DK176652B1 - A method of monitoring a pivotal movement of a pivot arm in a cleaning machine and a cleaning machine for practicing the method - Google Patents

Description

DK 176652 B1

DESCRIPTION

The invention relates to a method for monitoring a shearing wall or the rotating arm of a cleaning machine according to the preamble of claim 1, and a cleaning machine for carrying out the method according to the preamble of claim 6.

Methods and cleaning machines of the kind mentioned are disclosed in DE 103 47 835A1. This known cleaning machine monitors the speed of the swivel arm provided in one in the laundry room, ie. the wet area of the cleaning machine insertable wash basket, which is done by sensors such as, for example, Reed contacts and magnets associated with the swivel arm, so that at each rotation of the swivel arm, one or two pulses are generated which are galvanically separated by coupled coils transmitted from it. wet area to a dry area of the cleaner and evaluated in an evaluation device. Thus, the outputs of multiple sensors can be transmitted together as sum signals at the coupled coils.

Cleaning machines, such as cleaning machines for medical devices, service or similar items, usually have at least one swivel arm, which is set in swivel motion by cleaning fluid exiting from nozzles in the swivel arm. In connection with this, it is occasionally the case that the pivoting movement of the pivot arm by clogged nozzles in the pivot arm or by objects which act as a locking device is adversely affected or even interrupted, thereby causing the cleaning to deteriorate. If the machine is used for cleaning medical equipment, this is particularly problematic, as there are increased requirements for cleanliness in cleaning results 25 and 25 respectively. hosing. For this reason, the pivoting motion of the pivot arm or the pivot arms is monitored. Examples thereof are disclosed in DE 197 32 856 C2, De 40 10 066 A1, DE 44 38 036A1, DE 32 46 669 A1, DE 101 61 106 A1 and EP 0 053 231 A1.

Furthermore, it is known, by the cleaning machine mentioned in the introduction according to DE 30 103 47 835 A1, to place the objects to be cleaned in a so-called cleaning basket, which can usually be slid into and out, respectively. is pulled from a cleaning machine on rollers and guide rails, and where also at least one swivel swivel arm is provided on the basket, which can be connected to the cleaning fluid by the cleaning basket inserted in the cleaning machine. Such cleaning curves are disclosed in DE 197 21 538 A1, DE 296 20 010 U1, DE 296 19 272 U1 or DE 38 19 275 C1.

2 DK 176652 B1

In practice, the rpm of the rpm varies considerably depending on several parameters such as, for example, the pressure of the cleaning fluid, the viscosity of the cleaning fluid, the temperature of the cleaning fluid, the nature of the added chemicals, friction in the bearings of the swivel, the amount of water in the cleaning circuit, from the circulation pump, just to name certain parameters. When monitoring the speed of the swivel arms, the desired speed is compared, which is compared with the speed recorded by the sensors. If the absolute magnitude of the deviation is above a predetermined limit size, an error signal is generated and the cleaning result is discarded.

Due to the parameters that significantly affect the actual speed of the swivel arm, very broad tolerance ranges for the permissible rpm had to be given in advance, with the result that an insufficient cleaning result was obtained despite the swivel speed of the swivel arm. tolerance range.

If, by monitoring the rotational movement of the pivot arm, only an evaluation of the sum of the revolutions of several or all of the pivot arms on the curve was performed, which has the advantage that sensors and / or signal transmitting devices for monitoring 20 of the rotational speed of the curve to the dry area of the machine could be saved. For example, it could appear that one swivel arm was partially or completely blocked and the other swivel arms rotated at a higher rpm so that the sum signal of the rpm was again within the permissible tolerance range.

25 In the cleaning machines used today, usually one or two fixed swivel arms are provided in the interior of the machine, and further on the cleaning basket one or more swivel arms, hereinafter referred to as the swivel arms. It has been found hereby that the pivot arms more frequently have insufficient rpm, either due to poor connection to the pressurized cleaning fluid, or to this by blocking the spray nozzles by contamination.

The desired rpm for the individual pivot arms and curve pivot arms are obtained in practice by preliminary experiments and programmed into a control of the machine. Due to the aforementioned parameters, such as pressure, viscosity and temperature of the cleaning liquid, or the nature of added chemicals, the actual rpm differs substantially from the desired rpm, with the result that on the one hand impeccable purification is required. cleaning results were rejected and, on the other hand, faulty cleaning results were considered to be in order. Cleaning results of this kind depend on the speed of the swivel arms.

According to the invention, these disadvantages should be overcome. The object of the task is then to improve the method and cleaning machine of the kind mentioned in the introduction so that the monitoring of the rotational movement of the pivoting arms is improved. This object is achieved by the characterizing parts of claims 1 and 1, respectively. claim 6.

