Bladed Pergola Cleaning Tool
The pergola slat cleaning tool addresses the inefficiency of traditional methods by stabilizing on the pergola blades and using rotating brushes or nozzles to efficiently clean complex slats with reduced user effort.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- FR · FR
- Patent Type
- Patents
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2024-05-02
- Publication Date
- 2026-04-10
AI Technical Summary
Existing cleaning tools, such as high-pressure water guns, struggle to effectively clean the complex, elevated slats of louvered pergolas due to their hollow and undercut sections, requiring multiple angled water spraying and necessitating the use of ladders, which is tiring and inefficient.
A pergola slat cleaning tool with an elongated body featuring a handle, support and guide element that rests on the pergola blade, allowing the tool to be translated along the blade, and includes rotating brushes or pressurized water nozzles to clean both sides simultaneously, with a design that stabilizes the tool and reduces user effort.
The tool efficiently cleans pergola blades with reduced user fatigue by distributing weight onto the blades, using rotating brushes or high-pressure nozzles, and maintains stability, making cleaning easier and more effective.
Smart Images
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Abstract
Description
Title of the invention: Bladed pergola cleaning tool technical field
[0001] The present invention relates to the general field of pressurized water cleaning tools, brushes etc. arranged as a specific tool for cleaning hard-to-reach structures.
[0002] In particular, the present invention relates to the field of cleaning slatted pergolas, the slats of which may have a hollow section, gutters and slides at least partially undercut, while said slats are located at a significant height making their cleaning difficult.
[0003] Prior techniques
[0004] The tools used in the context of roof cleaning and equivalents are essentially high pressure water tools (tens or even hundreds of bars) which come in the form of a gun with an elongated nozzle.
[0005] The water comes out of the end of the nozzle through a nozzle, possibly rotating to give a cone shape to the jet, and impacts the surface to be cleaned, which dissolves and carries away dirt, biofilms and soiling.
[0006] Louvered pergolas, or "bioclimatic" pergolas, have louvers that allow the ceiling surface to be opened or closed. By opening and closing the pergola louvers at different times of the day, the user controls the sunlight and air circulation in the space under the pergola, and therefore the temperature of that space.
[0007] This thermal regulation is particularly economical in that it does not require active air conditioning.
[0008] The blades of these pergolas have an "S" shaped section with edges designed to fit together with the edge of the next blade, in particular to form a watertight surface when closed.
[0009] Even double-skinned blades, which are flatter over most of their surface, have lips and interlocking recesses.
[0010] This complex section, with its hollows and undercut channels, makes cleaning it with a pressure washer difficult. In particular, effective cleaning requires spraying water from multiple angles, while the blade's elevated position prevents the user from aiming the pressure washer from above the blades without using a ladder or similar equipment.
[0011] The weight of pressurized water guns with electrical cables and hydraulic supply hoses is also significant, and a user cleaning blades with such a gun at arm's length will therefore quickly become exhausted.
[0012] There is therefore a need for a tool that allows for effective cleaning of pergola blades, which is simple and not very tiring to use. Description of the invention
[0013] To meet this need, the invention proposes a pergola slat cleaning tool comprising an elongated body, with: - at the lower end of the extended body in the tool's operating position, at least one handle and connections to a water and / or power supply, - at the upper end of the extended body in the tool's operating position: * a cleaning and * a horizontal segment carrying, in a laterally offset position relative to the body lying down in the position of use of the tool, a support and guide element which, when using the tool, comes to rest on the upper edge of the pergola blade to be cleaned and forms a guide to translate the tool along the pergola blade.
[0014] The tool then allows the cleaning element to be raised to the height of the pergola blades due to its elongated shape, with a handle at one end.
[0015] The support element allows the majority of the weight to rest on the pergola blades, which then relieves the user and makes cleaning easier and less tiring.
[0016] The tool may also have one or more of the following characteristics, taken alone or in combination.
[0017] The elongated body of the tool may include a pole with, at its lower end in the operating position, a functional block carrying the handle(s) and the water and / or power supply components such as tanks, motors and compressors, the functional block being offset laterally from the pole under the support and guide element so that the center of gravity of the tool is located, in the operating position, close to the vertical of the support and guide element.
