JP2002145024A - Automatic washing device for vehicle under part - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic washing device for a large sized vehicle under part with the usage of a washing robot capable of moving a work unit to outside of a carriage with a simple structure and enlarging a stroke of a lifting mechanism while traveling at the vehicle under part is possible. SOLUTION: A lateral moving mechanism of a spray unit 22 is constituted by a lateral moving rail 213 installed on an end of an upper surface of the lower part carriage 21, a slide block 214 movable along the lateral moving rail 213, and a horizontal direction relay guide 216 placed between the traveling work unit 22 and the slide block 214 and movable through guide rollers 215 and 224. A multistage type pantograph 225 is installed on a frame 221 of the spray unit 22, and a spray nozzle 227 is installed thereon, which is lifted by an air cylinder 226.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle lower part automatic cleaning apparatus for automatically cleaning a lower part of a vehicle such as a large truck.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In automobiles such as passenger cars and trucks, it is obligatory to clean the entire surface of a vehicle including its lower part upon inspection. In the case of cleaning, the outer surface (upper surface, side surface) of the vehicle is generally automatically cleaned by passing through the inside of an arch-shaped rotating brush, but cleaning of the lower surface is not easy. In the past, it was common to stop the car in the pit area and spray water from the pit with a spray gun on hand, but this is an adverse condition such as sewage dripping on the worker's face Therefore, automation was desired.

There have been proposed various bogie-type floor traveling robots that perform cleaning while moving under a vehicle. Generally, the spray nozzle for washing can be rotated and swung by remote control so that the direction of washing water can be arbitrarily controlled. However, in general, the cleaning range in the width direction is different between the wheel part and the part without the wheel, and the robot running only inside the wheel does not reach the inside of the chassis of a large vehicle with the cleaning water, and the cleaning residue is generated. was there.

A trolley type robot is divided into a lower trolley running along a running rail in the vehicle length direction of the vehicle and a spray unit mounted on the lower trolley and capable of self-running in a direction perpendicular to the running rail. However, if the spray unit can be moved to the outside of the lower bogie while traveling is stopped, the remaining of washing will not occur, but a moving mechanism that moves the spray unit on the right outside of the lower bogie, moves within the width of the lower bogie There is a problem that three moving mechanisms, a moving mechanism and a moving mechanism for moving the lower bogie on the left outside, are required, and the structure of the robot becomes extremely complicated.

In a truck, for example, the differential gear case of the drive wheels is usually the lowest, but the robot must be designed to pass through the bottom of such a vehicle, so that the spray nozzle is fixed. There is also a problem that even when using the type or the elevating type, the ascent / descent distance is limited, the washing water does not reach the inside of the chassis of the vehicle where washing is indispensable, and washing remains.

When an ordinary lifting jack is to be mounted on a washing trolley, those having a large lifting stroke have a large overall size and cannot be accommodated in the trolley. Therefore, the pit must be dug deep or the gantry supporting the vehicle must be raised. It is necessary to respond to such equipment. In the case of electric jacks, it is necessary to take thorough insulation measures due to water wetting.In addition, since the electric jack is strong, even if it comes into contact with a part of the vehicle while ascending, it will try to rise as it is. May be damaged.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves such problems in the prior art, and enables the working unit to move to the outside of the lower bogie during a stoppage of travel with a simple configuration, or It is an object of the present invention to realize an automatic cleaning device for a vehicle lower part by a cleaning robot that can be accommodated in a compact size and employs a lifting / lowering mechanism with a large stroke to allow the lower part of the vehicle to travel freely while leaving no residual cleaning in a chassis.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a pair of pedestals provided at positions for supporting wheels of a vehicle, and a position inside the pair of pedestals lower than the surface of the pedestal in a vehicle length direction. In a vehicle lower automatic cleaning device including a running rail installed and a cleaning robot that runs on the running rail and automatically cleans a lower portion of the vehicle, the cleaning robot includes:
A lower bogie that travels along the traveling rail, and a spray unit mounted on the lower bogie and capable of self-propelling in a direction perpendicular to the traveling rail by a traversing mechanism, and the spray unit is located at an upper part. A vehicle lower part automatic washing apparatus characterized by having an elevating mechanism on which a spray nozzle is mounted, preferably, the traversing mechanism is not longer than a width of a lower bogie attached to one end of an upper surface of the lower bogie in a transverse direction. A traversing rail, a slide block movable along the traversing rail within a range of its length, a guide roller mounted in two upper and lower stages on a side of the slide block facing the spray unit, and A guide roller mounted on the side facing the traversing rail in two steps,
One flange is sandwiched between the guide rollers on the side of the slide block, and the other flange is a relay guide not longer than the width of the lower carriage sandwiched between the guide rollers on the side of the spray unit. Consisting of
Either the guide roller is the above-mentioned automatic washing device for a vehicle lower part, which is capable of rolling within the range of the length of the relay guide, or the elevating mechanism is mounted on the underframe of the spray unit. A pair of lower frames attached in a U-shape, a pin connection at the tip thereof, and an X-shaped first intermediate frame pin-connected near the center of the length, a pin connection at the tip, and a length A frame composed of an X-shaped second intermediate frame that is pin-connected near the center of the frame and a pair of U-shaped upper frames that are pin-connected at the upper end, facing the underframe. The above-mentioned automatic washing apparatus for a vehicle lower part is a multi-stage pantograph in which a pair is arranged.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the present invention, first, a spray unit is of a self-propelled type, and its moving range is linearly moved along a traversing rail; By regulating through the relay guide which moves in the shape of a circle, the spray unit can be linearly moved to a position outside the lower bogie with a simple configuration.

