PLC BASED AUTOMATIC CAR CLEANING SYSTEM

1. PLC BASED AUTOMATIC CAR CLEANING
SYSTEM
Mahipal Soni
B. Tech Student
Department of Electrical
Engineering
Poornima College of Engineering,
Jaipur (Raj.) India-302022
2014pceeemahipal@poornima.org
Ruchi Saini
B.Tech. Student
Department of Electrical
Engineering
Poornima College of Engineering,
Jaipur (Raj.) India-302022
2014pceeeruchi@poornima.org
Mr. Gaurav Srivastava
Assistant Professor
Department of Electrical
Engineering
Poornima College of Engineering,
Jaipur (Raj.) India-302022
gaurav.srivastava@poornima.org
Abstract— Automatic car washing is very common
in developed countries. Due to busy schedules and
urgent requirements, people prefer to use
Automatic car washing through industries instead
of manually washing it. Automatic car washing is
the process of cleaning the exteriors of the car in a
quick and efficient manner. It saves time.
Moreover, the amount of water required during
the wash is also less as compared to manual
washing. The car wash is implemented mainly in
three basic stages viz. Washing, Cleaning and
Drying. In this project, Allen Bradley
Programmable Logic Controller is used. Ladder
logic is used for the programming. Such systems
can be implemented anywhere such as malls,
airports, railway stations, residential buildings etc.
Keywords— Programmable Logic Controller, DC
Motor, Relay, solenoid Valve.
I. INTRODUCTION
Washing vehicles is very important. It prevents
contaminants such as dirt, dust and other air-borne
pollutants from adhering to the vehicle. It is
recommended to wash vehicles so that the adhering
pollutants do not remain stick to the vehicle for long
to cause rust and damage to the paint. In our project,
we have demonstrated the Automatic washing of a
car using ladder logic program in Allen Bradley
Programmable Logic Controller. Today, most of the
vehicles are washed manually; this does increase
employment but wastes a lot of time and water
when there are large number of vehicles. This
project proposes an efficient and quick method to
wash cars without manual efforts. The first semi-
automatic car wash was active for the first time in
Detriot, Michigan using automatic pulley systems
and manual brushing called “Rub-a-Dub”. With the
modern technological advancements, carwash
industry has experienced unprecedent progress.
Different types of car washes have come up in the
market like self-service car wash, tunnel carwash,
chemical carwash, steam carwash etc. Further
discussion on the project is done in the following
sections of the paper. Section II discusses the
contributions of few authors from where the idea of
making this project has arisen. The importance of
the project is discussed in Section III. Section IV
explains the different types of carwashes available
in the market. Section V of the paper presents the
Block diagram of the project. The components
required to make this system are discussed in
Section VI. Furthermore, Section VII explains the
various stages and working of the car wash with the
help of a flowchart. Section VIII provides the
overall conclusion and the future scope is then
discussed in the next section IX. Finally, the
references are presented at the end of the paper.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Anam Abid et al. [1] presents a quick, convenient
and efficient touchless car wash project. It
minimizes the wastage of water during the wash per
vehicle than one would consume washing the same
vehicle at home. The basic components of proposed
carwash system are sensors, nozzles, movable
frames and controller. The steps involved in the
carwash process consists of car peripheral mapping,
adjustment of nozzles based on car peripheral

