JP2015063192A - Vehicle washing brush - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle washing brush having high washing efficiency without damaging car accessories or the like.SOLUTION: A vehicle washing brush 10 is provided with a washing body 12 comprising a composite material of a closed-cell foamed body and a resin fiber. The length of the resin fiber is preferably longer than the thickness of the washing body 12. The closed-cell foamed body is preferably an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA), an ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (EPDM) or poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). Further preferably, the resin fiber is one or more selected from the group consisting of nylon, polypropylene and polyethylene.

Description

  The present invention relates to a car wash brush, and more particularly, to a car wash brush whose cleaning power is improved by increasing a coefficient of dynamic friction.

  Various materials are used for the car wash brush. Among them, the closed cell foam is a material suitable for car washing without damaging automobile accessories and the like. Conventionally, various proposals have been made regarding brushes for car washing using such closed-cell foams.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a car wash brush comprising a porous closed cell foam containing 63 wt% to 83 wt% of ethylene / vinyl acetate copolymer and 13 wt% to 30 wt% of calcium carbonate. Yes.
In the same document, since the brush for a car wash produced by such a composition reduces the stickiness of the resin, the car body protrusions are entangled with the car body during car wash, and the car body protrusions resulting from this (for example, (Antenna, wiper, etc.) can be avoided.

Patent Document 2 discloses a number of flexible cleaning pieces constituting a car wash brush, wherein the cleaning piece is made of a foam of ethylene-ethyl acrylate (EEA) resin, and the tensile strength of the foam is 0. A cleaning piece is disclosed in which the open cell ratio is set to 10% or less and the 25% compression hardness is set to 0.2 MPa or less in the range of 0.5 to 1.2 MPa.
In the same document, by setting the physical property value of the foam to a predetermined value, high flexibility at low temperatures and high chemical resistance can be exhibited, and reliable cleaning can be performed without damaging the vehicle body. Points are listed.

Further, Patent Document 3 is composed of a crosslinked polyolefin resin foam, having a static friction coefficient of 0.90 to 1.15, a tensile strength of 0.5 to 2.5 MPa, and an elongation of 250% or less. In addition, 1 to 5 parts by weight of an oil agent is added to 100 parts by weight of the polyolefin resin constituting the crosslinked polyolefin resin foam in the crosslinked polyolefin resin foam. There is disclosed a brush piece of a cleaning brush, wherein a bubble cross section is exposed on the entire surface of a foam, and an average diameter of the bubble cross section is 50 to 125 μm.
In this document, by setting the static friction coefficient, tensile strength and elongation of the crosslinked polyolefin resin foam within a predetermined range, the surface of the object to be cleaned can be cleaned without damaging the object to be cleaned such as a vehicle body or a road. The point which can be removed smoothly is described.

  The closed cell foam is a material that is unlikely to break accessories such as accessories during car washing. However, the conventional car wash brush using the closed cell foam is not easy enough for the washing body to slide on the car body surface.

JP 2011-057074 A Japanese Patent No. 3586812 Japanese Patent No. 4290478

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a car wash brush that does not damage car accessories and has high cleaning performance.

  In order to solve the above problems, a car wash brush according to the present invention includes a cleaning body made of a composite material of closed cell foam and resin fiber.

  When a predetermined amount of resin fiber is added to a resin material such as EVA and foamed, a composite material of closed cell foam and resin fiber is obtained. The added resin fiber is present randomly in the closed cell foam, and a part of the resin fiber is exposed on the surface of the composite material. When such a composite material is used as a cleaning body for a car wash brush, the cleaning power is improved. This is thought to be because the resin fiber exposed on the surface of the closed cell foam improves the coefficient of dynamic friction between the car body and the cleaning body, and the cleaning body is less likely to slip on the surface of the car body. . Moreover, since the washing body is a closed-cell foam, the washing body does not increase in weight because it contains water during the car wash, and has high flexibility. Therefore, car accessories and the like are not damaged during cleaning. Furthermore, since the resin fiber is exposed on the surface of the cleaning object, the details of the object to be cleaned can be cleaned.

