WO2018051009A1

WO2018051009A1 - Device for cleaning a rotary brush of a robotic vacuum cleaner and corresponding method

Info

Publication number: WO2018051009A1
Application number: PCT/FR2017/052428
Authority: WO
Inventors: Lucien CHARMETTAN; Jean-Damien VIVIER
Original assignee: Seb S.A.
Priority date: 2016-09-13
Filing date: 2017-09-12
Publication date: 2018-03-22
Also published as: FR3055789A1; FR3055789B1; EP3512396B1; CN107811576B; ES2845133T3; CN208808360U; EP3512396A1; CN107811576A

Abstract

A device for cleaning a rotary brush of a robotic floor vacuum cleaner, comprising a movable body (10) arranged to come into contact with at least one outer surface of the rotary brush in order to remove waste entangled with the rotary brush, characterised in that the movable body (10) comprises at least one cutting edge, arranged at the periphery of the movable body (10), and in that the movable body (10) is movable in rotation about an axis, such that said at least one cutting edge runs over said at least one outer surface of the rotary brush when the latter is in contact with the movable body (10) and rotating in order to be cleaned.

Description

T HE R ESEATIO N OF THE ROTATIVE B ROSSE DE D ETNYAG E

ROBOT OF AS P I RATION AND P ROCE OF CORRESPON DANT

The present invention generally relates to a device for cleaning a rotating brush mounted on a suction robot or robot autonomous soil cleaning.

It is known in the prior art devices for cleaning a rotating brush, such as that disclosed in WO2014094869 (A1), with a cleaning finger that moves along the rotating brush to remove the waste ( hair, animal hair, son ...) that are entangled there. In return, this system has the particular disadvantage of requiring user intervention, and the cleaning sequence requires a certain time. In addition, the system is complex with the cleaning finger that has to move along the rotating brush.

An object of the present invention is to meet the disadvantages of the documents of the prior art mentioned above and in particular, first of all, to propose a device for cleaning a rotary brush of a soil suction robot, which is efficient, not very complex and does not require human intervention to be used.

For this purpose, a first aspect of the invention concerns a device for cleaning a rotary brush of a floor suction robot, comprising a movable body arranged to come into contact with at least one external surface of the rotary brush in order to removing entangled waste on the rotary brush, characterized in that the movable body comprises at least one cutting edge, arranged at the periphery of the movable body, and in that the movable body is rotatable about an axis, so that said at least one cutting edge rolls on said at least one outer surface of the rotating brush when the latter is in contact with the moving body and in rotation to be cleaned. The device according to the present invention is not very complex, since the mobile body simply rolls on the rotating brush to remove hair or animal hair or son that are entangled around the rotating brush. The cutting edge can then cut, or section, or deteriorate the waste as they pass between the cutting edge and the outer surface, so that they detach themselves from the rotating brush. As the rotating brush is coupled to a motor of the suction robot, there is no need to motorize the moving body, it is the rotating brush which drives itself the moving body, which avoids any intervention of the robot. 'user. The automatically cut waste can then be sucked by the suction robot.

Advantageously, the movable body has a circular cross section, and said at least one cutting edge is arranged in a direction perpendicular to a radius of the circular section. In other words, said at least one cutting edge is transverse or substantially transverse to the axis of rotation of the movable body.

Advantageously, the movable body comprises at least one groove adjacent to said at least one cutting edge. Such a groove makes it possible to accommodate scraping bristles of the rotating brush which would be entrained between the outer surface and the movable body. The scratching hairs are not cut by the cutting edge.

Advantageously, said at least one cutting edge forms a net. Such a net is advantageous because during the rotation of the movable body, the point of contact between the cutting edge and the rotating brush (and its outer surface) moves along the axis to treat the entire length of the the rotating brush.

Advantageously, the thread has a pitch of 2.5 ± 0.5 mm, and / or a depth of 1.55 ± 0.2 mm.

Advantageously, the movable body has an elongated cylindrical shape. Advantageously, the movable body has a length at least equal to a length of the rotating brush, its axis of rotation is parallel to an axis of rotation of the rotating brush when the latter is in contact with the movable body, and said at least one cutting edge is arranged all along the movable body.

Advantageously, the movable body is arranged to be freely rotated by the rotating brush when the latter is rotating and in contact with the movable body to be cleaned. The system advantageously uses the motor of the rotating brush. If the cutting edge does not form a net or a helix, it is possible to envisage a succession of circular cutting edges arranged one after the other along the moving body.

