JPH012618A - automatic vacuum cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner, and more particularly to an automatic vacuum cleaner that automatically moves indoors and sucks up dust.

[Traditional technique]

Conventionally, general vacuum cleaners consist of a suction hose, suction port, dust filter, fan, motor, etc., and use the negative pressure generated by the fan and motor to suck in dust along with air, and use a dust filter to remove only dust. It filters and collects dust.

Such vacuum cleaners have come to be widely used in general households with the spread of household electrical appliances. Vacuum cleaners are essential for maintaining a healthy living environment because they are more efficient at collecting dust than vacuum cleaners.

[Problems with conventional technology]

Although such vacuum cleaners have good dust collection efficiency, they require the cleaner to clean by holding the suction hose by hand, which is time consuming.

[Means for solving problems]

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a vacuum cleaner that automatically moves around and sucks up indoor dust without the need for human intervention. In an automatic vacuum cleaner consisting of a drive wheel, a drive motor that drives the drive wheel, a steering wheel, a control unit, etc., a sensor consisting of a light emitting element and a light receiving element provided in a part of the dust collecting mechanism detects dust. If the sensor detects the absence of dust for a predetermined period of time, the steering wheel is driven to change the suction direction of the dust collection mechanism, and an obstacle sensor installed at the front end of the device body detects an obstacle. Even in such a case, the suction direction of the dust collecting mechanism is changed.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows an automatic vacuum cleaner A showing one embodiment of the present invention.
It is an overall side view showing one example of C. Automatic vacuum cleaner AC
The main body has drive wheels 1.1 on both left and right sides, a steering wheel 2 in front, a suction port 3 for a dust collection mechanism, a sensor 4 for detecting obstacles at the front end of the main body, and a sensor 4 for detecting obstacles, which drives the drive wheels 1. A drive motor 5, a deceleration mechanism 6 that decelerates the rotational force of the drive motor 5 and transmits it to the drive wheels 1, a motor 7 that rotates the steering wheel 2, and a deceleration mechanism 6 that decelerates the rotational force of the drive motor 5 and transmits it to the driving wheels 1; a motor 7 that rotates the steering wheel 2; 2 and the suction pipe 1.
A sensor 11 detects the amount of dust within 0, and the steering wheel 2 and drive motor 5 are
It is comprised of a control circuit 12 for controlling the dust collection mechanism 13, and the like.

Here, the dust collection mechanism 13 is composed of a known dust collection mechanism, and is composed of a dust collection filter 14, a suction fan 15, a drive motor 16, etc., and uses the negative pressure generated by the suction fan 15 to
It sucks up dust along with the air. Air sucked from the suction port 3 passes through a suction pipe 10, and the presence or absence of dust is detected by a sensor 11 provided in a part of the suction pipe 10. FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part of the sensor 11. As shown in FIG.

In the figure, the sensor 11 consists of a light emitting element 11a and a light receiving element 11b, and when dust passes between the two, light from the light emitting element 11a is blocked and the presence of dust is detected. Also,
In order to prevent dust from adhering to the surfaces of the light emitting element 11a and the light receiving element fob, high pressure air guided through the pipe 17 is periodically discharged from the nozzle 18.

A sensor 4 provided in front of the automatic cleaner AC detects an obstacle when the advancing cleaner AcfJ comes into contact with an obstacle, and inputs a detection signal to the control circuit 12. The control circuit 12 stops the drive motor 5 that drives the drive wheels 1, and rotates the drive motor 5 in reverse for a predetermined time T+. Further, the control circuit 12 rotates the motor 7 after a predetermined T+ time has elapsed, rotates the support shaft 8 that obstructs the steering wheel 2 by about 90 degrees for a predetermined T2 time, and then returns it to its original position again. let At the same time, after the T1 time has elapsed, the drive motor 5 is rotated in the forward direction.

On the other hand, a sensor 1 that detects the presence or absence of dust in the suction pipe 10
The signal from 1 is input to the control circuit 12, and when the dust-free signal continues for a predetermined time T3 or more, the motor 7 rotates the steering wheel 2 by about 90 degrees.

The time during which the steering wheel 2 is rotating is the predetermined time T2 described above, and when the motor 7 repeats the above operation four times, the drive motor 5 and all the power supplies are turned off.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the present invention. In the figure, the sensor I (11) in this embodiment is as shown in FIG.
It consists of a light emitting element 11a and a light receiving element 11b, and the output from the light receiving element 11b is inputted to one end of a comparator 22,
It is compared with a predetermined darkness value (V, RF) and converted into a digital signal of 0 or 5V.

