US20070006404A1 - Remote control sweeper - Google Patents

Abstract

A remote control sweeper includes a wireless remote control receiver installed at the sweeper; a remote control for transmitting a direction control signal to the remote control receiver via a wireless transmission to control the moving direction of the sweeper, such that the sweeper can be moved to automatically clean up the dirt and collect the dust on a floor.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
• 1. Field of the Invention
• The present invention generally relates to a cleaning machine, and more particularly to a sweeper whose moving direction can be controlled by a remote control.
• 2. Description of the Related Art
• The common tool used for sweeping floor is a broom, which can be used to clean up a small area of floor, but using a broom to clean up a large area of floor is very inefficient. To save efforts of the cleaning job, an electric sweeper is introduced, so that users can push and control the electric sweeper to automatically clean up and collect the dirt on the floor along the path where the sweeper passes.
• Regardless of the traditional broom and electric sweeper, the inventor of the present invention believe that pushing the machine by users is difficult, particularly for a person who has a walking problem. Even for general users, operating or pushing the machine will cause backaches easily. Furthermore, the broom and electric sweepers cannot take care of the hard-to-reach areas such as a place with many obstacles or an area with a short height (under a seat, table or furniture, etc), since the structure and the volume of the broom or sweeper are restricted and thus cannot clean up the hard-to-reach areas.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
• To overcome the inconvenience and shortcomings of the prior art, the present invention provides a lightweight and convenient remote control sweeper.
• Therefore, it is a primary objective of the invention to provide a sweeper whose moving direction can be controlled to clean up dirt and collect dust. The present invention is an effort-saving, convenient, easy-to-operate sweeper, particularly suitable for people who have a walking problem.
• A secondary objective of the present invention is to provide a sweeper with a small size and a flat shape that can freely sweep and pass through a small, short and hard-to-reach area.
• Another objective of the present invention is to provide a sweeper that also can be pushed manually by users to automatically clean up the floor.
• A further objective of the present invention is to provide a sweeper whose brush can be replaced by users. Users can change the brush to an appropriate one according to actual needs.
• The remote control sweeper in accordance with the present invention comprises:
• an upper casing and a lower casing, both can be coupled manually with each other to define an interior space;
• a battery, installed in the interior space;
• two wheels, installed in the interior space and in contact with a floor, and each wheel being driven by a motor transmission gear module to rotate;
• a sweeping brush, installed in the interior space and in contact with a floor, and controlled by a sweeping brush transmission module to rotate axially;
• a dust container, detachably fixed in the interior space and disposed proximate to the sweeping brush and having a dust-collecting opening disposed on a surface corresponding to the sweeping brush for collecting the dust swept by the sweeping brush;
• a remote control receiver, installed on the sweeper;
• a remote control, capable of transmitting a direction control signal to the remote control receiver for controlling the moving direction of the sweeper; and
• an electronic control unit, installed in the interior space and electrically coupled with the battery, motor transmission gear module, sweeping transmission module and remote control receiver.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• FIG. 1 is a rear view of the present invention;
• FIG. 2 is a front view of the present invention;
• FIG. 3 is a first exploded view of the present invention;
• FIG. 4 is a second exploded view of the present invention;
• FIG. 5 is a third exploded view of the present invention;
• FIG. 6 is a bottom view of the present invention;
• FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of Section7-7 as depicted inFIG. 2 and two wheels of the sweeper and a universal roller are in contact with a floor;
• FIG. 8 is another cross-sectional view and two wheels and a universal roller of the sweeper are in contact with a floor; and
• FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a sweeper being operated manually according to the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
• Referring toFIGS. 1 and 2 respectively for the rear view and front view of the remote control sweeper in accordance with the present invention, the sweeper comprises anupper casing10 and alower casing20 being engaged with each other, and the left and right sections of the upper andlower casings10,20 separately install awheel30,30′. Theupper casing10 pivotally connects a pushingsection11 at its surface, and the pushingsection11 can be turned to any angle with respect to thepivotal end111 as the center, and can be placed flatly and accommodated into agroove12 of theupper casing10. Further, theupper casing10 further comprises apower button13 and aremote control receiver14, and acover16 for covering anupper casing opening161 can be installed and detached easily. InFIG. 1, theupper casing10 further comprises apower socket15.
• Referring toFIGS. 3 and 4, we can see that theupper casing10 comes with a specific accommodating space, after thecover16 is removed. The accommodating space comprises an object accommodatinggroove171, amotor chamber172 for accommodating and mounting amotor61, and themotor chamber172 being covered by amotor hood173, an accessingopening174 for accessing adust container40 and abattery chamber15 for accommodating abattery50.
• Referring toFIGS. 4 and 5, thelower casing20 also includes a specific accommodating space, and the accommodating space comprises adust container40 accommodated and mounted into a dustcontainer fixing groove201, asweeping brush opening202 for accommodating asweeping brush60, and anelectronic component chamber203 for accommodating anelectronic control unit70.
