Design And Implementation Of A Plc Basedautoma Tic Car Washing System

ABSTRACT

In this new era, innovation has extended its arm into different aspect of life especially in the

transportation field. This development has led to an increase in pr-Oducing smarter vehicles fo1·

transportation. Thus, requiring an appropriate automatic washing framework to wash and

maintain cleanliness of these vehicles. This project involves the design and construction of a

PLC based automatic car washing system with the aim of reducing water waster by

incorporating a recycling system. The traditional means of washing vehicles was time

consuming, involved lots of manual power and led to water pollution of the environment. This

system is designed usirlg aluminum metal to fabricate the framework. The system is

implemented using three means, namely: Mechanical, Electrical and Programming means. The

machine was designed to use an induction electric motor to move the car on the conveyor belt

from one workstation to the next incorporating the use of a VFD to reduce the speed of the

motor incorporating the use of a PLC to control: the logical operations of the system with the

use of sensors and actuators. Also, the system made use of a filter uet to separate dirt from used

water in order to allow recycling of the system by pumping it back int-0 the system. After testing

the automatic car washing system, it performed the car washing process efficiently from oue

work statiou to another aud reduced water wastage by recycling the water.

Keywords: PLC, Conveyor belt, AC Motors, Proximity Sensors (Inductive type), Variable frequeucy drive (VFD), Relay, Dryer, Brush.