Apparatus for preventing bumping and falling of automatic travelling vacuum cleaner
First Claim
1. An apparatus for preventing bumping and falling of an automatic travelling cleaner, comprising:
- a cleaner body including an interior portion and an exterior portion;
a dust collecting chamber formed in the interior of said cleaner body;
an extension pipe connected to said dust collecting chamber;
an intake member slidably fitted in said extension pipe;
a packing fitted in one end of said extension pipe and adapted to prevent a fluid from leaking through the one end of said extension pipe;
an ultrasonic wave emitting element disposed between said extension pipe and the dust collecting chamber and adapted to emit an ultrasonic wave indicating a flow rate of a fluid being sucked through said extension pipe;
a pair of ultrasonic wave receiving elements disposed between said extension pipe and said dust collecting chamber and adapted to receive the ultrasonic wave from said ultrasonic wave emitting element and output a signal representative thereof;
fluid flow rate sensing/suction work ratio calculating means, adapted to receive the signal output from said ultrasonic wave receiving elements, for sensing a variation in the flow rate of said fluid being sucked, and calculating a suction work ratio, based on said received ultrasonic waves;
a bumper provided on the exterior portion of said body member;
a bumper hole provided at a predetermined position within said cleaner body;
a contact protrusion member extending through the bumper hole, said contact protrusion member being adapted to support said intake member and disposed to reciprocate forward and backward; and
a spring adapted to resiliently connect said contact protrusion member with said bumper.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus for and a method of preventing bumping and falling of an automatic travelling cleaner wherein a situation of the cleaner is determined by sensing a variation of flow rate of a fluid in an extension pipe depending on a gap between an intake port and a surface to be cleaned, thereby deriving a suction work ratio or sensing revolutions and a current value of a cleaning motor or a torque value of each travel motor, and then determining a travel, a bumping, and a step sensing, based on the sensed value. The present invention eliminates the provision of a plurality of sensors densely arranged around a cleaner and adapted to sense bumping and falling of the cleaner and thus eliminates the requirement of additional devices for the sensors. This reduces the manufacture costs.
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Citations
8 Claims
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1. An apparatus for preventing bumping and falling of an automatic travelling cleaner, comprising:
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a cleaner body including an interior portion and an exterior portion; a dust collecting chamber formed in the interior of said cleaner body; an extension pipe connected to said dust collecting chamber; an intake member slidably fitted in said extension pipe; a packing fitted in one end of said extension pipe and adapted to prevent a fluid from leaking through the one end of said extension pipe; an ultrasonic wave emitting element disposed between said extension pipe and the dust collecting chamber and adapted to emit an ultrasonic wave indicating a flow rate of a fluid being sucked through said extension pipe; a pair of ultrasonic wave receiving elements disposed between said extension pipe and said dust collecting chamber and adapted to receive the ultrasonic wave from said ultrasonic wave emitting element and output a signal representative thereof; fluid flow rate sensing/suction work ratio calculating means, adapted to receive the signal output from said ultrasonic wave receiving elements, for sensing a variation in the flow rate of said fluid being sucked, and calculating a suction work ratio, based on said received ultrasonic waves; a bumper provided on the exterior portion of said body member; a bumper hole provided at a predetermined position within said cleaner body; a contact protrusion member extending through the bumper hole, said contact protrusion member being adapted to support said intake member and disposed to reciprocate forward and backward; and a spring adapted to resiliently connect said contact protrusion member with said bumper. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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Specification