The basic principle of the invention is to use the number of revolutions of the fixed built-in swivel arm (s) as the reference size for the desired number of revolutions of the swivel arm or swivel arms. By analogy, this also applies to the added rpm for several rotary arms provided on the curve when only their sum signal is transmitted and evaluated. If, for example, due to the aforementioned parameters, the fixed built-in rotary arms rotate more slowly than the desired rpm for these, then the desired rpm for the turnstile arms or the desired size of the added rpm for the turnstile arms can be reduced accordingly, and vice versa.

In this connection, it could be assumed that the pressure of the cleaning fluid entrained by the swivel arms, which was usually provided from a bypass pump, was within a permissible tolerance range, this pressure being preferably measured.

Of course, updating the desired rpm of the turnbuckles according to the rpm of the fixed turnbuckles is applied only within a predetermined tolerance range of the turnbuckles of the fixed turnbuckles in relation to their fixed predetermined size for the turnbuckle. In this way, it was ensured that, in whole or in part, blocking the fixed built-in swivel arms does not lower the desired speed for the 30 swivel arms below a permissible size.

For example, if the cleaner has two fixed built-in swivel arms with the desired rpm numbers n1s and n2s, then the "modified" rpm number nklsn for a first turning arm provided by the formula given by the following formula is given: 35 n1 ns + n2s + n2s + n2s where n1i and n2i are the measured current magnitudes of the rpm of the two permanently mounted swivel arms, n1s and n2s are the desired rpm for these swivel arms, and nk1s is an initial, fixed, predetermined rpm for the first swivel arm which is on the basket.

This correction of the desired rotational speed for the pivot arms causes the tolerance range of the pivot arms to be determined much more narrowly, which allows for the monitoring of multiple pivot arms simultaneously on the curve to detect whether a pivot arm is blocked. .

In the following, the invention is explained in an exemplary embodiment in connection with the drawing in more detail.

15

The only figure 1 is a principle sketch for a cleaning machine.

The cleaning machine is provided with a laundry room 1 with an upper fixed built-in swivel arm 2 and a lower fixed built-in swivel arm 3, as well as a washing basket 4 (hereinafter referred to as "basket 4" only) which can be slid into rollers 5 on guide rails 6 the laundry room respectively. pulled out of here. On the curve 4 are provided two curve swivel arms 7 and 8. All swivel arms 2, 3, 7 and 8 have known spray nozzles 9, from which pressurized cleaning fluid exits, thereby turning the swivel arms in a rotational motion. All pivot arms 2, 3, 7 and 8 are connected in a known manner to a supply line 10, over which the pressurized cleaning fluid is supplied to rotate the arms. The cleaning fluid is routed in a known manner from the sump 11 in the washroom 1 to a bypass pump 12, and from here, suppresses the supply lines 10 again to the pivot arms 2, 3, 7 and 8. Downstream of the bypass pump 12 relative to the flow, a pipe branch 13 is provided with two controllable valves. 14 and 15, the valve 14 opening respectively. blocking a connection between the bypass pump 12 and the supply line 10, while the valve 15 opens respectively. blocking a connection between the bypass pump 12 and a drain 16, so that depending on the position of these two valves, the cleaning fluid is delivered from the sump 11 in the machine back to the pivot arms 2, 3, 7 and 8, or is directed to empty the machine to the drain 16. Further, the supply line 10 over a third valve 17 can be connected to a pipe 18 for cleaning liquid. Hereby cleaning or rinsing liquid, or also drying air, can be supplied to the machine in a manner known per se.

Although this is not reproduced in detail, it should be noted that supply of 5 cleaning fluid to the pivot arms 7 and 8 is provided over one or more couplings 19 which are automatically engaged by insertion of the basket 4 into the washroom 1.

Furthermore, it should be noted that in the washroom 1 and / or in the basket 4, fixed spray nozzles may be further provided, as is generally known in the prior art.

The machine has several sensors 20, 21, 22 and 23, each associated with one of the arms 2, 3, 7 and 8, and which provide an electrical signal n1i, n2i, nk1i respectively. nk2i, which corresponds to the speed of the corresponding pivot arms 2, 3, 7 or 8. In principle, any kind of sensors can be used, as they are known, for example, from the prior art known in the art.

These signals are passed to an evaluation unit 25 and there they are evaluated as follows: 20 First, the signals n1i and n2i are compared, ie. the rpm of the fixed built-in swivel arms 2, 3, with predetermined desired values n1s respectively. N2S.

If the difference between the desired size and the actual size is within a predetermined first tolerance range TB1 of, for example, -50% of the desired size, then the actual sizes n1i and n2i of the 25 desired sizes nk1s and nk2s of the curve turning arms 7 are provided. , 8, which is done here by the following calculation: nklsn = nk1s · (n1i + n2i) / (n1s + n2s) and 30 nk2sn = nk2s (n1i + n2i) / {n1s + n2s).