FIG. 1 is a schematic front sectional view (FIG. 1A) of a car wash brush according to an embodiment of the present invention, and a developed view of a rotating shaft provided in the car wash brush (FIG. 1B). It is a top view of the unjoint sheet | seat used for a washing body. It is a measurement result (Drawing 3 (a): sample No. 1 and Drawing 3 (b): sample No. 2) of a dynamic friction coefficient of EVA closed-cell foam and SUS304. It is a measurement result (Drawing 4 (a): sample No. 3 and Drawing 4 (b): sample No. 4) of a dynamic friction coefficient of EVA closed-cell foam and SUS304. It is a measurement result (Drawing 5 (a): sample No. 1 and Drawing 5 (b): sample No. 2) of a dynamic friction coefficient of EVA closed-cell foam / resin fiber composite material and SUS304. It is a measurement result (sample No. 3) of the dynamic friction coefficient of EVA closed cell foam / resin fiber composite material and SUS304.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.
[1. Car wash brush]
The car wash brush according to the present invention includes a cleaning body made of a composite material of closed cell foam and resin fiber.

[1.1. Closed cell foam]
The “closed cell foam” refers to a synthetic resin material having a large number of independent cells inside. The size of the bubbles is usually 0.10 to 0.30 mm, although it depends on production conditions and applications. The expansion ratio is usually 8 to 10 times, although it depends on production conditions and applications.

The material constituting the closed cell foam is not particularly limited, and various materials can be used.
Examples of the material constituting the closed cell foam include ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA), ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (EPDM), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), chloroprene rubber (CR), acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber ( NBR), styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), acrylic rubber (ACM), and the like.
Among these, EVA, EPDM, and PVC are preferable. This is because these materials are cheaper than other materials and have high weather resistance.

[1.2. Resin fiber]
[1.2.1. material]
The material of the resin fiber is not particularly limited, and various materials can be used. Examples of the resin fiber material include nylon, polypropylene, polyethylene, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polyamide (PA).
Among these, nylon, polypropylene, and polyethylene are preferable. This is because these materials are cheaper than other materials and have high weather resistance.
The resin fiber may be made of any one of these materials, or may be a mixture of two or more.

[1.2.2. diameter]
The diameter of the resin fiber is not particularly limited, and an optimum diameter can be selected according to the purpose.
Generally, the dynamic friction coefficient increases as the diameter of the resin fiber increases. In order to increase the dynamic friction coefficient and obtain a high detergency, the diameter of the resin fiber is preferably 10 dtex or more. The diameter of the resin fiber is more preferably 15 dtex or more.
On the other hand, if the diameter of the resin fiber becomes too large, the mechanical strength of the cleaning body becomes weak. Therefore, the diameter of the resin fiber is preferably 100 dtex or less. The diameter of the resin fiber is more preferably 50 dtex or less.
“Dtex” is an index representing the thickness of the fiber, and represents the weight (g) per 10,000 m of the fiber.

[1.2.3. length]
The length of the resin fiber is not particularly limited, and an optimum length can be selected according to the purpose.
Generally, when the length of the resin fiber is too short, the increase in the dynamic friction coefficient is small. On the other hand, even if the length of the resin fiber is made longer than necessary, there is no practical benefit. Therefore, it is preferable to select an optimal value for the length of the resin fiber so that an appropriate dynamic friction coefficient can be obtained.

In particular, the length of the resin fiber is preferably longer than the thickness of the cleaning body. When the length of the resin fiber is made larger than the thickness of the cleaning body, the probability that the tip of the resin fiber is exposed on the surface of the cleaning body after foaming is increased. As a result, the dynamic friction coefficient of the cleaning body is improved.
Specifically, the length of the resin fiber is preferably 1.1 times or more the thickness of the cleaning body. The length of the resin fiber is more preferably 1.2 times or more of the thickness of the cleaning body, and more preferably 1.3 times or more of the thickness of the cleaning body.
On the other hand, even if the length of the resin fiber is made longer than necessary, there is no practical benefit. Therefore, the length of the resin fiber is preferably 1.5 times or less the thickness of the cleaning body. The length of the resin fiber is more preferably 1.4 times or less of the thickness of the cleaning body, and more preferably 1.3 times or less of the thickness of the cleaning body.

