JP2000127852A - Vehicular mirror angle control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a mirror from malfunctioning due to output dispersion of a potentiometer caused by nonuniformity of mechanical action. SOLUTION: In a vehicular mirror angle control device, a control part is provided with an operation regulating range comprising a plurality of inward protruding oblique line parts a, b-t without rectangular areas continuously inside the mechanical operation limit area outer edge of a mirror, and a control circuit for stopping a vertical driving motor or a lateral driving motor when the mirror reaches the operation regulating range outer edge position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for controlling an angle of a vehicle mirror, and more particularly, to an apparatus for controlling an angle of a potentiometer irrespective of variations in output of a potentiometer due to unevenness in mechanical operation.
The present invention relates to an angle control device for a vehicle mirror that does not malfunction and is configured to stop a mirror immediately before a driving mechanism that moves the mirror slips.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, an outside mirror used in a vehicle such as an automobile is configured such that the direction of the mirror can be appropriately adjusted according to a driver or the like by a remote control mechanism.

In order to adjust the angle of the mirror, the driver operates a vertical drive motor or a left / right drive motor by pressing a remote control switch in up, down, left and right directions to move the mirror. Then, the position of the mirror is detected by a vertical direction detecting potentiometer and a horizontal direction detecting potentiometer, and the output value is fed back to a control unit for controlling the drive unit.

In such a case, for example, when the remote control switch is moved in either the vertical direction or the horizontal direction to move (tilt) the mirror to the limit of the operation range in each direction, a driving mechanism (a left and right rod for mirror rotation) for moving the mirror is used. 6 or the upper and lower rods 7) for mirror rotation slip. The slip of the drive mechanism has an adverse effect on each of the potentiometer sensors, which are sensors for detecting the position of the mirror.

In order to prevent the slip operation at the limit of the mirror operation, for example, it is conceivable to stop the vertical drive motor and the left / right drive motor immediately before the slip. The output (voltage V) of the potentiometer for detecting the vertical direction is plotted on the vertical axis, and the output (voltage V) of the potentiometer for detecting the horizontal direction (voltage V) is plotted on the horizontal axis. explain.

That is, as shown in FIG. 5, a microcomputer is provided inside the outer edge (indicated by a circle in the figure) of a mechanical operation limit area of a drive unit unit in which a mirror is tilted by a vertical drive motor and a left / right drive motor. An operation regulation range programmed by the company is provided. The outer edge of the operation limit area indicates the outer edge of the outermost peripheral area where the mirror rotating left and right rods 6 and the mirror rotating upper and lower rods 7 slip when the mirror moves on that line. On the other hand, the outer edge of the operation restriction range represents an outer edge immediately before the mirror rotating left and right rods 6 and the mirror rotating upper and lower rods 7 slip.

Then, when the output from the vertical direction detecting potentiometer and the horizontal direction detecting potentiometer is detected and the mirror reaches the outer edge of the operation regulation range, the control unit issues a command to a motor driver circuit, and the vertical driving motor and The driving of the left and right driving motors is stopped to avoid a slip of the driving mechanism for moving the mirror. By doing so, it is possible to eliminate the adverse effect on the vertical direction detecting potentiometer and the horizontal direction detecting potentiometer due to the slip of the drive mechanism.

[0008]

However, in the above-described control method, as shown in FIG. 5, the mirror stopped at the point A on the outer edge of the operation limit area is moved to the left to the point A, and then moved to the right again. When returning to point A by moving to point A, it may stop near point C before that point. This is because the output of the potentiometer for detecting the up / down direction slightly changes due to the tilting operation of the mirror in the left / right direction, so that the outer edge of the operation limit region shifts from the A line to the B line. this is,
For example, the output of the potentiometer varies due to unevenness in mechanical operation.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention has been proposed to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the control unit includes an inwardly convex rectangle inside the outer edge of the mechanical operation limit region of the mirror. A control for providing an operation restriction range consisting of a plurality of shaded portions that do not have an area, and stopping the vertical drive motor or the left / right drive motor that moves the mirror when the mirror reaches the outer edge position of the operation restriction range. Provide a circuit.

In this way, the mirror can be stopped immediately before the driving mechanism slips, regardless of the variation in the output of the potentiometer due to the unevenness of the mechanical operation.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, specific embodiments to which the present invention is applied will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
In the present embodiment, the present invention is applied to an outside mirror mounted on a vehicle fender or door.

