# US 2014/0189976 A1 · Cleaning robot

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- Number: US 2014/0189976 A1
- Document ID: US20140189976A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 14/239,343
- Filed: 2012-08-17
- Published: 2014-07-10
- Earliest claimed: 2011-09-29
- Assignees: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
- Inventors: Yuhji Ohnishi; Jitsuo Sakamoto
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140189976A1

## CPC

- A47L 9/0081: {Means for exhaust-air diffusion; Means for sound or vibration damping}
- A47L 7/04: for using the exhaust air for other purposes, e.g. for distribution of chemicals in a room, for sterilisation of the air (spraying or atomising in general B05)
- A47L 9/2873: {Docking units or charging stations (for autonomous or robotic vacuum cleaners A47L2201/02)}
- A47L 2201/02: Docking stations; Docking operations
- A47L: DOMESTIC WASHING OR CLEANING (brushes A46B; cleaning quantities of bottles or of other hollow articles of one kind B08B9/00; laundry D06F); SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL (cleaning in general B08)

## Abstract

A cleaning robot that discharges, upwards and from an exhaust port (7), airflow having dust removed therefrom, and comprises: a main case (2) having a suction port (6) opened in the bottom surface thereof and the exhaust port (7) opened in the upper surface thereof, and that is self-propelled on a floor surface (F); an electric fan (22) arranged inside the main case (2); and a dust collection unit (30) that collects dust in airflow sucked in from the suction port (6) by the driving force of the electric fan (22).

## Claims

### Claim 1

A cleaning robot comprising:
a main body housing whose lower surface is provided with a suction opening and whose upper surface is provided with an air exhaling opening, and which moves by itself on a floor surface;
an electric fan that is disposed in the main body housing; and
a dust collection portion that collects dust in an air flow sucked from the suction opening by driving of the electric fan, wherein
the air flow, from which the dust is removed, is exhaled upward from the air exhaling opening.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The cleaning robot according to claim 1, wherein
the air exhaling opening is disposed through a front portion of the main body housing that is situated in front in a moving direction during a cleaning time, and the air flow is exhaled obliquely backward from the air exhaling opening.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The cleaning robot according to claim 2, wherein
the dust collection portion is provided, through a front surface thereof, with a flow-in opening for the air flow that communicates with the suction opening and a flow-out opening for the air flow that communicates with the electric fan, wherein
the suction opening, the electric fan and the air exhaling opening are disposed in front of the dust collection portion.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The cleaning robot according to claim 1, further comprising
an ion generation apparatus for emitting ions that is disposed in a flow path between the electric fan and the air exhaling opening.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The cleaning robot according to claim 4, further comprising:
a charge stand to which the main body housing returns to charge a battery disposed in the main body housing, wherein an air flow containing the ions is able to be sent out from the air exhaling opening toward the charge stand by driving of the ion generation apparatus and electric fan in a returning state of the main body housing.