This application claims the priority to and benefit of Indian Provisional Patent Application No. 202141042993 filed on Sep. 22, 2021; the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention belongs to the field of cleaning equipment. Specifically, the invention relates to cleaning brush and a cleaning equipment employing the said brush for cleaning windows and other surfaces. More specifically, the present invention relates to specialized scrubbing brush for cleaning high rise windows and other hard surfaces. The device automatically cleans the surfaces and is able to scrub a surface from corner to corner and able to change from one scrubbing pad to another without human intervention.
Most robots that are available presently to clean various hard surfaces have any of the three systems: 1) a rotating pad, 2) an oscillating/vibrating pad or multiple pads, and 3) a stationary pad. These systems provide various limitations. A rotating pad is simple mechanically operable cleaning device which does one of the best scrubbings but is unable to reach corners on a polygonal surface. Oscillating pad/pads are very good at scrubbing and can reach the corners in most polygonal surfaces. If the polygonal surface is made up of orthogonal edges, an oscillating pad shaped like a rectangle can reach the corners and edges well. A stationary pad is simple but doesn't clean well.
When looking in context of designing for a facade cleaning operation, a number of points must be noted. Human window cleaners scrub a soap solution from corner to corner and then use a squeegee to wipe the window clean. They then use a dry cloth to wipe the edges to avoid even the last drop of water that may be left on the glass. In places with bird poop or hard water marks, a window cleaner may use a different type of cloth or pad (bronze pad etc.).
A mechanical system that is able to achieve all that a human cleaner can, does require the capability to scrub a surface with multiple types of cleaning pads including at least a wet-pad and a dry-cleaning pad.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,213 discloses window wall washing device for high-rise buildings. The wall washing device is provided with self-contained liquid spray means, wall and window surface scrubbing means and means for providing a curtain of high velocity, in-rushing air around a wall washing sight. The high velocity, in-rushing air curtain is delivered through a perimeter aperture which is spaced-apart from the window/wall surfaces; and is provided by forcibly drawing atmospheric air inwardly at the perimeter of the wall washing sight in accordance with a second embodiment. However, in the said prior art the brushes and sponges are of only one type. They does not have the capability to scrub a surface with multiple types of cleaning pads including at least a wet-pad and a dry-cleaning pad.
Further, a Chinese Patent Application No. CN108685520 discloses a kind of glass cleaning device with spraying function. The device includes a fuselage, scrub head is installed at the top of fuselage, the bottom of scrub head is equipped with movable axis, one end of movable axis is connected with supporting rod, nozzle is installed at the top of supporting rod, one end of supporting rod is equipped with accumulator, the bottom of accumulator is equipped with light-duty handle, one end of light-duty handle is equipped with model selection rotating cylinder, and one end of model selection rotating cylinder is equipped with control panel, and control panel bottom is equipped with holding rod, the side of holding rod is equipped with filler, and fixes sleeve is installed in the bottom of holding rod. However, they does not have the capability to scrub a surface with multiple types of cleaning pads including at least a wet-pad and a dry-cleaning pad.
Cleaning brush of known art does not have the capability of scrubbing a surface from corner to corner while also not being able to change from one scrubbing pad to another without human intervention.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a cleaning brush for automatic cleaning equipment wherein a cleaning pad has the capability to clean from corner to corner, has the capability to continuously keep one or more scrubbing pads wet and has capability to switch from one scrubbing pad to another without human intervention.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide specialized scrubbing brush for cleaning high rise windows and other hard surfaces.
Another object of the present invention is to provide the specialized scrubbing brush having cleaning pads of various types and each pad having plurality of scrubbing pads.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic cleaning equipment with specialized scrubbing brush having cleaning pads of various types and each pad having plurality of scrubbing pads.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning pad that cleans from corner to corner and has capability to continuously keep one or more scrubbing pads wet.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a specialized scrubbing brush and an automatic cleaning equipment with specialized scrubbing brush having cleaning pads of various types which has capability to switch from one scrubbing pad to another without human intervention.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a specialized scrubbing brush and a cleaning equipment with specialized scrubbing brush wherein the surface of the cleaning brush has the provision of supplying water/cleaning fluid.
