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Cleaning liquid dispensing in a mobile hard surface cleanerRelated Patent Categories: Brushing, Scrubbing, And General Cleaning, Machines, With Air Blast Or Suction, With Liquid Or Other Cleaning Material Application To WorkCleaning liquid dispensing in a mobile hard surface cleaner description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070180645, Cleaning liquid dispensing in a mobile hard surface cleaner. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/211,987, filed Aug. 25, 2005 and entitled "CLEANING LIQUID DISPENSING IN A MOBILE HARD SURFACE CLEANER", which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/751,838, filed Jan. 5, 2004 and entitled "CHEMICAL DISPENSING METHOD FOR A HARD SURFACE CLEANER", which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/152,537, filed May 21, 2002, entitled "CHEMICAL DISPENSER FOR A HARD FLOOR SURFACE CLEANER" and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,671,925, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/026,411, filed Dec. 21, 2001, entitled "APPARATUS AND METHOD OF USE FOR CLEANING A HARD FLOOR SURFACE UTILIZING AN AERATED CLEANING LIQUID" and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,585,827, which in turn claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/308,773, filed Jul. 30, 2001 and entitled "APPARATUS AND METHOD OF USE FOR CLEANING A HARD FLOOR SURFACE UTILIZING AN AERATED CLEANING LIQUID"; and this application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10/653,347, filed Sep. 2, 2003 and entitled "FOAMED CLEANING LIQUID DISPENSING SYSTEM", which in turn is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/143,582, filed May 9, 2002, entitled "CLEANING LIQUID DISPENSING SYSTEM FOR A HARD FLOOR SURFACE CLEANER" and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,735,811, a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/152,549, filed May 21, 2002 and entitled "CLEANER CARTRIDGE", a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/328,516, filed Dec. 23, 2002, entitled "HARD FLOOR SURFACE CLEANER UTILIZING AN AERATED CLEANING LIQUID" and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,705,332, and a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/213,849, filed Aug. 7, 2002, entitled "FOAMED CLEANING LIQUID DISPENSING SYSTEM" and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,662,600. All of the above-referenced applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates generally to mobile hard surface cleaners and, more particularly, to cleaning liquid forming and dispensing in a mobile hard surface cleaner. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Hard floor surface cleaners are widely used to clean the floors of industrial and commercial buildings. They range in size from a small model that is controlled by an operator walking behind the cleaner and can clean a path ranging from 15 inches to 36 inches wide, to a large model that is controlled by an operator riding on the machine and can clean a path as wide as 5 feet. These hard floor surface cleaners include motorized drive wheels, a solution tank to hold cleaning solution and a recovery tank to hold soiled cleaning solution recovered from the floor being scrubbed. The cleaning solution from the solution tank is applied to the hard floor surface adjacent a scrub head. The scrub head generally contains one or more motorized scrubbing brushes attached either in front of, under, or behind the vehicle. These scrubbing brushes typically rotate to provide the desired scrubbing action. The soiled cleaning solution is then recovered using a solution recovery system, which returns the soiled cleaning solution to the recovery tank. [0004] The cleaning solution is typically gravity fed to the scrub head at a rate that varies in response to the volume of cleaning solution contained in the solution tank. As the volume of cleaning solution contained in the solution tank decreases, the rate at which the cleaning solution is fed to the scrub head decreases. For example, a typical hard floor surface cleaner having a 32 inch wide scrubbing swath applies the cleaning solution to the hard floor surface at a rate that varies from between approximately 1.0 gallons per minute (GPM) when the solution tank is full to a rate of 0.5 GPM when the tank contains a low volume of cleaning solution. [0005] One problem with prior art hard floor surface cleaners has been their limited operational runtime. This is primarily due to their limited solution tank volume and the high cleaning solution flow rates. A typical hard floor surface cleaner having a 32 inch cleaning swatch typically has an operational runtime based on solution capacity of approximately 30-40 minutes, for example. [0006] One possible solution to the short run runtime for these cleaners is to increase the size of the solution and recovery tanks. Unfortunately, such an increase in cleaning solution capacity typically necessitates modifications to the frame and other components of the hard floor surface cleaner, which results in additional weight and higher energy requirements for the device. For most applications, these modifications are impractical. [0007] The high volume flow rate of cleaning solution has been generally desired to provide complete wetting of the floor being cleaned. Unfortunately, the lack of control of the volume flow rate of the cleaning solution results in an excessive amount of