AU2003100815A4

AU2003100815A4 - A Portable Wash Bay

Info

Publication number: AU2003100815A4
Application number: AU2003100815A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Chris Coran
Original assignee: ULTIMATE CLUB WASH Pty Ltd
Current assignee: ULTIMATE CLUB WASH Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2003-09-25
Filing date: 2003-09-25
Publication date: 2003-11-06
Anticipated expiration: 2011-09-25
Also published as: WO2005028267A1

Description

A PORTABLE WASH BAY

FIELD

The present invention relates to a wash bay for washing vehicles and in particular a portable wash bay.

BACKGROUND

In modern society, many people live busy lives with little time to spare between the demands of work, family and friends. Thus time saving devices that improve efficiency and allow more time for leisure are greatly desired. This trend has seen the time consuming chore of washing a vehicle lead to the development of automatic vehicle washes and the provision of vehicle washing services.

Unfortunately wash bays for vehicles are generally located in remote, hard to get to localities, such as large petrol stations. This is inconvenient for users who may have to drive out of their way to have their vehicles washed.

Additionally, automatic vehicle washes are generally permanent structures requiring sufficient land and infrastructure to be provided when they are installed. Thus the cost and structure of setting up an automatic vehicle wash prevents some businesses from entering the market, further increasing the lack of supply.

While hand washing can be performed in more convenient locations, it results in a lot of water being wasted during the washing process, as the run off escapes into storm or other drains.

STATEMENT OF INVENTION According to a first broad form of the invention, there is provided self contained portable wash bay comprising: a wash area sufficient to accommodate a vehicle; a ramp associated with said wash area to allow the vehicle to access said wash area; a water delivery system to deliver water within the wash area; a catchment below the wash area to catch the run off water delivered within the wash area; and a circulation system to circulate the water from the catchment to the delivery system.

The ramp of the self contained portable wash bay allows vehicles to be driven from the ground onto the wash area, where water is then delivered to wash the vehicle, as required. Water caught in the catchment below the wash area may be recycled and pumped back to wash the next vehicle.

The wash bay may consist of a transportable building, such as a donga, having wall structures, a base and a roof to define the wash area.

The water catchment is located underneath the wash area and circulating system attached thereto to circulate water to the water delivery system, also located within the wash area. Preferably the wash bay includes an office type area, for running a washing service and houses plant for the circulation system in a pump station in a convenient location for access to the plant. The plant may be accessed through the contained office type area allowing for easy maintenance and repair of the wash bay. Maintenance access to the catchment area may also be provided under the wash area, to allow easy and quick repair and maintenance.

The wash area may be of a sufficient size suitable for accommodating a large four wheel drive and passenger vehicles for washing.

A ramp may extend along at least one side of the wash area rising form the ground to allow vehicle access. Preferably, the ramp is provided along three sides of the wash area. The ramp additionally allows at least a portion of the water catchment to be located under the wash area, thereby reducing the need to excavate the installation site. Thus the height of the ramp is determined, at least partially, by the height of the catchment below the wash area. The length of the ramp is not limited, but is preferably long enough to provide a gentle slope to the wash area from the ground, to avoid damage to entering/exiting vehicles.

Access to the wash area may be provided by having movable walls or doors supported on a frame, such that open spaces are left for the vehicle to enter the wash area. In one embodiment the roof may be supported by columns, defining the extent of the walls. In another embodiment, the roof may be cantilevered, to allow unfettered access to the wash area, with movable walls suspended from the roof.

The movable walls may be formed from plastic sheeting or similar, rolling up and down in a blind type manner. For example, roll down banners could be used, the banners being made out of a plastic sheet material. The banners would hang as a sheet when rolled down, or form a roll when gathered up. Similarly, a roll down garage door structure could be used, providing columns to support a roof or frame the door.

Thus, the walls may be rolled up to allow access or rolled down to limit access, as required. Other types of movable doors or walls could be used, as would be understood by a person skilled in the art. For example, concertina doors, sliding doors or French styled door, could be used, each of which allows the door panels to be stored in a compacted space when the doors are opened and enclosing the wash area when the doors are closed.

Aside from opening the doors/walls to allow vehicle access, the doors/walls contain the water within the wash area when closed and, for example, while the vehicle is inside being washed. Thus, when the vehicle is contained and water is delivered, the run off water hits the walls, runs downward into the catchment under the wash area and may be available to be recycled. This reduces the amount of water consumption, by ensuring water is not lost to the outside environment.

