JPH08199Y2 - Car wash equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to a car wash device of a type that is equipped with a car wash brush and brushes an automobile body when a liquid agent such as detergent or wax is sprayed.

[Prior Art and its Problems] Generally, in this type of device, the cleaning brush is contaminated due to the adhesion of dust, oil components, etc. with its use. There was a problem that the dirt on the car body was transferred to the car body and the car body was stained. In particular, in the type of device that performs waxing processing by brushing while spraying a wax agent,
The wax component was attached to the brush, and the above-mentioned problems were remarkable.

For this reason, regular brush cleaning work is required, but in the past, most of this kind of work relies on manual work, and is considered to be one of the most difficult tasks of maintenance of car wash devices. It was

On the other hand, the applicant has devised a brush cleaning device,
It is published as Japanese Utility Model Application No. 1-81162. But,
Such a device was originally attached and used when cleaning the brush, and was not of a nature that could release the operator from the trouble of the brush cleaning work.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention addresses the above-mentioned problems, and is provided at a position where a means for holding a cleaning brush at a retracted position and bristles of the brush come into contact when the cleaning brush is rotated at the retracted position. A brush cleaning member and a means for controlling the brush to rotate at a predetermined timing when the cleaning brush is in the retracted position can be cleaned without resorting to manual work by an operator, and a high cleaning effect is always achieved. It is intended to provide a device capable of exerting the above.

[Embodiment] An embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, in which a car wash apparatus main body 1 is shown as a so-called portal car wash machine in which it travels on the rails 2.2.

An upper surface brush 3, a pair of side surface brushes 4 and 4 and nozzles 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 are arranged in the car wash machine body 1.

Both ends of the upper surface brush 3 are held by the pair of swing arms 10 and 10, and the upper surface brush 3 is vertically movable. Reference numeral 11 is an air cylinder attached to one of the support shafts of the swing arm 10 and biases the upper surface brush 3 to hold it in the upper retracted position shown in the drawing.

The side brushes 4 and 4 are horizontal rails 12 above the apparatus main body 1.
It is supported by a carrier 13 that runs along. 14
14 is a weight that urges the side brushes 4 and 4 toward each other, and 15 is an air cylinder that urges the side brushes 4 and 4 away from each other, against the bias of the weights 14 and 14. Normally, the side brushes 4, 4 are held by the air cylinder 15 at the side retracted position shown in the figure.

When washing the car, the nozzles 5 and 9 clean water,
The nozzles 6 and 8 discharge detergent water, and the nozzle 7 discharges wax water. Among them, the nozzles 7, 8 and 9 are the brushes 3 and 4 in which at least a part of the discharged water is in the retracted position.
・ It is set so as to hit 4 and discharges clean water during brush cleaning work according to the present invention to contribute to cleaning of the brush.

Reference numerals 16, 17, 17 are brush cleaning members, for example, a brushed sheet member such as an entrance turf. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the brushes 3, 4, 4 are in a retracted position. It is attached at a position where the bristles of the brush come into contact when rotated with.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the control diameter of the main part of the above embodiment.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a control unit which has a microcomputer and outputs a predetermined control output according to a program. 21 is an operation panel,
The setting of the contents of the car wash to be executed and the input of the car wash start are mainly accepted, but in addition to this, the "brush cleaning" key 22 is provided to accept the brush cleaning start input. Reference numerals 23 and 24 denote sensors for detecting the positions of the brushes 3 and 4 and 4 which are proximity switches that are opened and closed by a magnet provided on the sliding body of the air cylinders 11 and 15 to determine whether or not each brush is in the retracted position. To detect. Reference numeral 25 is a rotary drive circuit for the upper surface brush 3, and 26 is a rotary drive circuit for the side surface brushes 4 and 4. Reference numeral 27 denotes a water discharge drive circuit for starting / stopping water discharge in the nozzle, which discharges fresh water from the nozzles 7, 8 and 9 during brush cleaning. Reference numeral 28 is a voice alarm for reporting the start of brush cleaning.

Next, the brush cleaning operation according to this embodiment will be described. Brush cleaning is started by the "Brush cleaning" key 22 on the operation panel 21,
Even if the same key is input during car wash reception, it will not be accepted. "Brush cleaning" key 22 when the car washer is idle
Is input, the controller 20 executes the brush cleaning routine shown in FIG.

