JPS63300731A - Electric cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner that can appropriately control suction power depending on the condition of a floor or the like to be cleaned.

(Prior Art) In recent years, vacuum cleaners with significantly increased suction power have appeared so that they can reliably and powerfully suction dust.

In a vacuum cleaner with such a large suction force, depending on the condition of the floor surface, the suction port that is in contact with the floor surface may become suction, making it extremely difficult to use.

Therefore, conventionally, in order to vary the suction power depending on the condition of the floor surface, the rotation speed of the Tanabata turbine, which is the power source that generates the suction power used in vacuum cleaners, can be manually controlled using a switch etc. A vacuum cleaner that can be switched is being considered. and,
With such a vacuum cleaner, the switch is switched depending on whether the floor to be cleaned is tatami mats, carpets, wooden floors, etc., and the appropriate switch is selected depending on the condition of the floor. I use a vacuum cleaner with suction power to prevent the suction port from sticking to the floor.

In addition, some vacuum cleaners are equipped with a rotating brush at the suction port so as to rotate in contact with the floor to be cleaned in order to easily remove dust adhering to carpets, etc. This rotary brush is mainly used to knock out M dust stuck between the hairs of a carpet or the like by rotating, and to suck up the kicked out dust. Therefore, if the floor is flat and has no hair, such as a tatami mat or wooden floor, a rotating brush is not necessary.If the rotating brush rotates on such a floor, the suction part will self-propel, and electric cleaning Makes the machine difficult to use. For this reason, conventionally, it has been possible to manually perform a switching operation to rotate or stop the rotating brush depending on the condition of the floor to be cleaned. Note that such a rotating brush generates a lot of noise if it is rotated without contacting the floor, etc., so when using it, conventionally the rotating brush was rotated after the suction port came into contact with the floor. Similarly, the rotational movement of the rotating brush is manually controlled.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) In conventional vacuum cleaners, the rotation speed of the motor that varies the suction force is adjusted so that the suction force is appropriate for the floor surface so that the suction port does not stick to the floor surface. Although it is manually controlled via a switch, etc., such manual operation is very cumbersome and troublesome, and the suction force is not necessarily adjusted to the appropriate suction force because the suction force is manually switched and controlled according to the user's feeling. The problem is that you can't control it.

In addition, in vacuum cleaners with rotating brushes, the rotating brush is rotated or paused manually depending on the condition of the floor surface or the state of contact with the floor surface. There is also the problem that the switching operation is cumbersome and troublesome.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and its purpose is to provide an easy-to-use vacuum cleaner that can appropriately control suction power depending on the condition of the area to be cleaned, for example, the condition of the floor surface. It's about doing.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) The vacuum cleaner of the present invention is a vacuum cleaner having a suction part that comes into contact with a part to be cleaned and sucks dust from the part by suction force. a generating means for generating vibrations of a predetermined frequency; a transmitting means for contacting the part to be cleaned and transmitting the vibrations from the vibration generating means to the part; and a transmitting means for transmitting the vibrations from the part via the transmitting means. , a determining means for determining the state of the part based on the vibration detected by the detecting means, and a variable control means for variably controlling the suction force based on the determination result of the determining means. The gist is that.

(Function) In the vacuum cleaner of the present invention, vibrations are transmitted to the part to be cleaned, for example, the floor surface, vibrations from the part are detected, and the state of the part to be cleaned is determined based on the detected vibrations. to control the suction power.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of a vacuum cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the overall appearance of the vacuum cleaner of FIG. 1.

First, the overall configuration will be explained with reference to FIG. This vacuum cleaner has a turbine motor 2 in the main body 1 as a power source that generates a suction force to suck dust from a floor surface or the like. The main body part 1 has a control device 3 for controlling a turbine motor 2 and is connected to a suction part 6 via a bow 4 and an extension pipe 5, and the suction force from the turbine motor 2 is applied to the turbine in the main body part 1. It is transmitted from the motor 2 to the suction section 6 via the hose 4 and the extension pipe 5. Then, this suction force causes the dust to be sucked through the suction port formed on the lower surface side of the suction portion 6.

