Methods for cleaning surfaces with brushes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021237125-A1
Application number	US-202117229943-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 14, 2021
Priority date	Jan 2, 2019
Publication date	Aug 5, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of cleaning a surface includes steps of: urging brushes of a cleaning device against the surface; providing solvent to the surface via a solvent supply that passes through a housing of the cleaning device; rotating a drive gear about a drive-gear rotational axis to drive driven gears about corresponding driven-gear rotational axes inside the housing to rotate the brushes; and evacuating material from the surface via a vacuum tube, passing through the housing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method ( 500 ) of cleaning a surface ( 104 ), the method comprising steps of:
urging brushes ( 140 ) of a cleaning device ( 100 ) against the surface ( 104 ); providing solvent ( 106 ) to the surface ( 104 ) via a solvent supply ( 130 ) that passes through a housing ( 112 ) of the cleaning device ( 100 ); rotating a drive gear ( 114 ) about a drive-gear rotational axis ( 115 ) to drive driven gears ( 116 ) about corresponding driven-gear rotational axes ( 117 ) inside the housing ( 112 ) to rotate the brushes ( 140 ); and evacuating material ( 108 ) from the surface ( 104 ) via a vacuum tube ( 120 ), passing through the housing ( 112 ).

2 . The method ( 500 ) according to claim 1 , further comprising translating the cleaning device ( 100 ) along a cleaning path ( 103 ) across the surface ( 104 ).

3 . The method ( 500 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the step of evacuating the material ( 108 ) from the surface ( 104 ) via the vacuum tube ( 120 ) comprises evacuating the material ( 108 ) in a direction along the drive-gear rotational axis ( 115 ).

4 . The method ( 500 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the step of providing solvent ( 106 ) to the surface ( 104 ) comprises providing the solvent ( 106 ) along a path, at least a portion of which is parallel to the drive-gear rotational axis ( 115 ).

5 . The method ( 500 ) according to claim 4 , wherein:
the step of the providing solvent ( 106 ) to the surface ( 104 ) comprises providing the solvent ( 106 ) to the surface ( 104 ) via a first solvent tube ( 131 ) and a second solvent tube ( 132 ); the first solvent tube ( 131 ) is located proximate a first end ( 133 ) of the housing ( 112 ); the second solvent tube ( 132 ) is located proximate a second end ( 134 ) of the housing ( 112 ); and the first end ( 133 ) and second end ( 134 ) of the housing ( 112 ) are opposite each other.

6 . The method ( 500 ) according to claim 1 , wherein:
the driven gears ( 116 ) comprise a directly driven gear ( 216 ); and the step of rotating the drive gear ( 114 ) about the drive-gear rotational axis ( 115 ) to drive the driven gears ( 116 ) comprises driving the directly driven gear ( 216 ) directly by the drive gear ( 114 ).

7 . The method ( 500 ) according to claim 1 , wherein:
the driven gears ( 116 ) comprise an indirectly driven gear ( 316 ); and the step of rotating the drive gear ( 114 ) about the drive-gear rotational axis ( 115 ) to drive the driven gears ( 116 ) comprises driving the indirectly driven gear ( 316 ) by the drive gear ( 114 ) via an idler gear ( 317 ), in mesh with the drive gear ( 114 ) and the indirectly driven gear ( 316 ).

8 . The method ( 500 ) according to claim 1 , wherein:
the driven gears ( 116 ) comprise a directly driven gear ( 216 ) and an indirectly driven gear ( 316 ); and the step of rotating the drive gear ( 114 ) about the drive-gear rotational axis ( 115 ) to drive the driven gears ( 116 ) comprises rotating the directly driven gear ( 216 ) in a first direction ( 218 ), and rotating the indirectly driven gear ( 316 ) in a second direction ( 318 ) that is opposite to the first direction ( 218 ).

9 . The method ( 500 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the step of evacuating the material ( 108 ) from the surface ( 104 ) comprises evacuating some of the material ( 108 ) via at least one vacuum port ( 160 ), formed in a shroud ( 110 ), surrounding the brushes ( 140 ), and in fluid communication with a cavity ( 210 ) of the shroud ( 110 ).