If several swivel arms are provided in the basket, the result for their desired sizes is obtained in an analogous manner.

35 The new desired sizes nklsn and nk2sn are then compared with the actual sizes nk1i and nk2i obtained from sensors 22 and 23. If the deviation is within a predetermined second tolerance belt TB2, the rpm of all pivot arms is considered to be "in order" and the cleaning process continues. On the other hand, if the rpm of the fixed turning arms 2 and 3 is outside the said first tolerance band TB1 or if the rpm of the curvature arms 7 and 8 5 are outside the second tolerance band TB2, then an error signal is provided which is transmitted on a line 26. The cleaning process can then be stopped. The error signal may have any desired shape. It can be an optical or acoustic alarm, or it can be an "error log" broadcast on a display or printer.

In addition, the error signal is passed to a control unit 28, which in a known way controls the program progress of the cleaning machine and monitors this, for example by controlling the bypass pump 12 and the valves 13,14,15 and 17, the control unit 28 also receiving a signal from the pressure sensor 27 which corresponds to the fluid pressure in the supply line 10.

Upon receiving an error signal, the washing process can then be stopped before the actual end.

In the following, a possible exemplary embodiment of the evaluation circuit 25, which is here provided with logic and computer components, is explained as hardware, with reference to the fact that of course a programmed microcontroller 20 which performs the corresponding functions could also be used.

The output signal n1i from sensor 20 is fed to a first subtraction circuit 29, where it is subtracted from a predetermined desired size n1s for the speed of the fixed built-in upper pivot arm 2. The output signal from subtraction circuit 29 25 (n1s - n1 i) is fed to a comparator 30. comparing it to a predetermined size TB1, which establishes a first tolerance band for the rotation deviations of the upper fixed built-in swivel arm 2 from the desired size n1s.

If the output signal from subtraction circuit 29 is larger than size TB1, then comparator 30 opens and thus transmits an error signal to an OR circuit 42 which passes through this signal to output 26, and simultaneously over a line 43 informs controller 28. Similarly, the output signal n2i of the sensor 21 for the fixed-arm 3 in a subtraction circuit 31 from a desired size n2s, and the difference is compared in a further comparator 32 with a predetermined size TB1, this size being normally as large as the 35 size TB1 which is fed to the comparator 30. Here again, a through signal in the comparator 32 will send an error signal to the OR circuit 42. In both cases, the error signal indicates that the speed of the corresponding fixed built-in arm 2 and 2 respectively. . 3 is outside the predetermined tolerance band.

In order to provide the desired magnitude of the rpm of the turns 7 and 8, the desired magnitudes n1s and n2s are fed to a first adding circuit 33, and the actual size n1i and n2i to a second adding circuit 34, and the output signals of these circuits (n1s) + n2s) and (n1i + n2i) are routed to a dtvision circuit 35, whose output signal (n1i + n2i) / (n1s + n2s) is fed to a first multiplication circuit 36 where it is multiplied by a fixed preset given size nk1s and the Actual size nk1i from sensor 22. The output of multiplication circuit 36 constitutes the new modified signal for the desired size nklsn of curve turning arm 7, which in a further subtraction circuit 37 is subtracted from the actual size nk1i. The output of the subtraction circuit 37 is fed to a further comparator 38, where it is compared with a predetermined size TB2 which indicates a tolerance band. If the difference between the actual size nk1i and the new desired size nklsn is outside the tolerance band, a comparator 38 is passed through and an error signal is again provided which is fed to the OR circuit 42. Similarly, the output signal from the division circuit 35 is fed to a further multiplication circuit 39, to whose second input 20 the signal for the actual size nk2i and a fixed preset desired size nk2s for the additional curve turning arm 8 is passed. By analogy, an additional subtraction circuit 40 and a comparator 41 were provided, which in turn sends out an error signal to the OR circuit 42 when the speed of the turning arm is outside the tolerance band TB2.

25

If the curve 4 has additional swivel arms, the output signals from the sensors associated with these additional swivel arms are further processed.

As initially mentioned, the revolutions of several pivot arms on the curve can also be summed in an added sum signal, whereby the desired size for this sum signal is modified in an analogous manner. Although not fully explained in the present specification and the appended claims, the term "modified desired size" may still apply to the sum signal of the rpm of multiple winding arms, and the term of the rpm of the at least one winding swivel arm may also be associated with the current magnitude of the sum signals from multiple winding arms.

In addition, it is obvious that the invention sets sliding desired sizes for the rpm of the curved shaving arms, which are dependent on the actual rpm of the fixed built-in swivel arms, the influence of 5 "disturbing sizes" such as viscosity, temperature. , pressure and chemical composition of the cleaning fluid are compensated to the greatest extent possible and thus as a result much narrower tolerances for rpm deviations can be established for the rpm in the turning arms. Thus, the number of monitored turntable arms can also be increased.