Next, referring to FIG. 1, this vacuum cleaner includes a floor surface detection section 10 and a rotating brush control section 17 in addition to the turbine motor 2 and its control device 3. The floor surface detection section 10 is installed in the suction section 6 as described later,
An oscillator 14 that intermittently generates a signal at a predetermined frequency; an ultrasonic vibrator 12 that generates ultrasonic vibrations when supplied with the signal from the oscillator 14; A transmission plate 13 that constitutes a transmission means that contacts the floor surface and transmits the vibration of the vibrator 12 to the floor surface when the surface is brought into contact with the floor surface so as to attract dust such as surfaces. 13 and an amplitude detection device 15 that detects the amplitude of vibration from the floor surface transmitted through the vibrator 12, and a state of the floor surface that receives the detection signal of the amplitude detection device 15 and comes into contact with the suction part 6; For example, it has a floor surface discrimination device 16 that discriminates whether it is a floor surface, a tatami mat, a carpet, a board surface, etc. Moreover, the rotating brush control section 17 is also provided in the suction section 6, as will be described later, and includes a rotating brush motor B and a rotating brush motor control device 11.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the internal structure of the suction section 6. As shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the suction section 6 has the floor surface detection section 10, a rotating brush motor control device 11, and a rotating brush motor 8 built therein, and is also driven by the rotating brush motor 8. It has a rotating brush 7 and a belt 9 that transmits the rotation of a rotating brush motor 8 to the rotating brush 7.

The rotating brush 7 rotates with the suction part 6 in contact with a floor surface, especially a floor surface such as a carpet, so that the protrusions provided around the rotating brush 7 hit the carpet, thereby removing hair from the carpet. This knocks out the dust inside and makes it easier to suck it into the suction part 6.

17= Next, the operation of this vacuum cleaner will be explained.

This vacuum cleaner has a suction part 6 similar to a normal vacuum cleaner.
By bringing the suction port formed on the lower surface into contact with the floor surface, dust on the floor surface is removed from the suction port of the suction section 6 through the extension pipe 5 and hose 4 to the main body by the suction force of the turbine motor 2. 1 and set it in the main body 1 ().
In this case, the transmission plate 13 and the rotating brush 7 provided in the suction section 6 are in contact with the floor surface.

When the suction port of the suction unit 6 is in contact with the floor surface to perform the dust-proof suction operation, the transmission plate 1
3, the vibration of the vibrator 12 driven by the oscillator 14 is applied to the floor surface, and the residual vibration from the floor surface due to this vibration is detected by the width detection device @15 to determine the state of the floor surface, that is, the floor surface. The floor surface discrimination device 16 determines the state of the floor surface, such as whether it is a tatami mat, a carpet, or a wooden floor, and the control device 3 and the rotating brush motor are controlled according to the determined state of the floor surface. The operation of the turbine motor 2 and the rotary brush motor 8 are controlled through the device 11, and the suction force by the turbine motor 2 and the rotation of the rotary brush motor 8 are controlled to maintain the optimum condition according to the condition of the floor surface. settings and perform appropriate cleaning operations.

More specifically, the oscillator 14 intermittently generates a signal of a predetermined frequency, and in this case, the intermittent operation is a periodic operation with a period of 1 second and a signal duration of seconds, as shown in FIG. be. In this periodic operation, a signal from the oscillator 14 having a duration t is supplied to the vibrator 12 and converted into ultrasonic vibration, and this vibration is transmitted from the vibrator 12 through the transmission plate 13 only during the time t. is transmitted to the floor. Even if the vibration from the vibrator 12 disappears after the vibration of the vibrator 12 is transmitted to the floor surface for the time t due to the duration t of this signal, the floor surface will generate residual vibrations according to the state as shown in FIG. This occurs as shown in . The amplitude of this residual vibration is transmitted from the floor surface to the transmission plate 13.
and is detected by the amplitude detection device 15 via the vibrator 12.

The residual vibration detected by this amplitude detection device 15 is
This occurs near the resonant frequency of 2, and its amplitude changes depending on the impedance characteristics of the vibrator 12. Since the impedance characteristics of the vibrator 12 change depending on the condition of the object that the vibrator 12 comes into contact with via the transmission plate 13, that is, the floor surface in this case, the suction of the suction part 6 is determined by detecting the amplitude of this residual vibration. It is possible to determine the state of the floor surface that the mouth is in contact with, that is, whether the floor surface is a flat surface, a carpet, a wooden floor, etc.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing vibration waveforms detected by the amplitude detection device 15 via the transmission plate 13 and the vibrator 12 from vibrations from various floor surfaces that the suction portion 6 comes into contact with. Figure 5(a) shows the vibration waveform when the suction part 6 is in the air without contacting anything, and Figure 5(b) shows the vibration waveform when the suction part 6 is in contact with the carpet. , FIG. 5(C) shows the vibration waveform when the suction part 6 is in contact with the board floor. As can be seen from these waveforms, the residual vibration waveforms 21a and 21b which attenuate the vibration amplitude A during the time the vibrator 12 is vibrating due to the signal from the oscillation 1114
, the ratio B/A of the vibration amplitude B of 2IC is shown in Fig. 5(a).
The air in the air is the largest, the carpet in Figure 5 (b) is the next largest, and the wooden floor in Figure 5 (C) is the smallest. Therefore, based on the vibration amplitude detected by the amplitude detection device 15, the ratio B/
By calculating △ with the floor surface discrimination device 16, the suction part 6
It is possible to determine the condition of the floor surface that the robot is in contact with.

