A sweeper vehicle may have an automatic side broom strike pattern positioning system including a plurality of actuators (e.g., pneumatic, hydraulic, and/or powered leadscrew) and a plurality of sensors (e.g., inclinometers and position sensors). The strike pattern may be maintained at a desired position as the side broom moves to different positions in a range of movement between a fully extended position and a fully retracted position. The system may have an override feature by which a vehicle operator may interrupt the automatic side broom positioning to allow the vehicle operator to take direct control of one or more side brooms, including the broom deployment angle and broom pitch and roll to create desired strike patterns for the side brooms. Related methods are also described.

A roadway or pavement sweeper with multiple sweeping modes for the removal of debris from a swept surface may, in some embodiments, include a sweeper vehicle having a pair of side-brooms independently movable between a retracted and extended position for sweeping debris into an area therebetween and at least one material-transfer broom to sweep a portion of the debris accumulated between the side-brooms as the vehicle moves in its direction of travel. A fan-driven suction-inlet may be provided at or adjacent each side of the vehicle. The at least one material-transfer broom may rotate in a first or other direction to transfer debris for entrainment into a selected suction-inlet for transfer to a debris hopper. Other embodiments are also described.

The invention is in the field of a cleaning machine for a road or pavement or gutter. These machines are used to remove objects, such as small items, such as leaves, and dirt from a road or the like, using a broom system for cleaning the road or the like, and typically a storage for removed objects and dirt.

A self-propelled sweeping machine has a sweepings pick-up device and a sweepings collection container. The pick-up device has a pick-up head and a conveying section adjoining the head having an ejection and distribution device opening into an interior of the collection container. Sweepings picked up from the traffic surface by the pick-up device can be distributed by the ejection and distribution device, with the formation of a sweepings surface, in the interior of the collection container. Also provided is a filling level sensor, which is configured as a radar sensor and scans the interior of the sweepings collection container, and an evaluation unit which interacts with the filling level sensor. A distance measured between the filling level sensor and the sweepings surface allows for the degree of filling of the sweepings collection container to be determined in the evaluation unit and to be output on a display or signal unit.

A cleaning machine may include: a first brush comprising a first brush shaft extending in a left-right direction and a first brush body held by the first brush shaft; a second brush comprising a second brush shaft extending in the left-right direction and a second brush body held on the second brush shaft; a brush supporting member supporting each of the first brush and the second brush such that the first brush and the second brush are rotatable; a body supporting the brush supporting member such that the brush supporting member is pivotable; and a pivot mechanism configured to pivot the brush supporting member with respect to the body. At least the first brush may move with respect to the body in an up-down direction when the brush supporting member pivots with respect to the body.

A cleaning device that can properly and efficiently clean a place such as a coke oven top part where an obstacle is present, can perform cleaning irrespective of whether or not a coal charging car is operating, and has a simple and compact structure and a method for cleaning an oven top of a coke oven. The cleaning device travels on a road surface and collects an accumulated substance accumulated on the road surface and includes a travelling trolley, a collector provided on a front face part of the travelling trolley that collects the accumulated substance accumulated on the road surface in front of the travelling trolley as the travelling trolley travels forward, and a sweeper provided on the travelling trolley and that sweeps the accumulated substance accumulated on the road surface beside the travelling trolley toward a position in front of the travelling trolley.

A gutter broom is provided. The gutter broom can include a mandrel, one or more carriers, each carrier removably coupled to the mandrel, and one or more bristle strips, each bristle strip removably coupled to one of the carriers. The gutter broom components can be recyclable and modular, requiring no tools for assembly or servicing.

A gutter broom is provided. The gutter broom can include one or more block segments, each block segment having openings in which bristles are positioned. The bristles can have a first stiffness or a second stiffness different than the first stiffness. Bristles having the second stiffness can be positioned radially outward of bristles having the first stiffness on a block segment.

A roadway sweeper (10) is provided with a pneumatic ‘lift’ cylinder (LC) connected through linkages to a gutter broom (12) and is pressurized at a operator-selected one of a plurality of air pressures to control the force the gutter broom (12) applies to the surface being swept. In a similar manner, a pneumatic ‘swing-out’ cylinder (PC) that is also pressurized at one of a plurality of operator-selected air pressures to cause the gutter broom (12) to ‘swing-out’ from a fully retracted position toward its fully extended position. A spring element (S), such as one or more helical springs, is connected in parallel with the swing-out cylinder (PC) so that the gutter broom (12) is positioned reliably and repeatedly in response to a user-selected one of many pressure states P.sub.n.

One or more autonomous street sweeper vehicles can perform a variety of sweeping functions, such as sweeping, vacuuming, blowing, and scraping. Each autonomous street sweeper vehicle can be designed to follow routes and can comprise an autonomous vehicle that includes a drive by wire kit, a database storing the routes, a detection mechanism, and a control system that controls the vehicle to follow the routes while maintaining serviceable distances to the curb. In a convoy of multiple autonomous street sweeper vehicles, the vehicles in the convoy can communicate with each other, and each of the autonomous street sweeper vehicles can perform a different function. In some examples, a speed of the vehicle and/or settings of the cleaning equipment can be adjusted, for example, based on road hazards or amount of debris.