JPH0732742B2 - Self-propelled vacuum cleaner - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a self-propelled cleaner having a cleaning function and a moving function, which automatically cleans a floor surface.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a self-propelled vacuum cleaner has been developed in which a moving function is added to a vacuum cleaner to improve operability during cleaning. In particular, recently, a so-called self-supporting induction type self-propelled vacuum cleaner has been developed, in which a microcomputer and various sensors are mounted on the cleaning device to determine the movement of the cleaning place while the cleaning device itself performs cleaning. There is.

This type of self-propelled cleaner is equipped with an obstacle detection sensor that uses ultrasonic waves, a gyro sensor that measures the moving direction, etc., and has a complicated system configuration as a whole, and further has a moving and cleaning function. It used a battery to power it.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In such a system, the weight of the main body is inevitably increased due to the use of the battery, the power is insufficient, and the operating time is short. Further, since the weight of the main body is large, it is necessary to attach various sensors in consideration of damage to a wall, glass, a person, or the like that is an obstacle. Further, if a gyro sensor or the like for more accurate guidance is attached, a large-scale and complicated control system is required.

Therefore, the present invention provides a compact and lightweight self-propelled cleaner that can automatically clean a room with a simple control system using a commercial power source.

Means for Solving the Problems Technical means of the present invention for solving the above problems include a drive wheel for moving a main body, a drive motor connected to the drive wheel,
Cleaning means built in the main body, power supply cord for supplying electric power to the main body, code sending means for sending out a certain length of power supply cord wound on the cord reel in the main body, and detecting contact of the main body with a wall etc. And a judgment processing means for reversing the rotation direction of the drive motor when the contact is detected by the contact detecting means and for activating the cord sending means, and the drive wheel of the main body is centered on the outlet side of the power cord. In addition to moving in a circular arc shape, the power supply cord is moved in a pulling direction when the cord sending means operates.

Operation The effects of this technical means are as follows.

With this configuration, when the power cord is locked to a wall or the like and the power is turned on, the drive motor drives the drive wheels to advance until the main body hits the wall while applying a tension to the power cord while keeping the cord length constant in a straight state. . That is, it moves in an arc around the outlet side of the power cord. When the contact detecting means detects that the wall has been hit, the rotation direction of the motor is reversed by the judgment processing means, the drive wheel moves in the direction for pulling out the power cord (pulling direction), and the cord sending means is operated to turn on the power. Pull out the code for a certain length. After that, as described above, the drive wheel goes straight, and moves while drawing an arc shape centered on the outlet side of the power cord. By repeating this operation, the floor surface of the room is automatically cleaned.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, reference numeral 1 denotes a main body of a self-propelled cleaner, and 2 denotes drive wheels symmetrically provided on the left and right sides of the main body 1, respectively. 3 is a drive motor, 4 is a reduction gear connected to the output shaft of the drive motor 3, and is connected to a drive shaft 6 via a gear 5. One end of the drive shaft 6 is connected to the gear 8 via the clutch device 7, and the other end is connected to the gear 8 '.
Further, the gear 8 and the gear 8'are respectively connected to the gears 9,9 'attached to the drive wheels 2,2'. Reference numeral 10 is a power cord for supplying electric power to the main body 1, which is wound around a cord reel 11 in the main body, and its tip is led out from the main body through a hole at the center of the drive wheel 2 '. Reference numeral 12 is a cord sending means for sending the power cord 10 out of the main body at a constant length, and restrains and releases the rotation of the cord reel 11 and detects the cord sending length. 13,1
Reference numeral 3'denotes floor nozzles provided at the front and rear of the main body, to which rollers 14 and 14 'are rotatably attached. The floor nozzles 13 and 13 'are urged downward by springs 15 and 15', respectively, and pressed against the floor surface.
It is connected to 6, 16 'and communicates with the dust collection chamber 17. Bellows hose
The upper ends of 16, 16 'are connected to the air passages 18, 18' beside the dust collection chamber 17. The air passages 18 and 18 ′ are connected to the dust collecting bag 20 in the dust collecting chamber 17 via the nozzle switching valve 19. Reference numeral 21 is a filter provided in the dust collection chamber 17, and 22 is an electric blower. The nozzle switching valve 19 rotates as indicated by arrow a, and the suction force of the electric blower 22 is switched to the direction of the floor nozzle 13 or the direction of the floor nozzle 13 ′ according to the moving direction of the main body 1 so that the main body 1 always moves forward. Suction dust with the floor nozzle. For example, in FIG. 3, when the main body 1 moves in the direction of the arrow A, the nozzle switching valve 19 is at the position shown in the figure, and the dust sucked from the floor nozzle 13 is indicated by the arrow b.
As shown in FIG. At this time, it is not sucked from the floor nozzle 13 '. Above, floor nozzle 13,1
3 ', rollers 14,14', springs 15,15 ', bellows hose 1
6, 16 ', dust collecting chamber 17, air passages 18, 18', nozzle switching valve 19, dust collecting bag 20, filter 21, and electric blower 22 constitute a cleaning means incorporated in the main body 1. Reference numerals 23 and 23 'are bumpers made of foamed rubber and the like which are attached to the front and rear of the main body 1, and contact detection means 24 and 24' for detecting contact on the outside thereof.
Is provided. Reference numeral 25 is a judgment processing means for judging the outputs from the contact detecting means 24, 24 'to control the drive motor 3, the clutch device 7, the cord sending means 12 and the nozzle switching valve 19, and in this embodiment, a microcomputer is used. I'm using it.

The operation of the self-propelled vacuum cleaner configured as above will be described below.