Advantageously, the cleaning device comprises a charging station of the suction robot, and the mobile body is integrated in the charging station. Such an implementation is advantageous because the cleaning can be done once the robot docked at its charging station. There is no additional subassembly, the cleaning can be carried out autonomously after a suction session, without any particular operation for the user. Advantageously, the weight of the robot can be used to apply a contact force between the rotating brush and the movable body. In particular, the docking of the suction robot on the charging station can cause partial lift of the suction robot via the movable body.

A second aspect of the invention relates to a soil suction apparatus comprising:

a cleaning device according to the first aspect of the invention,

a soil suction robot comprising a rotary brush,

the rotating brush comprising along its axis of rotation at least one protuberance forming at least one outer surface arranged to come into contact with the movable body. Advantageously, said at least one outer surface is of helical shape. The contact between the movable body and the rotating brush is increased during a revolution about the axis of rotation.

Advantageously, the rotary brush comprises along its axis two protuberances forming two outer surfaces, and two rows of scratching bristles, each arranged between two outer surfaces.

Advantageously, the suction robot comprises suction means. The severed waste is directly sucked by the robot itself. Advantageously, the mobile body is integrated in a charging station of the suction robot.

A third aspect of the invention relates to a method of cleaning a suction apparatus, comprising the steps of:

- dock the suction robot at the charging station,

- Rotate the rotating brush of the suction robot.

Advantageously, the rotary brush is rotated for a predetermined time, greater than or equal to 5 s. Such a rotation time ensures that the entire surface of the rotating brush has been cleaned by the moving body. Other features and advantages of the present invention will appear more clearly on reading the following detailed description of an embodiment of the invention given by way of non-limiting example and illustrated by the appended drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 represents a perspective view of a charging station of a suction robot, comprising a device for cleaning a rotary brush of the suction robot, according to the invention;

FIG. 2 represents an operating diagram of the cleaning device of FIG. 1, in the process of cleaning a rotary brush of a suction robot; - Figure 3 shows a rotating brush arranged to be cleaned by the device of Figure 1;

- Figure 4 shows in detail the rotating brush during cleaning. Figure 1 shows a charging station 20 arranged to accommodate a floor suction robot, visible Figure 2, or robot cleaning, or autonomous robot. Indeed, following a self-cleaning floors independently, the suction robot 30 needs to recharge its battery, and there is provided a coupling between the charging station 20 and the suction robot 30 to perform this recharge.

Typically, as shown in FIG. 2, the suction robot 30 comprises a suction slot 31 and a rotary brush 40 as represented in FIG. 3, which comprises scraping bristles 42. During the suction session of the floors, hair, bristles or threads get entangled in the rotating brush 40, and the invention proposes to include a movable body 10 in the charging station 20 of FIG.

As seen in Figure 1, the movable body 10 has an elongated shape, comprises on its outer surface at least one cutting edge 1 1 (here the edge of a net), and it is mounted in pivot connection on the station charge 20.

The movable body 10 comprises at least one cutting edge 1 1 visible in FIG. 4 (here a helical thread), or a plurality of cutting edges which are arranged to come into contact with external surfaces 41 of the rotary brush to remove these hair, hair or tangled threads. As shown in Figure 2, this operation is performed when the suction robot 30 is docked at the charging station 20, the movable body 10 coming opposite the rotating brush 40 and in contact with the outer surfaces 41 formed by protuberances of the rotary brush, which function as a support heel for the cutting edge 1 1. This operation does not require no manual operation and may not even be noticed by the user.

When the suction robot 30 is docked at the charging station 20, it is possible to rotate the rotating brush 40 to drive the movable body 10 in rotation. Indeed, the latter is mounted in free pivot connection on the charging station 20, so that the rotation of the rotary brush 40 is sufficient to rotate it. In addition, a portion of the weight of the suction robot 30 is applied to the movable body 10 via the rotating brush 40, so that the cutting edge January 1 will effectively cut, sever or tear the waste entangled while driving on the rotary brush 40.

Indeed, during the rotation shown in Figure 2, the movable body 10 rotates freely about its axis of rotation, and the cutting edge 1 1 will roll and / or rub on the outer surfaces 41, so that the matted waste will be sectioned and can be sucked directly by the suction robot, which includes suction means for this purpose.

Figure 3 shows in detail a rotating brush 40, which comprises two outer surfaces 41 and two rows of scraping bristles 42, which are helically arranged along the rotating brush 40. This arrangement effectively drives the moving body 10 in rotation.

