Cleaning device for a vehicle and method for operating the cleaning device

Technical field

The invention relates to a cleaning device for a vehicle, in particular for cleaning a vehicle window in the front or rear region. The invention furthermore relates to a method for operating a cleaning device of said type.

Prior art

Cleaning devices for vehicles for cleaning front or rear windows are typically distinguished by the use of a wiper blade which is coupled to an electric motor and the wiper rubber of which is moved along the surface of the window for cleaning. Here, dirt adhering to the window is mechanically removed by the wiper rubber. It is additionally typically the case, in particular in dry weather or in the event of relatively heavy contamination, that spray nozzles are provided via which cleaning liquid, for example water, can be applied to the contaminated region of the window in order to achieve a better cleaning result. Such cleaning devices, which operate using a wiper blade or wiper rubber, have the disadvantage that, over time, the wiper rubber thereof becomes worn, or for example also becomes brittle owing to the action of environmental influences (UV radiation), or the like. It is therefore necessary for a wiper blade of said type, or the wiper rubber, to be exchanged from time to time, which necessitates not only increased costs but also an additional maintenance or assembly operation.

Furthermore, EP 2 467 090 B1 , for example, discloses a cleaning device having the features of the preamble of Claim 1 , which is used in the field of dental cleaning. The known cleaning device is integrated in a brush head of a toothbrush and has first nozzles for dispensing a liquid and second nozzles for dispensing compressed air. The longitudinal axes of the nozzles are here arranged in each case at an oblique angle with respect to the surface of a carrier element (toothbrush). The cleaning device is operated or moved manually,

Disclosure of the invention

The cleaning device according to the invention for a vehicle having the features of Claim 1 has the advantage that it operates without wear owing to its contactless mode of operation, and is thus maintenance-free. This has the result that a uniformly good cleaning action can be achieved at all times throughout the operational lifetime of the vehicle. Furthermore, the cleaning device according to the invention fundamentally makes it possible for virtually any, in particular spherically shaped, vehicle windows to be cleaned in a particularly effective manner. The background to this is that, in the case of surfaces or windows of such curved form, it is difficult, when using wiper blades or wiper rubbers, to achieve a uniform contact pressure and thus a uniform cleaning action over the length of the wiper rubber.

Against the background of the explanations above, the cleaning device according to the invention for a vehicle, having the features of Claim 1 , therefore proposes that this has a carrier unit which is coupled to a drive mechanism which is designed to move the carrier unit along at a distance above the surface, in particular above a vehicle window. The invention thus utilizes a cleaning device using liquid and air nozzles, such as is known per se from the prior art, by coupling said cleaning device to a drive mechanism which serves for bringing the cleaning device or the carrier element with the air nozzles and liquid nozzles into operative connection with the surface for cleaning of the vehicle window.

Advantageous refinements of the cleaning device according to the invention for a vehicle are specified in the subclaims. One particularly preferred design configuration of the carrier unit provides that said carrier unit has at least two feed elements, which are in particular tubular and of rectilinear form, at least one first feed element, on which multiple air nozzles are arranged, and at least one second feed element, on which multiple liquid nozzles are arranged.

In a refinement of a carrier unit of said type, or of the feed elements thereof, it is provided that the at least two feed elements are arranged parallel to one another, and the air nozzles and the liquid nozzles are each arranged at an identical third distance from one another in the respective feed element. This allows uniform wetting of the surface for cleaning with the liquid and the compressed air.

In a very particularly preferred design configuration, it is provided that one feed element with liquid nozzles and two feed elements with air nozzles are provided, and that the feed element with the liquid nozzles is arranged between the two feed elements with the air nozzles. Such a design configuration with two feed elements with air nozzles has the advantage that, in the case of a back-and-forth movement of the carrier unit over the surface (vehicle window) for cleaning, the liquid applied by means of the liquid nozzles can be removed immediately thereafter by the air nozzles independently of the movement direction of the carrier unit, such that the view for a driver is impeded as little as possible.

An improved action in particular of the air nozzles or of the compressed air and/or of the applied liquid can be achieved if the central axis of the at least one air nozzle and/or of the at least one liquid nozzle is arranged at an oblique angle with respect to the surface for cleaning. In this way, for example with regard to the air nozzles, a type of doctor blade effect can be achieved which forces the liquid for removal in a particular direction.

With regard also to the design configuration of the drive mechanism, there are a wide variety of possibilities that can ensure that the carrier unit can be moved accurately in terms of position in the desired manner. For this purpose, one preferred design implementation provides that the drive mechanism has at least one guide element for linearly guiding the carrier unit, at the preferably constant second distance from the surface for cleaning, between two reversal positions, and in that the carrier unit is at least indirectly connected to an electric motor for moving the carrier unit.

Provision may also be made for the feed elements to be connected by means of feed lines, which are of flexible form at least in certain regions, to a reservoir for liquid cleaning medium and to a positive pressure source (for compressed air).

The invention furthermore relates to a method for operating an above-described cleaning device according to the invention. In a basic configuration of such a method, it is provided that, for cleaning the surface, the carrier unit is moved along the surface for cleaning, wherein only the at least one liquid nozzle is activated. Such a method results in particular in a relatively long duration of action of the cleaning liquid on the contaminated surface, and for example a particularly good removal of the dirt.

In an alternative configuration of the method, which in particular minimizes an obstruction of the view for the driver, it is provided that, for cleaning the surface, the carrier unit is moved along the surface for cleaning, and that both the at least one liquid nozzle and the at least one air nozzle are activated.

