KR101292537B1 - Robot cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a robot cleaner having a structure capable of improving the collecting ability of dust and the like.
To this end, the present invention includes a suction port for sucking dust, a dust collecting device for receiving the dust sucked into the suction port, and a rotary brush provided on the suction port side, the dust and the like by the driving force of the rotary brush It is provided with a structure that can be swept into the device.

Description

Robot Cleaner {ROBOT CLEANER}

The present invention relates to a robot cleaner, and more particularly, to a robot cleaner having a structure capable of improving cleaning performance.

A vacuum cleaner is a device that cleans a room by removing foreign substances, and a vacuum cleaner that sucks foreign substances by using suction force of a low pressure part is generally used.

Recently, a robot cleaner has been developed to remove foreign substances from the floor while moving by itself through the automatic driving function without the labor of the user.

An example of such a robot cleaner is disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2006-27701.

The robot cleaner disclosed in the above publication is provided with a main body case having an inlet for sucking dust or dirt and an exhaust port for discharging air, a fan motor installed inside the main body case for generating suction force, and a front of the fan motor. A filter container having a filter for collecting dust or dirt sucked by the fan motor, and a suction head provided at the lower side of the main body case, connected to the filter container and a connecting passage, and sucking dust or foreign matter from the bottom And a brush disposed to the inside of the suction head to sweep dust and foreign matter attached to the floor, and to clean the polluted air contained in the air installed in the main body case and discharged to the exhaust port. It comprises an air purification filter for.

The biggest factor that affects the cleaning performance of the robot cleaner is the suction power of the fan motor and the brush attached to the suction port side. In other words, as the suction power of the fan motor is greater, the cleaning performance is improved, and when the suction is performed after the dust is scattered by attaching the brush, the cleaning performance is improved.

However, in the case of the robot cleaner, there is a problem that a small and low configuration must be configured to clean the bottom of the sofa, and the battery capacity is limited, so that a large fan motor that provides a high suction input cannot be mounted.

Therefore, the robot cleaner has a fan motor with a significantly lower output (about 30W) than the output of the general vacuum cleaner (about 600W), and there is a limit in collecting heavy dust to the filter side.

That is, such a robot cleaner scatters dust on the floor using a brush to transfer the dust on the floor to the filter side, and then the dust scattered on the fan motor is vertically extended from the suction head and the suction head. The suction through the connection pipe is collected into the filter mounted in the filter container, the low output fan motor has a problem that it is difficult to exhibit satisfactory cleaning performance because the suction power is lowered.

In addition, in order to collect heavy dust to reduce the flow path area of the connection passage to strengthen the suction force, there is a problem that the capacity to collect in dust of a large volume or various shapes.

Accordingly, the present invention is to solve the above conventional problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a robot cleaner having a structure that can improve the collecting capacity of dust and the like.

In order to achieve the above object, the robot vacuum cleaner according to the present invention includes a suction port for sucking dust, a dust collecting device for receiving dust sucked into the suction port, and a rotating brush provided at the suction port side, and the rotating brush Characterized in that it is provided in a structure capable of sweeping dust and the like into the dust collector by the driving force of the.

In addition, the dust collector is provided with a plurality of collecting parts, the plurality of collecting parts is characterized in that it comprises a first collecting portion formed in the lower portion and the second collecting portion formed in the upper portion.

In addition, the dust collector is characterized in that it comprises a separating member for preventing the dust accommodated in the second collecting portion back flow to the first collecting portion.

In addition, the first collecting portion and the second collecting portion is characterized in that the communication by the connecting passage formed up and down.

In addition, the dust collector is characterized in that it comprises a backflow prevention member for preventing the dust in the dust collector is discharged to the suction port.

The apparatus may further include a blower that provides a driving force for introducing dust or the like into the dust collector, wherein the backflow preventing member opens and closes the suction port side in association with driving of the blower.

In addition, the backflow preventing member is hinged to the dust collector to be rotatable by the suction force of the blower.

In addition, the guide portion for guiding the dust and the like washed by the rotary brush to the suction port is characterized in that it is provided.

And the robot cleaner according to the present invention as seen from the other side, the main body is formed with a suction port for suctioning dust, a blower provided in the main body to generate a suction force, a rotary brush provided on the suction port side, and sucked into the suction port And a dust collecting device for accommodating dust, wherein the dust collecting device includes a first collecting part for accommodating dust, etc., swept away by the rotating brush, and dust introduced by the interaction of the rotating brush and the blower. It characterized in that it comprises a second collecting portion for receiving.

The second collecting unit may be disposed above the first collecting unit.

In addition, the dust collector is characterized in that it comprises a backflow prevention member for preventing the dust in the dust collector is discharged to the suction port.

