WO1998046112A2

WO1998046112A2 - Brush cleaning head

Info

Publication number: WO1998046112A2
Application number: PCT/DE1998/000960
Authority: WO
Inventors: Iréne DORNIER
Original assignee: Dornier Technologie Gmbh & Co. Kg
Priority date: 1997-04-15
Filing date: 1998-04-04
Publication date: 1998-10-22
Also published as: DE19715562C1; WO1998046112A3; AU8009598A

Abstract

The invention relates to a brush cleaning head, preferably comprising five brush devices arranged next to each other, each of said brush devices having a fixed journal (11). A cylinder (21) is placed on each of these fixed journals and rotationally connected to a brush body (23). When the cleaning fluid is fed into the cylinder via the bearing journal and then discharged onto the surface to be cleaned through a bore, the cylinder (21) is moved forward with the brush body (23) in the longitudinal direction of the bearing journal, so that the brushes are applied to the surface to be cleaned at a predetermined pressure.

Description

Brush cleaning head

The invention relates to a brush cleaning head for an automatic cleaning device with which, above all, window panes, but also facade surfaces of buildings can be cleaned while avoiding expensive and often dangerous human work.

The automatic cleaning devices of the type under consideration contain a frame which is usually suspended from ropes on the building facade and which can be guided, for example, in rails which are fastened to the building facade. On the frame there are associated components of the cleaning device, such as water tanks, energy generators, a drive device or a manipulator for the cleaning head, which moves it over the surface to be cleaned, associated lines, etc.

The cleaning head is supplied with water by means of a pump, to which cleaning agent can be added, from an associated tank, which after the cleaning process is sucked out of the cleaning head together with the dirt and sucked-in air removed from the disk.

A brush cleaning head is known from US Pat. No. 3,775,804, in which the brushes are attached to a common platform which is arranged displaceably within the brush cleaning head. This platform is connected to a hydraulic piston / cylinder arrangement which can advance the platform against spring pressure to such an extent that the brushes are pressed against the surface to be cleaned from an initially retracted position.

A similar construction is disclosed in US Pat. No. 3,999,242, in the case of whose brush cleaning head the support holding all brushes is construction is connected to a pneumatic piston / cylinder arrangement. The brushes are slidable on their shafts and are supported on the supporting structure via coil springs.

The present invention has for its object to provide a brush cleaning head for such an automatic cleaning device with which in particular window surfaces, but also facade surfaces can be cleaned effectively.

This object is achieved by the features of claim 1.

According to the invention, the brush cleaning head has at least one, preferably at least two brush devices arranged next to one another, each having a fixed pin, which engages like a piston in an associated cylinder, which rotatably sits on this pin and is connected in a rotationally fixed manner to a brush body, in the circular end face of which bristles are used. A water supply channel, the outlet opening of which lies opposite the cylinder base, preferably runs centrally in the longitudinal direction through the piston-like pins of the brush devices, the cylinder preferably having at least one water outlet opening in the cylinder base. Each cylinder is displaceably seated on the associated peg, this longitudinal displaceability on the peg being preferably limited by a stop, as a result of which the bristles are pressed against the surface to be cleaned as a result of the pressure of the washing water supplied during operation of the brush cleaning head.

Accordingly, it is provided according to the invention that a contact pressure is brought about by the washing water fed into the interior of each brush device and sprayed there against the surface to be cleaned, with which the bristles rest against the surface to be cleaned, so that they can carry out the cleaning process with great effectiveness. It is preferably provided that a plurality of outlet nozzles lead through the cylinder base, through which the wash water is preferably discharged obliquely outwards in the direction of the surface to be cleaned.

Each brush body expediently contains at least one annular bristle ring, preferably two concentric bristle rings being arranged. It is advantageous for the cleaning process if the outer bristle ring consists of relatively soft bristles, while the inner bristle ring contains harder bristles.

The bristles should be in the initial state of the cylinder or brush body, i.e. in the state in which no washing water is supplied yet, extend almost to the end plane of the cleaning head, i.e. to the window pane to be cleaned, leaving a gap of about 2 mm so that no water gets to the pane when it is lifted off. If the wash water is then fed through the fixed journal, the feed of the cylinder and thus the brush body is correspondingly caused by a contact pressure with simultaneous bending of the elastic bristles.

In a further embodiment of the invention it is proposed that each brush body is connected to a drive wheel. This drive wheel is preferably a gearwheel if the brush bodies are driven via toothed pinions or a toothed belt, but a rope pulley can also be considered if the drive force is generated by a friction belt. It can also be provided that a brush device is connected via a drive shaft to an electric motor located outside the housing and drives the other brush devices, for example via a toothed belt. A pin can be attached to the drive wheel, which is screwed into the drive wheel, for example, with a threaded section at its free end. The subsequent shaft of the pin passes through a through hole of the brush body in this embodiment of the invention and contains a head serving as a stop, between which and the end face of the brush body a predetermined play remains, which forms the range of motion of the cylinder on the bearing journal. This means that the shaft is longer than the through-channel through the brush body, and that the projection of the shaft represents the freedom of movement. In this embodiment, the pin serves as a driver for the brush body, which rotates together with the cylinder attached to it together with the drive wheel.

