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CN-121987089-A - Vacuum cleaner comprising means for detecting soft floor surfaces

CN121987089ACN 121987089 ACN121987089 ACN 121987089ACN-121987089-A

Abstract

A vacuum cleaner comprises a suction head (5), the suction head (5) comprising a rotating brush (18), a brush drive motor (21), the brush drive motor (21) being configured to drive the rotating brush (18) in rotation, a suction motor, the suction motor being configured to generate an air flow through the suction head (5), and an electronic control unit, the electronic control unit being configured to calculate an intensity variation parameter from an intensity value measured by an intensity measuring device associated with the brush drive motor (21), and to adjust a suction power of the vacuum cleaner according to a comparison of the calculated intensity variation parameter with at least one detection threshold, and to adjust a rotational speed of the brush drive motor (21) according to a comparison of an intensity of an electric current applied to the brush drive motor (21) with the intensity threshold.

Inventors

  • Anais Muliki

Assignees

  • SEB公司

Dates

Publication Date
20260508
Application Date
20251105
Priority Date
20241106

Claims (10)

  1. 1. A vacuum cleaner (2) comprising: -a suction head (5), the suction head (5) comprising a soleplate (14), the soleplate (14) being provided with a lower surface (15) and a suction opening (16), the lower surface (15) being configured to be oriented towards a surface to be cleaned, the suction opening (16) opening into the lower surface (15) of the soleplate (14), and external air being sucked by the cleaner (2) through the suction opening (16), the suction head (5) further comprising a rotatable brush (18) rotatable about a rotational axis (a); -a rotational drive mechanism (19), the rotational drive mechanism (19) being configured to drive the rotational brush (18) in rotation about the rotational axis (a), the rotational drive mechanism (19) comprising a brush drive motor (21) rotationally coupled to the rotational brush (18); -a suction motor (12), the suction motor (12) being configured to generate an air flow through the suction opening (16) and into the suction head (5); -an intensity measuring device (22), the intensity measuring device (22) being configured to measure an intensity (I) of a current applied to the brush drive motor (21), and -An electronic control unit (25), the electronic control unit (25) being configured to control the operation of the vacuum cleaner (2), the electronic control unit (25) being further configured to: o calculating an intensity variation parameter based on the intensity value measured by the intensity measuring device (22); o comparing the calculated intensity variation parameter with at least one detection threshold value, and O comparing the intensity (I) of the current applied to the brush drive motor (21) with an intensity threshold (Vsi); characterized in that the electronic control unit (25) is configured to adjust the suction power of the vacuum cleaner (2) as a function of the comparison of the calculated intensity variation parameter with the at least one detection threshold value, and to adjust the rotational speed of the brush drive motor (21) as a function of the comparison of the intensity (I) of the current applied to the brush drive motor (21) with the intensity threshold value (Vsi).
  2. 2. A vacuum cleaner (2) according to claim 1, wherein the electronic control unit (25) is configured to detect the type of floor surface on which the suction head (5) is displaced, on the basis of the comparison of the calculated intensity variation parameter with the at least one detection threshold value and of the intensity of the current applied to the brush drive motor (21) with the intensity threshold value (Vsi).
  3. 3. The vacuum cleaner (2) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the electronic control unit (25) is configured to detect displacement of the suction head (5) on soft floor when the calculated intensity variation parameter reaches or exceeds a first detection threshold (Vsd 1), and to adjust the suction power of the vacuum cleaner (2) to a first predetermined soft floor suction power having a non-zero value when the electronic control unit (25) detects displacement of the suction head (5) on soft floor.
  4. 4. A vacuum cleaner (2) according to claim 3, wherein the electronic control unit (25) is configured to adjust the rotational speed of the suction motor (12) to a first predetermined soft floor suction speed when the electronic control unit (25) detects displacement of the suction head (5) on a soft floor.
  5. 5. A vacuum cleaner (2) according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the electronic control unit (25) is configured to detect displacement of the suction head (5) on a thick soft floor when the calculated intensity variation parameter reaches or exceeds a second detection threshold (Vsd 2) which is greater than the first detection threshold (Vsd 1), and to adjust the suction power of the vacuum cleaner (2) to a second predetermined soft floor suction power having a non-zero value and being different from the first predetermined soft floor suction power when the electronic control unit (25) detects displacement of the suction head (5) on a thick soft floor.
  6. 6. A vacuum cleaner (2) according to claim 5, wherein the electronic control unit (25) is configured to adjust the rotational speed of the suction motor (12) to a second predetermined soft floor suction speed when the electronic control unit (25) detects displacement of the suction head (5) over a thick soft floor.
  7. 7. A vacuum cleaner (2) according to any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein the electronic control unit (25) is configured to detect a displacement of the suction head (5) on a hard floor when the calculated intensity variation parameter is smaller than the first detection threshold (Vsd 1) and the intensity (I) of the current applied to the brush drive motor (21) is smaller than a predetermined threshold (Vsp) smaller than the intensity threshold (Vsi).
  8. 8. The vacuum cleaner (2) of claim 7, wherein the electronic control unit (25) is configured to adjust the suction power of the vacuum cleaner (2) to a predetermined hard floor suction power having a non-zero value when the electronic control unit (25) detects displacement of the suction head (5) over a hard floor surface.
  9. 9. The vacuum cleaner (2) of any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the electronic control unit (25) is configured to reduce the rotational speed of the brush drive motor (21) to a predetermined motor protection speed when the electronic control unit (25) previously detected that the suction head (5) was displaced on a soft floor and the intensity (I) of the current applied to the brush drive motor (21) is greater than or equal to the intensity threshold (Vsi).
  10. 10. The vacuum cleaner (2) of any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the electronic control unit (25) is configured to reduce the rotational speed of the brush drive motor (21) to a predetermined motor protection speed when the electronic control unit (25) previously detected displacement of the suction head (5) on soft ground and each of the measured intensity values during a predetermined period of time is greater than or equal to the threshold intensity (Vsi) or an average of the measured intensity values is greater than or equal to the intensity threshold (Vsi).

