POOL OR TANK CLEANING VEHICLE WITH A POWERED BRUSH

Abstract

A pool cleaning vehicle is described comprising a body mounted on wheels such that it can roll over a surface. The body carries a water inlet port and a water outlet port with the inlet port being located on the bottom of the body. It also has a filter mechanism interposed between the inlet and outlet ports. An electric motor mounted is on the body between the two sides of the body with a shaft extending out of it with a propeller mounted on the shaft. The motor is mounted such that the propeller expels water out of the outlet port. A roller brush extends between the same two sides of the body generally transverse to the direction of travel of the vehicle and the roller brush is rotated by the electric motor via a linkage.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are robotic cleaning vehicles which traverse the bottom of swimming pools and other large liquid containers submerged in the contained liquid, drawing in liquid from ports in their bottoms, passing this liquid through filters in the body of the vehicle and expelling the filtered liquid back into the large container, typically a swimming pool. These vehicles typically travel on wheels which suspend the body of the vehicle above the bottom of the container.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A pool cleaning vehicle is provided comprising a body mounted on wheels such that it can roll over a surface. The body carries a water inlet port and a water outlet port with the inlet port being located on the bottom of the body. It also has a filter mechanism interposed between the inlet and outlet ports. An electric motor mounted is on the body between the two sides of the body with a shaft extending out of it with a propeller mounted on the shaft. The motor is mounted such that the propeller expels water out of the outlet port. A roller brush extends between the same two sides of the body generally transverse to the direction of travel of the vehicle and the roller brush is rotated by the electric motor via a linkage. In another embodiment, a pool cleaning vehicle includes a body mounted on wheels such that it can roll over a surface. The body includes water inlets and outlet ports. The inlet ports are located on the bottom of the body, and the outlet ports direct water flow in two opposing directions. A filter mechanism is interposed between the inlet and outlet ports. An electric motor is mounted on the body between the two sides of the body operatively rotating a propeller. The motor is mounted such that the propeller expels water out of one of the outlet ports. A roller brush extends between the same two sides of the body generally transverse to the direction of travel of the vehicle. The roller brush is rotated by the electric motor via a linkage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cleaning vehicle.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the bottom of a cleaning vehicle.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the interior drive train elements of the powered roller brush of a cleaning vehicle.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a partial cut away of a cleaning vehicle with an extended telescoping handle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown one embodiment of a cleaning vehicle 10 with a powered roller brush 20. It is suspended on front wheels 30 and back wheels 40 at a height such that the scraping members 29 of its powered roller brush 20 contact the surface on which the wheels 30 and 40 travel. In one embodiment, then distal ends of members 29 just make contact with the surface on which the wheels 30 and 40 travel, to minimize the load on the motor as will be discussed below.

In one embodiment the vehicle may be placed in and removed from its use environment by a telescoping handle 50. Its internal electric motor 80 (shown in FIG. 3) receives power from power cord 60 which connects to a remote power source. The vehicle is propelled by the expulsion of the liquid from one of its outlet ports 70. The vehicle 10 functions to clean the surfaces of a large liquid reservoir, such as a swimming pool, which are covered by the liquid stored in the reservoir. The vehicle 10 is submerged in the stored liquid and is then propelled by taking in liquid through its inlet ports 72 visible in FIG. 2 and expelling it out one of its outlet ports 70 visible in FIGS. 1 and 4. The water movement is effected by electric motor 80 visible in FIG. 3 turning its propellers 82 and 84. The direction in which the vehicle 10 is propelled is determined by the direction of rotation of the electric motor 80 which is in turn controlled by signals received from the power supply via floating cable 60. The propellers 82 and 84 are driven by the motor 80 to expel liquid out of either the outlet port 70 above the front wheels 30 (visible in FIG. 1) or the outlet port 70 (visible in FIG. 4) above the back wheels 40. In accordance with the well known physics concept of action and reaction the vehicle 10 will be propelled in a direction opposite to that in which the liquid is expelled.

