JPH0829133B2 - Electric vacuum cleaner - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric vacuum cleaner that is an automatic traveling type vacuum cleaner and has a built-in microcomputer and the like and performs unattended cleaning according to a program.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of electric vacuum cleaner has a wheel for automatic traveling and a microcomputer for controlling traveling control and suction, various sensors for traveling, a motor for traveling, a motor for suction, Built-in fan, suction nozzle, dust box, pre-programmed program mode, or by using reflective tape, marker as a mark, or automatically moving the body while controlling the traveling direction to perform unattended cleaning Met.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In such a conventional electric vacuum cleaner, it is usual that the electric vacuum cleaner travels and sucks in the same place only once, regardless of the amount of dust on the surface to be cleaned. For this reason, where there is little dust, it can be cleaned cleanly, but where there is much dust, there is a problem that dust remains due to insufficient cleaning.

In order to prevent this, if the suction force is set to a large value or the traveling speed is slowed, there is a problem that unnecessary suction power is lost in a place where there is little dust.

An object of the present invention is to provide an electric vacuum cleaner that solves the above problems.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the vacuum cleaner of the present invention,
A suction port facing the floor surface on which the cleaner body travels, an electric blower that sucks dust through an air passage connecting the suction port and the dust box, and a dust detection unit provided in this air passage,
It has an automatic traveling mechanism section, a memory section for storing a traveling pattern, and a central control section for controlling the operation of the electric blower of the cleaner and the automatic traveling mechanism section. The central control section is operated by the automatic traveling mechanism section. And the suction operation by the electric blower is performed, and the traveling pattern is stored in the memory while distinguishing the traveling area in which the amount of dust in the air passage exceeds the set value and the other traveling areas by the dust detection unit. However, after the traveling operation by the automatic traveling mechanism section is completed, the traveling pattern of the memory section is reversed and the traveling area in which the set value is exceeded is again cleaned.

Operation According to the above configuration, the amount of dust sucked into the dust box is detected by the dust detection unit, and when the amount of dust is larger than the specified value, the running pattern of that portion is stored in the memory unit and automatically After the traveling operation by the traveling mechanism unit is completed, the electric vacuum cleaner can reversely clean the traveling area where the amount of dust is larger than a predetermined value.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electric vacuum cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side sectional view thereof. A vacuum cleaner body 1 has a built-in electric blower 2 for suction. The electric blower 2 is composed of a motor section 2a and a fan section 2b, and a dust box 4 containing a filter 3 is provided in front of the fan section 2b. Wheels 5 for traveling are provided on the lower right side of the cleaner body 1, and are driven by a motor 6. Wheels 7 on the left
A motor 8 is installed, and driven wheels 9 and 10 are provided in the rear. A suction port 11 is provided in front of the main body 1 and above the floor surface, the suction port 11 and the dust box 4 are connected by a pipe 12, and a dust detection unit 13 is provided at a connecting portion between the pipe 12 and the dust box 4. There is. At the lower center of the main body 1, a battery 14 for power supply and a control circuit 15 with a built-in microcomputer
Is provided.

FIG. 3 is a control circuit block diagram showing the flow of control signals. A drive control unit 16 is connected to the traveling motor 6, a drive control unit 17 is connected to the traveling motor 8, a suction control unit 18 is connected to the suction motor 2, and a microcomputer is built in the central control unit 19 (see FIG. (Not shown). Reference numeral 20 denotes a memory section, which is controlled by the signal from the dust detection section 13 to control the travel control section 16 and 1
The contents of 7 are stored. Control circuit 1 by these control units
5 is configured and is connected to the dust detection unit 13. The dust detector 13 is provided with a photodiode 22 facing the infrared light emitting diode 21.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the dust detector, in which the infrared light emitting diodes 21 are arranged in a line beside the central air passage 23, and the photodiodes 22 are arranged opposite to the air passage 23 on the opposite side. It is provided. The signal of the photodiode 22 is transmitted to the central control unit 19.

In the above mechanism, when the vacuum cleaner is moved to perform cleaning, the battery 14, the motors 2, 6, 8 and the control circuit 15,
The dust detection unit 13 is operated by being supplied with power, and the drive control units 16 and 1 are controlled by the central control unit 19 with a built-in microcomputer.
7 controls the motors 6 and 8 respectively, and the motors 6 and 8 rotate the wheels 5 and 7, so that the main body 1 moves.

