TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates generally to a surface cleaning device for cleaning a surface.

BACKGROUND

A surface cleaning device, such as a broom, a sweeper, or a vacuum cleaner, can be used to clean a variety of surfaces, such as wood, tile, and carpeted floors. Surface cleaning devices can collect large debris, such as crumbs, dirt, and pebbles, from floors and other surfaces using suction and rotatable roller brushes. Surface cleaning devices may have too much or too little suction for a specific type of surface, resulting in inadequate cleaning. Debris, such as long animal fur, floss, string, and hair may become tangled in the roller brushes, which can prevent the roller brushes from rotating properly thereby decreasing the effectiveness of the surface cleaning device. It can be difficult to remove all debris from the roller brushes and such removal may not be possible or may result in damage to the surface cleaning device. Surface cleaning devices may have wheels to allow for movement over a surface. Wheels may restrict movement of the surface cleaning device, requiring more force to move the surface cleaning device thereby preventing full rotation of the surface cleaning device. This makes it particularly hard to clean in hard-to-reach surface areas. In addition, small debris, including dust-sized particles may remain on the surface thereby requiring additional cleaning.

A surface cleaning device, such as a mop or a cleaning cloth, can be used to clean small debris, including moisture, from a variety of hard surfaces, such as wood and tile floors. Instead of using a mop and bucket for cleaning the surface, mops can include a spray nozzle located on a front portion of the mop to spray cleaning fluid to the surface in front of the mop. The mop can then be pushed over the cleaning fluid to clean the surface.

Some surface cleaning devices include a combination of a sweeper and a mop, but they may require a two-step cleaning process. More specifically, the larger debris should be removed from the surface before the spray nozzle is activated to mop the floor. If larger debris is wet, neither the sweeper nor the mop features of the surface cleaning device can remove such debris from the surface. Therefore, the surface may need to be swept before being mopped. This process can be time consuming.

SUMMARY

This section provides a general summary of the present disclosure and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features, aspects, and objectives.

Disclosed herein are exemplary implementations of a surface cleaning device. In some aspects, a surface cleaning device comprises a cleaning head having a housing; a fluid tank configured to store fluid and be in fluid communication with the cleaning head; a cleaning pad coupled to the cleaning head and configured to remove debris from a surface; and a plurality of nozzles distributed along the cleaning pad, wherein the fluid tank is configured to release at least some of the fluid such that the released fluid flows through the plurality of nozzles onto the cleaning pad.

In other aspects, a surface cleaning device comprises a cleaning head; a fluid tank configured to store fluid and be in fluid communication with the cleaning head; a cleaning pad coupled to the cleaning head and configured to remove debris from a surface, wherein the cleaning pad is formed from wicking material and non-wicking materials; and a plurality of nozzles distributed along the cleaning pad, wherein the fluid tank is configured to release at least some of the fluid such that the released fluid flows through the plurality of nozzles onto the cleaning pad.

In yet other aspects, a surface cleaning device comprises a cleaning head coupled to a housing, wherein the housing defines an inlet opening; a base coupled to the cleaning head and comprising a pair of tapered front portions; a pair of flaps coupled to the pair of tapered front portions and configured to direct debris toward the inlet opening; a debris container disposed within the housing; a sweeper assembly disposed within the housing adjacent to the debris container and configured to sweep at least some of the debris from the surface into the debris container; a cleaning pad coupled to the base and configured to remove at least some of the debris from the surface; a fluid tank configured to store fluid and be in fluid communication with the cleaning head; and a plurality of nozzles distributed along the cleaning pad, wherein the fluid tank is configured to release at least some of the fluid such that the released fluid flows through the plurality of nozzles onto the cleaning pad.

Other technical features may be readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the following figures, descriptions, and claims.

Before undertaking the DETAILED DESCRIPTION below, it may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases used throughout this patent document. The terms “include” and “comprise,” as well as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation. The term “or” is inclusive, meaning and/or. The phrase “associated with,” as well as derivatives thereof, means to include, be included within, interconnect with, contain, be contained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have, have a property of, have a relationship to or with, or the like. The phrase “at least one of,” when used with a list of items, means that different combinations of one or more of the listed items may be used, and only one item in the list may be needed. For example, “at least one of: A, B, and C” includes any of the following combinations: A, B, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, and A and B and C.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” may be intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

The terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections; however, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms may be only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer, or section from another region, layer, or section. Terms such as “first,” “second,” and other numerical terms, when used herein, do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer, or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer, or section without departing from the teachings of the example embodiments.

Spatially relative terms, such as “inner,” “outer,” “beneath,” “below,” “lower,” “above,” “upper,” “top,” “bottom,” “right,” “left,” and the like, may be used herein. These spatially relative terms can be used for ease of description to describe one element's or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. The spatially relative terms may also be intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use, or operation, in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is turned over, elements described as “below” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “above” the other elements or features. Thus, the example term “below” can encompass both an orientation of above and below. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptions used herein interpreted accordingly.

Definitions for other certain words and phrases are provided throughout this patent document. Those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that in many if not most instances, such definitions apply to prior as well as future uses of such defined words and phrases.