  For example, when the thickness of the cleaning body is 2.5 mm, the length of the resin fiber is preferably 2.75 mm or more and 3.75 mm or less, more preferably 3.0 mm or more and 3.5 mm or less.

[1.2.4. Content]
The content of the resin fiber is not particularly limited, and an optimal content can be selected according to the purpose.
In general, when the resin fiber content is too small, the increase in the dynamic friction coefficient is small. In order to increase the dynamic friction coefficient and obtain a high detergency, the resin fiber content is preferably 1.0 phr (parts by weight) or more. The resin fiber content is more preferably 1.2 phr or more, and still more preferably 1.5 phr or more.
On the other hand, when the content of the resin fiber is excessive, the mechanical strength of the cleaning body decreases, and the cleaning body may be broken or broken during car washing. Therefore, the resin fiber content is preferably 10 phr or less. The resin fiber content is more preferably 8 phr or less, and even more preferably 6 phr or less.

[1.3. Composite material]
The cleaning body is made of a composite material of closed cell foam and resin fiber.
Such composite materials are
(1) Kneading resin material and resin fiber constituting the closed-cell foam,
(2) Further adding a foaming agent to the kneaded product and kneading,
(3) A kneaded product containing a foaming agent is placed in a mold, and the foaming agent is foamed in this state.
In the composite material thus obtained, the added resin fibers are present randomly in the closed cell foam. A part of the resin fiber is exposed on the surface of the composite material.

The mechanical properties of the composite material can be controlled by optimizing the closed cell foam material, resin fiber material, resin fiber dimensions, resin fiber addition amount, and the like.
In order to achieve both high detergency and durability, the tear strength of the composite material is preferably 45 to 60 N / cm. The composite material has a hardness (JIS K 6767) of preferably 38-50.

[1.4. Dynamic friction coefficient]
When the closed cell foam and the resin fiber are combined, the dynamic friction coefficient μ is improved by optimizing the resin fiber content, dimensions, and the like.
Specifically, by optimizing the manufacturing conditions of the composite material, the dynamic friction coefficient μ becomes 0.6 or more, 0.7 or more, or 0.75 or more.
Here, “dynamic friction coefficient μ” means
Test load: 200 gf
Movement speed: 100 mm / min,
Travel distance: 6cm,
Indenter: A value measured under conditions of an indenter made of SUS304 having a diameter of 15 mm.

[2. Specific example of car wash brush]
In the present invention, the composite material described above is used for a cleaning body (brush portion) of a car wash brush. Other structures of the car wash brush are not particularly limited, and various structures can be used according to the purpose.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic front view of a car wash brush according to an embodiment of the present invention (FIG. 1A) and a developed view of a rotating shaft used in the car wash brush (FIG. 1B). . In FIG. 2, the top view of the unjoint sheet | seat used for a washing body is shown.

1 and 2, a car wash brush 10 is attached to a rotary shaft 14 provided on the left and right sides of a traveling frame that covers the vehicle to be cleaned from the side surface and the upper surface side, with the vertical direction as an axial direction. .. Are provided.
As shown in FIG.1 (b), the rotating shaft 14 is provided with the attachment holes 18, 18 ... for attaching the washing bodies 12, 12 .... Each row L1 to Lm (m is an integer of 2 or more, k shown in FIG. 1B is an integer of 1 <k <m) is formed at predetermined intervals (or arbitrary intervals) in the axial direction of the rotating shaft 14. The plurality of mounting holes 18, 18. The other row L adjacent to each row L is formed with a predetermined interval (or arbitrary interval) in the circumferential direction of the rotating shaft 14 and shifted by a predetermined interval (or arbitrary interval) in the axial direction of the rotating shaft 14. . That is, the adjacent mounting holes 18, 18,... Are formed by shifting in the axial direction.

