Curved Broom Head Design for Sweeping Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional brooms with straight bristle carrier bodies tend to vibrate and lift off the surface during sweeping, especially when wider, leading to inefficient sweeping in outer areas and difficulties with edges between horizontal and vertical surfaces, and are often limited in their ability to sweep in both pushing and pulling directions.
Innovation Solution
A broom design featuring a bristle area with curved or angled edges, allowing for a greater effective depth and improved stability, combined with an adjustable handle attachment system for optimal bristle orientation and storage efficiency, using rubber-like bristles with tailored cross-sections for enhanced sweeping capability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If the bristle carrier body is made wider to increase sweeping width, then the sweeping area is improved, but the broom begins to oscillate and lift off the ground causing unstable sweeping
Solution Approach 1:
The bristle carrier body is given a curved cross-section with a concave upper side and convex lower side, replacing the conventional straight rectangular shape. This curvature allows the broom to better conform to ground irregularities, distributing contact forces more evenly across the bristle carrier width, thereby preventing oscillation and lifting while maintaining wide sweeping coverage.
2Stability of the object's composition
If very soft bristles are used to prevent oscillation, then sweeping stability is improved, but the ability to sweep certain particles is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The bristle carrier body employs a curved cross-section design where the concave upper side and convex lower side create different local contact characteristics. This allows the broom to maintain stability through the curved geometry while the bristles themselves can retain varied stiffness properties to handle different particle types, as the stability is now provided by the carrier shape rather than bristle softness.
3Volume of moving object
If the bristle carrier length is reduced to decrease storage space, then storage efficiency is improved, but the sweeping width capability is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The curved cross-section of the bristle carrier body enables a more compact longitudinal profile when stored, as the concave-convex geometry allows for tighter packing and reduced projection length. Simultaneously, the curvature maintains effective sweeping width by improving ground contact efficiency, so a shorter carrier achieves the same sweeping performance as a longer straight carrier would provide.
Data Source
Figure 1a~1b
Figure 1c~1d
Figure 2a~2b
AI summary
To ensure that a broom remains stable and evenly on the surface during sweeping, even with a large sweeping width, and does not begin to swing and rock around a horizontal axis directed in the sweeping direction, the broom according to the invention has – viewed from above – a broom head which, viewed from above, has a front edge and/or a rear edge that are concave and/or convex, preferably concave to the left of the center and convex to the right of the center or vice versa, possibly also depending on the intended sweeping direction, i.e., pushing direction or pulling direction.