KR100783145B1 - Cleaning robot having a revolving sucking device - Google Patents

Abstract

Cleaning robot according to the present invention, the robot body having a plurality of driving wheels for traveling; A suction unit generating suction force at a suction port formed at one side of the lower surface of the robot body, and collecting dust collected in air sucked by the suction port; A rotatable suction port installed at one end of the robot main body so as to communicate with the suction port such that one end of the robot main body is rotatable by a joint; A motor that is a drive source for rotationally driving the swing-type suction port; A sensor unit for detecting a driving distance of the robot body and an obstacle on a driving path; And a controller configured to process signals of the sensor unit and to control driving of the driving wheel, the reducer, and the motor. In the cleaning robot according to the present invention, when a corner or a wall near the wall appears while cleaning along a predetermined driving path, the motor is driven by a signal from a controller to rotate the suction inlet from the robot body so that a predetermined rotation is performed. Suction dirt in the corners while rotating in a radius. Therefore, the corner, the place adjacent to the wall, etc. which were not easy to clean conventionally can be cleaned effectively, and the cleaning efficiency can be improved.

Robot, Cleaning Robot, Rotating Arm, Suction Port, Auxiliary Suction

Description

CLEANING ROBOT HAVING A REVOLVING SUCKING DEVICE}

1 is a perspective view of a cover separated state showing an example of a general cleaning robot;

2 is a bottom view of the cleaning robot shown in FIG. 1;

3 is a bottom view showing a cleaning robot having a swing suction port according to an embodiment of the present invention, and

4A and 4B are bottom and side views showing an example of cleaning a corner of a cleaning robot having a swing suction port according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

10; robot body 11, 12; drive wheel

20; Suction part 40; Sensor part

50; control unit 300; swing type inlet

310; Joint 320; Motor

330; brush 340; guide roller

400; stopper

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning robot, and more particularly, to a cleaning robot having a pivoting suction inlet that is selectively rotated and protruded from the robot body in order to clean a corner portion or a narrow place.

As is well known, the cleaning robot is a device that automatically cleans an area to be cleaned by suctioning foreign matter such as dust from the floor while driving itself in the area to be cleaned without a user's operation.

An example of such a cleaning robot is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, which will be briefly described as follows.

1 is a perspective view of a cover of a general cleaning robot, FIG. 2 is a bottom view of FIG. 1, wherein reference numeral 10 denotes a robot body, 20 a suction unit, 30 a suction port, 40 a sensor unit, 50 a control unit, And 60 is a battery.

As shown, a plurality of driving wheels 11 and 12 for driving are installed on both sides of the robot body 10. The robot body 10 is formed in a substantially disk shape, and the robot body 10 is provided with a substantially hemispherical cover, but is not shown in the drawings.

The suction unit 20 collects dust on the floor by generating a strong suction force on a suction port (not shown) formed in the robot body 10, thereby driving a vacuum motor (not shown) and driving the vacuum motor. It comprises a dust chamber (not shown) for collecting the dust sucked through the suction port by the.                         

The suction port 30 is installed at one side of the lower surface of the robot body 10 so as to communicate with the suction port, and a rotatable brush 31 is installed therein to shake off dust from the bottom.

The sensor unit 40 is disposed at predetermined intervals around the side of the robot body 10 so as to transmit a signal to the outside and receive the reflected signal. The sensor unit 40 is configured to include an obstacle detection sensor and a travel distance detection sensor.

The controller 50 processes signals received through the transmitter / receiver and controls each component. That is, the control unit 40 drives the driving wheels 11 and 12 by receiving a signal from an external control device or a remote controller, and also drives the vibration motor of the reducer 20, and further, the sensor unit 40. Control the running of the cleaning robot with the signal received from).

The cleaning robot as described above determines the distance to the obstacles such as a mechanism, office supplies, walls, etc. installed in the cleaning area through the sensor unit 40, and accordingly drives the drive wheels 11 and 12 of the robot body 10. By selectively driving, the cleaning area is cleaned while turning itself.

