JPH09277915A - Washing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To wash a special vehicle excellently without damaging any wiper and the like by means of a washing device by which an ordinary vehicle such as a passenger car can be washed as usual. SOLUTION: In washing an ordinary vehicle such as a passenger car, a basic washing course is set, and side brushes 26A, 26B are rotated at a high speed, and side faces, a front face, and a rear face are washed. In washing a special vehicle such as a one-box car, a special washing course is set, and the front face 30a and the rear face 30c are washed by rotating the side brushes 26A, 26B at a low speed, so that no excessive load is applied to vipers 31, 32, and as a result, the wipers 31, 32 are prevented from being damaged.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a car wash method adopted for automatically cleaning the front and rear surfaces and side surfaces of a vehicle to be cleaned by a car washing machine installed at a gas station.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in order to automatically wash a front and rear surface and a side surface of a vehicle to be washed by a movable car wash machine, a pair of left and right side brushes that are moved toward each other in a rotating state is first provided on the front side of the vehicle to be washed. After contacting the center part, both side brushes are moved away from each other in the vehicle width direction to wash the entire front surface, then both side brushes are brought into contact with the side surfaces and then the car wash machine is moved to remove the entire area on both side surfaces. There is provided a car washing method of performing washing, and moving both side brushes toward each other in the vehicle width direction to wash the entire rear surface.

[0003]

However, in the above-described conventional car washing method, the washing with the both side brushes is performed at the same number of rotations on both the front and rear surfaces and the side surfaces. Therefore, for example, one box car ( In a special vehicle (without front and rear bonnets or trunks), there is a problem that both side brushes come into contact with the front and rear wipers and damage these wipers.

Therefore, the invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is a method for washing a vehicle, which can wash a normal vehicle such as a passenger car as usual, but can also wash a special vehicle suitably without damaging a wiper or the like. It is intended to be provided.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a car washing method according to a first aspect of the present invention is a side brush device in which a pair of left and right sides are rotatable about a longitudinal axis. A brush is provided, and these side brushes are moved toward and away from each other in the vehicle width direction of the vehicle to be cleaned, and are relatively moved in the vehicle length direction with respect to the vehicle to be cleaned, so that the front and rear surfaces and both sides of the vehicle to be cleaned are moved. It is a car wash method for cleaning the side surface, and as a cleaning course viewed from the rotation speed of both side brushes, a basic cleaning course for cleaning the side surface and the front and back surfaces at the same rotation speed, and a rotation for cleaning both side surfaces It is characterized by having a special cleaning course in which the number of rotations at the time of cleaning the front and rear surfaces is set lower than the number of rotations.

Therefore, according to the first aspect of the invention, in the case of a vehicle to be normally washed such as a passenger car, by setting the basic washing course, it is possible to wash the side surface and the front and rear surfaces while rotating the side brush at a high speed. And in the case of a special cleaning vehicle such as a one-box car, by setting the special cleaning course, the front and rear surfaces can be cleaned while rotating the side brush at low speed, so that the wiper is not overloaded and the wiper is damaged. Suitable cleaning can be performed without causing it.

The car wash method according to claim 2 of the present invention is
In the above-mentioned structure according to claim 1, the brush body of the side brush is made of cloth. Therefore, according to the invention of claim 2, it is possible to perform soft cleaning that is unlikely to damage the vehicle body.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.
A state adopted in a mobile car wash machine will be described based on the drawings.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, a gate-shaped car wash main body 1
Is mounted on a rail 3 via a plurality of wheels 2 and is reciprocally traveled on a fixed route by the operation of a travel drive device (travel motor) 15. The car wash body 1 is provided with a first wash water arch 4, a first wax arch 5, a second wash water arch 6, a second wax arch 7, and a detergent arch 8 in this order. . Further, a top nozzle 9 and a side nozzle 10 for drying are provided at the location of the first cleaning water arch 4, and a top brush 11 and a rocker brush 12 are provided, and a side brush device 20 is provided.

The side brush device 20 is provided with a pair of left and right rails 21A and 21B supported on the car wash machine body 1 side, and is supported and guided by the rails 21A and 21B to be movable in the vehicle width direction W. Movable stands 22A and 22B are provided. Brush shafts 23A and 23B are hung from the movable bases 22A and 22B, and the brush shafts 23A and 23B are movable bases.
The side brushes 26A and 26B, which are linked to the motors 24A and 24B on the 22A and 22B and are configured by attaching the cloth brush bodies 25A and 25B to the brush shafts 23A and 23B, respectively, have a vertical axis 27
It is configured to be rotatable around A and 27B. Further, an operating device 28 interlocking with the movable bases 22A and 22B is provided on the side of the car wash machine main body 1 so that the side brushes 26A and 26B can be moved toward and away from each other in the vehicle width direction (horizontal direction) W.

