JPH0252624A - Floor surface detector for vacuum cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute the automatic rotation of a rotary brush according to a floor surface kind by housing a floor surface sensor, in which a movable body to be pressed at a floor surface side with a spring and to be moved up and down corresponding to the floor surface kind and a detector to detect the displacement of the movable body are combined, in a device frame. CONSTITUTION:A floor surface sensor S2 composed of a movable body 26 to be pressed at the floor surface side with a spring 29, to be displaced in an up-and-down direction corresponding to the kind of a floor surfaces and to have a contact piece 26b at a lower edge, a detector 32 to detect the displacement of the movable body 26, and a device frame 21 to house the detector 32 and movable body 26 is provided. The contact piece 26b of the floor surface sensor S2 is exposed onto a bottom surface and fitted to a power brush. Consequently, when the power brush is shifted to a place different in the kind of floor surfaces, the rotary brush can be automatically rotated or stopped.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] Accessories for household vacuum cleaners include nozzles and round brushes for narrow gaps in the suction port, or a wide air suction port on the bottom. There are floor brushes specifically designed for floors, and power brushes that rotate rotary brushes using a built-in motor.

By the way, as is well known, the surface of a board floor or a folded floor constitutes a flat, dense, and hard floor surface (hereinafter, tentatively referred to as a hard floor surface). On the other hand, the surface of carpet flooring made of fibers has unevenness, making it a flexible and soft floor surface (hereinafter referred to as
There is a physical difference in that it forms a soft floor surface (called a soft floor surface).

The present invention relates to the structure of a floor detector that is attached to a power brush of a vacuum cleaner and includes a floor sensor that detects the type of floor surface based on the above-mentioned physical properties of the floor.

[Prior Art] FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration of a conventional power brush of this type.
FIG. 8 is a side sectional view thereof.

In both figures, (1) is the casing, (2) is the air intake port, (3) is the rotary brush, (3a) is the brush hair,
(4) is the motor, (5) is the belt, (6) is the electric circuit, (7) is the hose connection, (8) and (9) are the left and right rear wheels and front wheels, (10) is the power source The connector (11) is the floor surface.

In the conventional power brush configured as described above, the motor (4)
When you turn on the power and rotate the rotary brush (3),
The dust that has accumulated between the bristles of the overcoat is knocked out and sucked in with the air. Therefore, such a power brush can be particularly effective in cleaning carpet floors. In addition, when the floor surface (11) is a wooden floor or a folded floor, this power brush stops the rotation of the low cleaner brush (3) and removes dust and dirt on the floor surface (11) along with air from the air intake port (2). It is designed to be sucked in as it is.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As mentioned above, when cleaning a floor using a power brush, it is necessary to stop the rokuri brush when cleaning wooden floors or folded floors, and rotate it only when cleaning carpet floors. It has become. For this reason, while using the vacuum cleaner, you have to constantly look at the floor, manually turn on the motor when moving across the floor, and turn it off when using a wooden or folded floor, making handling operations extremely difficult. It's a hassle. In addition, since it is troublesome to switch, for example, in the middle of cleaning, it may be necessary to leave the row brush rotating and move on to cleaning the adjacent carpet floor across the narrow wooden floor. However, if you let the motor idle like this,
There are problems such as power being wasted and becoming uneconomical.

The present invention was made in order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and for example, the low cleaner brush automatically rotates only when the type of floor surface is clear.It is simple, small, and trouble-free. Moreover, a floor surface detector with good detection accuracy is realized.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention combines a movable body that is pressed against the floor side by a spring and moves up and down in accordance with the type of floor surface, and a detector that detects the displacement of this movable body. A floor detector is constructed in which a combined floor sensor is housed in a rectangular crusher.

[Function] The floor detector according to the present invention is attached, for example, to the inner bottom side of the casing of a power brush, and a power brush including the floor detector is assembled. When the power brush moves from a wooden floor or folded floor to a different type of carpet floor, the movable body of the floor sensor moves and detects that the floor is beyond. Then, the drive motor of the Rokuri brush automatically rotates, knocking out the dirt from the brush and starting to suck it in. When the floor surface becomes a wooden floor, the floor sensor detects that it is not a carpet floor, and the rotation of the rotary brush automatically stops.

