EP4416018A1

EP4416018A1 - Wiper arm for wiper of vehicle, wiper and vehicle

Info

Publication number: EP4416018A1
Application number: EP22789935.8A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Haoyi HONG; Xu Cheng; Jinlong PU
Original assignee: Valeo Systemes dEssuyage SAS
Current assignee: Valeo Systemes dEssuyage SAS
Priority date: 2021-10-14
Filing date: 2022-10-12
Publication date: 2024-08-21
Also published as: JP7802925B2; JP2024536920A; WO2023062073A1; CN216331906U

Abstract

The present invention relates to a wiper arm for a wiper of a vehicle, a wiper and a vehicle. The wiper arm comprises: an arm body (1) extending in a longitudinal direction (X), the arm body (1) being movable back and forth between a return wiper position and an internal wiper position; a cover cap (2), at least partially covering the arm body (1) to form a chamber (5) between the arm body (1) and the cover cap (2); and at least one hose, used to deliver fluid and extending in the chamber (5) in the longitudinal direction (X), wherein at least one hose guide (6) is provided in the chamber (5), the hose guide forming a bent channel (7) for guiding the hose, the bent channel (7) having a bent shape.

Description

Descr i pt i on

Wiper arm for wiper of vehicle, wiper and vehicle

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a wiper arm for a wiper of a vehicle, a wiper comprising the wiper arm, and a vehicle comprising the wiper.

Background Art

Wipers are an essential component of vehicles, their main purpose being to wipe away rain water, snow water or dust, etc. falling on the glass of a vehicle window in bad weather (e.g. when it is raining or snowing, or during a sandstorm), so that the driver’s field of vision is not obstructed, to ensure safety of travel. Wipers are usually mounted on the front windscreen and/or rear windscreen of a vehicle.

In general, a wiper comprises a wiper arm base connected to a drive mechanism, a wiper arm connected to the wiper arm base and used to hold a wiper blade, and a nozzle for spraying a cleaning fluid towards the windscreen, wherein the wiper arm may comprise an arm body, a cover cap connected to the arm body to form a chamber, and a hose arranged in the chamber and used to deliver cleaning fluid, etc.

Generally, the wiper is able to move back and forth between a return wiper position and an inner wiper position under the driving action of a motor. In the process of the wiper moving in this way, especially after the wiper has moved to the return wiper position a large number of times, the hose easily comes out of the chamber formed by the arm body and cover cap of the wiper arm under the action of the drive mechanism. This affects the appearance of the wiper.

In addition, the arrangement direction of multiple hoses in the chamber formed by the arm body and cover cap of the wiper arm will affect the connection of the hoses to a cleaning fluid reservoir outside the chamber. For example, the arrangement direction of two hoses in the chamber might result in them needing to be twisted in order to be connected to the cleaning fluid reservoir; thus, assembly is difficult, and the exposed hoses will affect the appearance of the wiper. Summary of the Invention

Thus, an objective of the present invention is to provide a wiper arm for a wiper of a vehicle, a wiper comprising the wiper arm, and a vehicle comprising the wiper, which are able to at least partly solve the problems mentioned above.

The above objective is achieved by means of the wiper arm, wiper and vehicle described below.

In one aspect, the present invention provides a wiper arm for a wiper of a vehicle, the wiper arm comprising: an arm body extending in a longitudinal direction, the arm body being movable back and forth between a return wiper position and an internal wiper position; a cover cap, at least partially covering the arm body to form a chamber between the arm body and the cover cap; and at least one hose, used to deliver fluid and extending in the chamber in the longitudinal direction, wherein at least one hose guide is provided in the chamber, the hose guide forming a bent channel for guiding the hose, the bent channel having a bent shape.

The bent channel formed by the hose guide increases friction between the hose and the wiper arm, so that the hose will not easily come out of the chamber formed by the arm body and the cover cap of the wiper arm.

In one embodiment, the hose guide comprises a protrusion that protrudes into the chamber from a base part of the cover cap and/or from the arm body.

In one embodiment, the protrusion comprises multiple walls extending towards the chamber (5), at least one pair of the multiple walls comprising parts which extend opposite each other, thereby forming a channel for guiding the hose.

In one embodiment, the multiple walls comprise a straight wall and/or a bent wall.

With this configuration, friction between the hose and the protrusion forming the bent channel prevents the hose from coming out of the chamber easily.