• Theelectronic component chamber203 installs thewheels30,30′ on both sidewalls proximate to thelower casing20, and eachwheel30,30′ is controlled by theelectronic control unit70 and driven by a motortransmission gear module31 to rotate. Both of the twowheels30,30′ rotate clockwise to move the sweeper forward and counterclockwise to move the sweeper backward. If thewheel30 on the right rotates clockwise and thewheel30′ on the left rotates counterclockwise, then the sweeper will be turned left. If thewheel30 on the right rotates counterclockwise and thewheel30′ on the left rotates clockwise, then the sweeper will be turned right. Theelectronic control unit70 is electrically connected with thebattery50,power button13,power socket15,motor61, andremote control receiver14, and theremote control receiver14 works with aremote control141 as shown inFIG. 2. An external power supply can be used to charge thebattery50 through thepower socket15 to supply electric power required by the operation of the foregoing components. Thepower button13 turns on or off the power, and theremote control receiver14 is controlled by theremote control141 to drive the sweeper to move forward or backward and turn left or right. The foregoing remote control technology uses a transmission source (including infrared, radio frequency (RF), supersonic, or oral command) for a wireless transmission with a wireless receiving end.
• Thesweeper60 comprises anaxle62, abrush body66 fixed outside theaxle62, and abrush661 installed outside thebrush body66. Thebrush60 uses both ends of theaxle62 to detachably couple apivotal base63,64 disposed separately on the sidewalls corresponding to asweeping brush opening202 of thelower casing20. An end of theaxle62 is connected to a sweeping brush transmission module which is electrically coupled to the electronic control unit for controlling the rotation of thesweeping brush60 to sweep the floor with thebrush661. The sweeping brush transmission module comprises amotor61, abelt65 and anaxle62 of thesweeping brush60 connected to an end of thebelt wheel651.
• Thedust container40 is abox body41 covered by alid42. The bottom of thebox body41 is fixed to the dustcontainer fixing groove201 of thelower casing20. Thebox body41 has a dust connecting opening43 disposed on a surface corresponding to thesweeping brush60, and thelower edge431 of the dust collecting opening43 will not exceed the groove walls of the dust collectingfixing groove201. The dustcontainer fixing groove201 installs adirt scraper44 at the groove wall corresponding tosweeping brush60, and thedirt scraper44 is tilted in contact with thebrush661, so that the dirt and dust collected by thebrush661 are guided into thedust container40 by thedirt scraper44.
• Referring to FIGS.4 to6, thelower casing20 installs a lateralbrush transmission module51 disposed at a position proximate to a corner of thesweeping brush60 and electrically connected to theelectronic control unit70 and the lateralbrush transmission module51 installs alateral brush52 disposed at the bottom of the lower casing and controlled to rotate by thetransmission module51 to clean up the area reached by the sweeping brush and further be brushed by thesweeping brush60.
• Referring toFIG. 6, the bottom of thelower casing20 includes twouniversal rollers69 and twoauxiliary rollers67. The bottom of thelower casing20 has agroove21, and thegroove21 has afirst groove end211 and asecond groove end212. InFIG. 7, the depth of thefirst groove end211 is shallower than thesecond groove end212. InFIG. 6, the twoauxiliary rollers67 in thegroove21 are pivotally coupled to both ends681,682 of a T-shape rod68, and the third end of the T-shape rod68 is movable and pivotally coupled to apivotal base22 in thegroove21. The horizontal level L1 of the secondauxiliary roller67 is higher than the horizontal level L2 of the tworollers30,30′, such that the twowheels30,30′ are in contact with the floor and move according to theuniversal rollers69. On the other hand, when the two auxiliary rollers6 are accommodated in the two groove ends212 as shown inFIG. 8, the horizontal level L1 of the twoauxiliary rollers67 is lower than the horizontal level L2 of the twowheels30,30′ such that the rear section of the sweeper is lifted and no longer in contact with the floor, and then the twoauxiliary wheels67 together with theuniversal rollers69 move the sweeper.
• Reference is made toFIG. 9, and if the twoauxiliary wheels67 work together with the universal rollers, the sweeper is moved manually. An end of ahandle rod53 is pivotally coupled into a pivotal connectingsection112 of the pushingsection11, and the pushingsection11 is tilted so that a user can use thehandle rod53 to push the sweeper to move.
• In summation of the above description, the moving modes of the sweeper of the present invention include a manual mode and a remote control mode. The manual mode is described as above, and the remote control mode allows users to use aremote control141 to control the twowheels30,30′ to move in the same direction or opposite directions to achieve the forward, backward, left turn, right turn movements through theremote control receiver14 and theelectronic control unit70. The moving sweeper can rotate itssweeping brush60 to sweep the floor, and the dust is collected into thedust container40 by thedirt scraper44 and thedust collecting opening43. Thesweeping brush60 can be changed to a different model as needed. If it is necessary to dump the dust in thedust container40, users can remove thecover16 and directly take out thewhole dust container40, and then open thecover42 to dump the dust. After dumping the dust, users can reinstall the sweeper in a reverse process.
• The sweeper of the present invention has a small size and can be operated by a remote control. The invention allows users to clean up a floor quickly without bearing the pain of backaches caused by sweeping the floor. The sweeper of the invention can even pass through and clean up the hard-to-reach areas with obstacles or having a short height.
• Other detailed functions of the invention include the integration of the pushingsection11 with thehandle rod53 for a manual mode, or the pushingsection11 being an independent handle to facilitate users to carry the sweeper. Thecover16 could be detached by hands, so that users can easily open or install thecover16 to facilitate the cleaning of thedust container40 or removing objects from theobject accommodating groove171.
• While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements and procedures, and the scope of the appended claims therefore should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements and procedures.

