Pivoting Floor Cleaner Hose Layout for Upright and Reclined Use
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing floor cleaning machines face challenges in efficiently distributing and recovering cleaning fluids and dirt across surfaces, particularly in managing the hose configuration during different operating positions, which affects the machine's mobility and cleaning efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A floor cleaning machine design featuring a pivotable handle with a suction nozzle, a supply tank assembly, and a recovery tank, along with an expandable hose that changes configuration between upright and reclined positions, allowing the hose to wrap around the motor housing, facilitating efficient fluid distribution and dirt recovery while enhancing mobility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the handle is fixed in an upright position, then the machine structure is simple and stable, but the cleaning effectiveness and operator comfort deteriorate due to inability to adapt to different cleaning scenarios
Solution Approach 1:
The handle is designed with a pivot mechanism that allows it to transition between fixed upright position and reclined cleaning position. This dynamic adjustment capability enables the handle to adapt to different cleaning scenarios while maintaining structural simplicity through a single-degree-of-freedom rotation joint.
2Productivity
If the hose is kept in a retracted configuration, then the machine structure is compact and storage is improved, but the fluid transport capability deteriorates due to insufficient hose length for effective cleaning
Solution Approach 1:
The hose is designed as an expandable component that dynamically adjusts its configuration based on operational needs. During cleaning operations, the hose extends to provide sufficient length for effective fluid transport. When not in use, the hose retracts to a compact configuration that minimizes storage volume and maintains a tidy machine appearance.
3Ease of manufacture
If the hose wraps around the motor housing, then space utilization is improved and hose management is simplified, but the motor housing design complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The hose is routed to wrap around the motor housing, utilizing the existing structural form of the motor housing as a guide for hose placement. This nesting approach allows the hose to be neatly organized along the contours of the motor housing, simplifying hose management and space utilization while the motor housing structure itself remains relatively simple and unchanged.
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 design enables effective distribution and recovery of cleaning fluids and dirt, improving cleaning efficiency and mobility by adapting the hose configuration with the handle's position, ensuring the machine can efficiently clean various surfaces and manage fluid storage and transport.
Implementation Method 1
The suction motor assembly is operable to draw fluid and dirt from the surface through the suction nozzle
Data Source
AI summary
A floor cleaning machine including a handle that pivots relative to a base about a pivot axis. A recovery tank is coupled to the handle in fluid communication with a suction motor assembly to receive and store fluid and dirt drawn through a suction nozzle. The floor cleaning machine further includes an expandable hose fluidly communicating the recovery tank and the suction nozzle. The hose is in an expanded configuration when the handle is pivoted about the pivot axis to a reclined position. The hose is in a retracted configuration when the handle is pivoted about the pivot axis to a substantially upright position. The hose at least partially wraps around the pivot axis with the pivot axis being between a portion of the hose wrapped around the pivot axis and the surface being cleaned in the expanded and the retracted configurations.