WO2016121576A1

WO2016121576A1 - Self-propelled cleaner

Info

Publication number: WO2016121576A1
Application number: PCT/JP2016/051441
Authority: WO
Inventors: 篤史前原; 康弘岡
Original assignee: シャープ株式会社
Priority date: 2015-01-30
Filing date: 2016-01-19
Publication date: 2016-08-04
Also published as: JP6475994B2; CN106793906A; JP2016140444A

Abstract

The purpose of the present invention is to prevent malfunctions in a floor surface detection sensor (12). The present invention provides a self-propelled cleaner which comprises: a housing which has a cleaning member and can be self-propelled over a floor surface; an optical floor surface detection sensor (12) which is exposed from the housing toward the floor surface; and a control unit which controls the cleaning member and controls the self-propelled movement of the housing in response to reception of output from the floor surface detection sensor (12). The floor surface detection sensor (12) includes a light emitting element (14a) which projects light flux (LF) toward the floor surface, a light receiving element (14b) which receives reflected light from the floor surface, and a diaphragm element (B1) which limits the light flux (LF) to a narrow divergence.

Description

Self-propelled vacuum cleaner

This invention relates to a self-propelled cleaner.

As a background art of this invention, in a vacuum cleaner that sucks dust on the floor surface together with air into the casing while self-propelled and discharges the air from which dust is removed to the outside, an optical system such as an infrared sensor is used. It is known that the floor surface detection sensor is installed on the surface opposite to the floor surface of the housing and the floor surface is monitored so that the vacuum cleaner does not fall into the floor (cliff) etc. ( For example, see Patent Document 1).

JP 2012-130781 A

However, in such a conventional self-propelled vacuum cleaner, if the floor color is different, the intensity of the reflected light from the floor surface is different, so the floor detection sensor cannot accurately detect the floor surface. , Malfunctions such as a vacuum cleaner falling to a downward step (cliff). The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and is intended to prevent the malfunction of the vacuum cleaner by correctly maintaining the detection ability of the floor surface detection sensor with respect to the color change of the floor surface. is there.

The present invention includes a housing having a cleaning member and capable of self-propelling the floor, an optical floor detection sensor exposed from the housing toward the floor, a cleaning member, and a floor A control unit that controls the self-running operation of the housing in response to the output of the surface detection sensor, the floor detection sensor including a light emitting element that emits a light beam toward the floor surface, and reflected light from the floor surface. The present invention provides a self-propelled cleaner that includes a light receiving element that receives light and a diaphragm element that restricts narrowing of the light flux.

According to the present invention, since the light flux of the light emitting element that irradiates the floor surface is narrowly limited by the aperture element, the width of the light intensity distribution of the light flux is narrowed, and the floor color changes (reflectance changes). The intensity change of the reflected light received by the light receiving element is reduced. Therefore, the variation range of the detection distance to the floor surface caused by the change in the color of the floor surface is reduced, the detection accuracy is improved, and the malfunction of the cleaner is prevented.

It is an upper surface perspective view of the self-propelled cleaner concerning a 1st embodiment of this invention. It is a bottom view of the self-propelled cleaner shown in FIG. It is a block diagram of the control circuit of the self-propelled cleaner shown in FIG. It is internal structure explanatory drawing seen from the side of the self-propelled cleaner shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the conventional structure and effect | action of a floor surface detection sensor. FIG. 6 is a view corresponding to FIG. 5 of the floor surface detection sensor of the first embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the modification of the floor surface detection sensor shown in FIG. FIG. 8 is a view corresponding to FIG. 7 of a floor surface detection sensor according to a second embodiment. FIG. 8 is a view corresponding to FIG. 7 of a floor surface detection sensor according to a third embodiment.

A feature of the present invention is that a housing having a cleaning member and capable of self-propelling the floor, an optical floor detection sensor exposed from the housing toward the floor, and a cleaning member are controlled. A control unit that controls the self-running operation of the housing in response to the output of the floor detection sensor, the floor detection sensor including a light emitting element that emits a light beam toward the floor, and a reflection from the floor The self-propelled cleaner includes a light receiving element that receives light and a diaphragm element that restricts the opening of the light beam.

