An industrial floor sweeper is a wheeled machine for removing debris, coarse dirt and dust from the floor. By the action of rotating brushes, or by the combined action of one or more brushes and a vacuum system, a sweeper removes dry dirt and debris from the floor and collects it in a dedicated on-board debris hopper. Sweepers for professional use can be classified in various ways.
The first distinction concerns the width of the cleaning path. Multiplied by forward speed, this parameter determines the machine’s productivity, i.e. the number of square metres of floor it can clean in one hour.
Another way to classify sweepers is to divide them into walk-behind machines (which, as their name suggests, require the operator to walk behind them), and ride-on machines, which are driven much like cars.
Traction systems vary too: some sweepers are fully manual (i.e, have to be pushed by the operator) while others are electrically powered (these are ideal for use in enclosed spaces), or driven by petrol, diesel or LPG engines.
Then there are sweepers on which certain functions can be operated manually, electronically or hydraulically. The most important of these functions are side brushes, auxiliary vacuum systems and ground-level or high dump emptying systems.
Road sweepers and sweeper-scrubbers are separate categories of machine. The former are subject to normal traffic regulations and must be approved for operation on public roads. The latter are used mainly for the regular cleaning of dusty rather than dirty environments. These machines combine the main characteristics of a floor sweeper with those of a scrubber-dryer.