[0018] The vertical position of the tool is then stabilized, which further reduces the effort required to guide and suspend the tool from the pergola blades.
[0019] The support and guide element may include a roller, in particular in the shape of an hourglass or of two cones presenting their points, movable in rotation around a horizontal axis in the position of use of the tool.
[0020] The roller(s) then allow the tool to be translated along the blade with a rolling motion without slipping.
[0021] The cleaning element may include at least one rotating brush, driven in rotation around a vertical axis in the tool's operating position, and means for injecting water at the level of the rotating brush.
[0022] The brush(s) then wash the pergola blade while the user moves the tool along it.
[0023] The cleaning element may in particular be in the shape of a U open downwards in the position of use of the tool, with the support and guide element at the bottom of the U, and with two rotating brushes carried by the parallel arms of the U, and located, in the position of use of the tool, on either side of the pergola blade to be cleaned.
[0024] The brushes then wash both sides of the pergola at the same time.
[0025] As an alternative or in addition, the cleaning element may include a pressurized water supply and in that the cleaning element includes pressurized water emission nozzles, arranged in rows, directed towards areas to be cleaned on the pergola blades when using the tool.
[0026] Pressurized water, in particular high pressure, exceeding one hundred bars, then performs the washing, possibly in addition to or as an alternative to rotary brushes.
[0027] The nozzles can be arranged in a plurality of sets, each set of nozzles being connected to a separate pressurized water line, and the tool then includes a water distributor, supplying in turn the pressurized water lines of each of the sets of nozzles.
[0028] By supplying only part of the nozzles, insufficient pressure and / or flow rate are avoided.
[0029] The nozzles can then form a conical or fan-shaped jet when supplied with pressurized water, with central axes of the cone or fan oriented inclined for one set of nozzles upwards and for the other set of nozzles downwards, presenting an angle of 10 to 60° with the horizontal in the tool's operating position.
[0030] The tool thus obtained may further include non-motorized brushes, the position of which along the cleaning element can be adjusted.
[0031] The tool may include a cone-shaped water recovery device around the elongated body, open at the top.
[0032] Summary description of the figures
[0033] Other advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the accompanying figures, among which:
[0034] [Fig. 1] is a perspective view of the tool according to a particular embodiment of the invention,
[0035] [Fig.2] is a perspective representation of the tool of [Fig.1] in progress of use,
[0036] [Fig.3] is an exploded perspective view of the cleaning organ of the tool shown in figures 1 and 2,
[0037] [Fig.4] is a side view representation of a second embodiment of tool according to the invention in use,
[0038] [Fig. 5] is an exploded perspective view of the cleaning element of the tool of the [Fig.4],
[0039] [Fig.6] is an exploded perspective view representation of a cleaning organ of a third embodiment of the tool according to the invention,
[0040] [Fig.7] is a cross-sectional view at the height of the nozzles of the cleaning element of the [Fig.6]
[0041] [Fig.8] is a partial representation of the tool carrying the cleaning element of figures 6 and 7 in use,
[0042] [Fig.9] is a schematic representation of a water distributor for the organ of cleaning of figures 6 to 8,
[0043] [Fig. 10] and
[0044] [Fig. 11] illustrate the operation of the water distributor in [Fig.9].
[0045] The examples are given by way of illustration and are not intended to be limiting. Other embodiments of the invention can easily be obtained by variations and combinations of the embodiments shown. The dimensions and proportions illustrated in the figures may differ from reality and may have been adapted to facilitate understanding of the invention. Detailed description
[0046] The [Fig. 1] is a schematic perspective representation of a first embodiment of tool 100 according to an embodiment of the invention.
[0047] The tool 100 comprises an elongated body 1, consisting of a pole, with at its lower end, in the position of use of the tool 100, a handle 3 and a functional block 5, comprising the fittings and supplies 51 for water, electricity and possibly soap of the tool 100, motor batteries etc.
[0048] At the other end of the elongated body 1, the upper end in the tool 100's operating position, the tool 100 includes a cleaning element 7, equipped, in the embodiment shown, with rotating brushes 71.
