JPH08103743A - Tank cleaning method and device and instrument used for cleaning - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a device for cleaning automatically a coating material adhered to the inner face of a tank used for carrying the coating material or the like and solidified thereon. CONSTITUTION: Various kinds of instruments for cleaning are replaced and retained in the given order by a retaining device 21 mounted on a wrist section of a manipulator 3 to clean the inner side of a tank 1. A coating material adhered to the inner face of the tank 1 is scraped off by a scraping instrument, then the inner face of the tank 1 is cleaned by a cleaning instrument, and cleaning liquid (for example, a solvent) produced by the cleaning is sucked together with the coating material by a suction instrument. The cleaning liquid and the coating material sucked by the suction instrument is drained to the outside of the tank 1, and the inner face of the tank 1 is scraped off by a scraping instrument.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for cleaning a tank which contains a liquid such as ink or paint or a semi-liquid and which is used for transporting the same, and an apparatus and a device used for the cleaning.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION When transferring paint, for example, a tank 1 as shown in FIG. 16 is used. That is, the specified type of paint is filled in the tank 1 and transported to the destination. At the transportation destination, the paint is released from the tank 1, and the subsequent tanks are taken back and then used for transferring the paint again. By the way, in the tank 1 used for transferring the paint as described above, after the paint is transported and released,
Each time, the inner surface must be cleaned to remove the adhered and solidified paint. In the present situation, the cleaning work is mostly dependent on human hands, and the worker cleans the inner surface of the tank 1 by appropriately using a spatula, a brush, a solvent, a paper waste, or the like. However, the cleaning work as described above requires the worker to perform severe work in a bad environment, and the work efficiency is extremely poor, and improvement thereof is desired. Therefore, the present invention was devised in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method capable of efficiently performing a cleaning operation of a tank, and an apparatus and a tool that can be used for the implementation.

[0003]

[Means for Solving the Problems] A method of cleaning a tank devised to achieve the above-mentioned object is a method in which a manipulator operating along a pre-taught locus is used to sequentially exchange and hold a plurality of types of cleaning tools. A method of cleaning a tank, which comprises scraping foreign substances adhering to the inner surface of the tank with a scraping tool, and then cleaning the inner surface of the tank with a cleaning tool.
The main component is that the cleaning liquid generated by this cleaning is sucked together with the foreign matter by a suction device, discharged to the outside of the tank, and the inner surface of the tank is wiped off by a wiping device. Also, the tank cleaning device is
A manipulator that exchanges and holds a plurality of types of cleaning tools in a predetermined order and cleans the inner surface of the tank by operating along a pre-teached movement trajectory, and the manipulator holds the inner surface of the tank. A scraping device that scrapes off the adhered foreign matter, a cleaning device that is held by the manipulator and cleans the inner surface of the tank after the foreign matter is scraped off, and a cleaning liquid that is held by the manipulator and that is generated by the cleaning It is equipped with a suction device that sucks the foreign matter and guides it to the outside of the tank, and a wiping device that is held by the manipulator and wipes the inner surface of the tank after the cleaning liquid and the foreign matter are discharged to the outside. Is configured as the main element. The holding device provided in the manipulator for detachably holding the cleaning tool and used for carrying out the method for cleaning the tank includes a main body attached to the manipulator, and a radial shape centered on the main body of the main body. A holding member which is rotatably supported by a shaft and which has an engaging portion on its inner surface side; and the engaging portion of the holding member which is provided in the cleaning instrument and is in a closed state at the axial center position of the main body. A holding jig having an engageable engaged portion, and a holding jig that surrounds the holding member and is slidably provided along the holding member, and the holding member is slidable according to the sliding position with respect to the holding member. The main element is that it is provided with a control member that permits or blocks the opening and closing of the holding jig and controls the attachment and detachment of the holding jig. The scraping tool used for carrying out the cleaning method of the tank by scraping off the foreign matter adhering to the inner surface of the tank is a spatula-like scraping piece elastically deformable to conform to the shape of the inner surface of the tank, and the scraping member. The main element is that it is provided with a rotation supporting mechanism that rotatably supports the piece about an axis along the scraping direction.