In addition, the suction port and the lower surface of the first collecting portion is characterized in that provided in the lower portion of the main body to be adjacent to the floor.

In addition, the guide portion for guiding the dust and the like washed by the rotary brush to the suction port is characterized in that it is provided.

As described above, the robot cleaner according to the present invention sweeps relatively heavy dust by using a rotating brush and a first collecting unit provided at the bottom, and simultaneously drives dust blower by using a suction force to drive cleaning device to improve cleaning performance. There is an effect that can be improved.

In addition, the present invention has the effect of providing the first and second collecting chambers in the dust collector to change the receiving space according to the weight of dust and the like to improve the cleaning performance and to facilitate the discharge of dust in the dust collector.

In addition, the present invention has an effect that can prevent the dust is discharged back to the suction port by providing a backflow prevention member in the dust collector.

In addition, the present invention has an effect that can improve the sweeping function of heavy dust by providing a guide portion in the suction port.

1 is a perspective view of a robot cleaner according to the present invention.
2 is a cross-sectional view showing the overall configuration of a robot cleaner according to the present invention.
3 is a cross-sectional view showing the main portion of the robot cleaner according to the present invention.
4 is an operation diagram showing the operation of the robot cleaner according to the present invention.
5 is a comparison table comparing the cleaning performance of the robot cleaner according to the present invention and the robot cleaner according to the related art.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a perspective view of a robot cleaner according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the overall configuration of the robot cleaner according to the present invention.

1 and 2, the robot cleaner according to the present invention, a main body 10 to form an appearance, a dust collecting device 20 installed in the main body 10 to collect dust and the like, and a dust collecting device And a blower 30 which communicates with 20 to generate a suction force for sucking dust and the like.

An inlet 11 for suctioning dust and the like from the bottom is formed at the lower part of the main body 10 forming the exterior, and the air sucked by the blower 30 to the upper part of the main body 10 to the outside of the main body 10. When the discharge port 12 for discharging and the robot cleaner 1 are docked in a docking station (not shown), a discharge port 13 for discharging dust collected in the dust collecting device 20 to the docking station is formed.

The lower portion of the main body 10 is provided with a rotary brush 14 for sweeping or scattering dust or dirt on the floor in order to increase suction efficiency of dust or the like.

The rotating brush 14 is formed in a long cylindrical shape and is rotatably mounted by exposing a part from the lower surface of the main body 10. For this purpose, the main body 10 has an arc-shaped seating portion 15 recessed in a predetermined depth. The rotary brush 14 is mounted to the seating portion 15.

In addition, the suction port 11 is formed between the one end of the seating portion 15 and the lower surface of the main body 10 to have a predetermined width approximately the length of the rotary brush 14 and is swept away by the operation of the rotary brush 14. The suspended dust is sucked into the dust collector 20 through the suction port 11.

In addition, the lower portion of the main body 10 is provided with a pair of electric wheels 16 to move the robot cleaner 1, a pair of electric wheels 16 are driven by a drive motor (not shown) to rotate each It is selectively driven to enable the body 10 to move linearly and rotationally to allow the robot cleaner 1 to move in the required direction.

In addition, the inside of the main body 10 is provided with a control unit 19 for controlling the operation of the robot cleaner 1, and a charging battery 17 for supplying power for the operation of the robot cleaner 1, the main body ( On the side of 10) obstacle obstacle sensors 18 such as infrared sensors or ultrasonic sensors are installed to avoid obstacles.

The obstacle sensor 18 measures the distance to the wall or furniture located around the robot cleaner 1 and transmits the information to the controller 19, and the controller 19 based on the received information. The driving of the pair of electric wheels 16 is controlled.

Blowing device 30 for generating a suction force to the dust collector 20 has a motor unit 30a is provided with a motor 31 and a blower fan unit 30b is provided with a blowing fan 32, and generates power The blower fan 32 which generates the blowing force by the power of the motor 31 and the motor 31 is surrounded by one case 33.

Blowing fan 32 of the blower 30 applied to the present invention is composed of a centrifugal fan that sucks air in the axial direction and discharges in a radial direction, the air discharged from the blower fan 32 is a motor 31 After cooling, it is discharged radially through the plurality of through holes 34 provided in the motor unit 30a and finally discharged to the outside of the main body 10 through the discharge port 12 formed in the upper portion of the main body 10.

The dust collector 20 for accommodating the dust sucked into the suction port 11 is provided on the side surface of the blower 30 in the main body 10.

Dust collector 20 is formed in a substantially rectangular box shape, the lower portion is in communication with the suction port 11 and the side portion of the dust collector 20 is provided in communication with the blower 30, by the drive of the blower 30 Due to the suction force, it is possible to accommodate the dust, dirt, etc. in the dust collector 20.

