JPH0464899B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] This invention provides a main body that is formed in a gate shape and moves back and forth across the vehicle, and is provided with a top brush that swings up and down at least by contact with the vehicle body. This invention relates to a car wash machine that performs brushing.

[Prior art and its problems] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a car wash machine according to the present invention. The car wash main body 1 runs on rails 2, 2' so as to straddle the automobile V. The car wash main body 1 is supported at both ends by a pair of swinging arms 6, 6'.
The top brush 3 is provided with a top brush 3 that swings up and down when it comes into contact with the car V, and washes the car by brushing while swinging and moving to trace the car body when it comes into contact with the car body.

By the way, in such a conventional device, since the brush is simply pressed against the vehicle body by the moment due to the weight of the top brush 3, the swinging arms 6, 6'
The moment due to the weight of the brush changes due to the inclination of the brush, and the contact pressure fluctuates greatly. For example, when the top brush 3 is in the position shown at a in FIG. 1, the swinging arms 6, 6' are tilted close to the horizontal position, and the weight moment of the brush is at a substantially maximum position, resulting in a considerably high contact pressure. In contrast, b in Figure 1
At the position, since the swing arms 6, 6' have little inclination and the moment is small, the contact pressure is extremely low. For this reason, even if a sufficient car washing effect can be obtained at the roof part (a), the contact pressure at the bonnet part (b) is too weak to cause sufficient washing.

Furthermore, at the start of brushing, the swinging arm comes into contact with the vehicle body from a substantially hanging state, and the top brush 3 vibrates up and down with a relatively large amplitude and period, partly due to the small weight moment, making it difficult to perform stable brushing. It was hot.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention addresses the above-mentioned problems by providing a car wash machine main body that is formed in a gate shape and moves back and forth as if straddling the car, and that both ends of the main body are supported by a pair of swing arms. , a car wash machine equipped with a top brush that swings up and down to brush the top surface by contact with the vehicle body, and an air cylinder that raises and holds the top brush in an upper standby position when inactive, the center of the top brush is located at the swing arm. means for detecting whether the top brush is above or below a predetermined level lower than the support height of the top brush, and by supplying air to the air cylinder, the swinging load of the top brush is reduced to at least two magnitudes.
means for variable in steps; and when the detection means detects that the top brush is above the predetermined level, the swinging load on the variable means is reduced;
means for controlling the swinging load to increase when it is detected that the swinging load is below the predetermined level;
To provide a device capable of highly effective brushing of the entire vehicle body by changing its load according to the swinging position of the brush to maintain appropriate contact pressure with the vehicle body.

[Example] Hereinafter, specific examples of the present invention will be explained based on FIGS. 2 to 5.

2 and 3 are a front explanatory view and a side explanatory view, respectively, showing the main part configuration of the embodiment. The top brush 3 has support shafts 5, 5' on both sides of the car wash main body 1.
Both ends are supported by a pair of swinging arms 6, 6' which are rotatably supported through the washing machine, and are configured to swing up and down in accordance with the shape of the vehicle body to be cleaned. Reference numeral 7 denotes a motor fixed to one of the swinging arms 6, which rotates the top brush 3. 8,
8' is a weight fixed to the end of the swing arms 6, 6' opposite to the brush support side, which reduces the swing moment of the brush 3 and allows the brush 3 to swing smoothly through contact with the vehicle body. It is equipped.

9 is an air cylinder that moves the top brush 3 up and down via a transmission arm 10;
In addition to lifting and lowering the brush, it also functions as a means to vary the swinging load of the brush. A reed switch 11 is attached to the air cylinder 9 and responds to a magnet provided in the piston body of the cylinder 9, and detects when the top brush 3 is swung up and raised to a certain position. Incidentally, the top brush 3 is always held at the detection position of the reed switch 11, that is, the position shown in FIG. 2 by the operation of the air cylinder 9, and when washing the car, it is lowered from this position and performs the washing operation. 12 is a reed switch which is also attached to the cylinder 9 and responds to the magnet of the piston body, and when the center of the top brush 3 is at a predetermined level H (third
The top brush 3 functions as a detecting means for detecting the swing position of the top brush 3.

13 is an operation panel provided on the front of the main body 1;
Various input means are provided, including inputting car wash work selections, fees, and membership cards.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the pneumatic pipeline and its control system in the air cylinder 9 of the embodiment. The air cylinder 9 is constructed as a double-acting type having two ports A and B, and the cylinder body 14 is equipped with a magnet 15 that provides a sensing operation to each of the reed switches 11 and 12. Port A of the air cylinder 9 is supplied with a constant pressure P ₁ (in this example, 5 to 7 Kg/
cm ² ) of air pressure is introduced. On the other hand, a pneumatic source 17 is connected to port B via a pressure regulating unit 19 and a switching valve 20.
A more constant air pressure P ₂ (2 to 3 Kg/cm ² in this example) is introduced. The switching valves 17 and 20 each consist of a 3-port, 2-position switching valve including an atmospheric release port, with valve 17 normally open to the air pressure source 18, and valve 20 normally closed to the air pressure source 18. It is normally open to the atmosphere. Therefore, since air pressure is normally introduced into port A and port B is opened to the atmosphere, the cylinder body is pushed up to the detection position of the reed switch 11, and the top brush 3 is held at the upper standby position.

