Abstract:
A remote control sweeper includes a wireless remote control receiver installed at the sweeper; a remote control for transmitting a direction control signal to the remote control receiver via a wireless transmission to control the moving direction of the sweeper, such that the sweeper can be moved to automatically clean up the dirt and collect the dust on a floor.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention generally relates to a cleaning machine, and more particularly to a sweeper whose moving direction can be controlled by a remote control.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     The common tool used for sweeping floor is a broom, which can be used to clean up a small area of floor, but using a broom to clean up a large area of floor is very inefficient. To save efforts of the cleaning job, an electric sweeper is introduced, so that users can push and control the electric sweeper to automatically clean up and collect the dirt on the floor along the path where the sweeper passes.  
         [0005]     Regardless of the traditional broom and electric sweeper, the inventor of the present invention believe that pushing the machine by users is difficult, particularly for a person who has a walking problem. Even for general users, operating or pushing the machine will cause backaches easily. Furthermore, the broom and electric sweepers cannot take care of the hard-to-reach areas such as a place with many obstacles or an area with a short height (under a seat, table or furniture, etc), since the structure and the volume of the broom or sweeper are restricted and thus cannot clean up the hard-to-reach areas.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     To overcome the inconvenience and shortcomings of the prior art, the present invention provides a lightweight and convenient remote control sweeper.  
         [0007]     Therefore, it is a primary objective of the invention to provide a sweeper whose moving direction can be controlled to clean up dirt and collect dust. The present invention is an effort-saving, convenient, easy-to-operate sweeper, particularly suitable for people who have a walking problem.  
         [0008]     A secondary objective of the present invention is to provide a sweeper with a small size and a flat shape that can freely sweep and pass through a small, short and hard-to-reach area.  
         [0009]     Another objective of the present invention is to provide a sweeper that also can be pushed manually by users to automatically clean up the floor.  
         [0010]     A further objective of the present invention is to provide a sweeper whose brush can be replaced by users. Users can change the brush to an appropriate one according to actual needs.  
         [0011]     The remote control sweeper in accordance with the present invention comprises:  
         [0012]     an upper casing and a lower casing, both can be coupled manually with each other to define an interior space;  
         [0013]     a battery, installed in the interior space;  
         [0014]     two wheels, installed in the interior space and in contact with a floor, and each wheel being driven by a motor transmission gear module to rotate;  
         [0015]     a sweeping brush, installed in the interior space and in contact with a floor, and controlled by a sweeping brush transmission module to rotate axially;  
         [0016]     a dust container, detachably fixed in the interior space and disposed proximate to the sweeping brush and having a dust-collecting opening disposed on a surface corresponding to the sweeping brush for collecting the dust swept by the sweeping brush;  
         [0017]     a remote control receiver, installed on the sweeper;  
         [0018]     a remote control, capable of transmitting a direction control signal to the remote control receiver for controlling the moving direction of the sweeper; and  
         [0019]     an electronic control unit, installed in the interior space and electrically coupled with the battery, motor transmission gear module, sweeping transmission module and remote control receiver. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0020]      FIG. 1  is a rear view of the present invention;  
         [0021]      FIG. 2  is a front view of the present invention;  
         [0022]      FIG. 3  is a first exploded view of the present invention;  
         [0023]      FIG. 4  is a second exploded view of the present invention;  
         [0024]      FIG. 5  is a third exploded view of the present invention;  
         [0025]      FIG. 6  is a bottom view of the present invention;  
         [0026]      FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional view of Section  7 - 7  as depicted in  FIG. 2  and two wheels of the sweeper and a universal roller are in contact with a floor;  
         [0027]      FIG. 8  is another cross-sectional view and two wheels and a universal roller of the sweeper are in contact with a floor; and  
         [0028]      FIG. 9  is a perspective view of a sweeper being operated manually according to the present invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0029]     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2  respectively for the rear view and front view of the remote control sweeper in accordance with the present invention, the sweeper comprises an upper casing  10  and a lower casing  20  being engaged with each other, and the left and right sections of the upper and lower casings  10 ,  20  separately install a wheel  30 ,  30 ′. The upper casing  10  pivotally connects a pushing section  11  at its surface, and the pushing section  11  can be turned to any angle with respect to the pivotal end  111  as the center, and can be placed flatly and accommodated into a groove  12  of the upper casing  10 . Further, the upper casing  10  further comprises a power button  13  and a remote control receiver  14 , and a cover  16  for covering an upper casing opening  161  can be installed and detached easily. In  FIG. 1 , the upper casing  10  further comprises a power socket  15 .  
         [0030]     Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , we can see that the upper casing  10  comes with a specific accommodating space, after the cover  16  is removed. The accommodating space comprises an object accommodating groove  171 , a motor chamber  172  for accommodating and mounting a motor  61 , and the motor chamber  172  being covered by a motor hood  173 , an accessing opening  174  for accessing a dust container  40  and a battery chamber  15  for accommodating a battery  50 .  
         [0031]     Referring to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , the lower casing  20  also includes a specific accommodating space, and the accommodating space comprises a dust container  40  accommodated and mounted into a dust container fixing groove  201 , a sweeping brush opening  202  for accommodating a sweeping brush  60 , and an electronic component chamber  203  for accommodating an electronic control unit  70 .  
