JP2006130984A - Car washer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a car washer capable of preventing an upper surface washing brush from contacting with a vehicle body too much with a comparatively simple structure, without upsizing a car washer main body. <P>SOLUTION: The car washer comprises a fore-and-aft holding means 16 holding a brush 3 so as to rock in a fore-and-aft direction in a predetermined range, an vertical holding means 15 holding the brush 3 so as to rock in a vertical direction in a predetermined range, a fore-and-aft movement detecting means 33, 34 detecting that the brush 3 is contacted with a vehicle body and displaced forward or backward by predetermined amount, a vertical movement detecting means 28, 29 detecting that the brush 3 is contacted with the vehicle body and displaced upward or downward by predetermined amount, and a controlling means 35 controlling a brush lifting device 14 so as to hoist or lower the brush 3 when each detecting means detects the displacement of the brush. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a car wash machine provided with an upper surface washing brush that vertically moves up and down in a car wash machine body and mainly brushes the upper surface of an automobile.

  Japanese Patent No. 2668339 (referred to as Conventional Example 1) is known as a car wash machine that vertically lifts an upper surface cleaning brush that mainly brushes the upper surface of an automobile along the shape of the upper surface of a vehicle body. In this car wash machine, a torque motor is employed as a motor for raising and lowering the brush, and the raising and lowering of the brush is controlled based on the rotational resistance detected by the torque motor. In addition, to prevent the brush from over-contacting the vehicle body due to sudden changes in the car shape, the brush lifting rail is provided to swing within the specified range in the front-rear direction (running direction of the car wash machine body) The brush is raised or lowered according to the amount.

Japanese Patent No. 2777750 (referred to as Conventional Example 2) discloses a car wash machine that includes a vehicle height sensor that detects the upper surface position of a car to be cleaned and vertically moves a brush along the vehicle body upper surface position detected by the vehicle height sensor. Are listed. The car wash machine includes a swing arm that swings the brush upward from the height position of the brush controlled by the vehicle height sensor, and the swing angle of the swing arm that is displaced when the brush over-contacts the vehicle body. The brush is raised or lowered according to the above.
To be acceptable.

  Further, a car wash machine that continuously detects the rotational reaction force of the rotating brush and controls the raising and lowering of the brush in accordance with the rotational reaction force is also described in Japanese Patent No. 2767530 (conventional example 3).

By the way, in the structure of the prior art example 1, since it is necessary to ensure the space which can rock | fluctuate a raising / lowering rail in a car wash machine main body, there existed a problem that a main body enlarged. Further, in the configuration of Conventional Example 2, if the car body to be washed has equipment such as a custom mirror or a rear mirror, the rotating brush only receives a slight surface pressure due to contact with this equipment. The moving arm was not displaced, the overcontact state could not be detected, and the equipment could be damaged. Furthermore, in the configuration of Conventional Example 3, since the rotational reaction force of the brush is detected by the pressing pressure against the load cell, it is possible to accurately determine the degree of contact when the weight of the brush changes due to moisture or deterioration. There was a problem of disappearing.
Patent No. 2,668,339 Patent No. 2,777,750 Patent No. 2,677,530

  Therefore, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to propose a car wash machine that can prevent the upper surface washing brush from coming into contact with the vehicle body with a relatively simple structure without increasing the size of the car wash machine body. is there.

  In order to solve such problems, the present invention mainly provides a top cleaning brush for brushing the top surface of an automobile, brush lifting means for lifting the brush in the vertical direction of the car wash body, and a traveling position of the car wash machine main body. A vehicle position detecting means for detecting the position of the upper surface of the vehicle, and a vehicle body detecting means for detecting the position of the upper surface of the vehicle. And a front and rear holding means for holding the brush so that it can swing back and forth within a predetermined range, and a brush swinging up and down within the predetermined range. Up and down holding means for holding the movable body, forward / backward movement detecting means for detecting that the brush has moved a predetermined amount before or after contact with the vehicle body, and Those with a vertical movement detecting means for detecting that a predetermined amount displaced, and a control means for raising or lowering the brushes is controlled with detecting the displacement of the brushes the brush lifting device in the detection means.

  According to the car wash machine of the present invention, even if the number of sensors of the vehicle body detection device is reduced, overcontact with the vehicle body can be detected instantaneously and avoided. Also, without depending on the mechanical displacement entirely, the elevation control is performed by the vehicle body detection device, and the brush is swung up and down and / or back and forth within a predetermined range to compensate for the detection accuracy (resolution) of the sensor. Since the movement is detected by enabling it, a space-saving and inexpensive apparatus can be provided without being affected by a change in the weight of the brush.

