JPS6164565A - Washer for automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a gate post body through which a vehicle to be washed passes, a roller-shaped cleaning brush that rotates around a horizontal axis, and a roller-shaped cleaning brush that is disposed at both ends of the cleaning brush and is provided with a gate post body through which a vehicle to be washed passes. and a mounting member supported by support rollers on the support rail, the support rail having a lower end inclined with respect to the vertical in a direction away from the vehicle to be washed, and flexible traction members disposed on both sides of the washing brush. The present invention relates to a washing device for a motor vehicle, which is arranged to adjust the height of a washing brush with respect to the vehicle by a control device which is actuated by the contact pressure of an electric motor and the washing brush.

In a known cleaning device of the above type (DE 16 30 646), which is installed at the outlet end of the cleaning installation, the cleaning brush rotates about a horizontal axis and is mounted and moved as described above.

The two support rails are arranged at 45° to the vertical so that they are inclined from their top to their base in the direction of vehicle movement.
is tilted at an angle of A U-shaped frame is supported on the support rail by its U-shaped lateral legs;
Each side leg abuts the corner member from below and prevents the support roller from lifting off the support track. The cleaning brush mounting member is arranged on the U-shaped lateral legs of the frame. U
The upper end of each lateral leg of the shaped frame is engaged with a flexible traction member consisting of a cheno wheel disposed at the upper end of the support track and a cheno wheel disposed at the lower end of the support track. is returned to the lower end of the U-shaped side legs by another cheno wheel. The upper cheno wheel associated with the two traction members is connected by a drive shaft. This complex cheno drive is designed to prevent the frame from tilting during up and down movements. This cleaning device eliminates the disadvantage that only the roof and tail of the vehicle are cleaned with one cleaning brush, since the support rails are highly inclined from the vertical and the frame is positively guided on the support rails. receive.

Before the cleaning brush comes into contact with the vehicle, it must be moved to its uppermost position. If this is not the case, the cleaning brush may hit the front part of the vehicle that is tilted backwards relative to the vehicle, in the area of the front part of the vehicle that is steeply inclined, or in the area of The brushes are pulled up by an inclined support rail in a direction opposite to the direction of movement of the vehicle. Rounding up the reason, the conventionally known cleaning device has a second cleaning brush attached in a similar manner to the first cleaning brush on the inclined support rail of the gate post provided at the inlet end of the cleaning device. , the support rail rises from the base to the top in the direction of vehicle movement. The second cleaning pump is provided for cleaning the front surface and roof surface of the vehicle. The known cleaning device has to be provided with two horizontal cleaning brushes that are mounted and moved in a similar manner, which makes its construction relatively expensive. Moreover, a U-shaped frame must be provided to mount each cleaning brush.

Furthermore, there is a possibility of damaging the cleaning brush at the entrance end of the cleaning equipment or the front part of the steep slope of the vehicle; The brushes are connected to an emergency switch that shuts down the entire equipment and responds when a predetermined contact pressure on the cleaning brush is exceeded. However, this results in undesirable work interruptions.

The present invention is based on and seeks to solve the above-mentioned problem, and its advantage is that it is particularly simple in design and uses only a single cleaning brush to clean the front, roof and tail of a motor vehicle. Damage to the vehicle cleaning equipment is avoided without the need for cleaning and associated stopping of operation.

According to the invention, the above-mentioned problem is solved in this device, in which the mounting member is freely suspended downwardly on the associated traction member, either directly or via a traction placket, and the support roller is freely rested on the support track; The support rail is approximately 2
This is achieved by being configured such that it is inclined at an angle of between 20° and 20° and can be raised freely away from the support rail in the direction of movement of the vehicle.

The entire cleaning device is substantially simplified by the relatively slight inclination of the support track with respect to the vertical and by the fact that the support quadrant of the brush can be raised away from the support track. The front, roof and tail of the vehicle are thoroughly cleaned using only a single horizontal cleaning brush. Even in the case of the front part of the vehicle rising sharply or tilting in the opposite direction, damage to the vehicle and to the cleaning device can be avoided without the need for an interruption in operation of the device due to an emergency disconnection of the device. More specifically, when dealing with the front part of a vehicle that is suddenly raised or tilted in the opposite direction, if the cleaning brush is under the influence of the actuating motor and is raised by the flexible traction member quickly enough. Otherwise, the cleaning brush can be moved away from the support track of the port body in the direction of movement of the vehicle in a pendulum-like manner without the possibility of damaging the vehicle or the cleaning device. Since the cleaning brushes are simultaneously raised by the flexible traction member, the cleaning brushes move back to their normal position under the influence of gravity, and in that position, the support 4-2 causes the cleaning brushes to rise rapidly. As soon as it passes over the front of the vehicle, it is supported by the support rail. This structure is
This is further simplified because the support rollers can be raised freely away from the support track. In particular, there is no need to hold the cleaning brush on the shaker arm or frame. By eliminating the frame, there is no need to tilt the frame during the upward and downward movement of the cleaning brush, while due to the slight inclination of the support track with respect to the vertical, the cleaning brush is forced downward under the action of gravity. Since the chain is pulled sufficiently, a complicated chain drive device can be omitted. The elimination of a large number of individual components not only reduces manufacturing costs, but also eliminates a large number of components that are subject to wear, making the cleaning device more reliable in operation. Finally, manufacturing costs can be lower because the gate posts and other structural elements can be designed to be lighter in weight compared to positive-guide cleaning brushes, which can be quickly ramped up or against vehicles. This is because the overload phenomenon that occurs at the front end of a vehicle tilting in the opposite direction is eliminated from the beginning.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.
Explain in detail.