[Embodiments of the Invention] Fig. 1 is an explanatory view of the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, in which (A) is a side sectional view, (B) is a longitudinal sectional view of (A), and (C) is a longitudinal sectional view of (A). It is a bottom view.

In FIG. 1, (S) is a floor surface detector, which detects the type and condition of the floor surface based on the difference in the physical properties of the floor as described above. (21) is a hard-to-destruct floor detector (S) made of synthetic resin molded into an approximately rectangular box shape, consisting of a lower frame (22), a middle frame (23), and an upper M (24) that covers these. .

The lower frame (22) and middle frame (23) have chambers (22a) and (2
3a) is provided. As shown in Figure (C), the bottom plate of the lower frame (22) has an exposure hole (22e) that exposes the movable body described below downward and regulates the lower limit position of the displacement range, and a hole that prevents sand from accumulating inside. A plurality of pit holes (22e) are provided for dropping dirt and debris.

(26) is a movable body, which is disposed within the chamber (22a) of the lower frame (22) so as to be movable in the vertical direction. Movable body (26)
consists of a holder (26a) and a contact (28b).

Holder (28a) and the lower frame (22) and middle frame (23)
) has a coating of conductive material layered on its surface to prevent charging. By coating the conductive material, the surface resistance is set to about 106 ohms. (2Bc) is a frame-shaped holding part of the holder (26a) for holding the contactor (26b), and (26d) is a frame-shaped holding part that extends upward and connects to the middle frame (23).
This is a column that penetrates through. Although not shown, a plurality of semicircular ribs are vertically formed on the four sides of the holding part (28c).
While moving up and down along the lower frame (22) without play,
A suitable space is created to prevent trash from accumulating. Further, the outer periphery of the tip of the pillar portion (28d) is shaved off to form a flat surface, and this flat surface serves as a shielding portion (28c). For the contact (28b), a soft synthetic resin material having weak elasticity and a hardness of about 1580 to 95 months is used. The contactor (28b) is composed of a wheel that rotates around a shaft (281') supported by the holding part (26c). The contactor (28b) is made to have a width of about 2II1 m in the direction of the paper in FIG. The width and diameter of these wheels are appropriately selected in the range of 1 to 3 and 5 to 25III11 depending on the quality and type of the wheel.

(29) is a coil spring. The pressing force of the coil spring (29) is in the range of 50 to 300 g, and the spring constant is selected to be relatively large, so that it can respond sensitively to the flexibility of the floor surface condition.

(32) is a non-contact type photodetector for detecting the displacement of the movable body (2B), and is arranged inside the chamber (23a) of the middle frame (23). The photodetector (32) is formed into a substantially "U-shaped" structure, and a light emitting element and a light receiving element are arranged horizontally opposite each other at the open end. For example, a light emitting diode called an LED is used as a light emitting element, and a photodiode that converts light into an electrical signal is used as a light receiving element. In addition, the movable body (2) is located in the U-shaped gap of the photodetector (32).
A shielding part (28e) of B) is interposed. The movable body (26) is constantly pressed downward by the coil spring (29), and when the movable body (26) moves up and down, the photodetector (
The optical path (L2) of 32) is blocked or opened. Although not shown, the photodetector (32) is provided with a printed board, lead wires, and connectors for input/output, and is led out and connected to the electric circuit section (6). The above-mentioned movable body (26), photodetector (32), etc. constitute a floor sensor (S2). (PL) is the hard floor surface described above, and (F2) is the soft floor surface.

2 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration of a power brush to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied, FIG. 3 is a right sectional view of FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a bottom view of FIG. 2. Although some of the constituent parts in FIGS. 2 to 4 overlap with those in FIGS. 7 and 8, they will be explained in more detail here.

In Figs. 2 to 4, (1) is a casing made of hard synthetic resin, and (2) is an air intake port provided in the width direction of the lower surface of the casing (1). (3) is a rotary brush, (3a) is a brush hair, and (3b) is a brush shaft.

