JP3120296B2 - Vehicle upper surface cleaning device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention comprises a guide rail supported by a traveling frame, an elevating member movable up and down along the guide rail, and a top brush supported by the elevating member. The present invention relates to an upper surface cleaning device for a vehicle, which controls the lifting of the elevating member along the guide rail based on a load and cleans an upper surface of the vehicle with the top brush.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An apparatus disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 47-968 is known as an apparatus for cleaning the upper surface of a vehicle.

[0003] In this top surface cleaning apparatus, when cleaning a vehicle with a top brush, the top rail in contact with the vehicle swings a guide rail by a reaction force received from the vehicle, and the swing angle is used as a load of the top brush. by elevating along the lifting member to the guide rail detected and, is moved along the top brush on the upper surface of the vehicle.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned conventional upper surface cleaning apparatus, the guide brush in the swinging position gives the surface pressure that the top brush comes into contact with the vehicle by the force of the gravity to return to the hanging position by gravity. However, it has been difficult to effectively control the surface pressure of the top brush to effectively clean the vehicle. Therefore, in the conventionally known upper surface cleaning device, the front and rear portions of the vehicle have recently become complicated and made of resin, so that the surface of the vehicle is liable to be scratched by the contact friction of the brush.

The present invention solves the above problem by appropriately adjusting the surface pressure at which the top brush abuts the vehicle while maintaining a uniform and soft brush contact pressure even in a vehicle type having a significantly different vehicle surface shape and material. To improve the cleaning effect.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a guide rail supported by a traveling frame, an elevating member movable up and down along the guide rail,
A top brush supported by the elevating member, and controlling the elevation of the elevating member along the guide rail based on a load applied to the top brush, thereby cleaning the upper surface of the vehicle with the top brush. In the upper surface cleaning device, a load detection unit that detects a load applied to the top brush, a traveling speed variable traveling unit that travels the traveling frame, and a lifting speed variable lifting unit that moves the lifting member up and down along the guide rail. The traveling frame
As the traveling speed of the rising speed of the elevating member is changed according to the load applied to the top brush, and the lifting speed variable elevating means and said running speed varying traveling means based on the output of the load detecting means And a control means for controlling the guide rail. In addition to this feature, the guide rail is swingably supported by the traveling frame, and the load detecting means is configured to swing the guide rail. A second feature is that it is a swing angle detecting means for detecting a movement angle.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 6 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an overall front view of a car washer, FIG. 2 is an overall side view thereof, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the operation, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are diagrams showing the control contents based on the swing angle of the guide frame.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the car washer has a pair of left and right driving wheels 2, 2 and driven wheels 3, 3 guided by a pair of left and right running rails 1, 1 laid on the floor. It has a gate-shaped traveling frame 4 for traveling. The driving wheels 2, 2 have traveling motors 5, 5 whose rotational speed can be adjusted by an inverter.
This allows the traveling frame 4 to reciprocate at high speed and low speed in the front-rear direction along the traveling rails 1, 1.

At the upper part of the traveling frame 4, both ends of a single top brush raising / lowering drive shaft 6 arranged in the left-right direction are rotatably supported by a pair of bearings 7,7. A guide frame 9 for guiding the vertical movement of the top brush 8 for cleaning the upper surface of the vehicle includes a pair of left and right guide rails 10, 10 and a hollow guide frame swing shaft for integrally connecting the upper ends of the guide rails 10, 10. 11 is provided. The guide frame swing shaft 11 is coaxially fitted to the outer periphery of the top brush lifting drive shaft 6, and is supported by the top brush lifting drive shaft 6 by a pair of left and right bearings 12 so as to be relatively rotatable.

That is, the top brush lifting drive shaft 6 is rotatably supported by the traveling frame 4 by the bearings 7, 7, and the top brush lifting drive shaft 6 is supported by the bearing 1.
The guide frame swing shaft 11 is swingably supported by the guide frames 2 and 12. This makes it possible to simplify the structure of the suspension support portion of the guide frame 9 as compared with the case where the top brush lifting drive shaft 6 is provided outside the guide frame swing shaft 11.
As a result, the overall height of the traveling frame 4 can be kept low.

