JP2002316623A - Car washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress the change of a washing effect due to the change of air temperature, always obtain a good washing effect, and ensuring sufficient flexibility even in extremely low temperature, so as to contribute to prevention of damage in a painting surface of a car body and to improvement of durability of a washing unit itself, in the washing unit of a car washing machine. SOLUTION: This car washing machine brings a washing unit 3 provided in the external periphery of a rotary unit 2 into contact with a surface of a car body so as to wash this car body surface, the washing unit 3 is composed of ethylene-ethyl acrylate resin.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a car washer in which a cleaning body provided on the outer periphery of a rotating body is brought into contact with the surface of a vehicle body to clean the surface of the vehicle body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional car washing machine, a foaming body made of ethylene-vinyl acetate resin (hereinafter, simply referred to as EVA) is used as a constituent material of the washing body.
For example, it is conventionally known as described in PCT WO 98/39992, in which the cleaning body is made of an EVA foam having countless closed cells, and water does not penetrate into the cleaning body. Therefore, there are advantages such as hardly freezing even in a cold region and a small weight change due to water content.

[0003]

The above-mentioned EVA
The cleaning body consisting of has flexibility compared to general synthetic resin, but this characteristic is easily affected by temperature changes,
For example, there is a large gap in flexibility between a high temperature around 25 ° C. and a low temperature around 0 ° C. For this reason, if the waist is suitable for washing at low temperatures, the washing body becomes too flexible at high temperatures, and the waist strength required for washing cannot be obtained, and the washing effect is reduced. However, if the waist is suitable for washing at high temperatures, the washing body becomes too hard at low temperatures, which causes another problem that the painted surface of the vehicle body is damaged or the durability of the washing body itself is reduced.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a car washer capable of solving the above problem.

[0005]

To achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a cleaning body provided on an outer periphery of a rotating body is brought into contact with a vehicle body surface to clean the vehicle body surface. In the car washer, the washing body is made of an ethylene-ethyl acrylate resin. According to this feature, the washing body is made of an ethylene-ethyl acrylate resin (hereinafter, simply referred to as EEA), so that the temperature change can be prevented. Changes in flexibility, and thus the effect of cleaning, can be reduced.Also, sufficient flexibility can be ensured even at extremely low temperatures. It is possible to prevent a decrease in durability of the cleaning body.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the feature of the first aspect, the cleaning body is a foam having a myriad of closed cells.
Not only is the weight of the cleaning body reduced, but water does not seep into the cleaning body, which is effective in preventing freezing, and the weight change due to water content is reduced. That is, there is an advantage similar to that of the cleaning body made of the EVA foam.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below based on embodiments of the present invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the accompanying drawings, FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a car washer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a side brush (an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line 2-2 in FIG. 1), and FIG. 3 is
FIG. 4 is a developed view showing the vicinity of the outer periphery of the rotary shaft of the side brush (a sectional view taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 2). FIG. FIG. 6 is a perspective view for explaining a process of slicing and manufacturing a sheet-like cleaning body from a synthetic resin molding block, and FIG. 7 is a view when each brush bristle comes into contact with a vehicle body surface. (A) shows an example of the present invention, (b) shows a reference example, and FIG. 8 shows the relationship between temperature and flexibility of the EEA molded body. , A graph shown in comparison with that of an EVA molded body.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, a traveling frame 1 of a car washer is formed in a gate shape so that an automobile V as a vehicle to be washed can pass through in the front-rear direction. It is configured to be able to travel back and forth in the direction. The traveling frame 1 is provided with, for example, a pair of left and right side brushes Bs for cleaning the side surface of the vehicle body and a top brush Bt for cleaning the upper surface of the vehicle body as rotating brushes for cleaning the vehicle body surface of the automobile V.

Referring also to FIGS. 2 to 4, each side brush Bs includes a cylindrical pipe-shaped rotating shaft 2 as a rotating body.
And a large number of sheet-like cleaning bodies 3 to which a base end 3a is attached to the outer periphery of the rotating shaft 2 substantially along the rotation axis L. Each sheet-like cleaning body 3 is formed in a rectangular shape in the unfolded state, and a substantially central portion in the longitudinal direction of the cleaning body 3 is the base end 3a.

