Autonomous Floor Cleaner Wheel Tread Design for Wet Surface Slip Prevention
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous floor cleaning robots experience wheel slip issues on wet surfaces, leading to extended cleaning times and incomplete surface treatment, due to the lack of effective anti-slip solutions tailored for their lightweight and smaller size.
Innovation Solution
The robotic device features a wheel tread design with radial transverse recesses and a side-to-side wave pattern, along with a controller that adjusts wheel speed and fluid delivery to minimize slip, using a thermoplastic elastomer material and encoder-based slip detection for adaptive navigation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If liquid is applied to the floor surface for cleaning purposes, then cleaning effectiveness is improved, but wheel slip occurs reducing mobility control
Solution Approach 1:
The wheel tread is segmented into multiple radial transverse recesses that divide the contact surface into discrete gripping elements. This segmentation allows the wheel to maintain contact with the floor through multiple independent points, improving traction on liquid-covered surfaces while preserving mobility control.
Solution Approach 2:
The wheel tread features localized gripping structures (radial transverse recesses with teeth) at the contact surface, while the rest of the wheel maintains its standard structure. This local modification provides enhanced traction where needed without affecting the overall wheel performance or requiring complete structural redesign.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If traditional tire tread patterns are used, then anti-slip performance may be improved, but the solution is not suitable for lightweight robotic devices
Solution Approach 1:
The invention modifies the tread parameters (depth, width, spacing of radial transverse recesses) to be optimized for lightweight robotic devices rather than heavy vehicles. The recesses are sized and positioned to provide effective grip for small-scale applications where the weight-to-tread-area ratio differs significantly from automotive applications.
Solution Approach 2:
The wheel tread design incorporates dynamic elements that adapt to the specific operating conditions of robotic devices. The radial transverse recesses are configured to work effectively at the lower speeds and weights characteristic of autonomous cleaning robots, providing anti-slip performance tailored to this specific application domain.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If expensive anti-slip materials or complex structures are used, then wheel slip resistance is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The wheel tread incorporates a porous or recessed structure (radial transverse recesses) that can be formed through standard molding processes. This structural approach to improving grip avoids the need for expensive specialized materials while achieving effective traction through geometric design that channels and manages liquid at the contact surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The tread structure is designed to be self-cleaning and self-maintaining. The radial transverse recesses automatically channel away excess liquid and debris during operation, maintaining their gripping effectiveness without requiring external intervention, expensive materials, or complex maintenance systems.
4Ease of operation
If wheel slip detection and correction systems are implemented, then mobility control is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The controller receives feedback from encoders on the driven wheels and the stator wheel to detect slip conditions. When slip is detected, the controller automatically adjusts the drive signals to the motors to correct the slip, creating a closed-loop control system that maintains mobility control without requiring complex mechanical anti-slip structures.
Solution Approach 2:
The encoder wheels and stator wheel act as intermediary sensing elements that translate physical wheel motion into electrical signals for the controller. This intermediary measurement system enables sophisticated slip detection and correction algorithms while keeping the physical wheel structure 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 solution significantly reduces wheel slip incidents and enables effective recovery from slipping, ensuring efficient and complete surface treatment on both wet and slippery surfaces, including those with sand or other materials.
Implementation Method 1
This third wheel has an optical or mechanical sensor (encoder) that will send a digital signal to the controller as long as the robot is moving.
Data Source
AI summary
Tread structures, wave motion navigational controls, and ramp up recovery controls are provided to an autonomous floor cleaner to reduce wheel slippage. The floor cleaner delivers liquid to the floor as part of the cleaning process. Wheels on the device are provided with relatively deep peripheral grooves to minimize the contact surfaces of a sprocket wheel and to accommodate the layer of liquid on the floor. In the event of wheel slippage, or to prevent wheel slippage, the device is designed to move forward with a slight side-to-side wave action caused by periodically altering the relative speeds of two drive wheels. There is also provided a slippage recovery mode where the drive wheels shut down or greatly slow when severe slippage is sensed, followed by a slow ramp up of speed.