The left and right guide rails 10, 10 and the traveling frame 4 are connected by a pair of cylinders 13, 13, and by driving the cylinders 13, 13 to expand and contract, the guide frame 9 is moved from the hanging position in the direction a in FIG. And b direction.

Referring to FIG. 3 together, it is apparent that
The guide rails 10 are formed in a U-shaped cross section, and a guide plate 14 having an L-shaped cross section is fixed inside thereof. Two guide rollers 15, 15 guided between the guide plate 14 and the inner wall of the guide rail 10, and 1 guided on the left and right guide rails 10, 1.
A pair of right and left carriages 17 each having one guide roller 16.
A and 17B are supported so that they can move up and down in synchronization with each other. The left and right ends of a top brush support shaft 18 are fixed to the left and right carriages 17A and 17B, and a sprocket 20 provided at one end of a top brush rotation shaft 19 rotatably fitted to the top brush support shaft 18 and one of the carriages. Sprocket 22 of motor 21 for rotating top brush provided on 17B
Are connected via a chain 23, whereby the top brush 8 is driven to rotate.

The traveling frame 4 is provided with a top brush elevating motor 24 whose rotation speed can be adjusted by an inverter. The sprocket 25 of the top brush elevating motor 24 and one end of the top brush elevating drive shaft 6 are provided. The sprocket 26 is connected by a chain 27. A chain 30, 30 is provided between the two sprockets 28, 28 provided on the top brush lifting drive shaft 6 inside the guide rails 10, 10 and the two sprockets 29, 29 provided at the lower end of the guide rails 10, 10. 30 are wound around, and both ends of the chains 30, 30 are respectively trolleys 17A, 1
7B. In order to facilitate assembly, the diameter of the sprockets 28, 28 is smaller than the inner diameter of the guide frame swing shaft 11 and the end openings of the guide rails 10, 10 on which the bearings 12, 12 are mounted. Have been.

When the top brush lifting / lowering motor 24 is driven, the top brush lifting / lowering drive shaft 6 rotates, and the left and right trolleys 17A, 17B supporting the top brush 8 are guided by the guide rails 10, 10 to increase the speed and speed. Go up and down at low speed. At this time, rubber plates 31, 31 having slits on the opening surfaces of the guide rails 10, 10 are stretched so that cleaning water does not enter the guide rails 10, 10.

The top brush 8 tries to descend by gravity on the chain 34 wound around a sprocket 32 provided at the other end of the top brush lifting drive shaft 6 and a sprocket 33 provided below the traveling frame 4. The balance weight 35 that opposes the force to be applied is fixed.

The one guide rail 10 of the guide frame 9 is provided with a lower limit detection switch 36 and an upper limit detection switch 37 for detecting a lower limit position and an upper limit position of the top brush 8, respectively. Trolley 17
A is operated by a magnet 38 provided in A. A rotary encoder 39 is provided at one end of the top brush raising / lowering drive shaft 6, and when the upper brush 8 lowers the output pulse of the rotary encoder 39 from the time when the upper limit detection switch 37 is changed from the operating state to the inactive state. The position of the top brush 8 ascending and descending is detected by adding and subtracting when ascending.

The traveling frame 4 is provided with a pair of stoppers 40 and 41 for regulating the swinging end of the guide frame 9.
A between the stoppers 40 and 41 about the hanging position
Swinging up to + 6 ° in the direction and -6 ° in the direction b. The traveling frame 4 has the stoppers 40,
A forward shake detection switch 42 and a backward shake detection switch 43 are provided corresponding to 41, and when the guide frame 9 swings in the direction of arrow a and comes into contact with the stopper 40, the guide rail 10
The forward swing detection switch 42 is provided by a magnet 44 provided in the
When the guide frame 9 swings in the direction of arrow b and comes into contact with the stopper 41, the magnet 44 operates the backward shake detection switch 43.

