Cleaning Roller Spring-Element Core to Prevent Cover Wrinkling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cleaning rollers with foam cores often wrinkle during use, reducing their cleaning effectiveness due to insufficient contact surface area and inability to handle surface unevenness.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating spring elements around the bearing of the cleaning roller core, which extend to the roller cover, providing a higher spring force and maintaining a larger contact surface area by displacing to accommodate weight and surface irregularities, preventing wrinkling and enhancing cleaning efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a foam roller core is used, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the roller cover wrinkles during cleaning due to insufficient spring force
Solution Approach 1:
The roller core combines foam material with spring elements to create a composite structure. The foam provides basic cushioning while the spring elements add active restoring force, preventing roller cover wrinkles and improving cleaning effectiveness without significantly complicating manufacturing.
Solution Approach 2:
Spring elements are strategically positioned at specific locations within the roller core where additional support is needed. This localized reinforcement provides enhanced spring force exactly where required to prevent wrinkling, rather than uniformly increasing complexity throughout the entire roller structure.
2Area of stationary object
If the roller core is made softer to increase contact surface, then the contact area increases, but the roller cannot maintain consistent circumference and wrinkles
Solution Approach 1:
The spring elements dynamically adjust the roller core's physical parameters during operation. As the roller encounters surface irregularities, the springs compress and extend, maintaining consistent circumference and preventing wrinkles while still allowing sufficient contact surface area for effective cleaning.
Solution Approach 2:
The roller core transitions from a static foam structure to a dynamic system with spring elements that actively respond to loading conditions. The springs provide real-time adjustment of the roller's shape and circumference, maintaining stability during the cleaning process while adapting to varying surface conditions.
3Reliability
If spring elements are added to the roller core, then the spring force increases and wrinkling is prevented, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The roller core is segmented into distinct functional zones: foam regions for basic cushioning and spring element regions for active support. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function efficiently, achieving reliable cleaning effectiveness while keeping the overall structure manageable and not excessively complex.
4Area of stationary object
If the roller cover is tensioned to prevent wrinkling, then the contact surface is maintained, but the manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The spring elements automatically tension the roller cover through their elastic restoring force during normal operation. This self-service mechanism maintains consistent contact surface area without requiring additional manufacturing complexity for adjustment mechanisms or pre-tensioning systems, keeping the manufacturing process relatively simple.
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
The spring elements ensure a consistent circumference and enlarged contact area, preventing wrinkling and improving the cleaning effect by maintaining contact with the surface, even on uneven areas, leading to a more thorough and rapid cleaning process.
Implementation Method 1
the roller core has a plurality of spring elements arranged one next to the other in the circumferential direction of the cleaning roller
Implementation Method 2
Due to the magnified spring force of the spring elements by comparison to prior art, the roller cover is tensioned by the spring elements when exposed to the weight force of the cleaning roller
Data Source
AI summary
A cleaning roller for a cleaning appliance, in particular a wiping roller for a wet cleaning appliance, or a cleaning appliance having such a cleaning roller processes an area to be cleaned. The cleaning roller has a roller core that can rotate about a longitudinal axis and has a bearing for a drive shaft and a roller cover surrounding the roller core in the circumferential direction. The roller core, based on a cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, has several spring elements formed beside one another in the circumferential direction of the cleaning roller, each of which extends from the bearing to the roller cover.