Cable-Actuated Squeegee Lift for Side-Swing Cleaning Turns
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cleaning machines with vacuum squeegees face issues such as damage from reverse travel and obstacles, limited movement during turns, and inefficiencies in fluid and particulate collection, particularly when trying to avoid obstacles while making turns with the squeegee swung out to the side.
Innovation Solution
A cable-actuated lift device that allows the vacuum squeegee to be raised, lowered, and swung out to the side of the cleaning machine, using a system with a linear actuator, rotatable linkage, and pivoting pulleys to enable unrestricted movement and minimize space requirements, allowing the squeegee to track and collect debris effectively during turns.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the vacuum squeegee is fixed in position or simply raised and lowered, then the structure is simple, but the squeegee misses collecting spent fluid and particulate matter when making tight turns
Solution Approach 1:
The squeegee is made dynamically positionable through a cable-actuated lift mechanism that allows it to swing laterally and adjust its position relative to the cleaning machine body. This enables the squeegee to maintain contact with the surface during turns and follow the cleaning path effectively, resolving the contradiction between collection efficiency and mechanism complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The squeegee assembly is segmented from the main cleaning machine body, allowing independent lateral movement and positioning. The cable-actuated mechanism enables the squeegee to be decoupled from fixed positioning, permitting it to swing out to the side during turns while the machine body follows a different trajectory.
2Productivity
If the squeegee is allowed to swing out to the side during turns, then collection performance improves, but the risk of damage from obstacles and reverse travel increases
Solution Approach 1:
The squeegee is made dynamically positionable through a cable-actuated lift mechanism that allows it to swing laterally and adjust its position relative to the cleaning machine body. This enables the squeegee to maintain contact with the surface during turns and follow the cleaning path effectively, resolving the contradiction between collection efficiency and mechanism complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system can preliminarily raise the squeegee before reverse travel or obstacle encounters, preventing damage before it occurs. The cable-actuated mechanism allows proactive positioning adjustments to protect the squeegee from harmful conditions.
3Reliability
If a hydraulic system is used to raise and lower the squeegee, then automatic protection during reverse travel is achieved, but the system complexity and space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex hydraulic systems with a simpler cable-actuated mechanism. The cable system uses mechanical advantage through pulleys and linkages to achieve squeegee lifting and lowering, eliminating the need for hydraulic pumps, reservoirs, and control valves while maintaining the protective function during reverse travel.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the essential function of squeegee lifting from the complex hydraulic system, isolating it into a dedicated cable-actuated mechanism. This separates the protective function from the main cleaning system, allowing independent control and simplification of the lifting mechanism.
4Adaptability or versatility
If the squeegee is interconnected to a linkage arm with single-point attachment, then the squeegee can swing during turns, but the raising and lifting capability is limited when the squeegee is located underneath the machine
Solution Approach 1:
The cable-actuated mechanism serves as an intermediary between the operator and the squeegee, providing remote control capability. The cable system transmits force from the operator's position to the squeegee, enabling lifting and positioning operations without direct mechanical connection, thus overcoming the limitations of single-point linkage attachment.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables the vacuum squeegee to move freely and collect spent fluid and particulate matter efficiently during turns, reducing the risk of damage and improving cleaning performance by allowing the squeegee to swing out and retract while maintaining a compact design that minimizes wear and maintenance.
Implementation Method 1
A cable-actuated lift device may be used to transmit a force and move an associated feature, such as a floor squeegee device
Implementation Method 2
The cable is connected to the linear actuated by way of a rotatable linkage member and a substantially horizontal pulley
Data Source
AI summary
A lift device is provided which allows a surface-contacting feature to articulate. The device raises and lowers a squeegee regardless of its lateral location. An actuator arm is provided on one end of a pivot arm channel such that when the actuator arm fully extends it disengages from the one end of the pivot arm channel. An actuator cable remains in tension such that it may be raised or lowered regardless of whether the surface-contacting feature's lateral position.