A drive gear 45 rotatably supported at the other end of the top brush lifting drive shaft 6 meshes with a driven gear 47 of a rotary encoder 46, and the drive gear 45 and the guide rail 10 are connected by pins 48. Thus, the swing of the guide frame 9 is transmitted to the rotary encoder 46 via the drive gear 45 and the driven gear 47. Therefore,
When the traveling frame 4 moves forward, the forward swing detection switch 42
When the output pulse of the rotary encoder 46 goes forward when the backward swing detection switch 43 changes from the operating state to the inactive state when the traveling frame 4 goes back from the active state. Guide rails 10, 10
When swinging in a direction away from the forward shake detection switch 42, the addition is performed, and when swinging in a direction approaching the switch 42, subtraction is performed. When returning, the guide rails 10, 10 separate from the backward shake detection switch 43. The swing angle of the guide frame 9 can be detected by incrementing when swinging in the direction and subtracting when swinging in the direction approaching the switch 43.

One of the traveling motors 5 is provided with a rotary encoder 55, and the traveling position of the traveling frame 4 is changed from a state where a start position detection switch (not shown) is changed from an operation state to a non-operation state. When the traveling frame 4 goes forward, the pulse output by 55 is added,
When going back, it is obtained by subtracting.

Further, the traveling frame 4 has an opening / closing rail 4.
A pair of left and right side brushes 50 and 5 that open and close along 9
0, a top nozzle 52 that moves up and down along a pair of left and right lifting rails 51, 51, and a pair of left and right side nozzles 5
3, 53 are mounted.

A control device 54 provided on the traveling frame 4
The lower limit detection switch 36 and the upper limit detection switch 3
7. Signals from detectors such as a forward shake detection switch 42, a backward shake detection switch 43, and rotary encoders 39, 46, and 55 are input, and the traveling motor 5, based on these signals and a program stored in advance, is input. 5. Top brush rotation motor 21, Top brush lifting / lowering motor 2
4 and the like are controlled.

[0023] In the above embodiments, run line motor 5,5
And an inverter capable of adjusting the rotational speed of the inverter according to the present invention.
The traveling speed variable traveling means is constituted, and the trucks 17A, 17
B constitutes the elevating member of the present invention, the top brush elevating motor 24 and the inverter capable of adjusting the rotation speed thereof constitute the elevating speed variable elevating means of the present invention, and the rotary encoder 46 further comprises the elevating means of the present invention. And the control device 54 constitutes the control means of the present invention.

Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention having the above configuration will be described.

The traveling frame 4 is stopped at the position 4a in FIG. 4A where a start position detection switch (not shown) operates, and the top brush 8 is raised to the upper limit position where the upper limit detection switch 37 operates. Further, the cylinders 13 and 13 are extended and driven, and the guide frame 9 is swung in the forward direction of the traveling frame 4 (the direction of the arrow a in FIG. 2) to come into contact with the stopper 40, and the position where the forward shake detection switch 42 operates. To stop.
When a start button (not shown) provided on the control device 54 is pressed from this state, the top brush 8 rotates in the direction of the arrow and descends. When the top brush 8 moves down to the lower limit position where the lower limit detection switch 36 operates, the traveling frame 4 starts traveling at high speed toward the vehicle V.

Eventually, the top brush 8 comes into contact with the vehicle V,
When the rotary encoder 46 detects that the guide frame 9 has swung in the direction of the arrow b by a predetermined angle due to the reaction force, the top brush lifting / lowering motor 24 is driven, and the top brush 8 moves up along the guide rails 10, 10. . Top brush 8
When the swing angle of the guide frame 9 decreases due to the rise of the top brush 8, the top brush lifting / lowering motor 24 stops and the top brush 8
Stops rising. That is, since the swing angle of the top brush 8 in the direction of arrow b increases as the surface pressure of the top brush 8 increases, the rising speed of the top brush 8 and the running speed of the running frame 4 are reduced according to the swing angle. The surface pressure is rapidly reduced by changing the surface pressure.

