KR20140096610A

KR20140096610A - Robot cleaner

Info

Publication number: KR20140096610A
Application number: KR1020130009387A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 장승락; 김진범
Original assignee: (주)마미로봇
Priority date: 2013-01-28
Filing date: 2013-01-28
Publication date: 2014-08-06

Abstract

The present invention relates to a robot cleaner for removing dust and foreign materials on the floor by moving around the floor. The robot cleaner comprises a robot body, which has a suction duct on the bottom thereof in order to inhale dust and foreign materials on the floor along with air, a discharge duct for discharging the air, and an accommodation space for connecting the suction duct and the discharge duct; a suction fan, which is installed inside the robot body in order to supply a suction force to the suction duct; and a collecting unit, which collects the dust and foreign materials sucked into the suction duct along with the air while connecting the suction duct and the discharge duct by being coupled to the accommodation space of the robot body to be removable. The collecting unit comprises a cyclone, which is connected to the suction duct and the discharge duct in one side and the other side respectively, and which discharges the air to the discharge duct after filtering the air by swirling, dropping, and separating dust and foreign materials sucked into the suction duct along with the air; and a collecting case, which is integrated with the cyclone and accommodated in the accommodation space along with the cyclone to be removable, and which is a vessel-shaped and collects the dust and foreign materials being dropped from the cyclone. According to the present invention, dust and foreign materials sucked along with air though the suction duct are firstly collected into the collecting case by being swirled and dropped by the cyclone, and the air is discharged and filtered after the foreign materials are removed from the air. Therefore, overloading of a filtering member is prevented. Accordingly, a suction force does not decrease.

Description

Robot Cleaner {ROBOT CLEANER}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a robot cleaner, and more particularly, to a robot cleaner that removes dust or foreign matter existing on a floor while traveling along a floor surface.

Generally, the robot cleaner is an automatic apparatus that autonomously runs a cleaning zone such as a house or an office without user's operation, or sucks foreign matter such as dust from a floor surface while traveling in a set pattern.

A prior art robot cleaner is Korean Patent Laid-Open No. 10-2005-34112.

The prior art is detachably installed at the rear of the body made up of the upper body 231, the lower body 232 and the base 233 so as to communicate with the suction flow path 220 provided with the brush as shown in FIG. 1, And an air suction fan 270 installed to suck air through the suction passage 220 and the dust container 250 while being rotated via a suction motor 260 to one side of the dust container 250. [ And an air discharging passage provided so as to discharge the air sucked by the suction fan 270 to the outside of the body.

In the prior art, a filter (not shown) is installed in the discharge passage 255 formed in the dust container 250 to prevent the suction motor 260 and the suction fan 270 from being damaged so that air is sucked by the suction fan 270. 700 are installed.

The robot cleaner of this prior art collects foreign matter into the dust container 250 through the suction flow path 220 by the brush and the suction fan 270 and moves the air filtered by the filter 700 to the rear of the suction fan 270 And discharged to the outside through an extended discharge passage.

However, in the prior art robot cleaner, since the dust or foreign matter introduced into the dust container 250 is filtered only by the filter 700, dust is accumulated in the filter 700, so that the filter 700 is easily contaminated, The suction force is lowered.

KR 10-2005-0034112 A

The present invention has been made in order to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a robot cleaner capable of filtering foreign matter after separating foreign matters into dust collecting baskets while sucking dust or foreign matter on the floor together with air, The present invention has been made in view of the above problems.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a robot cleaner comprising: an air cleaner for traveling along a floor surface; an intake duct disposed on a bottom surface of the robot cleaner for sucking dust or foreign matter on the floor with air; And a receiving space communicating the intake duct and the exhaust duct; An intake fan incorporated in the robot body to provide a suction force to the intake duct; And a dust collecting unit detachably coupled to the receiving space of the robot body to collect dust and foreign substances sucked together with the air through the intake duct while communicating the intake duct and the exhaust duct, The air is introduced into the intake duct through the intake duct and the air is introduced into the intake duct through the intake duct, and dust and foreign substances introduced into the intake duct are vortexed to drop dust or foreign matter by gravity, A cyclone for filtering and exhausting; And a dust collecting container integrally formed with the cyclone and detachably received in the receiving space together with the cyclone, and collecting dust or foreign matter falling from the cyclone.

