JPH0761285A - Rear light control device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize a vehicular rear light control device capable of controlling lighting so as to make either one of a stop lamp and a tail lamp have the function of the other lamp at the time of the other lamp being in failure while being simple in constitution. CONSTITUTION:A column node 14 sends out a command, corresponding to the state of a stop lamp switch 11, a light control switch 12 and a light controlling system scanner 13 in charge of lighting lamps automatically, to a rear node 17. The rear node 17 drives a stop lamp 15 and a tail lamp 16 according to the command, and detects the failure of these lamps and transmit it to the column node 14. In the case of a failure being generated to either one of the lamps, the column node 14 sends out an instruction that the other lamp is lighted with a large light quantity as the stop lamp and with a small light quantity as the tail lamp so as to have the function of both lamps.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle rear lighting control device, and more particularly, when a failure of a stop lamp or a tail lamp is detected, the other lamp is controlled to have the function of the failed lamp. The present invention relates to a vehicle rear lighting control device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A rear lamp for a vehicle, that is, a stop lamp and a tail lamp are lamps which have an important display function for ensuring the safety of the vehicle. In other words, if the stop lamp fails, the timing at which the following vehicle detects its behavior during braking is delayed, and if the tail lamp fails, visibility from the surroundings during night driving decreases, and both Accidents such as rear-end collisions are likely to occur.

On the other hand, stop lamps and tail lamps are
This is a lamp using a filament, and its structure is unavoidably broken due to its life. Therefore, conventionally, when these stop lamps and tail lamps are broken, a main lamp and a sub lamp are provided for each stop lamp and tail lamp in order to back up the failure and maintain the function of the lighting device. There is known a device for performing fail-safe by using (Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 59-162343).

That is, the device described in the above publication monitors the energization state of the main lamps arranged for each stop lamp and tail lamp, and when an abnormality such as a disconnection is detected, the sub lamps are energized instead of the main lamps. The sub-lamp maintains the display function until a repair is made.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional device, since it is necessary to add a sub-lamp for each stop lamp and tail lamp, the cost is increased due to the increase in the number of parts, the number of assembling work steps is increased, and the stop work is stopped. With the increase in size of lamps and tail lamps, there are drawbacks in that they are more harmful than the advantages that can be obtained, making it difficult to put them into practical use.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and when one of the stop lamp and the tail lamp fails, the function of the failed lamp is backed up by the other lamp. An object of the present invention is to provide a rear lighting control device for a vehicle that can solve the problems.

[0007]

FIG. 1 is a principle block diagram of a vehicle rear lighting control device for achieving the above object. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the above objects are independently provided according to the instruction contents of the stop lamp instruction means 2 for instructing the turning on / off of the stop lamp 1 and the tail lamp instruction means 4 for instructing the turning on / off of the tail lamp 3. In the vehicle rear lighting control device for controlling the lighting states of the stop lamp 1 and the tail lamp 3, the stop lamp 1
Failure detection means 5 for independently detecting the failure of the tail lamp 3 and the failure of the tail lamp 3, and when the failure detection means 5 detects a failure of either the stop lamp 1 or the tail lamp 3, the stop lamp instruction means 2 and the tail lamp instruction means 4 gives a relatively large light quantity when the stop lamp 1 is instructed to turn on, and a relatively small light quantity when the tail lamp 3 only has an instruction to turn on. This is achieved by the vehicle rear lighting control device 7 including the lighting control means 6 for lighting the other lamp that is not turned on.

[0008]

In the vehicle rear lighting control device 7 according to the present invention, when the stop lamp 1 or the tail lamp 3 fails, the failure detection means 5 detects the situation and causes the lighting control means 6 to fail. Supply information.

When one of the stop lamp 1 and the tail lamp 3 fails, the lighting control means 6 performs control so that the other non-failed lamp has the function of the failed lamp. That is, when any one of the lamps is out of order, the stop lamp instructing means 2 and the tail lamp instructing means 4 cause the stop lamp lighting instruction to emit a large amount of light and the tail lamp lighting instruction to emit a small amount of light. Turn on the lamp that has not failed.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 2 shows an overall configuration diagram of a vehicle rear lighting control device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the stop lamp switch 11 is a switch for turning on / off in conjunction with the operation of a brake pedal (not shown), and for notifying the vehicle rear lighting control device 10 of the situation when the driver performs a braking operation. It is a member corresponding to the stop lamp indicating means 2 described above.