First, the configuration of the outside mirror will be briefly described. The outside mirror is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.
As shown in FIG. 1, a mirror 2 is mounted on a mirror housing 1 and a drive unit 3 for tilting the mirror 2 in a vertical direction or a horizontal direction. Mirror 2
Are fixed to a mirror housing 1 driven and operated by a drive unit unit 3, and are moved upward, downward, leftward, and rightward with the mirror housing 1 by driving of the drive unit unit 3. I have.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the drive unit 3 includes a left-right drive motor 4 for changing the direction of the mirror 2 in the left-right direction, and an up-down drive motor 5 for changing the direction of the mirror 2 in the vertical direction. And these left and right driving motors 4
And a gear mechanism for transmitting the driving force of the vertical drive motor 5 to each of the mirror rotating left and right rods 6 and the mirror rotating upper and lower rods 7 described later, and a mirror left and right direction detecting means for detecting the position of the mirror 2 A left / right direction detecting potentiometer 8 and a vertical direction detecting potentiometer 9 as mirror vertical direction detecting means for detecting the position of the mirror 2 are provided in a unit body 10 as a housing.

As shown in FIG. 3, the gear mechanism includes a worm wheel gear 11 attached to the drive shafts of the left and right driving motors 4 and the vertical driving motor 5, and a worm gear 12 meshed with the worm wheel gear 11.
And a spur gear 13 meshing with the worm gear 12. The worm gear 12 is a so-called two-stage gear having two gears at a predetermined distance in the vertical direction as shown in FIG. The worm wheel gear 11 meshes with the upper gear, and the spur gear 13 meshes with the lower gear.

The mirror rotating left and right rods 6 and the mirror rotating upper and lower rods 7 are, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a rotary body 14 press-fitted and fixed to the center of the spur gear 13.
, And is rotatably supported with its axis oriented vertically. The mirror rotating left and right rods 6 and the mirror rotating upper and lower rods 7 engage a torsion coil spring 15 provided on the rotating body 14 with a thread provided on the peripheral surface thereof, and guide the torsion coil spring 15. As the spur gear 13 rotates, it moves up and down. When the mirror rotating left and right rods 6 and the mirror rotating upper and lower rods 7 move in the vertical direction, the mirror housing 1 (mirror 2) engaged with the distal end moves in the vertical and horizontal directions.

The left and right direction detecting potentiometer 8 and the up and down direction detecting potentiometer 9 are, for example, variable resistors, and detect the position of the mirror 2 in the left and right direction and the up and down direction. The left and right direction detecting potentiometer 8 and the vertical direction detecting potentiometer 9 are in contact with the lower end portions of the mirror rotating left and right rods 6 and the mirror rotating upper and lower rods 7 so as to be in a so-called seesaw state in the left and right directions around the shaft portion 16. Moving lever 1
The vertical position of the mirror rotation left and right rods 6 and the mirror rotation upper and lower rods 7 is transmitted by the connecting member 18 engaged with the mirror 7.

Next, an angle control device for moving the outside mirror will be described. Such an angle control device,
As shown in FIG. 1, a left / right driving motor 4, a vertical driving motor 5, and a left / right direction detecting potentiometer 8
, A potentiometer 9 for vertical direction detection, and a power supply 19
, A constant voltage circuit 20, a control unit 21, and a switch circuit 2.
3 and a buzzer sounding circuit 24 as alarm firing means.

In this angle control device, for example, 12
A V battery is used as a power supply 19, and a voltage from the power supply 19 is supplied to a control unit 21 as a microcomputer as a constant voltage of 5 V by a constant voltage circuit 20. In the control unit 21, the switch input signal from the remote control switch and the potentiometer 8
And the input signal from the vertical direction detecting potentiometer 9 is detected and commanded to the motor driver circuit 22 to control the driving of the left and right driving motor 4 and the vertical driving motor 5.

In the control section 21, as shown in FIG.
An operation restriction range programmed by a microcomputer is provided inside the outer periphery (indicated by a circle in the figure) of the mechanical operation limit region of the drive unit 3 which is a power unit. The outer edge of the outer periphery of the outermost region where the threaded portions of the left and right mirror rotating rods 6 and the upper and lower mirror rotating rods 7 and the torsion coil spring 15 slip when the mirror 2 moves on that line. Is shown. On the other hand, the outer edge of the operation restriction range represents the outer edge immediately before the threaded portions of the mirror rotating left and right rods 6 and the mirror rotating upper and lower rods 7 and the torsion coil spring 15 slip. FIG.
The vertical axis represents the output (voltage V) of the potentiometer 9 for detecting the vertical direction, and the horizontal axis represents the output (voltage V) of the potentiometer 8 for detecting the horizontal direction.