The cyclone may include, for example, an intake duct detachably coupled to the intake duct and extending into the dust collecting container; A trap which is provided in the dust collecting box and connected to the intake passage and is formed as a circular tube with a lower light guide to open a lower portion for dropping dust or foreign matter into the dust collecting container while guiding the dust and foreign matter together with air; A vertical pipe installed in a vertical state while being spaced apart from an inner wall of the trap and having a dust or foreign matter along the inner wall of the trap and discharging the air guided to the lower portion of the trap to the lower end and discharging to the upper portion; An exhaust duct which is detachably coupled to the exhaust duct and extends to the inside of the dust collecting container to communicate an upper portion of the vertical pipe with the exhaust duct; And a filter installed at an upper portion of the vertical tube for filtering air discharged from the vertical tube.

The dust collecting container may include, for example, a container body having an upper portion formed with the intake passage, the trap, and the exhaust passage in an opened state, the upper portion of the same being formed to receive dust and foreign matter dropped from the trap; And an upper portion of the intake passage, the trap, and the exhaust passage while shielding the upper portion of the container body in a state where the vertical tube is integrally fixed, and the upper portion of the vertical tube and the exhaust passage are communicated And a dust collecting cover for providing a filter chamber in which the filter is installed.

The dust collecting cover may include a chamber cap having an upper portion of the filter chamber separated from the filter chamber, so that the filter can be exchanged through separation of the chamber cap.

The container body may include a cap-shaped discharge cap to which a lower end portion on which the dust and foreign matter dropped from the trap is mounted may be detachable, thereby discharging dust or foreign matter through the discharge cap.

In the robot cleaner according to the present invention as described above, dust or foreign matter introduced together with the air through the intake duct is vortexed by the cyclone, falls down by gravity and is primarily collected by the dust collector, The suction force is not lowered as the filtering member is prevented from being overloaded.

Specifically, since the trap constituting the cyclone is formed as a circular pipe having a vertical cross-section, dust or foreign matter falls into a vortex state and a pressure difference is provided, so that the foreign matter can be collected smoothly by the dust receptacle, The separated air flows smoothly into the vertical tube and can be filtered by the filter.

In addition, since the dust collecting container is composed of the container body having the upper part opened together with the intake flow path, the trap and the exhaust flow path constituting the cyclone and is sealed by the dust collecting cover and the vertical flow path is integrally fixed to the dust collecting cover, And it is convenient to make and clean the dust collecting container.

Furthermore, since the filter chamber can be opened and closed by the chamber cap detachably provided on the dust collecting cover, the filter can be easily separated and washed or exchanged.

In addition, since the container body is configured to be openable and closable by the discharge cap, dust and foreign matter trapped in the container body can be easily removed.

1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a robot cleaner according to the prior art.
2 is a perspective view showing a robot cleaner according to the present invention.
3 is an exploded perspective view showing the robot cleaner shown in Fig.
Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the dust collecting unit shown in Fig. 2; Fig.
5 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the dust collecting unit shown in Fig.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted.

The robot cleaner according to the present invention may include a robot body 10, an intake fan, and a dust collecting unit 20, as shown in FIGS.

The robot main body 10 is a member that sucks dust or foreign matter existing on the floor surface while traveling on the floor surface. The robot main body 10 travels along the floor surface by a drive wheel 11 provided on the bottom surface, Dust and foreign matter are sucked together with the air through the intake duct 12 provided on the bottom surface to exhaust the air through the exhaust duct 13 and the bottom surface is written by the rotating brush 14 provided in the intake duct 12 Inhalation of foreign substances.

