WO2024017462A1

WO2024017462A1 - Smart vehicle wash system

Info

Publication number: WO2024017462A1
Application number: PCT/EP2022/070199
Authority: WO
Inventors: Danilo BUNCIC; Haris HADZIABDIC
Original assignee: Project 3 Mobility D.O.O.
Priority date: 2022-07-19
Filing date: 2022-07-19
Publication date: 2024-01-25

Abstract

A vehicle wash system comprising an inspection arrangement configured to acquire a surface model of the vehicle allowing for determining a degree of undesired deposits on the surface of the vehicle relative to at least one of a left side zone, a right side zone, a front zone, a rear zone, an underbody zone, and a top zone of the vehicle surface; a cleaning arrangement comprising a plurality of nozzles being arranged to eject a cleaning agent against the vehicle, the plurality of nozzles being arranged to span around at least a part of the vehicle in a transversal direction, and so that cleaning agent at least reaches any one of a left side area, a right side area, a front area, a rear area, an underbody area, and a top area of the vehicle; and an access to a processing entity configured to determine at least one of said zones to be cleaned and to control the plurality of nozzles so as to cover at least one area corresponding to the at least one determined zone.

Description

SMART VEHICLE WASH SYSTEM

Technical field

The present invention relates to a vehicle wash system that automatically considers a degree of undesired deposits on the surface of the vehicle . The present invention in particular relates to increasing the ef ficiency of the washing process as a whole in relation to reducing any one of the involved time , energy, and other resources .

Background

A broad variety of systems , methods , and concepts for cleaning and washing vehicles , such as cars , are known . Usually, an arrangement of brushes , noz zles , and other liquid or air outlets is moved along a vehicle so as to remove undesired deposits from a vehicle ' s surface . The vehicle can in principle be moved relative to a stationary cleaning arrangement , wherein in such solutions , the vehicle is transported by a conveyor and thus is moved past any involved brushes , noz zles , or outlets . Li kewise , the vehicle can also be held more or less fixed and it is then the cleaning arrangement that is moved over the vehicle .

As the cleaning and washing of vehicles consume considerable resources in terms of energy and cleaning agents - in turn including water, detergents and/or other applicable additives , there is a desire to provide solutions for washing vehicles more ef ficiently . Namely, there are already conventional solutions that employ water recycling and reuse and other adaptive controls . The advancements in digital technologies have further provided contributions in automatically determining a more accurate and appropriate use of the involved resources . However, such conventional approaches do yet fail to adapt more closely to the actual needs . Speci fically, the conventional concepts fail to employ the obtainable information in order to substantially reduce the use of the involved resources .

There is therefore a need for improved vehicle wash systems that employ the available technology so as to substantially reduce the use of water, detergent , additives , energy and the like . At the same time , however, the overall system configuration and control is not to become too complex in order to maintain practicability, reliability and overall ef ficiency of operation .

Summary

The mentioned problems and drawbacks are addressed by the subj ect matter of the independent claims . Further preferred embodiments are defined in the dependent claims . Speci fically, the embodiments of the present invention may provide substantial benefits that are described in part herein .

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a vehicle wash system comprising an inspection arrangement configured to acquire a surface model of the vehicle allowing for determining a degree of undesired deposits on the surface of the vehicle relative to at least one of a left side zone , a right side zone , a front zone , a rear zone , an underbody zone , and a top zone of the vehicle surface ; a cleaning arrangement comprising a plurality of noz zles being arranged to ej ect a cleaning agent against the vehicle , the plurality of noz z les being arranged to span around at least a part of the vehicle in a transversal direction, and so that cleaning agent at least reaches any one of a left side area, a right side area, a front area, a rear area, an underbody area, and a top area of the vehicle ; and an access to a processing entity configured to determine at least one of said zones to be cleaned and to control the plurality of noz zles so as to cover at least one area corresponding to the at least one determined zone .

Brief description of the drawings

Embodiments of the present invention, which are presented for better understanding the inventive concepts but which are not to be seen as limiting the invention, will now be described with reference to the figures in which :

Figures 1A and IB show schematic views of a vehicle wash system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 shows a schematic view of the partitioning of the vehicle surface into main zones according to embodiments of the present invention;

Figure 3 shows a schematic view of a vehicle wash system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 4A shows a schematic view of an inspection arrangement of vehicle wash systems according to embodiments of the present invention;

Figure 4B shows a schematic view of determining a degree of undesired deposits on the surface of the vehicle according to embodiments of the present invention; Figure 5 shows a schematic view of vehicle wash system according to a further embodiment of the present invention; and

Figure 6 shows a schematic view of a user interface as part of a vehicle wash system according to a further embodiment of the present invention .

