Floor cleaning apparatus and method of cleaning a floor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10130231-B2
Application number	US-201615221753-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 28, 2016
Priority date	Jul 31, 2015
Publication date	Nov 20, 2018
Grant date	Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

An apparatus for cleaning a floor includes a housing, chassis, wheels, motor, steering mechanism, cleaning assembly, optionally a squeegee assembly, and at least one of a side sweeping system, front sweeping system, and pick-up system. The side sweeping system includes a turntable with central axis, a drive wheel disposed in coaxial relationship with the turntable, a sweeper motive device in communication with the drive wheel, a plurality of brushes distributed radially around the drive wheel and adapted to be driven by rotation of the drive wheel, and a pivoting connector configured to enable the side sweeping system to pivot laterally in response to contact with a wall while at least one of the brushes maintains contact with the floor adjacent the wall while the apparatus is in operation, and the brushes move debris disposed on the floor adjacent the wall toward the front of the apparatus.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A floor cleaning apparatus for cleaning a floor comprising:
a) a housing;
b) a chassis;
c) a plurality of wheels by which the floor cleaning apparatus is adapted to move across the floor in a direction of travel, the direction of travel at least partially defining a front end, a back end, and first and second lateral sides of the floor cleaning apparatus;
d) a motive device for moving the apparatus across the floor;
e) a steering mechanism;
f) a cleaning assembly for cleaning the floor; and
g) a side sweeping system comprising
i) a turntable having a central axis, and being freely rotatable about said central axis
ii) a drive wheel, the drive wheel disposed in coaxial relationship with the turntable,
iii) a sweeper motive device for rotating the drive wheel,
iv) a plurality of brushes each having a central axis, the brushes distributed radially around the drive wheel and driven by rotation of the drive wheel, and
v) a pivoting connector configured to bias the side sweeping system away from the vehicle into a neutral position and to enable the side sweeping system to pivot laterally toward the vehicle and away from a neutral position in response to contact with a vertical surface while at least one of the plurality of brushes maintains contact with the floor adjacent the vertical surface while the floor cleaning apparatus is in operation, and the brushes move debris that is disposed on the floor adjacent the vertical surface toward the front of the floor cleaning apparatus.

2. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the side sweeping system further comprising a plurality of edge rollers that are non-driven and extend laterally beyond the turntable, each edge roller mounted under or above the turntable and positioned above and coaxially aligned with a respective brush and wherein the turntable is also not driven and is able to rotate freely about the central axis independent of the drive wheel in response to the edge rollers contacting a vertical surface.

3. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 1 wherein a main drive belt transmits motive force from the sweeper motive device to the drive wheel.

4. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 3 wherein a plurality of brush drive belts transmit motive force from the drive wheel to each respective brush.

5. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 1 wherein the turntable comprises a plurality of extension arms and an equal number of brushes.

6. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 5 wherein the turntable comprises three extension arms, each extension arm comprising a central axis and each of the plurality of brushes is positioned under and in coaxial relationship with a respective extension arm.

7. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 1 wherein the turntable further comprises a central turntable column that descends from the turntable, contacts the floor, and remains in contact with the floor as the floor cleaning apparatus moves across and cleans the floor.

8. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 7 wherein the central turntable column comprises a ball transfer unit at the bottom of the column, the ball transfer unit contacting the floor and supporting the side sweeping system as the floor cleaning apparatus moves across and cleans the floor.

9. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 1 wherein the pivoting connector comprises a deflection biasing member that urges the side sweeping system back to the neutral position when the side sweeping system pivots laterally away from the neutral position in response to contact with a vertical surface.

10. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a front sweeping system comprising a segmented brush holder comprising a first segment and a second segment, a plurality of front sweeper brushes distributed along the length of the brush holder, and a first biasing member attaching the first segment to the second segment, such that in operation the first segment can swing away from the second segment in response to debris caught by the front sweeper brushes.

11. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a pick- up system comprising a suction hose adapted to be connected to a debris collection bin, a suction motor, and a pick-up hose in communication with the collection bin.

12. A floor cleaning apparatus for cleaning a floor comprising:
A. a housing;
B. a chassis;
C. a plurality of wheels by which the floor cleaning apparatus is adapted to move across the floor in a direction of travel, the direction of travel at least partially defining a front end, a back end, and first and second lateral sides of the floor cleaning apparatus;
D. a motive device for moving the apparatus across the floor;
E. a steering mechanism;
F. a cleaning assembly for cleaning the floor;
G. a front sweeping system comprising a segmented brush holder comprising a first segment and a second segment, a plurality of front sweeper brushes distributed along the length of the brush holder, and a first biasing member attaching the first segment to the second segment, such that in operation the first segment can swing away from the second segment in response to debris caught by the front sweeper brushes;
H. a pick- up system comprising a suction hose adapted to be connected to either a squeegee assembly or a debris collection bin, a suction motor, and a pick-up hose in communication with the collection bin; and
I. a side sweeping system comprising
i) a turntable having a central axis,
ii) a drive wheel, the drive wheel disposed in coaxial relationship with the turntable,
iii) a sweeper motive device for rotating the drive wheel about the central axis, the turntable not driven by the sweeper motive device but also freely rotatable about the central axis independent of the drive wheel,
iv) a plurality of brushes each having a central axis, the brushes assembled to the turntable and distributed radially around the drive wheel and driven by rotation of the drive wheel,
v) a plurality of edge rollers that are non-driven and extend laterally beyond the turntable, each edge roller positioned above and coaxially aligned with a respective brush, and
vi) a pivoting connector configured to enable the side sweeping system to pivot laterally away from a neutral position in response to contact with a vertical surface while at least one of the plurality of brushes maintains contact with the floor adjacent the vertical surface while the floor cleaning apparatus is in operation, and the brushes move debris that is disposed on the floor adjacent the vertical surface toward the front sweeping system.

13. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 12 wherein a main drive belt transmits motive force from the sweeper motive device to the drive wheel and a plurality of brush drive belts transmit motive force from the drive wheel to each respective brush.

14. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 12 wherein the turntable comprises three extension arms and three brushes, each extension arm comprising a central axis and each of the plurality of brushes is positioned under and in coaxial relationship with a respective extension arm.

15. The floor cleaning apparatus of claim 12 wherein the turntable further comprises a central turntable column that descends from the turntable and comprises a ball transfer unit at the bottom of the column, the ball transfer unit contacting the floor and supporting the side sweeping system as the floor cleaning apparatus moves across and cleans the floor.

Assignees

• Diversey Inc

Inventors

• Windmeisser Dieter
• Bahr Thomas
• Müller Markus
• Forster Martin
• Stofer Markus
• Ryssen Laurent
• Tement Thomas

Classifications

• A47L11/4088

  Supply pumps; Spraying devices; Supply conduits · CPC title

• A47L11/4083

  Liquid supply reservoirs; Preparation of the agents, e.g. mixing devices · CPC title

• A47L11/4072

  Arrangement of castors or wheels · CPC title

• A47L11/4069

  Driving or transmission means for the cleaning tools · CPC title

• A47L11/4066

  Propulsion of the whole machine · CPC title