JP4881616B2 - Car wash machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a car wash apparatus of a type that cleans an automobile by relatively moving a portal-type car wash machine and a carriage on which an automobile is placed, and accurately recognizes the shape of the automobile that is inclined by placing a front wheel on the carriage. Is related to the technology.

  There have been proposed a plurality of car wash apparatuses that save space by relatively moving a so-called gate-type car wash machine and a carriage on which an automobile is mounted. Among these, the car wash apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 is configured such that the traveling rail of the carriage is laid on the inner side of the traveling rail of the car washer body, and the front wheel of the automobile is supported by the carriage traveling on the traveling rail. . Since the traveling rail of the carriage is laid on the same plane as the traveling rail of the car wash machine main body, the automobile having the front wheel supported by the carriage is conveyed in a state of being inclined forward.

  On the other hand, a plurality of car wash machines have been proposed in which a car shape detection device for detecting the shape of an automobile is provided in the car wash machine body, and a brush, a blower, or the like acts on the detected automobile shape. Among these, in the car wash machine disclosed in Patent Document 2, a light emitting section in which a plurality of light emitting elements are arranged in the vertical direction and a light receiving section in which the light receiving elements are arranged so as to face the light emitting elements are arranged on the inner surface of the main body frame. The vehicle body detector is arranged to face each other, and each time the main body frame travels a predetermined distance, the vehicle shape detector captures the position of the upper surface of the automobile and creates vehicle shape data. Then, the reference point of the automobile is extracted from the created vehicle shape data, and the parts of the automobile such as the bonnet, the roof, and the trunk are recognized and used for controlling the brush and the blower.

Now, when the automobile is transported in an upwardly inclined state as in Patent Document 1, it is difficult to accurately extract the reference point of the automobile. In particular, the roof rear end position of the automobile is extracted based on a point lower than a predetermined value from the height of the roof front end position. For example, if the roof length is long as in a one-box vehicle, the difference in height between the roof front end and the roof rear end becomes larger than that of a normal vehicle. There is a problem that a position shifted forward from the roof rear end position is extracted as the roof rear end position.
No. 2-28131 JP 10-338103 A

  Therefore, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to accurately recognize the reference point of an automobile with a car wash apparatus that saves space by relatively moving a portal car wash machine and a carriage on which an automobile is mounted. It is in.

In order to solve this problem, the present invention comprises a car wash machine body that is formed in a gate shape and travels so as to straddle an automobile, and a carriage that can run on the front wheels of the automobile, and the car wash machine body and the carriage are relative to each other. In a car wash apparatus that aims to shorten the car wash space by moving the vehicle, a travel position detection means for detecting the travel position of the car wash machine body and the carriage, a top face position detection means for detecting the top face level of the automobile, and both detection Vehicle shape detecting means for detecting the upper surface contour of the automobile by means, reference point recognizing means for recognizing a reference point from the upper surface outline of the automobile detected by the detecting means, and a reference point of the front part of the automobile detected by the recognizing means and a vehicle type discriminating means for discriminating the vehicle type of the automobile based on, in the reference point recognition unit, recognizes the point where the descending above the determination value from the roof front height of the car and roof rear end of the vehicle, before Change the determination value depending on the vehicle type is determined by the vehicle type discriminating means, when an automobile is a one-box car, is made larger the judgment value in comparison with ordinary car.

  According to the car wash machine of the present invention, it becomes possible to accurately recognize the reference point of an automobile, whether it is a normal car or a one-box car, and reliably perform subsequent projection detection and control of the car wash processing device. be able to.

  The car wash machine shown in Example 1 below is the best mode.

