Rollover pressure car wash apparatus and methods of operating same

Abstract

A variable pressure spray type vehicle laundry apparatus in which a carriage is mounted for longitudinal displacement along overhead parallel beams and an inverted L shaped spray arm carrying both horizontally and vertically directed nozzles circumscribes the vehicle to be laundered. In the preferred embodiments two reversely similar L shaped spray arms are used and caused to operate through a butterfly type cycle to spray various fluids at different pressures on the vehicle. For low pressure operations, the twin arm system is centered over the vehicle and both spray arms are supplied with low pressure fluid at the same time. For high pressure operations, the left and right spray arms are operated in sequence and each is maintained at an optimal spray arm to vehicle spacing during its operating cycle. The carriage is provided with a laterally translatable shuttle structure for this purpose.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]This invention relates to systems for causing one or more spray nozzle support arms to traverse a path which circumscribes an object such as an automobile as well as to operating methods therefor. The invention and the various sub-combinations thereof are advantageously applied to a vehicle laundry of the rollover type.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The manufacture, sale and operation of automobile laundering equipment is big business in the United States and many other countries. The term “automobile laundering”, as used herein, refers to wet washing the external surfaces of virtually any type of vehicle from ordinary passenger cars to busses, trucks, vans and even train cars and airplanes. Moreover, the principles and structures described herein can be applied to any fluid spray system including, by way of example, painting, prepping and corrosion-proofing.[0003]One of the most popular forms of vehicle laundering equipment is the so-called “rollover” ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]In the preferred and fully accessorized embodiment, the carriage arrangement provides for lateral as well as longitudinal displacement of the pivot center relative to the treatment area. With this capability, pivotal movement, lateral movement, longitudinal movement and pressure selection may be programmably coordinated to perform high pressure treatment cycles at optimal distances from the side surfaces of the treated object while low pressure cycles are carried out in such a way as to promote efficiency through time saving. By way of example, a dual spray arm system affords simultaneous coverage of both sides of a vehicle in a laundering area during that portion of a cycle in which fluid is sprayed at low pressure. The nozzle-carrying arms move in mirror-image or “butterfly” fashion to achieve maximum coverage while the pivot center for the arms moves along a line corresponding with the longitudinal centerline of the vehicle. However, for the high-pressure phase, the left and right arms of a two-arm system are activated separately and each arm is placed at optimal nozzle-to-vehicle spacing during its operating time.

[0013]Object edge position inputs are provided, for example, by optical or sonic signal-emitting components such as photo cells and sonar transducers, or combinations thereof, all readily commercially available, mounted on the spray arms and various other places. The position signals are fed to the processor to locate the centerline and outside edges; i.e., peripheral surfaces, of the vehicle to direct the system to perform the longitudinal, lateral and pivotal motions in a correlated way. For components, such as the spray arms, which pivot or rotate, commercially available encoders are used to generate pulses indicating increments of angular motion. These pulses are readily counted and the counts converted into distance quantities so that the position of the spray arms can be determined and controlled at all times.

Problems solved by technology

At a minimum, this is wasteful of chemicals.

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