This will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 5A and 5B. More specifically, when the surface pressure of the top brush 8 is low, that is, the swing angle of the guide frame 9 is 6 ° at which the stopper frame 40 comes into contact with the stopper 40.
From 4 ° to 4 °, the elevation of the top brush 8 is stopped and the traveling frame 4 is run at high speed. When the surface pressure of the top brush 8 increases and the swing angle falls in the range of 4 ° to 2 °,
The top brush 8 is switched to low-speed rise while the traveling frame 4 is traveling at high speed, and when the swing angle is in the range of 2 ° to 0 °, the top brush 8 is switched to high-speed elevation while the traveling frame 4 is traveling at high speed. When the surface pressure of the top brush 8 further increases and the swing angle becomes in the range of 0 ° to −2 °,
While the top brush 8 is raised at a high speed, the forward speed of the traveling frame 4 is switched to a low speed, and when the swing angle is between −2 ° and −6 ° abutting on the stopper 41, the top brush 8 is kept at a high speed. The traveling frame 4 is stopped. In short, as the guide frame 9 swings largely in the direction of the arrow b due to the increase in the surface pressure, the rising speed of the top brush 8 is increased and the forward speed of the traveling frame 4 is decreased, whereby the surface pressure is appropriately increased. Can be kept in place. Thus, the top brush 8 is used to clean the hood surface and the windshield surface of the vehicle V while repeatedly raising and stopping the top brush 8 based on the swing angle of the guide frame 9.

When the swinging angle is in the range of 0 ° to -2 ° and the traveling frame 4 shifts to low speed traveling, and the swinging angle becomes 0 ° or more, the traveling frame 4 is immediately moved at high speed. If the traveling speed is switched between the high speed and the low speed, it is possible to prevent the traveling speed from frequently switching between the high speed and the low speed by operating the timer to continue the low speed traveling for a predetermined time without switching to the high speed traveling.

Also, in place of the control of FIG.
The control of (C) can also be performed. That is, in the control of (B), the low-speed rise and the high-speed rise of the top brush 8 are switched at the position of the swing angle of 2 °, whereas in the control of (C), the change is switched at the position of 0 °. Further, in the control of (B), the high-speed running and the low-speed running of the running frame 4 are switched at the position where the swing angle is 0 °, but in the control of (C), the running frame is 2 °.
Can be switched at the position. Also in this case, the swing angle is 2 ° or more.
When the traveling frame 4 shifts to low-speed traveling in the range of 0 ° and then the swing angle becomes 2 ° or more, the traveling frame 4 is not immediately shifted to high-speed traveling, and the timer is operated to perform low-speed operation for a predetermined time. By switching to high-speed running after continuing running, it is possible to prevent the running speed from frequently switching between high speed and low speed.

When the traveling position of the traveling frame 4 detected by the rotary encoder 55 connected to the traveling motor 5 reaches L which is set in advance and the top brush 8 reaches the ceiling surface of the vehicle V (FIG. 4A). 4b position), cylinder 13,
13 becomes inactive and the guide frame 9 becomes the guide frame swing shaft 11
It becomes a state in which it can freely swing around, and thereafter the control shown in FIG. 6 is performed.

When the cylinders 13 and 13 are deactivated, the guide frame 9 swings in the direction of arrow b from the hanging position due to the reaction force received from the ceiling surface of the vehicle V by the top brush 8 rotating in the direction of arrow. The state shown in FIG. After a predetermined time has elapsed since the cylinders 13 and 13 were deactivated, if the surface pressure of the top brush 8 is appropriate and the swing angle of the guide frame 9 is in the range of -4 ° to -2 °, the top brush 8 The traveling frame 4 is driven at a high speed in a state where the lifting of the vehicle is stopped.
When the top brush 8 reaches, for example, the rear glass surface of the vehicle V and the surface pressure decreases, and the swing angle is in the range of −2 ° to −1 °, the top brush 8 is lowered at a low speed and the running frame 4 is run at a low speed. When the swing angle becomes -1 ° or more, the top brush 8 is lowered at a high speed while the running frame 4 is running at a low speed, thereby recovering the surface pressure.

The top brush 8 comes into contact with a spoiler or the like provided at the rear end of the trunk, so that the surface pressure increases and the swing angle becomes -6 °.
When the angle is in the range of from −4 °, the top brush 8 is raised at a low speed and the traveling frame 4 is run at a high speed, so that an excessive increase in the surface pressure is suppressed. In this manner, when the top brush 8 reaches the rear end of the vehicle after cleaning the rear glass surface and the trunk surface of the vehicle, the top brush 8 is lowered to the lower limit position.

