direction, such as on the positive side or negative side of the output, and for this reason, conventional self-propelled vacuum cleaners equipped with such angular velocity sensors , sometimes shifted in one direction with respect to the direction of travel.

In order to reduce the influence of this drift, drift correction is sometimes performed each time, but it is difficult to completely eliminate the influence.Errors in movement accuracy due to such drift can cause errors in the cleaning trajectory. As a result, uncleaned areas are created, making it impossible to thoroughly clean the areas that should be cleaned.

The present invention is intended to solve the problems that such conventional structures had, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a self-propelled vacuum cleaner having a structure in which there is little deviation in the direction of movement.

Means for Solving the Problems To achieve this object, the present invention provides a steering and driving means for moving the main body, an angular velocity sensor for detecting the direction of movement of the main body, and a sensor for detecting the moving distance of the main body. a movement distance detection means, a movement control means for controlling the steering/driving means, and a cleaning means including a cleaning fan motor or the like;
The self-propelled vacuum cleaner is equipped with a battery that supplies power to the entire main body, and a turning means that rotates the angular velocity sensor in a fixed direction every time the main body changes direction.

Function: In the self-propelled vacuum cleaner of the present invention, when a wall or obstacle is encountered during automatic cleaning and the direction must be changed, the direction of the main body is first changed, and then the angular velocity sensor is set in the direction by the turning means. I try to accurately point it in the direction before switching. Thereafter, the movement control means controls the movement of the main body while controlling the steering and driving means based on sensor information such as the angular velocity sensor and the movement distance detection means. In this way, no matter how many times the direction is changed, the movement can be controlled so that the angular velocity sensor always points in the same direction, and a self-propelled vacuum cleaner with less deviation in the direction of movement can be realized.

Embodiment Hereinafter, an embodiment of a self-propelled vacuum cleaner according to the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 1 and 2. Self-propelled vacuum cleaner body 1
A steering motor 2 for turning the rudder, a drive motor 3 for driving, and steering/driving wheels 4 are provided at the lower front of the vehicle. Each of these means constitutes a steering and driving means 5 for moving the main body 1. A moving distance detecting means 6, which is a rotary encoder, is directly connected to the drive motor 3, and detects the rotation speed of the drive motor 3 to detect the moving distance of the main body 1. Similarly, at the rear of the lower part of the main body 1, two rotatable slave shafts 7 are provided for movement.

An angular velocity sensor 8 is provided on the rotation axis of the forward steering motor 2 of the main body 1 to detect the moving direction of the main body 1 . In addition, there is an ultrasonic sensor 9 in front of the main body 1 and in use to detect the external environment, and an ultrasonic sensor 9 is installed around the entire lower part of the main body 1 to detect when the main body 1 comes into contact with an obstacle. A contact sensor 11 is provided respectively. In the center of the main body 1, there are preprogrammed contents, a moving distance detecting means 6, an angular velocity sensor 8, an ultrasonic sensor 9, and a contact sensor 11.
A movement control means 12 is provided for controlling the steering motor 2 and the drive motor 3 according to information from the vehicle. A floor nozzle 13 provided at the center of the lower part of the main body 1 for sucking in dirt, a hose 14 to which the floor nozzle 13 is connected, and a trash bag 15 for storing dirt constitute a cleaning means 17 that performs cleaning together with a fan motor 16. ing. 18 is a movement control means 12
and a battery that supplies power to the cleaning means 17.

Next, the movement of this self-propelled vacuum cleaner will be briefly explained using FIG. The main body 1 starts moving according to the contents programmed in advance in the movement control means 12, and automatically starts cleaning. If a wall 19 or an obstacle 20 is detected by the ultrasonic sensor 9 or contact sensor 11 during the movement, the movement control means 12 avoids this and continues cleaning. Since the main body 1 can know the direction using the angular velocity sensor 8 and the moving distance using the moving distance detecting means 6, it can move accurately according to the program so that no cleaning is left unfinished. Without this angular velocity sensor 8, if the floor is tilted or has unevenness, the direction of the main body will shift immediately and accurate movement will not be possible.