For example, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the main body 1 of the self-propelled cleaner is set on the floor 34 in the room surrounded by the walls 30, 31, 32 and 33. The power cord 10 is pulled out from the center of the drive wheel 2'of the main body 1 and connected to the outlet 35 of the wall 30. Also,
The power cord 10 is fixed to the wall 30 between the outlet 35 and the main body 1 by a cord fixing tool 36 so that the tension of the power cord 10 is not directly applied to the outlet 35. When the power of the main body 1 is turned on in this state, the drive motor 3 and the electric blower 22 are activated to keep the cord length constant in the direction of the arrow A while performing the cleaning, that is, the arc around the cord fixture 36. Continue drawing. At this time, the clutch device 7 does not operate, that is, the drive shaft 6 and the gear 8 are in the connected state, and the drive motor 4 drives the two drive wheels 2, 2'symmetrically provided on both sides of the main body 1 so that the main body 1 Goes straight. Further, at this time, the nozzle switching valve 19 is in a position where suction force acts on the floor nozzle 13. When the bumper 23 provided in front of the main body 1 hits the wall 31 and the contact detection means 24 outside the bumper 17 detects the contact, the determination processing means 25 reverses the drive motor 3 and sets the nozzle switching valve 19 to 180.
The rotation is rotated by 90 ° to switch the suction force to the floor nozzle 13 'side, and at the same time, the clutch device 7 and the cord sending means 12 are operated. When the clutch device 7 is actuated, the drive shaft 6 and the gear 8 are disengaged, so that the main body 1 is driven only by the drive wheels 2'and the power cord is directed in the direction away from the cord fixture 36, that is, the direction of arrow B shown in FIG. Pull 10 out of the body 1. When the power cord 10 is pulled out by a certain length, the judgment processing means 25 controls the cord feeding means 12 to stop the feeding of the power cord 10 and at the same time, to stop the operation of the clutch device 7. Then, the drive shaft 6 and the gear 8 are connected to each other and driven by the two drive wheels 2'and 2, so that the main body 1 goes straight again and moves in the direction of arrow C with the cord length being constant. Therefore,
The main body 1 moves around the cord fixing tool 36 while drawing an arc having a large radius by a certain length. Also,
When the bumper 23 'on the opposite side hits the wall 30, the same operation is performed, the movement is made in the directions of the arrows D and E, and the entire floor 34 is automatically cleaned as shown in FIG. 5 while repeating the above operation. To do. Then, when the power cord 10 is pulled out to the maximum, or when the power cord 10 is pulled out for a certain length or more and the time interval between the bumper 23 and the bumper 23 'hitting the wall is less than the certain time, the cleaning is completed. After making a determination, the drive motor 3 and the electric blower 22 are stopped, and a buzzer (not shown) is rung to notify the end.

A flowchart of the above operation is shown in FIG.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION As described above, according to the present invention, the contact detection means moves in an arc shape around the outlet side of the power cord until the contact detection means detects the contact with the wall, and the contact detection means detects the contact with the wall. At the same time as switching, the power cord is sent out for a certain length and moves so as to draw an arc that is further outside than the arc that was drawn until it hits the wall, so it is possible to supply power from the outside with the power cord and secure cleaning ability Also, since the cleaning route is determined by the length of the power cord sent out, the cleaning area can be moved accurately and cleaning can be performed efficiently, and if the contact detection means detects a wall or an obstacle, the direction can be changed. Can be switched and cleaned automatically. Also, since the main body can be driven only by the two drive wheels that are symmetrically provided one on each side of the main body, the drive unit can be arranged only in the front and rear central portion of the main body, and even if floor nozzles are provided in the front and rear of the main body, The overall length is small and compact. By pulling out the power cord from the center of one of the drive wheels, the power cord passes through the center of gravity of the main body, so that stable traveling can be performed without swaying or sagging of the power cord during movement. Further, the clutch device for disconnecting one of the drive wheels from the drive motor enables the movement direction of the main body to be controlled to be switched between the straight traveling state and the direction changing state with a simple structure.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan sectional view of a self-propelled cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the self-propelled cleaner, and FIG. 3 is a cleaning means portion of the self-propelled cleaner. FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing a moving procedure of the self-propelled cleaner, and FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing an operation flow of the self-propelled cleaner. 1 ... Main body, 2,2 '... Drive wheel, 3 ... Drive motor, 7
...... Clutch device, 10 ...... Power cord, 11 ...... Cord reel, 12 ...... Cord sending means, 13, 13 '...... Floor nozzle, 1
6,16 '... Bellows hose, 17 ... Dust collection chamber, 18,18' ... Air passage, 19 ... Nozzle switching valve, 20 ... Dust collection bag, 21 ...
... filter, 22 ... electric blower, 23,23 '... bumper, 24,24' ... contact detection means, 25 ... judgment processing means.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Minoru Hotta 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP-A-57-145634 (JP, A) (JP, U) Japanese Patent Publication Sho 48-44 744 (JP, B1)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A drive wheel for moving a main body, a drive motor connected to the drive wheel, a cleaning means incorporated in the main body,
A power cord for supplying power to the main body, a cord sending means for feeding the power cord wound on a cord reel inside the main body for a fixed length, a contact detecting means for detecting the contact of the main body with a wall, and the contact detection When the contact is detected by the means, the rotation direction of the drive motor is reversed, and a judgment processing means for operating the cord sending means is provided, and the drive wheel of the main body moves in an arc shape around the outlet side of the power cord,
A self-propelled cleaner configured to move in the direction of pulling the power cord when the cord sending means operates. 2. The self-propelled cleaner according to claim 1, wherein two drive wheels are provided at the front and rear central portions of the side surface of the main body, and the power cord is led out from the central portion of one of the drive wheels.