Mobile cleaning robot cleaning head
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing mobile cleaning robots face challenges in effectively navigating and cleaning surfaces with undulations and contours due to air leakages and inefficient debris collection, as their cleaning heads often lose contact with the surface, leading to reduced suction and incomplete cleaning.
Innovation Solution
A mobile cleaning robot design featuring a monolithic housing with a suspension linkage and diaphragm that allows the cleaning head to float on the surface, maintaining contact with undulations and reducing air leakages, combined with a pneumatic path sealed by a diaphragm and rigid duct, enabling stronger suction and efficient debris collection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the cleaning head is rigidly attached to the chassis, then the structure is simple and stable, but the cleaning head cannot adapt to surface undulations and loses contact, causing air leakages and reduced suction
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning head is transformed from a rigid structure to a dynamic one through the suspension linkage system. The linkage allows the cleaning head to move vertically and adapt to surface undulations while maintaining contact, resolving the contradiction between structural simplicity and adaptability to varying surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The diaphragm acts as a flexible membrane that seals the pneumatic path while allowing relative movement between the cleaning head and chassis. This flexible element enables the cleaning head to float on the surface and conform to undulations without compromising the sealed air path, addressing both adaptability and structural integrity.
2Reliability
If the cleaning head is suspended to follow surface contours, then contact with undulations is maintained and air leakages are reduced, but the structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The diaphragm serves as a flexible sealing element that maintains the pneumatic path seal while accommodating the vertical movement of the suspended cleaning head. This single flexible component achieves both sealing reliability and movement capability without requiring complex sealed joints or rigid connections.
Solution Approach 2:
The diaphragm acts as an intermediary element between the rigid chassis and the suspended cleaning head. It mediates the pneumatic connection while allowing mechanical independence, enabling the cleaning head to follow surface contours while maintaining sealed suction through the flexible membrane.
3Productivity
If the cleaning head loses contact with the surface, then the structure can be simpler, but suction is reduced and debris collection is incomplete
Solution Approach 1:
The suspension linkage creates a dynamic system where the cleaning head automatically maintains contact with the surface by following its contours. This eliminates the need for active control mechanisms to maintain contact, ensuring consistent suction and complete debris collection while keeping the operation simple and passive.
Solution Approach 2:
The cleaning head system is self-adjusting through the suspension linkage, automatically maintaining optimal contact with the surface without external intervention. The system serves itself by using the surface topology to guide the cleaning head's position, ensuring continuous suction and effective debris collection.
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 allows the cleaning head to maintain contact with the surface, reducing air leakages and enhancing suction, resulting in more effective debris collection and improved cleaning efficiency across varied surfaces.
Implementation Method 1
The diaphragm flexes to accommodate the relative movement between the cleaning head and the robot body
Implementation Method 2
a suspension linkage that raises and lowers the cleaning head
Implementation Method 3
enabling stronger suction and efficient debris collection
Data Source
AI summary
This document describes a mobile cleaning robot that includes a chassis that supports a drive system, a debris collection volume; and a cleaning head formed to complete a bottom of the robot. The cleaning head includes a frame for affixing the cleaning head to the chassis, a monolithic housing having an interior cavity, a suspension linkage movably suspending the monolithic housing from the frame, the suspension linkage being configured to lift the monolithic housing, a diaphragm formed of a flexible material and mated to the monolithic housing, a rigid duct mated the frame to form a pneumatic path between the monolithic housing and the rigid duct through the diaphragm, and cleaning extractors disposed in the interior cavity of the monolithic housing.