If the running frame 4 is driven at a low speed for a predetermined time by operating the timer when the swing angle becomes -2 ° or more, the rear glass surface can be brushed at a low speed to enhance the cleaning effect. . When the swing angle becomes −2 ° or more and the top brush 8 is lowered, the load detecting means such as a current detecting device for detecting a current flowing through the top brush rotating motor 21 uses the load of the top brush rotating motor 21. When it is detected that the predetermined value is exceeded, the lowering of the top brush 8 is stopped, so that an appropriate surface pressure can be controlled.

Thus, the traveling frame 4 is positioned at 4 in FIG.
When it reaches the position d, the forward movement is stopped, the top brush 8 is rotated in the reverse direction, and the cylinders 13, 13 are contracted and driven to swing the guide frame 9 in the direction of arrow b.
1 and is stopped at a position where the rearward runout detection switch 43 operates. Subsequently, the upper surface of the vehicle V is cleaned while the traveling frame 4 is moved backward to perform the same operation as the above-described traveling process.

That is, until the traveling frame 4 reaches the position 4b in FIG. 4A, the positive and negative of the swing angle in FIG. The trunk surface, the rear glass surface, and the ceiling surface of the vehicle V are cleaned while controlling the speed. Running frame 4
When the cylinder reaches the position 4b in FIG.
Is inactive, the sign of the swing angle in FIG. 6 is read in the opposite manner as described above, and the ceiling surface and the windshield surface of the vehicle V are controlled while controlling the vertical speed of the top brush 8 and the traveling speed of the traveling frame 4. , And clean the bonnet surface. Then, when the traveling frame 4 reaches the position 4a in FIG. 4A, the backward movement is stopped and the cleaning process is completed.

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

[0037]

As described above, according to the first feature of the present invention, a guide rail supported by a traveling frame, a lifting member capable of moving up and down along the guide rail, and a top brush supported by the lifting member A top surface cleaning device for a vehicle, comprising: a lift control unit that controls a lift of a lifting member along a guide rail based on a load applied to the top brush and cleans an upper surface of a vehicle with the top brush .
And running speed, so that the increased speed along the guide rail lifting member changes in accordance with the load of the top brush, controls the traveling speed variable driving means and elevating speed variable lift means based on an output of the load detecting means As a result, the surface pressure of the top brush can be appropriately controlled in accordance with the magnitude of the load that the top brush receives from the vehicle when cleaning the upper surface of the vehicle, and the cleaning effect of the vehicle can be improved.

According to the second feature of the present invention, the guide rail is swingably supported by the traveling frame, and the load detecting means is the swing angle detecting means for detecting the swing angle of the guide rail. The load on the top brush can be relatively easily detected from the movement (swing angle) of the guide rail.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall front view of a car washer.

FIG. 2 is an overall side view of the car washer.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an operation.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing control contents based on the swing angle of the guide frame.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing control contents based on the swing angle of the guide frame.

[Explanation of symbols]

V vehicle 4 traveling frame 5 traveling motor (travel speed variable driving means) 8 Top brushes 9 guide frame 10 guide rails 17A, 17B carriage (elevating member) 24 top brush lifting motor (lifting speed variable lift means) 46 Rotary encoder (Swing angle detecting means, load detecting means) 54 Control device (Control means)

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B60S 3/00-3/06

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A guide rail supported by a traveling frame, an elevating member movable up and down along the guide rail,
A top brush supported by the elevating member, and controlling the elevation of the elevating member along the guide rail based on a load applied to the top brush, thereby cleaning the upper surface of the vehicle with the top brush. In the upper surface cleaning device, a load detection unit that detects a load applied to the top brush, a traveling speed variable traveling unit that travels the traveling frame, and a lifting speed variable lifting unit that moves the lifting member up and down along the guide rail. The traveling speed variable traveling means and the elevation speed variable based on the output of the load detecting means such that the traveling speed of the traveling frame and the rising speed of the elevating member change according to the load applied to the top brush. A top surface cleaning device for a vehicle, comprising: a control unit that controls a lifting unit. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the guide rail is swingably supported by the traveling frame, and the load detecting unit is a swing angle detecting unit that detects a swing angle of the guide rail. An upper surface cleaning apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 1.