Accordingly, the present invention provides specialized scrubbing brush for cleaning high rise windows and other hard surfaces. The specialized scrubbing brush comprises of cleaning pads of various types and each pad having plurality of scrubbing pads. The provided cleaning pads cleans the high-rise windows and other hard surfaces from corner to corner and the equipment has capability to continuously keep one or more scrubbing pads wet.
Further, the provided cleaning equipment with the said specialized scrubbing brush for cleaning high rise windows and other hard surfaces is automatic. The said automatic cleaning equipment with specialized scrubbing brush having cleaning pads of various types has capability to switch from one scrubbing pad to another without human intervention and in the cleaning equipment with specialized scrubbing brush, the surface of the cleaning brush has the provision of supplying water/cleaning fluid.
In one aspect of the present invention, the invention provides a specialized scrubbing brush (100) for cleaning high-rise windows and other hard surfaces, wherein the specialized scrubbing brush (100) comprising:
The pair of cleaning pads (1, 1′) move in opposing directions while oscillating to cancel out the forces on the cleaning pads (1, 1′) and reduces vibrations during the overall cleaning process.
The length of attachment gap (2, 2′) is less than the amplitude of oscillation preventing uncleaned regions and the said external attachments should oscillate with the system.
The water channel (5) delivers the water to the multiple holes (6) through pipes (4) on one or more sides of the cleaning pads (1, 1′) and the water from the water pipes (4) gently pumps into the pair of cleaning pads (1, 1′) keeping them saturated with water.
The interface surface (7) is in a zigzag fashion preventing leaving a line of uncleaned surface underneath the scrubbing brush (100).
Each side of the cleaning pad (1 or 1′) have same or different type of scrubbing pad (15) attached and the scrubbing pad (15) is selected from the group of plastic scrubbing pad, brush style scrubbing pad, bronze scrub, steel wool, microfiber cloth or glass wool.
In another aspect of the present invention, the invention provides a cleaning equipment (200) for cleaning high-rise windows and other hard surfaces, wherein the equipment (200) comprises:
The oscillation mechanism oscillates the pair of cleaning pads (1, 1′) of brush (100) parallel to the axis (3) and the rotation mechanism rotates the pair of cleaning pads (1, 1′) about to the axis (3).
The pair of oscillating arm (8) is attached to the specialized scrubbing brush (100) and holds the pair of cleaning pads (1, 1′) with a revolute joint allowing the pads to turn when needed.
The pair of oscillating arm (8) comprises of an attachment mechanism (8c) present on second arm (8b) of the oscillating arms (8) wherein the pair of rod shaped guide rails (10) are fixed in the cleaning equipment (200) in the attachment mechanism (8c) and the specialized scrubbing brush (100) slides over the guide rails (10).
The pair of the oscillating arms (8) are connected by the main gear assembly (11) or one or more motors (19) mounted on the opening in the Sliding Yoke (9) and the main gear assembly (11) or one or more motor (19) drives a scotch yoke mechanism to create oscillation in the pair of cleaning pads (1, 1′) of specialized scrubbing brush (100).
The rotation mechanism further comprises of a chain (12), pair of sprocket (13) one or more motor (14), a sliding joint (16) and a rod like section (17) which are places between the pairs of cleaning pads (1, 1′) of the specialized scrubbing brush (100), and the one or more rotation motor (14) drives a pair of the sprocket (13) that drives the chain (12) which further drives the axis within the pair of cleaning pads (1, 1′) by the sliding joint (16).
The above description merely is an outline of the technical solution of the present disclosure. The summary is descriptive and exemplary only and is not intended to be in any way restricting. In order to know the technical means of the present disclosure more clearly so that implementation may be carried out according to contents of the specification, and in order to make the above and other objectives, characteristics and advantages of the present disclosure more clear and easy to understand, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below.
