Robot cleaner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9504365-B2
Application number	US-201514745830-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 22, 2015
Priority date	Sep 24, 2014
Publication date	Nov 29, 2016
Grant date	Nov 29, 2016

Abstract

A robot cleaner includes a cleaner body for forming appearance of the robot cleaner, a driving unit mounted to the cleaner body and configured to generate a suction force, a suction unit provided at the cleaner body and configured to suck dust-contained air by the driving unit, a first guiding member and a second guiding member communicated with the suction unit, respectively, and spaced from each other, and a cyclone unit configured to filter dust from air sucked through the suction unit using a centrifugal force. The cyclone unit has a first suction opening and a second suction opening communicated with the first guiding member and the second guiding member, respectively. The cyclone unit further has a first cyclone and a second cyclone configured to pass dust-filtered air therethrough.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A robot cleaner, comprising:
a driving unit configured to generate a suction force;
a suction unit configured to suck dust-contained air by the suction force of the driving unit;
a first guiding member communicated with the suction unit;
a second guiding member communicated with the suction unit and spaced apart from the first guiding member; and
a cyclone unit configured to filter dust from air sucked through the suction unit by using a centrifugal force, the cyclone unit including:
a first suction opening communicated with the first guiding member;
a second suction opening communicated with the second guiding member;
a first cyclone configured to pass dust-filtered air therethrough; and
a second cyclone configured to pass dust-filtered air therethrough.

2. The robot cleaner of claim 1 , wherein the first cyclone is disposed close to the first suction opening, and the second cyclone is disposed close to the second suction opening.

3. The robot cleaner of claim 2 , wherein the first cyclone and the second cyclone face each other.

4. The robot cleaner of claim 3 , wherein the first cyclone and the second cyclone are disposed at central parts of two end portions of the cyclone unit so as to have a preset separation distance from an inner circumferential surface of the cyclone unit.

5. The robot cleaner of claim 1 , wherein the cyclone unit further comprises:
a first suction guide extending from the first suction opening toward an inner circumferential surface of the cyclone unit; and
a second suction guide extending from the second suction opening toward the inner circumferential surface of the cyclone unit,
whereby sucked air is guided to the inner circumferential surface of the cyclone unit.

6. The robot cleaner of claim 1 , wherein the cyclone unit further comprises:
a first discharge opening communicated with an inner space of the first cyclone; and
a second discharge opening communicated with an inner space of the second cyclone,
whereby dust-filtered air is discharged out of the cyclone unit.

7. The robot cleaner of claim 6 , further comprising a fan unit connected to the first discharge opening and the second discharge opening, and configured to discharge dust-filtered air to an outside of the robot cleaner.

8. The robot cleaner of claim 7 , wherein the fan unit includes:
a first fan configured to suck dust-filtered air and discharge the dust-filtered air to the outside;
a second fan configured to suck dust-filtered air and discharge the dust-filtered air to the outside;
a first communication member configured to connect the first fan to the first discharge opening; and
a second communication member configured to connect the second fan to the second discharge opening.

9. The robot cleaner of claim 8 , further comprising:
a first fine dust filter mounted to the first communication member and configured to filter fine dust; and
a second fine dust filter mounted to the second communication member and configured to filter fine dust.

10. The robot cleaner of claim 8 , wherein the fan unit further comprises:
a first fan cover configured to accommodate the first fan therein, the first fan cover including:
a first air inlet formed in a direction of a rotation shaft of the first fan; and
a first air outlet formed in a radius direction of the first fan; and

a second fan cover configured to accommodate the second fan therein, the second fan cover including:
a second air inlet formed in a direction of a rotation shaft of the second fan; and
a second air outlet formed in a radius direction of the second fan.

11. The robot cleaner of claim 10 , wherein the first fan cover further includes a first exhaustion guide extending from an inner circumferential surface of the first fan cover, the first exhaustion guide having a rounded shape toward the first air outlet so that noise is reduced when dust-filtered air is discharged outside of the first fan cover, and
wherein the second fan cover further includes a second exhaustion guide extending from an inner circumferential surface of the second fan cover, the second exhaustion guide having a rounded shape toward the second air outlet so that noise is reduced when dust-filtered air is discharged outside of the second fan cover.

12. The robot cleaner of claim 10 , further comprising:
a first fine dust filter mounted to the first air outlet; and
a second fine dust filter mounted to the second air outlet.

13. The robot cleaner of claim 8 , wherein the driving unit is disposed between the first fan and the second fan, the driving unit being configured to generate a suction force by driving the first fan and the second fan.

14. The robot cleaner of claim 1 , wherein the cyclone unit further includes a dust discharge opening formed between the first suction opening and the second suction opening such that dust filtered by the cyclone unit is discharged through the dust discharge opening.

15. The robot cleaner of claim 14 , further comprising a dust box communicated with the dust discharge opening of the cyclone unit such that dust filtered by the cyclone unit is collected in the dust box.

16. The robot cleaner of claim 15 , wherein at least a portion of the dust box is accommodated in a space between the first guiding member and the second guiding member.

17. The robot cleaner of claim 16 , wherein the first guiding member includes a first bent portion and the second guiding member includes a second bent portion to partially surround two sides of the dust box.

18. The robot cleaner of claim 14 , wherein the cyclone unit further includes:
a first case having the first suction opening and the second suction opening, the first case being coupled to the first guiding member and the second guiding member; and
a second case openably coupled to the first case, the second case having the dust discharge opening.

19. A robot cleaner, comprising:
a cyclone unit configured to produce an air flow circulating about a generally horizontal axis within the cyclone unit to filter dust from air sucked into the cyclone unit, the cyclone unit including:
a first cyclone; and
a second cyclone facing the first cyclone;

a driving unit configured to generate a suction force;
a suction head configured to suction dust-contained air from a floor surface;
a first guiding member extending between the suction head and the first cyclone, the first guiding member providing a first flow path for dust-contained air; and
a second guiding member extending between the suction head and the second cyclone, the second guiding member being spaced-apart from the first guiding member, the second guiding member providing a second flow path for dust-contained air, the second flow path being independent of the first flow path.

20. The robot cleaner of claim 19 , wherein the first guiding member and the second guiding member are inclined at a first angle with respect to the floor surface,
wherein a line interconnecting a central axis of the cyclone unit and a central axis of the driving unit is inclined at a second angle with respect to the floor surface, and
wherein the first angle is less than the second angle.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Kim Jongsu
• Kim Jihwan
• Park Sungil

Classifications

• A47L9/22

  Mountings for motor fan assemblies · CPC title

• A47L9/009

  Carrying-vehicles; Arrangements of trollies or wheels; Means for avoiding mechanical obstacles · CPC title

• A47L9/122

  flat · CPC title

• A47L2201/00

  Robotic cleaning machines, i.e. with automatic control of the travelling movement or the cleaning operation · CPC title

• A47L9/1641

  for parallel flow · CPC title