JPH0470177B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention provides a gate-shaped traveling frame that is arranged to be able to reciprocate in the front and rear directions, and a rotary brush device for brushing at least the surface of a vehicle. This is related to the car wash machine it has.

[Conventional technology] A rotating brush device is installed on a portal-shaped traveling frame.
Cleaning water spray equipment, wax application equipment, drying equipment,
2. Description of the Related Art Car wash machines equipped with a control device and the like are well known in the art, without mentioning the names of the literature. Such a well-known car wash machine is installed so as to be able to move back and forth in the front and rear directions across the vehicle.

Therefore, washing can be done by stopping the vehicle within the gate-shaped traveling frame and spraying rinsing water onto the vehicle surface from the cleaning water spray device while the portal-shaped traveling frame is traveling back and forth. It can be brushed with water, coated with wax, and dried with a drying device.

On the other hand, there is also a cleaning device for railcars in which vertically rotating brushes are fixedly installed on both sides of the track and detergent injection pipes are arranged between the brushes.
Known from No. 15079. According to this rail vehicle cleaning device, detergent is sprayed from a fixedly installed detergent injection pipe toward the side of the rail vehicle while the vehicle is running on the track, and by brushing, iron powder, carbon, oil and fat can be removed. etc. can be dropped.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As described above, if a car wash machine consisting of a gate-shaped running frame is equipped with a rotating brush device, a washing water spray device, a wax application device, a drying device, etc. , can automatically clean vehicle surfaces,
There are no particular problems with regular car washing, as wax can be applied and the car can even be finished by drying.

However, conventionally known car wash machines have the drawback of not being able to efficiently remove limescale that is firmly attached to both surfaces. This is because water scale is firmly attached to the vehicle surface, so in order to peel it off and remove it, it is necessary to spray a large amount of water scale remover and rub it evenly on the vehicle surface. Even if a large amount of limescale remover is sprayed onto the vehicle surface from a well-known car wash, the watermark will simply flow off the vehicle surface without being used to remove the scale, and the scale remover will not be effective. This is because it is not used.

The same thing can be said of the above-mentioned cleaning device for rail vehicles, in which the descaling agent runs off and is not effectively utilized, making it impossible to apply it to removing descaling from automobiles. In addition, since the washing injection pipe is fixed, the track vehicle must be moved, and if a car is to be washed, the car must be driven at a constant slow speed suitable for washing, and the driver is required to do so. is specially required. To deal with this,
Providing a conveyor for moving cars will increase production costs.

For the reasons mentioned above, despite the fact that the general car wash process has become automated and widespread, devices related to limescale removal have not been installed on gate-shaped traveling frames, and have traditionally been carried out exclusively by hand. I have been removing limescale. Although manual cleaning is possible, it is inefficient and requires a lot of effort, so it has been desired to create a car wash machine with a limescale removal function.

Note that in its original meaning, "water stain" refers to inorganic substances such as calcium dissolved in water that adhere to and permeate the painted surface of a vehicle and appear as a dark stain. However, in the present invention, water stains are oil smoke, soot,
This is a broad term that includes dirt on the vehicle surface caused by aged wax and the like firmly adhering to the vehicle surface.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and is equipped with a water scale removal function that can mechanically remove water scale from a vehicle with almost no human effort, extremely efficiently, and at a relatively low cost. The aim is to provide a car wash machine with

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a gate-shaped traveling frame 2 disposed to be able to reciprocate in the front and back direction, and a rotating brush for brushing at least the surface of the vehicle. A car washing machine equipped with device B, further comprising a control means 39 and a pair of scale remover spraying devices M1, M2, the pair of scale remover spraying devices M1, M2 having:
They are arranged on the gate-shaped traveling frame 2 at intervals in the front-rear direction and sandwich the rotating brush device B between them, and are configured to spray the same type of limescale remover, and the control means 39 controls the scale removing agent to be sprayed from the scale removing agent dispersing devices M1 and M2 which are located in front of the rotary brush device B in the traveling direction when the gate-shaped traveling frame 2 is traveling, and also controls the scale removing agent to be sprayed. The rotary brush device B is configured to be controlled so that the rotary brush device B operates in parallel with the operation of the agent spraying devices M1 and M2.