In one embodiment, the cover cap further comprises a stop part, the stop part comprising a part extending in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction, for preventing the hose from moving towards the arm body and/or away from the base part of the cover cap and thereby detaching from the bent channel. In one embodiment, the stop part is arranged on the protrusion.

In one embodiment, the stop part is arranged on an inner wall of the arm body and/or the cover cap and is separate from the protrusion.

In one embodiment, the cover cap and/or the arm body, the protrusion and the stop part are integrally formed.

The stop part enables detachment of the hose from the bent channel to be prevented.

In one embodiment, the at least one hose comprises a first hose and a second hose, wherein the first hose and the second hose are arranged in such a way as to be stacked in a first direction which is substantially perpendicular to a base part of the cover cap, and the cover cap and/or the arm body comprise(s) at least one end guide arranged on an inner wall thereof, the end guide being arranged at an end opposite a free end of the wiper arm, such that the first hose and the second hose are separated and an arrangement direction thereof is deflected.

In one embodiment, the end guide comprises two clamping parts for clamping the first hose and the second hose respectively, an arrangement direction of the two clamping parts being different from a stacking direction of the first hose and the second hose.

In one embodiment, the cover cap and/or the arm body is/are integrally formed with the end guide.

The end guide enables the two hoses to be separated from one another and their arrangement direction to be deflected, so that the hoses can be easily fitted to a cleaning fluid reservoir on a vehicle by means of connectors, and the parts of the hoses that are exposed outside the wiper do not need to be twisted, so the tidy appearance of the wiper will not be affected.

The present invention further relates to a wiper for a vehicle, the wiper comprising the wiper arm as described above.

The present invention further relates to a vehicle, comprising the wiper as described above.

Brief description of the figures A better understanding of the advantages and objectives of the present invention can be gained from preferred embodiments of the present invention as described in detail below in conjunction with the drawings. In order to better illustrate the relationships among the components shown in the drawings, the drawings are not drawn to scale. Among the drawings,

Fig. 1 shows a schematic drawing of a wiper arm for a wiper of a vehicle according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 shows an exploded schematic drawing of the wiper arm in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 shows an internal schematic drawing of an embodiment of a wiper arm for a wiper of a vehicle according to the present invention.

Fig. 4 shows an enlarged drawing of part of the wiper arm in Fig. 3, in which the hose guide is shown.

Fig. 5 shows a schematic drawing of the arm body of the wiper arm in Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 shows an enlarged drawing of part of the wiper arm in Fig. 3, in which the end guide is shown.

Fig. 7 shows an enlarged drawing of the end guide shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 shows a front view of part of the wiper arm in Fig. 3.

Figs. 9a, 9b and 9c show sectional drawings of various parts of the wiper arm in Fig. 8, wherein Fig. 9a shows a section along plane B-B in Fig. 8, Fig. 9b shows a section along plane C-C in Fig. 8, and Fig. 9c shows a section along plane D-D in Fig. 8; and

Fig. 10 shows a schematic drawing of part of the wiper arm observed from outside the vehicle when facing the vehicle windscreen.

Detailed description of embodiments

In order to clarify the objective, technical solution and advantages of the present invention, the technical solution of embodiments of the present invention is described clearly and completely below with reference to the drawings of specific embodiments of the present invention. In the drawings, identical reference numerals denote identical components. It should be noted that the described embodiments are some, not all, embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art based on the described embodiments of the present invention without inventive effort shall fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Unless defined otherwise, the technical or scientific terms used herein shall have the common meanings as understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs. The words "first", "second" and the like used in the description and claims of the present invention patent application do not denote any order, quantity or importance, and are only used to distinguish different constituent parts. Likewise, words such as "a" or "one" do not necessarily represent a quantity limit. Words such as "comprising", "including” or "having" mean that the element or object preceding the word covers the elements or objects and equivalents thereof listed after the word, without excluding other elements or objects. Words such as "connection” or "communication”, rather than being limited to the physical or mechanical connection or communication shown in a drawing, may include connection or communication equivalent thereto, irrespective of whether it is direct or indirect. "Upper", "lower", "left", "right", etc. are only used to indicate a relative positional relationship, and when the absolute position of the described object changes, the relative positional relationship might also change accordingly.

Various embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to Figs. 1 - 10.

Fig. 1 shows a wiper arm for a wiper of a vehicle, Fig. 2 shows an exploded drawing of the wiper arm, and Fig. 3 shows some of the internal components of the wiper arm. The wiper arm comprises an arm body 1 , a cover cap 2, a first hose 3 and a second hose 4.