The dust collector 20 is partitioned so as to vary the storage space of dust, etc. according to the weight of dust, etc., which is provided under the dust collector 20 to accommodate relatively heavy dust, dirt, etc. 40 and the second collecting unit 50 provided on the dust collector 20 to accommodate relatively light dust, dirt, etc., and the first and second collecting units 40 and 50 are connected to each other. It comprises a passage (21).

In addition, a dust amount sensor (not shown) for detecting the amount of dust collected in the dust collector 20 is installed in the dust collector 20 where dust is collected, so that a predetermined amount of dust is accumulated in the dust collector 20. When the robot cleaner 1 is moved to a docking station (not shown) to empty the dust.

3 is a cross-sectional view showing the main portion of the robot cleaner according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, the lower surface of the first collecting part 40 is formed to be substantially horizontal, and since the suction port 11 is provided at a position adjacent to the floor of the room, dust or the like introduced through the suction port 11 is provided. Air including the is to flow in the first collecting portion 40 horizontally.

Inlet 11 is provided with a guide portion 11a inclined downward to be adjacent to the floor in order to guide the dust, etc., swept away by the rotary brush 14 to the first collecting portion 40.

Guide portion 11a is relatively heavy dust, dirt, etc. that is hard to be sucked into the dust collector 20 by the suction force of the blower 30 is swept by the rotation of the rotary brush 14 directly to the first collecting portion 40 The first collecting unit 40 may improve the cleaning efficiency of the robot cleaner 1 by guiding the flow of the first collecting unit 40 to function similarly to the dust collecting tray.

In addition, a backflow preventing member 41 is provided on the upper surface of the suction port 11 side of the first collecting part 40 to prevent dust and the like collected in the dust collecting device 20 from flowing backward through the suction port 11. .

The backflow prevention member 41 is coupled to the upper surface of the first collecting part 40 by using the hinge device 42.

When the non-return member 41 does not drive the robot cleaner 1, the suction port 11 is closed, and when the robot cleaner 1 starts cleaning by the suction force of the blower 30. By rotating in the suction direction of air, the suction inlet 11 side is opened to enable dust and the like to be sucked into the dust collector 20.

In addition, when the driving of the robot cleaner 1 is terminated, the backflow prevention member 41 is restored to close the inlet 11 so as to prevent dust, etc. collected inside from being discharged through the inlet 11 again. Can be.

In this embodiment, the non-return member 41 is rotatably installed by the suction force of the blower 30, but the non-return member may be opened and closed by using a separate driving device. Of course.

In addition, an acceleration part 43 is formed at the end of the first collecting part 40 to reduce the flow path cross-sectional area. Such an accelerating part 43 narrows the suction end area of the air and passes through the first collecting part 40. By increasing the speed of the dust and the like to increase the force to raise the second collecting portion (50).

The second collecting part 50 formed on the upper part of the first collecting part 40 communicates with the first collecting part 40 by the connecting passage 21 to collect relatively light dust, and at one side, a blower. The filter unit 51 for purifying the air sucked by the 30 and discharged to the outside is provided, and the dust collected in the second collecting unit 50 is collected again on the other side through the connecting passage 21. Separation member 52 is formed to protrude to prevent the flow back to the portion (40).

Therefore, relatively light dust flows through the first collecting unit 40 by the suction force of the blower 30 to the second collecting unit 50, wherein the first collecting unit 40 is light dust. The back flows to the second collecting part 50 to serve as a connection flow path, and is raised between the first collecting part 40 and the second collecting part 50 through a connecting passage 21 formed up and down, It is accommodated in the two collecting parts 50.

In addition, a communication hole 53 is formed at an upper portion of the second collecting part 50 so as to communicate with the outlet 13, and an opening and closing device 54 for opening and closing the communication hole 53 is provided. Therefore, the robot cleaner 1 may open and close the opening and closing device 54 while docked at the docking station to remove dust contained in the dust collecting device 20 through the communication hole 53 and the discharge port 13.

5 is a comparison table comparing the cleaning performance of the robot cleaner according to the present invention and the robot cleaner according to the related art.

Figure 5 compares the cleaning performance of the robot cleaner disclosed in the prior art and the robot cleaner according to the present invention, and equipped with a blower having a significantly lower output (approximately 100 W) than the output of a general vacuum cleaner (about 600 W) The experimental results are shown.

The cleaning efficiency shown in the comparison table represents the weight of dust collected in the dust collector as a percentage of the weight of dust sprayed in a predetermined area.