The aperture element may be a light blocking member that blocks the light beam on the side opposite to the light receiving element with respect to the optical axis of the light emitting element.
The aperture element may be an element having a through hole that allows the light beam to pass therethrough.
The aperture element may be composed of an element having a slit for restricting and passing the light beam.
The aperture element may be formed integrally with the housing.

(First embodiment)
1 is a top perspective view of the self-propelled cleaner according to the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the self-propelled cleaner shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. It is a block diagram of the control circuit of the self-propelled cleaner shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the internal structure as seen from the side of the self-propelled cleaner shown in FIG.

A self-propelled cleaner (hereinafter referred to as a cleaning robot) according to the present invention cleans a floor surface by sucking dust on the floor surface together with air and exhausting the air from which the dust is removed while traveling on the floor surface. It is supposed to be.

The cleaning robot 1 </ b> A includes a disk-shaped housing 2, and an exhaust port 41 on the upper surface of the housing 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the bottom plate 2a is provided with a rotating brush 3, a pair of side brushes 4, a suction port 11, a pair of drive wheels 5, a rear wheel 7, a front wheel 8, and a floor surface detection sensor 12. The detection surface of the floor surface detection sensor 12 is exposed from the bottom plate 2a toward the floor surface.

Further, in the housing 2, as shown in FIG. 4, a suction path 10 connected to the suction port 11, a dust collection unit 20 provided on the downstream side of the suction path 10, and a downstream side of the dust collection unit 20 And an exhaust passage 40 that connects the electric blower 30 and the exhaust port 41 to each other.

Housing 2, as shown in FIG. 1, a top plate 2b in plan view a circle having a lid 2b ₁ and the exhaust port 41 formed in the rear position of the lid 2b _1, the outer peripheral portion of the bottom plate 2a and the top plate 2b And a side plate 2c having an annular shape in plan view. The top panel 2b is provided with an operation panel 31 for inputting operation conditions and operation commands for the cleaning robot 1A.

The bottom plate 2a (FIG. 2) is formed with a plurality of holes for projecting the lower portions of the front wheel 8 and the pair of drive wheels 5 from the inside of the housing 2 to the outside. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of ultrasonic sensors 9 for detecting obstacles in the traveling direction of the cleaning robot 1A are provided in front of the side plate 2c.

The pair of drive wheels 5 are provided so as to be rotatable around an axis 5a (FIG. 2) parallel to the bottom plate 2a of the housing 2. When the pair of drive wheels 5 rotate in the same direction, the housing 2 advances and retreats. When the drive wheels 5 rotate in opposite directions, the housing 2 rotates.

The rotation shafts of the pair of drive wheels 5 are connected to each other so that rotational force can be obtained individually from a pair of travel motors described later, and each travel motor has a suspension mechanism directly or on the inner surface of the bottom plate 2a of the housing 2. Is fixed through.

The front wheel 8 is made of a roller, and when contacting the step appearing on the path, the bottom plate of the housing 2 is positioned so as to slightly lift from the floor surface with which the driving wheel 5 contacts so that the housing 2 can easily get over the upstep. 2a is rotatably provided.

The rear wheel 7 is a free wheel and is rotatably provided on a part of the bottom plate 2a of the housing 2 so as to be in contact with the floor surface.
In this way, the pair of drive wheels 5 are arranged in the middle of the front and rear direction with respect to the housing 2, the front wheels 8 are lifted from the floor surface, and the entire weight of the cleaning robot 1 </ b> A is supported by the pair of drive wheels 5 and the rear wheels 7. The weight is distributed in the front-rear direction with respect to the housing 2 so that it is possible. Thereby, the dust in front of the course can be guided to the suction port 11 without being blocked by the front wheel 8.

