Self-propelled vacuum cleaner

Abstract

A self-propelled vacuum cleaner having right and left side brushes for directing dust on a floor surface toward the inside of the bottom of the cleaner body. The right side brush rotates in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from top on a rotary shaft, which is tilted so that the lower end is located toward the right of and the rear of the cleaner body as compared with the upper end. The left side brush rotates in a clockwise direction as viewed from top on a rotary shaft, which is tilted so that the lower end is located toward the left of and the rear of the cleaner body as compared with the upper end. The tilted rotary shafts can prevent the outer portions of the side brushes at their rear portions from contacting a floor surface, thereby preventing dust collected by the front portions of the side brushes from being scattered to the outside of the cleaner body by the rear portions of the brushes.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a self-propelled vacuum cleaner, and more particularly to a self-propelled vacuum cleaner having side brushes for directing dust on a floor surface toward the inside of the cleaner body. [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art [0004] Self-propelled vacuum cleaners are known that have drive motors mounted in the main body thereof for driving wheels so as to clean a surface while controlling movement of the main body by controlling the drive motors. Especially in recent years, self-propelled vacuum cleaners capable of autonomous movement have been developed that can clean a surface while autonomously determining an area to be cleaned based on output signals of a plurality of sensors. [0005] Some of the conventional self-propelled vacuum cleaners have side brushes. The side brushes are mounted at both sides of a cleaner body, and rotate on rotary shafts extending in the vertical direct...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008] An object of the present invention is to provide a self-propelled vacuum cleaner that can prevent dust gathered up by the front portion of a side brush from being scattered to the outside of the cleaner body by the rear portion of the side brush, thereby having improved dust collecting power.

[0010] According to the first aspect of the present invention, the rotary shaft of the right side brush rotating in the counterclockwise direction as viewed from top is tilted so that the lower end is located toward the right and the rear of the cleaner body as compared with the upper end while the rotary shaft of the left side brush rotating in the clockwise direction as viewed from top is tilted so that the lower end is located toward the left of and the rear of the cleaner body as compared with the upper end. By such a configuration, the outer portions of the side brushes at the rear portions can be prevented from coming in contact with a floor surface. Therefore, the side brushes can prevent dust gathered up by the front portions thereof from being scattered to the outside of the cleaner body by the rear portions thereof.

[0012] By such a configuration, since the inner portions of the side brushes contact a floor surface under pressure higher than that at the outer portions of the side brushes, dust collecting power at the inside of the bottom of the cleaner body can be enhanced. Further, since the brush body of the side brush is shaped like a mop to spread out like a truncated cone with the free lower end, the side brush can cover a relatively large area to be cleaned. Accordingly, the cleaner can have improved dust collecting power.

[0015] By such a configuration, the self-propelled vacuum cleaner autonomously moves on and cleans a surface while automatically determining an area to be cleaned, so that it generally avoids a redundant cleaning operation for an already cleaned area. As described above, the side brushes of the self-propelled vacuum cleaner can prevent dust gathered up by the front portions thereof from being scattered to the outside of the cleaner body by the rear portions thereof. Therefore, dust scattering by the rear portions of the side brushes toward already cleaned areas can be inhibited, and thus dust collecting performance of the cleaner can be improved.

Problems solved by technology

However, in such a conventional self-propelled vacuum cleaner, since the rotary shafts of the side brushes are arranged to extend in the vertical direction, the entire surfaces of the side brushes that face a floor come in contact with the floor.

However, the self-propelled vacuum cleaner as disclosed in the Japanese laid-open patent publication HEI 5-228090 has the following problem.

The cleaner can keep part of the surfaces of the side brushes that face a floor from contacting the floor due to the rotary shafts arranged in the cleaner body to be angled with respect to the vertical direction, but since the rotary shafts are biased so that the outer ends of the side brushes come in contact with a floor, the cleaner cannot prevent the outer end portions of the side brushes at the rear portions from contacting with a floor.

Accordingly, the cleaner cannot sufficiently prevent dust scattering at the rear portions of the side brushes.

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