The arm body extends in a longitudinal direction and can move back and forth between a return wiper position and an internal wiper position. The longitudinal direction of the arm body 1 referred to herein is not a perfectly straight direction in a strict sense overall; rather, it is a combination of the longitudinal directions of extension of the various parts of the arm body 1. The longitudinal direction may approximately be regarded as the horizontal direction from right to left in Figs. 1 and 2, as shown by the arrow X, or may be regarded as the direction of extension of the arm body. In addition, the wiper arm further comprises an arm base 5, which is connected at one end to an output part of the drive mechanism, e.g. motor, of the wiper, and connected at the other end to the arm body 1, e.g. via a hinge structure. The arm body 1 moves back and forth between the return wiper position and inner wiper position under the driving action of the drive mechanism. The arm boy 1 of the wiper arm shown in Fig. 1 is located at the inner wiper position, i.e. a stowed position. When the arm body 1 is standing nearly vertically or has a larger rotation angle, the arm body 1 is at the return wiper position, i.e. a maximum wiping position.

As shown in Fig. 8 and in the sectional drawings of the various parts of the cover cap 2 in Figs. 9a, 9b and 9c, the cover cap 2 at least partially covers the arm body 1 , to form a chamber 5 between the arm body 1 and the cover cap 2. As shown in the exploded schematic drawing in Fig. 2, the cover cap 2 may cover most of the arm body 1 in the longitudinal direction X. In other embodiments, the cover cap 2 may cover only part of the arm body 1. Referring to Figs. 9a, 9b and 9c again, for example, the cover cap 2 may have a substantially flat base part 21 and curved parts 22, 23 extending from the base part 21 to two sides, in order to mate with the arm body 1, which has a substantially U-shaped cross section. For example, the cover cap 2 may be snap-fitted to the arm body 1. In general, the arm body 1 may be made of metal, and the cover cap 2 may be made of plastic, but the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to this.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the first hose 3 and second hose 4 are used to deliver fluid and extend in the chamber 5 in the longitudinal direction X, e.g. respectively extend to an upper nozzle and a lower nozzle of the wiper. The fluids delivered by the hoses may be set as required; for example, the first hose 3 is used to deliver cleaning liquid in the longitudinal direction X to the windscreen to be wiped, and the second hose 4 is used to deliver clear water in the longitudinal direction X to the windscreen to be wiped, but of course, it is also possible for the first hose 3 to deliver clear water and the second hose 4 to deliver cleaning liquid. In other embodiments, the first hose 3 and the second hose 4 both deliver cleaning liquid. As shown more clearly in Figs. 9a and 9b, the first hose 3 and second hose 4 are arranged in such a way as to be stacked substantially in a first direction Y which is perpendicular to the base part 21 of the cover cap 2 (i.e. transverse to the longitudinal extension direction X); the first direction is substantially the vertically upward direction in the figures.

To prevent the first hose 3 and second hose 4 from coming out of the chamber 5 during movement of the arm body 1, a hose guide 6 is provided in the chamber 5; the hose guide 6 forms a bent channel 7 for guiding the first hose 3 and second hose 4. The bent channel 7 may have any bent shape; for example but without limitation, it is substantially V-shaped or U-shaped. The hose guide 6 is a protrusion that protrudes from the base part 21 of the cover cap 2 into the chamber 5. In order to form the bent channel 7, in one example, the protrusion may comprise two bent walls extending opposite each other, wherein the bent walls may be substantially perpendicular to the base part 21. In another example, the protrusion may comprise multiple straight walls and/or bent walls extending from the base part 21, i.e. the bent channel 7 is formed by an arranged combination of multiple walls; at least one pair of these walls comprise parts that extend opposite each other, and the walls may be substantially perpendicular to the base part 21.

For example, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the protrusion comprises multiple V- shaped walls 60, 61 and 62; the V-shaped walls are substantially perpendicular to the base part 21, and branches of the V-shaped wall 60 extend opposite branches of the V-shaped wall 61 and the V-shaped wall 62 respectively to form the bent channel 7. In one variant, the V-shaped wall 61 at the left side or the V-shaped wall 62 at the right side may be replaced with a straight wall.

In other embodiments, the hose guide 6 for example may also be arranged on the arm body 1, or may be arranged on both the arm body 1 and the cover cap 2.