The foregoing and other features of embodiments will become more apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numerals refer to like elements. In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of the invention. It is apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specific details or with an equivalent arrangement. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in line diagram form in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the embodiments of the invention. In the drawings:
Accordingly, the present invention provides specialized scrubbing brush for cleaning high rise windows and other hard surfaces. The specialized scrubbing brush comprises of cleaning pads of various types and each pad having plurality of scrubbing pads. The provided cleaning pads cleans the high-rise windows and other hard surfaces from corner to corner and the equipment has capability to continuously keep one or more scrubbing pads wet.
Further, provided cleaning equipment with the said specialized scrubbing brush for cleaning high rise windows and other hard surfaces is automatic. The said automatic cleaning equipment with specialized scrubbing brush having cleaning pads of various types has capability to switch from one scrubbing pad to another without human intervention and in the cleaning equipment with specialized scrubbing brush, the surface of the cleaning brush has the provision of supplying water/cleaning fluid.
In one aspect of the present invention, the invention provides a specialized scrubbing brush for cleaning high rise windows and other hard surfaces.
Referring to
The pair of cleaning pads (1, 1′) of specialized scrubbing brush (100) of the present invention move in opposing directions while oscillating. This helps cancel out the forces on the cleaning pads (1, 1′) and reduces vibrations during the overall cleaning process. Each cleaning pad (1 or 1′) is a polygon. Further, in one embodiment of the present invention the shape of the polygon can be of any shape. However, in the preferred embodiment, the polygon is a square shaped polygon. Other polygonal pad structures are also possible and are contemplated within the scope of the invention described.
Multiple scrubbing pads (15) are mounted on the pair of cleaning pads (1, 1′). In one embodiment of the present invention, each side of the cleaning pad (1 or 1′) may have a same type of scrubbing pad attached. In another embodiment of the present invention, each side of the cleaning pad (1 or 1′) may have a different type of scrubbing pad attached. The scrubbing pad can be any of the pads selected from the group of plastic scrubbing pad, brush style scrubbing pad, bronze scrub, steel wool, microfiber cloth, glass wool etc. The different pads help work with different kind of dirt. Normal dirt should be scrubbed using nylon brush or microfiber cloth. Hard water stains, bird poop and other difficult to remove dirt is better cleaned by high scrub pads like plastic scrub pads, bronze scrub etc.
Further, one or more attachment gaps (2, 2′) are provided between each pad (1 or 1′) which implies that each pad (1 or 1′) of the pair of cleaning pads (1, 1′) is itself divided into two halves. The said one or more attachment gaps (2, 2′) are provided to attach the cleaning pads (1, 1′) to an external system to form a cleaning equipment which is another aspect of the present invention. This attachment gap (2, 2′) should be less than the amplitude of oscillation to prevent uncleaned regions. The attachments that attach to the attachment gap should oscillate with the system.
As mentioned above, the pair of cleaning pads (1, 1′) of specialized scrubbing brush (100) of the present invention moves in opposing directions while oscillating. The polygon scrubbing brush (100) rotates about an axis (3) within the polygon to switch between the different types of scrubbing pads.
There are one or more water pipes (4) attached to one or more sides of the polygon/cleaning pads (1, 1′) to provide a continuous supply of water to keep the associated pads wet. The one or more water pipes (4) are simply plugged into the ports as shown in diagrams. Further, the said pipes (4) are slack. The water comes from external system (not shown) into the said pipes (4) and then goes into one or more water channel (5) as shown in
The wet pad here is referred to the pad with water holes behind it. Since water is ejected continuously into the wet pads, they stay wet. Water can also move within pads and hence unless the pads are separated by a non-porous plastic separator, adjacent faces will have wet pads. Dry pads will eventually get wet if they are used often. However, if they are used sparingly, the evaporation into free air will keep them relatively dry. They are just like the detailing cloth a window cleaner carries.
This is a single cloth that a window cleaner uses to remove slight amount of water that is left behind after wiping the glass. Similarly, this cleaning brush has to work in conjugation with a wiper in order to get rid of most of the water. Only final detailing activity which involves removing water from places the wiper cannot reach is done by the dry cloth.