Figure 4 shows in detail the rotating brush in interaction with the movable body 10, during cleaning. The movable body 10 is in contact with one of the outer surfaces 41, through its cutting edge 11 which is a net, which is why we see the eccentric hatching on the movable body 10.

During the rotation of the movable body 10 and the rotary brush 40, the point of contact of the cutting edge 11 with the outer surface 41 will traverse the latter by moving along the axial direction, so that any the portions of the outer surfaces 41 will undergo contact / friction / scraping of the cutting edge 1 January. For that you need keep rotating for a long time, for example, 5 s or 10 s if the rotating brush rotates at 6000 rpm, and the width of the external surfaces 41 represents 10% to 20% of the periphery of the rotary brush 40 seen according to 4 in the same manner as the cutting edge 1 1, a groove bottom edge 12 runs along the movable body 10, due to its helical shape.

In order not to damage the scraping bristles 42, the depth of the groove of the movable body 10 is sufficient to allow the scraping bristles 42 to pass between the movable body 10 and the rotary brush 40 without compromising the contact between these two components. Indeed, as shown by the left scratching hair of Figure 4, the end thereof is between the groove bottom edge 12 and the outer surface 41. For example, a groove depth of 1.55 mm ± 0.2 mm may be provided. As for the net, the latter may have a pitch of 2.5 mm ± 0.5 mm. Ideally, the cutting edge should be sharp, and one can consider making the steel moving body, to provide good hardness and good strength.

It will be understood that various modifications and / or improvements obvious to those skilled in the art can be made to the various embodiments of the invention described in the present description without departing from the scope of the invention defined by the appended claims.

Claims

REVE ND ICATIONS

1. Apparatus for cleaning a rotating brush (40) of a floor suction robot (30), comprising a movable body (10) arranged to engage at least one outer surface (41) of the rotary brush ( 40) for removing entangled waste on the rotating brush (40), characterized in that the movable body (10) comprises at least one cutting edge (1 1), arranged at the periphery of the movable body (10), and the movable body (10) is rotatable about an axis so that said at least one cutting edge (1 1) rolls on said at least one outer surface (41) of the rotating brush (40) when the latter is in contact with the movable body (10) and in rotation to be cleaned.

2. Cleaning device according to the preceding claim, wherein the movable body (10) has a circular cross section, and wherein said at least one cutting edge (1 1) is arranged in a direction perpendicular to a radius of the section. circular.

3. Cleaning device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the movable body (10) comprises at least one groove adjacent to said at least one cutting edge (1 1).

4. Cleaning device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein said at least one cutting edge (1 1) forms a net.

5. Cleaning device according to the preceding claim, wherein the thread has a pitch of 2.5 ± 0.5 mm, and / or a depth of 1.55 ± 0.2 mm.

6. Cleaning device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the movable body (10) has an elongated cylindrical shape.

7. Cleaning device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the movable body (10) has a length at least equal to a length of the rotary brush (40), wherein its axis of rotation is parallel to an axis of rotating the rotating brush (40) when the latter is in contact with the movable body (10), and wherein said at least one cutting edge (1 1) is arranged all along the movable body (10).

8. Cleaning device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the movable body (10) is arranged to be freely rotated by the rotating brush (40) when the latter is in rotation and in contact with the movable body ( 10) to be cleaned.

9. Cleaning device according to one of the preceding claims, comprising a charging station (20) of the suction robot (30), and wherein the movable body (10) is integrated in the charging station (20).

Soil suction apparatus comprising:

- A cleaning device according to one of the preceding claims,

- a suction robot (30) of the floors comprising a rotary brush (40), the rotary brush (40) comprising along its axis of rotation at least one protrusion forming at least one outer surface (41) arranged to enter into contact with the movable body (10).

1 1. A soil suction apparatus according to the preceding claim, wherein said at least one outer surface (41) is helically shaped.

12. A soil suction apparatus according to one of claims 10 to 1 1, wherein the rotary brush (40) comprises along its axis two protuberances forming two outer surfaces (41), and two rows of scratching bristles. (42), each arranged between two outer surfaces (41).

13. A soil suction apparatus according to one of claims 10 to 12, wherein the movable body (10) is integrated in a charging station (20) of the suction robot (30).

14. A method of cleaning a suction apparatus (30) according to the preceding claim, comprising the steps of:

- docking the suction robot (30) at the charging station (20),

rotating the rotating brush (40) of the suction robot (30).

15. Cleaning method according to the preceding claim, wherein the rotary brush (40) is rotated for a predetermined time, greater than or equal to 5 s.