  As a car wash processing apparatus, a gate type car wash machine as shown in the following embodiment, which is mainly provided with an upper face washing brush for brushing the upper face of the vehicle body, is the best mode.

Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory front view of the first embodiment, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory plan view of the same.
The car wash machine main body 1 travels back and forth on the pair of left and right rails 2 and 2 and moves so as to straddle the automobile stopped between the rails 2 and 2. Reference numerals 3, 4, and 4 denote rotating brushes as a car wash processing device provided in the car wash machine body 1. A pair of left and right side brushes that open and close to clean the side and front and back surfaces of the vehicle body. Blower nozzles 5, 6, and 6 are provided in the car wash machine body 1 as car wash processing devices for drying the vehicle body after washing, 5 is an upper blower nozzle that moves up and down along the vehicle body surface, and 6 and 6 are along the vehicle body surface. It is a pair of left and right side blower nozzles that move up and down. 7 is a vehicle body detecting device that is arranged on the front side of the car wash machine body 1 to detect the presence of the car body, 8 is an encoder that outputs a pulse every time the car wash machine body 1 travels a unit distance, and 9 runs through the body 1. It is a motor to be made.

  The vehicle body detection device 7 includes a light emitting unit 7A in which light emitting elements are arranged at predetermined pitches (110 mm in this case) from the predetermined height position in front of the inner surface of the car wash machine body 1, and the light emitting elements of the light emitting unit 7A. (In this case, 15 pairs) and a light receiving portion 7B in which light receiving elements are arranged, and detects the presence or absence of the vehicle body by detecting that the optical axis between the beam sensors is blocked by the vehicle body. The vehicle height position is taken in at every pulse output by the encoder 8 and is stored together with the travel position of the car wash machine body 1 to be used as vehicle shape data for controlling each of the car wash processing devices.

3 to 5 are explanatory views showing the structure of the upper surface cleaning brush 3.
The upper surface cleaning brush 3 vertically elevates on elevating rails 12L and 12R suspended in the main body 1 by carriers 13L and 13R attached to both ends of the rotary shaft 10, and elevates and elevates the carriers 13L and 13R. 14, a vertical holding device 15 that holds the rotary shaft 10 so as to be swingable in a vertical direction within a predetermined range, and a front-rear holding device 16 that holds the rotary shaft 10 so as to be swingable in a front-rear direction within a predetermined range. In addition, any one of the carriers (here, the carrier 13R) is provided with a brush motor 17 that rotates the rotating shaft 10 forward and backward.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the elevating device 14 connects the chain 18 that connects the upper end and the lower end of the carrier 13 endlessly, the sprockets 19U and 19L around which the chain 18 is suspended, and the left and right upper sprockets 19U. The rotating shaft 20, the encoder 21 that outputs a pulse every time the rotating shaft 20 rotates a predetermined amount, and the lifting motor 22 linked to one lower sprocket 19L. With this configuration, when the elevating motor 22 is driven, the left and right carriers 13L and 13R are driven up and down synchronously, and the upper surface cleaning brush 3 between the carriers moves up and down in a horizontal state. Reference numerals 23 and 24 are limit switches provided at the upper and lower portions of the elevating rail 12, and are used to control the elevating and lowering of the carrier 13 by switching by contact of the carrier 13 to give the ascent and descent limits.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the vertical holding mechanism 15 includes a movable bar 25 that vertically penetrates the carrier 13, an upper spring 26 that is attached between the upper end of the movable bar 25 that penetrates the carrier 13, and the upper surface of the carrier 13. The lower spring 27 is attached between the lower end of the bar 25 and the lower surface of the carrier 13. A chain 18 of the elevating device 14 is connected to the upper and lower ends of the movable bar 25, and the carrier 13 of the upper surface cleaning brush 3 is substantially biased by the upper and lower springs 26 and 27 around the movable bar 25. It has become a balanced form in the state that was done. Thus, when the upper surface cleaning brush 3 comes into contact with the vehicle body, the brush is allowed to move up and down only within the movable range of the springs 26 and 27, and the pressing pressure is absorbed. Reference numerals 28 and 29 are limit switches provided at the upper and lower portions of the movable rod 25, and are used to control the elevation of the carrier 13 by detecting the limit points of the upper displacement and the lower displacement by switching with the contact of the carrier 13.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the front / rear holding mechanism 16 is a pair of front and rear pulley bodies 30 and 30 provided so as to sandwich the lifting rail 12 from the inner surface of the carrier 13, and extends from the pulley bodies 30 and 30 to the carrier inner surface. Support rods 31 and 31 that pass through the side surfaces to form free ends, and springs 32 and 32 that are wound around the support rods 31 and 31 and are attached between the pulley bodies 30 and 30 and the carrier inner surface. Has been. Thus, when the upper surface cleaning brush 3 comes into contact with the vehicle body, the brush is allowed to move back and forth within the movable range of the springs 32 and 32, and the pressing pressure is absorbed. Reference numerals 33 and 34 are limit switches provided on the inner surface of the carrier, and are used to control the elevation of the carrier 13 by detecting the limit points of the front displacement and the rear displacement by switching by contact of the pulley bodies 30 and 30.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating the control system of the embodiment.
Reference numeral 35 denotes a control board built in the car wash machine body 1. The vehicle body detection device 7, the encoder 8 that is a drive system of the car wash machine body 1, the main body travel motor 9, and the lifting devices 14 and 14 that are drive systems of the upper surface cleaning brush 3. The upper and lower holding mechanisms 15, the front and rear holding mechanisms 16, the brush motor 17, and other side washing brushes 4 and 4 as the car wash processing device, the upper blower nozzle 5, and the side blower nozzles 6 and 6 are connected to the front of the car wash machine body 1. Based on the car wash request signal from the operation panel 36 provided, the car wash is executed while monitoring each connected element. That is, based on the information on the position, shape, equipment, etc. of the vehicle obtained from the vehicle body detection device 7 and the encoder 8, the car wash processing device such as a brush, blower nozzle, etc. is operated to wash the car according to the position, shape, equipment, etc. of the vehicle. Do.