As can be seen in FIG. 3, the electric motor 80 is also used to power the roller brush 20. The electric motor 80 is equipped with a gear box 86 which translates the rotation of the electric motor 80 by 90.degrees, or some other angle, and also reduces the number of rotations in some fixed ratio such as 1:30 or any other ratio. A common way to effect these changes is with a combination of a combination of a worm gear with a spur gear. However other types of mechanical connection may be used. The gear box has a takeoff spindle 88 which carries a pulley 89 which transmits force to a gear train or drive belt system 21. The drive belt 21 in turn transmits this force to a pulley 22 on a drive transfer shaft 23. This drive transfer shaft 23 is supported by an elongated bushing 24. This drive transfer shaft 23 carries another pulley 25 at its other end which transmits force to a second drive belt 26. This drive belt 26 is looped over a fourth pulley 27 which is free to rotate. This drive belt 26 frictionally engages the axle 28 of the roller brush 20. This facilitates slippage between the roller brush 20 and ultimately the electric motor 80, should the roller brush encounter some type of obstacle like a large piece of debris on the surface being cleaned. This avoids the vehicle 10 becoming stalled by such obstacles and allows the vehicle 10 to pass over them. Where a gear train is used in place of a drive belts, a clutch may be positioned between the motor and the roller brush 20. The clutch will allow the motor continue to rotate the propellers if the roller brush is obstructed from rotating by debris within the pool.

The roller brush 20 and the front wheels 30 are both mounted to the vehicle 10 via suspension brackets 34. This arrangement allows the front wheels 30 to be mounted without a transverse axle, thereby facilitating the mounting of the roller brush 20 between the front wheels 30. Among other advantages this positions the roller brush 20 to aid the vehicle in climbing the side walls of the reservoir being cleaned. The suction created through the inlet ports 72 by the action of the propellers 82 and 84 tends to hold the vehicle to non-horizontal and even vertical side walls so long as these side walls are submerged in liquid. The expulsion of liquid from an outlet port 70 will propel the vehicle up the side wall but the roller brush 20 aids in this climbing operation.

Referring to FIG. 4, a telescoping handle 50 makes it easier to place the vehicle 20 into and withdraw it from the reservoir in which it is to operate. The handle comprises two side arms 52 and a cross arm 54, which can be readily grasped. The side arms 52 are accommodated in receiver shafts 56 which have ends 58. The shafts 56 are long enough that the handle 50 may be fully retracted so that it is flush with the vehicle as can be seen in FIG. 1. The side arms 52 and the shafts 56 interact such that the handle 50 can support the free air weight of the vehicle 10. This is accomplished by providing one or the other or both with locking mechanisms to limit the travel of the side arms 52 out of the shafts 56.

Referring to FIG. 4, the design of the vehicle with longitudinal filters 90 readily accommodates the shafts 56. The vehicle 10 serves its cleaning function by drawing fluid containing dirt and debris into its inlet ports 72 and subjecting this fluid to a filtering action before expelling it out of its outlet ports 70. The positioning of the electric motor 80 and its propellers 82 and 84 longitudinally above the centerline of the vehicle allows the placement of the filters 90 parallel to this centerline and in one embodiment filters 90 are angled to accommodate the shafts 56.

The outlet ports 70 are angled a bit upward from horizontal. This provides a downward force on the vehicle which aids in the vehicle climbing the side walls of the reservoir being cleaned.

While only certain features of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, many modifications and changes will occur to those skilled in the art. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of the invention.

Claims

1. A pool cleaning vehicle comprising: a body mounted on wheels such that it can roll over a surface, the body carrying at least one water inlet port and two water outlet ports configured to direct water flow in two opposing directions with said at least one water inlet port being located on a bottom of the body and a filter mechanism interposed between said at least one water inlet and said two water outlet ports;an electric motor mounted on the body between two sides of the body with a first shaft extending from the motor with a propeller mounted on the first shaft, the motor mounted such that the propeller creates suction through said at least one water inlet port to draw water containing dirt and debris and to expel water out of one of the two water outlet ports to propel the vehicle; andat least one roller brush extending between the two sides of the body generally transverse to a direction of travel of the vehicle, said at least one roller brush being rotated by the electric motor via a linkage.

2. The pool cleaning vehicle of claim 1, wherein the rotation of the wheels is independent of the rotation of the roller brush.

3. The pool cleaning vehicle of claim 1, wherein the roller brush comprises a cylindrical shaft carrying a plurality of scraping members and being rotationally affixed to the body such that these scraping members contact the surface over which the vehicle rolls on its wheels.

4. The pool cleaning vehicle of claim 1, wherein said at least one roller brush comprises two roller brushes, each provided proximate either of two ends of the vehicle, the roller brushes being transverse to the direction of travel of the vehicle and extending between the two sides of the body which are parallel to the direction of travel.

