Abstract:
A floor washing robot is disclosed. The robot includes: a control unit for controlling a power source to drive at least three omnidirectional wheels and at least one washing disc to rotate to wash a floor; a water spray device for spraying water; and a vacuum device for vacuuming waste water or dirt. The floor washing robot can be moved freely in any direction to improve the cleaning effect.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a floor washing robot, and more particularly to a floor washing robot having no particular limitation to the angle of its moving posture to improve the cleaning effect. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    In our busy life, most people, regardless of persons having a family or singles have to work during the day and take care of the housework after work. It is very tiresome to clean the floor of their home after a day of busy work, and thus we hope that we could have a robot to do the housework for us. 
         [0003]    To meet the foregoing requirement, manufacturers applied their research result of robots to our daily life and manufactured household service robots with an intelligent and humanistic design to meet the requirement of the general public. In other words, manufacturers have already produced robots that can do the tiresome housework for us and bring tremendous convenience to our daily life. 
         [0004]    Further, since the air of modern cities includes sands or dusts and exhaust gas discharged from motor vehicles, and thus the air pollution affects the living environment of the people, and it is necessary to keep the house clean and wash the floor frequently to maintain a high-quality living environment. 
         [0005]    Traditionally, we usually carry a bucket of water to wash or mop a floor, and we all know that such cleaning work is very tiresome. Since most of us have to work in daytime, and it is very laborious to carry out such a heavy housework after the office work. Particularly to the elderly or patients with an injured waist or knee, the floor washing job is definitely a heavy burden. 
         [0006]    From the description above, a floor washing robot has been developed, but the existing floor washing robots such as the Scooba floor washing robots generally have a mechanical design with a limitation of its posture direction, and the robot can move forward with a specific angular range only, and has to make devious routes or turns during the washing job. 
         [0007]    Furthermore, the traditional floor washing robots usually come with a cleaning mechanism having a small brush area, and the robot cannot maximize the utility of the cross section of the mechanical design of the floor washing robot, and thus lowering the clean level of the washing job. For example, when the floor washing robot encounters an obstacle, the robot cannot reach or clean the area between the front edge of the floor and the brush due to the aforementioned issues of the moving angle and the brush area, and the mechanical design of the robot. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    In view of the foregoing shortcomings of the prior art, the inventor of the present invention based on years of experience in the related field to conduct extensive researches and experiments, and finally developed a floor washing robot in accordance with the present invention to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art. 
         [0009]    Therefore, it is a primary objective of the present invention to provide a floor washing robot that needs not to make turns at a spot in a certain path before moving forward due to the limitation of its mechanical design while the robot is washing a floor of a house. In other words, the floor washing robot of the invention can move forward in any direction freely under the posture direction without any particular limitation. Meanwhile, the improved washing structure can greatly increase the washing range to achieve the effects of increasing the washing area and enhancing the cleaning level of the washing job. 
         [0010]    To achieve the foregoing objective, the present invention provides a floor washing robot comprising a machine body, at least three omnidirectional wheels, at least one washing disc, a water spray device, a vacuum device, a power source and a control unit. 
         [0011]    The machine body includes a circumferential surface, and each omnidirectional wheel includes an outer roller and a plurality of inner rollers, wherein the outer roller is equiangularly and pivotally coupled to a circumferential surface of the machine body and rotated with respect to the machine body, and the plurality of inner rollers are pivotally and respectively coupled to the outer rollers and rotated with respected to outer rollers, and the rotating direction of the outer roller is not parallel to the rotation of the plurality of inner rollers. 
         [0012]    Further, the at least one washing disc is pivotally coupled to the machine body and rotated with respect to the machine body. The at least one washing disc includes: a plurality of brush structures installed downward. The water spray device installed to the machine body and having at least one water spray pipeline, wherein the at least one water spray pipeline is extended to the at least one washing disc. The vacuum device is installed to the machine body and having at least one vacuum pipeline, wherein the vacuum pipeline has a slit. 
         [0013]    Further, the power source is installed to the machine body and coupled to each omnidirectional wheel and the at least one washing disc respectively, and the control unit is installed to the machine body and electrically and respectively coupled to the water spray device, the vacuum device and the power source. 
         [0014]    In use, the control unit can control the power source to drive each omnidirectional wheel and the washing disc to rotate with respect to the machine body, such that the floor washing robot can move forward or carry out the washing job. In the meantime, the control unit controls the water spray device to spray water or cleanser to the washing disc from the water spray pipeline, and also controls the vacuum device for the vacuum operation through the slit of the vacuum pipeline. 