Claims (10)

A method of monitoring the rotational movement of swivel arms in a cleaning machine provided with at least one fixed built-in swivel arm (2, 3) 5 and at least one swivel arm (7, 8) located on a retractable laundry basket (4), all rotary arms (2, 3, 7, 8) are driven to rotate by a pressurized liquid and the rotational numbers of all rotary arms are measured and compared to the desired size, characterized in that the desired magnitude (nklsn, nk2sn) of the rotational speed of the at least one curve turning arm (7, 8) is modified depending on the actual measured speed (n1 i, n2i) for the at least one fixed built-in arm (2, 3). Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the cleaning machine is provided with two fixed built-in swivel arms (2, 3) and that the desired size (nklsn, nk2sn) of the rpm of the at least one curve swivel arm (7, 8) is modified. dependence on the number of revolutions (n1i, n2i) of the two fixed built-in swivel arms (2, 3). Method according to claim 2, characterized in that the desired magnitude (nklsn, nk2sn) for the rpm of the at least one curvature arm (7, 8) or the desired size (nksn) for the added rpm for several curvilinear arms (7 , 8. is modified according to the following relation:, n1i + n2i nklsn = - nk1 n1s + n2s 25 where n1 i and n2i are the measured current magnitude of the rpm of the two fixed built-in swivel arms, n1s and n2s respectively, predetermined desired magnitudes for the rpm of the fixed built-in swivel arms (2, 3), and nk1 is an unmodified, fixed, predetermined desired magnitude for the rpm of the at least one winding frame (7, 8) and of the added rpm for several winding swivels. (7.8). Method according to one of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the modification of the desired magnitude of the rpm of the at least one turnstile arm is only carried out when the measured rpm (n1i, n2i) of the fixed rotary arm (s) is within a fixed, predetermined first tolerance range (TB1). 10 DK 176652 B1 Method according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that an error signal is provided when the actual rpm (nk1i, nk2i) of the at least one winding arm (7, 8), or an added rpm of several winding arms, is 5 outside of a predetermined second tolerance range (TB2) in connection with the modified desired magnitude of the rpm of the corresponding turnbuckle arm (7, 8), respectively. a modified desired magnitude for the added rpm for multiple winding arms (7, 8). 6. A cleaning machine with at least one fixed built-in swivel arm (2, 3) which can be rotated by a pressurized cleaning fluid, at least one winding swivel arm (7, 8) provided on a retractable wash basket (4) and also can be set in a rotational motion by a pressurized cleaning fluid provided with sensors (20, 21, 22, 23) to sense the rotational motion of all rotary arms (2, 3, 7, 8), and with an evaluation circuit (25 ), which provides an error signal when the rpm measured by the sensors (20-23) deviates more than a predetermined magnitude from the desired magnitude, characterized in that the evaluation circuit (25) modifies the desired magnitude (nklsn, nk2sn) for the rpm for the at least one turning arm (7, 8) depending on the actual speed (n1 i, n2i) of the at least one fixed built-in arm (2, 3). Cleaning machine according to claim 6, characterized in that it is provided with two fixedly mounted swivel arms (2, 3) and that the evaluation circuit (25) is designed to modify the desired size (nklsn, nk2sn) for the rpm of the 25, at least one winding arm (7, 8), depending on the rpm (n1i, n2i) of the two fixedly mounted swivel arms (2, 3). Cleaning machine according to claim 7, characterized in that the evaluation circuit (25) is designed to modify the desired size (nklsn, nk2sn) for the number of revolutions of the at least one curve turning arm (7, 8) according to the following relation: . n1i + n2i nklsn = - nk1 n1s + n2s 11 DK 176652 B1 where n1i and n2i are the measured actual magnitudes of the rpm of the two fixed built-in swivel arms (2, 3), n1s respectively. n2s are fixed predetermined desired magnitudes of the rpm of the fixed built-in arm (2, 3), and nk1 is an unmodified, fixed, predetermined desired magnitude of the rpm of the at least one curvature arm (7, 8). Cleaning machine according to one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that the evaluation circuit (25) is designed such that the modification of the desired size (nklsn, nk2sn) of the rpm of the at least one curve turning arm (7, 8) occurs the 10 measured rpm (n1i, n2i) of the at least one fixed built-in swivel arm (2, 3) is within a predetermined first tolerance range (TB1) associated with a predetermined desired size (n1s, n2s). 9 DK 176652 B1 Cleaning machine according to one of claims 6 to 9, characterized in that the evaluation circuit (25) is designed to provide an error signal when the measured rpm (nk1i, nk2i) of the at least one curve turning arm (7, 8) ) is outside a predetermined second tolerance range (TB2) associated with the modified desired size (nklsn, nk2sn),