Further, the tail lamp indicating means 4 in the present embodiment is realized by the light control switch 12 and the conlight scanner 13. That is, in a vehicle equipped with the vehicle rear lighting control device 10, in addition to the light control switch 12 for the driver to operate the lighting device at his / her own will, the lighting device is automatically turned on by the surrounding light intensity. A conlight scanner 13 for turning off is provided.

In this case, the light control switch 1
2 has an "automatic" mode in addition to "on" and "off". When the "automatic" mode is selected, the headlights, small lamps, taillights, etc. mounted on the vehicle are controlled by the conlight scanner 13. It will be automatically controlled.

The rear lamp control device 10 for a vehicle has a column node 14 arranged around the steering so as to appropriately process the respective input signals supplied from the stop lamp switch 11, the light control switch 12, and the conlight scanner 13. , Stop lamp 1 mounted on the vehicle
5 and the tail lamp 16 are appropriately driven, and a rear node 17 is provided in the rear part of the vehicle for detecting these failures, and a control communication line 18 connecting the column node 14 and the rear node 17 and an abnormal communication line 19 are provided. To be done.

Here, the communication between the column node 14 and the rear node 17 of this embodiment is performed by multiplex communication. That is, the column node 14 converts each state of the stop lamp switch 11, the light control switch 12, and the conlight scanner 13 into a serial signal according to a predetermined protocol, and the serial signal is sent to the rear node 17 by the single-line control communication line 18. To transmit. Then, the rear node 17 appropriately drives the stop lamp 15 and the tail lamp 16 in accordance with the transmitted serial signal. In this sense, the column node 14, the rear node 17, and the control communication line 18 of this embodiment correspond to the lighting control means 6 described above.

The drive circuit for the stop lamp 15 and the drive circuit for the tail lamp 16 built in the rear node 17 are constructed by using, for example, a power transistor, and the power transistor is used in a specific saturation region. By doing so, or by controlling the duty in the saturation region, the current supplied to the stop lamp 15 and the tail lamp 16 can be appropriately changed.

By the way, the rear node 17 of this embodiment has a mechanism corresponding to the above-mentioned failure detecting means 5 as shown in FIG.
The failure detection circuit 20 as shown in FIG. The failure detection circuit 20 shown in FIG. 3 exemplifies a circuit that detects a failure of the stop lamp 15, but the rear node 17 also includes a similar circuit for the tail lamp 16.

Shunt resistor constituting the failure detection circuit 20
21 has a resistance value R_SResistance of power supply + B
It is interposed between the plump 15. Where left and right
The top lamp 15 is connected in parallel to the shunt resistor 21.
Has been continued. Therefore, R_SIs the stop lamp 15
Shunt resistance considering that it is sufficiently smaller than the resistance value
Neglecting the voltage drop at 21, the power supply voltage V_BAgainst
When the power consumption of the stop lamp 15 is
The current i flowing from the source + B is i = 2 × a / V _BRepresented by
be able to. And in this case both shunt resistors 21
V at the end_S= I × R_S= 2 x (a / V_B) × R_SBecome
A potential difference will appear.

However, when one of the left and right stop lamps 15 has an abnormality such as a disconnection, the current i flowing from the power source + B becomes a / V which is half that in the normal state, and the shunt resistance 2
The voltage V _S between both ends is half (a / V _B ) × R _{S of the} normal state
Becomes Thus, the voltage V _S across the shunt resistor 21 is
Indicates a different value when the left and right stop lamps 15 are both normal and when an abnormality occurs, and by monitoring this value, the abnormality of the stop lamp 15 can be detected.

The detection circuit 20 detects a failure of the stop lamp 15 according to the above principle, divides the voltage V _S across the shunt resistor 21 into a voltage of an appropriate level, and divides the divided voltage V _S with a predetermined voltage. The signal is output according to the presence or absence of a failure by comparing the reference voltage of 1 with the comparator 24. In addition, the voltage dividing resistor 2
R ₁ and R ₂ set as the resistance values of _{2 and} 23 are sufficiently larger than R _S.