Examples of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a front view showing a car wash machine according to a first embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of the car wash machine.
Reference numeral 1 denotes a car wash machine body formed in a gate shape, which reciprocates on two parallel traveling rails 2 and 2 laid on the floor surface, and includes a car wash processing device such as a brush or a blower inside. Reference numerals 4 and 4 denote forward and reverse travel motors that drive the wheels 3 and 3 to reciprocate the car wash machine body 1 on the rails 2 and 2. A traveling encoder 5 is connected to the output shaft of the motor 4 and outputs a pulse signal for each unit angle rotation while detecting the rotation direction of the motor 4 to give a traveling position of the car wash machine body 1. 6a and 6b are limit switches, which are switched in contact with the docks 7a and 7b provided in the vicinity of the front and rear ends of the traveling rails 2 and 2 to detect the traveling limit of the forward and backward movement of the car wash machine body 1. Reference numeral 8 denotes a car shape detector, which is provided in front of the car wash machine body 1 and has a light emitting part 8a and a light receiving part 8b arranged with the automobile A in the width direction, and a plurality of n light emitting elements arranged in the vertical direction of the light emitting part 8a. The presence / absence of the vehicle body is detected by translucency / light-shielding of optical axes B1 to Bn configured by a plurality of n light receiving elements R1 to Rn arranged to face the light emitting unit 8a in the vertical direction of the light receiving unit 8b. Is.

  Reference numeral 9 denotes a carriage device, which is a carriage 11 that travels back and forth on the running rails 10 and 10 that are laid on the same plane as the main body running rails 2 and 2, and the carriage 11 via a chain mechanism 12. A traveling motor 13 that can be driven forward and reverse, and a traveling encoder that is connected to the output shaft of the motor 13 and outputs a pulse signal for each unit angle rotation while detecting the rotation direction of the motor 13 to give the traveling position of the carriage 11. 14 and. A tire stop 15 is provided on the wheel support surface of the carriage 11 and supports the front wheels of the automobile. Reference numeral 16 denotes a tire detection switch that switches in conjunction with the tire stop 15 and detects that an automobile has entered the carriage 11. Reference numerals 17a and 17b denote limit switches which are switched in contact with the docks 18a and 18b provided near the front and rear ends of the traveling rails 10 and 10, and detect the traveling limit of the carriage 11 in the forward and backward directions.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the car wash machine body 1 normally stands by at the rear end of the travel rail 2 provided by the limit switch 6b, and the carriage 11 stands by at the front end of the travel rail 10 provided by the limit switch 17a. When the tire detection switch 16 detects that the front wheel of the automobile A has entered the carriage 11 at the car wash start position, the car can be received and washed by an operation panel described later.

A car wash operation will be described with reference to FIG.
In the forward process, the vehicle 11 first travels from the standby state (a) to the rear end of the traveling rail 10 given by the limit switch 17b, and the vehicle shape detector 8 captures the vehicle shape data of the front part of the vehicle, and the vehicle is washed. The front part of the car is washed with a car wash processing device (upper surface brush or side brush) installed in the machine body 1 (b). Next, the car washing machine body 1 travels to the front end of the running rail 2 provided by the limit switch 6a, the car shape detector 8 captures the car shape data of the rear part of the car, and the car washing process provided in the car washing machine body 1 together. Car wash the rear part of the car with the device (c).

  In the returning process, the carriage 11 travels to the front end of the traveling rail 10 provided by the limit switch 17a, and the rear portion of the automobile is dried by the car wash processing device (blower nozzle) provided in the car wash machine body 1 (d). Next, the car washer 1 travels to the rear end of the travel rail 2 provided by the limit switch 6a, and the front part of the automobile is dried by the car wash processing device equipped in the car washer 1.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a control system of the embodiment.
Reference numeral 20 denotes a control unit, based on signals from the encoders 5 and 14, the car shape detector 8, the limit switches 6a, 6b, 17a, and 17b, and the tire detection switch 16, and the car wash processing device 21 is connected via the car wash drive unit 21 of the automobile. Perform motion control. An operation panel 22 is provided on the front face of the car wash machine main body 1 for selecting the content of car wash and inputting the start of the car wash, and for outputting guidance and operating instructions to the operating person by display and voice. is there.