An interface surface (7) is provided between the pair of cleaning pad (1, 1′). The interface surface (7) of the two oscillating cleaning pads (1, 1′) is as shown in
In one embodiment, the invention provides a specialized scrubbing brush (100) that consists of multiple cleaning pads shaped like a polygon with the ability to rotate the polygon to access different sides of the polygon which may contain different types of scrubbing pads, hence giving the ability to clean using different types of cleaning pads.
Thus, the above mention description can be summarized as, a specialized scrubbing brush (100) comprises:
In another aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides a cleaning equipment with the said specialized scrubbing brush (100) for cleaning high-rise windows and other hard surfaces. The cleaning equipment is automatic, and various functions for cleaning can work without human intervention.
The Cleaning equipment (200) of the present invention comprises of the specialized scrubbing brush (100), a pair of oscillating arm (8) with sliding yoke (9) on one arm, a pair of rod shaped guide rails (10), scrubbing pads (15), an oscillation mechanism and a rotation mechanism (A) which is attached to the specialized scrubbing brush (100). The oscillation mechanism further comprises of a main gear assembly (11). The rotation mechanism further comprises a chain (12), pair of sprocket (13), one or more motor (14), a sliding joint (16) and a rod like section (17).
The oscillation mechanism helps the cleaning machine (200) to oscillate the pair of cleaning pads (1, 1′) between maximum and minimum distance i.e. between the crest and trough of oscillation motion. In other words, the oscillation mechanism moves the pair of cleaning pads (1, 1′) in the horizontal motion i.e. parallel to the axis (3). Further, the rotation mechanism of the cleaning machine (200) rotates the pair of cleaning pads (1, 1′) in circular motion to switch from one scrubbing pad to another which are mounted on the cleaning pads (1, 1′) without human intervention.
In other words, the rotation mechanism moves the pair of cleaning pads (1, 1′) in the circular motion i.e. about to the axis (3).
Referring to
The specialized scrubbing brush (100) connected using the pair of oscillating arms (8) slides over the guide rails (10). The Guide rails (10) can be mounted to an external robot body.
As mentioned above,
Further, cleaning equipment (200) comprises of an oscillating mechanism. The oscillating mechanism further comprises of a main gear assembly (11). The pair of the oscillating arms (8) are connected using main gear assembly (11). The main gear assembly (11) is fixed into the opening in the Sliding Yoke (9). The main gear assembly (11) are driven to create oscillation in the pair of cleaning pads (1, 1′) of specialized scrubbing brush (100). This drives a scotch yoke mechanism. The Scotch Yoke mechanism is a reciprocating motion mechanism, converting the linear motion of a slider into rotational motion, or vice versa. The piston or other reciprocating part is directly coupled to a sliding yoke with a slot that engages a pin on the rotating part. This mechanism further drives the attached pair of cleaning pads (1, 1′) thus creating an oscillating motion.
Further, as shown in a close up view of the rotation mechanism of
When the motor rotates, the sprocket connected to the motor rotates and consequently the chain (12) connected to the sprocket rotates. The rotation of the chain (12) rotates the sprocket connected to the cleaning pads (1, 1′) via sliding links (16). Thus, the rotation of motor (13) results in the rotation of the pair of cleaning pads (1, 1′) and change between different scrubbing pads (15).
Thus, the above mention description can be summarized as, a cleaning equipment with the said specialized scrubbing brush (100) for cleaning high-rise windows and other hard surfaces comprises:
Referring to
Thus, the present invention provides a specialized scrubbing brush for cleaning high rise windows and other hard surfaces comprising of cleaning pads of various types and each pad having plurality of scrubbing pads.
Further, the present invention also provided a cleaning equipment with the said specialized scrubbing brush for cleaning high rise windows and other hard surfaces. The said automatic cleaning equipment with specialized scrubbing brush having cleaning pads of various types has capability to switch from one scrubbing pad to another without human intervention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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202141042993 | Sep 2021 | IN | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/IN2022/050839 | 9/21/2022 | WO |