With this configuration, when the left and right stop lamps 15 are both functioning normally, the comparator 2
4 outputs a "low" signal, and when at least one stop lamp 15 fails, a "high" signal is output. Then, this output signal is output from the rear node 17 to the column node 14 via the abnormal communication line 19 together with the output signal indicating the state of the tail lamp 16 which is separately detected.
Will be transmitted to.

The vehicle rear lighting control device 10 according to the present embodiment.
Is characterized in that when a failure of one of the lamps is detected by the status signals of the stop lamp 15 and the tail lamp 16 transmitted in this way, the function of the lamp having the failure is backed up by the other lamp. It is a thing.

The contents of the processing executed by the column node 14 to realize such a function will be described below with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing an example of a routine process executed so that the tail lamp 16 also has the function of the stop lamp 15 when the stop lamp 15 fails. Note that the routine shown in the figure is a regular interrupt routine that is activated every predetermined time.

As shown in the figure, when this routine is started, first, at step 100, it is judged if the stop lamp 15 is out of order. This is because there is no need to perform any backup processing if no failure has occurred. Therefore, when it is determined that the stop lamp 15 has not failed, the current process is terminated without performing any subsequent process.

On the other hand, if it is determined that the stop lamp 15 is out of order, if it is left as it is, it may cause a rear-end collision accident as described above, which is a problem.
Therefore, in this routine, when such a situation is detected, the processing from step 102 onward is executed to back up the failure of the stop lamp by the tail lamp 16.

By the way, in order to realize a stop lamp and a tail lamp with a single lamp, it is necessary to provide a light intensity difference between them. The tail lamp requires a relatively small amount of light because it is sufficient for the following vehicle to be able to recognize all runners during night driving, while the stop lamp indicates that the vehicle following the vehicle is in a braking state even during daytime when the surroundings are bright. This is because a sufficient amount of light is required to inform the public.

In view of this point, in the present embodiment, when the tail lamp is turned on, α% of the rated power consumption is obtained.
Reduced, for example, when driving with 50% power consumption and lighting as a stop lamp, rated power consumption or β%
It was decided to drive with the power consumption which added the electric power of.

That is, when a failure of the stop lamp 15 is detected, in step 102, the states of the light control switch 12 and the conlight scanner 13 are checked in order to determine whether the function as a tail lamp is required. It is determined whether it is nighttime or nighttime.

Here, the light control switch 12
Is turned off or the light control switch 1
If 2 is automatic and sufficient light intensity is detected by the conlite scanner 13, it is determined that it is daytime and the function as a tail lamp is unnecessary, and the routine proceeds to step 104.

At step 104, it is judged if the stop lamp switch 11 is on. This is because there is no need to display the stop lamp unless this is turned on. Therefore, if it is determined that it is not turned on, the current processing is ended. On the other hand, if it is determined that the stop lamp switch 11 is on, the tail lamp 16 is driven at 100% rated power consumption as described above in order to inform the surroundings that the vehicle is in a braking state. In order to do so, a command is issued to the rear node 17 and the processing of this time is ended.

By the way, in the above step 102,
Not in daytime mode, ie light control switch 12 is on or light control switch 1
When it is determined that 2 is automatic and the conlite scanner 13 detects only the light intensity equivalent to night, the tail lamp 16 needs to be turned on as a tail lamp regardless of whether the stop lamp switch 11 is on or off.

Therefore, when such a situation is detected, the process proceeds to step 108 and the rear node 17 is operated to drive the tail lamp 16 with the power consumption of 50% as described above.
Issue a command to. Then, only when it is detected in step 110 that the stop lamp switch 11 is on, the driving power consumption is changed from 50% to 100% so as to increase the luminous intensity of the tail lamp 16.
Change the command value supplied to.

As a result, the tail lamp 16 properly functions as a tail lamp although it has a relatively small luminous intensity in the daytime and nighttime, and also as a stop lamp that lights up with a large luminous intensity in the daytime and the nighttime. It will fulfill its function.

The column node 14 is the tail lamp 1
6 has the function of executing the same processing as the routine shown in FIG. 4 (processing in which step 100 is changed to a tail lamp and steps 106, 108 and 112 are changed to a stop lamp in the flowchart of FIG. 4). If the tail lamp 16 fails, the stop lamp 15
Lights up with a power consumption of 100-α% and exhibits a function as a tail lamp, and lights up with a power consumption of 100 or 100 + β% to exhibit a function as a stop lamp.