Then, depending on the determined floor condition, the floor surface discriminating device 16 controls the operations of the turbine motor 2 and the rotating brush motor 8 through the control device 3 and the rotating brush motor control device 11, respectively, and It is possible to control the suction force and rotation of the rotary brush 7 to suit the conditions. That is, depending on the determined floor condition, if the suction part 6 is not in contact with the floor surface, but is in the air or under a curtain, the suction force by the turbine motor 2 is set to be weak and the rotating brush 7 is rotated. If the floor is carpeted,
The suction force by the turbine motor 2 is set to a suction force suitable for the carpet, and the rotating brush 7 is controlled to rotate.Furthermore, when the floor surface is a wooden floor, the suction force by the turbine motor 2 is set to a suction force suitable for the carpet. The suction force is set to a value suitable for the user, and the rotating brush 7 is controlled so as not to rotate.

Note that, as described above, the reason for using the ratio B/A to determine the condition of the floor surface is to prevent the influence of changes in impedance characteristics due to temperature characteristics and aging characteristics of the vibrator 12. Therefore, the state of the floor surface can be determined not necessarily based on the ratio B/A, but also based on the amplitude, duration, damping characteristics, etc. of the vibrations or residual vibrations from the floor surface itself.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, vibrations are transmitted to a part to be cleaned, for example, a floor surface, vibrations from the part are detected, and the cleaning process is performed based on the detected vibrations. Since the suction force is controlled by determining the condition of the target area, unlike conventional methods, suction can be controlled by manually operating a switch etc. depending on the condition of the floor, i.e. whether the floor is tatami, carpet, wooden, etc. It is very easy to operate as there is no need to switch the power.
The optimal suction power can be automatically set according to the floor condition.
Usability can be improved. Furthermore, when a rotating brush is provided, the rotational operation of the rotating brush can be automatically controlled depending on the condition of the floor surface or the state of contact with the floor surface, and usability can be improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a vacuum cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the overall appearance of the vacuum cleaner of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a block diagram of the vacuum cleaner of Fig. 2. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing vibration and residual vibration waveforms generated in the vacuum cleaner of FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing vibrations and residual vibration waveforms on various floor surfaces. 2...Turbine motor 3...Control device 6...
Suction part 7...Rotating brush 8...Rotating brush motor 10...Floor detection unit 11...Rotating brush motor control device 12...Vibrator
13...Transmission plate 14...Generator 15
... Amplitude detection device 16 ... Floor discrimination neck device 17 ... Rotating brush control section

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A vacuum cleaner that has a suction part that comes into contact with the part to be cleaned and sucks dust from the part by suction force, and includes a generating means that generates vibrations at a predetermined frequency, and the part to be cleaned. a transmission means for transmitting vibrations from the vibration generation means to the part; a detection means for detecting vibrations from the part via the transmission means; a determining means for determining the state of the part;
A vacuum cleaner comprising variable control means for variably controlling the suction force based on the determination result of the determination means. (2) The generating means has an intermittent vibration generation control means that stops the vibration after generating vibration for a predetermined period of time, and the discrimination means determines whether the vibration is being generated under the control of the vibration generation control means. Identification means for identifying the state of the part based on the ratio between the amplitude of the vibration detected by the detection means and the amplitude of the residual vibration detected by the detection means when the vibration is at rest under the control of the intermittent vibration generation control means. A vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, characterized in that it has the following. (3) The suction section has a rotating brush that rotates in contact with the portion, and the variable control means has a rotation control means that controls rotation of the rotating brush based on the determination result of the determining means. Claim 1 characterized by
The vacuum cleaner according to item 1 or 2.