In the cleaning device according to the present invention, particularly in the cleaning device used in a cleaning line, the gate post body 1 is kept stationary, and the automobile F to be cleaned is moved from the left to the right on a chain conveyor, of which only the conveying rollers 2 are shown. Although the vehicle is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 2, it can also be moved by the vehicle itself. The cleaning device according to the present invention can also be used in a gatepost-type cleaning device in which the vehicle is stationary and the gatepost body is movable. The cleaning device according to the present invention can be applied to the front of a vehicle,
Clean the roof and tail. Another cleaning brush (not shown) is provided to clean the sides and even the underside of the vehicle. The gate post body 1 is separated from the vehicle F to be cleaned by a support rail 3 behind the two upright members. and these rails have t'! with respect to the vertical line V. 2” to 20°, preferably approximately 6°
sloped at an acute angle. In this regard, the inclination of the support rails is such that the rails are inclined such that their lower ends descend away from the vehicle to be cleaned, or the rails are inclined in the direction of relative movement A of the vehicle.
It is defined so that it descends from the top to the base. The device further comprises a roller-shaped cleaning brush 4 which rotates about a horizontal axis H, the axis 4a of which is rotatably mounted in rotary mounting members 5 and 6 at each end of the cleaning brush. It will be done. The drive electric motor 1 is attached to the attachment member 5 using a flange. Each towing bracket8.
9 is connected to the two mounting members 5 and 6.

Each bracket 8.9 is engaged with a flexible traction member 10, for example a toothed belt. Each traction member 10 engages a gear wheel 12 disposed on a common drive shaft. Drive shaft°
operates the actuating motor 1 using an intermediate freewheel 14 similar to that described in DE 25 18 718 A1.
Driven by 3. The balance weight 17 is the flexible traction member 1
It is suspended from the end of 0. The actuating motor 13 and the freewheel 14 are designed to drive the flexible traction member 10 only to drive the cleaning brush 4. In this device, the actuating motor 13 is controlled by a suitable known control device which connects and disconnects the actuating motor 13 by the contact pressure of the cleaning brush 4 against the vehicle being washed. This control device includes a current measuring device, a power measuring device, a rotational speed measuring device, a tilt detector, and the like. The reason for providing the freewheel is that if the brush 4 does not come into contact with the vehicle, or if it does come into contact but the pressure is insufficient,
This is because the brush 4 can move downward even when the operating motor 13 is stopped.

P-rollers are arranged on both sides of the cleaning brush 4, and the cleaning brush 4 comes into contact with the two support rails 3 with these rollers.

In this connection, in order to simplify the construction of this device, it is important that the rollers are connected directly to the mounting member 5.6, ie without intervening frames or the like. In this preferred embodiment, only one respective support roller 15 is disposed on each side of the cleaning brush adjacent to the mounting member 5t or 6, as shown, and the support a-215 is in coaxial relationship with the axis of rotation H. It is important that the O shea 215, which is arranged at , rests freely on the support rail 3 and can freely move up and away from the support rail 3 in the direction of movement A of the vehicle. The roller and support track 3 are provided to stabilize the movement of the cleaning brush by contacting the support roller 5 with the support track 3 at relatively low pressure. Such a support device makes it possible to avoid random oscillating movements of the cleaning brush about the vertical axis. Support rail 3
The angle of inclination α that the device makes with respect to the vertical is such that a suitable stabilizing effect immediately occurs and, moreover, when cleaning the tail of a vehicle, the device is The force must be as small as possible so as to give a trailing effect to the cleaning brush 4.

The bracket 8 is fixedly connected to the mounting member 5 and thus also to the drive motor 7. As shown in the gt diagram, the bracket 8 is pivoted at right angles so that its free end B1 moves in the area of the support rail 3. When the cleaning brush 4 is driven clockwise as indicated by B' in FIG. 2, a torque in the opposite direction acts on the mounting member 5 and the actuating motor 7 in the zero direction. As long as the cleaning brush is in idle rotation, this reaction torque is relatively low, so that the free end 8a of the bracket 8 is located at a distance from the support rail 3, as shown in solid lines in FIG. However, as soon as the vehicle F comes into contact with the cleaning brush 4, the reaction torque 0 increases, so that the free end 8a of the bracket 8 abuts the support rail 3, and the support rail 3 is also used to carry the reaction torque at the same time. .

Furthermore, a tilt switch 16 is attached to the other end 8a of the bracket 8, the switch 16 controls the actuation motor 13 and brings it into the connected state in response to the inclination of the bracket 8 with respect to the vertical line, thus allowing the cleaning brush to The action of this new cleaning device is as follows.