This digital signal is input to the reset terminal of the counter circuit 23. - The clock pulse generated from the tip shaker 24 is input to the input terminal of the counter circuit 23. The counter 23 counts while the clock pulse from the oscillator 24 is input, and is reset every time a digital signal from the sensor I (11) is input. and,
If the sensor I (11) does not detect the presence of dust for a predetermined period of time, it counts up and outputs a signal to the control section 12.

The control unit 12 rotates the motor 7 and controls the steering wheel 2 for a time T2.
After rotating the motor 7 by about 90 degrees, rotate the motor 7 in the opposite direction again.
Return to original position.

On the other hand, a sensor (4) for detecting an obstacle is attached to the front α) 11 of the automatic cleaner AC, and outputs a detection signal to the control unit 12 when it comes into contact with an obstacle. Control unit 1
Upon receiving the output signal 3 from the sensor 2 (4), the drive motor 5 (not shown) is stopped and reversed for a time T1. Further, the control circuit 12 controls the motor 7 after T1 time elapses.
After the steering wheels 2 are rotated, the drive motor 5 is driven to move the vehicle forward.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing another embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the automatic cleaner is configured so that the dust collection mechanism 19 can be replaced with a commercially available vacuum cleaner.

The automatic cleaner AC includes an endless belt 20 wound around a driving heavy wheel 1.1 and an auxiliary wheel 1a, and moves forward and backward by the rotational force of a drive motor 5 whose torque is increased by being decelerated by a deceleration mechanism 6. Moreover, the steering wheel 2 provided at the tip is rotationally driven by a motor (not shown), and changes the direction of movement of the automatic cleaner AC. The suction port 3 and the suction pipe 10 are connected to a commercially available 11 dust removal machine (dust collection mechanism 19) via an adapter 21, and the air sucked from the suction port 3 is connected to a part of the suction pipe 10. A sensor detects the presence or absence of a seat. Note that a commercially available vacuum cleaner has a bottom plate portion (not shown) that supports wheels (not shown).

On the other hand, a sensor 94 provided at the front end of the device body issues a signal when it comes into contact with an obstacle, and stops the drive motor 5 via the control circuit 12. , if configured as above,
If the automatic vacuum cleaner AC comes into contact with an obstacle, it automatically avoids it, and if it does not detect dust for a predetermined period of time,
When the device changes direction and does not detect dust even after changing direction a predetermined number of times, the device stops. In addition, the sensor 11
Since the area is continuously or periodically cleaned by the cleaning air flow, there is no risk of dust accumulating, and the presence or absence of dust can be accurately detected at all times.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the automatic cleaner AC of the present invention, when it comes into contact with an obstacle, it changes direction and continues the cleaning operation again. Also, if a sensor installed in a part of the suction pipe does not detect dust for a predetermined period of time, the suction pipe changes direction and cleans the area where the dust is present.

In this way, even if the self-propelled cleaning operation is repeated and the direction is changed a predetermined number of times, if the sensor does not detect dust, the device stops and the cleaning is completed.

Therefore, according to the cleaning method of the present invention, the room can be automatically cleaned without any human intervention.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an embodiment of the automatic vacuum cleaner of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the automatic vacuum cleaner of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an embodiment of the automatic vacuum cleaner of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of an automatic vacuum cleaner showing an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the animal sensor portion of the present invention; FIG. 7 is a side view showing another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the operating principle of the present invention. AC...Automatic vacuum cleaner, 1...Driving heavy wheel, 2...Steering wheel, 3...Suction port, 4...Sensor, 5...Drive motor, 6...Deceleration mechanism, 7... Motor, 8... Support shaft, 9... Reduction mechanism, 10... Suction pipe, 11... Sensor, 11a... Light emitting element, 11b... Light receiving element, 12... -Control circuit, 13.19...Dust collection mechanism, 14...Dust collection filter, Engineering 5...Suction fan, 16...Drive motor, 17...Pipe, 18...Nozzle 20... - Endless belt, 21... adapter, 22... comparator, 23... counter circuit. Patent applicant: Tamapunk Co., Ltd. Figure 1C Figure 2Figure 3Figure 4Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A moving part that moves automatically and is provided with a dust collection mechanism, a steering means that changes the moving direction of the moving part, and a steering means that is provided in the dust collection mechanism and is provided with at least a part of the dust collection mechanism. An automatic vacuum cleaner comprising a dust detecting means for detecting the presence of dust, and a driving means for driving the steering means when the dust detecting means detects the absence of dust. 2) The automatic vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein the dust collecting mechanism is a tubular member having an opening at its tip, through which dust sucked through the opening travels. 3) The automatic vacuum cleaner according to claim 2, wherein the dust collection mechanism has a suction section and a filter section. 4) The automatic vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein the dust detection section includes a light emitting element and a light receiving element, and dust travels between them. 5) The automatic cleaner according to claim 1, wherein the driving means drives the steering means when an obstacle is detected.