Robot Vacuum Cleaner Movable Shutter for Wall-Adjoining Debris Removal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional robot vacuum cleaners face inefficiencies in cleaning areas adjacent to walls and obstacles due to limited suction power and ineffective navigation around these features.
Innovation Solution
The robot vacuum cleaner incorporates a shutter mechanism powered by a shutter driver and a power transfer link, which allows the device to extend a flexible shutter to contact the floor adjacent to obstacles, enabling enhanced cleaning by moving dust and debris from the wall-adjoining area to a cleanable point, while a controller manages the movement of the shutter and the vacuum's position.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the robot vacuum cleaner uses conventional suction method, then the structure is simple, but the cleaning efficiency around walls and obstacles is poor
Solution Approach 1:
The shutter is designed to be movable rather than fixed, allowing it to dynamically extend toward walls and obstacles during cleaning operations. The shutter driver mechanism enables the shutter to change its position and orientation adaptively, transforming a static structure into a dynamic one that can respond to different cleaning scenarios, thereby improving cleaning efficiency without requiring complete structural redesign
Solution Approach 2:
The cleaning system is segmented into multiple functional components: the movable shutter, the shutter driver, the power transfer link, and the suction system. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function optimally - the shutter handles debris redirection, the driver provides actuation, and the suction system performs cleaning - while maintaining overall system manageability and avoiding excessive complexity
2Productivity
If the robot vacuum cleaner extends shutter to contact floor, then flank cleaning performance improves, but the mechanism complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The shutter mechanism utilizes rotational motion around a hinge axis to achieve linear extension toward the floor. By transforming the problem from direct linear actuation to rotational movement, the system achieves shutter extension using a simpler rotary motor (shutter driver) combined with a link mechanism, rather than requiring complex linear actuators, thereby improving flank cleaning capability while controlling mechanism complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The power transfer link serves as an intermediary component between the shutter driver and the shutter. It transmits and transforms the rotational motion from the driver into the appropriate motion for shutter extension, enabling the shutter to contact the floor at the desired position without requiring the driver to be directly connected to the shutter, thus simplifying the overall actuation mechanism
3Productivity
If the robot vacuum cleaner uses limited suction power, then energy consumption is low, but cleaning performance in wall-adjoining areas is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The shutter mechanism extracts and redirects debris from the difficult-to-clean wall-adjoining areas toward the main suction path. By physically moving debris away from walls and obstacles where suction is ineffective, the system enables the limited-power suction system to clean areas it would otherwise miss, improving overall cleaning performance without requiring increased energy consumption
Solution Approach 2:
The shutter performs preliminary action by redirecting debris onto the main cleaning path before the suction system processes it. This preliminary redirection ensures that debris in wall-adjoining areas is positioned where the suction system can effectively collect it, maximizing the utility of the limited suction power without requiring additional energy input
Data Source
AI summary
A robot vacuum cleaner that may increase cleaning efficiency around obstacles includes a main body having an intake to suck in dust and air while the main body is driven on a floor, a shutter installed in front of the intake to be able to move from the main body toward the floor, and a shutter driver configured to supply power to move the shutter.