Sensors and associated methods for controlling a vacuum cleaner

• US 20060085095A1
• Filed: 12/05/2005
• Published: 04/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Royal Appliance Manufacturing Company (Techtronic Industries Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: Royal Appliance Manufacturing Company (Techtronic Industries Company Limited)
• Inventors: Reindle, Mark E., Siegel, Norman
• Granted Patent: US 7,599,758 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/258
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2821 Pressure, vacuum level or airflow
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2842 Suction motors or blowers
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2847 Surface treating elements
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2852 Elements for displacement of the vacuum cleaner or the accessories therefor, e.g. wheels, casters or nozzles
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2857 User input or output elements for control, e.g. buttons, switches or displays
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2889 Safety or protection devices or systems, e.g. for prevention of motor over-heating or for protection of the user

Abstract

A vacuum cleaner includes a housing, a height adjust mechanism disposed on the housing and a height adjust motor, disposed within said housing that controls a height of the height adjust mechanism. A position element is mounted to said housing. A sensor processor, mounted to said housing, is in communication with the position element to provide a signal that relates to a position of the height adjust mechanism based at least in part upon data received from the position element. A controller processor, mounted to said housing, is in communication with the sensor processor for selectively controlling a height of the height adjust mechanism relative to a subjacent surface on which the vacuum cleaner is positioned. A height adjust mechanism height motor controller is in communication with the controller processor, for driving the height adjust motor to locate the height adjust mechanism in an appropriate position relative to the subjacent surface.

Claims

1. A vacuum cleaner, including:

a housing;

a height adjust mechanism disposed on the housing;

a height adjust motor, disposed within said housing, that controls a height of the height adjust mechanism;

a position element mounted to said housing;

a sensor processor, mounted to said housing, in communication with the position element to provide a signal that relates to a position of the height adjust mechanism based at least in part upon data received from the position element;

a controller processor, mounted to said housing, in communication with the sensor processor for selectively controlling a height of the height adjust mechanism relative to a subjacent surface on which the vacuum cleaner is positioned; and

a height adjust mechanism height motor controller in communication with the controller processor, for driving the height adjust motor to locate the height adjust mechanism in an appropriate position relative to the subjacent surface.

2. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 1 wherein the vacuum cleaner is a type selected from the group consisting of a robotic vacuum cleaner, a robotic canister-like vacuum cleaner, a hand vacuum cleaner, a carpet extractor, a canister vacuum cleaner, a stick vacuum cleaner, an upright vacuum cleaner, and a shop-type vacuum cleaner.

3. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 1, the vacuum cleaner further including:

an encoder coupled to the height adjust motor that monitors the location of the height adjust mechanism.

4. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 3, further including:

a height level indicator that visually indicates the height of the height adjust mechanism based at least in part upon data received from at least one of the sensor processor and the encoder.

5. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 1, the vacuum cleaner further including:

an overcurrent sensor, disposed within said housing, in communication with the sensor processor and the height adjust motor for monitoring a characteristic of the height adjust motor and providing an associated feedback signal to the sensor processor; and

a reset switch, disposed within said housing, in operative communication with the sensor processor and the height adjust motor controller for manually resetting power applied to the height adjust motor and providing a reset switch activation signal to the sensor processor;

wherein the sensor processor compares the feedback signal to a predetermined threshold and, removes power from the height adjust motor and disables operation of the height adjust mechanism when the feedback signal is less than the predetermined threshold, until power is reset.

6. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 5, the overcurrent sensor including:

an overcurrent feedback module in operative communication with the sensor processor and the height adjust motor for monitoring the height adjust motor characteristic and providing the feedback signal to the sensor processor.

7. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 5 wherein the height adjust motor characteristic is an electrical signal associated with the feedback signal includes one or more of a height adjust motor RPM, a height adjust motor torque, a quantity of height adjust motor revolutions, and a distance of height adjust motor rotation.

8. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 6, the overcurrent sensor including:

an electronic switch in operative communication with the sensor processor and the height adjust motor for enabling and disabling operation of the height adjust motor; and

a current sense circuit in operative communication with the sensor processor and the height adjust motor for sensing the level of electrical current flowing through the height adjust motor.

9. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 1, the vacuum cleaner further including:

a floor type sensor, disposed within said housing, in operative communication with the sensor processor for emitting sonic energy toward a floor being traversed by the vacuum cleaner and detecting sonic energy reflected by the floor;

wherein the sensor processor compares the detected sonic energy to a plurality of values in a lookup table (LUT), wherein the LUT values represent a plurality of types of floors, matching the detected sonic energy to a LUT value to determine the type of floor being traversed, and varying the height of the height adjust mechanism based at least in part on the type of floor being traversed.

10. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 9, the vacuum cleaner further including:

a signal generator circuit, disposed within said housing, in communication with the sensor processor and the floor type sensor for generating a signal associated with the sonic energy emitted by the floor type sensor;

a signal conditioning circuit, disposed within said housing, in communication with the floor type sensor for conditioning a signal associated with the sonic energy detected by the floor type sensor; and

a comparator processor, disposed within said housing, in communication with the signal conditioning circuit and the sensor processor for comparing the conditioned signal to the LUT values.

11. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 10, the vacuum cleaner further including:

a floor distance sensor, disposed within said housing, in operative communication with the sensor processor for emitting light energy toward a surface of a floor toward which the vacuum cleaner is advancing and detecting light energy reflected by the floor, wherein the sensor processor compares the detected light energy to a predetermined threshold and, locates the height adjust mechanism based at least in part upon the detected light energy.

12. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 11, the vacuum cleaner further including:

a signal conditioning circuit, disposed within said housing, in communication with the floor distance sensor and the sensor processor for conditioning a signal associated with the light energy detected by the floor distance type sensor.

13. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 11, further including:

a processing component that receives data from at least one of the floor type sensor and the floor distance sensor and determines an appropriate height for the height adjust mechanism.

14. The vacuum cleaner as set forth in claim 1, further including:

a micro-switch mechanically coupled to the vacuum housing that communicates a signal to the sensor processing when activated to determine the height of the height adjust mechanism.

15. A method of controlling a vacuum cleaner, the method including the steps of:

monitoring a height adjust motor feedback signal relating to operation of a corresponding height adjust mechanism motor associated with the vacuum cleaner;

comparing the feedback signal to a predetermined threshold; and

removing power from the height adjust motor and disabling operation of the height adjust motor when the feedback signal is less than the predetermined threshold.

16. The method as set forth in claim 15, before comparing the feedback signal to a predetermined threshold, further including the step of:

setting the predetermined threshold based on a correlation between the feedback signal and a minimum electrical current causing an over current condition in the height adjust motor.

17. The method as set forth in claim 16 wherein the feedback signal provides information associated with one or more of a height adjust motor RPM, a height adjust motor torque, a quantity of height adjust motor revolutions, and a distance of height adjust motor rotation.

18. A vacuum cleaner, comprising:

a height adjust mechanism base including a suction inlet;

an upright housing pivotally mounted on said height adjust mechanism base;

a suction source disposed in one of said height adjust mechanism base and said housing, said suction source being in fluid communication with said suction inlet;

a floor sensor mounted to one of said height adjust mechanism base and said housing;

a sensor processor, mounted to one of said height adjust mechanism base and said housing, communicating with said floor sensor to provide a signal that relates to a position of said suction inlet in relation to a subjacent surface on which the vacuum cleaner is located;

a height adjust mechanism mounted to said height adjust mechanism base, said sensor processor communicating with said mechanism, wherein an output of said sensor processor controls an operation thereof; and

a manual control located on one of said height adjust mechanism base and said housing for overriding said sensor processor and manually activating said mechanism.

19. The vacuum cleaner of claim 18, wherein said floor sensor comprises at least one of a sonic sensor and a light sensor.

20. The vacuum cleaner of claim 18, further comprising:

a controller processor, mounted to one of said height adjust mechanism base and said housing, communicating with said sensor processor and said height adjust mechanism height adjustment mechanism for controlling the operation of said mechanism.