  The mounting holes 18, 18... Adjacent in the circumferential direction (these are particularly referred to as the circumferential adjacent mounting hole group G) are formed by shifting the mounting holes 18, 18. If not, a circle is formed. On the other hand, in the example shown in FIG. 1, the mounting holes 18, 18... Adjacent in the circumferential direction are shifted in the axial direction and thus form an ellipse. The circumferential adjacent mounting hole group G is on a plane inclined with respect to the axial direction, the circumferential direction, or the radial direction of the rotating shaft 14 around a point on the central axis of the rotating shaft 14 (for example, the circumferential adjacent mounting hole group G Forms an ellipse with a plane inclined at an angle θ (see angle θ in FIG. 1A) with respect to a plane perpendicular to the axial direction of the rotary shaft 14.

The predetermined interval K in the axial direction of the mounting holes 18, 18... Formed in the rotating shaft 14 preferably satisfies the relationship of the following formula (1). This is to prevent an uncleaned portion from remaining on the surface to be cleaned in the axial direction of the rotating shaft 14 (that is, the vertical direction).
0 <K <Dsinθ ... Formula (1)
However,
K: a predetermined interval in the axial direction of the mounting holes 18, 18.
D: Diameter of the washing body 12 of the car wash brush 10;
θ: An angle θ at which the circumferentially adjacent mounting hole group G is inclined with respect to a plane perpendicular to the axial direction of the rotating shaft 14.

  In the example shown in FIG. 1, the car wash brush 10 has the outer periphery of the rotary shaft 14 divided into 12 equal parts, and the rows L1 to Lm of the mounting holes 18, 18. Is formed. The mounting holes 18, 18... Are formed such that the circumferentially adjacent mounting hole group G is inclined by 12.5 ° with respect to a plane perpendicular to the axial direction of the rotating shaft 14. The number of divisions on the outer periphery of the rotating shaft 14 and the inclination angle of the circumferentially adjacent mounting hole group G are not limited to these, but the number of divisions is preferably 4 to 20, and the inclination angle is preferably 5 to 30 °.

As shown in FIG. 2, the cleaning body 12 is attached to a plurality of strip-shaped cleaning pieces 16 a having a tip portion branched into a plurality of branches (n-branch branch (n: integer of n> 1)) or not branched and the rotating shaft 14. It consists of the rectangular unjoint sheet | seat 16 provided with the attachment hole 20 for. The cleaning body 12 shown in FIG. 1 has four unconnected sheets 16 attached along the radial direction of the rotary shaft 14 without stitching or welding the side edge portions 22 and 22.
Here, in the present application, the non-joint sheet 16 refers to a sheet that is not joined by stitching, welding, or other techniques. In the present embodiment, the seamless sheet 16 is made of the composite material described above.

  The cleaning body 12 is attached along the radial direction of the rotating shaft 14 of one to several (2 to 10) unjoint sheets 16 without joining the edge portions 22 and 22 on both sides. is there. In order to facilitate the attachment of the cleaning body 12 to the rotating shaft 14, the rear end portion 24 of the non-joint sheet 16 is provided with cuts 24a, 24a. The cleaning body 12 is configured by bending the vicinity of the rear end portion 24 of the plurality of unconnected sheets 16 in a pleat shape or a box shape. Although not shown, the cleaning body 12 has a petal shape when viewed from above.

In the cleaning body 12 according to the present invention, since the resin fiber is added, it is preferable that the edge portion is not sewn or welded. This is because when the stitching or welding is performed, the cleaning body 12 is easily cut from the portion.
The cleaning body 12 is attached to the rotating shaft 14 with a fixture (not shown) from the top of the mounting holes 18, 18... Covered with the rear end portions 24, 24. It is made by penetrating the rear end portions 24, 24... And the mounting holes 18, 18.

In the case of the example shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, specifically, four unjointed sheets 16 are prepared. Next, the rear end portion 24 between the cuts 24a and 24a is bent so that the three attachment holes 20 between the cuts 24a and 24a overlap each other. In this case, the bending method of the rear end portion 24 is not particularly limited as long as the three attachment holes 20 overlap each other.
Further, three mounting holes 20 overlapped on one are attached to one mounting hole 18 provided on the rotating shaft 14. When this is sequentially performed for all the mounting holes 20, 20,..., The car wash brush 10 shown in FIG.
When a plurality of cleaning pieces 12, 12... Are fixed to the rotating shaft 14, two mounting holes 20 and 20 at the left end of the first cleaning piece 12 and a second cleaning adjacent to the two mounting holes 20 and 20 are provided. One mounting hole 20 at the right end of the piece 12 is overlapped, and this is attached to the mounting hole 18 of the rotating shaft 14.

