Application of cleaning solution on a surface maintenance machine

A surface maintenance machine comprising:

• a body;
• wheels supporting the body for movement over a surface;
• a maintenance head assembly supported by the body and extending toward the surface and comprising a tool for performing a surface maintenance operation using a cleaning fluid;
• a cleaning fluid source carried by the body and fluidly connected to an outlet nozzle to supply the cleaning fluid to the outlet nozzle, the outlet nozzle configured to dispense the cleaning fluid onto the tool of the maintenance head assembly;
• a pump fluidly connected to the cleaning fluid source and configured to pump the cleaning fluid from the cleaning fluid source to the outlet nozzle;
• and
• a controller configured to apply power to the pump in a controlled manner, the controlled manner including applying a predetermined repeating cycle of voltages to the pump to cause the pump to pump the cleaning fluid out from the outlet nozzle and onto the tool, wherein the predetermined repeating cycle of voltages includes a first phase and a second phase that is subsequent to the first phase, the first phase including:
• (i) a first voltage applied to the pump at a first time to pump the cleaning fluid out from the outlet nozzle at a first velocity onto a first area of the tool;
• and
• (ii) a second voltage applied to the pump at a second time to pump the cleaning fluid out from the outlet nozzle at a second velocity onto a second, different area of the tool, wherein the second voltage is greater than the first voltage and the second time is subsequent to the first time;
• the second phase including one or more voltages less than each of the first voltage of the first phase and the second voltage of the first phase.

A method for operating a surface maintenance machine, the surface maintenance machine comprising a body, wheels supporting the body for movement over a surface, a maintenance head assembly that includes a tool for performing a surface maintenance operation on the surface using a cleaning fluid, a cleaning fluid source comprising a pump fluidly connected to an outlet nozzle to dispense the cleaning fluid on the tool of the maintenance head assembly, the method comprising the steps of:

• wetting a first area of the tool by applying a first voltage of a first phase of a predetermined repeating cycle of voltages to the pump to cause the cleaning fluid to output from the outlet nozzle at a first velocity onto the first area of the tool;
• after wetting the first area of the tool by applying the first voltage of the first phase of the predetermined repeating cycle of voltages, wetting a second, different area of the tool by applying a second voltage of the first phase of the predetermined repeating cycle of voltages to the pump to cause the cleaning fluid to output from the outlet nozzle at a second velocity onto the second, different area of the tool, wherein the second voltage is greater than the first voltage and the second velocity is different from the first velocity;
• after applying the second voltage of the first phase of the predetermined repeating cycle of voltages, applying a second phase of the predetermined repeating cycle of voltages to the pump, the second phase including one or more voltages less than each of the first voltage of the first phase and the second voltage of the first phase;
• and
• after applying the second phase of the predetermined repeating cycle of voltages to the pump, repeating application of the first phase of the predetermined repeating cycle of voltages to the pump to first wet the first area of the tool by applying the first voltage of the first phase and to subsequently wet the second, different area of the tool by applying the second voltage of the first phase.

A surface maintenance machine that uses a cleaning fluid on a surface, comprising:

• a body;
• wheels supporting the body for movement over the surface;
• a maintenance head assembly supported by the body and extending toward the surface and comprising a tool for performing a surface maintenance operation using the cleaning fluid;
• an outlet nozzle configured to dispense the cleaning fluid from the outlet nozzle onto the tool;
• a cleaning fluid source carried by the body and fluidly connected to the outlet nozzle to supply the cleaning fluid to the outlet nozzle;
• a pump fluidly connected to the cleaning fluid source and configured to pump the cleaning fluid from the cleaning fluid source to the outlet nozzle;
• and
• a controller configured to apply power to the pump in a controlled manner of predetermined repeating cycles of voltages, the applied power to the pump causing the pump to pump the cleaning fluid out from the outlet nozzle and onto the tool, wherein each predetermined repeating cycle of voltages includes a first phase and a second phase that is subsequent to the first phase, the first phase including:
• (i) a first voltage applied to the pump at a first time to pump the cleaning fluid out from the outlet nozzle at a first velocity onto a first area of the tool;
• and
• (ii) a second voltage applied to the pump at a second time to pump the cleaning fluid out from the outlet nozzle at a second velocity onto a second, different area of the tool, wherein the second voltage is greater than the first voltage and the second time is subsequent to the first time.