The scooping tool used for carrying out the cleaning method of the tank by scooping the foreign matter scraped off from the inner surface of the tank is a dust collecting collection container having an opening for scooping the foreign matter, and A displacement support mechanism that supports the collection container so as to be rotatable about an axis along the scooping direction and that elastically displaces the collection container so that the opening is along the inner surface of the tank. It is composed mainly of the provided points. A cleaning instrument for cleaning the inner surface of the tank to carry out the method for cleaning the tank is provided with a brush member for rubbing the inner surface of the tank and the brush member.
The main element is that the nozzle is provided with a nozzle for spraying the cleaning liquid toward an appropriate portion of the brush member. The suction device used for carrying out the method for cleaning the tank by sucking the cleaning liquid generated by cleaning the inner surface of the tank together with the foreign matter is connected to a suction device, and a suction nozzle body for sucking the cleaning liquid and the foreign matter, The main element is that it is provided at the tip of the suction nozzle body and has a skirt having slits at appropriate places around the body. A wiping device used for carrying out a method for cleaning a tank by wiping the inner surface of the tank after cleaning is provided with an elastically deformable elastic member and a winding member wrapped around the elastic member. The main element is a sheet-like body that comes into contact with and wipes the surface.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments embodying the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings for the understanding of the present invention. It should be noted that the following embodiments are examples of embodying the present invention, and are not intended to limit the technical scope of the present invention. here,
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a tank cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of an essential part in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure for cleaning a tank by the cleaning device. 4A and 4B show the structure of a holding device that detachably holds a cleaning tool, wherein FIG. 4A is a side sectional view, FIG. 4B is a sectional view taken along the line AA ′ in FIG.
FIG. 5C is a sectional view taken along the line BB ′ in FIG. 5A, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing the attaching / detaching operation of the cleaning tool by the holding device.
FIG. 6 is a side sectional view showing the structure of a holding device according to another embodiment, FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the structure of a scraping tool for scraping off foreign matter adhering to the inner surface of the tank, and FIG. 8 is scraped off. Fig. 9 is a perspective view showing the structure of a scraping device for scooping foreign matter, Fig. 9 is a perspective view showing the structure of a cleaning device for cleaning the inner surface of the tank, and Fig. 10 is a perspective view showing the structure of a suction device for sucking foreign matter and cleaning liquid.
FIG. 11 is a side sectional view of a main part in FIG. 10, FIG. 12 is a three-sided view of the main body of the suction device, FIG. 13 is an explanatory view showing a situation when performing suction work using the suction device, and FIG. 1 is a schematic circuit diagram of a suction system including a device, FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a wiping device for wiping the inner surface of the tank, FIG.
6 is a perspective view showing an example of a tank to be cleaned.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the cleaning device 2 according to this embodiment exchanges and holds a plurality of types of cleaning tools described later in a predetermined order, and operates along a pre-teached motion locus. And a manipulator 3 for cleaning the inner surface of the tank 1 (see FIG. 16), and a scraping device 4 for scraping off foreign matter such as paint, which is held by the manipulator 3 and adheres to the inner surface of the tank 1 and solidifies. (See FIG. 7), and the scooping tool 5 (see FIG. 8) that is held by the manipulator 3 and scoops the paint scraped from the inner surface of the tank 1 and discharges it to the outside, and is held by the manipulator 3 And the manipulator 3 for cleaning the inner surface of the tank 1 after the paint is scraped off (see FIG. 9).
The suction device 7 (Fig.
0)) and a wiping device 8 (see FIG. 15) for wiping the inner surface of the tank 1 held by the manipulator 3 and having the cleaning liquid and the paint discharged to the outside. In the cleaning device 2 having the above structure, the paint adhered to the inner surface of the tank 1 and solidified is scraped off by the scraping device 4 and scooped by the scooping device 5, and then the tank 1 of the tank 1 is cleaned. The inner surface is cleaned by the cleaning tool 6. The cleaning liquid generated by the cleaning is sucked together with the paint by the suction device 7 and discharged to the outside of the tank 1, and the inner surface of the tank 1 is wiped by the wiping device 8. Hereinafter, the configuration of the cleaning device 2 and various instruments and the cleaning procedure will be described in detail. As the manipulator 3, for example, a 6-axis multi-joint type (3-axis wrist / remote teaching) type is used, and the above-mentioned various cleaning instruments can be detachably and firmly held on the wrist part. A holding device 9 is attached.

