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US 5,233,682 AGranted
Vacuum cleaner with fuzzy control
AssigneeMatsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
InventorsShuji Abe, Haruo Terai, Shinji Kondoh, Yumiko Hara, Seiji Yamaguchi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vacuum cleaner with fuzzy control comprises a detector for detecting condition of sucking of dust, such as an amount of dust, a kind of dust and/or a kind of a surface of a floor to be cleaned. A fuzzy inference section responsive to the condition of sucking of dust determines an appropriate sucking force and controls the vacuum cleaner's sucking force through fuzzy inference.
Claims18
A vacuum cleaner with fuzzy control, comprising:
- (a) a fan motor for producing a sucking force;
- (b) detection means for detecting a kind of floor to be cleaned or a a kind of dust on said floor to produce at least one condition signal;
- (c) a first fuzzy inference means for producing a sucking force control signal from said at least one condition signal in accordance with a first fuzzy inference rule;
- (d) control means for controlling said sucking force in accordance with said sucking force control signal;
- (e) a floor contacting brush for picking up said dust on said surface, said floor contacting brush being mounted in a floor nozzle of said vacuum cleaner;
- (f) a drive motor for driving said floor contacting brush;
- (g) second control means for controlling a rotational speed of said drive motor in response to a drive control signal;
- and
- (h) second fuzzy inference means for producing said drive control signal from said at least one condition signal in accordance with a second fuzzy inference rule.
6 more elements
A method of vacuum cleaning, comprising:
- producing a sucking force;
- detecting at least two conditions of a surface to be cleaned by application of said sucking force to said surface, said at least two conditions of said surface being selected from the group consisting of:
- an amount of dust sucked by said sucking force when applied to said surface, a rate of change in the amount of dust sucked by said sucking force when applied to said surface, a kind of dust detected when said sucking force is applied to said surface, and a kind of said surface to be cleaned;
- applying at least one fuzzy inference rule to the detected conditions to determine a preferred sucking force and a preferred rotational speed;
- controlling said sucking force in accordance with the determined preferred sucking force;
- and
- rotating a brush in contact with said surface to be cleaned at said preferred rotational speed.
4 more elements
A method of vacuum cleaning, comprising:
- applying a sucking force to a surface to be cleaned;
- detecting a condition of dust on said surface to be cleaned;
- applying a fuzzy inference rule to the detected condition to determine a preferred rotational speed;
- and
- rotating a brush in contact with said surface to be cleaned at said preferred rotational speed.
2 more elements
A vacuum cleaner with fuzzy control, comprising:
- (a) means for applying a sucking force to a surface to be cleaned;
- (b) means for detecting at least two conditions of a surface to be cleaned by application of said sucking force to said surface, said at least two conditions of said surface being selected from the group consisting of:
- an amount of dust sucked by said sucking force when applied to said surface, a rate of change in the amount of dust sucked by said sucking force when applied to said surface, a kind of dust detected when said sucking force is applied to said surface, and a kind of said surface to be cleaned;
- (c) fuzzy inference means for applying a fuzzy inference rule to the detected conditions to determine a preferred sucking force and a preferred rotational speed;
- (d) means for controlling application of said sucking force in accordance with the determined preferred sucking force;
- (e) a floor contacting brush for picking up said dust on said surface;
- and
- (f) means for driving said floor contacting brush at said preferred rotational speed.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.