At the beginning of the cleaning operation, vehicle F is in the position shown in Figure 2.
, are moved in the incoming direction by the conveyance rollers 2. The cleaning brush 4 is in its lowered position and hangs freely above the traction member 10. Support rail 3 relative to its own weight and vertical line V
As a result of the inclination, the cleaning brush 4 rests with the support roller 16 on the support track 3. When the vehicle F moves in the entry direction, when the front surface of the vehicle F comes into contact with the cleaning brush 4, the cleaning brush 4 is decelerated and the contact torque in the zero direction also increases.As a result, the upward freedom of the bracket 8 is increased. end 8a% O direction, whereby the bracket 8 assumes a steeper angle with respect to the vertical, so that the switch 16
operate. Switch 16 connects actuating motor 13;
Thereby, the cleaning brush 4 is lifted by the traction member 10 until the reaction torque acting in direction C and thus the inclination of the bracket 8 with respect to the vertical is reduced. Switch 16 is then turned off, cutting off power to actuation motor 13. The switch 16 then cuts off the power supply to the actuator 13.6 If the front of the vehicle F rises relatively sharply or has a part that recedes relative to the front of the vehicle as shown in FIG. If so, the actuating motor 13 will not move the cleaning brush 4 upwards quickly enough.

However, this is not relevant for the cleaning device according to the invention, since the cleaning brush is deflected in the direction of movement indicated by the vehicle, and the support roller 15 is moved away from the support rail 3, as shown by the dashed line in Figure @2. It can be raised. This avoids damage to the vehicle or cleaning equipment in a very simple way.

A deflection of the cleaning brush 4 in the direction of vehicle movement increases the retention angle β at which the traction member engages the bracket 8.9 to βl. The larger this angle β, the smaller the force component generated in the traction member 10 due to the weight of the cleaning brush and the components connected thereto. However, since the counterweight 17 maintains the same weight, the ratio between the counterweight 17 and the above force component increases, thereby causing the actuating motor 1
The field hitting power of No. 3 is greatly facilitated by the weight 17. In this way, the upward movement of the cleaning brush 4 is accelerated.

When the cleaning brush 4 reaches the rear part of the roof of the vehicle, it is moved downwards again by the freewheel 14 under its own weight, but in this case the operating motor 13 does not have to be driven for this purpose. . cleaning brush 4
are supported by support rollers 15 against the support rail 3, so that the cleaning brush 4 is prevented from being deflected to the rear and a sufficient contact pressure is ensured when cleaning the tail of the vehicle. Since the support rail 3 is inclined from above to below in the direction of vehicle movement A, a downward movement of the cleaning brush 4 likewise imparts an additional movement in the direction of vehicle movement.

This movement follows the movement of the vehicle and is called "following movement".
It is called. This ensures that the lower part of the rear of the vehicle is thoroughly cleaned by the horizontal cleaning brush 4.

In the preferred embodiment shown, the flexible traction member 10 has two
It is also possible to engage the flexible traction member directly with the mounting member.

Furthermore, the vehicle washing device is of the type that moves in two opposite directions with respect to the vehicle. In this case, it is conceivable to omit the support rails and support rollers altogether and adopt a simple structure in which the cleaning brush is freely suspended from the flexible traction member. In that case,
It is possible that this device does not provide a stabilizing effect on the support rail, which is particularly disadvantageous in the case of narrow vehicles.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 2 is a front view of an embodiment of the invention.
1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view taken along line T 1 of the figure; FIG.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A gate post body through which a vehicle to be washed passes, a roller-shaped cleaning brush that rotates around a horizontal axis, and a roller-shaped cleaning brush that is disposed at both ends of the cleaning brush and supported by support rails of the gate post body. a mounting member supported by rollers, the support rail is inclined with respect to the vertical with the lower end of the support rail in a direction away from the vehicle being washed, and flexible traction members are disposed on both sides of the washing brush. The height of the cleaning brush is adjusted relative to the vehicle by means of a control device which is provided and acts by the electric motor and the contact pressure of the cleaning brush, and the mounting member (5) is mounted directly or on the traction bracket (8, 9). The support roller (15) is suspended freely on the traction member (10) via the support roller (15) at an angle of approximately 2
rests freely on a support rail (3) inclined at an angle (α) of ° to 20° and is free to be lifted off the associated support rail (3) in the direction of movement (A) of the vehicle (F) An automobile washing device characterized in that: 2. Vehicle washing device according to claim 1, characterized in that the two support rails (3) are inclined at an angle (α) of approximately 6° with respect to the vertical (V). 3. Adjacent to the rotating mounting device (5), support rollers (15) are arranged on both sides of the cleaning brush, and the support rollers maintain a coaxial relationship with the rotational axis (H) of the cleaning brush (4). An automobile washing device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: 4. A drive motor (7) for the cleaning brush (4) is connected to the traction bracket (8), the upper end (8a) connected to the flexible traction member (10) in the area of the support rail (3). The washing machine according to claim 1, characterized in that it is configured to move and come into contact with the support rail (3) under the influence of a reaction torque acting on the drive motor (7). Device.