The water delivery system may include any suitable device such as a shower head, hose, sprinkler or other means suitable to spray water over a vehicle. Preferably, the water delivery system allows for the water pressure to be adjusted so that higher pressure water spray can be delivered for more efficient cleaning ability. This could be achieved by using flow restrictors, for example, by using smaller holes in the device, or a small diameter pipe, or other means, thereby increasing the pressure of water spray. The higher water pressure spray is better suited to remove tough stains without damaging the surface of the vehicle.

The catchment may be shallow, at least a portion of the height of the ramp and having at least the same area as the base of the wash area.

The catchment has a drain at a low point allowing water to drain from the catchment. The catchment operates similar to a drip tray by catching the water and run off from the wash area and then drains the dirty water through the drain and into a circulation system to be recycled. The catchment may be covered by a grid such as a stainless steel mesh, to block large debris, while supporting a vehicle and allowing the water to pass therethrough.

The run off water may be caught from spray from the water wash area during washing. As water sprays during washing, gravity causes it to run to the lowest point and drain from the base of the catchment. In this way the minimum amount of water escapes from the wash area to reduce water wastage.

Any type of circulation system can be used to circulate the water. Preferably a recycle pressure pump may be used to ensure the water collected from the drain can be circulated through a recycling system to the water delivery system with sufficient head pressure. The head pressure of the water determines the ability of the water to clean the vehicles by applying a satisfactory water pressure of water from the delivery device. If the pump is too small for the system the resulting pressure at the water delivery system will cause the water to trickle rather than spray through the device, reducing the ability to tackle tough stains.

In order to purify the recirculated water, the pump system preferably includes a filter or a range of filters for improving the quality of the dirty water. For example a silt pit may be used for collecting the dirty water in the first instance with a pump pit and sump pit further collecting oil and other contaminants. The water may then be circulated through a two stage separator to skim oil from the dirty water into a waste oil container, and remove sludge from circulation. Once decontaminated, the water may be stored in a recycled water storage tank to be further cleaned by circulation through a series of bag filters, each bag filter screeing the water to contain smaller contaminant particle sizes, by using finer quality bag filters in series.

Thus the quality of the water may be dependant on the number and size of filters used to create water clean enough to reuse.

The advantage of using bag filters is the bags can be easily replaced or washed as each filter clogs up with contaminants, therefore allowing maximal water quality. In particular, by using a range of decreasing bag sizes, the smaller screens are exposed to less debris, ensuring that the larger bag filter will need to be maintained more frequently than the smaller filters. Alternatively the bag filters could be the same size, reducing costs by allowing one size to fit all filters for maintenance, but increasing the contaminant size left in the water.

Water may be further conserved by providing a gutter on the roof of the wash area allowing for collection of rainwater which, once collected, may be stored in the tank. Other means of collecting rain water may be used, such as providing a separate rain water tank on the wash bay, for example on the side of the pump station.

The wash bay may be self contained containing the wash area, ramp, water delivery system, catchment and circulation system as an integral mainly closed loop fluid delivery system. Water may be supplied from the mains, or a rain water tank, if supplied or preferably recycled. Any excess water may be drained in to the sewer system. This reduces the infrastructure required to set up the wash bay and ensures that the wash bay may be immediately operational once located at a particular site. Further, the self contained arrangement means that minimal preparation may be required for the site and the wash bay can be delivered to previously unsuitable locations.

A further advantage may be the wash bay can be installed anywhere having a water and power supply. However, the wash bay may be powered by a generator, solar energy supply or other means. Further by using rain water to supply the water, it may be possible to run the wash bay without a continuous water supply.

Further as the wash bay can be easily transported to and off a site, there may be no need to create a permanent fixture. This allows the wash bay to be moved around a site, if required, for instance if the layout of the area changes or for cosmetic changes. This is a great advantage as it means a purchaser is not bound to commit to a permanent fixture, but can have the flexibility of moving the wash bay as his or her needs change.

The wash bay can be used to serve a variety of purposes from washing vehicles to providing a general washing station for other needs. One use which may be exploited is the installation of the wash bay at golf courses.

The wash bay may be used to serve a variety of purposes from washing S domestic vehicles and golf carts, to washing and maintaining golf clubs. By locating the wash bay at a Golf Club, members and guests can have their domestic vehicles cleaned while they play a round, and the Golf Club can use the wash bay to maintain its vehicles and equipment day to day, ensuring the quality of the Club may be maintained or improved.

Other locations for the wash bay may include marinas, shopping centers, commercial car parks, taxi cab depots, airports and other convenient locations.