In the holding device 9 shown in FIG.
As shown in (B) and (C), stainless steel is used as the material in consideration of the work reaction force during work and the ability to withstand a solvent that is an example of a cleaning liquid.
The four nail-shaped holding members 1 radially around the axis of the main body 10 attached to the wrist of the manipulator 3.
1, 11, 11, 11 are pivotally supported so that they can be opened and closed. The sandwiching members 11 that face each other are connected to each other by a spring 12 at their upper ends, and are always elastically biased in the opening direction. A recess 13 for engagement is engraved on the lower inner surface side of each holding member 11. The ring member is slidable in the up-down direction along the holding member 11 so as to surround the holding member 11. 14 (control member) is provided. The ring member 14 is a spring 1
5 is always elastically urged downward, and depending on the slide position with respect to the holding member 11, the holding member 11
The opening / closing of the holding jig 16 is allowed or blocked, and the attachment / detachment of the holding jig 16 described later is controlled. A frustoconical holding jig 16 fixed to various cleaning tools is fitted and inserted in the axial center position of the main body 10, and an arc-shaped holding jig 16 is projected on each surface of the holding jig 16. By engaging the engaging convex portion 17 with the concave portion 13 of the holding member 11 that has been closed, various cleaning tools are firmly held via the holding jig 16. 5 (A) and 5 (B) illustrate such a holding operation for the scraping tool 4.

The ring member 14 is not operated by the manipulator 3 itself, but is used exclusively for the opening / closing device 1
8 (see FIG. 1). That is, the opening / closing device 18 is arranged at the axial center position of the tool indexing turntable 19, and the tool indexing turntable 19 is provided.
Holds various cleaning tools on its circumference at a predetermined pitch. When the manipulator 3 including the holding device 9 is moved to a predetermined position on the instrument indexing turntable 19, the ring member 1 of the holding device 9 is moved.
The claw 20 of the opening / closing device 18 is engaged with the groove portion of No. 4.
By operating the claw 20 in a predetermined direction, the ring member 14 is operated and the opening / closing operation of the holding member 11 is controlled. That is, the holding device 9 does not require auxiliary power for operating the holding member 11 and can hold various instruments with a large holding force by the action of the ring member 14. Instead of the holding device 9 as described above, it is possible to use a holding device 21 as shown in FIG. 6, for example. As shown in the figure, the holding device 21 has substantially the same basic structure as the holding device 9, and the difference from the holding device 9 lies in the lower inner surface side of the holding members 11, 11 facing each other. That is, the engaging convex portion 22 is provided in a protruding manner, and the convex portion 22 is not formed on the opposite holding member 11 on the other side. Such a holding device 2
The holding jig 23 that can be held at 1 is, for example, as shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 2, the recesses 24, 2 for engagement, which can be engaged with the projection 22 only on two opposite surfaces formed in a substantially truncated cone shape.
4 is engraved. The other two surfaces are not processed at all. With the above configuration, the structure of the holding device itself can be simplified.

Since the operation of the holding device 21 is the same as that of the holding device 9 described above, detailed description thereof will be omitted. As shown in FIGS. 5 (B) and 7, the scraping tool 4 is provided with a spatula-shaped scraping piece 25 which is elastically deformable so as to follow the shape of the inner surface of the tank 1. Are held by a holder 26 to which the holding jig 23 is attached. In this case, the scraping piece 25
Is supported by a rotation support mechanism 27 including a bearing or a slide bearing so as to be rotatable about an axis along the scraping direction. In the scraping device 4 having the above-mentioned configuration, the paint adhered to the surface can be efficiently scraped or scraped off in accordance with the surface shape of either the inner side surface or the bottom surface of the tank 1. it can. As shown in FIG. 8, the scooping tool 5 is provided with a dust-collecting-like collecting container 28 having an opening 32 for scooping paint, and the holding jig 23 is attached to the collecting container 28. It is held by a holder 29 via a leaf spring 30. In this case, the recovery container 28 is supported by a support pin 31 on the free end side of the leaf spring 30 so as to be rotatable around its axis. The leaf spring 30 and the support pin 31 rotatably support the recovery container 28 around an axis along the scooping direction, and the opening 32 conforms to the inner surface of the tank 1. A displacement support mechanism 33 is configured to elastically displace the recovery container 28. In the scooping instrument 5 having the above-described configuration, the recovery container 28 can be suitably added to the bottom shape of the tank 1, and the paint scooping operation can be efficiently performed.

