JPH0456663A - Vehicle washing device - 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 Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning device for cleaning at least a portion of the outer surface of a vehicle body having a complex three-dimensional curved surface on at least one of its front and rear ends. .

The automatic cleaning device for Arashi cars includes an injection nozzle that injects cleaning water inward into the inside of a movable gate-shaped structure;
A brush is provided that rotates around an axis extending in the vertical direction, and the vehicle is stopped inside the gate-shaped structure within the movement range of the gate-shaped structure.

This method sprays cleaning water toward the car body from an injection nozzle, rotates a rotating brush in contact with the side of the car body, and moves a gate-shaped structure along the entire length of the car to perform cleaning. things are widely used.

In this type of cleaning device, the jet water strongly hits the sides of the vehicle body, and the rotating brush also makes appropriate sliding contact, resulting in good cleaning. However, the front and rear parts of the car body generally have complex curved surfaces from the viewpoint of air resistance and design while driving, and the jet water from the injection nozzles installed on the side of the gate-shaped structure is strong. As a result, a sufficient cleaning effect cannot be obtained, and the amount of energy and water used for jetting cleaning water is large, making it uneconomical and requiring additional manual labor. It needed to be washed.

Similarly, for cleaning the sides of railway vehicles, a rotating brush installed inside a gate-shaped structure that moves parallel to the rails is brought into contact with the side of the vehicle, or the vehicle is washed between the rotating brushes of a fixed gate-shaped structure. Generally, a method is adopted in which the signal is passed through.

Cleaning the front and rear surfaces of a vehicle cannot be done by moving the vehicle along the track or by moving the cleaning device parallel to the track, so this has traditionally been done manually, but this has been done manually to save labor and improve safety. From this point of view, various mechanical cleaning devices have been proposed.

For example, Utility Model Publication No. 58-4748 and Special Publication No. 62-6
Publication No. 0305 discloses that a cleaning brush having a length spanning the entire height of the vehicle body and rotatable around a vertical axis is fixedly installed in the lateral direction of the front and rear ends of the vehicle, or is attached to the front and rear of the vehicle from a movable platform. A railway vehicle cleaning device has been proposed in which a cleaning brush holder is held at the tip of a rotatable arm with a variable length that can be expanded and contracted along a surface and is slightly movable in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.

Furthermore, Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 55-65248 discloses a rotating brush that extends across the entire width of the vehicle between the tips of a pair of arms that rotate vertically around a support shaft perpendicular to the track below the track surface. A vehicle front and rear surface cleaning device has been proposed that cleans the front and rear surfaces of a vehicle by holding the rotary brush in pressure contact with the front or rear surface of the vehicle and rotating it around an axis while the vehicle is moved forward or backward.

It is believed that these vehicle cleaning devices will considerably improve the cleaning operation of the front and rear end faces of conventional types of railway vehicles, such as vertical planes or cylindrical surfaces with large radii of curvature.

By the way, some high-speed trains such as JR and private railways have complex three-dimensional curved surfaces at the front and rear of the front and rear end cars of the train. Conventionally, the only way to clean that area was to manually attach a cleaning tool such as a mop to the end of the rod, which required a lot of effort and danger, and it was difficult to clean thoroughly. In addition, the vehicle front and rear end surface cleaning apparatus that uses a vertically rotating brush that spans the entire height of the vehicle body or a horizontally rotating brush that spans the entire width of the vehicle in sliding contact with the front and rear end surfaces of the vehicle described above cannot clean the vehicle.

Problems to be Solved by Akira In view of the above-mentioned circumstances of vehicle cleaning that has been conventionally implemented and proposed, the present invention is aimed at cleaning vehicles with complicated three-dimensional curved surfaces at the front and rear ends, such as passenger cars and some high-speed railway vehicles. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning device capable of automatically cleaning the outer surface of a vehicle body, especially the outer surface of the front and rear ends without relying on human hands.

