Sweeping assembly, cleaning appliance, and method for cleaning appliance

Abstract

The present invention relates to a cleaning appliance and a method for a cleaning appliance. In particular, a cleaning appliance is disclosed, comprising: a housing, comprising an opening facing toward a surface to be swept; a sweeping brush, having a connection part by means of which the sweeping brush is mounted in the housing, and being capable of rotating about a rotation axis by receiving a driving force, so as to perform a sweeping operation; and a toothed structure arranged close to an end of the sweeping brush, the toothed structure being provided between the housing and the sweeping brush and comprising multiple teeth, the multiple teeth extending from one of the housing and the sweeping brush toward the other of the housing and the sweeping brush. The cleaning appliance of the present invention is at least able to prevent or at least reduce the entry of foreign matter into a gap, as well as promptly trigger protection measures when necessary to remind a user to deal with the problem, in order to avoid failure due to melting of the housing and sweeping brush in a connection region.

1 . A sweeping assembly for a cleaning appliance, comprising:
 a housing, comprising an opening facing toward a surface to be swept;   a sweeping brush, having a connection part by means of which the sweeping brush is mounted in the housing, and being capable of rotating about a rotation axis by receiving a driving force, so as to perform a sweeping operation; and   a toothed structure arranged close to an end of the sweeping brush, the toothed structure being provided between the housing and the sweeping brush and comprising multiple teeth, the multiple teeth extending from one of the housing and the sweeping brush toward the other of the housing and the sweeping brush.   
     
     
         2 . The sweeping assembly as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the multiple teeth extend from at least one of the housing and the sweeping brush in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis or in a direction forming an angle with respect to the rotation axis. 
     
     
         3 . The sweeping assembly as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the multiple teeth extend parallel to each other in a vertical direction. 
     
     
         4 . The sweeping assembly as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the multiple teeth each extend at an angle with respect to a radial direction of the sweeping brush. 
     
     
         5 . The sweeping assembly as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein one or more of the multiple teeth is provided with multiple protrusions extending transversely to a longitudinal axis thereof, and/or one or more of the multiple teeth may further comprise a reinforcing rib arranged in a longitudinal direction of the tooth in order to reinforce the tooth. 
     
     
         6 . The sweeping assembly as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the toothed structure is mounted on the housing or is formed integrally with the housing. 
     
     
         7 . The sweeping assembly as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising a blocking rib plate arranged around the sweeping brush substantially in a ring shape, a gap being formed between the housing and the connection part of the sweeping brush, and the blocking rib plate being located between the gap and the toothed structure, in order to block the entry of foreign matter into the gap. 
     
     
         8 . The sweeping assembly as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein the housing comprises a semicircular upper housing and a rectangular base body comprising an opening, the sweeping brush picking up foreign matter through the opening; the semicircular upper housing and the rectangular base body are each provided with an inward-extending semicircular ring-shaped plate, and the blocking rib plate is a circular plate formed by the semicircular ring-shaped plate of the semicircular upper housing and the semicircular ring-shaped plate of the rectangular base body. 
     
     
         9 . The sweeping assembly as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the sweeping brush is connected to a drive source, the drive source providing a driving force to make the sweeping brush rotate against resistance to rotation, the toothed structure being able to cause the resistance to rotation of the sweeping brush to increase by means of captured foreign matter, and the drive source having overload protection, which is triggered to stop the rotation of the sweeping brush when the resistance to rotation has increased to a point where it exceeds a predetermined threshold, thereby reminding a user to clear the captured foreign matter. 
     
     
         10 . The sweeping assembly as claimed in  claim 9 , wherein the drive source is an electric machine, and a sweeping brush mounting part cooperating with the connection part of the sweeping brush is integrally formed with an electric machine support. 
     
     
         11 . The sweeping assembly as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the housing comprises an upper housing and a lower housing, the upper housing and/or the lower housing comprising the toothed structure. 
     
     
         12 . The sweeping assembly as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the multiple teeth form an angle of 0-45 degrees with respect to the rotation axis. 
     
     
         13 . A cleaning appliance, comprising the sweeping assembly as claimed in  claim 1 . 
     
     
         14 . The cleaning appliance as claimed in  claim 13 , being a handheld vacuum cleaner, a horizontal vacuum cleaner or an upright vacuum cleaner. 
     
     
         15 . A method for a cleaning appliance, the cleaning appliance comprising a sweeping assembly, the sweeping assembly comprising a housing and a sweeping brush mounted in the housing, the sweeping brush being capable of rotating in the housing by receiving a driving force provided by a drive source, so as to perform a sweeping operation,
 the method comprising:   providing a toothed structure between the housing and the sweeping brush, to capture foreign matter when the sweeping operation is performed, wherein the toothed structure comprises multiple teeth, the multiple teeth extending from one of the housing and the sweeping brush toward the other of the housing and the sweeping brush;   resistance to rotation of the sweeping brush increasing in response to an increase in the amount of foreign matter captured;   triggering overload protection of the drive source providing the driving force to stop the rotation of the sweeping brush when the resistance to rotation has increased to a point where it exceeds a predetermined threshold; and   generating an indication signal in response to the stoppage of rotation of the sweeping brush, to remind a user to clear the captured foreign matter.   
     
     
         16 . The sweeping assembly as claimed in  claim 10 , wherein the material of the sweeping brush mounting part is PA6-GF30.