EP-4740813-A1 - VACUUM CLEANER COMPRISING MEANS FOR PROTECTING A BRUSH DRIVE MOTOR

EP4740813A1EP 4740813 A1EP4740813 A1EP 4740813A1EP-4740813-A1

Abstract

The vacuum cleaner includes a suction head (5) comprising a rotating brush (18); a brush drive motor (21) configured to rotate the rotating brush (18); a suction motor configured to generate an airflow through the suction head (5); and an electronic control unit configured to control the stopping or keeping in operation of the brush drive motor (21) as a function of a first parameter representing the intensity of the electric current applied to the brush drive motor (21) and a second parameter representing the suction rate of the airflow generated by the suction motor.

Inventors

MLIKI, Anaïs
Sice, Frederik
PHILIPPE, Christelle

Assignees

SEB S.A.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260513
Application Date: 20251106

Claims (15)

Vacuum cleaner (2) comprising: - a suction head (5) comprising a sole (14) having an underside (15) configured to be oriented towards a surface to be cleaned and a suction nozzle (16) opening into the underside (15) of the sole (14) and through which outside air can be drawn in by the vacuum cleaner (2), the suction head (5) further comprising a suction chamber (17), which is fluidly connected to the suction nozzle, and a rotating brush (18) located in the suction chamber (17) and mounted to rotate freely around an axis of rotation (A), - a rotating drive mechanism (20) configured to rotate the rotating brush (18) around the axis of rotation (A), the rotating drive mechanism (20) comprising a brush drive motor (21) located in the suction head (5) and rotationally coupled to the rotating brush (18), - a suction motor (12) configured to generate an airflow through the suction head (5), the airflow having a suction flow rate and the brush drive motor (21) being capable of being cooled by conduction by at least a portion of said airflow, - a current measurement device (27) configured to measure the current intensity (I) applied to the brush drive motor (21), and - an electronic control unit (32) configured to control the operation of the vacuum cleaner (2), characterized in that the electronic control unit (32) is further configured to control the stopping or maintaining in operation of the brush drive motor (21) as a function of a first parameter representing the intensity of the electric current applied to the brush drive motor (21) and a second parameter representing the suction flow rate of the airflow generated by the suction motor.
Vacuum cleaner (2) according to claim 1, wherein the electronic control unit (32) is configured to estimate the temperature of the brush drive motor (21) as a function of the first parameter and the second parameter, and to control the stopping of the brush drive motor (21) if the estimated temperature reaches or exceeds a temperature threshold value.
Vacuum cleaner (2) according to claim 2, wherein the temperature threshold value is between 70 and 90°C.
Vacuum cleaner (2) according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the electronic control unit (32) is configured to estimate the temperature of the brush drive motor (21) as a function of the first and second parameters and from charts stored in the electronic control unit (32) and representing, for different values of the first and second parameters, the evolution of the temperature of the brush drive motor (21) as a function of time.
Vacuum cleaner (2) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the electronic control unit (32) is configured to successively determine pairs of parameters each comprising a value of the first parameter and a value of the second parameter, and to estimate the temperature of the brush drive motor (21) as a function of the successively determined pairs of parameters.
Vacuum cleaner (2) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein each value of the first parameter is calculated from intensity values measured by the intensity measuring device (27) during a respective predetermined period of time.
Vacuum cleaner (2) according to claim 6, wherein each predetermined time period is between 20 ms and 1 s.
Vacuum cleaner (2) according to claim 6 or 7, wherein each value of the first parameter is an average of the intensity values measured during the respective predetermined time period.
Vacuum cleaner (2) according to any one of claims 6 to 8 in combination with claim 5, wherein the electronic control unit (32) is configured to determine, for each predetermined period of time, a pair of parameters comprising the value of the first parameter and the value of the second parameter determined for said predetermined period of time.
Vacuum cleaner (2) according to claim 9, wherein the electronic control unit (32) is configured to estimate, for each predetermined time period, a temperature value of the brush drive motor (21) as a function of the pair of parameters determined for said predetermined time period, the duration of said predetermined time period and the temperature value estimated for the previous predetermined time period, and taking into account the charts stored in the electronic control unit (32).
Vacuum cleaner (2) according to any one of claims 6 to 10, wherein, if the electronic control unit (32) detects a variation in the suction flow rate during a predetermined period of time, the electronic control unit (32) is then configured to shorten said predetermined period of time.
Vacuum cleaner (2) according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the electronic control unit (32) is configured to estimate that the temperature of the brush drive motor (21) is equal to an initial temperature predetermined when starting the vacuum cleaner (2) following a stop of the vacuum cleaner (2) exceeding a predetermined duration.
Vacuum cleaner (2) according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the brush drive motor (21) is located at least partly inside the rotating brush.
Vacuum cleaner (2) according to any one of claims 1 to 13, which includes an air circulation cooling circuit (24) fluidly connected to the suction chamber (17) and configured to cool the brush drive motor (21) when an airflow is generated by the suction motor.
Method for controlling a vacuum cleaner (2), comprising the following steps: - provide a vacuum cleaner (2) including: ∘ a suction head (5) comprising a rotating brush (18) which is located in a suction chamber (17) delimited by the suction head (5) and which is mobile in rotation around an axis of rotation (A) and a sole (14) having an underside (15) configured to be oriented towards a surface to be cleaned and a suction inlet (16) opening into the underside (15) of the sole (14) and through which outside air can be drawn in by the vacuum cleaner (2), ∘ a rotary drive mechanism (20) configured to drive the rotary brush (18) in rotation around the axis of rotation (A), the rotary drive mechanism (20) comprising a brush drive motor (21) rotationally coupled to the rotary brush (18), ∘ a suction motor (12) configured to generate an airflow through the suction head (5), the airflow having a suction flow rate, • a current measurement device (27) configured to measure the current intensity (I) applied to the brush drive motor (21), and ∘ an electronic control unit (32) configured to control the operation of the vacuum cleaner (2), - measure the intensity (I) of the electric current applied to the brush drive motor (21), characterized in that the process further comprises the following steps: - determine a first parameter representative of the intensity of the electric current applied to the brush drive motor (21), - determine a second parameter representative of the suction flow rate of the airflow generated by the suction motor, and - control the stopping or maintaining operation of the brush drive motor (21) according to the first parameter and the second parameter.

