JP2004183208A - Glass surface cleaning system of road surface or reflecting mirror - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a glass cleaning system capable of easily cleaning a road surface light or a road surface reflector. <P>SOLUTION: A compressed air source unit 12, a sodium bicarbonate powder tank 18 as a grinding material, an ejector 19 for absorbedly and mixing the grinding material with high pressure air and a working robot 25 mounting a blast nozzle 20 on the hose end led from the ejector on the front end of a manipulator 26 are mounted on a vehicle 10. Equipments from the compressed air source unit down to the working robot remain to be loaded on the vehicle, the working robot 25 is operated by a remote control, and after the blast nozzle 20 is approached to the road surface light or the road surface reflector 30 or while approaching the blast nozzle thereto, the road surface light or the glass surface of the reflector 30 is cleaned by blasting the grinding material. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a glass surface cleaning system in which a blasting material is blasted and cleaned on a road lamp or a reflector.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Road lights or reflectors that are embedded or installed at intervals in vehicle roads, taxiways, separation strips, etc. are not only dirt from rainwater and dust, but also exhaust gas and tires generated by running, stopping and starting vehicles. The predetermined function cannot be exhibited due to the adhesion of the wear debris and the contamination such as the burn-in of the caulking material for waterproofing the road lamp installation portion. Dirt due to rainwater and dust can be easily removed, but it is not easy to completely remove tire chips and caulking material that adhered to glass spots (evaporation) in small spots on road and other glass surfaces. Absent.
[0003]
Sand blasting used for rusting, polishing and the like is performed on the surfaces of parts and products in a painting / plating factory or the like, but soft blasting is performed when an object is easily damaged. As a blast material (polishing material) of a soft blast system, either baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) or dry ice (carbon dioxide) is used depending on the object and the purpose (for example, Non-Patent Documents) 1). Baking soda is used in pharmaceuticals and food additives and is harmless even when blasted. In addition, dry ice, which is obtained by collecting and purifying carbon dioxide discharged from a factory, is used, is nonflammable (digestible), and is harmless in practical use.
[0004]
[Non-patent document 1]
Industrial Machinery August 2001 Issue, New Technology Topics, "Low-Pollution Baking Soda Blasting Equipment" (Pages 60 to 62)
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, conventionally, dirt on the street lamps or reflectors has been cleaned manually, so that not only efficiency cannot be improved but also it is dangerous to clean the street lights while the vehicle is running. Yes, blocking traffic in the work area for a long time may lead to traffic congestion. No suitable system has yet been developed for cleaning such road lights or reflectors by applying soft blast.
The present invention provides a glass in which a work robot is mounted on a vehicle, and a blast nozzle at the tip of the manipulator is approached and soft-blasted while detecting a position, thereby easily and quickly cleaning a road lamp or a reflector. It is intended to provide a surface cleaning system.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, a glass surface cleaning system for a road lamp or a reflector according to the present invention includes a compressed air source unit, an abrasive powder tank, an ejector for suction-mixing the abrasive with high-pressure air, and an ejector. A work robot having a blast nozzle at the end of a hose and a CCD camera attached to the tip of a manipulator mounted on a vehicle, and a road light intended for a vehicle equipped with equipment from the compressed air source unit to the work robot. Or stop at the work position near the road reflector, operate the work robot by remote control, approach the blast nozzle at the tip of the manipulator while detecting the position by performing image recognition and shape recognition by the CCD camera. It is characterized by spraying abrasive. In addition, the light source lamp and an ID tag that records a history of cleaning work are incorporated in the housing of the road lamp so that maintenance of the road lamp can be performed.
[0007]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 is a side view of an apparatus implementing the glass cleaning system of the present invention.
The cleaning system of the present invention includes a generator (not shown), a compressed air source unit 12, a baking soda powder tank 18 as a cleaning material, and a cleaning material on a carrier 11 of a vehicle 10 such as a wagon or a one-box car. An ejector 19 for suction-mixing with high-pressure air and a working robot 25 on which a gantry 21 with wheels 22 is installed are mounted. An end of the hose 15 led from the ejector 19 is connected to a blast nozzle 20 attached to a tip of a manipulator 26 of a working robot 25, and a position detecting CCD camera 31 is provided near the blast nozzle 20.
While the vehicle 10 is moving or on standby, the work robot 25 is retracted to the middle of the loading platform 11 to close the rear door 28, the rear door 28 is opened at the start of the blasting operation, and the gantry 21 is manually or cylinder driven. As shown by the chain line in FIG.
[0008]
The work robot 25 is a six-axis articulated robot, but is not limited to the illustrated example. In order to perform the blast cleaning, each device from the compressed air source unit 12 to the work robot 25 is mounted on the vehicle 10, moved to the vicinity of the road lamp or the reflector 30, temporarily stopped, the rear door 28 was opened, and the gantry 21 was opened. Is moved near the trailing edge of the carrier 11 as shown by the chain line in FIG. Next, the working robot 25 is operated by teaching or remote control to approach the road lamp or the road reflector (or the object to be cleaned) 30, and the image, shape recognition, and position detection by the CCD camera 31 are performed. After the blast nozzle 20 is brought closer to the object 30 (about 10 cm), the abrasive (baking soda powder) is blasted (for example, at a pressure of about 0.3 Mpa to 0.5 Mpa for 3 to 10 seconds / 1). To clean the glass surface of the object 30 to be cleaned. During this time, the remote control terminal 24 can be operated by one person, and even if a large number of road lamps or reflectors are arranged, it can be moved in a short time and cleaned sequentially. In addition to the blasting while checking the illuminance of the road lamp at the same time as the position detection, an ID tag (not shown) may be built in the lamp housing so that the history of the light source lamp can be managed.