cleaning solution being distributed to the floor, when, for example, the solution tank is full. The high volume flow rate of the cleaning solution of prior art hard floor surface cleaners also results in extended downtime. The long downtime periods are generally due to the numerous disposals of soiled cleaning solution and refills of cleaning solution that must be performed for a given job. Additionally, where the cleaning process removes harmful or hazardous chemicals, the disposal of the soiled cleaning solution may require special handling and/or additional costs to ensure that it is disposed of properly. As a result, the large volumes of cleaning solution that are used by prior art hard floor surface cleaners reduce the efficiency at which a cleaning job can be performed. [0008] Consequently, prior art hard floor surface cleaners suffer from several deficiencies that lead to inefficient floor cleaning operations. Most of these deficiencies stem from the poor cleaning solution flow rate control and the high volume flow rate of the cleaning solution that is applied to the hard floor surface. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0009] Embodiments of the present invention are generally directed to a mobile hard surface cleaner and a method of dispensing cleaning liquid in a hard surface cleaner. One embodiment of the hard surface cleaner includes a motorized scrub head, a fluid recovery device, a primary cleaning liquid component container, a cleaning agent container, a flow control device and a fluid flow path. The flow control device is configured to supply a flow of cleaning agent from the cleaning agent container at a predetermined volume flow rate of greater than 0 cubic centimeters per minute and less than 10 cubic centimeters per minute to a flow of primary cleaning liquid component from the primary cleaning liquid component container. The fluid flow path is configured to receive a flow of cleaning liquid, which comprises the cleaning agent and the primary cleaning liquid component. [0010] Another embodiment of the hard surface cleaner includes a frame, a motorized scrub head, a fluid recovery device, a primary cleaning liquid component container supported by the frame, a cleaning agent container, a first fluid flow path connected to the cleaning agent container, a flow control device, a second fluid flow path, and a fluid flow junction. The flow control device includes a first pump configured to drive a flow of cleaning agent from the cleaning agent container and through the first fluid flow path at a flow rate of less than approximately 10 cubic centimeters per minute. The second fluid flow path is connected to the primary cleaning liquid component container and is configured to receive a flow of primary cleaning liquid component. The fluid flow junction is coupled to the first and second fluid flow paths and is configured to receive the flow of cleaning agent and the flow of primary cleaning liquid component, and to discharge a flow of cleaning liquid, which comprises the cleaning agent and the primary cleaning liquid component. [0011] In one embodiment of the method of dispensing a chemical for use in a mobile hard surface cleaner, a flow of cleaning agent is driven from a cleaning agent container at a flow rate of less than approximately 10 cubic centimeters per minute. A flow of primary cleaning liquid component is supplied from a cleaning liquid component container supported by the hard floor surface cleaner. The flow of cleaning agent and the flow of primary cleaning liquid component are combined to form a flow of cleaning liquid. The flow of cleaning liquid is dispensed to either a motorized scrub head or a surface under the hard floor surface cleaner. [0012] Other features and benefits that characterize embodiments of the present invention will be apparent upon reading the following detailed description and the review of the associated drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0013] FIGS. 1 and 2 are simplified side elevation views of hard floor surface cleaners in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. [0014] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a chemical dispenser of a cleaning liquid dispensing system in accordance with embodiments of the invention. [0015] FIG. 4 is a front elevation view of a primary cleaning liquid component dispenser in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. [0016] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a flow restriction member in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. [0017] FIGS. 6-8 are front elevation views of chemical dispensers and other components of a cleaning liquid dispensing system in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. [0018] FIG. 9 is a front elevation view in partial cross-section of a flow restriction member coupled to a fluid mixing member in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. [0019] FIG. 10 is a front elevation view of a chemical dispenser of a cleaning liquid dispensing system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Continue reading about Cleaning liquid dispensing in a mobile hard surface cleaner... Full patent description for Cleaning liquid dispensing in a mobile hard surface cleaner Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Cleaning liquid dispensing in a mobile hard surface cleaner patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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