Vehicle cleaning device according to the present invention! In order to solve the above problem, a base is fixed at a position outside the width of the vehicle and outward in the direction of the vehicle center line from the end of the vehicle where the vehicle stops during cleaning. a pivot arm pivotable about a vertical axis provided thereon; a sliding member slidable along the pivot arm;

a support member provided on the sliding member so as to be pivotable around a vertical axis; a base end attached to the support member; a cleaning means at the distal end; When located at a predetermined height above and opposite the end of the vehicle to be cleaned, the tip can be moved to any position in a three-dimensional space including the three-dimensional curved surface of the end of the vehicle, and to any posture. The robot has a multi-joint arm robot, and the tip of the robot can be moved along the outer surface of the vehicle body including the curved surface of the end of the vehicle to be cleaned by the cleaning means, and the robot and The present invention is characterized in that the robot and the rotary arm can be retracted from within the width of the vehicle at the cleaning position by rotating the rotary arms around their respective rotary axes.

Since this vehicle cleaning device is configured as described above, when a vehicle arrives at a vehicle cleaning facility such as a vehicle maintenance base or service station, the end portion having the three-dimensional curved surface is placed diagonally in front of the vehicle. Stopping at a predetermined cleaning position 8 For example, when cleaning the front of the vehicle, stop with the front facing the side where the cleaning device is located.

In this state, the cleaning device base is located in front of the vehicle body and outside the width of the vehicle body. Therefore, the swing arm is rotated to a position that is perpendicular to the vehicle body center line and blocks the front of the vehicle body, the sliding member is moved to the vehicle body center line, and the articulated robot is turned toward the support member that is rotatably supported by the sliding member. By controlling the cleaning means at the tip of the arm to move along the outer surface of the front end of the vehicle, a predetermined range of the outer surface of the vehicle including the three-dimensional curved surface portion can be thoroughly cleaned.

Once the front of the vehicle has been cleaned, the robot arm is moved to a position where it will not interfere with the vehicle, and then the swing arm is rotated to a position opposite to the width of the vehicle so that it does not interfere with the vehicle's start. do.

Devitrification ■ Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on one drawing.

1 and 2 are a plan view and a side view, respectively, of an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an automobile washing device, and FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing an example of the configuration of the robot.

The base 5 of the cleaning device is provided outside the width of the vehicle body in front of the front end of the vehicle 1 which is stopped with the vehicle center line 4 aligned with the center line 3 of a predetermined vehicle stop position. A vertical shaft 5a erected at the center of the base 5 is provided with a swing arm 6 that can pivot around the vertical shaft 5a, and a motor M9 for rotating this is provided on the base 5. A sliding member 7 is provided on the swing arm 6 so as to be able to slide along the arm, and a motor M is attached to the member to rotate around a vertical shaft 7a erected thereon.
A robot support member 8 is rotatably provided by 7;
An articulated arm robot 10 is attached to the support member 8 .

This articulated arm type robot 10 is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.
Fig. 3 schematically shows the structure of the actuator. Note that the reference numerals of each actuator (driving members such as motors and cylinders) shown in FIG. 3 correspond to the reference numerals shown in FIG. 2. The functions of each arm of this multi-joint arm type robot and each actuator M1 to M9 for moving the robot and turning the rotating arm are as follows.

Ml: For rotating the brush M2: For tilting the brush M3: For bending the arm M4: For extending and retracting the arm M5: For bending the arm M6: For tipping the arm Ml: For rotating the arm M8: For moving the robot M9: For rotating the rotating arm Note that the robot arm The combination of movable parts that move the tip to any position in three-dimensional space and to any posture is not limited to this example.

A cleaning brush 11 is attached to the tip of the arm.

The cleaning brush 11 is roller-shaped, rotates around its axis by a motor M1, and is also provided with a cleaning water spray nozzle (not shown).

When the cleaning brush 11 rotates, cleaning water is sprayed toward the vehicle body from the cleaning water nozzle in conjunction with its driving.