In one refinement of the method described immediately above, it may in particular also be provided that, if two feed elements with air nozzles are present, only that feed element which is situated behind the feed element with the liquid nozzles in the direction of movement of the carrier unit is activated.

Further advantages, features and details of the invention will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments of the invention and with reference to the drawings.

Brief description of the drawings Figure 1 shows, in a simplified plan view, a cleaning device according to the invention for a vehicle window of a vehicle, with the main components,

Figure 2 shows the cleaning device as per Figure 1 in a perspective view, and

Figure 3 shows a section through the cleaning device as per Figure 1 in the plane Ill-Ill of Figure 1 , in the case of which the cleaning device has been supplemented, in relation to the illustration of Figures 1 and 2, by an additional feed element with air nozzles.

Embodiments of the invention

Identical elements or elements having an identical function are provided with the same reference numbers in the figures.

Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the main components of a cleaning device 10. The cleaning device 10 serves for cleaning a surface 1 of a vehicle window 2, in particular of a vehicle front window. In the exemplary embodiment illustrated, for the sake of simplicity, the surface 1 is illustrated as a detail, or as an approximately rectangular and planar surface 1. In practice, the surface 1 is however a curved surface 1 , which may possibly also be of spherically shaped or curved form.

The cleaning device 10 has a carrier unit 12 as part of a drive mechanism 25, on which two tubular feed elements 14, 16 are arranged. The two feed elements 14, 16, which are of rectilinear form and arranged parallel to one another, have a multiplicity of air nozzles 18 and liquid nozzles 20, which are formed in each case as bores in the feed element 14, 16. A first horizontal distance a is formed between the bores of the air nozzles 18 and the liquid nozzles 20 in the feed elements 14, 16. Furthermore, a third distance b between the bores of the air nozzles 18 and liquid nozzles 20 respectively in the longitudinal direction of the feed elements 14, 16 is, by way of example, of equal size, and the bores of the air nozzles 18 and of the liquid nozzles 20 are oriented in alignment with one another in a direction running transversely with respect to the longitudinal direction of the feed elements 14, 16.

At opposite end sections of the feed elements 14, 16, these are in each case connected to one another by means of a coupling block 22, 24. At least one coupling block 22 is guided in a guide element 26 in the form of a guide rail such that the two feed elements 14, 16 can be moved along the surface 1 in the direction of the double arrow 28 between two reversal positions Ui and U2. For this purpose, the coupling block 22 is, by way of example, coupled at least indirectly to an electric motor 30 of the drive mechanism 25, which is configured in particular as a reversible electric motor 30. Furthermore, in the region of the coupling block 22, lines 32, 34 which are flexible at least in certain regions proceed from the respective feed element 14, 16, which lines are connected, with the interposition (not illustrated) of a conveying pump, to a liquid source or a reservoir 36 for cleaning liquid and to a positive pressure source 38 for providing compressed air. In this way, with corresponding control of the air nozzles 18 and liquid nozzles 20, it is possible for air jets 3 and liquid jets 4 to be generated which act on the surface 1 .

Figure 3 regionally illustrates a modified cleaning device 10a, which differs from the cleaning device 10 in that two feed elements 14 and 40 with air nozzles 18 are provided. In particular, the two feed elements 14, 40 are arranged at equal distances to both sides of the (central) feed element 16 with the liquid nozzles 20. Furthermore, it can be seen from Figure 3 that the feed elements 14, 16 and 40, like the feed elements 14 and 16 in the case of the cleaning device 10, are arranged at a constant second distance c above the surface 1 for cleaning. It can also be seen that the central axes 42 of the air nozzles 18 run or are arranged at an oblique angle a with respect to the surface 1 for cleaning, such that the air jets 3 are oriented in the direction of the liquid jets 4. By contrast, the central axes 44 of the liquid nozzles 20 run perpendicular to the surface 1 . It is additionally pointed out that, during the operation of the cleaning device 10a, only one of the two feed elements 14, 40 is actuated to generate the air jets 3 in a manner dependent on the movement direction of the feed elements 14, 16 and 40, specifically such that, in each case, that feed element 14, 40 which trails in the movement direction of the feed element 16 is actuated in order to remove cleaning liquid that has been applied ahead of it to the surface 1 .

The above-described cleaning device 10, 10a may basically be operated in a variety of ways. In a first operating mode, it is provided that, during the movement of the carrier unit 12 or of the feed elements 14, 16 (and possibly 40), only the liquid nozzles 20 are activated in order to apply cleaning liquid to the surface 1 , and the air nozzles 18 are actuated only during a subsequent cycle, or when the feed elements 14, 16, 40 are moving in a direction opposite to that during the application of the cleaning liquid. In an alternative configuration, it is provided that, in addition to the liquid nozzles 20, the air nozzles 18 are also activated at the same time in order to remove the applied cleaning liquid from the surface 1 as rapidly as possible in order to minimize an obstruction of the view for a driver.

The above-described cleaning device 10, 10a may be altered or modified in a wide variety of ways without departing from the concept of the invention.

Reference designations

1 Surface

2 Vehicle window

3 Air jet

4 Liquid jet

10, 10a Cleaning device

12 Carrier unit

14, 16 Feed element

18 Air nozzle

20 Liquid nozzle

22, 24 Coupling block

25 Drive mechanism

26 Guide element

28 Double arrow

30 Electric motor

32, 34 Line

36 Reservoir

38 Positive pressure source

40 Feed element

42, 44 Central axis a Distance b Distance c Distance

Ui, U2 Reversal position a Angle