Second, the spray unit can be housed compactly and the up-and-down stroke can be increased by using a multi-stage pantograph-type elevating mechanism for the spray nozzle.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a washing place in an example in which a lower portion of a truck T which is a large vehicle is automatically washed by a washing robot, FIG. 2 is a side view, and FIG. 3 is a plan view. 1 is a washing station,
Numeral 11 denotes a pair of racks provided at positions supporting the wheels of the truck T to be washed.
T is a truck stopped on the gantry 11, 2 is a cleaning robot for cleaning the lower surface of the truck T, 12 is a traveling mechanism of the cleaning robot 2, and 121 is a gantry.
11 the traveling rail of the washing robot 2 installed in the direction of the length of the truck T at a position lower than the surface of the inner base 11;
2 is a running motor, 123 is a running wire connecting the running motor 122 and the cleaning robot 2, 124 is an electric cable, 125
Is an electric cable reel, 126 is an air hose, 127 is an air hose reel, 128 is a washing water hose, 129 is a washing water hose reel, and 3 is a central control panel.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the cleaning robot 2, FIG. 5 is a plan view of the same, and FIG. 6 is a front view as seen from the running direction. twenty one
Is a lower truck, 22 is a spray unit, and the washing robot 2 as a floor traveling robot has a traveling wheel 212 and travels on a traveling rail 121 installed in the longitudinal direction of the truck T. Mounted on the lower trolley 21, traversing,
That is, it has a double structure including the spray unit 22 which can run in the width direction of the track T. The lower carriage 21 is self-propelled by remote control from the central control panel 3 similarly to the spray unit 22, and travels by being pulled by a travel wire 123 wound around a travel motor 121.

An electric cable is provided on the lower carriage 21 of the cleaning robot 2 so that the cleaning operation can be performed at any position in the traveling range.
124, an air hose 126, and a washing water hose 128 are connected to each other.
, And wound on a reel for an air hose and a reel for a washing water hose. 211 is the underframe of the lower bogie 21;
212 is a traveling wheel, 213 is a traversing rail provided on the upper surface of the lower bogie 21 at right angles to the traveling direction, and 214 is a traversing rail 21.
3, a slide block that moves along, 216 is a relay guide that engages with the slide block 214 and the spray unit 22 via guide rollers, respectively, 217a and 217b are traverse limit switches that detect the traverse range of the spray unit 22, Reference numeral 222 denotes a traversing wheel of the spray unit 22, of which 222a is a driven wheel having power, 222b is a driven wheel having no power, and 223 is an air motor for driving the driven wheel 222a.