Detailed description

Figure 1A shows a schematic side view of a vehicle wash system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention . The system is provided for washing a vehicle , such as a car 100 . The car 100 is however only an example as the embodiments of the present invention may be equally applied to any vehicle , including also commercial cars and trucks , railway cars , autonomous cars , industrial trucks and the like . The system comprises an inspection arrangement 10 that is configured to acquire a surface model of the vehicle 100 allowing for determining a degree of undesired deposits 110 on the surface 101 of the vehicle . The inspection arrangement 10 may comprise a plurality of cameras that can acquire image data from the vehicle ' s surface from more than one perspective . In this way, a three-dimensional imaging of the vehicle can be achieved by means of respective image and data processing in processing entity 3 . Said three-dimensional imaging of the vehicle can be employed in order to acquire a surface model of the vehicle which defines in terms of three-dimensional coordinates the presence of undesired deposits . The cleaning arrangement 20 may be generally located downstream the inspection arrangement 10 .

In an embodiment , the processing entity 3 is provided with an access to a data repository 31 storing data defining design surface models of vehicles in the form of , for example , vehicle body shape data . For example , the type or an identi fication of the vehicle 100 can be determined by analyzing the acquired image data, reading an identi fication provided by the vehicle ( e . g . , a license plate , a vehicle identi fication number, a bar code , an RFID tag and the like ) or by means of direct communication with the vehicle 100 ( e . g . , via Bluetooth, BLE , NFC, Wi-Fi and the like ) .

Naturally, this information can also be provided by a user or a human operator of the vehicle wash system . In any way, however, once the type of the vehicle 100 is identi fied, corresponding design surface model data can be retrieved that defines in three-dimensions the target shape of the vehicle surface .

In other words , the design surface model defines how the surface should look like in a clean or design state . Subtracting this design surface model from the acquired surface model then yields information on the undesired deposits . In this way, the presence of undesired deposits can be determined not only relative to the position on the surface but also the extent in terms of a thickness . The position and extent of undesired deposits may be referred to as a degree of undesired deposits in the context of the present disclosure . The acquired surface model thus allows for determining a degree of undesired deposits on the surface of the vehicle relative to at least one of a left side zone , a right side zone , a front zone , a rear zone , an underbody zone , and a top zone of the vehicle surface . These zones are schematically depicted in Figure 2 .

Speci fically, Figure 2 shows a schematic view of the partitioning of the vehicle surface into main zones according to embodiments of the present invention . The zones include at least a left side zone L, a right side zone R, a front zone F, a rear zone B, an underbody zone (not shown) , and a top zone T of the vehicle surface . At least the zones B, T , F, L and R aim at dividing the vehicle surface into suitable parts that then subsequently allow for ef ficient usage of any involved resources . At the same time , the di f ferentiation into main vehicle surface zones acknowledges the usual structure and configuration of the cleaning process ( sequence ) and the involved equipment . Speci fically, the acknowledgment of the mentioned zones and performing efficiency control at that very level allows for obtaining an optimum tradeof f of resource usage and overall process ef ficiency and practicability of operation . In further embodiments , there may be also defined sub- zones providing a higher degree of granularity and may be defined for example as follows for the left side zone as front end, front doors , rear doors , rear end .

The system 1 further comprises a cleaning arrangement 20 that comprises a plurality of noz zles that are arranged to ej ect a cleaning agent against the vehicle . The cleaning agent can comprise any one of water, recycled water, detergent , additives , air, hot air, dry air, and the like , that are ej ected to an appropriate amount and at an appropriate pressure toward the vehicle . For example , the cleaning agent can be in a first cycle water and a suitable additive to remove some undesired deposits and change to a maintenance liquid and to drying air in the next cycles . In principle , the same noz zles may be employed for di f ferent or more than one cleaning agent or di f ferent noz zles may be provided speci fically for one or more types of cleaning agent .

The plurality of noz zles are arranged to span around at least a part of the vehicle in a transversal direction . This aspect is explained with particular reference to Fig . IB showing the car 100 and the cleaning arrangement 20 of Fig . 1A from behind relative to the lateral direction, which also coincides with the direction of the vehicle 100 and the cleaning arrangement 20 moving to each other . The plurality of noz zles is further arranged so that cleaning agent can at least reach any one of a left side area, a right side area, a front area, a rear area, an underbody area, and a top area of the vehicle , which are , as already mentioned, shown schematically in Figure 2 . In other words , the noz zles 21 can be arranged along a bow and there may be provided additional pipes to that bow arrangement for supplying the cleaning agent . Further, separate pipes which are not necessarily arranged as a ( single ) pipe arranged as a bow can be provided with separate liquid inlets for each main zone .

