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US 11,071,428 B2Granted
Surface cleaning apparatus
AssigneeBISSELL Inc.
InventorsJacob Resch, Jacob S. Boles
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure provides a surface cleaning apparatus that includes a housing including a base adapted for movement across a surface to be cleaned, a fluid delivery system, and a recovery system. The surface cleaning apparatus can be configured to clean multiple surfaces, including hard and soft surfaces, and for different cleaning modes, including wet cleaning, dry vacuum cleaning, and self-cleaning. Methods for self-cleaning a surface cleaning apparatus are also provided.
Claims16
A floor cleaning system, comprising:
- a surface cleaning apparatus comprising:
- a fluid delivery system comprising a supply tank, a pump, and a fluid distributor;
- a recovery system comprising a recovery pathway, a recovery tank, a suction nozzle, and a vacuum motor;
- a brushroll within the recovery pathway of the recovery system;
- a brushroll motor operably coupled to the brushroll for rotating the brushroll, wherein the suction nozzle is configured to extract fluid and debris from the brushroll;
- a rechargeable battery selectively powering the pump, the brushroll motor, and the vacuum motor;
- a battery charging circuit controlling the recharging of the rechargeable battery;
- a self-cleaning mode input control which initiates an unattended automatic cleanout cycle for a self-cleaning mode of operation during which the pump, the brushroll motor, and the vacuum motor are energized;
- and
- a controller controlling the operation of the fluid delivery and recovery systems and configured to execute the unattended automatic cleanout cycle for the self-cleaning mode of operation upon actuation of the self-cleaning mode input control;
- and
- a storage tray configured to dock the surface cleaning apparatus for recharging the battery of the surface cleaning apparatus and for self-cleaning of the surface cleaning apparatus;
- wherein, to execute the unattended automatic cleanout cycle for the self-cleaning mode of operation, the controller is configured to:
- power the brushroll motor and the pump by the battery, whereby cleaning liquid is sprayed on the brushroll while the brushroll rotates, without the vacuum motor being powered;
- and
- power the vacuum motor by the battery after the brushroll motor and the pump are powered, whereby cleaning liquid is extracted and deposited into the recovery tank and a portion of the recovery pathway is flushed out;
- and
- wherein the battery charging circuit is disabled by the actuation of the self-cleaning mode input control and remains disabled during the unattended automatic cleanout cycle.
15 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.