[0049] The tool 100's operating position is the position in which the pole is substantially vertical, with the cleaning element 7 pointing upwards.
[0050] Figure 2 shows tool 100 in use for washing the blades 200 of a pergola. Figure 3 shows an exploded view of the main components of the cleaning unit 7.
[0051] The cleaning element 7 has a general inverted U shape, open downwards in the tool 100 operating position. The rotating brushes 71 are carried here by the parallel and vertical arms of the U, and rotate around vertical axes with the tool 100 in the operating position.
[0052] At the bottom of the U, on the horizontal segment in the tool 100 operating position and in a laterally offset position relative to the pole 3, there are two rollers 73, formed of a rotating central shaft and two cones presenting their tips.
[0053] An actuation transmission 75, forming the bottom of the U and carrying the rollers 73, transmits the motor torque of the brush 71 in the extension of the pole 3, connected to an electric motor in the functional block 5, to the brush 71 offset laterally with respect to said pole 3.
[0054] The rollers 73 are mobile in rotation around a horizontal axis in the position of use of the tool 100. They form a support and guide element in translation coming to rest against the upper edge of the blade 200 of pergola being cleaned.
[0055] Thus, when the user cleans the pergola blade 200 using the tool 100, the weight of the tool 100 is supported by the blade 200 via the rollers 73 resting on its upper edge. The user is thereby relieved of the weight of the tool 100 and only has to apply the forces necessary to move the tool 100 along the blade 200, said movement being further guided by the rollers 73.
[0056] In particular, the rollers 73 can be motorized, and controlled for example by the same trigger which activates the cleaning device 7.
[0057] Alternatively, the rollers 73 can be replaced by one-piece hourglass-shaped or rotating "diabolo" elements, or even simply by an indented surface, with a coating allowing sliding along the upper edge of the pergola blade 200 being cleaned with less friction (for example, polytetrafluoroethylene PTFE).
[0058] The brushes 71 may in particular be brushes composed of a central tubular body, through which water possibly with added soap is injected into the brush 71, and forming a support for flexible strips of fabric, neoprene, polyurethane foam or equivalent, in order to minimize scratches on the blades 200.
[0059] As an alternative or in addition, water can be injected directly onto the blade, in particular after the passage of the brushes 71, through a nozzle for rinsing.
[0060] Part of the tongues of the brushes 71 may in particular be longer than the rest, so that said longer tongues engage in recesses and grooves of the blades 200. More generally, the length of the tongues on the brush 71 may be adapted to the profile of the blades 200.
[0061] The functional block 5 is in particular partially offset from the pole 3, under the cleaning member 7, and in particular under the rollers 73, so that the center of gravity of the tool 100 is brought closer to the vertical of the rollers 73 and thus stabilize the vertical operating position of the tool 100 when it is attached to a pergola blade 200.
[0062] Figures 4 and 5 show another embodiment of tool 100 for cleaning blades 200 of pergolas.
[0063] In this embodiment, the cleaning element 7 comprises a plurality of nozzles 77 for emitting pressurized water. The tool 100 is then provided with a connection 51 to a high-pressure water compressor, which supplies it with water at a high pressure on the order of several tens to hundreds of bars, typically 150 bars.
[0064] The nozzles 77 are arranged in rows and directed towards the areas to be cleaned of the blades 200. The cleaning of the pergola blades 200 is then done by the water impacting the surface of the blades 200, without friction by means of rotating brushes 71 as previously described in the first embodiment.
[0065] The lower nozzles 77 are advantageously closable, so that when the pergola blade 200 is thin, making these lower nozzles 77 useless, they can be closed to increase the pressure available in the other nozzles 77.
[0066] In particular, the cleaning element 7 has an inverted U-shaped frame 79 which carries the nozzles 77 and the support and guide element 73, here in the form of hourglass-shaped "diabolos" located in the horizontal segment of the frame 79.
[0067] The nozzles 77 may, in particular, be conical opening nozzles or rotary nozzles, which emit pressurized water in a conical jet, the jets of the nozzles 77 slightly overlapping in order to clean the entire surface of the pergola blades 200 with each pass. A nozzle 77 is, in particular, located at the horizontal segment, in the tool 100's operating position, of the frame 79, and emits water onto the edge of the blade 200.