         [0015]    With the foregoing structure, the floor washing robot of the invention needs not to make turns at a spot in a certain path before moving forward due to the limitation of its mechanical design while the robot is washing a floor of a house. In other words, the floor washing robot of the invention can move forward in any direction under the posture direction freely without any particular limitation. Meanwhile, the improved washing structure can greatly increase the washing range to achieve the effects of increasing the washing area and enhancing the cleaning level of the washing job. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0016]      FIG. 1  is an exploded view of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0017]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a washing disc in accordance with a first preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0018]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0019]      FIG. 4  another exploded view of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0020]      FIG. 5  is another perspective view of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0021]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view from another viewing angle of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention; and 
           [0022]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view of a second preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0023]    The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings. 
         [0024]    Referring to  FIGS. 1 to 3  for an exploded view of a first preferred embodiment of the invention, a perspective view of a washing disc in accordance with a first preferred embodiment of the invention, and a perspective view of a first preferred embodiment of the invention, the figures show a lower half of the structure of a floor washing robot  1  in accordance with the present invention, and the floor washing robot  1  comprises a machine body  11 , three omnidirectional wheels  12 , three washing discs  13  and a power source  16 . 
         [0025]    In this preferred embodiment, the machine body  11  includes a lid  116 , an upper baseboard  114  and a lower baseboard  115  (refer to  FIG. 4  for the lid  116  and  FIGS. 1 and 3  respectively for the upper baseboard  114  and the lower baseboard  115 ), and the machine body  11  also includes a circumferential surface  113 , and the circumferential surface  113  has an upper circumferential surface  117  and a lower circumferential surface  118 , wherein the upper circumferential surface  117  is disposed at the upper baseboard  114 , and the lower circumferential surface  118  is disposed at the lower baseboard  115 . 
         [0026]    In the figures, each omnidirectional wheel  12  includes an outer roller  121  and a plurality of inner rollers  122 , wherein the outer roller  121  is equiangularly and pivotally coupled to the circumferential surface  113  of the machine body  11  and rotated with respect to the machine body  11 , and the plurality of inner rollers  122  are respectively and pivotally coupled to the outer roller  121  and rotated with respect to the outer roller  121 , and the rotating direction of the outer roller  121  is not parallel to the rotating direction of the plurality of inner rollers  122 . For example, the outer roller  121  is rotated in a longitudinal direction, and the inner roller  122  is rotated in a transversal direction. 
         [0027]    In this embodiment, the outer roller  121  of each omnidirectional wheel  12  is a U-shaped fixed block  123 , equiangularly and pivotally coupled to the lower circumferential surface  118  of the lower baseboard  115  of the machine body  11 . Since there are three omnidirectional wheels  12 , therefore the outer rollers  121  are pivotally coupled to the lower circumferential surface  118  of the lower baseboard  115  of the machine body  11  with an equal angle of 120° apart from each other. 
         [0028]    In the figures, three washing discs  13  are also pivotally coupled to the lower baseboard  115  of machine body  11  with an equal angle of 120° apart from each other and rotated with respect to the machine body  11 , and each washing disc  13  includes a plurality of brush structures  131  installed downward. 
         [0029]    In this embodiment, the plurality of brush structures  131  of each washing disc  13  are arranged in a spiral form, and each washing disc  13  includes a gear  133 , and the gear  133  of each washing disc  13  includes a hollow shaft  132 . 
         [0030]    In the figures, the power source  16  is installed to the upper baseboard  114  of the machine body  11  and connected to each omnidirectional wheel  12  and each washing disc  13  respectively. In this embodiment, the power source  16  includes three omnidirectional wheel motors  161  and a washing disc motor  162 , and each omnidirectional wheel motor  161  is connected to each omnidirectional wheel  12 , and the washing disc motor  162  is connected to each washing disc  13  through the gear  133  of each washing disc  13 . 
         [0031]    Referring to  FIGS. 4 to 6  respectively for another exploded view of the invention, another perspective view of the invention, and a perspective view of a first preferred embodiment viewing from another viewing angle, the whole structure of the floor washing robot  1  comprises a water spray device  14 , a vacuum device  15  and a control unit  17 . The machine body  11  includes a lid  116 , an upper baseboard  114  and a lower baseboard  115  stacked sequentially with each other. 
         [0032]    Referring to  FIGS. 1 ,  4 ,  5  and  6 , the water spray device  14  is installed to the upper baseboard  114  of the machine body  11  and includes three water spray pipelines  141  (only one spray pipeline  141  is shown due to the viewing angle of the figure), and each water spray pipeline  141  is extended to each washing disc  13  correspondingly. In this embodiment, each water spray pipeline  141  of the water spray device  14  is passed through the hollow shaft  132  of each washing disc  13  and extended to each washing disc  13 . 