A preferred embodiment of the Invention will now be described by way of example only, in reference to the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG 1 shows a perspective view of the self contained portable wash bay according to an embodiment of the invention; FIG 2 shows a schematic view of the plant for the pump system according to an embodiment of the invention; FIG 3 shows a top view of plant layout for the pump system according to an embodiment of the invention; FIG 4 shows detail of the grid according to an embodiment of the invention; and FIG 5 shows a perspective view of the self contained portable wash bay according to a second embodiment of the invention; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As shown in FIG 1, the self contained portable wash bay comprises a wash area 20 to accommodate a vehicle, a ramp 27 rising from the ground to the wash area 20 to allow the vehicle to access said wash area a water delivery system (not shown) within the wash area 20, a catchment (not shown) below the wash area 20 to catch the run off water, a circulation system 30 to circulate the water from the catchment to the delivery device.

The wash area 20 includes a roof 21, four walls 23 formed by columns and wall structures and a base 22. The walls may be comprised of roll down banners 23 made out of sheet plastic material, supported on columns 24, as illustrated. Additional or partition walls may be required to contain the office type area 25 and the plant for the pump system 30 within a pump station 26. A second embodiment is shown in FIG 5 where the roof 21 is a cantilever structure to allow vehicles unfettered access to the wash area The base of the washing area 20, comprises the catchment extending underneath the wash area 20, covered by a grid 31 to support vehicles, and allowing water to pass through it to be caught and recirculated.

The ramp extends from the wash area 20to the ground at least a portion of the height of the catchment FIG 2 shows the circulation system including a filtration system, to clean the water. The schematic includes a silt pit 32 to collect the initial dirty water from the catchment 40 for recycling, from this point the dirty water may be drained and pumped through a pump pit and sump pit 33 to remove some of the oil from the water. The water may be the pumped through a two stage separator 34, so that oil is skimmed off the water and sludge may be removed from circulation. Once the water has passed through the separator it may be stored in a tank 35 until required. Overflow from the tank 35, once full to capacity, may be drained to a sewer or storm drain. A pump 36 may be used to force required water through a series of bag filters 37, 38, 39 and generally uphill to the water delivery system 28, with sufficient head pressure for the required spray from the water delivery device.

The series of filters shown use a 50 micron bag, followed by a micron bag, and finally a 5 micron bag to deliver a finished water product containing contaminants of less than 5 micron particle size. The water can be more or less pure, as required, by varying the number and size of filters used.

The layout illustrated in FIG 3 is preferable to allow all of the components to be compactly arranged while allowing maximal access for maintenance or repair. For example the layout allows for changing filters, removing waste oil and sludge, or emptying the sump pit or repairs to the plumbing or plant.

FIG 4 shows the detail of the grid 31. In particular, the grid 31, is shown to be made out of steel bar of for example rectangular hollow sections (RHS) welded to form a grid and coated with enamel to protect it from corrosion. The steel is sufficiently strong to support the weight of vehicles, while allowing large holes to accommodate the egress of water to the catchment. Other grids may be used, for example commercial steel mesh grid, provided it is strong enough to support the weight of a vehicle over the area of the wash area base. The grid may be made from stainless steel or otherwise treated or coated to resist corrosion and not be vulnerable to deterioration from the washing detergents.

The term "comprise", or variations of the term such as "comprises" or "comprising", are used herein to denote the inclusion of a stated integer or stated integers but not to exclude any other integer or any other integers, unless in the context or usage an exclusive interpretation of the term is required.

Whilst the above has been given by way of illustrative example of the invention, many modifications and variations may be made thereto by persons skilled in the art without departing from the broad scope and ambit of the invention as herein set forth.

Claims

1. A self contained portable wash bay comprising: a wash area sufficient to accommodate a vehicle; a ramp associated with said wash area to allow the vehicle to access said wash area; a water delivery system to deliver water within the wash area; a catchment below the wash area to catch the run off water delivered within the wash area; and a circulation system to circulate the water from the catchment to the delivery system.

2. The self contained portable wash bay of claim 1 further comprising a grid over the catchment to support the vehicle while allowing water to pass through the grid into the catchment.

3. The self contained portable wash bay according to any of the proceeding claims further comprising at least one filter to clean the water before it is recirculated from the catchment to the delivery device.

4. The self contained portable wash bay according to any of the proceeding claims further comprising a tank for collecting and storing rain water before it is circulated to the delivery device. The self contained portable wash bay substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this day of 2003 By His Patent Attorneys CULLEN CO.