Thus , it is possible to cover the zones by providing cleaning agent to the corresponding areas by activating individual , respective pipes . These pipes may be provided with corresponding valves for control and operation and the cleaning arrangement may in this way comprise individual valves for each one of said set of pipes , wherein the valves are the controllable from said processing entity . An interface or control driver may be provided to drive the valves in response to command from the processing entity . Further, tilting noz zles may also be considered so as to cover a larger area or di f ferent areas by one noz zle . In any way, the plurality of noz zles can be controlled so as to cover at least one area corresponding to the at least one determined zone based on the determined speci fic degree of undesired deposits . The noz zles can be further grouped and/or comprise further noz zles that cover the rear, front , and possible underbody areas of the vehicle . Such noz z les may not be placed in a transversal direction against the vehicle , but may be arranged facing the vehicle ' s front , back or underbody . Further, the control may consider the amount of cleaning agent , the ej ection timing, the pressure , and/or the composition of the agent . In some embodiments , the control may consider a driving of magnetic valves with fixed throughput and/or a more sophisticated control for variable throughput (needle ) valves .

The system further comprises an access to a processing entity 3 configured to determine at least one of said zones to be cleaned and to control the plurality of noz zles so as to cover at least one area corresponding to the at least one determined zone . A conveyor 200 may be mounted in the floor and may comprise clamps 201 for reliably dragging a vehicle 100 along the desired direction . In the shown example , the conveyor 200 may be configured to move the vehicle 100 to and through the cleaning arrangement 20 . In further embodiments the processing entity may be configured to determine said degree of undesired deposits on the surface from the acquired surface model . This determining may include any one of determining a height of dirt , recogni zing dust , recogni zing particles , and distinguishing dust and particles from adhering dirt . As a consequence , i f the only dust is causing the dirt then a lower amount of liquid and/or a lower pressure for cleaning may be required . Likewise , dust and/or non-adhering particles may be removed with less energy, pressure , agent , and/or time resources involved .

Figure 3 shows a schematic view of a vehicle wash system 1 ' according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is for most of the parts identical and/or similar to the system 1 as described in conj unction with Figures 1A and IB, in which, however, the vehicle 100 is substantially fixed and a conveyor 200 ' is provided for moving the cleaning arrangement 20 to and over the vehicle 100 . Therefore , the embodiments consider both situations in which the noz zles are fixed and the car is moving along the conveyor and the car is stationary throughout the (possibly) entire cleaning process and noz zles are movable to cover a speci fic area .

In each case , the system may comprise a conveyor arrangement configured to move the vehicle at least in one direction or move the cleaning arrangement at least in one direction . In such embodiments , it can be the processing entity 3 that may be configured to further control the conveyor control as the vehicle moves along the cleaning arrangement . In further embodiments , the vehicle may also move on its own, which is applicable especially for autonomous vehicles as they can easily be instructed to move along a speci fic traj ectory with a speci fic speed . In such cases , the entity 3 may be provided with a communication unit which is configured to send respective command ( s ) to an ( autonomous ) vehicle .

In any way, the traj ectory and speed of the vehicle relative to the cleaning arrangement may comprise a control of the speed and a starting and stopping of the movement for considering determined degree of deposits for speci fic zone ( s ) . In general , the relative movement of the vehicle and the cleaning arrangement may be in synchroni zation, so that the noz zles reach the desired parts of the zones of the vehicle .

Figure 4A shows a schematic view of an inspection arrangement of vehicle wash systems according to embodiments of the present invention . Speci fically, the inspection arrangement 10 may comprise at least one camera 11 arranged to acquire a plurality of images of the vehicle . For example , the single camera 11 acquires images of the vehicle from di f ferent angles or as the vehicle moves past the camera so as to acquire more than one image of the same area from di f ferent perspectives so as to allow determining a degree of undesired deposits 110 on the surface of the vehicle by means of , for example , image processing employing stereo photography techniques . Likewise , the inspection arrangement 10 may well also comprise at least one further camera 12 arranged to acquire a plurality of images of the vehicle from di f ferent perspectives . The surface model is then to represent the detected undesired deposits . Apart from visible light imaging, also technologies such as inf rared- imaging, ultraviolet imaging, lidar, and ultrasonic imaging may apply .