[0068] The nozzles 77 may in particular have intermittent operation by pulsations in order to avoid pressure drops due to pressure losses or insufficient flow in the nozzles 77 furthest from the pressurized water supply.
[0069] The tool 100 further comprises a cone-shaped water recovery device 9 around the pole 3, open at the top. The water emitted by the nozzles, having impacted the blades 200, flows into the water recovery device 9, which then shelters the user, and is discharged in a controlled manner through a water outlet 91, for example to a sewer grate.
[0070] Figures 6, 7, and 8 show a different embodiment based on the use of high-pressure water emitting nozzles 77. Figure 6 is an exploded view of the main components of the cleaning element 7, and Figure 7 is a view of the... section in the transverse vertical plane at the level of the nozzles 77 of the cleaning element 7 and [Fig.8] shows the cleaning element 7 in use in perspective in top view.
[0071] The nozzles 77 are here arranged in a single row, the cleaning member 7 being in the shape of a hook or inverted L, with the rollers 73 at the end of the free end of said cleaning member 7.
[0072] The nozzles 77 emit conical or fan-shaped jets with a central axis inclined, for some downwards and for others upwards, at an angle to the horizontal, considering the tool 100 in the position of use, of the order of 15 to 60°, in particular between 20 and 45°, and more particularly of the order of 30°.
[0073] The upward-facing nozzles 77 are connected to a first supply line, and the downward-facing nozzles 77 to a separate second supply line. The tool 100 includes a distributor (see in particular Figures 9 and following) which selectively supplies one or the other of the two supply lines and thus separately activates each of the two sets of nozzles 77.
[0074] The cleaning element 7 is provided with non-motorized brushes 81, which are inserted into a rail 83 on the side of the frame 79 forming the chassis of the cleaning element 7.
[0075] The brushes 81 are thus translatable vertically along the frame 79, and can be placed at the height of the gutters, grooves and undercuts of the blades 200. In particular, the bristles of the brushes 81 are inclined so as to engage in said gutters, grooves and undercuts.
[0076] The cleaning unit includes a hood 83 having flexible blade "curtains", or, alternatively, linear brushes, forming a barrier to projections, which may also be implemented.
[0077] In [Fig.8] is shown the water recovery device 9, which is formed like an inverted umbrella, with a square horizontal section.
[0078] Figures 9 and following illustrate a water distributor 300 for the cleaning element of figures 6 to 8 in particular.
[0079] Fig. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional representation of the water distributor 300. The water distributor has a Y-shaped water inlet 301, which splits into two pipes, each pipe being fitted with a non-return valve 303.
[0080] The two pipes are connected on one side each to a pressure reservoir 305 comprising a compressible fluid compressed by the pressure of the water, and on the other side each to a chamber of a bicameral space 307.
[0081] The bicameral space 307 is separated into two chambers by a membrane 309, connected at its center to a tubular slide 311 shaped like an hourglass. The tubular slide 311 is notably free to move in rectilinear translation between two extreme lateral positions, with two flat seals on either side of the membrane, which, when the tubular mobile 311 is in extreme position, respectively blocking a water outlet 313 of one of the two chambers of the bicameral space 307.
[0082] The space accessible to water is hatched with fine hatching in [Fig.9].
[0083] Figures 10 and 11 illustrate the tilting of the tubular mobile 311 and the operation of the water distributor 300.
[0084] In the complete absence of pressure, the compressed nature of the membrane 309 displaces the tubular element 311 into one of the extreme positions, or close to it. The pressure increase through the injection of water then brings said tubular element 311 into the extreme position if it has not spontaneously adopted one.
[0085] In operation, when one of the nozzle sets 77 emits its pressurized water jet, the pressure in the two pipes is balanced, and as long as it is in balance, the tubular mobile 311 remains in the extreme position adopted.
[0086] When the user releases the trigger and momentarily cuts off the pressurized water supply, the pipe that is not blocked by the tubular mobile 311 empties through the water outlet 313 and through the nozzles 77, which reduces the pressure in it.