[Operation] Since the present invention is configured as described above, the control means, for example, a start key is pressed. Then, the gate-shaped traveling frame moves, and one side of the frame is directed toward the vehicle, and the scale remover is sprayed onto the vehicle. At the same time, the rotating brush device is activated and brushes, so that the descaling agent sprayed on the surface of the vehicle is more evenly rubbed over the entire surface of the vehicle.

Next, the portal-shaped traveling frame travels in the opposite direction. Then, the scale remover is similarly sprayed toward the vehicle from the other scale remover spraying device, and further brushing is performed by the rotating brush device, so that the scale remover is similarly rubbed uniformly over the entire surface of the vehicle. .

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the car wash machine 1 according to the present embodiment includes a gate-shaped running frame 2 that straddles a vehicle (not shown). It is possible to run along a running rail 3 laid on the ground, that is, to run in the direction shown by an arrow 4 along the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.

The gate-shaped traveling frame 2 is provided with a rotating brush device B, a drying device D, a detergent spray device C, and a wax applicator W. ,
It has come to perform processing functions such as drying.

The rotating brush device B includes a top rotating brush 5 and a pair of side rotating brushes 6. The upper rotating brush 5 is swingably supported via a swing arm 9 on a horizontal shaft 8 that is rotatably supported by the gate-shaped traveling frame 2 . A prime mover 10 is provided on the upper part of the swinging arm 9, and the top rotating brush 5 is rotationally driven from the prime mover 10 via a transmission mechanism within the swinging arm 9. Further, a sprocket 11 is fixed to the horizontal shaft 8, and an intermediate shaft 12 is rotatably supported on the gate-shaped running frame 2 below the horizontal shaft 8. Sprocket 13 is fixed. An endless chain 14 is suspended between both sprockets 11 and 12, and a gate-shaped traveling frame 2 is attached to a mounting bracket 15 fixed in the middle of the chain 14.
A piston rod 17 of an air cylinder 16 whose lower end is supported by is connected to the piston rod 17 of the air cylinder 16 . Therefore, by driving the air cylinder 16 in the contraction direction, the upper rotating brush 5 can be held in the upper retracted position as shown by the two-dot chain line. Furthermore, when the air cylinder 16 is inactive, the upper rotating brush 5 can freely swing back and forth around the horizontal shaft 8 in the portal-shaped traveling frame 2.

The rotating shafts 18 of the pair of side rotating brushes 6 are held in a holding cylinder 19, and the holding cylinder 19 is fixed to the moving frame 20 with its axis being vertical. The moving frame 20 is swingably engaged with a guide rail 21 that is horizontally suspended on the gate-shaped traveling frame 2, and the support shaft 22 of the guide rail 21 is rotatably connected to the gate-shaped traveling frame 2. is supported by. Therefore, the guide rail 21, the moving frame 20, the holding cylinder 1
9. The rotating shaft 18 and the side rotating brush 6 are swingable in the traveling direction 4 about the supporting shaft 22 as a fulcrum. A prime mover 23 is supported on the movable frame 20, and an endless chain 26 is suspended between a sprocket 24 fixed to the output shaft of the prime mover 23 and a sprocket 25 fixed to the end of the rotating shaft 18. , the side rotating brush 6 is rotationally driven by the prime mover 23.

The drying device D includes a pair of side blowing nozzles 27 that open inward on both sides of the gate-shaped traveling frame 2, a top blowing nozzle 28 that opens downward at the top, and these nozzles 27, 28. The air blower 29 is connected to the air blower 29. The upper air blowing nozzle 28 is raised and lowered by a lifting means (not shown) in accordance with the height of the vehicle to be dried.