However, since the general cleaning robot as described above is configured to suck dust and dirt while the relatively large hemispherical robot body 10 travels through the cleaning area, the suction port 30 is located near a corner or a wall. There is a problem that the cleaning of these parts is not effectively performed because they do not reach. Accordingly, the overall cleaning efficiency is lowered, and there is a hassle that the worker has to clean the corners or the like where the cleaning is not performed after cleaning by hand or by using another cleaner.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object thereof is to provide a cleaning robot capable of effectively cleaning a corner or a place adjacent to a wall.

Cleaning robot according to the present invention for achieving the above object, the robot body having a plurality of drive wheels for traveling; A suction unit generating suction force at a suction port formed at one side of the lower surface of the robot body, and collecting dust collected in air sucked by the suction port; A rotatable suction port installed at one end of the robot main body so as to communicate with the suction port such that one end of the robot main body is rotatable by a joint; A motor that is a drive source for rotationally driving the swing-type suction port; A sensor unit for detecting a driving distance of the robot body and an obstacle on a driving path; And a controller configured to process signals of the sensor unit and to control driving of the driving wheel, the reducer, and the motor.

In the cleaning robot according to the present invention, when a corner or a wall near the wall appears while cleaning along a predetermined driving path, the motor is driven by a signal from a controller to rotate the suction inlet from the robot body so that a predetermined rotation is performed. Suction dirt in the corners while rotating in a radius. Therefore, the corner, the place adjacent to the wall, etc. which were not easy to clean conventionally can be cleaned effectively, and the cleaning efficiency can be improved.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the swing inlet comprises a brush rotatably mounted therein to shake off dust at the bottom, and a rotation guide roller provided at an end thereof.

In addition, it is preferable that a stopper is provided at one side of the lower surface of the robot body in contact with one end of the pivot type suction port to maintain the initial position of the pivot type suction port.

The above objects and other advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing the preferred embodiments of the present invention in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view showing the cleaning robot having a swing suction port according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate a corner cleaning example of the cleaning robot having a swing suction port according to an embodiment of the present invention. The bottom view and side view shown. For reference, in describing the embodiments of the present invention, the same reference numerals refer to the same parts as those in the prior art, and the configuration of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

As shown in Figures 1, 3 and 4, the cleaning robot having an auxiliary suction port according to an embodiment of the present invention, the robot body 10, the suction unit 20, the swing type suction port 300, the sensor The part 40, the control part 50, and the battery 60 are provided.

A plurality of driving wheels 11 and 12 for driving are installed on both sides of the robot body 10. The robot body 10 is formed in a substantially disk shape, and the robot body 10 is provided with a substantially hemispherical cover, but is not shown in the drawings.

The suction unit 20 collects dust on the floor by generating a strong suction force on a suction port (not shown) formed in the robot body 10, thereby driving a vacuum motor (not shown) and driving the vacuum motor. It comprises a dust chamber (not shown) for collecting the dust sucked through the suction port by the.

The pivoting suction port 300 is installed at one side of the lower surface of the robot body 10 to communicate with the suction port. Here, the revolving suction port 300 is installed to be rotatable by the joint 310 on one side of the lower surface of the robot body 10 in accordance with a feature of the present invention. Accordingly, the pivoting suction port 300 may protrude out of the robot body 10 while pivoting, as shown in FIG. 4A in an initial state as illustrated in FIG. 3. Due to this structure, the pivoting suction port 300 pivots about the joint 310 at a corner or a place adjacent to the wall, and protrudes from the robot body 10 to effectively suck dirt from the corner. In the present invention, a motor 320 mounted on one side of the lower surface of the robot body 10 is used as the rotation driving source of the swing-type suction port 300 as described above, and the motor 320 is driven by the controller 50. The rotational suction port 300 is driven to rotate while operating by a signal. In addition, the control unit 50 receives a signal from the sensor unit 40 and outputs the driving signal of the motor 320.

