Robotic vacuum cleaning system

• US 8,955,192 B2
• Filed: 06/12/2014
• Issued: 02/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: iRobot Corporation
• Original Assignee: iRobot Corporation
• Inventors: Gilbert, Duane Leigh Jr., Bursal, Faruk Halil, Therrien, Richard Joseph, Morin, Russell Walter
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, DUNG V
• Application Number:
  US14/302,469
• Publication Number:
  US 20140289983A1
• Time in Patent Office: 250 Days
• Field of Search: 153/19, 153/39, 153/84, 153/401, 153/83, 151/17, 153/404
• US Class Current: 15/319
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/24 Floor-sweeping machines, motor-driven
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/40 Parts or details of machines not provided for in groups A47L11/02 - A47L11/38, or not restricted to one of these groups, e.g. handles, arrangements of switches, skirts, buffers, levers
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/4013 Contaminants collecting devices, i.e. hoppers, tanks or the like
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/4027 Filtering or separating contaminants or debris
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/4041 Roll shaped surface treating tools
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/4061 Steering means; Means for avoiding obstacles; Details related to the place where the driver is accommodated
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/4063 Driving means; Transmission means therefor
• 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 2201/028 Refurbishing floor engaging tools, e.g. cleaning of beating brushes
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2201/04 Automatic control of the travelling movement; Automatic obstacle detection
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2201/06 Control of the cleaning action for autonomous devices; Automatic detection of the surface condition before, during or after cleaning
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 7/02 with driven tools for special purposes with floor-polishing tools A47L11/20
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/0477 Rolls
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/0494 Height adjustment of dust-loosening tools
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/066 with adjustably mounted brushes, combs, lips or pads; Height adjustment of nozzle or dust loosening tools for suction cleaners with handles and nozzles fixed on the casing A47L5/34
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/0666 with tilting, floating or similarly arranged brushes, combs, lips or pads
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2821 Pressure, vacuum level or airflow
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 11/0085 Cleaning
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/01 Mobile robot

Abstract

An autonomous coverage robot includes a cleaning assembly having forward roller and rearward rollers counter-rotating with respect to each other. The rollers are arranged to substantially maintain a cross sectional area between the two rollers yet permitting collapsing therebetween as large debris is passed. Each roller includes a resilient elastomer outer tube and a partially air-occupied inner resilient core configured to bias the outer tube to rebound. The core includes a hub and resilient spokes extending between the inner surface of the outer tube and the hub. The spokes suspend the outer tube to float about the hub and transfer torque from the hub to the outer tube while allowing the outer tube to momentarily deform or move offset from the hub during impact with debris larger than the cross sectional area between the two rollers.

Claims

1. A resilient compressible roller for rotatable engagement with an autonomous coverage robot, the roller comprising:

a resilient flexible tube having inner and outer surfaces and defining a longitudinal axis;

a hub disposed within the tube along the longitudinal axis;

a rigid drive shaft supporting the hub and rotatably attachable to the robot;

resilient spokes extending between the inner surface of the tube and the hub, the spokes suspending the tube to float about the hub and transferring torque from the drive shaft to the tube, a trace length of each spoke being longer than a radial distance between the drive shaft and the inner surface of the tube, allowing the tube to momentarily deform or move offset from the drive shaft during impact with debris, wherein the tube and the spokes are elastically deformable, collapsing from an undeformed shape toward the longitudinal axis to a deformed shaped and elastically rebounding back to the undeformed shape; and

at least one vane extending outwardly from the outer surface of the tube.

2. The roller of claim 1, further comprising a resilient compressible material disposed between the resilient tube and the drive shaft.

3. The roller of claim 2, wherein the resilient compressible material comprises a foamed elastomer.

4. The roller of claim 3, where the foamed elastomer comprises thermoplastic polyurethane, ethylene-vinyl acetate, or polypropylene.

5. The roller of claim 1, wherein the spokes define a serpentine shaped in cross section.

6. The roller of claim 1, wherein the spokes occupy between about 10% and about 20% of a length of the tube and are symmetrically distributed about a central point along the length of the tube.