In the cleaning instrument 6, as shown in FIG. 9, a rod 35 is projected from a holder 34 equipped with the holding jig 23, and the inner surface of the tank 1 is attached to the tip of the rod 35. A brush member 36 for rubbing is attached. Nozzles 37 for spraying, for example, a solvent toward appropriate portions of the brush member 36 are provided at, for example, the central portion and both sides of the brush member 36. Therefore,
In the cleaning instrument 6 having the above-described configuration, the manipulator 3 is operated and the inner surface of the tank 1 is rubbed by the brush member 36, so that the inner surface of the tank 1 is combined with the action of the solvent sprayed from the nozzle 37. The paint adhered to the surface is washed properly, and the washing effect is dramatically improved. The suction device 7 is, as shown in FIGS.
The suction nozzle main body 40 is connected to the suction device 38 via a tube 39 and sucks the solvent or paint. The suction nozzle main body 40 has a rod on a holder 41 to which the holding jig 23 is attached. It is attached via 42. At the tip of the suction nozzle body 40, two types of rubber plates 44, 45 and 44 having different wall pressure dimensions are provided on both sides of the opening 43 with the opening 43 interposed therebetween.
45 is fixed. The rubber plates 44, 45 and 4
Slits 46 are formed at both ends of the skirts 4 and 45 in the longitudinal direction to form skirts 47. In the suction device 7 having the above structure, the suction device 7 is attached to the bottom surface of the tank 1.
By simply bringing the skirt portion 47 into contact with the skirt portion 47, the solution in which the coating material is dissolved by the solvent can be sucked and discharged extremely efficiently through the slit portion 46 within a short time. In the apparatus of this embodiment, the rubber plates 44 and 45 are
In order to provide an antistatic function, for example, carbon is contained in the component.

In the wiping device 8, as shown in FIG.
A rod is projected from a holder 48 to which the holding jig 23 is attached. An elastically deformable sponge 50 (elastic member) is attached to the tip of the rod 49, and a paper waste 51 is wrapped around the sponge 50 so as to wrap it. The inner surface of the tank 1 can be effectively wiped by preparing a plurality of the wiping tools 8 having the above-described configuration in advance and appropriately exchanging them to wipe the inner surface of the tank 1. Next, a procedure for cleaning the paint adhered and solidified on the inner surface of the tank 1 by using the cleaning device 2 having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG.
In the figure, S1, S2, ... Show each processing step.
Prior to this cleaning operation, the tank 1 is fixed in advance at a predetermined position in the cleaning booth, the manipulator 3 is operated along a pre-teached movement trajectory, and the scraping tool on the tool indexing turntable 19 is moved. 4 is held by the holding device 21. In this case, the opening / closing device 18 on the tool indexing turntable 19 is operated, and the ring member 14 of the holding device 21 is operated by the claw 20, so that the holding device 2
The scraping tool 4 is held at 1. After that, the manipulator 3 is operated and the scraping piece 25 of the scraping device 4 is rotated around the inner surface of the tank 1 in the circumferential direction, so that the paint adhered to the inner surface of the tank 1 is removed. Be scraped off. The above operation is shifted downward so that the width of the scraping piece 25 is slid by a predetermined dimension, and the paint scraping operation is performed (S1).