As shown in FIG. 2, the outer edge of the operation restriction range includes a plurality of hatched portions a and b having no inwardly convex rectangular regions.
Ｔt are represented as continuous polygonal lines.
In other words, the outer edge of the operation restriction range is a line in which a plurality of oblique lines a, b to t having a certain angle are continuous and have a polygonal shape without a horizontal line or a vertical line as shown in FIG. , Which are almost circular. The hatched portions a and b to t forming the outer edge of the operation restriction range are set to a gradient (vertical increment / horizontal increment) expressed by a power of 2 in order to facilitate the operation of the microcomputer in the control section 21. I have. Table 1 shows the inclinations of the hatched portions a and b to t, for example.

[0021]

[Table 1] In the angle control device that sets the outer edge of the operation restriction range as described above, for example, when the mirror 2 is moved rightward from the point A in FIG.
The control unit 21 calculates the point A from the output from the controller and the data of the d-line constituting the outer edge of the operation restriction range, and sets the point A as the right limit point. Thus, when the mirror 2 is moved rightward from the point A, when the mirror 2 reaches the point A, the left / right driving motor 4 stops immediately before the slip.

When the mirror 2 stopped at the right limit point a is moved leftward to the point A and returned to the point A again,
The mirror 2 always moves to the right limit point A without stopping halfway. This is because the outer edge of the operation restriction range does not have the inwardly convex rectangular area as shown in FIG.
Since b to t are continuous, the intersection of the horizontal line passing through the point A and the outer edge of the right side of the operation restriction range is one point (only at point A). There is no possibility that the mirror 2 is stopped because the output of the detection potentiometer 9 is not affected and the mirror 2 is erroneously recognized just before the point A as the outer edge of the operation restriction range. The same applies to the case where the mirror 2 is moved in the vertical direction.

As described above, a specific embodiment to which the present invention is applied has been described. However, the present invention can be variously modified without being limited to the above-described embodiment.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the present invention is applied to an outside mirror for an automobile, but the same effect can be obtained by applying the present invention not only to an automobile but also to a mirror of a ship or a motorcycle.

[0025]

The present invention is embodied in the form described above and has the following effects.

According to the angle control device for a vehicle mirror of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the drive mechanism for moving the mirror from slipping, thereby avoiding adverse effects on the left and right direction detecting potentiometer and the vertical direction detecting potentiometer. It is possible to prevent the malfunction of the mirror due to the variation of the potentiometer output due to the unevenness of the mechanical operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an angle control device for a vehicle mirror according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram in which an operation restriction range in which a plurality of hatched portions having no inwardly protruding rectangular region is provided inside an outer edge of an operation limit region and the position of a mirror is represented by coordinates. .

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a driving unit of the outside mirror.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of an outside mirror.

FIG. 5 shows a conventional example in which an outer edge of an operation restriction range having an inwardly protruding rectangular area is provided inside an outer edge of an operation limit area;
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a position of a mirror by coordinates.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Mirror 3 Drive unit 4 Left and right drive motor 5 Vertical drive motor 6 Mirror rotation left and right rod 7 Mirror rotation vertical rod 8 Left and right direction detection potentiometer 9 Vertical direction detection potentiometer 21 Controller

Claims (2)

[Claims] An up / down drive motor for changing the direction of a mirror in the up / down direction; a left / right drive motor for changing the direction of the mirror in the left / right direction; and a mirror up / down direction detecting means for detecting the position of the mirror in the up / down direction. A mirror left / right direction detecting means for detecting a position of the mirror in the left / right direction; and an up / down drive motor or the left / right drive motor upon receiving an input signal for tilting the mirror in upward, downward, left, and right directions, respectively. And a controller for issuing a command to change the direction of the mirror by driving the mirror, wherein the controller has a plurality of inwardly protruding rectangular regions inside the outer periphery of the mechanical operation limit region of the mirror. Having an operation restriction range that is continuous with the hatched portion, and when the mirror reaches the operation restriction range outer edge position, the vertical drive motor or Angle control device for a vehicle mirror, characterized in that it has a control circuit for stopping the right drive motor. 2. The angle control device for a vehicle mirror according to claim 1, wherein the inclination of each of the hatched portions is a power of two.