As described above, according to the vehicle rear lighting control device 10 of the present embodiment, the individual stop lamps 15 and the tail lamps 16 do not have to be duplicated in the lamps.
Even if one of the lamps fails, the functions of the stop lamp and the tail lamp can be appropriately maintained.

Further, in recent years, since reduction of the amount of wire harness to be mounted on a vehicle is an important issue, conventionally, multiplex communication has been proposed for a drive device for the stop lamp 15 and the tail lamp 16. That is, in this embodiment,
Regarding a system in which the column node 14 reads the states of the stop lamp switch 11, the light control switch 12, and the conlight scanner 13, and the rear node 17 drives the stop lamp 15 and the tail lamp 16 based on the information transmitted by multiplex communication. Is a method that has been used conventionally.

Further, in the system having such a multiplex communication function, the stop lamp 15 and the tail lamp 16
In general, the rear node 17 is provided with a mechanism for detecting the failure, and the failure state is transmitted to the column node 14 to display the failure to the driver by the display device arranged around the steering wheel. is there.

That is, the vehicle rear lighting device 1 according to the present embodiment.
The basic hardware configuration of 0 is almost the same as the basic hardware configuration of the system that drives the stop lamp 15 and the tail lamp 16 by using multiplex communication. Therefore, when the system using such multiplex communication is used as a base, the vehicle rear lamp control device 10 configures the column node 14 by partially modifying the software,
There is also an advantage that the rear anode 17 can be realized without a significant increase in cost only by providing the function of making the driving power consumption of the stop lamp 15 and the tail lamp 16 variable.

In the above embodiment, the stop lamp 15 and the tail lamp 16 are both provided with a failure detecting mechanism, and the function of the other lamp is to be backed up even if any of the lamps is broken. However, it is not necessary for both sides to have a mechanism for backing up each other.

In other words, focusing on the stop lamp 15 which is of great importance in the sense that the behavior of the vehicle is known to the surroundings, only the failure of the stop lamp 15 is detected by the tail lamp 16.
It may be configured to be backed up by. In this case, the structure of the vehicle rear lighting control device can be further simplified as compared with the above structure, and can be realized more easily.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention, when either the stop lamp or the tail lamp fails,
Since the other lamp that has not failed is turned on with a large amount of light as a stop lamp and with a small amount of light as a tail lamp, it is possible to distinguish the braking operation of a vehicle equipped with the rear lighting device for a vehicle and the presence during nighttime driving. The distinctiveness can be properly secured.

As described above, according to the vehicle rear lighting control device of the present invention, the cost is increased due to the complicated structure of the conventional device in which the sub lamp is additionally provided in addition to the main lamp, and the number of assembling steps is reduced. It has the feature that it is possible to back up the failure of the stop lamp and tail lamp appropriately without causing any adverse effects such as increase.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle diagram of a vehicle rear lamp control means according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram of a vehicle rear lighting control device that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of a failure detection circuit in the vehicle rear lighting control device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an example of a flowchart of a routine process executed by a column node of the vehicle rear lighting control device according to the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,15 Stop lamp 2 Stop lamp instruction means 3,16 Tail lamp 4 Tail lamp instruction means 5 Failure detection means 6 Lighting control means 7,10 Rear lighting control device for vehicle 11 Stop lamp switch 12 Light control switch 13 Conlight scanner 14 Column node 17 Rear anode 18 Control communication line 19 Abnormal communication line 20 Failure detection circuit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A stop lamp instruction means for instructing to turn on / off a stop lamp and a tail lamp instruction means for instructing to turn on / off a tail lamp,
In a vehicle rear lighting control device that independently controls the lighting states of a stop lamp and a tail lamp, a failure detection unit that independently detects a failure of the stop lamp and a failure of the tail lamp, and the failure detection unit When a failure of one of the stop lamp and the tail lamp is detected, a relatively large amount of light is emitted when only the tail lamp is instructed by the stop lamp instructing means and the tail lamp instructing means. A rear lighting control device for a vehicle, comprising: a lighting control means for lighting the other non-failed lamp with a relatively small amount of light when a lighting instruction is given.