In the use state of each sheet-shaped cleaning body 3, the base end 3a is bent in a substantially U-shaped cross section. The valley-shaped bottom portion of the base end portion 3a has a bottom surface in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the rotary shaft 2 and is detachably fixed to the rotary shaft 2 with a plurality of screws b together with a pressing plate 10 that is superposed on the surface side. Is done. Thereby, both ends 3b of the sheet-like cleaning body 3 in the longitudinal direction continuous with both sides of the base end 3a,
3b are free ends of the cleaning body 3 and extend substantially in the radial direction of the rotating shaft 2. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 3h denotes a hole through which the screw b is inserted.

As is clear from FIG. 4, the longitudinal end portions 3b of each sheet-shaped cleaning body 3 are formed by a large number of strip-shaped elements arranged in parallel with each other by a large number of slits s perpendicular to the both end edges. These elements constitute a large number of brush bristles 4 having a rectangular cross section. still,
In the illustrated example, both ends 3b, 3b in the longitudinal direction of the cleaning bodies 3, 3 are shown.
Effective length of brush bristles 4 at b (B1, B2 in FIG. 4)
Are set differently, but in the present invention, the effective lengths B1 and B2 may be set the same.

In this embodiment, as is apparent from FIG. 3, a plurality of sheet-like cleaning bodies 3 are arranged such that their base ends 3a are arranged in tandem on the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft 2. The cleaning body row 3-3-3 includes a straight line L inclined at a predetermined angle θ (about 5 ° in the illustrated example) with respect to the rotation axis L when viewed from the side of the rotation axis 2. ′. Moreover, such cleaning body rows 3-3-3 are arranged in parallel on the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft 2 so as to be adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction. Thereby, the base ends 3a, 3a of the cleaning bodies 3, 3 adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction of the rotating shaft 2 abut against each other at their roots so as to abut each other.
, The free ends of the brush bristles 4 are directed in the radial direction of the rotating shaft 2.

Each sheet-like cleaning body 3 is made of an EEA foam. This EEA is a copolymer of ethylene-ethyl acrylate, is a flexible thermoplastic resin, and has the property that it can be foam-molded so that countless closed cells are formed therein.

As shown in FIG. 6, each sheet-like cleaning body 3 is formed into a rectangular parallelepiped molding block B from the EEA foam as shown in FIG. 6, and then the resin block B is thinned (for example, about 4 mm). 2) Slicing is performed so that a large number of sheet-like cleaning bodies 3 can be mass-produced, whereby a large number of sheet-like cleaning bodies 3 can be easily and inexpensively manufactured. The processing of the slits s for forming the brush bristles 4 may be performed on the molded block B before slicing the sheet-like cleaning body 3 or may be performed on each of the sheet-like cleaning bodies 3 after slicing. You may go to.

The brush bristles 4 formed at the free ends (ie, both ends 3b, 3b in the longitudinal direction) of each cleaning body 3 are formed on the slice surface of the molding block B, and are formed at the free ends. A pair of flat first side surfaces 4s, 4s extending along the edge
And a pair of second side surfaces 4s ', 4s' orthogonal to the side surfaces 4s, 4s and facing the slit s, are formed in a rectangular cross section. The side surfaces 4s and 4s are provided with the cleaning body row 3 as described above.
Along with the inclined arrangement 3-3 with respect to the rotation axis L, the brush bristles 4 are inclined by a predetermined angle θ with respect to the rotation axis L as viewed from the tip end side.

The rotating shaft 2 is linked to a brush driving means (not shown) provided on the traveling frame 1 and the operation of the brush driving means is controlled by a control means (not shown) so that the rotating shaft 2, and The rotation of the side brush Bs, which is a combination of the rotating shaft 2 and each sheet-like cleaning body 3, is controlled.

The structure of the top brush Bt is basically the same as the structure of the side brush Bs, and a description thereof will be omitted.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.

At the time of car washing, the vehicle V to be washed is stopped at a predetermined position, and the running frame 1 is run to wash the vehicle body. In this case, each of the side brushes Bs and the top brush Bt is rotationally driven by a rotation driving unit (not shown), and moves along the side surface and the upper surface of the vehicle body to brush and wash the side surface and the upper surface of the vehicle body.

As the sheet-like cleaning body 3 of each of the side brush Bs and the top brush Bt, an EEA foam having a myriad of small closed cells is selected, so that the cleaning body 3 can be made lightweight and flexible. Not only is it possible to prevent water from seeping into the inside of the washing body 3, so that it is effective in preventing freezing in extremely cold conditions, and has the advantages that the weight change due to water content is small.

