JPH10329651A - Autowiper device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To wipe the clouding of a window glass. SOLUTION: A navigation ECU 10 detects the advance of a vehicle into a high-temperature, high-humidity tunnel by use of a GPS(global positioning system) device 12 and a map data base 14, and alarms it to a wiper ECU 20. The wiper ECU 20 judges whether a clouding by dew condensation is present or not when the vehicle is advanced into the tunnel in reference to the outside temperature from an outside temperature sensor 30, and drives a wiper 22 when the clouding is judged to be present.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic wiper device for automatically controlling on / off of a wiper for wiping a window glass.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an automatic wiper device for automatically controlling the on / off of a wiper for wiping a window glass has been known. In an automatic wiper device, when a rainfall condition is detected by a raindrop sensor or the like, the wiper is automatically turned on. Therefore, there is an advantage that the driver does not need to perform the on / off operation.

[0003] When the vehicle enters the tunnel in rainy weather, it is necessary to stop the wiper, but an apparatus for automatically performing this operation has been proposed. For example, Japanese Utility Model 7-37
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 834 detects that a tunnel has been entered in the middle based on an output from an optical sensor. Then, after entering the tunnel, the wiper is stopped after being wiped at least once. Therefore, when the vehicle travels in rainy weather and enters a tunnel, the wiper can be automatically stopped.

As described above, there has been proposed a conventional automatic on / off control of the wiper, whereby the operation of the driver can be omitted and the wiper can be automatically turned on / off appropriately.

[0005]

Here, when a vehicle equipped with an automatic wiper device enters a tunnel in rainy weather, the wiper stops according to the output from the raindrop sensor. However, when entering a hot and humid tunnel during rainy weather when the outside temperature is low, the surface temperature of the window glass is lower than the ambient temperature in the tunnel, and water droplets condense on the glass surface,
The window becomes cloudy.

That is, when the surface temperature of the glass is lower than the dew point of the outside air, water drops are condensed on the surface of the window glass, and a phenomenon that the window is fogged occurs.

On the other hand, there are places in the tunnel where the inside of the tunnel is hotter than the outside due to a hot spring vein or the like passing nearby. Also, since the temperature inside the tunnel is relatively constant,
When the outside temperature drops, the inside of the tunnel is often hotter. On the other hand, the temperature of the window glass is often almost the same as the outside temperature when there is no solar radiation. In such a case, when the vehicle enters the tunnel, the ambient temperature near the surface of the window glass becomes equal to or lower than the dew point temperature, and water droplets condense on the surface of the window, and the window becomes cloudy. Especially in rainy weather, there is no solar radiation.
Usually, the temperature of the window glass is equal to the outside air temperature. As soon as the vehicle enters the tunnel, the surface temperature of the window glass becomes lower than the dew point temperature. Therefore, when the wiper stops, fogging occurs in the window glass.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and has as its object to provide an automatic wiper device that can effectively eliminate fogging of a window that occurs when entering a tunnel or the like.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an automatic wiper device for automatically controlling the on / off operation of a wiper for wiping a window glass, and a facility position for storing the location of a facility whose atmospheric condition is different from that of an open space. Storage means;
Own-vehicle-position detecting means for detecting the own-vehicle position; predicting atmospheric conditions in the facility; and predicting whether the window glass will be clouded by entering the facility based on the prediction result. It is characterized by comprising prediction means and control means for controlling on / off of the wiper based on a prediction result of the prediction means.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is predicted whether or not fogging of a window glass or the like occurs due to a difference between the atmosphere in a facility such as a tunnel and the outside air in an open space. Therefore, when it is predicted that fogging will occur, it becomes possible to drive the wiper to automatically wipe the fogging.

Further, the control means controls the frequency of the wiping operation of the wiper based on a result of the prediction by the predicting means. As described above, by setting the drive of the wiper to the intermittent drive, it is possible to prevent the wiper blade from being damaged.

Further, the facility is a tunnel. There are many hot and humid tunnels. Therefore, when the vehicle enters at a low temperature in winter or the like, fogging is likely to occur. According to the present invention, it is possible to cope with such a case, and to wipe off the fogging by driving the suitable wiper.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as embodiments) will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The navigation ECU 10 is for performing a route guidance operation. The navigation ECU 10 is connected to a GPS device 12, a map database 14, and the like. Then, the navigation ECU 10 detects the current position of the vehicle on the map from the current position detected by the GPS (global positioning system) device 12 and the map information stored in the map database 14.
Then, the current position on the map is displayed on the display together with the map data, and guidance such as turning right or left at an intersection is also provided in the case of traveling in which a route to a destination is set. Note that the GPS device 12
However, the current position detection is not limited to this. For example, a DGPS (Differential GPS) device that obtains error information in GPS by FM multiplex broadcasting, autonomous navigation based on information from a direction sensor and a mileage sensor, and reception of position information from an optical or radio beacon provided on the roadside Further, it is preferable to perform more accurate current position detection by using map matching for calibrating the current position by comparing the map data with the current position.

The navigation ECU 10 creates tunnel information on entry into a hot and humid tunnel compared to an open space, based on the map data in the map database 14 and the current position information from the GPS device 12. Is supplied to the wiper ECU 20. The wiper ECU 20 is a body EC that controls various on-vehicle devices.
It may be achieved as a part of U function.

The wiper ECU 20 includes a wiper 2
2 is connected, and controls the operation of the wiper 22.
Further, the present device has an outside air temperature sensor 30, which detects an outside air temperature (outside air temperature) of the vehicle and supplies the detected outside air temperature information to the wiper ECU 20.