The rotary brush 3 described above is provided at the inlet of the suction port 11 so as to be rotatable around an axis parallel to the bottom plate 2a of the housing 2. The side brushes 4 on the left and right sides of the suction port 11 in the bottom plate 2a rotate about an axis perpendicular to the bottom plate 2a. The rotating brush 3 is formed by implanting a brush spirally on the outer peripheral surface of a roller that is a rotating shaft.

The side brush 4 has a rotating shaft orthogonal to the bottom plate 2a and a plurality of brush bundles provided radially at the lower end of the rotating shaft. The rotating shaft of the rotating brush 3 and the rotating shaft of the pair of side brushes 4 are supported on the inner surface of the bottom plate 2a of the housing 2, and include a brush drive motor, which will be described later, and power including a pulley and a belt. It is connected via a transmission mechanism.

As described above, the floor surface detection sensor 12 for detecting the floor surface is arranged in front of the front wheel 8 on the bottom plate 2a of the housing 2 so as to detect a downward step on the floor surface. When a downward step is detected by the floor surface detection sensor 12, a detection signal is transmitted to a control unit described later, and the control unit controls the drive wheels 5 to stop. As a result, the cleaning robot 1A is prevented from falling to the down step. In addition, when the floor surface detection sensor 12 detects a down step, the control unit may perform control so as to avoid the down step.

A charging terminal (not shown) for charging a built-in battery is provided at the rear end of the side plate 2 c of the housing 2. The cleaning robot 1 </ b> A that cleans the room while traveling by itself returns to the charging stand installed in the room when the cleaning is completed.

This causes the charging terminal to come into contact with the terminal portion provided on the charging stand, and the battery is charged. The charging stand connected to the commercial power source (outlet) is usually installed along the side wall of the room. The battery supplies power to each drive control element such as various motors.

The dust collection unit 20 illustrated in FIG. 4 includes a dust collection box 21 connected to the suction path 10 and a filter 22 provided in the dust collection box 21 so as to be detachable. The dust collection box 21 is usually housed in the housing 2. However, when the dust collected in the dust collection box 21 is discarded, the lid 2 b ₁ (FIG. 1) of the housing 2 is opened. It comes to be taken in and out.

As shown in FIG. 3, the control circuit for controlling the operation of the entire cleaning robot 1A has a control unit 15a, an operation panel 31 for inputting setting conditions and operation commands related to the operation of the cleaning robot 1A, and a memory for storing a travel map 18a. Unit 18, motor driver 30 a for driving the electric blower 30, motor driver 51 a for driving the traveling motor 51 of the drive wheel 5, and brush motor 17 for driving the rotating brush 3 and the side brush 4. A motor driver 17a, a control unit 12a for controlling the floor detection sensor 12, a control unit 9a for controlling the ultrasonic sensor 9, and the like are provided.

The control unit 15a includes a microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM, and individually transmits control signals to the

motor drivers

30a, 51a, and 17a based on program data stored in advance in the storage unit 18, and the electric blower 30, A series of cleaning operations are performed by drivingly controlling the travel motor 51 and the brush motor 17. Note that the program data includes program data for a normal mode for cleaning a wide area of the floor, and for a wall-side mode for cleaning along a wall.

Further, the control unit 15a accepts the setting conditions and operation commands by the user from the operation panel 31 and stores them in the storage unit 18. The travel map 18a stored in the storage unit 18 is information related to travel such as a travel route and travel speed around the installation location of the cleaning robot 1A, and is stored in the storage unit 18 in advance by the user or the cleaning robot 1A. It can automatically record itself during cleaning operation.

In the cleaning robot 1 </ b> A configured as described above, the electric blower 30, the drive wheel 5, the rotating brush 3, and the side brush 4 are driven by a cleaning operation start command from the operation panel 31. As a result, the cleaning robot 1A is in a state where the rotating brush 3, the side brush 4, the drive wheel 5, and the rear wheel 7 are in contact with the floor surface, and the air containing dust on the floor surface from the suction port 11 while traveling in a predetermined range. Inhale.