The detergent spraying device C includes a cleaning supply header 46 formed in a gate shape and a plurality of spray nozzles 47 provided in the cleaning supply header 46. The wax applicator W also includes a gate-shaped wax supply header 48 and a plurality of spray nozzles 49 provided on the wax supply header 48.

The rotating brush device B, the drying device D, the detergent spray device C, and the wax applicator W are also installed in conventional car wash machines, and their configurations are well known.

The pair of scale remover spraying devices M1 and M2 are configured in the same way, as will be described later, and are capable of spraying the same type of scale remover. However, the descaling agent can be applied to the vehicle surface independently of each other. As shown in FIG. 1, the pair of scale remover spraying devices M1 and M2 are connected to a gate-shaped traveling frame 2 spaced apart in the front-rear direction and sandwiching the rotating brush device B.
It is located in Also, scale remover spraying device M1
and the rotating brush device B, a rinsing water spraying device R1 is provided, and between the scale remover spraying device M2 and the rotating brush device B, a rinsing water spraying device R2 is provided.
are provided for each.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the scale remover spraying devices M1 and M2 are comprised of gate-shaped supply headers 31 and 32 supported inside a portal-shaped traveling frame 2, and supply header 31, 32
A plurality of spray nozzles 33, 34 attached to the
It is composed of. These spray nozzles 33,
34 are attached to the supply headers 31 and 32, respectively, so that the direction of dispersion can be adjusted, and the opening area thereof is set to be relatively large. And these spray nozzles 33,3
4, a scale remover is sprayed toward the vehicle (not shown).

The rinsing water spray devices R1, R2 include gate-shaped supply headers 35, 36 supported inside the gate-shaped traveling frame 2, and a plurality of spray nozzles 37, 38 attached to the supply headers 35, 36. It is composed of.

A water supply pump P, an air source A, a scale remover storage tank T1, and a base wax storage tank T2 are connected to the scale remover spraying devices M1 and M2 as follows. That is, the water supply pump P is connected to the first solenoid valve S1 and the first ejector E1 in this order, and the air source A is connected to the second solenoid valve S.
2. The pressure reducing valve CV and the second ejector E2 are connected in this order, and the first ejector E1 is connected at right angles to the second ejector E2. A third solenoid valve S3 is connected to the scale remover storage tank T1, and a fourth solenoid valve S4 is connected to the base wax storage tank T2, and these are connected to the first ejector E1.
connected at right angles to. Further, the second ejector E2 is connected to the upper central part of the supply header 31 of one of the scale remover spraying devices M1 via a fifth solenoid valve S5, and is connected to the other scale remover via a sixth solenoid valve S6. It is connected to the upper center of the supply header 32 of the spraying device M2.

The water supply pump P includes rinse water spray devices R1 and R2.
Their supply headers 35,
The seventh and eighth solenoid valves S7 and S8 are located in the upper center of the
are connected to each other via.

As the scale remover stored in the scale remover storage tank T1, a strong alkaline agent having a pH of 14 in its original solution and adjusted to a pH of about 12 to 14 is used. As a result of the inventor's experiments, this was confirmed by the conventional
Detergents with a pH of about 8 to 10 cannot remove limescale, and according to the above-mentioned limescale removers with a pH of about 12 to 14,
This is based on the discovery that limescale can be lifted and removed from the surface of a vehicle.

Such a rotating brush device B, drying device D, detergent spraying device C, wax applicator W, rinsing water spraying devices R1, R2, and scale remover spraying device M
1 and M2, as well as the traveling operation of the portal-shaped traveling frame 2, are controlled by a control panel 39 provided on the portal-shaped traveling frame 2. The control panel 39 is
As described later, each scale remover spraying device M1, M2
is controlled so that it can spray the limescale remover only when it is located in front of the rotary brush device B in the running direction when the gate-shaped running frame 2 is running, and the scale remover spraying device M1, M2
The rotary brush device B is configured to be controlled so that the rotary brush device B operates in parallel with the operation of the rotary brush device B. Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 to 6. In Figures 3 to 6, the upper a indicates a simplified side view, and the lower b
indicates a simplified plane.

