Cleaning and liquid contact with solids – Apparatus – Automatic controls
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-24
2004-01-20
Stinson, Frankie L. (Department: 1746)
Cleaning and liquid contact with solids
Apparatus
Automatic controls
C134S0580DL, C134S045000, C134S123000, C134S181000, C134S198000, C239S562000, C239S264000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06679275
ABSTRACT:
This application claims the benefit of German Patent Application No. 199 63 742.3 filed Dec. 29, 1999.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a vehicle washing installation comprising at least one nozzle arrangement which is movable past a vehicle to be cleaned in a longitudinal and a transverse direction of the vehicle and is adapted to be supplied with a cleaning liquid for cleaning the vehicle.
In a vehicle washing installation a vehicle is usually cleaned either by cleaning brushes touching the surface of the vehicle during the cleaning to remove dirt or in a non-contacting manner by a cleaning liquid being sprayed or sprinkled at high pressure onto the vehicle. A plurality of nozzle arrangements, which are oriented vertically and horizontally and surround the vehicle to be cleaned in the manner of a portal, are normally used for the last-mentioned cleaning operation. This enables the nozzle arrangements to be of rigid construction, and yet to act upon all the surfaces of the vehicle to be cleaned with a high-pressure jet.
Instead of using rigidly constructed nozzle arrangements, a vertical nozzle arrangement designed to travel around the vehicle to be cleaned is proposed in DE 37 24 978 A1. This nozzle arrangement is rotatable about a vertical axis, so that a high-pressure jet can be directed at the vehicle both during movement in a longitudinal direction and during movement in a transverse direction of the vehicle. The number of nozzle arrangements can be reduced by such a vehicle washing installation design, but the necessary rotatability of the nozzle arrangement around a vertical axis requires structurally elaborate mechanisms with a plurality of moving parts. This involves considerable manufacturing costs and results in a susceptibility of the vehicle washing installation to malfunction.
The object of the present invention is to further develop a vehicle washing installation of the kind mentioned at the outset so that it is of structurally simpler design and is less sensitive to failure.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This object is accomplished with a generic vehicle washing installation in accordance with the invention in that the nozzle arrangement comprises at least two groups of nozzles, with a first group of nozzles facing the vehicle to be cleaned during a transverse movement of the nozzle arrangement and a second group of nozzles facing the vehicle to be cleaned during a longitudinal movement of the nozzle arrangement. By using at least two groups of nozzles oriented in different directions, mechanisms for rotating the nozzle arrangement about a vertical axis can be dispensed with. It is merely necessary to supply the first group of nozzles with a cleaning liquid during a movement of the nozzle arrangement transversely to the vehicle to be cleaned, so that during a transverse movement a cleaning liquid can be sprayed or sprinkled onto the front or rear area of the vehicle by the first group of nozzles, and during a movement in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle the second group of nozzles is supplied with a cleaning liquid so that the vehicle can also be sprayed or sprinkled with cleaning liquid when the nozzle arrangement moves along a longitudinal side of the vehicle.
In order to reliably clean the vehicle along both of its longitudinal sides and also in the front and rear areas, provision may be made in accordance with the invention for use of two nozzle arrangements, which are each movable in a transverse and a longitudinal direction and each comprise two groups of nozzles oriented in different directions. This makes it possible to clean, for example, the front area and one longitudinal side of the vehicle with the two groups of nozzles of a first nozzle arrangement, and to clean the rear area and the other longitudinal side of the vehicle these can be sprayed or sprinkled with a cleaning liquid by the two groups of nozzles of the second nozzle arrangement.
In a particularly preferred embodiment of the vehicle washing installation according to the invention, provision is made for the nozzle arrangement to comprise three groups of nozzles with a first group of nozzles facing the vehicle during a transverse movement in front of the vehicle to be cleaned, a second group of nozzles facing the vehicle during a longitudinal movement along a longitudinal side of the vehicle, and a third group of nozzles facing the vehicle during a transverse movement behind the vehicle to be cleaned. With such a design, it is merely necessary to design a single nozzle arrangement so as to be movable in both a transverse and a longitudinal direction. In addition to a longitudinal side of the vehicle, both the front area and the rear area can be reliably cleaned with a single nozzle arrangement of such design. To do so, the front area of the vehicle can be sprayed or sprinkled with cleaning liquid by the first group of nozzles, a longitudinal side of the vehicle can be subsequently acted upon with cleaning liquid by the second group of nozzles of the nozzle arrangement, and the rear area of the vehicle can then also be reliably cleaned by the third group of nozzles of the nozzle arrangement. Afterwards an additional nozzle arrangement movable only in a longitudinal direction can be used for cleaning the remaining, second longitudinal side of the vehicle.
Provision may, of course, also be made for use of two nozzle arrangements, each designed to travel in a transverse and a longitudinal direction and each having three groups of nozzles, with, for example, approximately one half of the front area and of the rear area and, in addition, one longitudinal side of the vehicle being acted upon with cleaning liquid by each nozzle arrangement. In this case, it is particularly expedient for the ranges of movement of the two nozzle arrangements to overlap each other during their transverse movement in order to thereby reliably obtain particularly good cleaning results in the front and rear areas.
Alternatively, provision may also be made, for both the front and rear areas of the vehicle and the two longitudinal sides of the vehicle to be sprayed or sprinkled with cleaning liquid by a single nozzle arrangement by the nozzle arrangement comprising a total of four groups of nozzles, so that each longitudinal and transverse side of the vehicle can be acted upon with cleaning liquid by one group of nozzles without rotating the nozzle arrangement about a vertical axis.
It is particularly expedient for the nozzle arrangement to be movable at a predeterminable distance from the vehicle. This makes it possible to arrange the nozzle arrangement at such a distance from the respective longitudinal or transverse side of the vehicle to be cleaned that optimum cleaning results are obtainable when the vehicle is acted upon with cleaning liquid. This takes into account the consideration that when cleaning with high-pressure jets, too great a distance of the nozzle arrangement from the vehicle will seriously impair the cleaning results, whereas too short a distance will involve the risk of damage to the vehicle by a collision with the nozzle arrangement. Above all, attention must be paid to the risk of such a collision in the area of protruding vehicle parts such as, for example, rearview mirrors.
To position the nozzle arrangement at a predeterminable distance from the vehicle, it has proven advantageous for a sensor unit, for example, in the form of a light barrier to be associated with the nozzle arrangement. The light barrier may, for example, be in the form of a reflex sensor with adjustable background fade-out.
It is expedient for the nozzle arrangement and the sensor unit to be held on a transport unit, preferably a carriage, which is movable in a transverse direction. In this case, it is particularly advantageous for a drive unit associated with the nozzle arrangement to be held, in addition, on the transport unit for moving the nozzle arrangement in a transverse direction. Such a design can be implemented in a particularly compact manner, and traction rope connections which are mechani
Berger Oliver
Heinze Michael
Alfred Kaercher GmbH & Co. KG
Lipsitz Barry R.
Stinson Frankie L.
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