At this time, the dust on the floor surface is scraped up by the rotation of the rotating brush 3 and guided to the suction port 11. Further, the dust on the side of the suction port 11 is guided to the suction port 11 by the rotation of the side brush 4.

The air containing dust sucked into the housing 2 from the suction port 11 flows into the dust collection box 21 through the suction path 10 (FIG. 4) of the housing 2. The airflow that has flowed into the dust collection box 21 passes through the filter 22 and dust is removed, then flows into the electric blower 30, is guided to the exhaust path 40, and is discharged from the exhaust port 41 to the outside. At this time, the dust contained in the airflow in the dust collection box 21 is captured by the filter 22 and accumulated in the dust collection box 21.

Further, when the cleaning robot 1A detects an obstacle on the course as described above and reaches the periphery of the cleaning area, the driving wheel 5 temporarily stops, and then the left and right driving wheels 5 are moved in opposite directions. Rotate to change direction. Accordingly, the cleaning robot 1A can perform self-propelled cleaning while avoiding obstacles in the entire installation place or the entire desired range.

Further, as described above, the cleaning robot 1A is in contact at the three points of the left and right drive wheels 5 and the rear wheel 7, so that the rear wheel 7 does not lift from the floor surface even if it suddenly stops when moving forward. Weight distribution.

Therefore, even if the cleaning robot 1A suddenly stops in front of the down step while moving forward, the cleaning robot 1A is prevented from tilting forward and falling to the down step. The drive wheel 5 is formed by fitting a rubber tire having a groove into the wheel so as not to slip even if suddenly stopped.

<About the floor detection sensor>
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional configuration and operation of the floor detection sensor 12. As shown in the figure, the floor detection sensor 12 is an optical sensor, has a case 13, and includes a light emitting element (infrared light emitting diode) 14a and a light receiving element (phototransistor) 14b in the case 13. A transparent protective plate 15 is provided to protect the light emitting element 14a and the light receiving element 14b.

In FIG. 5, the light beam LF emitted from the light emitting element 14a irradiates the black floor surface FB at a normal position and the white floor surface FW1 at the position of the descending step through the transparent protective plate 15, and reflects the light. The situation where light is received by the light receiving element 14b through the transparent protective plate 15 is shown.

The output corresponding to the intensity of the light received by the light receiving element 14b is compared with a predetermined value by the control unit 12a (FIG. 3). The control unit 12a determines that the floor surface is normal when the intensity of light received by the light receiving element 14b is greater than a predetermined value. If the intensity is less than the predetermined value, the floor surface is not normal, that is, “down step”. It is judged that. These determination results are input to the control unit 15a.

As shown in FIG. 5, the light beam LF emitted from the light-emitting element 14a diverges in a conical shape with an opening (divergence angle) of an angle θ (for example, 20 degrees) around the optical axis Xa. The intensity distribution of light perpendicular to the optical axis Xa of the light beam LF generally shows a Gaussian distribution that decreases with increasing distance from the optical axis Xa in the radial direction around the optical axis Xa.

Therefore, for the black floor surface FB with low light reflectivity, light with high intensity along the optical axis Xa irradiates the floor surface FB separated by the distance HB from the bottom plate 2a, and the optical axis Xb with high light receiving sensitivity. The control unit 12a determines that the floor surface is normal when the reflected light along the light beam, that is, the reflected light on the floor surface FB from the intersection P1 of the optical axes Xa and Xb is incident on the light receiving element 14b. Yes.

On the other hand, for the white floor surface FW1 having a high light reflectivity, low-intensity light that is greatly separated in the radial direction from the optical axis Xa irradiates the floor surface FW1 that is separated from the floor surface 2a by the distance HW1, and is applied to the optical axis Xb. The reflected light on the floor surface FW1 enters the light receiving element 14b from the intersection P2 between the reflected light along the optical axis Xb and the light beam LF that is separated from the optical axis Xa in the radial direction.