Subsequently, the operation at the time of car washing in the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
After entering the vehicle at a predetermined stop position and making the desired car wash setting on the operation panel 36, the car wash is executed when a car wash start command is input. When one round-trip car wash is selected as the car wash course, first, the vehicle shape is detected by the vehicle body detection device 7 and the encoder 8 in accordance with the outward movement of the car wash machine body 1, and the vehicle is followed by the detected shape. The brushes 3, 4, 4 are driven along the vehicle body to brush the vehicle surface while applying the shampoo agent. Subsequently, the vehicle body is blown by blowing air to the vehicle body from the blower nozzles 5, 6 and 6 in accordance with the return of the car wash machine body 1. In addition to this one-way car wash, the car wash machine can be made to perform two-way and three-way car-washing operations according to various needs.

  The control board 35 stores the position of the upper surface of the automobile taken from the vehicle body detection device 7 using the pulse signal of the encoder 8 output every time the car wash machine body 1 travels a unit distance as a trigger, and matches the travel position of the vehicle body 1 with the vehicle. Shape data is created, a lifting target position of the upper surface cleaning brush 3 is set based on the vehicle shape data, and the lifting device 14 is controlled so that the upper surface cleaning brush 3 is aligned with that position. As shown in FIG. 7, the accuracy of the vehicle body detection is determined according to the arrangement pitch of the beam sensors of the vehicle body detection device 7, and is detected when the beam sensors are arranged at intervals of 110 mm as in the car wash machine of this embodiment. An error of 109 mm at maximum occurs between the vehicle shape data L and the actual vehicle body upper surface contour L ′. Therefore, the pressing pressure of the upper surface cleaning brush 3 against the vehicle body changes greatly from part to part, and the part that causes the maximum error becomes overcontact and affects the body and the brush. Therefore, when the upper surface cleaning brush 3 is made to follow the lift target position S set from the vehicle shape data L, if the upper and lower holding mechanism 15 and the front and rear holding mechanism 16 detect over-contact with the vehicle body, the control board 35 performs the upper surface cleaning. Control is performed so as to avoid the brush 3.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 8, when brushing the rising slope from the hood B to the roof R of the automobile, when the brush 3 is aligned with the lift target position (solid line position), the brush 3 is moved upwardly by + yt due to contact with the vehicle body. Then, the reaction force in the backward direction -xt works, and the brush 3 is displaced (dotted line position). When the limit switch 28 of the up / down holding mechanism 15 and the limit switch 33 of the front / rear holding mechanism 16 are turned on due to the reaction force, it is determined that the contact is over-contacted and the lifting motor 22 of the lifting device 14 is driven to turn off each limit switch. The brush 3 is raised until it is (one-dot chain line position). Then, this one-dot chain line position is rewritten and stored as the data up to that time as an appropriate lifting position of the brush 3.