7. The roller of claim 1, wherein the at least one vane extends from the outer surface of the tube at an angle of between about 30°

and about 60°

relative to a radial axis of the tube and are inclined toward a direction of rotation of the roller.

8. The roller of claim 7, wherein the angle of the at least one vane is 45°

relative to the radial axis of the tube.

9. The roller of claim 1, wherein the at least one vane is integrally formed with the tube and defines a V-shaped chevron, the chevron having a central tip, a first leg extending from the central tip to a first end of the tube and a second leg extending from the central tip to a second end of the tube.

10. The roller of claim 9, further comprising multiple vanes equidistantly spaced around a circumference of the tube.

11. The roller of claim 10, further comprising at least five vanes aligned to have distal ends of the legs of one chevron coplanar with a central tip of an adjacent chevron.

12. The roller of claim 11, wherein the diameter of an outside circumference swept by tips of the vanes is about 30 mm.

13. The roller of claim 9, wherein the legs of the V-shaped chevron are arranged at an angle of between about 5°

and about 10°

relative to a linear longitudinal path traced on the surface of the tube and extend from a first end of the tube to a second end of the tube.

14. The roller of claim 13, wherein the legs of the V-shaped chevron are at about a 7°

angle relative to the linear longitudinal path.

15. The roller of claim 1, further comprising a hub disposed along the longitudinal axis of the tube and having inner and outer surfaces, wherein the tube, the spokes, and the hub are integrally and homogenously formed from a resilient material having a durometer of between 60 A and 80 A.

16. The roller of claim 1, wherein the at least one vane has a height of at least 10% of a diameter of the tube.

17. A cleaning assembly for a coverage robot, the cleaning assembly comprising:

a cleaning head frame and a roller housing, the cleaning head frame defining a portion to which the roller housing is movably linked or immovably attached to the robot;

a forward roller and a rearward roller counter-rotating with respect to each other in the roller housing to retrieve debris from a cleaning surface engaged by the rollers, the forward and rearward rollers arranged to substantially maintain a cross sectional area between the two rollers yet permitting collapsing therebetween as large debris is passed, each roller comprising;

an integrally and homogenously formed resilient elastomer outer tube having inner and outer surfaces and defining a longitudinal axis; and

a partially air-occupied inner resilient core more resilient than the outer tube and configured to bias the outer tube to rebound, the core comprising;

a hub disposed along the longitudinal axis of the outer tube; and

resilient spokes extending between the inner surface of the outer tube and the hub, the spokes suspending the outer tube to float about the hub and transferring torque from the hub to the outer tube, a trace length of each resilient spoke being longer than a radial distance between the hub and the inner surface of the outer tube, allowing the outer tube to momentarily deform or move offset from the hub during impact with debris larger than the cross sectional area between the two rollers.

18. The cleaning assembly of claim 17, further comprising an enclosed dust bin module arranged rearward of the rollers, the enclosed dust bin module defining a collection volume in communication with the two counter-rotating rollers via a sealed vacuum plenum.

19. The cleaning assembly of claim 18, wherein the sealed vacuum plenum has a first opening positioned above the two counter-rotating rollers and a second opening positioned at an entry to the collection volume.

20. A resilient compressible roller for rotatable engagement with an autonomous coverage robot, the roller comprising:

a resilient flexible tube having inner and outer surfaces and defining a longitudinal axis;

a hub disposed within the resilient flexible tube along the longitudinal axis;

a rigid drive shaft supporting the hub and rotatably attachable to the robot;

resilient spokes extending between the inner surface of the tube and the hub, the spokes suspending the tube to float about the hub and transferring torque from the drive shaft to the tube, a trace length of each spoke being longer than a radial distance between the drive shaft and the inner surface of the tube, allowing the tube to momentarily deform or move offset from the drive shaft during impact with debris; and

at least one agitator extending outwardly from the outer surface of the tube;

wherein the at least one agitator is integrally formed with the tube and defines a V-shaped chevron, the chevron having a central tip, a first leg extending from the central tip to a first end of the tube and a second leg extending from the central tip to a second end of the tube.