In addition, the swing inlet 300 according to the present invention includes a brush 330 rotatably mounted therein to shake off dust and dirt present on the bottom surface of the travel path. It may be provided with a guide roller 340 installed at the end of the suction port 300 in order to guide the rotation of the 300.

In addition, the cleaning robot according to the present invention is provided with a stopper 400 for holding the position when the swing-type suction port 300 returns to its original position on one side of the robot body 10.

The sensor unit 40 is disposed at predetermined intervals around the side of the robot body 10 so as to transmit a signal to the outside and receive the reflected signal. The sensor unit 40 is configured to include an obstacle detection sensor and a travel distance detection sensor.

The controller 50 processes signals received through the transmitter / receiver and controls each component. That is, the control unit 40 drives the driving wheels 11 and 12 by receiving a signal from an external control device or a remote controller, and also drives the vibration motor of the reducer 20, and further, the sensor unit 40. In addition to controlling the driving of the cleaning robot with the signal received from the control unit, it also controls the driving of the motor 320 which is the driving source of the swing-type suction port 300.

The cleaning robot as described above determines the distance to the obstacles such as a mechanism, office supplies, walls, etc. installed in the cleaning area through the sensor unit 40, and accordingly drives the drive wheels 11 and 12 of the robot body 10. By selectively driving, the cleaning area is cleaned while turning itself. In this case, when the control unit 50 receives a signal indicating that the sensor unit 40 reaches a corner or a place adjacent to the wall while the cleaning robot is running, the control unit 50 drives the motor 320. The output of the signal, according to the driving of the motor 320 is rotated inlet 300 is rotated about the joint (310). As a result of this, as shown in FIG. 4A, the revolving suction port 300 protrudes to the outside of the robot body 10 to revolve at a predetermined radius of rotation, and thus, the intake port 300 is formed at a corner or wall. It is located up to an adjacent location, and it picks up various dirts in this part.

On the other hand, when the cleaning robot is out of the corner portion as described above, the swing-type suction port 300 is returned to the initial position, for example, the original position as shown in Figure 3 of the lower surface of the robot body 10, in this return process One side end of the suction port 300 may be maintained in contact with the stopper 400 formed on the robot body 10.

As described above, in the cleaning robot according to the present invention, since the suction port 300 selectively protrudes from the robot body 10 and can be rotated at a predetermined rotation radius, the cleaning robot according to the present invention also has a corner or a place adjacent to the wall, which has previously been difficult to clean. Can be cleaned effectively.

According to the present invention as described above, since the suction port can selectively protrude from the robot body and pivot at a predetermined radius of rotation, a place adjacent to a corner or a wall that has been difficult to clean in the past (that is, a narrow space where the cleaning robot cannot travel) Cleaning in one place). Therefore, the overall cleaning efficiency can be increased, and since the cleaning robot can completely clean the target cleaning area by only running once, cleaning the parts where the cleaning is not performed after cleaning as in the prior art. You can eliminate the hassle.                     

While the invention has been shown and described in connection with the preferred embodiments for illustrating the principles of the invention, the invention is not limited to the construction and operation as shown and described. Rather, those skilled in the art will appreciate that many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Accordingly, all such suitable changes and modifications and equivalents should be considered to be within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (3)

A robot body having a plurality of driving wheels for driving; A suction unit generating suction force at a suction port formed at one side of the lower surface of the robot body, and collecting dust collected in air sucked by the suction port; A rotatable suction port installed at one end of the robot main body so as to communicate with the suction port such that one end of the robot main body is rotatable by a joint; A motor that is a drive source for rotationally driving the swing-type suction port; A sensor unit for detecting a driving distance of the robot body and an obstacle on a driving path; And And a controller configured to process signals of the sensor unit and control driving of the driving wheel, the suction unit, and the motor. The method of claim 1, The pivoting suction inlet is rotatably mounted therein, and includes a brush to shake off dust on the floor and a rotating guide roller provided at an end thereof. The method according to claim 1 or 2, And a stopper disposed at one side of the lower surface of the robot body to contact the one end of the pivot type suction port to maintain the initial position of the pivot type suction port.

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