Floor Maintenance Machine With Hollow Hood Providing Air Filtration

Abstract

A floor maintenance machine may include a hollow hood that can be utilized as part of an exhaust pathway and support secondary filtration elements. This hood can be used in conjunction with debris collection from the floor using one or more brooms and/or a vacuum such as a novel integrated vacuum formed on an exterior surface of the hollow hood.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A floor maintenance machine for collecting debris from a floor, the floor maintenance machine comprising:
 a broom and a hopper positioned to collect debris swept by the broom; and   an exhaust system drawing a gas with suspended debris from a region of the broom and the hopper, the exhaust system comprising:
 a filter box positioned to receive the gas including the suspended debris therein following sweeping, in which the filter box receives a primary dust filter; 
 a fan in fluid communication with the primary filter that draws the gas with the suspended debris through the primary filter; and 
 a hollow hood defining an internal chamber, the internal chamber having an inlet opening receiving the gas with suspended debris expelled from the fan into the internal chamber and at least one exhaust opening in fluid communication with a surrounding environment in which the at least one exhaust opening receives a secondary filter to further filter the suspended debris from the gas before the gas is exhausted from the at least one exhaust opening. 
   
     
     
         2 . The floor maintenance machine of  claim 1 , wherein the filter box is above and in fluid communication with the hopper. 
     
     
         3 . The floor maintenance machine of  claim 1 , wherein the hollow hood defines an enclosure configured to cover components of the maintenance machine. 
     
     
         4 . The fluid maintenance machine of  claim 3 , wherein the hollow hood is movable relative to the rest of the fluid maintenance machine to provide access to at least some of the components covered by the hollow hood. 
     
     
         5 . The fluid maintenance machine of  claim 4 , wherein the hollow hood being movable relative to the rest of the fluid maintenance machine involves the hollow hood being tippable. 
     
     
         6 . The fluid maintenance machine of  claim 4 , wherein the hollow hood is moveable between a closed position in which the fan abuts the inlet opening of the hollow hood to define a direct pathway from the fan to the hollow hood, and an open position in which the inlet opening of the hollow hood is separated from the fan to temporarily break the direct pathway therebetween. 
     
     
         7 . The floor maintenance machine of  claim 1 , wherein secondary filter is configured to filter smaller-sized debris than the primary filter. 
     
     
         8 . The floor maintenance machine of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one exhaust opening is two exhaust openings each including a corresponding secondary filter. 
     
     
         9 . The floor maintenance machine of  claim 1 , wherein the hood is a polymeric rotomolded form and the internal chamber is defined by the inside walls of the polymeric rotomolded form. 
     
     
         10 . The floor maintenance machine of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a vacuum collection chamber adapted to receive a filter bag, the vacuum collection chamber being defined at least in part by the hollow hood, the internal chamber of the hollow hood having an inlet opening receiving the exhaust of the vacuum source;   a flexible vacuum hose that is in fluid communication with the surrounding environment and the vacuum collection chamber;   a vacuum source in fluid communication with the vacuum collection chamber; and   wherein the vacuum source draws a vacuum in the vacuum collection chamber and exhausts the gas into the interior volume of the hollow hood and ultimately out the at least one exhaust opening of the hollow hood.   
     
     
         11 . The floor maintenance machine of  claim 10 , wherein, when the vacuum source draws the vacuum in the vacuum collection chamber, this draws gas and debris through the flexible hose from the surrounding environment for collection in the vacuum collection chamber. 
     
     
         12 . The floor maintenance machine of  claim 10 , wherein the vacuum collection chamber is defined at least in part by an exterior surface of the hollow hood. 
     
     
         13 . The floor maintenance machine of  claim 1 , further comprising a bypass valve providing selective fluid communication between the interior chamber of the hollow hood and the surrounding environment, wherein such selective fluid communication is dependent on a pressure within the interior chamber of the hollow hood and permits a gas within the interior chamber of the hollow hood to exhaust through the bypass valve into the surrounding environment above a threshold pressure. 
     
     
         14 . The floor maintenance machine of  claim 13 , wherein, when pressure in the interior chamber of the hollow hood is below the threshold pressure, the bypass valve remains closed and, when the threshold pressure is exceeded inside the interior chamber of the hollow hood, the bypass valve is opened to permit communication to the surrounding environment. 
     
     
         15 . The floor maintenance machine of  claim 13 , wherein the bypass valve includes a bypass opening formed on the hollow hood and a bypass flap that is biased or positioned to cover the bypass opening. 
     
     
         16 . The floor maintenance machine of  claim 15 , wherein, when pressure in the interior chamber of the hollow hood is below the threshold pressure, the bypass flap covers the bypass opening to substantially prevent the exhaust of gas through the bypass opening and, when the threshold pressure is exceeded inside the interior chamber of the hollow hood, the bypass flap lifts from the bypass opening to permit exhaust of gas in the interior chamber to the surrounding environment through the bypass opening. 
     
     
         17 . The floor maintenance machine of  claim 13 , wherein, during operation of the floor maintenance machine, the bypass valve being open is visually indicative that the secondary filter requires replacement or is blocked.