Next, the output of the angular velocity sensor 8 will be explained based on FIG. 4. In this embodiment, the output of the angular velocity sensor 8 is a DC voltage, and if the voltage is 0, it indicates that the main body l has not changed its direction, and if the voltage swings positively, it indicates a specific direction (here, it is assumed to be right). This shows that the direction is changing at an angular velocity corresponding to the voltage swing. By integrating this voltage, the direction of the main body 1 can be known, and therefore the direction of the main body 1 can be controlled. The movement control means 12 repeatedly performs this integration at short intervals, and always recognizes which direction the main body 1 is currently facing. Further, according to the program, the main body 1 is made to move straight or to change direction by 180 degrees. When the angular velocity sensor 8 is stationary, its output is O(V), but in reality, as time passes, the voltage gradually increases as shown by the broken line 21 in FIG. This phenomenon is called a drift, and if the main body 1 moves straight while this drift occurs, the movement control means 12 determines that the main body 1 is turning to the right because the voltage is swinging positively, and the main body 1 is gradually controlled to turn to the left. As a result, straight forward movement is no longer possible. In this embodiment, in order to reduce the influence of this drift, A-B-C-D-E shown in FIG.
・Every time the main body 1 changes direction at a timing such as FG, the main body 1 is temporarily stopped at that location to correct this drift. By doing this, the integral value of the output of the angular velocity sensor 8 indicates the direction of the main body 1, so as can be seen by comparing the area under the broken line and the area under the solid line,
The influence of drift can be extremely reduced. Although the influence of drift can be reduced as described above, it is extremely difficult to completely eliminate it.

FIG. 5 shows the travel trajectory of the ideal angular velocity sensor 8 without drift. In the figure, the broken line indicates the traveling locus of the self-propelled vacuum cleaner body 1. In this way, the ideal angular velocity sensor 8 can draw a reciprocating locus with high accuracy, and as shown by the solid line, The cleaning area also draws a clean reciprocating trajectory, and there is no uncleaned area.

Next, FIG. 6 shows the travel trajectory when an actual gyro is used. The broken line in the figure is the travel locus of the main body 1, and the solid line is the area cleaned by the main body 1. The main body 1 that starts moving from point A shown in the figure gradually shifts to the left in the direction of travel due to the drift of the angular velocity sensor 8 while moving straight ahead, and corrects the drift when changing direction at point B. However, while driving straight after changing direction, the vehicle drifted again to the left relative to the direction of travel. Then, the shaded area in the figure remains as an uncleaned area. After changing the direction at point B, the turning means 10 causes the angular velocity sensor 8 to face in the direction before the direction change. This direction change is controlled based on the output of the angular velocity sensor 8, but since this operation actually takes about one second, the influence of drift hardly appears.

Further, the rotation means 1o may be an ultrasonic motor/stepping motor, or a combination of a DC motor and a high-precision rotary encoder. However, it is necessary to be able to perform position control with high precision. The travel trajectory in this case is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, after changing direction once at point B, the vehicle is made to go straight, but the direction is deviated due to the influence of drift. The direction of this shift is to the left with respect to the initial direction C>, and acts in a direction to reduce the uncleaned area shown by diagonal lines in the figure.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, there are provided a steering/driving means for moving the main body, an angular velocity sensor for detecting the moving direction of the main body, and a moving distance detection for detecting the moving distance of the main body. a movement control means for controlling the steering and driving means, and a cleaning means comprising a cleaning fan motor or the like;
By providing a battery that supplies power to the entire main body and a turning means that rotates the angular velocity sensor in a fixed direction each time the main body changes direction, it is possible to provide a self-propelled vacuum cleaner with less deviation in the direction of movement. It is possible.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a side sectional view of a self-propelled vacuum cleaner showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a functional block diagram of the self-propelled vacuum cleaner, and Fig. 3 is a moving state of the self-propelled vacuum cleaner. Figure 4 shows the occurrence of drift in the same angular velocity sensor, Figure 5 shows the traveling trajectory when using the same ideal angular velocity sensor, and Figure 6 shows the traveling trajectory when using the actual angular velocity sensor. 7 is a traveling locus diagram ζ'4J of the embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A steering/driving means for moving the main body, an angular velocity sensor for detecting the moving direction of the main body, a moving distance detecting means for detecting a moving distance of the main body, and a movement control means for controlling the steering/driving means. A self-propelled vacuum cleaner comprising a cleaning means such as a fan motor for cleaning, a battery that supplies power to the entire main body, and a turning means that rotates the angular velocity sensor in a fixed direction every time the main body changes direction.