Cleaning system for autonomous robot
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous cleaning robots face challenges in effectively cleaning close to walls and corners due to limitations in their design, which prevents them from efficiently ingesting debris in hard-to-reach areas.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a chassis with motorized drive wheels, counter-rotating cleaning rollers, and a side brush that extends beyond the rollers' width, allowing debris to be directed into the robot's cleaning path, along with sensors and an elastomeric polymer surface for enhanced debris collection and navigation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the robot uses a conventional cleaning head design, then the structure is simple, but the robot cannot effectively clean close to walls and corners
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning head is divided into multiple functional segments: a side brush assembly for corner cleaning, a main cleaning roller for general surface cleaning, and an elongated cleaning element that extends beyond the robot body. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function independently, enabling effective cleaning near walls and corners while maintaining manageable structural complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The cleaning system extends into the lateral dimension by positioning the side brush and elongated cleaning element to protrude beyond the robot's main body width. This dimensional extension allows the robot to clean areas adjacent to walls and in corners without requiring the robot itself to physically contact these surfaces, thereby improving adaptability without proportionally increasing complexity
2Productivity
If the robot uses a narrow cleaning path design, then the device complexity is reduced, but the productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple cleaning functions into a single integrated cleaning head assembly: the side brush, main cleaning roller, and elongated cleaning element work together as one unit. This combination allows the robot to maintain a wide effective cleaning path that spans beyond its body width while avoiding the complexity of separate, independently controlled cleaning systems
Solution Approach 2:
The cleaning head assembly is designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously: the side brush agitates debris in corners, the elongated element extends the cleaning reach, and the main roller ingests debris across a wide path. This multi-functionality enables high productivity without requiring multiple separate cleaning systems, thereby limiting the increase in device complexity
3Reliability
If the robot uses a dual-stage brush assembly, then the cleaning effectiveness is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the debris agitation function from the main cleaning roller and assigns it to a separate side brush assembly. This extraction allows the side brush to specifically target debris in corners and along walls, improving debris ingestion effectiveness for hard-to-reach areas while keeping the main roller focused on general surface cleaning, thereby managing overall system complexity
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
This configuration enables the robot to efficiently collect debris from corners and crevices, maintaining a substantial cleaning path width while ingesting debris effectively, even in difficult-to-reach locations.
Implementation Method 1
three sensors mounted to the chassis and responsive to radiation reflected upward from a floor surface beneath the sensors
Implementation Method 2
an elastomeric polymer surface for enhanced debris collection
Implementation Method 3
an elastomeric polymer surface for enhanced debris collection
Data Source
Figure 1A
Figure 1B
Figure 1C
AI summary
An autonomous cleaning robot (100) comprises a chassis (110), at least one motorized drive wheel (120a, 120b) mounted to the chassis (110) and arranged to propel the robot (100) across a surface, and a pair of cleaning rollers (310a, 310b) mounted to the chassis (110) and having outer surfaces (350) exposed on an underside of the chassis (110) and to each other (310a, 310b). The cleaning rollers (310a, 310b) are drivable to counter- rotate while the robot (100) is propelled, thereby cooperating to direct raised debris upward into the robot (100) between the rollers (310a, 310b). A side brush (140) is further mounted to the chassis (110) to rotate beneath the chassis (110) adjacent a lateral side (104a) of the chassis (110) about an upwardly extending side brush axis (Zc), and the outer surface (311a) of a first of the cleaning rollers of the pair (310b) extends laterally beyond the outer surface (312a) of a second of the cleaning rollers of the pair (310a) and laterally beyond the side brush axis (Zc), such that the first cleaning roller (310b) defines a cleaning width (WR, WR1) spanning the side brush axis (Zc).