Cleaning bin for cleaning robot

• US 10,456,002 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2016
• Issued: 10/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: iRobot Corporation
• Original Assignee: iRobot Corporation
• Inventors: Amaral, Erik, Ohm, Timothy R., Moretto, Nicholas
• Primary Examiner(s): Hail, Joseph J
• Assistant Examiner(s): Keller, Brian D
• Application Number:
  US15/388,776
• Publication Number:
  US 20180177367A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,041 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2201/00 Robotic cleaning machines, i.e. with automatic control of the travelling movement or the cleaning operation
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2201/024 Emptying dust or waste liquid containers
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/0477 Rolls
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/102 Dust separators cyclones A47L9/16
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/106 Dust removal
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/122 flat
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/1641 for parallel flow
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/1683 Dust collecting chambers; Dust collecting receptacles

Abstract

A cleaning bin mountable to an autonomous cleaning robot operable to receive debris from a floor surface includes a debris compartment to receive a first portion of debris separated from the airflow and a particulate compartment to receive a second portion of debris separated from the airflow. The cleaning bin also includes a debris separation cone having an inner conduit defining an upper opening and lower opening. The upper opening receives the airflow from the air channel. The inner conduit tapers from the upper opening to the lower opening such that the airflow forms a cyclone within the inner conduit.

Claims

1. A cleaning bin mountable to an autonomous cleaning robot operable to receive debris from a floor surface, the cleaning bin comprising:

a front side extending along a vertical axis;

an inlet positioned along the front side and between lateral sides of the cleaning bin, the lateral sides defining an interior width of the cleaning bin therebetween;

an outlet configured to connect to a vacuum generator, the vacuum generator operable to direct an airflow from the inlet of the cleaning bin to the outlet of the cleaning bin;

a debris compartment to receive a first portion of debris separated from the airflow;

an air channel positioned above the debris compartment and defined by a top surface of the debris compartment, the top surface of the debris compartment comprising a planar portion being tilted relative to a horizontal axis perpendicular to the vertical axis such that a rear of the planar portion is closer than a front of the planar portion is to a bottom surface of the debris compartment, and the air channel spanning the interior width of the cleaning bin and receiving the airflow from the debris compartment through the top surface of the debris compartment;

a particulate compartment to receive a second portion of debris separated from the airflow; and

a debris separator comprising a debris separation cone having an inner conduit defining an upper opening and a lower opening, the upper opening receiving the airflow from the air channel, and the inner conduit tapering from the upper opening to the lower opening such that the airflow forms a cyclone within the inner conduit, wherein a longitudinal axis of the debris separation cone forms a non-zero angle with the vertical axis such that an inlet duct of the debris separator faces toward the air channel and the inlet of the cleaning bin, and such that an outlet duct of the debris separator is tilted toward the outlet.

2. The cleaning bin of claim 1, wherein the inlet spans a length between 75% and 100% of the interior width of the cleaning bin.

3. The cleaning bin of claim 1, wherein the top surface of the debris compartment includes a first filter.

4. The cleaning bin of claim 3, wherein the first filter is sized to inhibit debris having a width between 100 and 500 microns from passing into the air channel.

5. The cleaning bin of claim 3, wherein the non-zero angle is a first angle, and wherein a filtering surface of the first filter and the horizontal axis form a second angle between 5 and 45 degrees.

6. The cleaning bin of claim 1, wherein the non-zero angle is a first angle, and wherein the top surface of the debris compartment and the longitudinal axis of the debris separation cone define a second angle between 85 and 95 degrees, wherein the top surface of the debris compartment slopes downward toward the debris separation cone.

7. The cleaning bin of claim 1, wherein the air channel spans a length between 95% and 100% of the interior width of the cleaning bin.

8. The cleaning bin of claim 1, further comprising:

an evacuation port configured to connect to another vacuum generator operable to direct an airflow from the outlet to the evacuation port; and

a first flap covering a first open area pneumatically connected the debris compartment and the particulate compartment, the first flap configured to open when a pressure on a side of the first flap facing the debris compartment is less than a pressure on a side of the first flap facing the particulate compartment.

9. The cleaning bin of claim 8, further comprising a second flap covering a second open area between the debris compartment and the particulate compartment,

wherein the first open area is larger than the second open area, and the first flap is positioned farther from the evacuation port than the second flap.

10. The cleaning bin of claim 1, wherein the non-zero angle is a first angle, and wherein the longitudinal axis of the debris separation cone defines a second angle with the vertical axis between 5 and 25 degrees such that the upper opening the debris separation cone is tilted away from the inlet of the cleaning bin.