Next, the traversing mechanism of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 7 is a partial perspective view showing a main part of the traversing mechanism of the spray unit 22 mounted on the lower carriage 21. A state in which the spray unit 22 and the traversing mechanism are all stored within the range of the underframe 211 of the lower bogie 21 as shown in FIG. 5 and the lifting mechanism of the spray unit 22 to be described later is folded is referred to as a reference state. In this state, the cleaning robot 2 can freely move in the vehicle length direction of the truck T through the inside of the wheels. In the position without wheels, the spray unit 22 is moved to the underframe 211 by the traversing mechanism described below.
To the outside of the vehicle, and can freely clean portions that cannot be reached from inside the wheels, such as the inside of the chassis.

As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG.
A traversing rail 213 having the full width of the lower bogie 21 is attached to one end of the upper surface of the underframe 211 in the traversing direction, and the slide block 214 moves along the traversing rail within the length of the traversing rail 213. It is possible. Slide block 21
The guide roller 215 is attached to the side facing the spray unit 22 of FIG. 4 in two vertical steps, which sandwiches the flange portion of the relay guide 216 that is the full width of the lower bogie 21 in the horizontal direction from above and below. .

The relay guide 216 has a section H of, for example, an H-section steel.
With two parallel vertical flanges, one flange being sandwiched between the guide rollers 215 on the side of the slide block 214 and the other flange being mounted on the side of the spray unit 22 as described above. Between the guide rollers 224. Either guide roller 215, 2
24 is also rotatable within the length of the relay guide 216.

Slide block 214, guide roller 215
Are designed to stop at the end of the traversing rail 213 or the relay guide 216.
22 can move to a state where the slide block 214 moves to the end of the traversing rail 213 and the relay guide 216 is fully extended. That is, according to the present invention, the spray unit 22 can traverse to the outside of the lower carriage 21 via the relay guide 216.

FIG. 8 is a front view of the spray unit 22 shown in a raised state. Reference numeral 221 denotes a frame of the play unit 22. 225 is a multi-stage pantograph with an underframe
A pair of lower frames 225a attached to the 221 are pin-connected at their ends, and an X-shaped first intermediate frame 225b, which is pin-connected near the center of the length, is pin-connected at its ends, X-shaped second intermediate frame 22 pinned near the center of the frame
5c and a pair of upper frames 22 each having a U-shape connected by pins at the upper end thereof
5d are arranged in a pair on the underframe 221 so as to face each other.

In this embodiment, the number of intermediate frames is two. However, as this number is increased, the stroke becomes larger, as seen in examples of children's toys and magic hands for handling radioactive substances. An air cylinder 226 is used as a drive source for lifting and lowering the pantograph 225.
The distal end is attached to a connection between the first intermediate frame 225b and the second intermediate frame 225c. A spray nozzle 227 is a working device mounted on the upper end of the pantograph 225, and its spray direction can be controlled by an air actuator. 228
Is inserted into the lower part of the spray nozzle 227
It is a waterproof cover that protects the lower mechanism including the 225 from water.

In the present invention, the multi-stage pantograph is used for the spray nozzle raising / lowering mechanism of the spray unit, so that only the pantograph portion can be raised to a height of 6 to 8 times the folded size. Although the height can pass through the lowest part of the vehicle, the entire lower part of the vehicle including the inside of the chassis can be raised to a height that can be washed. In addition, since the air cylinder is used as a driving source for lifting and lowering, the vehicle stops when it comes into contact with a part of the vehicle during the ascent and does not damage the vehicle.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing an example of use of the automatic vehicle lower washing apparatus of the present invention. The truck T is stopped on the gantry 11. The figure shows the vicinity of the rear end. First, the cleaning robot 2 is driven to stop at the rear end of the truck T as shown in FIG. The spray unit 22 is at a position within the underframe in the standard state. The traversing mechanism is driven to start washing from the right end toward the trailing end of the track as shown in FIG. Although not particularly shown, the spray nozzle of the present invention is supported rotatably and swingably like the conventional one,
The spray unit 22 is cleaned while making full use of these.
Is moved to the left, and after cleaning to the left end as shown in (c), the spray unit 22 is returned to the standard state, the traveling mechanism is driven, and the cleaning robot 2 is advanced slightly to the rear wheel portion. Wash from right to left.
(D) shows a state in which the cleaning robot 2 is further advanced and has passed through the rear wheels. Here, the cleaning is performed again from the right end to the left end as shown in (e) and (f). According to the present invention, it is possible to clean the entire width of the vehicle from the rear end to the front end.