The imaging can thus determine a height of dirt and may even recogni ze dust or other smaller particles in a dirty area . As a consequence , i f the only dust is causing the dirt then a lower amount of liquid and/or a lower pressure for cleaning is required . However, in other examples when dust cannot be recogni zed and the height of the dirt area is small , one can use more cleaning agent and/or a higher pressure assuming that the dirtiness is stickier and requires more energy for cleaning . In general , however, not only the amount , type , and pressure of a cleaning agent can be adj usted but also its temperature . For this purpose several heaters may be provided in the agent flow toward the noz zles so as to heat the agent to a desired temperature "on the fly" before ej ection (which can also contribute to substantial energy saving) . The temperature control can be likewise corresponding to the at least one determined zone and optionally sub-zone.

Figure 4B shows a schematic view of determining a degree of undesired deposits on the surface of the vehicle according to embodiments of the present invention. Specifically, these embodiments consider the determining of the vehicle type and retrieving vehicle body shape data. This data may define the (target) shape 120 of a vehicle body in terms of three- dimensional data, possibly similar or equivalent to 3D-CAD- data. The result 130 of the imaging may then be superimposed so as to determine the difference, e.g., with respect to the height along the applicable surface normal N and thus determine the position and degree of undesired deposits on the surface. The vehicle type data or vehicle body shape data may also be used for adjusting the position or selection of nozzles in order to account for different vehicle shapes in order to be sure that better cleaning with appropriate pressure is applied and, in turn, achieving a more efficient usage of any involved resources.

Figure 5 shows a schematic view of vehicle wash system according to a further embodiment of the present invention. In this particular embodiment, the inspection system 10-1 is vehicle mounted, meaning that the surface model of the vehicle can be acquired whenever and wherever the vehicle is. Specifically, onboard camera equipment, such as one or more cameras that cover parts of the vehicle 100-1 surface can be employed to acquire images as described and from the acquired images the surface model can be calculated. For example, a 360-degree camera 10-1 arrangement can be mounted on the vehicle 100-1 and can do the inspection of dirtiness during the driving. The vehicles 100-1, 100-2,... may then communicate any acquired images, surface models, and/or determinations in form of a notification to the user, data center, operation center or controller 300 which may ultimately indicate that cleaning may be required. Such embodiments might be of particular benefit in the context of management and operation of larger fleets such as fleet management in general and e.g., autonomous taxi applications in particular . Speci fically, vehicles 100- 1 , 100-2 , ... can be automatically sent to the cleaning center 200 ( car wash system) before the next engagement , without even the need for inspection at the washing location .

Generally, the zones can be inside the model , whereas the areas are on the actual vehicle . Namely, the zones are virtual definitions that map to actual areas of the vehicle , so that the system can determine the degree of undesired deposits on the surface of the vehicle relative to a zone (B, T , F, ... ) which then determines the control of the noz zles that spray said cleaning agent against the respective areas of the car that correspond to the zones .

In further embodiments , there may be provided a dryer arrangement which may comprise a plurality of drying air outlets , wherein the control of the drying process may be based on or consider the previous cleaning process . Namely, drying can be omitted for areas i f such areas have not been treated by a cleaning liquid . The drying air can also be seen as one form of cleaning agent and there may also be used the same - or j ust a slightly modi fied - cleaning arrangement 20 for initially treating the vehicle with a cleaning agent so as to remove any undesired deposits and then subsequently to remove any residual cleaning agent . For example , the same noz zles may be employed for first ej ecting water against the vehicle and then for subsequently ej ecting air against the vehicle in order to remove residual water and, with this , drying .

Further embodiments may provide to modular washing systems and line , wherein di f ferent modules are provided for presoaking, shampooing, washing, waxing, drying, etc . , and each of those separate modules can be controlled per zone and optionally sub- zones .

Figure 6 shows a schematic view o f a user interface as part of a vehicle wash system according to a further embodiment of the present invention. In this particular embodiment, a user interface 400 can be used after the inspection is done. The user interface 400 can be, e.g., in the form of a smartphone/mobile device 4 app, a vehicle mounted display, or a user terminal/interf ace at the washing site. This user interface 400 may present all the zones, sub-zones and the recommended cleaning approach with the option for the user to adjust any suitable parameters e.g., pressure, shampoo, or others. This embodiment of the invention may help user to better clean some zones/areas. It can also impact the price if the washing line is used for commercial purposes. After the inspection is done, prior to the actual cleaning, the car wash system may be provided with the respective information on which zones need to be cleaned and gets the information about the cleaning intensity (pressure, amount of shampoo and other additives, etc.) . This recommended cleaning procedure can be presented to the user (through the designated app) so the user can increase/decrease some of the values (of corresponding parameters) if desired. For example, the user may get a recommended (default) cleaning procedure, but it will be possible to adjust some of the values (e.g., the user wants to increase cleaning of the windshield (e.g., shampooing) which will increase the overall cleaning price which was presented after system recommended the level of cleaning initially) .