Description

Vacuum cleaner comprising means for detecting soft floor surfaces Technical Field The present invention relates to the field of cleaners equipped with suction heads, also known as vacuum cleaner nozzles, which allow to suck dust and waste present on the surface to be cleaned. Background Suction heads are well known in the market place and allow cleaning of surfaces by suction to remove dust and waste that has fallen onto the surfaces. The surface to be sucked may for example be a hard floor, such as a tile floor, floor or laminate, or a soft floor, such as a mat or carpet. A suction head comprises in a known manner: -a head body comprising a sole plate provided with a lower surface and a suction opening leading to the lower surface of the sole plate, the lower surface of the sole plate being for positioning adjacent a surface to be sucked during use of the cleaner; A rotary brush which is accommodated in a receiving receptacle defined by the head body and which is rotationally movable about a rotational axis, and -A rotational drive mechanism configured to drive the rotational brush in rotation about a rotational axis, the rotational drive mechanism comprising a brush drive motor rotationally coupled to the rotational brush. In order to improve the cleaning performance of the above-mentioned type of vacuum cleaners, it is known to equip the above-mentioned type of vacuum cleaner with a measuring device configured to measure the intensity of the current applied to the brush drive motor, to detect the type of floor encountered by the suction head from the intensity value measured by the measuring device, and to adapt the suction power generated by the suction motor of the vacuum cleaner in accordance with the detected type of floor. In particular, document FR3137557 discloses a vacuum cleaner comprising an electronic control unit configured to: Calculating a dispersion index, such as a variance or standard deviation, of the intensity values measured by the measuring means, each dispersion index value being calculated based on a finite series of consecutive intensity values measured by the intensity measuring means, and When the dispersion indicator exceeds a detection threshold, a displacement of the suction head on the soft ground, for example from hard ground to soft ground, is detected. This configuration of the cleaner allows the displacement of the suction head on soft floors to be detected without the need for the presence of specific floor detection means, which reduces the manufacturing costs of the cleaner according to the invention. However, this construction of the cleaner does not allow to distinguish between the types of soft floors encountered by the suction head and especially if the soft floors are thin soft floors, such as carpets, thick soft floors, such as carpets with long bristles, power hungry soft floors, such as carpets with long bristles capable of generating significant friction with the rotating brush, or also soft floors that are impermeable or nearly impermeable to air, i.e. soft floors capable of causing a suction cup effect of the suction head against the soft floors. Thus, cleaners of the above type do not allow to automatically adjust at least one operating parameter of the cleaner according to the thickness of the soft floor encountered by the suction head. In particular, cleaning carpets with long bristles (i.e., power hungry soft floors) for a long period of time can lead to premature wear of the rolling bearings of the rotating brush and can also lead to overheating of the brush drive motor if the rotational speed of the brush drive motor selected for cleaning soft floors is too high. To overcome this drawback, it is conceivable to reduce the rotational speed of the brush drive motor, which is predefined for cleaning soft floors. However, such a reduction in speed may impair the cleaning performance of the carpet or tile. Disclosure of Invention The present invention aims to overcome all or part of these disadvantages. The technical problem underlying the present invention is in particular to provide a vacuum cleaner which is simple in construction and ergonomic, while having increased cleaning properties. To this end, the invention relates to a vacuum cleaner comprising: -a suction head comprising a soleplate, the soleplate being provided with a lower surface configured to be oriented towards a surface to be cleaned and a suction opening which opens onto the lower surface of the soleplate and through which external air can be sucked by the cleaner, the suction head further comprising a rotating brush which is rotationally movable about a rotational axis; -a rotational drive mechanism configured to drive the rotational brush in rotation about the rotational axis, the rotational drive mechanism comprising a brush drive motor rotationally coupled to the rotational brush; -a suction motor configured to generate an air flow through the suction opening and into the suction head