Although one hose guide 6 and two hoses are shown in the embodiment above, it will be understood that multiple hose guides 6 may be used to guide the hoses in a bent manner. Moreover, the number of hoses may also be set as needed; for example, only one hose is included, or three or more hoses are included.

The bent channel formed by the hose guide 6 increases friction between an inner wall of the cover cap 2 and the hoses, so that the hoses will not easily come out of the chamber 5 formed by the arm body 1 and the cover cap 2 of the wiper arm.

To prevent the first hose 3 and the second hose 4 from detaching from the bent channel 7 away from the base part 21, i.e. from moving towards the the arm body 1 and thus detaching from the bent channel 7, the cover cap 2 further comprises a stop part 8, wherein the stop part 8 comprises a part extending in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction X. The stop part 8 may be formed by part of the hose guide 6; for example but without limitation, it may be arranged on the protrusion serving as the hose guide 6. For example, the stop part 8 is at an end of the hose guide 6 that is remote from the base part 21, and the size of an opening formed between the stop part 8 and the hose guide 6 is smaller than the size of the bent channel 7 (more precisely, than the diameter of the hoses); thus, detachment of the hoses located in the bent channel 7 can be prevented in the absence of sufficient external force. In other embodiments, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the stop part 8 is arranged on the inner wall of the cover cap, and is separate from the protrusion serving as the hose guide 6. For example, the stop part 8 is located close to an end of the V-shaped wall and/or straight wall. As shown in Figs. 4 and 5, two stop parts 8 (left and right) protrude from the inner wall of the cover cap 2, being respectively located close to two ends of the middle V-shaped wall 60 and forming openings with the left and right V-shaped walls 61, 62, said openings being of a size smaller than the diameter of the hoses, while the size of an opening formed between a middle stop part 8 and the middle V-shaped wall 60 is also smaller than the diameter of the hoses. Thus, detachment of the hoses from the bent channel 7 can be prevented.

To facilitate processing, the cover cap 2, the protrusion serving as the hose guide 6, and the stop part 8 may be made of plastic, e.g. integrally formed by an injection moulding method.

In other embodiments, the hose guide 6 is arranged on the arm body 1 ; in this case, the arm body 1, the protrusion serving as the hose guide 6, and the stop part 8 may also be integrally formed.

The first hose 3 and second hose 4 of the present invention may be arranged in such a way as to be stacked in the hose guide 6 and/or another hose clip, more specifically, arranged in such a way as to be stacked substantially in the first direction Y perpendicular to the base part 21, i.e. the arrangement direction thereof is in the first direction. Parts of the two hoses that are located outside the chamber 5, e.g. parts thereof that are close to the drive mechanism, are still stacked together; thus, the orientation of connectors 9 of the first hose 3 and second hose 4 as shown in Figs. 3 and 10 (i.e. the orientation of input ends of the connectors 9) will be freely variable, and thus might deviate from the mounting position of the cleaning fluid reservoir on the vehicle, e.g. deviate from the windscreen to be cleaned; as a result, the hoses need to be twisted during installation, so the appearance of the wiper is not tidy enough.

Taking this into account, the cover cap 2 further comprises an end guide 10 arranged on the inner wall thereof, as shown in Figs. 3, 6, 7 and 8. The end guide 10 is arranged at a near end of the cover cap 2, i.e. the end of the cover cap 2 that is close to the arm base 5 or the drive mechanism, and is opposite a free end of the wiper arm, the free arm being the end of the arm body 1 of the wiper arm that holds the wiper blade. The end guide 10 enables the first hose 3 and second hose 4 to separate from one another, and enables deflection of the arrangement direction thereof. As shown in Figs. 9a, 9b and 9c, at the parts of the wiper arm where the end guide 10 is not present, the first hose 3 and the second hose 4 in the chamber 5 of the wiper arm are arranged in the first direction Y which is substantially vertically upwards, whereas at the end guide 10, the first hose 3 and second hose 4 are separated from one another and the arrangement direction thereof (as shown by the dotted line in Fig. 9c) is deflected by an angle relative to the first direction Y. For example, as shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 9c, the end guide 10 comprises two clamping part 101 and 102, the two clamping parts 101 and 102 being offset with respect to each other in the first direction Y and a second direction Z perpendicular to the first direction; the second direction is for example the horizontal direction from right to left in Fig. 9c. For example, the first clamping part 101 is used to clamp the first hose 3, and the second clamping part 102 is used to clamp the second hose 4. In a variant embodiment, the clamping parts 101 and 102 may also be arranged in parallel in the second direction Z, or in another direction different from the stacking direction of the hoses, as long as the arrangement of the clamping parts causes the hoses to break from the stacked state.