[0087] Figure 10 illustrates the configuration immediately after the trigger is released, cutting off the pressurized water supply. The tubular actuator 311 is in its far left position in Figure 10, thus blocking the left-hand conduit. The water at the inlet of the left chamber of the bicameral space 307 is at a higher pressure than at the inlet of the right chamber. Two arrows of different sizes and thicknesses indicate this pressure difference.
[0088] The pressure drop in the chamber on the right due to the emptying of water at the outlet 313 of said chamber breaks the pressure balance between the two chambers, causing the tubular mobile to tilt to the other extreme position, on the right, which is represented in [Fig. 11].
[0089] The chamber to the left of the bicameral space 307 is then opened, and pressurized water is then emitted from the nozzles 77 of the other assembly, connected to this newly opened chamber on the left.
[0090] By interrupting the water supply again, for example by momentarily releasing the trigger of tool 100, the opposite situation is caused, which will again open the chamber on the right in figures 10 and 11.
[0091] Switching from one to the other of the nozzle sets 77, with for example one set of nozzles 77 with upward jet and the other downward jet, is done by simply momentarily releasing the trigger of the tool 100, without a dedicated button.
[0092] Furthermore, the tilting is achieved purely mechanically, without any energy input other than the pressure of the water injected into the tool 100, with moving parts in translation and with minimal shock. The tilting is thus reliably maintained while the distributor 300 is simple to assemble.
[0093] The tool 100 according to the invention is practical to use, it allows efficient cleaning of the blades 200 of pergolas, in particular of blades 200 with complex profile, with hollows, gutters and undercuts.
Claims
Demands
1. A tool (100) for cleaning pergola blades (200) comprising an elongated body (1), having: - at the lower end of the elongated body (1) in the tool (100) operating position, at least one handle (3) and connections (51) to a water and / or power supply, - at the upper end of the elongated body (1) in the tool (100) operating position: * a cleaning member (7) and * a horizontal segment carrying, in a position offset laterally from the elongated body in the tool (100) operating position, a support and guide element (73) which, when using the tool (100), rests on the upper edge of the pergola blade (200) to be cleaned and forms a guide for translating the tool (100) along the pergola blade (200).
2. Tool according to claim 1, characterized in that the elongated body (1) of the tool (100) comprises a pole with at its lower end in the position of use, a functional block (5) carrying the handle(s) (3) and the water and / or power supply components such as tanks, motors and compressors, the functional block (5) being offset laterally from the pole (1) under the support and guide element (73) so that the center of gravity of the tool is located, in the position of use, close to the vertical of the support and guide element (73).
3. Tool according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the support and guide element (73) comprises a roller, in particular in the form of an hourglass or of two cones presenting their points, movable in rotation about a horizontal axis in the position of use of the tool (100).
4. Tool according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the cleaning member (7) comprises at least one rotating brush (71), driven in rotation about a vertical axis in the tool's operating position (100), and means for injecting water at the level of the rotating brush (71).
5. Tool according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the cleaning member (7) is U-shaped, open downwards in the tool's operating position (100), with the support element and guidance (73) at the bottom of the U, and in that it comprises two rotating brushes (71) carried by the parallel arms of the U, and located, in the position of use of the tool (100), on either side of the blade (200) of pergola to be cleaned.
6. Tool according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a pressurized water supply and in that the cleaning member (7) comprises pressurized water emission nozzles (77), arranged in rows, directed towards areas to be cleaned of the pergola blades (200) during the use of the tool (100).
7. Tool according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the nozzles (77) are arranged in a plurality of sets, each set of nozzles being connected to a separate pressurized water line (313), and in that it comprises a water distributor (300), supplying in turn the pressurized water lines of each of the sets of nozzles (77).
8. Tool according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the nozzles (77) form a conical or fan-shaped jet when supplied with pressurized water, with central axes of the cone or fan oriented inclined for one set of nozzles (77) upwards and for the other set of nozzles (77) downwards, presenting an angle of 10 to 60° with the horizontal in the tool (100) operating position.
9. Tool according to any one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that it further comprises non-motorized brushes (81), the position of which along the cleaning member (7) can be adjusted.
10. Tool according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a cone-shaped water recovery device (9) around the elongated body (1), open upwards.