Abstract:
A power recharger for use with a robot cleaner has a recharging terminal to which a battery terminal of the robot cleaner is docked and an anchor member on a rear side of the body of the recharging unit. The anchor member fills in the space defined between the wall of the room and the power recharger. The anchor member therefore securely supports the power recharger in the battery recharging process.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2004-34670 filed May 17, 2004, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.  
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The present invention relates to an automatic robot cleaner. More particularly, this invention relates to a power recharger for use with a robotic cleaner, which is installed as a station to which the robot cleaner can return for battery recharging during a cleaning operation.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     Generally, a robotic cleaner automatically runs around one or more rooms to perform cleaning operations. Because it runs inside of a building, an automatic robot cleaner must be electrically powered and the preferred source of electrical energy is a rechargeable battery mounted in the robotic cleaner by which the robotic cleaner can be operated cordlessly. While performing the automatic running and cleaning operation, the robot cleaner determines whether it needs its battery recharged, usually checking the level of the remaining power of the battery through, for example, the measurement of voltage from the battery, and if determining so, the robot cleaner returns to the station, for example, at the corner of the room where the power recharger  20  is positioned. Therefore, the battery in the robot cleaner can be recharged automatically.  
         [0004]     As shown in  FIG. 1 , most rooms have a molding known as a “baseboard”  1  that is attached around the lower part of a room&#39;s walls. As the power recharger  20  of the robot cleaner  10  is usually stationed at the corner of the room, there usually occurs a gap  2  between the power recharger  20  and the walls  3 . When a robotic cleaner  10  needs recharging and runs itself to the recharger  20 , the robot cleaner&#39;s  10  contact with the charger terminals  22  can jostle the recharger unit  20  by the force transmitted by the robot cleaner  10  through the terminals  22 , which are located above the top of the baseboard  1 . As a result, docking of the rechargeable battery terminal  11  of the robot cleaner  10  and the power terminal  22  of the power recharger  20  becomes unstable.  
         [0005]     Thus, there exists a need to squarely support a recharging station against a wall such that a wall baseboard or other structure that extends away from a room wall can be compensated for.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     The present invention has been developed in order to solve the above-identified shortcomings of the prior art. An aspect of the present invention is to provide a power recharger for use with a robot cleaner and which provides stable battery recharging operation.  
         [0007]     The above aspects and/or other features of the present invention can substantially be realized by providing a power recharger for use with a robot cleaner, comprising a recharging unit stationed at a predetermined location of a room, and having a recharging terminal to which a battery terminal of the automatically-running robot cleaner is docked. An anchor member formed on the body of the recharging unit, laterally supports the power recharger against a room wall whenever the power recharger is bumped or collided with.  
         [0008]     In a preferred embodiment, an anchor member protrudes from the rear side of the body of the recharging unit and is lengthened or shortened to span the thickness of a baseboard or other wall-mounted structure. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]     The above aspects and features of the present invention will be more apparent by describing certain embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:  
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of one example of a conventional power recharger for use with a robot cleaner;  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is a side view showing the power recharger of  FIG. 1  from the arrow ‘A’ direction;  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  is a side view of a power recharger for use with a robot cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention; and  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  is an enlarged view of circle ‘A’ of  FIG. 3 , illustrating the main part of the power recharger according to the resent invention to explain the operation thereof. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0014]     Certain embodiments of the present invention will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
         [0015]     In the following description, reference numerals are used for the same elements in different drawings. The embodiments described herein are only examples and not intended to be limiting. Rather, the invention disclosed herein is set forth in the appurtenant claims. Also, well-known functions and structures are not described in detail since they would tend to obscure the invention in unnecessary detail.  
         [0016]     Referring to  FIG. 3 , a power recharger  200  for use with a robotic cleaner  10 , which is referred to hereinafter as a “robot cleaner” which includes a recharging unit  200 , preferably located in the corner of a room. The recharging unit  200  includes within it, at least one power supply/battery charger (not shown, but well known to those of ordinary skill in the art) the function of which is to recharge one or more batteries within a robot cleaner  10  from which a robot cleaner  10  obtains its operating power.  
         [0017]     In the preferred embodiment, the recharger  200  has a body  210  that includes a power terminal  211  that provides an electrical connection between the recharger  200  and a recharging terminal  11  of the robot cleaner  10 . A wall anchor member  220  is provided on the rear and front sides (not shown in  FIG. 3 ) of the recharger body  210  to keep the power recharger  200  stable as a robot cleaner  10  impacts it but also to anchor the power recharger  200  against the wall  3  of a room.  
         [0018]     In affixing the power recharger  200  to a wall, the anchor member  220  “reaches across” or spans the gap  2  determined by the thickness of the baseboard  2  trim piece that along the base of a wall  3 , just above the floor  4  of a room in which the robot cleaner  10  will run. The anchor member  220  therefore supports the recharging unit body  210  and renders it stable.  
         [0019]     In a preferred embodiment, the anchor member  220  extends from the body of the recharging unit  210  by a length that is appropriate for the size of the gap  2  between the wall  3  and the body  210  of the recharging unit  200 . The distance that the anchor member  220  must span can be determined in a variety of ways.  
         [0020]     In one embodiment, the anchor member  220  resembles a threaded and adjustable leg for a refrigerator or other appliance, such as the threaded leg shown in  FIG. 4 . As can be seen in  FIG. 4 , the length of the threaded anchor member  220  can be adjusted by rotating the threaded leg in and out of a threaded screw hole  201  of the body of the recharging unit  210 , to an appropriate length.  
         [0021]     In another embodiment, the anchor member  220  may be configured as one or more blocks (not shown) of different lengths. Depending on the size of the gap  2  between the wall of the room and the body of the recharging unit  20 , one or more blocks are selected and attached to the body of the recharging unit  210  to adjust the length of the anchor member  220 .  
         [0022]     Block spacer members can be attached to the recharging unit body  210  a number of ways. If they are ferrous, they can be attached to the recharging unit  210  magnetically, by either their magnetization of that of the recharging unit  210  body. Block spacer members can also be attached by way of adhesives, clips or screws, all of which are considered to be equivalents.  
         [0023]     Another principal characteristic of the power recharger  200  for use with the robot cleaner  10  is a chamfered incline  230  formed at the lower part of the rear side of the recharging unit  210 . The chamfered incline  230  compensates for wall  3  plumb variations and floor  4  level variations. The chamfered incline  230  allows the recharging unit  200  and the robot cleaner  10  to be stably engaged to each other and the robot cleaner  10  parked when the room walls  3  are not vertical (i.e. “plumb”) and when the room floors  4  are not level.  
         [0024]     According to the power recharger  200  described above, when a gap exists between the wall  3  and the power recharger  200 , the anchor member  220  extends across the gap and as a result, the power recharger  200  can make a good electrical contact with electrical terminals  11  of the robot cleaner  10 .  
         [0025]     The foregoing embodiments are exemplary and should not be construed as being the invention or as limiting the present invention. The invention is as claimed in the appurtenant claims.