The most common washing system these days is the tunnel-type car wash system wherein a vehicle to be washed is passed through a series of linearly spaced cleaning stations. In conventional tunnel-type wash systems, mitter curtains, which are comprised of strips of cloth that are rocked back and forth transversely across the path of the vehicle, abrasively scrub dirt and other debris from the surface of the vehicle. In combination with a mitter curtain, revolving brushes may rotatably engage the surface of the vehicle. In either case, the vehicle surface may be scratched by contact with granular dirt particles that may have collected on the mitter curtains or brushes, and/or may contact with the brushes or curtains themselves. Some “brushing less car washing system” sprays clean exterior surfaces of a vehicle with pressurized fluid jets, usually pressurized water with detergent, that are passed adjacent to the surface of the vehicle. In any case, the object is to submit the entire readily visible exterior surface of the vehicle to the spray jets to remove dirt and grease from the vehicle surface. However, there is a limit of pressure that can be applied to the surface of the vehicle due to the cost of compressing the liquid and the possibility of damaging the surface of the vehicle. Anyway, all the conventional automatic car washing systems use water and detergent to remove dirt from the surface of the vehicle to be washed.
Some waterless cleaning chemical solutions are introduced to the market. Those chemicals are applied to the surface of a car by hand. Manufacturers of those chemicals claim that they are environmentally affirmative because they are bio-degradable. However, it is clear that even bio-degradable chemicals need time to be decomposed by any kind of outer source, such as bacteria or micro-organism. Before it is decomposed it remains as just a chemical. And there is no final result what the decomposed chemicals may produce.
Recently, a portable steam generator that produces hot steam of pressure between 1 Kg to 10 Kg is introduced for “hand car washing.” That steam generator uses less than 10% amount of water that was needed to wash a car by conventional automatic car washing systems that use water and detergent. Moreover, the steam cleaning method does not use any kind of detergent. It means no waste water is generated.
In spite of the above benefits, those portable steam generators have critical defects.
First is that the end of the hot steam exit nozzle is exposed to the air without any proper protections. Most of the portable steam generators for car wash have one or two long flexible rubber hose equipped with a nozzle and used for “hand wash.” Such design is to maximize the pressure of the steam that is applied on the surface of the car to be washed and to wash indented surface of a car. However, the hot temperature of the exiting steam, which is well over 100° C., may burn the skin of a person who accidentally stands in front of the steam exit nozzle. Inexperienced user easily burns their skins. Second is that when the high pressure steam washes the dirty surface of a car, the steam blows away the dirt from the surface of the car to the air. Then a user, usually look into the surface of the car carefully, put his/her face close to the surface. Then the mist of the steam and the dirt blows into the air and the user inhale them as he/she breaths. This is very bad working environment for the user or employers.
It is the purpose of the current application to provide a car washing system that is not only environmentally affirmative but also friendly to industrial hygiene.