The control unit 20 includes a main body travel position detection unit 23, a cart travel position detection unit 24, a vehicle shape detection unit 25, an image processing unit 26, a data storage unit 27, a reference point recognition unit 28, a vehicle type determination unit 29, and a protrusion detection unit. The main body travel position detection unit 23 includes a protrusion determination unit 31 and a car wash control unit 32. The main body travel position detection unit 23 counts a pulse signal transmitted from the travel encoder 5, and detects the travel position of the car wash machine main body 1. The trolley travel position detection unit 24 counts the pulse signal transmitted from the travel encoder 14 to detect the travel position of the trolley 11. The vehicle shape detection unit 25 takes in light transmission / light shielding data of the optical axes B1 to Bn of the vehicle body detector 8 by using a pulse signal from the encoder 5 or the encoder 14 accompanying the traveling of the car wash machine body 1 or the carriage 11 as a trigger, Binary image data is created in correspondence with the travel positions of the car wash machine main body 1 and the carriage 11 given by the main body travel position detection unit 23 and the cart travel position detection unit 24. In the binary image data created in this way, the horizontal axis is a predetermined traveling pitch of the car wash machine main body 1 and the carriage 11 and the vertical axis is a pixel-like arrangement with the arrangement pitch of the optical axes B1 to Bn. Is represented as white, and black when shaded.

  The image processing unit 26 performs image processing on the binary image data created by the vehicle shape detection unit 25 and extracts the upper surface contour of the automobile. In the image processing, all the pixels of the binary image data are subjected to a logical filter under a predetermined condition, and the binary data of the detection pixel is changed according to the adjacent pixel pattern. Specifically, the center pixel of the 9-pixel matrix logical filter is aligned with the pixel to be detected, and “0 is output if the detection pixel is 0 and all the surrounding pixels are 0, and the detection pixel is 1 and all the surrounding pixels are 0. Image data is created under the condition that “0 is output if it is 0, and 1 is output for all other cases”. Then, the upper surface contour of the automobile that is continuous in the horizontal direction is extracted with the boundary pixel between the translucent pixel and the light shielding pixel in the vertical direction as the upper surface position of the vehicle body. The data storage unit 27 stores the upper surface contour extracted by the image processing unit 26 as vehicle shape data.

  The reference point recognition unit 28 recognizes the reference point of the automobile based on the vehicle shape data, and the recognition method will be described later. The vehicle type discriminating unit 29 discriminates whether the car to be cleaned is a normal car or a one-box car from the car reference point recognized by the reference point recognizing part 28, and the discrimination method will be described later. The protrusion detection unit 30 detects the protrusion with the amount of change in the upper surface level of the automobile based on the vehicle shape data. That is, when the upper surface level rises above a predetermined value while the car wash machine body 1 or the carriage 11 travels a predetermined distance, the protrusion rise is defined, and the case where the upper surface level falls above a predetermined value is defined as a protrusion fall. The presence or absence of is detected. The projection determining unit 31 determines the type of the projection based on the vehicle shape reference point given by the reference point recognition unit 28 and the presence or absence of the projection given by the projection detection unit 30. For example, if a protrusion lowering is recognized between the rear end of the roof and the rear end of the vehicle body, it is determined that “the roof spoiler is present”. The car wash control unit 31 reads data from the data storage unit 27 based on the car wash course and various settings selected on the operation panel 22 and drives the car wash processing device. During cleaning, the projection recognized by the projection recognition unit 28 is given control according to the type of equipment determined by the projection determination unit 31.

  Next, reference point recognition processing in the reference point recognition unit 28 will be described. FIG. 5 shows vehicle shape data image-processed by the image processing unit 26, where (a) represents a normal vehicle and (b) represents a one-box vehicle. Here, the recognition of the vehicle body front end a, the boundary b between the bonnet and the windshield, the roof front end c, the roof rear end d, and the vehicle body rear end e is illustrated.