Further, since the rectangular parallelepiped EEA block B is sliced as shown in FIG. 6 to form the sheet-like cleaning bodies 3..., The manufacturing process of the sheet-like cleaning bodies 3 is simplified and the cost is reduced. It is planned.

In addition, the first flat side surface 4 of each bristle 4 formed on the slice surface of the synthetic resin block B
The base end 3a of the sheet-like cleaning body 3 is attached to the outer periphery of the rotating shaft 2 so that s is inclined with respect to the rotating axis L of the rotating shaft 2 when viewed from the distal end side of each of the brush bristles 4. (A) of FIG. 7 when the brush bristles 4 of FIG.
As shown in (iii), the flat first side surface 4s of each brush bristle 4 gradually comes into contact with the vehicle body surface.
Even if the first side surface 4s is a rough surface having a myriad of small irregularities due to the slice surface of the synthetic resin block B (see the partially enlarged view of FIG. 5), each concave portion of the rough surface The existing air is easily discharged when the first side surface 4s comes into contact with the vehicle body surface. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the generation of noise due to being compressed and discharged because the air in each of the recesses is not easily discharged, and it is possible to improve the buffering action of the recess because the air is easily discharged. Thereby, the contact noise can be reduced, which can contribute to a reduction in the driving noise of the car washer.

FIG. 8 shows a state near room temperature (20 to 25 °).
EEA molded article and EV having almost the same flexibility in C)
5 is a graph showing a relationship characteristic between temperature and flexibility (stiffness modulus) of a molded article A. As is clear from this graph, the degree of the increase in the stiffness modulus (i.e., the hardening) of the EEA molded body and the EVA molded body, whose flexibility at room temperature hardly changes, becomes lower as the temperature becomes lower in the temperature range below room temperature. It can be understood that the degree of increase (ie, hardening) of the former stiffness modulus is relatively small, whereas Therefore, by using EEA as a constituent material of the cleaning body 3 as shown in the illustrated example, a change in flexibility due to a change in air temperature, and consequently, a change in cleaning effect can be minimized. Even in such a case, sufficient flexibility can be ensured, so that damage to the painted surface of the vehicle body and reduction in durability of the cleaning body due to the hardness of the cleaning body 3 can be effectively suppressed.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various small design changes can be made.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, a mobile car washer for stopping the automobile V and running the frame 1 to wash the vehicle body has been described. However, the present invention fixes the frame 1 to an installation surface and mounts the automobile. The present invention may be applied to a car washer that cleans a vehicle body while being moved by a conveyor or the like.

In the above-described embodiment, the cleaning body 3 is formed in a sheet shape and is arranged radially of the rotating shaft 2. However, in the present invention, the cleaning body does not necessarily have to be formed in a sheet shape. The manner of attachment to the rotating shaft is not limited to the embodiment.

[0028]

According to the present invention, since the cleaning body is made of an ethylene-ethyl acrylate resin, a change in the cleaning effect due to a change in air temperature can be reduced, and a good cleaning effect can always be obtained. However, sufficient flexibility can be ensured, which can contribute to preventing damage to the painted surface of the vehicle body and improving the durability of the cleaning body itself.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the cleaning body is a foam having countless closed cells, and water does not permeate into the cleaning body, which is effective in preventing freezing of the cleaning body. Yes, and the weight change due to water content can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a car washer according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the side brush (an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line 2-2 in FIG. 1).

FIG. 3 is a developed view showing the vicinity of the outer peripheral portion of the rotation shaft of the side brush (a sectional view taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 2);

FIG. 4 is an exploded view showing a state before the sheet-like cleaning body is attached to the rotating shaft.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view for explaining a process of slicing and manufacturing a sheet-like cleaning body from a synthetic resin molding block.

FIG. 7 is a view schematically showing a state when each brush bristle contacts a vehicle body surface, where (a) shows an embodiment of the present invention,
(B) shows a reference example.

FIG. 8 shows the relationship between the temperature and the flexibility of the EEA molded body.
Graph showing a comparison with that of an EVA molded body

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 ··· Rotating shaft (rotating body) 3 ··· Cleaning body Bb · · · Side brush Bt · · · Top brush V · · · · Automobile (vehicle)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A car washer in which a cleaning body provided on an outer periphery of a rotating body is brought into contact with a vehicle body surface to wash the vehicle body surface, wherein the cleaning body is made of ethylene-ethyl acrylate resin. And the car washer. 2. The car washer according to claim 1, wherein the washing body is a foam having countless closed cells.