First, to remove limescale from the vehicle V, the vehicle V is brushed and dried using a rotating brush device B, a detergent spray device C, and a drying device D in the same manner as in a conventional car wash machine.

Next, a start key (not shown) on the control panel 39 is pressed. As a result, the gate-shaped traveling frame 2 moves back and forth as shown by the arrows in FIG.
Along with this, the first, second, third, and fifth solenoid valves S
The first, S2, S3, and S5 are opened, and the fourth, sixth, seventh, and eighth solenoid valves S4, S6, S7, and S8 are kept closed. Therefore, the water pumped from the water supply pump P sucks up the scale remover in the first ejector E1 and reaches the second ejector E2, where the scale remover is absorbed by the air from the air source A. is foamed. Then, the scale remover in the form of foam reaches the header 31 of one of the scale remover spraying devices M1, and is sprayed in the form of foam toward the vehicle V from each spray nozzle 33. At this time, since the opening area of each spray nozzle 33 is set to be relatively large, the bubbles of the scale remover adhere to the surface of the vehicle V without being crushed. Spraying the limescale remover in the form of foam in this way prevents the limescale remover sprayed on the surface of the vehicle V from immediately running off, and also prevents the limescale removal agent from immediately washing off and prevents the reaction necessary for the limescale to lift off the surface of the vehicle V. This is to secure time and obtain a uniformly processed surface. Also, according to experiments, by forming the scale remover into a foam, a superior scale removal effect was obtained compared to when simply spraying the scale remover in liquid form. Further, by brushing with the rotating brush device B, the same scrubbing work as that performed manually is performed, and the descaling agent sprayed on the surface of the vehicle V is more uniformly adhered to the entire surface of the vehicle V.

Next, the gate-shaped traveling frame 2 is made to go back as shown by the arrow in FIG. 1st, 2nd, 3rd,
The sixth solenoid valves S1, S2, S3, S6 open, and the fourth, fifth, seventh, eighth solenoid valves S4, S5, S7,
S8 closes. As a result, the scale remover is similarly sprayed in the form of foam toward the vehicle V from the other scale remover spraying device M2, and brushing is further performed by the rotating brush device B.

When the gate-shaped traveling frame 2 returns to the scale removal start position, it pauses for 5 to 10 minutes, for example. As a result, the limescale attached to the surface of the vehicle V is lifted off from the surface of the vehicle V by the limescale remover. Also, during this time, parts that are difficult to brush with the rotating brush device B are manually touched up.

After resting for 5 to 10 minutes, a rinse start key (not shown) on the control panel 39 is pressed, and the gate-shaped traveling frame 2 is moved back and forth as shown by the arrows in FIG. Along with this, the seventh and eighth solenoid valves S
7. Open valve S8, and open the first to sixth solenoid valves S1 to S6.
Open the door. Therefore, water is sprayed toward the vehicle V from the water spray devices R1 and R2, and the brushing operation by the rotating brush device B is performed. As a result, the floating limescale and scale remover are washed from the surface of the vehicle V. At this time,
Supply header 3 of each rinse water spray device R1, R2
Water can be evenly sprayed onto the surface of the vehicle V by reducing the hole diameters of the spray nozzles 37 and 38 provided in the spray nozzles 5 and 36 and by increasing the number of spray nozzles 37 and 38.

The water is sprayed from one of the rinsing water spraying devices R1 because some of the limescale, etc. once removed by the brushing of the rotating brush device B is sprayed onto the surface of the vehicle V by the centrifugal force of the rotating brush devices 5 and 6. This is to wash away any adhesion that may occur.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 6, the gate-shaped traveling frame 2 is made to go back, and the seventh
Only the eighth solenoid valves S7 and S8 are opened, and the other solenoid valves S1 to S6 are closed. As a result, water is sprayed from both rinsing water spray devices R1 and R2 toward the vehicle V, and what is left behind in the rinsing process shown in FIG. 5 is washed away. At this time, the scale remover does not remain on the surface of the vehicle V, and if the number of brushing increases unnecessarily, the surface of the vehicle V will be damaged, so the rotary brush device B remains inactive. .