In a further embodiment, a verification can take place after finishing the cleaning of the vehicle by using, for example, the inspection system again to make sure that the vehicle is properly cleaned. If there are still undesired deposits on the surface, new instructions can be sent to the cleaning system by improving cleaning performances in such areas (by increasing cleaning intensity during the next iteration) . This can also be used as an input for the machine learning algorithm for future cleaning (e.g., some vehicle types and shapes might need better cleaning on specific areas of the surface, or based on the captured images, the system will learn and recognize similar deposits next time (that were not properly cleaned last time with a specific intensity that was used) and will now adjust cleaning approach in order to improve cleaning performance ) . Also , in one embodiment , cleaning would not be veri fied by using the inspection system for the second time but it would be possible that the user adds feedback through the app on the speci fic zone/ sub- zone status , so based on the captured images , it would be improved during the next cleaning cycle by increasing cleaning intensity in speci fic zones/ sub- zones .

Although detailed embodiments have been described, these only serve to provide a better understanding of the invention defined by the independent claims and are not to be seen as limiting .

Claims

Claims :

1 . A vehicle wash system comprising : an inspection arrangement configured to acquire a surface model of the vehicle allowing for determining a degree of undesired deposits on the surface of the vehicle relative to at least one of a left side zone , a right side zone , a front zone , a rear zone , an underbody zone , and a top zone of the vehicle surface ; a cleaning arrangement comprising a plurality of noz zles being arranged to ej ect a cleaning agent against the vehicle , the plurality of noz zles being arranged to span around at least a part of the vehicle in a transversal direction, and so that cleaning agent at least reaches any one of a left side area, a right s ide area, a front area, a rear area, an underbody area, and a top area of the vehicle ; and an access to a processing entity configured to determine at least one of said zones to be cleaned and to control the plurality of noz zles so as to cover at least one area corresponding to the at least one determined zone .

2 . The vehicle wash system according to claim 1 , wherein the inspection arrangement comprises a plurality of cameras arranged to acquire image data from the vehicle ' s surface from more than one perspective .

3 . The vehicle wash system according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the inspection arrangement is configured to acquire the surface model of the vehicle by means of three-dimensional imaging .

4 . The vehicle wash system according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein the processing entity i s configured to determine said degree of undesired deposits on the surface from the acquired surface model , preferably including any one o f determining a height of dirt , recogni zing dust , recogni zing particles , and distinguishing dust and particles from adhering dirt . The vehicle wash system according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein the processing entity i s provided with an access to a data repository storing data defining design surface models and/or vehicle body shape data, preferably defining how the surface should look like in a clean or design state and the processing entity is configured to subtract the design surface model from the acquired surface model . The vehicle wash system according to claim 5 , wherein the design surface model and/or vehicle body shape data is used for adj usting the position and/or selection of noz zles . The vehicle wash system according to any one of claims 1 to

6 , wherein the cleaning arrangement comprises a plurality of noz zles that are arranged to ej ect any one of water, recycled water, detergent , additives , air, hot air, and dry air . The vehicle wash system according to any one of claims 1 to

7 , wherein the plurality of noz z les are arranged to span around at least a part of the vehicle in a transversal direction . The vehicle wash system according to any one of claims 1 to

8 , wherein the cleaning arrangement comprises a set of pipes provided with separate liquid inlets for each main zone . The vehicle wash system according to claim 9 , wherein the cleaning arrangement comprises individual valves for each one of said set of pipes , said valves being controllable from said processing entity . The vehicle wash system according to any one of claims 1 to 10 , wherein the cleaning arrangement comprises a plurality of tilting noz zles so as to cover a larger area or di f ferent areas by one noz zle . The vehicle wash system according to any one of claims 1 to

11 , further comprising a conveyor mounted in the floor and comprising clamps for dragging a vehicle along a desired direction, preferably to and through the cleaning arrangement . The vehicle wash system according to any one of claims 1 to

12 , further comprising a conveyor arranged to move the cleaning arrangement to and over the vehicle . The vehicle wash system according to any one of claims 1 to

13 , wherein the inspection system is vehicle mounted, preferably including onboard camera equipment . The vehicle wash system according to any one of claims 1 to

14 , comprising a user interface arranged to present any one of one or more zones , sub- zones , recommended cleaning approach, and options for the user to adj ust any suitable parameters .