11. The cleaning bin of claim 1, wherein the non-zero angle is a first angle, and wherein the inner conduit is a conical structure defining a slope that forms a second angle with the longitudinal axis of the debris separation cone, the second angle being between 15 and 40 degrees.

12. The cleaning bin of claim 1, wherein a diameter of the upper opening of the inner conduit is between 20 and 40 millimeters, and a diameter of the lower opening of the inner conduit is between 5 and 20 millimeters.

13. The cleaning bin of claim 1, wherein:

the debris separation cone is a first debris separation cone, and the inner conduit is a first inner conduit, the upper opening is a first upper opening, the lower opening is a first lower opening, and the cyclone is a first cyclone, wherein the first inner conduit receives a first portion of the airflow, and

the cleaning bin comprises a second debris separation cone adjacent the first debris separation cone, the second debris separation cone having a second inner conduit defining a second upper opening and a second lower opening, the second upper opening receiving a second portion of the airflow from the air channel, and the second inner conduit tapering from the second upper opening to the second lower opening such that the second portion of the airflow forms a second cyclone within the second inner conduit.

14. The cleaning bin of claim 1, wherein the debris separation cone is one of a set of debris separation cones having longitudinal axes comprising the longitudinal axis of the debris separation cone, wherein the set of debris separation cones is arranged linearly, and the longitudinal axes are coplanar and angled away from the inlet such that upper openings of the set of debris separation cones are tilted away from the inlet.

15. The cleaning bin of claim 1, wherein the top surface of the debris compartment includes a first filter, and the cleaning bin further comprises a second filter positioned between the debris separation cone and the outlet.

16. The cleaning bin of claim 1, wherein the outlet spans the interior width of the cleaning bin.

17. The cleaning bin of claim 1, wherein the inlet duct is pneumatically connected to the air channel, and is pneumatically connected to the inner conduit of the debris separation cone, and wherein the inlet duct comprises a minimum width that is between 5% and 15% of a width of the inlet.

18. The cleaning bin of claim 1, wherein the outlet duct directs the airflow from the inner conduit of the debris separation cone toward the outlet, the outlet duct being tapered toward the inner conduit of the debris separation cone.

19. The cleaning bin of claim 1, further comprising a door defining the bottom surface of the debris compartment and a bottom surface of the particulate compartment, wherein the door is configured to be manually opened to enable the first portion of debris in the debris compartment and the second portion of debris in the particulate compartment to be removed from the cleaning bin.

20. The cleaning bin of claim 1, wherein a maximum height of the cleaning bin is less than 80 millimeters.

21. The cleaning bin of claim 1, wherein the front side of the cleaning bin defines a front surface of the debris compartment.

22. An autonomous cleaning robot comprising:

a body;

a drive operable to move the body across a floor surface;

a vacuum generator carried in the body, the vacuum generator operable to generate an airflow to carry debris from the floor surface as the body moves across the floor surface; and

a cleaning bin mounted to the body, the cleaning bin comprising

a front side extending along a vertical axis,

an inlet positioned along the front side and between lateral sides of the cleaning bin, the lateral sides defining an interior width of the cleaning bin therebetween,

an outlet connected to the vacuum generator such that the airflow containing the debris is directed from the inlet to the outlet,

a debris compartment to receive a first portion of the debris separated from the airflow,

an air channel positioned above the debris compartment and defined by a top surface of the debris compartment, the top surface of the debris compartment comprising a planar portion being tilted relative to a horizontal axis perpendicular to the vertical axis such that a rear of the planar portion is closer than a front of the planar portion is to a bottom surface of the cleaning bin, and the air channel spanning the interior width of the cleaning bin and receiving the airflow from the debris compartment through the top surface of the debris compartment,

a particulate compartment to receive a second portion of the debris separated from the airflow, and

a debris separator comprising a debris separation cone configured to receive the airflow from the debris compartment to form a cyclone that separates the second portion of the debris from the airflow and directs the second portion of the debris toward the particulate compartment, wherein a longitudinal axis of the debris separation cone forms a non-zero angle with the vertical axis such that an inlet duct of the debris separator faces toward the inlet of the cleaning bin, and such that an outlet duct of the debris separator is tilted toward the outlet.

23. The robot of claim 22, further comprising a cleaning roller rotatably mounted to the body, the cleaning roller configured to engage the debris to move the debris toward the inlet of the cleaning bin, wherein the inlet of the cleaning bin spans a length between 60% and 100% of a length of the cleaning roller.