The robot main body 10 is operated by a power source of a battery (not shown), and performs a cleaning operation by running the floor surface in a set pattern or freely traveling under the control of a controller such as a remote controller not shown. In addition, the robot body 10 may be provided with a camera or sensing sensors along the outer circumferential surface thereof so as to run on the floor surface while sensing an obstacle or a wall. When the cleaning operation is completed, the robot body 10 is docked to a charging station .

3, the robot body 10 is provided with a receiving space 15 through which the intake duct 12 and the exhaust duct 13 communicate with each other while the dust collecting unit 20 to be described later is detachably received And a body cover 15a for opening and closing the accommodation space 15 is provided.

The suction fan is built in the robot main body 10 and rotates by the power source of the battery to provide a suction force to the suction duct 12 by vacuum negative pressure. It is preferable that such an intake fan is provided behind the exhaust duct 13 to provide a suction force.

3, the dust collecting unit 20 is detachably coupled to the receiving space 15 of the robot body 10 to communicate with the intake duct 12 and the exhaust duct 13 while communicating with the intake duct 12 It is a component that collects dust or foreign matter that enters. The dust collecting unit 20 may include, for example, a cyclone 100 and a dust collecting container 200 as shown in FIG.

5, the cyclone 100 separates dust and foreign substances introduced into the intake duct 12 together with the air by gravitational force, thereby separating dust and foreign matter by gravity and primarily separating the air, 13).

The collecting box 200 is detachably accommodated in the receiving space 15 together with the cyclone 100 as shown in Fig. 3, and is formed in the form of a container as shown in Fig. 5 and separated from the cyclone 100 Collect dust or foreign matter.

The cyclone 100 includes the intake passage 110, the trap 120, the vertical tube 130, the exhaust passage 140, and the filter 150 as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, can do.

As shown in FIG. 4, the intake passage 110 is detachably coupled to the intake duct 12 so that dust or foreign matter enters the interior of the dust collection container 200 as shown in FIG. 5, do.

5, the trap 120 is provided inside the dust collecting container 200 while communicating with the suction passage 110, and is formed as a circular pipe to swirl the dust or foreign matter along with the air along the inner wall, (200).

5, since the diameter of the trap 120 is narrower than the diameter of the outlet, the dust and foreign matter fall smoothly into the vortex state, Can be separated.

The vertical tube 130 is installed in the longitudinal direction of the trap 120 while being separated from the inner wall of the trap 120 as shown in FIG.

The vertical tube 130 communicates the exhaust duct 13 and the trap 120 through an exhaust duct 140 to be described later so as to supply the suction force of the intake fan installed at the rear of the exhaust duct 13 to the intake duct 110 And the air dropped along the trap 120 together with dust and foreign matter flows into the lower end and is discharged to the upper portion.

The exhaust duct 140 is detachably coupled to the exhaust duct 13 as shown in FIG. 3 and extends to the inside of the dust collecting box 200 as shown in FIG. 5, So that the exhaust duct 13 is communicated.

As shown in FIG. 5, the filter 150 is detachably installed on the upper portion of the vertical pipe 130 to filter the air discharged from the vertical pipe 130 and discharge the air to the exhaust duct 13.

That is, the dust or foreign matter on the bottom surface flows into the intake duct 12 and the intake flow path 110 by the suction force of the suction fan, falls in a swirling state along the trap 120, and foreign matter, 200 and dust and light foreign substances are introduced into the vertical tube 130 and filtered by the filter 150 and then only the clean air is exhausted to the exhaust duct 13 through the exhaust passage 140 .

4, the dust collecting container 200 may be formed of a container body 210 and a dust collecting cover 160, and may be formed of the same material as the cyclone 100.

4, the container body 210 may be formed in a state that the upper part of the container body 210 is opened with the intake passage 110, the trap 120, and the exhaust passage 140, And receives dust or foreign matter separated from the dust.