According to a further proposal of the invention, the cleaning head according to the invention has, in addition to the cleaning chamber in which the brush devices are located, a suction chamber for the water / air mixture and an air supply chamber. The suction chamber is conveniently located behind the cleaning chamber, from which it is separated by an intermediate wall. Behind it - separated by another partition - is the air supply chamber, which can be connected to a closed air circuit which is fed by the extracted air flow.

The air supply chamber is connected to an outer annular air supply channel of the housing, from which the compressed air strikes the surface to be cleaned from where it enters under the edge of an annular partition into a radially inner annular suction channel which is connected to the suction chamber. The compressed air flow prevents cleaning fluid from being lost from the cleaning circuit. This compressed air flow does not necessarily have to be provided. So that the cleaning head according to the invention can slide smoothly over the surface to be cleaned, several hydrostatic bearings are arranged according to a further proposal of the invention, from which cleaning liquid emerges. It is preferred that an appropriately point or circular hydrostatic bearing is arranged in each corner region of the housing. The cleaning head slides on these hydrostatic bearings, which minimizes the friction that occurs and also reliably prevents the cleaning head from scratching a window pane.

In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, five brush devices are arranged side by side in the cleaning head, which are driven by a toothed belt in such a way that respectively adjacent brush devices rotate in opposite directions.

With the brush cleaning head according to the invention, window and facade surfaces can be cleaned with a high degree of effectiveness. The contact pressure with which the bristles of the individual brush devices are pressed against the surface to be cleaned can be set to the desired level, for which purpose a suitable selection of the water pressure, which should be, for example, 1 to 2 bar, and suitable dimensions of the diameter of the water supply channel and the water outlet openings and the linear range of movement of the cylinder on the journal are to be used. In addition, the hardness and elasticity of the bristles is an essential factor for the effectiveness of the cleaning process, the preferably two bristle rings should have different properties. Further details of the invention result from the following description of preferred embodiments of the brush cleaning head and from the drawing. Show:

Figure 1 is an end view of a first embodiment of a brush cleaning head with two brush devices.

FIG. 2 shows a section along line B-B through the brush cleaning head according to FIG. 1;

Fig. 3 is a section along the line A-A in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a section along the line C-C in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a largely schematic end view of a brush cleaning head with five brush devices.

FIGS. 1 to 4 show in a largely schematic manner that the brush cleaning head 1 has a cleaning chamber 2 in which the brush devices designated as a whole are arranged, a suction chamber 5 located behind them, separated by an intermediate wall 4, and a suction chamber 5 separated by a further intermediate wall 6, has air supply chamber 7 located behind it. The air supply chamber 7 is connected to a compressed air circuit by a line indicated by the reference numeral 8, while the suction chamber 5 is connected via a line 9 to a pump (not shown) which supplies the extracted dirty water / air mixture to a container.

In the cleaning chamber 2, cleaning water is supplied in a manner described in more detail below via a channel, preferably a hose 10, which is attached to the end of a fixed journal 11, which is described in more detail below. The air supply chamber 7 feeds the compressed air through an outer ring channel 12 to the surface to be cleaned, where it passes under the edge 13 of a circumferential partition wall 14 between the air supply ring channel 12 and an annular circumferential suction channel 15, which communicates with the suction chamber 5 stands. Another peripheral partition 16 delimits the suction channel 15 from the cleaning chamber 2. The outer boundary wall of the air supply duct 12 is identified by the reference number 17.

The brush devices 3 contain a fixed bearing journal (which could also be referred to as a piston) 11, which sits in a bore in the partition wall 4 and engages in the region of the partition wall 6 behind it in the end section of the hose 10. The bearing pin 11 contains an axial through bore 18, the front outlet opening 19 of which lies opposite the bottom 20 of a cylinder 21 which is rotatably seated on the bearing pin 11. Through the bottom 20 of the cylinder 21, at least one through-bore 22, directed obliquely outwards, emerges from the cleaning fluid - water, to which suitable cleaning additives can be added - through the hose 10, preferably with 1 to 2 bar, after passing through the axial bore 18. Since the cylinder 21 rotates when the cleaning head 1 is in operation, the water emerging from the opening 22 is distributed along a circle.

A brush body 23 is connected in a rotationally fixed manner to the cylinder 21, for example by means of screws 24, one of which is shown in FIG. 2. Bristles 25 are embedded in the brush body 23 and form an annular bristle ring in the illustration in FIG. 2. However, it is preferred to arrange two bristle rings 26, 27 according to FIG. 1, the bristles of which each have different stiffnesses. If the outer bristle ring 26 consists of relatively soft bristles and the bristle ring 27 harder bristles, an improved cleaning effect can be achieved.

The brush device 3 also contains a gear 28 which is connected to the brush body 23 in a rotationally fixed manner via a driver 29. This driver is screwed into a threaded bore of the gearwheel 28 with a threaded section 30 and, with a threadless shaft 31, engages through a through bore 32 through the brush body 23 with little lateral play. The driver 29 also has a head 33 which, in the starting position shown in FIG. 2, in which no water is supplied through the hose 10 and the through-channel 18, is spaced apart from the end face 34 of the brush body 23 by a predetermined distance.