At this time, when the reflectance of the light on the white floor surface FW1 is sufficiently higher than that of the black floor surface FB and the reflected light has the same light intensity as the reflected light of the black floor surface FB, the control unit 12a The floor is normal. "
Therefore, the white floor FW1 (at a depth HW1 from the bottom plate 2a) shown in FIG. 5 is not determined as a “downward step”.

Therefore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, a diaphragm element B1 for narrowly limiting the opening (divergence angle) of the light beam LF irradiated from the light emitting element 14a is provided in the irradiation light path of the light emitting element 14a. The aperture element B1 shields a part of the light beam LF on the opposite side of the light receiving element 14b with respect to the optical axis Xa of the light emitting element 14a.

As a result, the low-intensity light that is greatly separated from the optical axis Xa of the light beam LF in the radial direction does not reach the white floor FW1, so the white floor FW2 is at the intersection P3 of the light close to the optical axis Xa and the optical axis Xb. Is present, the reflected light from the white floor FW2 at a distance HW2 from the bottom plate 2a is received by the light receiving element 14b, and the floor is determined to be normal. That is, the distance to the white floor surface that is determined as “the floor surface is normal” is shortened from HW1 to HW2.
Therefore, even if the color of the floor surface, that is, the reflectance of light changes, the change in the distance to the floor surface that is detected as “normal on the floor surface” becomes small, and the accuracy of detecting the descending step of the floor surface sensor 12 is reduced. Will improve.
FIG. 7 shows a modification of this embodiment, in which the aperture element B1 is formed integrally with the bottom plate 2a.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the floor detection sensor of this embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 8, in this embodiment, the aperture element B1 shown in FIG. 6 is replaced with an aperture element B2. The aperture element B2 is provided with an elongated through hole 42 that narrows the opening of the light beam LF to be passed. The diaphragm element B2 can also be formed integrally with the bottom plate 2a. Other configurations and functions are the same as those of the first embodiment.

(Third embodiment)
FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the floor detection sensor of this embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 9, in this embodiment, the aperture element B1 shown in FIG. 6 is replaced with an aperture element B3. The aperture element B3 includes a slit 43 that narrows the opening of the light beam LF to be passed. The diaphragm element B3 can also be formed integrally with the bottom plate 2a. Other configurations and functions are the same as those of the first embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1A Cleaning robot 2 Case 2a Bottom plate 2b ₁ Lid 2b Top plate 2c Side plate 3 Rotating brush 4 Side brush 5 Drive wheel 7 Rear wheel 8 Front wheel 9 Ultrasonic sensor 10 Suction path 11 Suction port 12 Floor detection sensor 13 Case 14a Light emitting element 14 b Light receiving element 15 Protective plate 20 Dust collecting part 21 Dust collecting box 22 Filter 30 Electric blower 31 Operation panel 40 Exhaust passage 41 Exhaust port 42 Through hole 43 Slit B1 to B3 Aperture element

Claims

A housing having a cleaning member and capable of self-propelling the floor, an optical floor detection sensor exposed from the housing toward the floor, a cleaning member, and a floor detection sensor A control unit that receives the output and controls the self-running operation of the housing, wherein the floor surface detection sensor is a light emitting element that emits a light beam toward the floor surface, and a light receiving element that receives reflected light from the floor surface And a diaphragm element that restricts the opening of the luminous flux narrowly.
The self-propelled cleaner according to claim 1, wherein the aperture element is a light shielding member that shields the light beam on the side opposite to the light receiving element with respect to the optical axis of the light emitting element.
The self-propelled cleaner according to claim 1, wherein the aperture element comprises an element having a through-hole through which the luminous flux is restricted and passed.
The self-propelled cleaner according to claim 1, wherein the aperture element comprises an element having a slit that allows the luminous flux to pass therethrough.
The self-propelled cleaner according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the aperture element is formed integrally with a casing.