4, the dust collecting cover 160 is integrally provided on the upper part of the vertical tube 130 and is detachably coupled along the rim of the container body 210, and the vertical tube 130 is connected to the trap 120, The trap 120 and the upper portion of the exhaust passage 140 while shielding the upper portion of the container body 210, the intake passage 110, the trap 120 and the exhaust passage 140 while being spaced apart from each other.

That is, the cyclone 100 and the container main body 210 are made of the same body and are formed to be openable and closable by the dust cover 160, so that the cyclone 100 and the container main body 210 are easy to manufacture and easy to clean.

5, the dust cover 160 is provided with a filter chamber 150a for communicating the upper portion of the vertical tube 130 with the exhaust passage 140 while the filter 150 is installed.

4 and 5, the upper portion of the filter chamber 150a may be shielded by the chamber cap 170 so as to be openable and closable.

5, the chamber cap 170 is divided into dust collecting covers 160 so as to open / close the upper portions of the filter chambers 150a, so that the separation of the filters 150 installed in the filter chambers 150a Allow exchange.

5, the filter 150 may be detachably installed at the upper end of the vertical tube 130 and may be replaced or washed and reinstalled as the exhaust passage 140 is opened by the chamber cap 170 have.

4, the lower portion of the container body 210 is divided into openable and closable portions by the discharge cap 220, so that the container body 210 can easily collect dust and foreign substances accumulated therein.

3, the dust collecting container 200 may be positioned in the receiving space 15 by the centering member 250 while being accommodated in the receiving space 15. [

The centering member 250 is composed of a centering protrusion 251 provided in the accommodation space 15 and a centering holder 252 provided in a groove shape in the discharge cap 220 as shown in FIG. Thereby centering the dust collecting container 200 in the receiving space 15.

The operation and operation of the present invention including the above-described components will be described.

The robot main body 10 travels along the bottom surface of the cleaning area under the control of a controller (not shown), and sucks foreign matter and dust on the bottom surface by the operation of the suction fan.

The intake fan is connected to the intake duct 12 through the exhaust passage 140, the filter chamber 150a, the vertical tube 130, the trap 120, and the intake passage 110 while providing a vacuum negative pressure through the exhaust duct 13 So that dust or foreign matter is sucked into the intake duct 12 together with the air.

The intake duct 110 guides dust or foreign matter introduced into the intake duct 12 to the trap 120 and the trap 120 guides the dust or foreign matter to the dust collector 200 while swirling together with the air.

At this time, foreign substances or dust heavy in weight fall down while falling along the inner wall of the trap 120 and are collected by the dust collecting container 200. Light dust is dropped along the trap, And is filtered by the filter 140.

Clean air, which is dust-filtered by the filter 140, is exhausted to the exhaust duct 13 along the filter chamber 150a and the exhaust passage 140.

3, the dust collecting container 200 is separated from the receiving space of the robot body 10 together with the cyclone 100 as shown in FIG. 3, As the discharge cap 220 is detached from the container body 210 as described above, it is opened to remove foreign matter therein.

On the other hand, when the filter 140 is exchanged or cleaned as shown in FIG. 4, the chamber cap 170 is separated from the dust cover 160 to open the filter chamber 150a, The upper end of the cyclone 100 is separated from the dust collecting container 200 as shown in FIG. 4 when the filter 120, the vertical pipe 130, or the intake and exhaust passages 110 and 140 are cleaned.

As described above, according to the robot cleaner of the present invention, the dust and foreign matter introduced together with the air through the intake duct 12 fall down while being vortexed by the cyclone 100, are firstly collected by the dust collecting container 200, Since the separated air is filtered while being exhausted, an overload of the filtering member 150 is prevented, so that the suction force is not lowered.