The wiper ECU 20 operates the wiper 22 in accordance with a detection signal from a raindrop sensor (not shown) when setting the automatic operation, in addition to the normal operation of the wiper switch, such as high-speed operation, low-speed operation, and intermittent operation. Perform control. That is, when rainfall is detected by the raindrop sensor,
When the rain stops, the wiper 22 is automatically stopped.

When entering the tunnel, the wiper ECU 20 performs a process as shown in FIG. First, it is determined from the tunnel information from the navigation ECU 10 whether or not the distance to the tunnel is within 50 m (S11). That is, based on the current position information from the GPS device 12 and the map information from the map database 14, it is determined whether a tunnel exists 50 m ahead in the traveling direction of the own vehicle (whether it is close to the tunnel entrance). If the determination in S11 is NO, the processing based on the tunnel is unnecessary, so this S1
The determination of 1 is repeated.

If the determination in S11 is YES, it is next determined based on the data in the map database 14 whether the tunnel is a high humidity tunnel (S12). In this example, S1
Although 1 and S12 are determined differently, both may be regarded as one step, and it may be determined whether a tunnel with high humidity is within 50 m.

If the determination in S12 is YES, it is determined whether the outside air temperature is below the reference value (S13). That is,
When the window glass enters the tunnel at the outside temperature, the temperature at which water droplets condense on the glass is set as a reference temperature, and it is determined whether the temperature is lower than the reference temperature. If the determination is YES, the wiper 22 needs to be driven. Therefore,
Next, it is determined whether the wiper 22 is on (S14).
If YES in this determination, if the wiper 22 is driven as it is, the fogging caused by dew condensation can be wiped by the wiper 22. Therefore, the wiper 22 is kept on as it is, and the process is terminated.

On the other hand, if the wiper 22 is off at S14, it is necessary to drive the wiper 22 to prevent fogging. Therefore, the wiper 22 is turned on when approaching the tunnel (S15). Then, it is determined whether the user has left the tunnel until the user leaves the tunnel (S1).
6). This determination is based on the determination from the navigation ECU 10, but the GPS device 12 cannot normally detect the current position in the tunnel. Therefore, usually, the current position is updated by autonomous navigation. If YES in S16 and the vehicle leaves the tunnel, the wiper 22 is turned off (S17).
In this way, the wiper 22 can be automatically driven when entering a tunnel where fogging occurs in the window glass, and can be automatically turned off when leaving the tunnel.

Further, in S12 and S13, NO
In the case of, no fogging occurs in the tunnel. Further, since there is no rain in the tunnel, there is no need to drive the wiper 22. Therefore, in these cases, it is determined whether the wiper 22 is on (S18), and if it is on, the wiper 22 is turned off (S19). And the navigation ECU
It is determined from the signal from 10 whether the vehicle has reached the exit within 50 m (close to the exit) (S20), and if it has reached within 50 m, the wiper 22 is turned on (S21).

In this way, when fogging due to dew condensation occurs in the tunnel,
When the wiper 22 is driven and no fogging due to dew condensation occurs, the drive of the wiper 22 can be stopped in the tunnel.

In many cases, roadside beacons are installed before and after the tunnel, and it is also preferable to detect entry into and exit from the tunnel in accordance with a signal from the beacon. Here, the decision point for entering or exiting the tunnel is 50.
Although m is set before, it is also preferable to change the value in consideration of the vehicle speed at that time. Further, the distance is not necessarily 50 m, and may be 0 m. Further, it is preferable that the stop of the wiper in S19 be performed after the vehicle enters the tunnel.

The wiper 22 is not limited to the front or rear glass, but may be a wiper 22 provided on a mirror or a light. Further, it is preferable to perform the same control in a place where cloudiness is likely to occur, such as in an underground parking lot or a building. Further, by learning the facility or the like that has driven the wiper 22 and storing the facility in the map database 14 or the like, the drive of the wiper 22 can be automatically performed the next time the vehicle enters the facility. In this case, the external temperature is also stored together,
Preferably, the reference temperature is also learned.

Here, the drive of the wiper 22 in S15, which is the drive of the wiper 22 in the above-mentioned tunnel, is preferably an intermittent drive of, for example, about 10 seconds. Further, in the determination in S13, the amount of water droplets may be estimated, and the drive interval of the intermittent wiper may be controlled according to the estimated amount of water droplets. Thereby, appropriate driving of the wiper can be performed, and damage to the wiper blade can be prevented.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to automatically wipe off the fogging of the window glass or the like generated due to the difference between the atmosphere in the facility such as a tunnel and the outside air in the open space. In addition, by setting the drive of the wiper at this time to intermittent drive, damage to the wiper blade can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 10 navigation ECU, 12 GPS device, 14 map database, 20 wiper ECU, 22 wiper, 3
0 Outside temperature sensor.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Noriko Ogawa 1 Toyota Town, Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture Inside Toyota Motor Corporation

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An automatic wiper device for automatically controlling the on / off of a wiper for wiping a window glass, a facility position storage means for storing a position of a facility whose atmospheric condition is different from that of an open space, Self-vehicle position detecting means for detecting, and predicting atmospheric conditions in the facility, and predicting means for predicting whether or not window glass is clouded by entering the facility based on the prediction result, Control means for controlling on / off of the wiper based on a result of the prediction by the predicting means. 2. The automatic wiper device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the frequency of the wiping operation of the wiper based on a prediction result of the prediction unit. 3. The automatic wiper device according to claim 1, wherein the facility is a tunnel.