  The front end a of the vehicle body is recognized by detecting a point where the upper surface level exceeds a preset vehicle body lower limit height CL. The boundary b is the time until the upper surface level reaches the preset roof lower limit height RL, and the car wash machine body 1 or the carriage 11 travels the predetermined distance L1 on the condition that the predetermined distance L0 is separated from the vehicle body front end a. In the meantime, the point where the upper surface level has increased by a predetermined value H1 or more is detected and recognized. In the one-box vehicle as shown in FIG. 5 (b), since there is no bonnet, there is no part that satisfies this condition. Therefore, giving up recognition of the boundary b when the upper surface level reaches the roof lower limit height RL, Shift to recognition of the reference point. On the condition that the upper surface level is equal to or higher than the preset roof lower limit height RL, the upper surface level of the roof front end c does not rise above the predetermined value H2 while the car wash machine body 1 or the carriage 11 travels the predetermined distance L1. Detected points are recognized. The roof rear end d is recognized by detecting a point where the upper surface level is lowered by a predetermined value H3 or more from the height of the roof front end c. The rear end e of the vehicle body is recognized by detecting a point where the upper surface level is below the vehicle body lower limit height CL.

  Here, the vehicle shape data of the automobile detected in a state where the front wheels are mounted on the carriage 11 is data inclined from the front to the rear of the vehicle body. Therefore, the upper surface level of the roof surface is such that the rear end is lower than the front end, and the difference becomes larger as the vehicle has a longer roof surface such as a one-box vehicle. Therefore, the downward change value H3 from the roof front end c, which is a criterion for recognizing the roof rear end d, is changed between the ordinary vehicle and the one-box vehicle.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing vehicle type determination processing in the vehicle type determination unit 29.
First, it is determined whether or not the boundary b has been detected (1). Here, if there is a boundary b, it can be determined that the vehicle is a normal vehicle, so at this time, the descent change value H3 for the normal vehicle is set (2). If the boundary b does not exist, it can be determined that the van type is a one-box vehicle or a light vehicle. Next, the upper surface level value of the roof front end c is detected and compared with the upper surface level value Ha for vehicle type discrimination (3). If it is higher than the upper surface level Ha, it is determined that the vehicle is a one-box vehicle, and a downward change value H4 (> H3) for the one-box vehicle is set (4). If it is lower than the upper surface level Ha, it is determined that the vehicle is a light van vehicle, and a downward change value H3 for a normal vehicle is set. In this way, it is possible to accurately recognize the reference point in both the ordinary vehicle and the one-box vehicle.

  The present invention can be used in a car wash apparatus that moves a car wash machine body and a cart relative to each other to perform car wash in a space-saving manner.

It is a front view which shows the car wash machine of Example 1. FIG. It is a top view of the apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which shows the car wash operation | movement of the apparatus. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a control system according to the first embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows vehicle shape data. It is a flowchart figure which shows the operation | movement of vehicle type discrimination | determination.

Explanation of symbols

1 Car Wash Machine Body 2 Traveling Rail (Car Wash Machine Body)
9 Carriage device 10 Traveling rail (cart)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Cargo 20 Control part 23 Main body travel position detection part 24 Carriage travel position detection part 25 Car shape detection part 28 Reference point recognition part 29 Car type discrimination | determination part 31 Car wash control part

Claims (1)

A car wash machine body that is formed in a gate shape and travels across a car, and a carriage that can run on the front wheels of the car, and the car wash machine body and the carriage are relatively moved to shorten the car wash space. In the car wash device which aimed at
Traveling position detecting means for detecting the traveling positions of the car washer main body and the carriage, upper surface position detecting means for detecting the upper surface level of the automobile, vehicle shape detecting means for detecting the upper surface contour of the automobile by both detecting means, and the detecting means A reference point recognizing means for recognizing a reference point from the upper surface contour of the automobile detected in step (b), and a vehicle type discriminating means for discriminating the vehicle type of the automobile based on the reference point in front of the automobile detected by the recognition means,
In the reference point recognition unit, a point where the falling above the determination value from the roof front height of the car while recognizing the roof rear end of an automobile, to change the determination value according to vehicle type is determined by the vehicle type discriminating means, automobiles When the vehicle is a one-box vehicle, the determination value is made larger than that of a normal vehicle .

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