[3. Action]
When a predetermined amount of resin fiber is added to a resin material such as EVA and foamed, a composite material of closed cell foam and resin fiber is obtained. The added resin fiber is present randomly in the closed cell foam, and a part of the resin fiber is exposed on the surface of the composite material. When such a composite material is used as a cleaning body for a car wash brush, the cleaning power is improved. This is thought to be because the resin fiber exposed on the surface of the closed cell foam improves the coefficient of dynamic friction between the car body and the cleaning body, and the cleaning body is less likely to slip on the surface of the car body. . Moreover, since the washing body is a closed-cell foam, the washing body does not increase in weight because it contains water during the car wash, and has high flexibility. Therefore, car accessories and the like are not damaged during cleaning. Furthermore, since the resin fiber is exposed on the surface of the cleaning object, the details of the object to be cleaned can be cleaned.

(Example 1, Comparative Example 1)
[1. Preparation of sample]
A composite material (Example 1) made of EVA closed cell foam / resin fiber was prepared. As the resin fiber, nylon fiber of 17 dtex × 3 mm in length was used. The amount of nylon fiber added was 1.25 phr (parts by weight). The expansion ratio of EVA was 10 times. Furthermore, the thickness of the composite material was 2.5 mm.
For comparison, a closed cell foam (Comparative Example 1) made only of EVA was prepared.

[2. Test method]
The dynamic friction coefficient of the sample (sponge sheet) was measured under the following conditions.
(1) Test equipment: Surface property tester HEIDON14 manufactured by Shinto Kagaku Co., Ltd.
(2) Test room temperature: 23 ° C., Test room humidity: 31%
(3) Test load: 200 gf, moving speed: 100 mm / min, moving distance: 6 cm
(4) Sponge sheet size: Length about 20cm, width about 8cm
(5) Indenter: SUS304, φ15mm

[3. result]
3 and 4 show the measurement results of the dynamic friction coefficient between the EVA closed cell foam and SUS304. 3 and 4 show the results of tests performed on four samples (No. 1 to No. 4) cut out from the produced EVA closed cell foam (Comparative Example 1).
5 and 6 show the measurement results of the dynamic friction coefficient between the EVA closed cell foam / resin fiber composite material and SUS304. 5 and 6 show the results of tests performed on three samples (No. 1 to No. 3) cut out from the produced composite material (Example 1).

The following can be seen from FIGS.
(1) The average value of the dynamic friction coefficient of the EVA closed cell foam is 0.50.
(2) The average value of the dynamic friction coefficient of the EVA closed cell foam / resin fiber composite material is 0.79.

(Example 2)
Using the composite material obtained in Example 1, a car wash brush 10 shown in FIG. 1 was produced. A washing test was conducted using this car wash brush.
When the EVA closed cell foam / resin fiber composite material was used as a cleaning body, stable cleaning was possible. Moreover, since the fine fiber was used for the resin fiber, it was washable to the detail. Furthermore, since EVA and resin fibers are kneaded, flexible and soft cleaning was possible.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

  The car wash brush according to the present invention can be used in a car wash machine for washing a car body.

10 Car wash brush 12 Cleaning body 14 Rotating shaft

Claims (6)

  A car wash brush provided with a cleaning body made of a composite material of closed cell foam and resin fiber.   The car wash brush according to claim 1, wherein a length of the resin fiber is longer than a thickness of the cleaning body.   The car wash brush according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the closed cell foam is made of an ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA), ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (EPDM), or polyvinyl chloride (PVC).   The car wash brush according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the resin fiber is made of at least one selected from the group consisting of nylon, polypropylene, and polyethylene.   The car wash brush according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a content of the resin fiber is 1.0 phr or more and 10.0 phr or less.   The brush for car wash according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a coefficient of dynamic friction μ is 0.6 or more.

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