21, 22, 23 are switching valves 17, 20, respectively.
and a drive circuit for the motor 7; 24 is the circuit 2;
This is a control device that outputs drive commands to the motors 1, 22, and 23. This control device 24 includes a CPU, ROM,
Equipped with a microcomputer including RAM and input/output ports, each work program including the sequence program of the car wash operation registered in the ROM according to the operation input from the operation panel 13,
The reed switch 1 input to the input port
1, 12, etc., and accordingly the drive circuits 21, 22 are output from the output ports.
Output operation commands to etc.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the main part of the program operation of this embodiment, and the operation of this embodiment will be explained step by step based on this diagram.

When a car wash is started in response to an operation input on the operation panel 13 (1), the motor 7 is driven to rotate the top brush 3, and the switching valve 17 is operated to open port A of the air cylinder 9 to the atmosphere and the top brush is rotated. 3 from its standby position (2).
In step (2), when the brush 3 is lowered and the brush 3 is detected to have reached the detection level H or lower of the reed switch 12 (3), the switching valve 20 is actuated to transfer air pressure to the port B of the air cylinder 9. Introduce P ₂ (4) and urge the top brush 3 in the downward direction. When it is detected that the top brush 3 has been pushed up above the detection level H of the reed switch 12 due to contact with the car body during car washing (5), the switching valve 20 is operated to open port B of the air cylinder 9 to the atmosphere.
(6) Release the biasing state of the top brush 3 in step (4).

The operations in steps (3) to (6) above are performed using the top brush 3.
This is repeated until the car wash by brushing is completed (7), and when it is completed, the switching valve 20 is operated to open the port B of the cylinder 9 to the atmosphere, and the switching valve 1 is operated.
7, the air pressure _P1 is introduced into the port A of the cylinder 9 to raise the top brush 3 to the standby position, and furthermore, the drive of the motor 7 is stopped (8) and the process returns.

According to the embodiment having the above configuration, the detection level H of the reed switch 12 is as shown in FIG.
If you set the height higher than the bonnet of the car and lower than the roof, the reed switch 12 will detect when you have passed that position H, and the brush contact pressure will be too high due to the low height and the weight moment of the top brush. In the bonnet area, where sufficient contact pressure cannot be obtained, a constant pressure is introduced into the air cylinder 9 to urge the brush to press against the vehicle body, increasing the contact pressure.On the other hand, in the roof area, where sufficient contact pressure can be obtained due to the weight moment, this energizing force is increased. By solving this problem, it is possible to control the contact pressure so as not to apply an unnecessarily high contact pressure, and it is possible to always wash the car with the necessary appropriate brush contact pressure.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various embodiments are possible. In particular, in the above example, since the reed switch 12 is only provided at one location as a detection means, in a car with a bonnet or roof at a height near the predetermined level H, the height can be switched by a slight change in the height of the car body shape. Therefore, the rise and fall of the top brush 3 may be detected using multiple reed switches with slight height differences, or ultrasonic waves commonly used in this type of car wash machine may be used to detect the rise and fall of the top brush 3. A countermeasure can be taken by using a method such as correcting the value of H based on the data provided by the high sensor. In addition, in the above example, the control is only in two levels of height based on the bonnet and the roof, but the swinging of the top brush is read in small increments using an encoder, etc., and it is introduced into port B of cylinder 9 according to this data. It is also possible to control the air pressure by varying the air pressure to apply an appropriate bias according to each swing height.

[Effects of the Invention] The present invention is configured as described above, and it is possible to determine whether the swinging position of the top brush is above or below a predetermined level that is lower than the height of the support part of the swinging arm.
The swing load of the top brush is changed according to the
The large fluctuation in contact pressure from the lowered state until the top brush rises and the swinging arm becomes almost horizontal is
This is compensated for by changing the swing load of the top brush, eliminating the unwashed areas in low areas such as the bonnet that tend to occur in the past, and making it possible to clean the entire area equally.

Furthermore, since the swinging load is increased when the top brush is lowered and the car wash is started, it is possible to suppress the vertical vibration of the top brush that tends to occur at the start of brushing, and stable brushing becomes possible.

Furthermore, since the swing load is made variable by using an air cylinder to raise and hold the top brush in the upper standby position when it is not in operation, there is no need for significant additional equipment, making it an extremely inexpensive improvement. This invention can be practiced.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a general operation example of a car wash machine. FIG. 2 is an explanatory front view showing the main part configuration of the embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a side explanatory view showing the main part configuration of the embodiment. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the main parts of the pneumatic circuit and control circuit of the embodiment. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the main part of the program operation of the embodiment. 1 is the car wash machine body, 3 is the top brush, 6, 6'
9 is a swinging arm, 9 is an air cylinder as a means for varying the swinging load, 12 is a reed switch as a detection means, and 24 is a control means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. The main body of the car wash machine is formed into a gate shape and moves back and forth as if straddling the car, and both ends of the machine body are supported by a pair of swinging arms, which swing up and down upon contact with the car body. In a car wash machine equipped with a top brush for brushing and an air cylinder that raises and holds the top brush in an upper standby position when inactive,
means for detecting whether the center of the top brush is above or below a predetermined level lower than the height of the support part of the swing arm; and means for controlling the swing load of the top brush by at least increasing or decreasing the swing load of the top brush by supplying air to the air cylinder. means for varying the top brush in two stages; when the detection means detects that the top brush is above the predetermined level, the swinging load in the variable means is reduced; and when it is detected that the top brush is below the predetermined level, the swinging load is reduced; A car wash machine characterized by comprising: means for controlling the amount of water to increase. 2. The car wash machine according to claim 1, wherein the air cylinder has a first port that receives air when the top brush is raised to the standby position, and a second port that is opened to the atmosphere when the top brush is raised. , wherein the control means, when detecting that the pressure is below the predetermined level, supplies air supply to the second port that is lower than the air supply pressure to the first port.