2. mapping and washing process. The carwash
framework includes movable frames, Nozzles,
Sensors, Motor and Controllers. Mechanical Design
modelling includes the Base design, Primary and
secondary frames and actuating mechanism. It
utilizes number of sensors, which take readings in
the form of distance from the object and cover three
dimensions such as length, height and width.
Touchless object washing is carried out with help of
five Vee jet nozzles. The proposed carwash system
reveals a promising future for car washing industry,
especially in developing countries like ours, as
equipment’s and technology used is locally
manufactured. In future, vision systems can be
incorporated to give a better solution to the mapping
problem at hand. Cameras can be installed in place
of the distance sensors thus giving a more precise
and accurate result of what kind of object is present.
The contours of the object can be judged with ease
and at a great speed. It will help to give a more
precise control action generated by the controller
and thus save natural resources and water.
Prof. Mhaske D.A. et al. [2] has proposed a project
for automatic washing of vehicles based on
programming. In this programmed auto washing
venture, a transport line is utilized on which the
client stops the vehicle. Then a switch is pressed
after which the transport line begins to move. Clock
is set on transport line at better places for vehicle
recognition. At the point when the amateur the
vehicle, it stops the transport line and begins a valve
at the same time through water on vehicle
comparably at various levels. When a vehicle is
identified it will utilize brushes, cleanser, and drier
to clean it. The components required to make this
project are PLC, Wiper Motor, Conveyer Belt,
Brushes, Relays, Switches, Shower, Cleaner, Dry
Fan and SMPS. PLC’s do precisely what the human
software engineer instruct them to do. PLC is
associated with PC through RS-232 correspondence
link for downloading or transferring the system. A
conveyer belt transport mechanism is utilized for
moving the vehicle through different phases of
washing. 100 rpm DC engine is used for driving the
transport line through pulley and for driving
brushes. For automatic car washing system, two
specified voltage supplies like 12V and 24V SMPS
are used. First 12v power supply is used for the
working of Relay and other mechanical driving
assembly as conveyor belt, shower operation,
cleaning brushes, wiper motor and it is parallel with
the small pipes used to spray the water from bottom
side to clean the car from its bottom side. Towards
the end, hot steam air is utilized for drying the
vehicle. A visual programming dialect known as the
Ladder Logic was utilized to program the PLC. This
system is skilled to wash different vehicles at once
and require less labour, time and no contamination.
Ms. Juby Jogi et al. [3] through their paper
presents an automobile cleaning system which is
implemented with the help of switching operations
based on the response of sensors. In this project,
more than one car can be cleaned simultaneously by
simply adjusting the system to make more
components active at a particular time and wisely
adjusting the time intervals. This project can be
implemented in car parking areas for better
utilization of time.
Zeenal Lalluwadia et al. [4] focusses on making
an automatic car washing system using PLC and
SCADA. They have performed all the operations
needed to clean the car successfully using PLC and
hybrid compact logic L43 DCS. This car wash
project is cost effective, time saving and pollution
free.
III. PROJECT IMPORTANCE
The project is very important to the urgent needs of
customers. Due to poor weather conditions and
continuous use of vehicles, sometimes it becomes
difficult to take out time to wash the vehicles due to
busy schedule. Sometimes, we don’t get proper
space to wash our vehicle and the run-off water fills
the road of the lanes if used much amount of water.
This efficient automatic car washing system saves
time as well as water and produces a quality end
product without harming paint and gives a lustrous
shine to the vehicle.
IV. TYPES OF AUTOMATIC CAR WASH
SYSTEM
1) Self-service- These services have a pressure
sprayer, and sometimes a foaming brush, that is
connected to a large central pump. The sprayer has

3. a coin-operated dial system to select the option you
want, such as “soap”, “rinse” and “wax”. A timer
shuts the water off after a certain period of time, at
which point you must put in more coins if you want
more water.
2) In-bay automatics- It consist of an automatic
washing machine and dryer that rolls back and forth
over a stationary vehicle - often seen at filling
stations and stand-alone wash sites.
3) Hand washes- Here the vehicle is washed by the
employee.
Fig. Hand-wash
4) Tunnel washes- which use a conveyor to move
the vehicle through a series of fixed cleaning
mechanisms.
5) Chemical car wash- It is also known as
waterless car wash. It uses chemicals to wash and
polish car surface. Claims to be an eco-friendly car
wash method. It is recommended only for cars with
light dirt accumulation to avoid paint damage.
Fig. 3.3 Chemical wash
6) Steam car wash- It use a jet of steam and micro
fibre towels, some include detergent injection.
Known to have originated from South Korea, steam
car washes have been especially popular as a low-
investment, eco-friendly car wash solution in Asia,
Middle East, and Europe. It has very good
sanitizing features and mobility.
7) Mobile car washes- They carry plastic water
tanks and use pressure washers. Sometimes these
systems are mounted on trailers, on trucks, or in
vans.
8) Exterior rollover- These are automated systems
where you drive your car inside the bay. Once your
car is in the correct position, a signal informs you to
stop. At that point, the car wash equipment moves
over your car on a track, performing a specific
function, such as applying soap or rinsing, with
each pass. Exterior rollover systems are very
common at gas stations, where the price is often
discounted in conjunction with buying a tank of gas.
9) Full-service- It is a modification of the exterior
rollover system. Full-services use the same
conveyor-belt-based automated system. The
difference is that the interior is manually cleaned by
attendants, and some exterior services, such as
hand-drying and wheel-cleaning are available.
10) Detail shop- A detail shop may hand wash or
use an automated system to wash the car. Then,
attendants completely clean and polish the car,
normally applying wax and using a tool called
buffer to remove the wax and polish the car. Detail
shops are often able to remove dull paint and small
scratches, steam clean carpets and seats, brighten
chrome, remove tar and perform a variety of other
services.
V. BLOCK DIAGRAM
Fig. Project Block Diagram