The robot cleaner disclosed in the prior art, which scatters dust on the floor using a brush and collects the scattered dust on the filter side through a connector extending vertically from the suction head and the suction head, is shown in FIG. It has a cleaning efficiency of. On the other hand, the robot cleaner according to the present invention collects relatively light dust by using a suction force of the blower by sweeping the heavy dust, etc. by rotating the rotating brush, and at the same time, the cleaning efficiency of 95%. Could be achieved.

Therefore, the robot cleaner according to the present invention can improve the cleaning efficiency compared to the prior art.

Next, the operation of the robot cleaner according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

4 is an operation diagram showing the operation of the robot cleaner according to the present invention.

When the user operates the robot cleaner 1, the blower 30 and the rotary brush 14 operate. As shown in FIG. 4, the first blower 30 and the rotary brush 14 operate by the suction force caused by the operation of the blower 30. The non-return member 41 provided in the collecting unit 40 rotates to open the suction port 11 to suck dust, dirt, and the like into the dust collector 20.

At this time, relatively light dust, dirt, etc. are scattered by the rotation of the rotary brush 14, relatively heavy dust, dirt, etc. are swept away, heavy dust, dirt, etc. to be swept through the guide portion (11a) Raised to be collected in the first collecting portion 40.

In addition, the light dust is moved along the interior of the first collecting portion 40, the flow rate is increased while passing through the accelerator 43, the passage cross-sectional area is narrowed through the connecting passage 21 through the second collecting portion ( 50). The light dust and the like thus raised are placed on the second collecting unit 50 and finally received, and the dust and the like contained in the second collecting unit 50 by the separating member 52 move to the first collecting unit 40. Is prevented.

When the user ends the operation of the robot cleaner 1, the operation of the blower 30 and the rotary brush 14 ends, and the counter current provided in the first collecting unit 40 due to the termination of the operation of the blower 30. The prevention member 41 is restored to close the suction port 11 side, thereby preventing the dust and the like contained in the dust collector 20 from being discharged to the suction port 11.

Therefore, the dust collector 20 of the robot cleaner 1 according to the present invention accommodates relatively heavy dust in the first collecting portion 40 formed at the bottom, and the second collecting portion 50 having relatively light dust formed thereon. Separate and accommodate).

As such, the dust collected in the dust collecting apparatus 20 may be discharged by being docked in a docking station (not shown), and the heavy dust collected in the first collecting part 40 which is not discharged by the suction force of the docking station. The back may be directly discharged by the user by rotating the backflow preventing member 41 which closes the suction port 11 side using a finger or the like.

The robot cleaner 1 according to the present invention rotates the rotary brush 14 even when using a relatively small blower 30 having low suction performance, while sweeping heavy dust and the like into the first collecting part 40. By collecting the relatively light dust in the second collecting unit 50 by using the suction force of the blower 30, the cleaning performance can be maximized even in the structure of the compact robot cleaner, and the backflow preventing member in the first collecting unit 40 A 41 can be provided to prevent dust and the like collected from being discharged to the suction port 11 again.

Description of the Related Art [0002]
1: robot cleaner 10: main body
11: suction port 11a: guide part
12: discharge port 14: rotary brush
20: dust collector 21: connection passage
30: blower 32: blower fan
40: first collecting portion 41: backflow prevention member
50: second collecting unit 52: separating member

Claims (7)

A main body having a suction port for sucking dust,
A rotating brush provided on the suction port side to sweep or scatter dust;
A blower provided in the main body to generate a suction force;
A dust collecting device having a collecting part for accommodating the dust sucked into the suction port;
It is provided in the dust collector includes a backflow prevention member for opening and closing the inlet of the collecting unit in conjunction with the drive of the blower,
The reverse flow prevention member rotates in the suction direction of the air by the suction force of the blower during the operation of the blower to maintain the open state to open the inlet of the collecting unit, so that dust is sucked into the dust collector,
When the blower is stopped, the dust in the dust collector is prevented from being discharged through the suction port by maintaining a closed state closing the inlet of the collecting unit.
And the backflow preventing member maintains an inclined direction with respect to a lower surface of the collecting part when the blower is stopped and the backflow preventing member is in the closed state. delete The robot cleaner as claimed in claim 1, wherein the collecting part accommodates dust swept away by the rotating brush. delete The robot vacuum cleaner according to claim 3, wherein the backflow preventing member is provided in close proximity to the rotary brush. According to claim 3, The non-return member is one side is hinged to the upper end of the collecting portion and the other side is composed of a free end,
And the free end keeps the inclined direction in contact with the inner surface of the collecting part when the backflow preventing member is in the closed state. The robot cleaner as claimed in claim 6, further comprising a guide part which is formed to be inclined downward and is adjacent to a floor in order to guide the dust washed by the rotating brush to the collecting part.

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