10 . The method ( 500 ) according to claim 9 , wherein the step of rotating the drive gear ( 114 ) about the drive-gear rotational axis ( 115 ) comprises ( 526 ) actuating the drive gear ( 114 ) with a gearbox ( 150 ).

11 . The method ( 500 ) according to claim 10 , further comprising removably coupling the housing ( 112 ) to the gearbox ( 150 ).

12 . The method ( 500 ) according to claim 11 , wherein the step of removably coupling the housing ( 112 ) to the gearbox ( 150 ) comprises ( 536 ) magnetically coupling the housing ( 112 ) to the gearbox ( 150 ).

13 . The method ( 500 ) according to claim 10 , further comprising removably coupling the shroud ( 110 ) to the housing ( 112 ).

14 . The method ( 500 ) according to claim 13 , wherein the step of removably coupling the shroud ( 110 ) to the housing ( 150 ) comprises mating locating protrusions ( 152 ) of the shroud ( 110 ) with locating recesses ( 151 ) of the housing ( 112 ).

15 . The method ( 500 ) according to claim 14 , further comprising a step of removably coupling the gearbox ( 150 ) to the shroud ( 110 ).

16 . The method ( 500 ) according to claim 15 , wherein the step of removably coupling the gearbox ( 150 ) to the shroud ( 110 ) comprises using gearbox-interlock features ( 165 ) of the shroud ( 110 ) to couple the gearbox ( 150 ) with the shroud ( 110 ) such that the gearbox ( 150 ) and the shroud ( 110 ) have a predetermined orientation relative to each other.

17 . The method ( 500 ) according to claim 1 , further comprising removably coupling the brushes ( 140 ) to the housing ( 112 ).

18 . The method ( 500 ) according to claim 17 , wherein the step of removably coupling the brushes ( 140 ) to the housing ( 112 ) comprises a step of inserting brush stems ( 142 ) of the brushes ( 140 ) into brush sockets ( 141 ) of the housing ( 112 ).

19 . The method ( 500 ) according to claim 18 , wherein the step of inserting the brush stems ( 142 ) of the brushes ( 140 ) into the brush sockets ( 141 ) of the housing ( 112 ) comprises inserting the brush stems ( 142 ) into the brush sockets ( 141 ) with a frictional fit.

20 . A method ( 500 ) of cleaning a surface ( 104 ), the method comprising steps of:
urging brushes ( 140 ) of a cleaning device ( 100 ) against the surface ( 104 ); translating the cleaning device ( 100 ) along a cleaning path ( 103 ) across the surface ( 104 ); providing solvent ( 106 ) to the surface ( 104 ) via a solvent supply ( 130 ) that passes through a housing ( 112 ) of the cleaning device ( 100 ), wherein the step of providing the solvent ( 106 ) to the surface ( 104 ) comprises providing the solvent ( 106 ) along a path, at least a portion of which is parallel to a drive-gear rotational axis ( 115 ); rotating a drive gear ( 114 ) about the drive-gear rotational axis ( 115 ) to drive driven gears ( 116 ) about corresponding driven-gear rotational axes ( 117 ) inside the housing ( 112 ) to rotate the brushes ( 140 ); and evacuating material ( 108 ) from the surface ( 104 ) via a vacuum tube ( 120 ), passing through the housing ( 112 ), wherein the step of evacuating the material ( 108 ) from the surface ( 104 ) via the vacuum tube ( 120 ) comprises evacuating the material ( 108 ) in a direction along the drive-gear rotational axis ( 115 ).

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Pringle Iv John Walter
• Farrell Nicholas Ryan
• Tomuta Raul

Classifications

• B08B1/36

  rotating about an axis orthogonal to the surface · CPC title

• B08B1/12

  Brushes · CPC title

• A46B11/063 Primary

  by means of a supply pipe · CPC title

• A46B13/02

  power-driven {carriers} · CPC title

• A46B13/005

  made up of a series of longitudinal strips or segments · CPC title