Robot cleaner having air cleaning function and system thereof

Abstract

A robot cleaner for cleaning ambient air in a cleaning area while cleaning a cleaning surface, and a system thereof. The robot cleaner and the system thereof comprise a body, a driving part driving a plurality of wheels disposed at a lower portion of the body, a dust suction part formed in the body to draw-in dust from a cleaning surface, and an air cleaning part formed in the body to draw-in dust-ladened air from a cleaning area. The robot cleaner cleans the air and discharges cleaned air, and, utilizing a controller disposed in the body, controls the driving part and the air cleaning part. Accordingly, since the robot cleaner provides cleaned and fresh air to a predetermined cleaning area while cleaning a surface, it contributes to a fresher residential environment.

Description

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims priority to Korean Application No. 2003-51139, filed Jul. 24, 2003, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is entirely incorporated herein by reference. CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0002] This application is related to copending Korean Patent Application Nos. 10-2003-0013961, filed Mar. 6, 2003; 10-2003-0029242, filed May 9, 2003; and 10-2003-0043244, filed Jun. 30, 2003, whose disclosures are entirely incorporated herein by reference. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0003] The present invention relates to a robot cleaner with an air cleaning function and a system thereof, and more particularly, to a robot cleaner capable of cleaning ambient air in a predetermined cleaning area while performing a cleaning with respect to a floor, and a system thereof. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0004] Despite the convenience provided by the invention of a vacuum cleaner, cleaning is still an exhausting h...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008] The present invention has been developed in order to solve the above problems in the related art. Accordingly, an aspect of the present invention provides a robot cleaner and a system thereof which cleans ambient air in a cleaning area while cleaning a cleaning surface.

Problems solved by technology

Despite the convenience provided by the invention of a vacuum cleaner, cleaning is still an exhausting house chore because a user has to run the vacuum cleaner to different places of the house by himself / herself.

However, the conventional robot cleaner has no air cleaning function and simply functions to clean the area surface by drawing-in dust and dirt.

However, the robot cleaner with the above construction, which cleans dust and dirt from the cleaning surface while running around the cleaning area according to a predetermined running pattern, has problems.

First, since the robot cleaner has only a cleaning function of drawing-in dirt and dust from a cleaning surface, a user has to purchase a separate air cleaning device in order to add an air cleaning function to the robot cleaner.

Second, in a case where dust is not completely drawn-in to the suction port 5 from the surface to the robot cleaner which has no air cleaning function, air in the cleaning area increases in impurity, and as a result, the user is exposed to potential harm by the unclean air.

Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.

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