         [0033]    Further, the vacuum device  15  is installed to the upper baseboard  114  of the machine body  11  and includes a vacuum pipeline  151 , and the vacuum pipeline  151  has a slit  152  (as shown in  FIG. 6 ). 
         [0034]    Further, the control unit  17  is installed to the lid  116  of the machine body  11  and electrically coupled to the water spray device  14 , the vacuum device  15  and the power source  16 . In this embodiment, the control unit  17  is a control chip. 
         [0035]    In a washing operation, the control unit  17  controls the power source  16  to drive each omnidirectional wheel  12  and each washing disc  13  to rotate with respect to the machine body  11 , and also controls the water spray device  14  to spray water (including detergent) to each washing disc  13  through each water spray pipeline  141  for the washing job, while controlling the vacuum device  15  to vacuum dusts or wastewater through the slit  152  of the vacuum pipeline  151  during and after the washing operation. 
         [0036]    The vacuum pipeline  151  is in a ring shape, and the slit  152  is disposed along the vacuum pipeline  151 , and thus the slit  152  is also in a ring shape (360°). In the meantime, each omnidirectional wheel  12  is disposed inside the scope of the ring-shaped vacuum pipeline  151 , such that the ring-shaped vacuum pipeline  151  vacuums the dusts or wastewater through the slit  152 , and an omnidirectional (360°) vacuum of the dusts and wastewater can be achieved without having the problem of a dead corner or a hard-to-reach spot. 
         [0037]    With the aforementioned angular design of the structure of the omnidirectional wheel  12 , the floor washing robot  1  of the invention can clean a floor in a house freely without requiring the floor washing robot  1  to make turns at a certain spot on a particular path due to the limitation of the mechanical design. In other words, the floor washing robot  1  of the invention can move forward in any direction freely under the posture direction. With the washing disc  13  having the aforementioned angular design and the brush structures  131  arranged in a spiral form, the present invention can greatly increase the washing range and the washing area to enhance the cleaning effect. 
         [0038]    This embodiment further uses a vacuum pump  153  for a vacuum by a negative pressure. However, the persons ordinarily skilled in the art can anticipate and use other methods for such vacuum purpose easily. 
         [0039]    Referring to  FIGS. 4 and 5  again, a plurality of obstacle sensors  21  can be installed equiangularly and respectively to the lid  116  of the machine body  11  and electrically coupled to the control unit  17  such as an infrared sensor or a supersonic sensor, so that when the floor washing robot  1  encounters an obstacle while it is moving forward, the floor washing robot  1  can detect the obstacle and change its traveling direction to avoid the obstacle. 
         [0040]    The lid  116  of the machine body  11  further includes an auto-charging sensor  22  electrically coupled to the control unit  17 , and the auto-charging sensor  22  includes a camera  221  (such as a charge-coupled device or complementary metal oxide semiconductor camera, CCD/CMOS camera) that uses an image capturing method for an automatic charging operation of the floor washing robot  1 . In other words, the floor washing robot  1  can be charged automatically at an automatic charging station (not shown in the figure), and the automatic charging station designs certain special symbols (such as three color dots) for the camera  221  to capture an image for a matching and guide the floor washing robot  1  to the automatic charging station for a battery charge. 
         [0041]    In addition, the structural design such as the way of installing the omnidirectional wheel  12  can lower the overall height of floor washing robot  1 , so that the floor washing robot  1  can be applicable to a place under furniture with a smaller height such as a place under a sofa. 
         [0042]    Referring to  FIG. 7  for a perspective view of a second preferred embodiment of the present invention, the structure of this embodiment is substantially the same as the first preferred embodiment with an exception that the vacuum pipeline  311  of the vacuum device  31  of this embodiment can be installed flexibly during manufacture, depending on the limited space. For example, a section of the vacuum pipeline  311  as shown in  FIG. 6  is attached flatly onto the upper baseboard  32  and the vacuum pump  153  of the first embodiment (as shown in  FIG. 4 ) can be integrated directly into the vacuum device  31 . Therefore, the design of this embodiment can avoid wasting any space by changing the installation layout, in addition to achieving the same effect of the first preferred embodiment. 
         [0043]    In summation of the description above, the floor washing robot of the invention can effectively overcome the shortcomings of the prior art having a limitation on the angle of the moving posture of the floor washing robot and improve the cleaning effect. The invention complies with the requirements of patent application, and thus is duly filed for patent application. 
         [0044]    While the invention has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.