FIGS. 10 and 11 show a main routine for automatically operating the automatic vehicle lower washing apparatus of the present invention, and FIGS. 12 to 14 show subroutines therein.

[0023]

According to the present invention, the working unit can be moved to the outside of the lower bogie with a simple structure, can be stored in a compact size, and employs a lifting and lowering mechanism with a large stroke. An automatic cleaning device for the lower part of the vehicle is realized by a cleaning robot that allows the vehicle to run freely and does not generate any residual cleaning in the chassis, and has an excellent effect that the automatic cleaning of the lower part of the vehicle can be effectively performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a cleaning station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a washing place in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a washing place in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing a cleaning robot according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a cleaning robot according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing a cleaning robot according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a main part of a traversing mechanism of the spray unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a front view showing an elevating mechanism of the spray unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing an example of use of the automatic vehicle lower washing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a main routine in automatic operation of the vehicle lower part automatic cleaning device of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a main routine in the automatic operation of the vehicle lower part automatic cleaning device of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a subroutine in the automatic operation of the vehicle lower part automatic cleaning device of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a subroutine in the automatic operation of the vehicle lower part automatic cleaning device of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a subroutine in the automatic operation of the vehicle lower part automatic cleaning device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Washing place 2 Washing robot 3 Central control panel 11 Mount 12 Traveling mechanism 21 Lower bogie 22 Spray unit 111 Slope 121 Traveling rail 122 Traveling motor 123 Traveling wire 124 Electric cable 125 Electric cable reel 126 Air hose 127 Air hose reel 128 Washing water hose 129 Washing water hose reel 211, 221 underframe 212 Running wheel 213 Traverse rail 214 Slide block 215, 224 Guide roller 216 Relay guide 217 Traverse limit switch 222 Traverse wheel 223 Air motor 224 Guide roller 225 Pantograph 226 Air cylinder 227 Spray nozzle 228 Waterproof cover T Truck (vehicle)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A pair of mounts (11) provided at positions supporting wheels of a vehicle (T), and a vehicle (T) located inside the pair of mounts (11) at a position lower than the surface of the mount (11). T) A vehicle bottom automatic washing comprising a traveling rail (121) installed in the vehicle length direction and a cleaning robot (2) traveling on the traveling rail (121) to automatically wash the lower part of the vehicle (T). In the apparatus, the washing robot (2) has a lower bogie (21) which runs by itself along the traveling rail (121), and the lower bogie (21).
And a spray unit (22) which can be self-propelled in a direction perpendicular to the traveling rail (121) by a traversing mechanism. The spray unit (22) has a spray nozzle (227) mounted on the upper part. An automatic cleaning device for a vehicle lower part, comprising an elevating mechanism disposed. 2. A traverse rail (213) having a traversing mechanism that is not longer than the width of a lower trolley (12) attached to one end of the upper surface of the lower trolley (21) in a traversing direction, and the traverse rail (213).
A slide block (214) movable within the range of the length of the slide block (214), and guide rollers (215) mounted in two upper and lower stages on the side of the slide block (214) facing the spray unit (22). The upper and lower sides of the spray unit (22) face the side facing the traversing rail (213).
It has a guide roller (224) mounted on a step and two parallel vertical flanges, one of which is a guide roller (215) on the side of the slide block (214).
), And the other flange is composed of a relay guide (216) not longer than the width of the lower carriage sandwiched between guide rollers (224) on the side of the spray unit (22). 2. The automatic cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second and third relays are rotatable within the length of the relay guide. 3. An elevating mechanism is connected to a pair of lower frames (225a) attached to the underframe (221) of the spray unit (22) in an inverted C-shape with pins at the ends thereof, and is connected to the center of the length. An X-shaped first intermediate frame (225b) pinned in the vicinity,
An X-shaped second intermediate frame (225c) that is pin-connected at its tip and pinned near the center of its length, and a pair of upper frames (225d) that are pin-connected at its upper end. 3. A vehicle lower part automatic washing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said frame is a multi-stage pantograph (225) comprising a pair of frames arranged opposite to each other on said underframe (221). .