The driven wheels 9 and 10 only rotate by the movement of the main body 1, and the direction of movement is curved to the right or to the left depending on the difference in the rotational speed of the wheels 5 and 7 driven by the motors 6 and 8. A driving pattern is programmed in advance in the microcomputer, and the motors 6 and 8 are controlled according to the instruction. (Or you can attach a reflective tape to the floor and trace the tape while detecting it with a sensor. Alternatively, you can use an ultrasonic radar, etc. to move and clean while creating a running map. Also, the fan 2b is rotated by the suction motor 2,
Dust is sucked in through the suction port 11, passes through the pipe 12,
The dust is sucked into the dust box 4 through the dust detector 13.

When dust passes through the air vent 23, the dust detector 13 can prevent infrared rays from the infrared light emitting diode 21 from reaching the photodiode 22, and the output signal of the photodiode 22 is reduced. When this signal drop falls below a specified value, the central control unit 19 receiving this signal causes the memory 20 to store the contents of the traveling portion and the drive control units 16 and 17 separately from the traveling contents up to that point. To go. When all the portions to be cleaned have been cleaned in this way, the memory 20 stores all the traveling contents that have been cleaned up to now and the traveling portions distinguished by the signal drop from the dust detection portion 13. .
The central control unit 19 with a built-in microcomputer compares the traveling patterns, moves to the traveling unit identified by the signal drop from the dust detection unit 13, and recleans only that portion. Further, this second cleaning is also processed in the same manner as described above, and this program is repeated until the signal drop from the dust detection unit 13 disappears.

In other words, if there is much dust, it will be returned and cleaned repeatedly until it is clean.

In this embodiment, the memory unit 20 is provided separately from the microcomputer of the central control unit 19, but when the memory of the microcomputer is large, the memory unit 20 may use the memory of the microcomputer as it is. As shown in FIG. 6, the dust detector 13 uses ultrasonic waves instead of infrared rays, and an ultrasonic oscillator 24 and an ultrasonic microphone 25 are provided so as to face the air passage 23. Even if a signal is input to the central control unit 19, the same effect as described above can be obtained. In addition, the movement of the vacuum cleaner to the re-cleaning part, the stored first running pattern,
You may move at high speed without inhaling, or
It is also possible to create a map of the cleaning section in the memory section 20 and move directly to the recleaning section.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION As described above, according to the present invention, the traveling pattern of the dust detection portion that passes through the passage in the suction passage, and the signal of the dust detection portion when the dust exceeds the specified amount can be used to determine the traveling pattern of that portion. It is stored separately from the conventional travel pattern, and after the travel by the automatic travel mechanism is completed, the separated travel area is cleaned again while the stored travel pattern is running backwards.
While preventing power loss in automatic traveling type cleaning, it is possible to prevent unsucked dust and perform efficient cleaning.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an electric vacuum cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the same, FIG. 3 is a block diagram thereof, and FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing an example of the traveling pattern, and FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged view of the dust detection unit in another embodiment. 1 ... Vacuum cleaner body, 2 ... Electric blower, 4 ... Dust box, 6,8 ... Traveling motor, 11 ... Suction port, 12 ... Pipe, 13 ... Dust detector, 15 ... Control Circuit, 20 …… Memory part.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A suction port facing a floor on which a cleaner body travels, an electric blower for sucking dust through an air passage connecting the suction port and a dust box, and dust detection provided in this air passage. Section, an automatic traveling mechanism section, a memory section for storing a traveling pattern, and a central control section for controlling the operation of the electric blower of the cleaner and the automatic traveling mechanism section,
The central control unit starts the operation by the automatic traveling mechanism unit and performs the suction operation by the electric blower, and the traveling area where the amount of dust in the air passage in the dust detection unit exceeds the set value and the other traveling areas. The electric vacuum cleaner stores the traveling pattern in the memory while distinguishing between the two, and after the traveling operation by the automatic traveling mechanism is completed, reverses the traveling pattern of the memory and performs cleaning traveling again in the traveling area exceeding the set value. .