The movement control in which the arm tip thoroughly scans the three-dimensional curved surface of the outer surface of the vehicle body to be cleaned and cleans it with the cleaning brush 11 is performed by setting a program in advance for each vehicle type with a different shape, It is possible to adopt an appropriate known control method, such as program control using a program corresponding to the above, or partial use of a touch sensor in combination with tracing control.

Since this vehicle washing device is configured as described above, when it is not being washed, it is at the rotating position on the opposite side of the width range of the parking position for washing the vehicle, as shown by the two-dot chain line in Fig. 1. When the vehicle 1 stops at a predetermined washing position for cleaning, the robot 10 that has been waiting on the swing arm moves the swing arm 6 in front of the end of the vehicle to be washed, as shown by the solid line in FIG. The actuator M7. M8. Adjusted by M9.

Thereafter, by driving and controlling the robot 10 according to a preset program depending on the type of vehicle, one end of the vehicle body, for example, the front end in the illustrated example, can be thoroughly washed.

When the washing of the front part of the vehicle body is completed, the swing arm 6 carrying the robot 10 is retracted, for example, from the range of the width of the vehicle shown by the two-dot chain line in the figure, and the vehicle is equipped with its own driving force or washing facility. The transfer means moves the rear end so that it is in front of the line of the cleaning device and then stops.

The pivoting arm 6 then pivots counterclockwise, and
The robot support member 8 on the sliding member 7 is rotated by the motor M7, and the robot 10 extends its arm from behind the vehicle and rotates the cleaning rotating brush 11 to clean the rear part of the vehicle. When the cleaning of the rear part of the vehicle is completed, the swing arm 6 and the robot 10 retreat to the standby position shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 1, and the vehicle 1 moves to another position.

Note that depending on the size and shape of the vehicle, it is also possible to wash the side surfaces of the vehicle by stopping the vehicle at an appropriate position relative to the cleaning device.

The embodiments in which the present invention is applied to a washing device for automobiles have been described above, but the present invention is not limited to this, but can also be applied to a washing device for the end portion of a railway vehicle body having a three-dimensional curved surface at the end portion. can. In that case, if the base of the cleaning device is installed between a plurality of parallel tracks, one cleaning device can clean the ends of vehicles that have entered the track on both sides.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically clean the end portion of a vehicle body including a complex three-dimensional curved surface portion, which has been difficult to completely clean automatically in the past. Since the device for this purpose can be placed on standby at a retreated position outside the range of the vehicle's running width, the washing device can be installed at an appropriate position along the vehicle's running path without interfering with the movement of vehicles into and out of the car washing position. I can do it.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an automobile washing device, FIG. 2 is a side view thereof, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the configuration of the robot. 1...Vehicle 5...Base 6...Swivel arm 7...Sliding member 8...Robot support member

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] In a vehicle cleaning device that cleans at least a portion of the outer surface of a vehicle having a complex three-dimensional curved surface on at least one of its front and rear ends, including at least the curved surface, a position where the vehicle stops during cleaning. a base fixed to a position outside the width of the vehicle and outward in the direction of the vehicle center line from the end of the vehicle; a swing arm provided on the base and capable of pivoting around a vertical axis; a sliding member slidable along the arm; a support member mounted on the sliding member so as to be pivotable about a vertical axis; a proximal end attached to the supporting member; When the base end attachment part to the turning axis is at a position facing the end of the vehicle to be cleaned at a predetermined height above the vehicle ground plane, the tip can be placed at any position in the three-dimensional space including the three-dimensional curved surface of the end of the vehicle. and has a multi-joint arm robot that can be displaced into any posture, and the tip of the robot is moved along the outer surface of the vehicle body including the curved surface of the end of the vehicle to be cleaned. The robot and the swing arm can be washed, and by swinging the robot and the swing arm around their respective swing axes, the robot and the swing arm can be retracted from within the width of the vehicle at the washing position. Vehicle cleaning equipment.