Subsequently, the scraping piece 25 of the scraping device 4 is added to the bottom surface of the tank 1, and the adhered coating material is scraped in the same manner as the side surface. In this case, the scraping piece 25 is automatically displaced by the action of the rotation support mechanism 27 so as to follow the bottom surface of the tank 1, and the scraping piece 25 is preferably placed on the bottom surface as in the case of the inner side surface. It is possible to efficiently carry out the scraping work of the coating material. In this case, the paint adhering to the tip of the scraping piece 25 is removed by the action of the paint removing device 52 (see FIG. 1). That is, both surfaces of the scraping piece 25 are rubbed by two blades, so that the paint adhering to the surface is removed. The blade is configured as a so-called guillotine type, and by moving the manipulator 3 upward while the scraping piece 25 is sandwiched by the blade, the paint adhered to the surface of the scraping piece 25 is scraped off. Be dropped. When the scraping work of the paint on the inner surface of the tank 1 is completed as described above, the manipulator 3 moves the holding device 21 onto the tool indexing turntable 19 and replaces the scraping tool 4 with scooping. Hold instrument 5.
Then, by moving the scooping tool 5 along the bottom surface of the tank 1, the scraped paint is stored in the recovery container 28 (S2). Subsequently, the manipulator 3 holds the cleaning instrument 6 in place of the scooping instrument 5 by the holding device 21, and operates the cleaning instrument 6 in the same path as in the case of the scraping instrument 4 while operating the tank 1 The solvent is sprayed from the nozzle 37 while rubbing the inner surface of the. By this operation, the side surface and further the bottom surface of the tank 1 are cleaned (S3, S4).

The paint that has become sludge-like after being dissolved by the cleaning operation is discharged to the outside of the tank 1 by the suction device 7 that is continuously held by the holding device 21 (S5). After the dissolution liquid in the tank 1 is discharged as described above, the wiping device 8 is held by the holding device 21, and the side surface and the bottom surface of the tank 1 are wiped off. In this case, tank 1
The number of wiping tools 8 used is appropriately adjusted according to the internal conditions (S6). In the above procedure, the scooping work of the paint in step S2 is omitted, the washing work is performed immediately after the paint is scraped off, and all the paint is melted and discharged by the suction device 7. You may do it. By omitting the steps in this way, the cleaning work can be performed more easily. Since the cleaning device 2 according to the present embodiment is configured as described above, the cleaning work of the tank 1 which has conventionally relied on manual work by an operator can be performed efficiently and automatically.

[0014]

Since the tank cleaning method and the cleaning apparatus according to the present invention are configured as described above, the tank cleaning operation can be automatically and efficiently performed without requiring the operator to perform any severe work. can do. Further, the cleaning work can be more effectively automated by properly using the above-mentioned various cleaning tools.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a tank cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a main part in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure for cleaning a tank by the cleaning device.

4A and 4B show a structure of a holding device that detachably holds a cleaning tool, wherein FIG. 4A is a side sectional view and FIG.
Is a sectional view taken along the line A-A 'in (A), and (C) is (A).
6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB ′ in FIG.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing an attaching / detaching operation of the cleaning instrument by the holding device.

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view of an essential part showing the structure of a holding device according to another embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a scraping tool that scrapes off foreign matter attached to the inner surface of the tank.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a scraping device that scoops off the foreign matter scraped off.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a cleaning tool for cleaning the inner surface of the tank.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a suction device for sucking foreign matter and cleaning liquid.

11 is a side sectional view of a main part in FIG.

FIG. 12 is a trihedral view of the main body of the suction device.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory view showing a situation in which a suction work is performed using the suction device.

FIG. 14 is a schematic circuit diagram of a suction system including the suction device.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a wiping tool for wiping the inner surface of the tank.

FIG. 16 is a perspective view showing an example of a tank to be cleaned.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Tank 2 ... Cleaning device 3 ... Manipulator 4 ... Scraping device 5 ... Scooping device 6 ... Cleaning device 7 ... Suction device 8 ... Wiping device 9,21 ... Holding device 10 ... Main body 11 ... Clamping member 12, 15 ... Spring 13, 24 ... Recessed portion 14 ... Ring member (control member) 16, 23 ... Holding jig 17, 22 ... Convex portion 25 ... Scraping piece 26, 29, 34, 4
1, 48 ... Holder 27 ... Rotation support mechanism 28 ... Recovery container 30 ... Leaf spring 31 ... Support pin 32 ... Opening 33 ... Displacement support mechanism 35, 42, 49 ... Rod 36 ... Brush member 37 ... Nozzle 38 ... Suction device 39 ... Tube 40 ... Suction nozzle body 43 ... Openings 44, 45 ... Rubber plate 46 ... Slit part 47 ... Skirt part 50 ... Sponge (elastic member) 51 ... Paper waste S1 to S6 ... Processing step