The car wash main body 1 is provided with vehicle length detecting means 16 in the form of, for example, a photocell, and the vehicle length detecting means 16 is provided.
Is positioned forward with a predetermined distance L from the position where the side brush device 20 is disposed. Further, the car wash machine body 1 is provided with a traveling distance detecting means 17, and the traveling distance detecting means 17 includes, for example, an encoder 18 connected to the traveling drive device 15 and a counter 19 for counting output pulses of the encoder 18. Composed.

An operation panel 13 is provided on the front side of the car wash machine body 1, and a car wash course selection switch, a start / stop switch and the like are arranged on the operation panel 13. Here, in the car wash machine, both side brushes 26A, 26
As a cleaning course viewed from the rotation speed of B, in addition to the basic cleaning course in which the side surface and the front and rear surfaces of the vehicle to be cleaned are cleaned at the same rotation speed, the cleaning of the front and rear surfaces relative to the rotation speed at the time of cleaning both side surfaces A special cleaning course is performed by reducing the number of rotations at the time, and for this purpose, the operation panel 13 is provided with a switch 14 for the special cleaning course.

1 to 4, 30 is a special vehicle to be cleaned such as a one-box car, 30a is its front surface, 30b is both side surfaces, 30c is a rear surface, and 31 is a front side wiper, 32
Indicates the rear wiper. In FIG. 5, 35 is a vehicle to be normally washed such as a passenger car, 35a is its front surface, 35b is both side surfaces, 35c is a rear surface, and 36 is a front side wiper.

The cleaning action in the above embodiment will be described below. Basically, the vehicle is washed by stopping the vehicle and moving the car wash machine body 1 back and forth while each brush 11,
Abutment / separation movements of 12, 26A and 26B, supply of cleaning water through cleaning water arches 4 and 6, supply of wax liquid through wax arches 5 and 7, detergent and scales through detergent arch 8. This can be performed by appropriately combining operations such as supply of the removing agent and blowing of air through the nozzles 9 and 10.

For example, in the case of cleaning the specially cleaned vehicle 30, the cleaning of the front surface 30a, both side surfaces 30b, and the rear surface 30c by the side brush device 20 is performed as follows in FIGS. Controlled.

Before the cleaning process, as shown by the solid line in FIG. 1, both side brushes 26A and 26B have stopped rotating, and forward and outward with respect to the front surface 30a of the special vehicle 30 to be cleaned. positioned. In this state, first, the washing conditions are set by the operation panel 13, and the special washing course switch 14 is pressed, whereby one of the special washing courses is set.

When the car wash start switch is turned on in this state, first the motors 24A and 24B are driven to rotate the side brushes 26A and 26B a and b, and the centrifugal force thereof causes the brush bodies 25A and 25B to move to the positions shown in FIG. Expand as indicated by the imaginary line b (expansion). At that time, since it is a special cleaning course, both side brushes are
The rotations a and b of 26A and 26B are performed at a low rotation speed, that is, the rotations a and b at a low speed, so that both brush bodies 25A and 25B are expanded with a small diameter.

Next, the two side brushes 26A, 26B are moved toward each other M in the vehicle width direction W so as to be at the central cleaning position X where the brush bodies 25A, 25B interfere with each other as shown by the phantom line B in FIG. Closed). Then, based on the traveling start command, the traveling drive device 15 is driven to cause the car wash machine body 1 to travel (forward), and both side brushes 26A and 26B are moved toward the front surface 30a. By this movement, both side brushes 26A, 26B
Contacts (contacts) the front surface 30a as shown by the phantom line C,
The limit switch or the like detects that both side brushes 26A, 26B are tilted rearward, and the traveling of the car wash machine body 1 is stopped.

Then, as shown by the phantom line D in FIG. 1, both side brushes 26A, 26B are moved apart (fully opened) N, whereby the entire front surface 30a is cleaned. At this time, since the side brushes 26A and 26B rotate at low speeds a and b, the front side wiper 31 is not overloaded, and thus the front side wiper 31 is less likely to be damaged, so that the front side cleaning can be performed.

Thereafter, based on the motor high speed rotation command,
The rotation of both side brushes 26A and 26B is switched to a high speed rotation speed, that is, to the high speed rotations A and B, whereby both brush bodies 25A and 25B are expanded to a large diameter as shown by the phantom line E in FIG. In this state, the traveling drive device 15 causes the car wash machine body 1 to travel again, and both side brushes 26A,
By bringing the 26B into contact (contact) with the corresponding side surface 30b, the side surface 30b is cleaned by both side brushes 26A and 26B as shown in the phantom line in FIG. 1 and the phantom line in FIG. Is performed at high speed rotations A and B.

When the side washing as described above is approaching the end, the vehicle length detecting means 16 is turned off, and the vehicle length is detected by the count number from here. Then, after detecting the vehicle length corresponding to the predetermined distance L, both side brushes 26A, 26B are detected.
By maintaining the opening degree and stopping the traveling of the car wash machine body 1, the washing of the entire side surface 30b is completed as shown by the solid line in FIG.