A spiral unevenness is formed on the outer periphery of the brush shaft (3b),
Brush bristles (3a) are planted along these irregularities. (4) is a motor, and (5) is a toothed belt, and the rotation of the motor (4) is transmitted to the row brush (3) via the belt (5). Reference numeral (6) denotes an electric circuit section made of a printed board, and this circuit section (6) controls the motor (4) based on the detection operation of the floor surface detector (S). (7) is the connection part with a loose taper at the tip, (8) and (9) are the rear and front rollers attached to the left and right sides of the bottom surface of the casing (1), and (10) is the power connector. . A telescopic pipe is connected to the tab of the connection part (7) of the vibrator, and is connected to the main body of the vacuum cleaner via a flexible hose. Then, the plug of the cord arranged along the hose is fitted into the power connector (10), and power is supplied to the motor (4) and the like. In addition, the rear roller (8) and the front roller (9) keep the floor gap formed between the casing (1) and the floor constant to form an air inflow path, and also prevent the power brush from sliding on the floor. This is to facilitate the process.

Then, a floor surface detector (
S) is mounted so as to float slightly inward from the bottom surface of the casing (1).

The operation of the floor surface detector (S) of the present invention having such a configuration is as follows.
This will be explained next.

In normal conditions, the movable body (28) of the floor detector (S) is pushed down by the coil spring (29), and the contact (26b) reaches the exposed length shown in (a) and (b) in Figure 1. (!I 1')
The exposure length is larger (+13). In this state, the shielding part (2G
e) is located below the optical path (Ll) of the photodetector (32) and opens the light.

Next, if the floor 1lj (11) is a flat hard floor surface (Fl) such as a wooden floor or a folded floor, the floor gap is in the front.

It is maintained in the gap formed by the rear roller (8L (9)).

Therefore, the movable body (26) is displaced upward and the contact (
26b) is in contact with the hard floor surface (Fl) shown in Fig. 1 (A), and the exposed length from the bottom of the casing (1) is (lit).
It has become. Then, the optical path (L2) of the photodetector (32)
) is blocked. Therefore, the light-receiving element becomes non-conductive, and the low-rise brush (3) does not rotate.

Here, when the hand switch of the hose (not shown) is turned on, the dust collection motor of the main body rotates.

When the dust collection motor rotates, dust is sucked together with air from the air intake port (2) and collected in the main body, thereby cleaning the board floor or folded floor.

Next, when the floor surface (11) shifts from a wooden floor or a folded floor to a carpet floor, the soft floor surface (F2) of the carpet floor is detected by the floor detector (S) in the following operation.

The movable body (2B) receives strong spring pressure from the coil spring (29) and presses the soft floor i (F2) from above. Moreover, this contactor (28b) is made to rotate smoothly on narrow wheels. Therefore, when moving to the carpet floor, the contactor (26b) presses the flexible carpet at the soft floor surface (F2). Therefore, the contact (28b) enters between the hair legs, and the exposed length becomes (12). As a result, the shielding part (26e) descends and the optical path (L) of the photodetector (32)
2) is released. This state is shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG.

When the optical path (L2) is opened, the light receiving element of the photodetector (32) becomes conductive, and a drive signal is given to the electric circuit section (6). This drive signal causes the motor (4) to rotate, and the rotor brush (3) to rotate via the belt (5). When the rotary brush (3) rotates, the dust that has accumulated between the bristles of the brush is knocked out as in the conventional case, and the dust that is knocked out is sucked together with air by the dust collection motor on the main body. In this way, the carpet floor is detected by the floor detector (S), and the loch brush (3) is automatically rotated to clean the floor beyond.

When the floor surface changes from a carpeted floor to a wooden floor or a folded floor, the movable body (2B) of the floor sensor (s2) rises again to the position shown by the solid line in FIG. cut off.

Therefore, the rotary brush (3) automatically stops rotating and the power brush is switched to the hard floor (PL).

In this way, the power brush automatically rotates the rotary brush (3) only when the floor surface (11) is over,
Can be cleaned.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration of another embodiment of the present invention, in which the floor detector (S) is also applied to the power brush. A lifting sensor (S2) that detects the presence or absence of a floor surface and a floor sensor (S2) that detects the type of floor surface based on the physical properties of the floor surface are installed in the storage room.
).

(A) Components of the lifting sensor (81) on the left side of the figure are given a numeral "25" to correspond to the floor sensor (S2) on the right side. However, two photodetectors (31) and (
32) are accommodated in an overlapping manner inside the middle frame (23), and a connecting piece (27) that moves up and down together with the contact (25b) on the lifting sensor (81) side is connected by the cylindrical part (27a). . Then, the bent portion (27b) of the connecting piece (27) is laterally extended to form a shielding portion (27c).
c), the photodetector (31) is turned on and off.