When cleaning of the multiple objects 30 is completed, the gantry 21 on which the robot is placed is pulled into the loading platform 11, and the rear door 28 is closed to prepare for movement.
[0009]
FIG. 2 is a layout diagram of the abrasive cleaning circuit in the system of the present invention.
The air source unit 12 includes a compressor 13 and a dryer 14. The hose 15 led out of the dryer 14 is connected to a blast nozzle 20 via a filter tank 16, a blow tank 17 and an ejector 19. A pressure reducing valve R, a pressure detector P1, and a side temperature resistor T1 are provided in a pipeline between the filter tank 16 and the blow tank 17. The blow tank 17 includes a thermometer T3, a hygrometer 19, and a combined pressure gauge P2, and has a discharge valve DV mounted on an upper portion of the tank. Further, the ejector 19 sucks from the tank 18 of the abrasive material such as baking soda powder and sends it to the blast nozzle 20 by pressure.
[0010]
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the blast target position detecting device.
The visual information by the CCD camera 31 of the object (road lamp, reflector) 30 is input to the A / D converter 32, and the spatial information is calculated by the computer 35 via the image memory 33 and the visual calculation processor 34. The robot 25 and the manipulator 26 at the tip are moved to a position close to an object (road lamp, reflector) 30.
[0011]
As important elements of this system, the particle size of the blast material, the mixing ratio of the blasting agent and air, and the spray pressure greatly affect the cleaning (separation and removal of deposits) effect. The present inventor has manufactured prototypes of this system, and conducted verification tests on various objects (including aeronautical lights) to collect these valuable data.
The soft blast system of the present invention is composed of the above-described main equipment. As a result of an experiment on the effects of removing foreign substances adhering to the lamp and cleaning, the blast material (baking soda or Important data were collected on the particle size of dry ice), the mixing ratio of blast material and air, and the spray pressure. A blast material (baking soda or dry ice) is mixed with air from an air compressor, and is sprayed on an object with a pressure of about 0.3 Mpa to 0.5 Mpa to peel off and remove attached matter on the surface. .
[0012]
The soft blast system of the present invention is a system that can be highly evaluated in all items, as shown below, based on the above-mentioned demonstration experiments and based on the above-mentioned demonstration experiments, and is used for preventive maintenance of lighting equipment. As a result, it is possible to efficiently and effectively respond to the purpose, and to reduce the severe labor of the workers, particularly in nighttime work. Moreover, with the blasting equipment and the work robot mounted on the vehicle, the work robot is operated by remote control to bring the blast nozzle close to the target object, such as a road light or a road reflector, and blast the abrasive. Since the glass surface of the road lamp or the reflector is cleaned, the object is not damaged and the environmental load is not increased. Also, since the injection pressure is low, energy saving is high. The object can be cleaned safely and easily.
[0013]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, the present invention operates the work robot by remote control while the equipment from the compressed air source unit to the work robot is mounted on the vehicle, and blasts the road light or the road reflector as the target object. Since the blasting material is blasted to clean the glass surface of the road lamp or the reflector after or while approaching the nozzle, the object is not damaged and the environmental load is not increased. Also, since the injection pressure is low, energy saving is high. The object can be cleaned safely and easily.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a side view of the glass cleaning system of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a layout diagram of a blow path in the system of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a blast target position detecting device in the system of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 vehicle 11 carrier 12 air source unit 13 compressor 14 dryer 15 hose 16 filter tank 17 blow tank 18 abrasive material tank 19 ejector 20 blast nozzle 21 gantry 22 wheels 23 robot controller 24 remote control terminal 25 work robot 26 manipulator 27 bracket 28 rear door 30 Objects (road lights, reflectors)
31 CCD Camera 32 A / D Converter 33 Image Memory 34 Visual Operation Processor 35 Computer

Claims (2)

A compressed air source unit, an abrasive powder tank, an ejector that sucks and mixes the abrasive with high-pressure air, and a working robot with a blast nozzle at the end of the hose led from the ejector and a CCD camera attached to the tip of the manipulator Mounted on the vehicle,
Stop near a road lamp or a reflector intended for vehicles equipped with equipment from the compressed air source unit to the work robot, operate the work robot by remote control, and recognize images and shapes by the CCD camera. A blast nozzle at the tip of the manipulator is brought close to a road lamp or a reflector while spraying an abrasive material while detecting the position of the target object. The glass surface cleaning system according to claim 1, wherein a maintenance management of the road lamp can be performed by incorporating a light source lamp and an ID tag recording a history of cleaning work in a housing of the road lamp.

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