Next, since it is a special cleaning course,
Based on the motor low speed rotation command, both side brushes 26A,
26B is switched to high-speed rotations A and B, and both brush bodies 25A and 25B are expanded with a small diameter, as shown in phantom lines in FIG. Then, the both side brushes 26A, 26B are moved toward each other (fully closed) M in the vehicle width direction W, so that the entire area of the rear surface 30b is cleaned as shown by the phantom line in FIG. At this time, since the both side brushes 26A and 26B rotate at low speeds a and b, the rear surface wiper 32 is not overloaded and the rear surface wiper 32 is less likely to be damaged.

Next, the motors 24A and 24B are stopped to stop the rotation of both side brushes 26A and 26B, and the brush bodies 25A and 25B are reduced in diameter as shown by the phantom line in FIG. Then, by moving the car wash machine body 1 to move both side brushes 26A and 26B to the ends as shown by the phantom line in FIG. 2, and then as shown by the phantom line in FIG. The brushes 26A and 26B are moved (fully opened) N apart from each other in the vehicle width direction W.

For example, when the vehicle 35 to be cleaned is normally washed, the front surface 35a, the side surfaces 35b, and
The cleaning of the rear surface 35c is controlled as follows in FIGS. That is, although basically the same as the vehicle 30 to be specially cleaned, since it is the basic cleaning course, the motor low speed rotation command is not output, and the rotation of both side brushes 26A and 26B is based on the motor high speed rotation command. Are high-speed rotations A and B having the same number of rotations as when they correspond to the side surface 35b, so that the cleaning of the front surface 35a and the rear surface 35c shown in phantom lines I to E, J and R in FIG. Performed in B.

In cleaning as described above, both brush bodies
Since 25A and 25B are made of cloth, it is possible to perform soft cleaning that does not easily scratch the car body. In the above-described embodiment, the front surfaces 30a and 35a are washed, and then the rear surfaces 30c and 35c are washed. This is done when the vehicles to be cleaned 30 and 35 are backed and stopped. After cleaning 30c and 35c, the front surfaces 30a and 35a are cleaned.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the car wash machine main body 1 is moved with respect to the stopped vehicles 30 and 35 to be cleaned. This is a fixed car wash machine to be cleaned by a conveyor or the like. The vehicle 30 or 35 may be moved.

In the above-described embodiment, both brush bodies 25
Although A and 25B are made of cloth, they may be side brushes 26A and 26B using resin brush bristles or the like.

In the above embodiment, the side brush 26
The front surfaces 30a and 35a are cleaned by moving the A and 26B apart once N, and the rear surfaces 30c and 35c are cleaned by moving the side brushes 26A and 26B once closer to each other. This may be performed by repeating the separating movement N and the approaching movement M of the side brushes 26A and 26B with respect to the front surfaces 30a and 35a and the rear surfaces 30c and 35c, and performing the cleaning a plurality of times. At that time, a step of rotating the side brushes 26A and 26B in the reverse direction may be incorporated.

[0029]

According to the first aspect of the present invention described above, in the case of a vehicle to be normally washed such as a passenger car, by setting the basic washing course, the side brush and the front and rear surfaces are washed while the side brush is rotated at a high speed. be able to. And for vehicles to be specially cleaned such as a one-box car, by setting a special cleaning course, the front and rear surfaces can be cleaned while rotating the side brush at low speed, so that the wiper is not overloaded and the wiper is not overloaded. Suitable washing can be performed without damaging the above.

According to the second aspect of the present invention,
It is possible to perform soft cleaning that does not easily scratch the car body.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing an example of an embodiment of the present invention during front side cleaning of a special cleaning course in a car washing method.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view at the time of cleaning the rear surface of a special cleaning course in the same car washing method.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a car washing machine in the car washing method.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a car washing machine in the car washing method.

FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view at the time of cleaning a basic cleaning course in the car washing method.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the car washing method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Car wash machine body 13 Operation panel 14 Special cleaning course switch 16 Vehicle length detection means 17 Travel distance detection means 20 Side brush device 23A Brush shaft 23B Brush shaft 25A Cloth brush body 25B Cloth brush body 26A Side brush 26B Side brush 27A Vertical axis 27B Vertical axis 30 Special washed vehicle 30a Front 30b Side 30c Rear 31 Front wiper 32 Rear wiper 35 Normal washed vehicle 35a Front 35b Side 35c Rear 36 Wiper A Fast rotation B Fast rotation a Slow Rotation b Low-speed rotation W Vehicle width direction

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A side brush device has a pair of left and right side brushes rotatable about a longitudinal axis, and these side brushes are moved toward and away from each other in the vehicle width direction of a vehicle to be cleaned, and also to be cleaned. A method of washing a vehicle in which the front and rear surfaces and both side surfaces of a vehicle to be washed are moved relative to the vehicle in the vehicle length direction, and the side surface is used as a washing course viewed from the number of rotations of both side brushes. It has a basic cleaning course for cleaning the front and rear surfaces at the same number of revolutions, and a special cleaning course for lowering the number of revolutions for cleaning the front and rear surfaces relative to the number of revolutions for cleaning both side surfaces. Car wash method. 2. The car wash method according to claim 1, wherein the brush body of the side brush is made of cloth.