Further, the contactor (25b) of the floor sensor (SL) is configured in the shape of a non-rotating block that is adhered to the holding part (25a). The light receiving elements of both photodetectors (31) and (32) are connected in parallel. (28) is a coil spring for pressing the movable body (25) on the floor sensor (81) side in the direction of the floor (ll).

When the apparatus of the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 is in a normal state, the two movable bodies (25) (particularly 2B) are pushed by the springs (28) and (29), and their exposed lengths are as shown in FIG. old) and (H2). When the power brush is placed on a hard floor surface (PI) such as a wooden floor, the two contacts (25b) and (26b) both have the same exposed length, as shown in FIG. Keep (+13). At this time, lift sensor (S
l) is rising, and only the light receiving element of the photodetector (31) is conducting.

Next, the power brush is applied to a soft floor surface (F2
), the wide contact (25b) receives the weak spring pressure.
) is hardly displaced.

However, the contactor (28b) on the floor sensor (S2) side is
It is narrow and pushed downward by strong spring pressure. For this reason, the contact (28b) presses against the flexible sheath,
The exposure length becomes (+14) and the difference from (03), that is, (
It descends by Δ11) [Figure (A)]. As a result, the photodetector (32) side is also electrically conductive, causing the rotary brush (3) to rotate and cleaning by knocking out dirt and dust from behind. In this example, the power brush is
1) and the rotary brush (3) is configured to rotate only when the floor surface (11) at that time is 11 m.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the case where the contactor of the floor sensor is a rotating wheel is exemplified and explained, but it may be constructed of a block that does not rotate like the contactor of the lifting sensor. In addition, the width of the contact and the spring constant of the coil spring are selected appropriately, and the floor sensor detects the folded floor and the rotary brush is used to knock out and clean the dust that has accumulated between the folds. Also good.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, there is a movable body that is pressed toward the floor surface by a spring, has a narrow contact, and moves up and down depending on the condition of the floor surface, and the displacement of this movable body is detected. We have constructed a compact floor sensor consisting of a floor sensor that combines a non-contact type sensor and a base frame that houses the sensor. As a result, it is possible to construct a power brush that can automatically rotate or stop the rotary brush when the power brush moves to a different type of location.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a floor surface detector for a vacuum cleaner that is convenient to handle, small in size, and free from malfunctions.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, in which (A) is a side sectional view, (B) is a longitudinal sectional view of (A), (C) is a bottom view of (A), and FIG. A configuration explanatory diagram of a power brush to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied, FIG. 3 is a right sectional view of FIG. 2, and FIG.
The bottom view of the figure, and FIG. ) Y2-Y2 sectional view, (d) is (
A) Y3-Y3 sectional view of (E), (E) is a bottom view of (A), (A) and (B) of FIG. 6 are explanatory diagrams of the operation of the embodiment in FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 is a conventional power brush An explanatory diagram of the configuration, Fig. 8 is the 7th
FIG. In the figure, (1) is a casing, and (2) is an air intake port. (3) is a rotary brush, (4) is a motor, (
5) is the belt, (6) is the electric circuit part, (7) is the connection part,
(8) and (9) are the rear roller and front roller, (11) is the floor, (2I) is the base frame, (26) is the movable body, (26b is the contact, (20e) is the shielding part, (29) is the ) is a coil spring, (3
2) is a photodetector, (S) is a floor detector, (S2) is a floor sensor, (Ill), (+12) and (03) are exposure lengths,
(Fl) is a hard floor surface, (F2) is a soft floor surface, (F2) is an optical path, and (X) is a sliding direction. Note that the same reference numerals in the figures indicate the same or corresponding parts. Figure (a) (b)

Claims (1)

[Claims] a movable body that is pressed toward the floor by a spring, displaces in the vertical direction according to the type of floor surface, and has a contact at its lower end; a detector that detects displacement of the movable body; and the detector and the movable body. 1. A floor detector for a vacuum cleaner, comprising: a floor sensor comprising a container frame for accommodating a vacuum cleaner, the contactor of the floor sensor being exposed at the bottom surface and attached to a power brush.