First, the signals of the sensors 23 and 24 are monitored and each brush 3
・ Check that 4 and 4 are in the retracted position (1), and if it is confirmed that they are in the retracted position, set a predetermined value in the timers T ₁ and T ₂ and start the brush cleaning from the voice alarm 28. After outputting the sound (2), the brushes 3, 4, 4 are rotated, and fresh water is discharged from the nozzles 7, 8, 9 to start brush cleaning (3).

Here, since the brushes 3, 4, 4 rotate while rubbing the bristles of the brushes on the brush cleaning members 16, 17, 17, the dirt adhering to the brushes is scraped off, and this dirt is further removed by the nozzle 7 ,. It will be washed away by spraying water from August 9th.

After the start of brush cleaning, when the timer time T ₁ has elapsed (4), the brushes 3, 4, 4 are rotated in the opposite direction to continue brush cleaning (5).

After that, when the timer time T ₂ has elapsed (6), the rotation of the brush and the water discharge from the nozzle are stopped, and the brush cleaning is finished (7).

On the other hand, in the step (1), when it is detected that even one of the brushes is not in the predetermined retracted position, it is judged that the worker may be in the middle of inspection work,
An error sound is output from the voice output device 28 to cancel the brush cleaning reception (8).

During brush cleaning, the nozzles 7 and 8
-Not only may clean water be discharged from 9, but a chemical agent for removing dirt may be sprayed. In addition, due to the installation position of each nozzle, etc., if effective water cannot be discharged to the brush in the retracted position, the brush is rotated and the air cylinders 11 and 16 are periodically released to remove the brush. You may control so that it may move to the position where water is sprayed.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a control system of an embodiment different from that of FIG. This embodiment will be described below mainly with respect to differences from the example of FIG.

The control unit 20 is provided with a counter C, and executes brush cleaning according to the count value of the counter C in the procedure shown in FIG.

When the car wash device 1 completes one car wash, it is confirmed whether or not the car wash just performed is a car wash including a wax treatment (11), and if it includes a wax treatment, the counter C is incremented by 1 (12). If the value of the counter C has reached the predetermined value (13), the brush cleaning routine shown in FIG. 5 is executed (14). Here, when the brushes 3, 4, 4 are in the predetermined retracted positions and the brush cleaning is completed safely (15), the count value of the counter C is cleared (1
6) End a series of operations. On the other hand, if the brush cleaning cannot be executed due to the fact that the brush is not in the predetermined retracted position, it will be retried after the next car wash.

In this embodiment, the brush cleaning is programmed to be executed based on the number of car washes including the wax treatment. However, depending on the characteristics of the car wash device, the properties of the liquid agent used, etc. It is possible to make appropriate changes such as control according to the number of car washes, and car wash including other processing as the count target.

According to the embodiment configured as described above, brush cleaning can be performed with the brush held in the retracted position, and brush cleaning is performed based on actual data such as key input or the number of car washes. No manual labor by workers is required.

Here, an example in which the present invention is applied to a gate type car wash machine is described, but the invention can also be effectively used for a so-called continuous automatic car wash device that performs car wash while conveying a car by a conveyor or the like.

[Effect of the Invention] The present invention is configured as described above, and the brush cleaning work can be performed without the need for manual work by the operator, and the time and effort for maintenance can be greatly reduced. In addition, the brush can be always kept in a clean state, and an excellent car wash effect can be exhibited.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural explanatory view of an embodiment of the present invention. 2 and 3 are explanatory views of the main part of the same embodiment. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a control system of the same embodiment. FIG. 5 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the embodiment. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a control system of another embodiment. FIG. 7 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is a car washing device main body, 3/4 is a cleaning brush, 11/15 is an air cylinder as a holding means, 16/17/17 is a brush cleaning member, 20 is a control section, and 22 is a "brush cleaning" key which is an input means. , C is a counter as a counting means.

Claims (3)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A car wash apparatus of the type which comprises a cleaning brush and brushes an automobile body with spraying of a liquid agent such as detergent or wax, and means for holding the cleaning brush at a retracted position, and a position where the cleaning brush is retracted. A brush cleaning member provided at a position where the bristles of the brush come into contact when rotated, and means for controlling the brush to rotate at a predetermined timing when the cleaning brush is at the retracted position. A characteristic car wash device. 2. The car wash apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising input means for brush cleaning, wherein the control means rotates the brush at a timing given by the input means. 3. The car wash apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control means includes means for counting usage record data including the number of times the car has been washed and the brush usage time, and the usage record reaches a predetermined value. A car wash device characterized by rotating a brush when it does.