Front Page Continuation (72) Inventor Kutoku Ikeno, Iwakura City, Aichi Prefecture, 530 Inaricho Gohan, No. 201, Hines Makino 201 (72) Inventor, Atsushi Mimori 1-6-6, Shiroyama, Komaki City, Aichi Prefecture, No. 4 Building No. 301, Confort Shiroyama (72) Inventor Kazunori Konishi 1-2 Nakahara, Sanya-cho, Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture Kobe Steel Co., Ltd. Toyohashi FA / Robot Center (72) Inventor Hiroaki Kobe 4-chome, Nakamura-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture No.23 Kobe Steel Works Nagoya Branch Office

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A method for cleaning a tank by sequentially holding a plurality of types of cleaning tools in a manipulator that operates along a pre-teached movement trajectory and cleaning the tank by scraping off foreign matter adhering to the inner surface of the tank. After scraping with an instrument, the inner surface of the tank is washed with a washing instrument, and the cleaning liquid generated by this washing is sucked together with the foreign matter with a suction instrument and discharged to the outside of the tank. A method for cleaning a tank, characterized in that it is wiped off with a wiping tool. 2. A manipulator for exchanging and holding a plurality of types of cleaning tools in a predetermined order and cleaning the inner surface of a tank by operating along a pre-teached movement locus, and held by the manipulator, A scraping device for scraping off foreign matter adhering to the inner surface of the tank, and a cleaning device held by the manipulator for cleaning the inner surface of the tank after the foreign matter is scraped off, and held by the manipulator,
A suction device for sucking the cleaning liquid generated by cleaning together with the foreign matter and guiding it to the outside of the tank; and a wiping device which is held by the manipulator and wipes the inner surface of the tank after the cleaning liquid and the foreign matter are discharged to the outside. A cleaning device for a tank, comprising: 3. A holding device which is provided in a manipulator and which is used for carrying out a method for cleaning a tank by detachably holding a cleaning tool, the main body being attached to the manipulator, and the main body being attached to the main body. A holding member which is rotatably supported by a shaft so as to be radially openable and closable and has an engaging portion on the inner surface side thereof, and the holding member which is provided in the cleaning instrument and is closed at the shaft center position of the main body. A holding jig having an engaged portion engageable with the engaging portion, and slidable along the sandwiching member so as to surround the sandwiching member, and a slide position with respect to the sandwiching member. And a control member for permitting or blocking the opening and closing of the holding member and controlling attachment and detachment of the holding jig according to the above. 4. A scraping tool for scraping off foreign matter adhering to the inner surface of a tank to carry out a method for cleaning the tank, which is elastically deformable in a spatula shape so as to conform to the shape of the inner surface of the tank. And a rotation support mechanism that rotatably supports the scraping piece so as to be rotatable around an axis along the scraping direction. 5. A scooping tool used for carrying out a method for cleaning a tank by scooping foreign matter scraped off from the inner surface of the tank, the dust collecting method having an opening for scooping the foreign matter. Displacement that rotatably supports the container and the recovery container around an axis along the scooping direction, and that elastically displaces the recovery container so that the opening follows the inner surface of the tank. A scooping tool comprising a support mechanism. 6. A cleaning tool for cleaning an inner surface of a tank to carry out a method for cleaning the tank, comprising: a brush member for rubbing the inner surface of the tank; and a brush member provided along with the brush member. And a nozzle for spraying the cleaning liquid toward an appropriate part of the cleaning tool. 7. A suction device for sucking a cleaning liquid generated by cleaning the inner surface of a tank together with a foreign object to carry out a method for cleaning the tank, which is connected to a suction device.
A suction device comprising: a suction nozzle main body for sucking the cleaning liquid and foreign matter; and a skirt portion provided at a tip end portion of the suction nozzle main body and having a slit portion at an appropriate position around the suction nozzle main body. 8. A wiping device used for carrying out a method for cleaning a tank by wiping the inner surface of the tank after cleaning, wherein the elastic member is elastically deformable, and the elastic member is wrapped so as to wrap it. A wiping device, which is attached to the inner surface of the tank and wipes the surface.