5. The pool cleaning vehicle of claim 4, wherein only one of the roller brushes is driven at a time.

6. The pool cleaning vehicle of claim 4, wherein both of the roller brushes are driven to rotate in a common direction.

7. The pool cleaning vehicle of claim 1, wherein the linkage is a gear train with a clutch or one or more drive belts arranged such that, if the rotation of said at least one roller brush is inhibited, slippage occurs which allows the motor to continue rotating.

8. The pool cleaning vehicle of claim 1, wherein the wheels are mounted to the body via axles proximate to either ends of the body in the direction of travel and the motor is mounted along a midline of the body in the direction of travel approximately half way between and above the axles.

9. The pool cleaning vehicle of claim 1, wherein the filter mechanism comprises longitudinal filters placed in parallel to a centerline of the vehicle, and in parallel to the first shaft.

10. The pool cleaning vehicle of claim 9, wherein the longitudinal filters are angled.

11. The pool cleaning vehicle of claim 1, wherein a hollow shaft is provided on each of the sides of the vehicle parallel to the direction of travel andtwo side arms of a telescoping handle are slidably contained in the two hollow shafts, are joined at their ends which project out of the hollow shafts by a crosspiece, and either carry a locking mechanism which interacts with the hollow shafts or interact with a mechanism mounted one or both of the hollow shafts to prevent the side arms from fully withdrawing from the hollow shafts.

12. A pool cleaning vehicle comprising: a body mounted on wheels such that it can roll over a surface, the body carrying at least one water inlet port and two water outlet ports configured to direct water flow in two opposing directions with said at least one water inlet port being located on a bottom of the body and a filter mechanism interposed between said at least one water inlet and said two water outlet ports;an electric motor mounted on the body between two sides of the body with a first shaft extending from the motor with a propeller mounted on the first shaft, the motor mounted such that the propeller creates suction through said at least one water inlet port to draw water containing dirt and debris and to expel water out of one of the two water outlet ports to propel the vehicle;at least one roller brush extending between the two sides of the body generally transverse to a direction of travel of the vehicle, said at least one roller brush being rotated by the electric motor via a linkage; anda gear box for translating the rotation of the first shaft by some angle and for rotating the brush.

13. The pool cleaning vehicle of claim 12, further comprising: a first pulley attached to a second shaft which extends from the gear box and rotates in the direction that water is expelled from the outlet ports; anda system of pulleys and drive belts which transmits the rotation of the first pulley to the roller brush such that the second shaft can continue to rotate when the rotation of the roller brush is obstructed;the roller brush extending between the two sides of the body transverse to the direction of travel, carrying a plurality of scraping members and rotationally affixed at its ends to the body such that these scraping members contact the surface over which the vehicle rolls on its wheels.

14. The pool cleaning vehicle of claim 13 wherein a first belt connects the first pulley to a second pulley mounted on an end of a third shaft which is perpendicular to a direction in which water is expelled from the outlet ports, and the second pulley is midway between the same two sides of the body;the third shaft extends to one of these sides, is rotationally affixed to the body and carries a third pulley;a second belt connects this third pulley to a fourth pulley mounted on the end of a fourth shaft such that this second belt drives the rotation of the roller brush.

15. The pool cleaning vehicle of claim 13 wherein the roller brush has an axle on which it rotates which protrudes longitudinally out on either ends of that roller brush; and wherein the second belt interacts frictionally with the protruding axle to drive the roller brush.

16. The pool cleaning vehicle of claim 13 wherein said at least one inlet port comprises two inlet ports, the two inlet ports being on opposite sides of a midline of the body parallel to the first shaft of the electric motor;two filters, each of the filters being interposed between one of the inlet ports and one of the outlet ports;a hollow shaft between each of the filters and a side of the body which is parallel to the midline; andtwo side arms of a telescoping handle which are slidably contained in the two shafts and which are joined at their ends which project out of the shafts by a crosspiece and carry a locking mechanism which interacts with these shafts or a mechanism mounted on these shafts to prevent the side arms from fully withdrawing from these shafts.

17. The pool cleaning vehicle of claim 16 wherein the locking mechanism is configured to jointly support the weight of the vehicle in open air such that the vehicle can be suspended in open air by the crosspiece of the telescoping handle.

18. The pool cleaning vehicle of claim 16 wherein the telescoping handle projects out of the end of the vehicle where the roller brush is located.

19. The pool cleaning vehicle of claim 12 wherein two of the wheels on which the vehicle rolls are each mounted on opposite sides of the vehicle such that the roller brush lies between the two wheels and having a long axis running between the two opposite sides.