Description

technical field The present invention relates to the field of vacuum cleaners equipped with a suction head, also called a vacuum cleaner nozzle, allowing the suction of dust and waste present on a surface to be cleaned. State of the art Vacuum cleaners equipped with a suction head are well-known on the market; they allow for the cleaning of surfaces by suction, removing dust and debris. The surface to be vacuumed can be, for example, a hard floor, such as tile, parquet, or laminate flooring, or a soft floor, such as carpet or rugs. A suction head includes, as is known: a head body comprising a sole equipped with a lower face and a suction opening into the lower face of the sole, the lower face of the sole being intended to be positioned adjacent to the surface to be vacuumed during the use of the vacuum cleaner, a rotating brush housed in a receiving compartment defined by the head body and which rotates freely around an axis of rotation, and a rotary drive mechanism configured to drive the rotary brush in rotation around the axis of rotation, the rotary drive mechanism comprising a brush drive motor coupled in rotation to the rotary brush. Prolonged operation of such a vacuum cleaner on thick, soft flooring results in significant power consumption of the brush drive motor, and therefore a substantial increase in its temperature. Repeated or prolonged operation of the brush drive motor at a high temperature can damage it. In order to preserve the integrity of the brush drive motor, it is known to equip the latter with a measuring device configured to measure the intensity of the electric current applied to the brush drive motor, and to command a stop of the brush drive motor if the intensity of the electric current applied to the brush drive motor is greater than or equal to a first threshold value of intensity, for example equal to 3 A, for a predetermined time, for example for 5 seconds, or if the intensity of the electric current applied to the brush drive motor exceeds a second threshold value of intensity which is greater than the first threshold value of intensity and which is for example equal to 5 A. However, such a configuration of the aforementioned vacuum cleaner is likely to cause the brush drive motor to stop after only 5 seconds of cleaning a very thick carpet, whereas such a duration of operation is not likely, in itself, to harm the integrity of the brush drive motor. Thus, the aforementioned specific configuration is likely to induce repeated unnecessary stops of the brush drive motor, which impairs the ergonomics of the aforementioned vacuum cleaner. Summary of the invention The present invention aims to remedy all or part of these drawbacks. The technical problem underlying the invention consists in particular of providing a vacuum cleaner with a simple, reliable and economical structure, while avoiding repeated stops of a brush drive motor equipping the vacuum cleaner. To this end, the present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner comprising: a suction head comprising a soleplate having an underside configured to be oriented towards a surface to be cleaned and a suction inlet opening into the underside of the soleplate and through which outside air can be drawn in by the vacuum cleaner, the suction head further comprising a suction chamber, which is fluidly connected to the suction inlet, and a rotating brush located in the suction chamber and mounted to rotate freely around an axis of rotation, a rotating drive mechanism configured to rotate the brush rotating around the axis of rotation, the rotating drive mechanism includes a brush drive motor located in the suction head and coupled in rotation to the rotating brush, a suction motor configured to generate an airflow through the suction head, and in particular through the suction inlet and the suction chamber, the airflow having a suction flow rate and the brush drive motor being capable of being cooled by conduction by at least a portion of said airflow, a current measurement device configured to measure the intensity of the electric current applied to the brush drive motor, and an electronic control unit configured to control the operation of the vacuum cleaner, the electronic control unit being further configured to control the stopping or keeping in operation of the brush drive motor as a function of a first parameter representing the intensity of the electric current applied to the brush drive motor and a second parameter representing the suction rate of the airflow generated by the suction motor. Such a configuration of the electronic control unit allows, by monitoring a parameter representing the intensity of the electrical current applied to the brush drive motor and a parameter representing the suction flow rate of the airflow generated by the suction motor, the detection of prolonged operation of the vacuum cleaner in an operating mode that induces high electrical consumption of the brush drive motor, and therefore a signifi