The cylinder 21 is slidable in the longitudinal direction of the bearing pin 11 (arrow X in FIG. 2) on the bearing pin 11. Since the brush body 23 is firmly connected to the cylinder 21, the entire rotatable arrangement of the cylinder 21, the brush body 23 and the associated ones is accordingly Bristles 25 are displaceable in the X direction, to the extent that the end face 34 of the brush body 23 strikes the head 33 of the driver 29. It is understood that the gear 28 is not arranged to be displaceable in the X direction.

When cleaning water with overpressure emerges from the opening 19 of the through-channel 18, the cylinder 21 is thereby advanced in the X-direction, whereby the bristles 25, which in the starting position shown in FIG. 2 are approximately up to a distance of 2 mm from the front Extend end plane 35 of the cleaning head 1, are pressed against the surface to be cleaned. The contact pressure depends, among other things, on the pressure of the water supplied and the cross-sectional dimensions of the through-channel 18 and the through-bore 22. A drain opening 36 is provided between the cylinder 21 and the brush body 23 in order to discharge the leakage current that occurs.

To drive the brush devices 3, a drive shaft 37 leads through the outer rear wall 38 and the intermediate walls 6 and 4 of the cleaning head 1 and is connected in the cleaning chamber 2 to a drive pinion 39 which can mesh with the gear 28 of the one brush device 3. In order for the other brush device to rotate in the same direction of rotation, the drive pinion 39 can mesh with an intermediate gear 40 which is in engagement with the gear 28 of the adjacent brush device.

The power transmission can also take place via a toothed belt, as will be described further below in connection with the embodiment shown in FIG. 5.

So that the cleaning head 1 can be guided smoothly over window surfaces, point-shaped or circular hydrostatic bearings 43 are formed in the four corner regions 42 of the cleaning head 1, which is rectangular in plan. For this purpose, channels 44 are provided which are connected to the cleaning fluid source and in whose front ends screws 45 with through bores 46 of a suitable diameter are inserted.

Although two middle hydrostatic bearings 47 are also shown in FIG. 1, as tests have shown, these can be dispensed with. Fig. 5 shows in a purely schematic manner that five brush devices 23 can be arranged side by side in the cleaning head 48. The gears of these brush cleaning devices 23 are driven by a toothed belt 49 which is guided around the gears in such a way that adjacent brush devices rotate in opposite directions. Two tensioning rollers 50 ensure that the toothed belt 49 receives the required tension.

In the embodiment according to FIG. 5, the five brush devices 23 are fastened to a carrier 51 which can be moved against a spring force within the housing in the longitudinal and narrow directions thereof by a predetermined distance. The deflection occurs when the cleaning head hits a window frame.

Claims

claims

1. Brush cleaning head for an automatic cleaning device, with at least one brush device (23) which has a fixed pin (11) which engages like a pole in a cylinder (21) which rotatably sits on the pin (11) and which has a bristle ( 25) provided with the brush body (23) is connected in a rotationally fixed manner, a water supply channel (18) running in the longitudinal direction through the pin (11), and the cylinder (21) being provided with at least one water outlet opening (229), and the cylinder (21) around a predetermined distance on the pin (11) can be advanced in the longitudinal direction thereof, whereby the bristles 825) can be pressed against a surface to be cleaned.

2. Brush cleaning head according to claim 1, characterized in that the at least one water outlet opening (22) through the cylinder base (20).

3. Brush cleaning head according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that at least one annular bristle ring (26, 27) is attached to the brush body (23).

4. Brush cleaning head according to claim 3, characterized in that two bristle rings (26, 27) are arranged.

5. Brush cleaning head according to claim 4, characterized in that the outer bristle ring (26) consists of soft bristles and the inner bristle ring (27) consists of hard bristles.

6. Brush cleaning head according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the bristles (25) extend in the retracted initial state of the cylinder (21) up to a distance of about 2 mm to the end plane (35) of the cleaning head (1).

7. Brush cleaning head according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the brush body (23) is connected to a drive wheel (28).

8. Brush cleaning head according to claim 7, characterized in that a pin (29) attached to the drive wheel (28) passes through a bore in the brush body (23) and has a head (33) which limits the range of motion of the brush body (23).

9. Brush cleaning head according to claim 8, characterized in that the pin (29) accomplishes the rotationally fixed connection between the drive wheel (28) and the brush body (23).

10. Brush cleaning head according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the cleaning head (1) has a cleaning chamber (2), a suction chamber (5) for the water / air mixture and preferably an air supply chamber (7).

11. Brush cleaning head according to claim 10, characterized in that the housing of the cleaning head (1) has an outer annular air supply channel (12) and a radially inner annular suction channel (15).

12. Brush cleaning head according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the housing has a plurality of hydrostatic bearings (43) with which it rests on a surface to be cleaned.

13. Brush cleaning head according to claim 12, characterized in that a hydrostatic bearing (43) is arranged in each corner region (42).

14. Brush cleaning head according to one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that two to five brush devices (23) are arranged side by side.