Due to the end guide 10, the two hoses in the wiper of the present invention are separated from one another, and the arrangement direction of the two hoses is deflected such that they are arranged substantially in a direction parallel to the base part 21 of the cover cap 2; thus, the orientation of the connectors 9 can be fixed so as to be substantially perpendicular to the base part 21 of the cover cap 2 (i.e. pointing towards the windscreen of the vehicle), as shown in Fig. 10. Thus, the two hoses can be connected to the cleaning fluid reservoir without being twisted, making assembly simple, and avoiding a situation where twisted hoses rub against each other during operation of the wiper, and also ensuring that the wiper and the exposed parts of the hoses have a tidy appearance.

To facilitate processing, the cover cap 2 and the end guide 10 may both be made of plastic, e.g. integrally formed by an injection moulding method.

It must be explained that although the embodiment above shows one end guide 10 comprising two clamping parts 101 and 102 to fix two hoses, it will be understood that it is also possible to provide a greater number of clamping parts or use more than one of the end guide to fix a greater number of hoses. In addition, the hose guide 10 may also be arranged on the arm body 1, or may be arranged on both the arm body 1 and the cover cap 2.

Furthermore, the technical features disclosed above are not limited to the disclosed combinations with other features; those of ordinary skill in the art can also bring about other combinations of the technical features according to the objective of the present invention, in order to achieve the objective of the present invention.

Claims

1. Wiper arm for a wiper of a vehicle, characterized in that the wiper arm comprises: an arm body (1) extending in a longitudinal direction (X), the arm body (1) being movable back and forth between a return wiper position and an internal wiper position; a cover cap (2), at least partially covering the arm body (1) to form a chamber (5) between the arm body (1) and the cover cap (2); and at least one hose, used to deliver fluid and extending in the chamber (5) in the longitudinal direction (X), wherein at least one hose guide (6) is provided in the chamber (5), the hose guide forming a bent channel (7) for guiding the hose, the bent channel (7) having a bent shape.

2. Wiper arm according to Claim 1, characterized in that the hose guide (6) comprises a protrusion that protrudes into the chamber (5) from a base part (21) of the cover cap (2) and/or from the arm body (1).

3. Wiper arm according to Claim 2, characterized in that the protrusion comprises multiple walls extending towards the chamber (5), at least one pair of the multiple walls comprising parts which extend opposite each other.

4. Wiper arm according to Claim 3, characterized in that the multiple walls comprise a straight wall and/or a bent wall.

5. Wiper arm according to Claim 2, characterized in that the cover cap (2) further comprises a stop part (8), the stop part comprising a part extending in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction (X), for preventing the hose from moving towards the arm body (1) and/or the base part (21) of the cover cap (2) and thereby detaching from the bent channel (7).

6. Wiper arm according to Claim 5, characterized in that the stop part (8) is arranged on the protrusion.

7. Wiper arm according to Claim 5, characterized in that the stop part (8) is arranged on an inner wall of the arm body (1) and/or the cover cap (2) and is separate from the protrusion.

8. Wiper arm according to Claim 5, characterized in that the cover cap (2) and/or the arm body (1), the protrusion and the stop part (8) are integrally formed.

9. Wiper arm according to any one of Claims 1 - 8, characterized in that the at least one hose comprises a first hose (3) and a second hose (4), wherein the first hose (3) and the second hose (4) are arranged in such a way as to be stacked in a first direction (Y) which is substantially perpendicular to a base part (21) of the cover cap (2), and the cover cap (2) and/or the arm body (1) comprise(s) at least one end guide (10) arranged on an inner wall thereof, the end guide being arranged at an end opposite a free end of the wiper arm, such that the first hose (3) and the second hose (4) are separated and an arrangement direction thereof is deflected.

10. Wiper arm according to Claim 9, characterized in that the end guide (10) comprises two clamping parts (101, 102) for clamping the first hose (3) and the second hose (4) respectively, an arrangement direction of the two clamping parts being different from a stacking direction of the first hose (3) and the second hose (4).

11. Wiper arm according to Claim 9, characterized in that the cover cap (2) and/or the arm body (1) is/are integrally formed with the end guide (10).

12. Wiper for a vehicle, characterized in that the wiper comprises the wiper arm according to any one of Claims 1 - 11.

13. Vehicle, characterized by comprising the wiper according to Claim 12.