Specifically, since the trap 120 constituting the cyclone 100 is formed as a circular pipe having a lower light-shielding structure, dust or foreign matter falls into a vortex state and a difference in air pressure is provided, so that foreign matter can be collected in the dust collecting container 200 smoothly Since the vertical tube 130 is installed along the longitudinal direction of the trap 120 while being separated from the inner wall of the trap 120, the separated air smoothly flows into the vertical tube 130, Lt; / RTI >

The dust collecting container 200 is provided with a container body 210 having an upper portion opened together with the trap 120 and the exhaust passage 140 of the intake passage 110 constituting the cyclone 100 together with the collecting container 200, And the vertical tube 130 is integrally fixed to the dust cover 160 so that the cyclone 100 and the dust collector 200 can be easily manufactured and cleaned.

Further, since the filter chamber 150a can be opened and closed by the chamber cap 170 detachably provided in the dust collecting cover 160, the filter 150 installed in the filter chamber 150a can be easily separated and cleaned or exchanged have.

In addition, since the container body 210 is configured to be openable and closable by the discharge cap 220, dust and foreign matter trapped in the container body 210 can be easily removed.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes, substitutions, and alterations can be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention.

10: robot body 11:
12: intake duct 13: exhaust duct
14: Brush 15: accommodation space
20: dust collecting unit 100: cyclone
110: intake flow path 120: trap
130: Vertical tube 140:
150: filter 150a: filter chamber
160: dust collecting cover 170: chamber cap
200: dust collecting container 210: container body
220: exhaust cap 250: centering member
251: centering projection 252: centering holder

Claims

And a suction duct is provided on the bottom surface to suck dust or foreign matter on the bottom surface together with the air. An exhaust duct is provided to exhaust the air, and the intake duct communicates with the exhaust duct A robot body having a space;
An intake fan incorporated in the robot body to provide a suction force to the intake duct; And
And a dust collecting unit detachably coupled to a receiving space of the robot body to collect dust and foreign substances sucked together with the air through the intake duct while communicating the intake duct and the exhaust duct,
Wherein the dust-
The air is introduced into the intake duct through the intake duct and the air is introduced into the intake duct through the intake duct, and dust and foreign substances introduced into the intake duct are vortexed to drop dust or foreign matter by gravity, A cyclone for filtering and exhausting; And
And a dust collecting container integrally formed with the cyclone and detachably received in the accommodating space together with the cyclone, the dust collecting container collecting dust and foreign matter falling from the cyclone.

2. The cyclone according to claim 1,
An intake duct that is detachably coupled to the intake duct and extends to the inside of the dust collecting container;
A trap which is provided in the dust collecting box and connected to the intake passage and is formed as a circular tube with a lower light guide to open a lower portion for dropping dust or foreign matter into the dust collecting container while guiding the dust and foreign matter together with air;
A vertical pipe installed in a vertical state while being spaced apart from an inner wall of the trap and having a dust or foreign matter along the inner wall of the trap and discharging the air guided to the lower portion of the trap to the lower end and discharging to the upper portion;
An exhaust duct which is detachably coupled to the exhaust duct and extends to the inside of the dust collecting container to communicate an upper portion of the vertical pipe with the exhaust duct; And
And a filter installed on an upper portion of the vertical tube for filtering air discharged from the vertical tube.

The dust collecting container according to claim 2,
A container body having an upper portion formed with the intake flow path, the trap, and the exhaust flow path in an opened state, the upper portion of which is housed in the dust and foreign matter dropped from the trap; And
The upper portion of the intake passage, the trap, and the exhaust passage while sealing the upper portion of the container body in a state where the vertical tube is integrally fixed, while communicating the upper portion of the vertical tube with the exhaust passage And a dust collection cover for providing a filter chamber in which the filter is installed.

The dust collecting apparatus according to claim 3,
Wherein a portion of the filter chamber is formed with a detachable cap-shaped chamber cap so that the filter can be replaced through separation of the chamber cap.

The container according to claim 3,
And a cap having a lower end portion on which the dust and foreign matter dropped from the trap are mounted, the cap having a detachable cap, and discharging dust or foreign matter through the separation of the discharge cap.