Claims (16)

1. A remote control sweeper, comprising:

a wireless remote control receiver, installed at said sweeper; and

a remote control, for transmitting a direction control signal to said remote control receiver to control the moving direction of said sweeper.

2. The sweeper ofclaim 1, further comprising:

an upper casing and a lower casing, both being coupled with each other manually to define an interior space;

a battery, installed in said interior space;

two wheels, installed in said interior space and in contact with a floor, and each wheel being controlled by a motor transmission gear module to rotate;

a sweeping brush, installed in said interior space and in contact with a floor, and controlled by a sweeping brush transmission module to rotate axially;

a dust container, detachably fixed into said interior space and having a dust collecting opening disposed on a surface corresponding to said sweeping brush for collecting dirt and dust swept by said sweeper;

an electronic control unit, installed in said interior space and electrically coupled with said battery, said motor transmission gear module, said sweeper transmission module and said remote control receiver.

3. The sweeper ofclaim 2, further comprising at least two universal wheels installed at an external surface of the bottom of said lower casing.

4. The sweeper ofclaim 2, wherein said lower casing installs a lateral brush transmission module disposed at a corner of said lower casing proximate to said sweeping brush and electrically coupled with said electronic control unit for driving a lateral brush disposed at the bottom of said lower casing to rotate.

5. The sweeper ofclaim 2, wherein said upper casing comprises a pushing section pivotally coupled to a surface of said upper casing.

6. The sweeper ofclaim 5, wherein said pushing section comprises a pivotal connecting section for pivotally coupling an end of a handle rod.

7. The sweeper ofclaim 6, wherein said lower casing comprises a grove having a first groove end and a second groove end, and the groove of said second groove end is shallower than the groove of said first groove; and a T-shape rod is pivotally coupled with said grooves, and an auxiliary roller is disposed separately on both ends of said T-shape rod, and said two auxiliary rollers are accommodated by the groove of said first groove end or said second groove end by said T-shape rod.

8. The sweeper ofclaim 2, wherein said sweeping brush comprises an axle, a brush body coupled outside said axle, and said brush body includes a brush, and said axle of said sweeping brush is controlled by said brush transmission module to rotate and said brush is provided for cleaning.

9. The sweeper ofclaim 8, wherein both ends of said axle of said sweeping brush are pivotally mounted onto a pivotal base of a sidewall corresponding to an opening of said sweeping brush of said lower casing, and an end of said axle is coupled to said sweeping brush transmission module.

10. The sweeper ofclaim 9, wherein said sweeping brush transmission module comprises a belt roller coupled with an axle end of said sweeping brush and driven by a transmission belt and a motor axle, and said motor is electrically coupled with said electronic control unit.

11. The sweeper ofclaim 2, further comprises an external power socket electrically coupled with said electronic control unit for charging said battery.

12. The sweeper ofclaim 2, wherein said upper casing further comprises an object accommodating groove disposed in an accommodating space of said upper casing.

13. The sweeper ofclaim 2, wherein said dust container is comprised of a box body and a lid covering said box body.

14. The sweeper ofclaim 2, wherein said dust container installs a dust scraper being in contact with said sweeping brush and disposed at a lower edge of said dust collecting opening of said dust container.

15. The sweeper ofclaim 14, wherein said dust scraper is tilted to be in contact with said sweeping brush.

16. The sweeper ofclaim 2, wherein said upper casing further comprises a power button electrically coupled with said electronic control unit.

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