         [0032]     The electronic component chamber  203  installs the wheels  30 ,  30 ′ on both sidewalls proximate to the lower casing  20 , and each wheel  30 ,  30 ′ is controlled by the electronic control unit  70  and driven by a motor transmission gear module  31  to rotate. Both of the two wheels  30 ,  30 ′ rotate clockwise to move the sweeper forward and counterclockwise to move the sweeper backward. If the wheel  30  on the right rotates clockwise and the wheel  30 ′ on the left rotates counterclockwise, then the sweeper will be turned left. If the wheel  30  on the right rotates counterclockwise and the wheel  30 ′ on the left rotates clockwise, then the sweeper will be turned right. The electronic control unit  70  is electrically connected with the battery  50 , power button  13 , power socket  15 , motor  61 , and remote control receiver  14 , and the remote control receiver  14  works with a remote control  141  as shown in  FIG. 2 . An external power supply can be used to charge the battery  50  through the power socket  15  to supply electric power required by the operation of the foregoing components. The power button  13  turns on or off the power, and the remote control receiver  14  is controlled by the remote control  141  to drive the sweeper to move forward or backward and turn left or right. The foregoing remote control technology uses a transmission source (including infrared, radio frequency (RF), supersonic, or oral command) for a wireless transmission with a wireless receiving end.  
         [0033]     The sweeper  60  comprises an axle  62 , a brush body  66  fixed outside the axle  62 , and a brush  661  installed outside the brush body  66 . The brush  60  uses both ends of the axle  62  to detachably couple a pivotal base  63 ,  64  disposed separately on the sidewalls corresponding to a sweeping brush opening  202  of the lower casing  20 . An end of the axle  62  is connected to a sweeping brush transmission module which is electrically coupled to the electronic control unit for controlling the rotation of the sweeping brush  60  to sweep the floor with the brush  661 . The sweeping brush transmission module comprises a motor  61 , a belt  65  and an axle  62  of the sweeping brush  60  connected to an end of the belt wheel  651 .  
         [0034]     The dust container  40  is a box body  41  covered by a lid  42 . The bottom of the box body  41  is fixed to the dust container fixing groove  201  of the lower casing  20 . The box body  41  has a dust connecting opening  43  disposed on a surface corresponding to the sweeping brush  60 , and the lower edge  431  of the dust collecting opening  43  will not exceed the groove walls of the dust collecting fixing groove  201 . The dust container fixing groove  201  installs a dirt scraper  44  at the groove wall corresponding to sweeping brush  60 , and the dirt scraper  44  is tilted in contact with the brush  661 , so that the dirt and dust collected by the brush  661  are guided into the dust container  40  by the dirt scraper  44 .  
         [0035]     Referring to FIGS.  4  to  6 , the lower casing  20  installs a lateral brush transmission module  51  disposed at a position proximate to a corner of the sweeping brush  60  and electrically connected to the electronic control unit  70  and the lateral brush transmission module  51  installs a lateral brush  52  disposed at the bottom of the lower casing and controlled to rotate by the transmission module  51  to clean up the area reached by the sweeping brush and further be brushed by the sweeping brush  60 .  
         [0036]     Referring to  FIG. 6 , the bottom of the lower casing  20  includes two universal rollers  69  and two auxiliary rollers  67 . The bottom of the lower casing  20  has a groove  21 , and the groove  21  has a first groove end  211  and a second groove end  212 . In  FIG. 7 , the depth of the first groove end  211  is shallower than the second groove end  212 . In  FIG. 6 , the two auxiliary rollers  67  in the groove  21  are pivotally coupled to both ends  681 ,  682  of a T-shape rod  68 , and the third end of the T-shape rod  68  is movable and pivotally coupled to a pivotal base  22  in the groove  21 . The horizontal level L 1  of the second auxiliary roller  67  is higher than the horizontal level L 2  of the two rollers  30 ,  30 ′, such that the two wheels  30 ,  30 ′ are in contact with the floor and move according to the universal rollers  69 . On the other hand, when the two auxiliary rollers  6  are accommodated in the two groove ends  212  as shown in  FIG. 8 , the horizontal level L 1  of the two auxiliary rollers  67  is lower than the horizontal level L 2  of the two wheels  30 ,  30 ′ such that the rear section of the sweeper is lifted and no longer in contact with the floor, and then the two auxiliary wheels  67  together with the universal rollers  69  move the sweeper.  
         [0037]     Reference is made to  FIG. 9 , and if the two auxiliary wheels  67  work together with the universal rollers, the sweeper is moved manually. An end of a handle rod  53  is pivotally coupled into a pivotal connecting section  112  of the pushing section  11 , and the pushing section  11  is tilted so that a user can use the handle rod  53  to push the sweeper to move.  
         [0038]     In summation of the above description, the moving modes of the sweeper of the present invention include a manual mode and a remote control mode. The manual mode is described as above, and the remote control mode allows users to use a remote control  141  to control the two wheels  30 ,  30 ′ to move in the same direction or opposite directions to achieve the forward, backward, left turn, right turn movements through the remote control receiver  14  and the electronic control unit  70 . The moving sweeper can rotate its sweeping brush  60  to sweep the floor, and the dust is collected into the dust container  40  by the dirt scraper  44  and the dust collecting opening  43 . The sweeping brush  60  can be changed to a different model as needed. If it is necessary to dump the dust in the dust container  40 , users can remove the cover  16  and directly take out the whole dust container  40 , and then open the cover  42  to dump the dust. After dumping the dust, users can reinstall the sweeper in a reverse process.  
         [0039]     The sweeper of the present invention has a small size and can be operated by a remote control. The invention allows users to clean up a floor quickly without bearing the pain of backaches caused by sweeping the floor. The sweeper of the invention can even pass through and clean up the hard-to-reach areas with obstacles or having a short height.  
         [0040]     Other detailed functions of the invention include the integration of the pushing section  11  with the handle rod  53  for a manual mode, or the pushing section  11  being an independent handle to facilitate users to carry the sweeper. The cover  16  could be detached by hands, so that users can easily open or install the cover  16  to facilitate the cleaning of the dust container  40  or removing objects from the object accommodating groove  171 .  
         [0041]     While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements and procedures, and the scope of the appended claims therefore should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements and procedures.