After completing such a lime scale removal process, the wax application device W and the rinsing water spray device R2 are used to polish a vehicle using the vehicle polishing method developed by the applicant
-4657) etc., polish the vehicle and dry it. This makes it possible to obtain a glossier painted surface than before.

All the steps are completed above, but each step may be executed independently as necessary, or it is also possible to continuously and automatically execute each step.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, a pair of scale remover dispersing devices are arranged on a gate-shaped traveling frame with an interval in the front-back direction and with a rotating brush device sandwiched between them, The control means controls the scale remover to be sprayed from the scale remover spraying device located in front of the rotary brush device in the traveling direction, and the control means controls the scale remover to be sprayed from the scale remover spraying device located in front of the rotating brush device in the traveling direction. Since the rotating brush device is controlled to operate in parallel with the operation of the device, the following effects unique to the present invention can be obtained.

(1) A pair of scale remover spraying devices are installed with a rotating brush device in between, so that the gate-shaped traveling frame can be used both when the traveling frame goes out and about, and when it goes back, or when it goes back, and when it goes back and forth. A predetermined amount of limescale remover can be sprayed in a short time when traveling, improving the efficiency of scale removal work.

(2) Since the same type of scale remover can be sprayed from a pair of scale remover spraying devices, the gate-shaped traveling frame does not need to run unnecessarily.
The same water stain removal work can be done when the gate-shaped traveling frame goes out and then goes back, or when it goes back and goes out after going out, and it can also remove water stains that are firmly attached to the vehicle surface. can.

(3) Limescale that is firmly attached to the vehicle surface is difficult to remove, and a relatively large amount of descaling agent must be sprayed.However, if a large amount of descaling agent is applied at once, it will not contribute to the removal of the descaling agent. However, according to the present invention, the descaling agent is applied separately during the outbound trip and during the return trip following the outward trip, or during the return trip and the outbound trip following the return trip, and is applied continuously without interruption. Since the descaling agent can be sprayed directly, there is less amount of water flowing down and the descaling agent can be used effectively.

(4) Immediately after spraying the scale remover, brushing is performed using a rotating brush device, so the scale remover can be evenly rubbed onto the vehicle surface before the scale remover washes off. savings can be achieved.

(5) Even if the rotating brush device is dirty, since the scale remover is sprayed before brushing, the dirt on the rotating brush will be removed by the scale remover.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figures show an embodiment of the present invention, in which Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof, Fig. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing an example of the piping system of the scale remover spraying device and the rinsing water spraying device, and Fig. 3 - FIG. 6 is a diagram showing each stage of the limescale removal operation according to this embodiment, in which a is a simplified side view and b is a plan view. 1... Car wash machine, 2... Gate-shaped traveling frame, 39... Control panel (control means), B... Rotating brush device, M1, M2... Scale remover spraying device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A car wash machine comprising a gate-shaped traveling frame 2 disposed so as to be able to reciprocate in the front-rear direction, and a rotary brush device B for brushing at least the surface of a vehicle, comprising: The car wash machine further includes a control means 39 and a pair of scale remover spraying devices M1, M2, and the pair of scale remover spraying devices M1, M2 include:
The rotating brush devices B are arranged on the gate-shaped traveling frame 2 at intervals in the front-rear direction and sandwich the rotating brush device B therebetween, and are configured to spray the same type of limescale remover, and the control means 39 controls the scale removing agent to be sprayed from the scale removing agent dispersing devices M1 and M2 which are located in front of the rotary brush device B in the traveling direction when the gate-shaped traveling frame 2 is traveling, and also controls the scaling to remove the scale. A car wash machine characterized by being configured to control the rotary brush device B so that the rotary brush device B operates in parallel with the operation of the chemical spraying devices M1 and M2.