  Similarly, when either the limit switch of the vertical holding mechanism 15 or the limit switch of the front / rear holding mechanism 16 is turned ON, the lifting device is driven until the switch is turned OFF, and the position is rewritten as a new brush position. Go. Here, if the limit switch is not turned OFF even after a predetermined time has elapsed from the brush raising / lowering command, it is determined that the brush is hooked, and the travel of the main body 1 is stopped.

  In this way, the upper surface cleaning brush can be swung up and down and back and forth within a predetermined range, so even if the number of sensors of the vehicle body detection device is reduced, it is possible to instantaneously detect and avoid over-contact with the vehicle body. It becomes possible. Then, by rewriting the brush position after avoidance as an appropriate brush raising / lowering position, in the case of a car wash course in which a brushing process of one or more round trips is performed, the brush is raised and lowered according to the updated brush raising / lowering target position on the return path. be able to. The data of the brush lift target position can also be used when raising and lowering the upper surface drying nozzle.

  It is used for a type of car wash machine that raises and lowers the upper surface cleaning brush along the shape of the upper surface of the automobile.

It is front explanatory drawing which shows the car wash machine of Example 1. FIG. It is the same plane explanatory drawing. It is explanatory drawing which shows the raising / lowering apparatus 14 of an upper surface washing brush. It is explanatory drawing which shows the vertical movement holding | maintenance apparatus 15 of the brush. It is explanatory drawing which shows the back-and-forth motion holding | maintenance apparatus 16 of the same brush. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a control system according to the first embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the vehicle body shape detected by a vehicle shape detection apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which shows operation | movement of an upper surface washing brush.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Car wash machine main body 3 Upper surface washing brush 7 Car shape detection apparatus 14 Lifting apparatus 15 Vertical movement holding apparatus 16 Forward / backward movement holding apparatus 35 Control part

Claims (3)

The upper surface cleaning brush that mainly brushes the upper surface of the automobile, the brush lifting and lowering means that raises and lowers the brush in the vertical direction of the car wash machine body, the travel position detection means that detects the travel position of the car wash machine body, and the upper surface position of the car A vehicle body detecting means for detecting the upper surface cleaning brush by driving the brush lifting means along the upper surface shape of the automobile detected by the traveling position detecting means and the vehicle body detecting means with relative movement of the automobile and the car wash body. In car wash machines that act
Brush holding means for holding the brush so that it can swing back and forth within a predetermined range, forward / backward movement detecting means for detecting that the brush has touched the vehicle body and displaced a predetermined amount before or after the brush, and the detection means for brushing And a control means for controlling the brush elevating means to raise or lower the brush when the displacement of the vehicle is detected. The upper surface cleaning brush that mainly brushes the upper surface of the automobile, the brush lifting and lowering means that raises and lowers the brush in the vertical direction of the car wash machine body, the travel position detection means that detects the travel position of the car wash machine body, and the upper surface position of the car A vehicle body detecting means for detecting the upper surface cleaning brush by driving the brush lifting means along the upper surface shape of the automobile detected by the traveling position detecting means and the vehicle body detecting means with relative movement of the automobile and the car wash body. In car wash machines that act
A brush holding means for holding the brush so as to be swingable up and down within a predetermined range; a vertical movement detecting means for detecting that the brush contacts the vehicle body and is displaced up or down by a predetermined amount; and A car wash machine comprising: a control means for controlling the brush lifting device when the brush displacement is detected to raise or lower the brush. The upper surface cleaning brush that mainly brushes the upper surface of the automobile, the brush lifting and lowering means that raises and lowers the brush in the vertical direction of the car wash machine body, the travel position detection means that detects the travel position of the car wash machine body, and the upper surface position of the car A vehicle body detecting means for detecting the upper surface cleaning brush by driving the brush lifting means along the upper surface shape of the automobile detected by the traveling position detecting means and the vehicle body detecting means with relative movement of the automobile and the car wash body. In car wash machines that act
A front / rear holding means for holding the brush so as to be swingable back and forth within a predetermined range; a vertical holding means for holding the brush so as to be swingable up and down within a predetermined range; and A forward / backward movement detecting means for detecting that a predetermined amount has been displaced later, a vertical movement detecting means for detecting that the brush has touched the vehicle body and being displaced by a predetermined amount, and detecting the displacement of the brush by each detecting means Then, a car washing machine comprising control means for controlling the brush elevating device to raise or lower the brush.

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