4. VI. COMPONENTS REQUIRED
1) Brushes- Brushes are used to remove built up
road dirt or stubborn bugs.
2) Sprinkler- These are used to spray water and
soap on cars to remove sticking dirt and grease
which do not normally get out from normal water
dispersal.
3) DC Motor- We have used 12 V DC Motors to
move the conveyor belt and brushes.
4) Dryer- In this demonstration, we have used CPU
Fans for drying purpose.
5) Submersible Water Pump- 12 V Pumps are
used to lift liquid from low pressure area to high
pressure area.
6) Conveyor Belt- A conveyor system is a common
piece of mechanical handling equipment that moves
materials from one location to another. In our
project we have used conveyor belt to move our car
to various stations for cleaning purpose.
7) Relay- A relay is used for switching on and off
the operations.
8) Solenoid Valve- It is an electrically operated
valve used to replace manual valves. We have used
two-port solenoid valves.
9) PLC- A Programmable Logic Controller is a
specialized computer which uses programmable
memory to store instructions and execute functions.
10) SMPS- SMPS is required to connect with PLC
to successfully perform the operation.
11) Car- A toy car is used here for demo purpose of
automatic washing.
VII. WORKING OF THE SYSTEM
In this automatic car wash system, we have used
programmable logic controller for controlling the
parameters of the project. Automated tools used in
this project do washing automatically. A conveyor
belt is used for moving the car. As the conveyer
moves, car moves along with it. After sensing the
car on the conveyor belt, the washing process is
initiated.
Fig. Flowchart
At the first stage, clean water is sprinkled on the car
to remove dust on the car. Then, at the next stage,
Detergent water is sprinkled on the car for a fixed
duration and then the sprinklers stop. As the
sprinklers stop, conveyer belt starts moving again
and the car reaches to its next destination where
cleaning process begins. Cleaning is carried out by
means of brushes. As the car is sufficiently cleaned
the brushes stop and the car starts moving in the
direction of its next stoppage where it will be dried.
Towards the end, at the last stage, two drying fans
are used to dry the car. Thus, the process of
automatic car wash completes in an effective and
time saving manner.
VIII. CONCLUSION
This system helps to perform car washing
automatically and results in high quality end
product. It is user-friendly and capable of washing
multiple cars at a time. Moreover, it reduces
manpower requirement and creates no pollution.
The demand of Automatic car wash services is very
high and the people are willing to get their cars
washed in such a place where their car paint is not
damaged and a better wash is given. People are able
to save their time as this car wash takes less time
and the car is dried as well. Moreover, the water
used in washing the car is also less as compared to

5. manual washing. Thus, such a system will be cost-
effective and in-demand always.
IX. FUTURE SCOPE
The existing system works on electrical mechanism,
which results in major electric power loss. This loss
can be minimized using the hydraulic cylinders and
hydraulic jack lifting system operated
automatically. Also, a counter can be implemented
which will allow the number of car washed to be
counted. Instead of AC motors, AC drive systems
can be used for the purpose of moving. In future,
vision systems can be incorporated to give a better
solution to the mapping problem. Cameras can be
installed in place of the distance sensors thus giving
a more precise and accurate result of what kind of
object is present for peripheral mapping. The
contours of the object can be judged with ease and
at a great speed. It will help to give a more precise
control generated by the controller and will utilize
less amount of water.
X. REFERENCES
[1] Anam Abid, Tahir Hasan, Taimoor Baig,
Abdullah Jadoon, “Design and Development of
Automatic Carwash System”, IEEE Conference on
Systems, Process and Control (ICSPC 2016), 16–18
December 2016, Melaka, Malaysia.
[2] Prof. Mhaske D.A., Bhavthankar R.G., Saindane
A. R., Darade D.J., “PLC based car washing
system”, International journal of innovative
research in electrical, electronics, instrumentation
and control engineering, Vol. 4, Issue 4, April 2016.
[3] Ms. Juby Jogi, Ms. Sneha Jainwar, Ms. Khyati
Varma, Mrs. K.Uma “ Automated Automobile
Cleaning System Using PLC and LabVIEW”,
International Journal of Advance Engineering and
Research Development, Volume 3, Issue 8, August
-2016.
[4] Zeenal Lalluwadia, Nidhi Bhatia and Jayana
Rana, “Automatic car washing system using PLC”,
February 2017 | IJIRT | Volume 3 Issue 9 | ISSN:
2349-6002.
[5] Amir Hossein Daei Sorkhabi, Bita Khazini,
“Manufacturing of Full Automatic Carwash Using
with Intelligent Control Algorithms”, World
Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
International Journal of Industrial and
Manufacturing Engineering, Vol:7, No:3, 2013.
[6] Mr. Abhishek Pansare, Ms. Priyanka Yadav,
Ms. Vrushali Thigale, Mr. S.C.Rajgade, “PLC
Based Automatic Car Washing System”,
International Journal of Advance Engineering and
Research Development Volume 2,Issue 4, April -
2015.
[7] Vivek Kumar Yadav, Suryansh Tyagi, Gulshan
Kumar, Nishant Kumar, Swapnil Namekar,
“Automatic Car Washing Using PLC”, ISSN 2321
3361 © 2016 IJESC,Volume 6 Issue No. 5.