JP2001171491A - On-vehicle camera device and on-vehicle camera cleaning method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an on-vehicle camera device capable of effectively cleaning water drops and mud stuck to the front glass of an on-vehicle camera case to eliminate a dead angle in driving a vehicle to thereby permit driving with high safety. SOLUTION: In an on-vehicle camera 202 equipped at the rear of the vehicle, with its front face soiled in the rain or with the mud splash of one's own vehicle or other vehicles, a compressed air generating unit 205 is installed, and high pressure air is blasted to the front glass 206 of the on-vehicle camera 204 from a nozzle 207 by the compressed air of the compressed air generating unit 205. The water drops, mud and soil can thereby be removed in an instant, and the front glass 206 can be cleaned by remote control with the operation of an interior switch 208 without a driver getting off the vehicle.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an in-vehicle camera device capable of securing an image quality of an in-vehicle camera for capturing an image of a rear or side of a vehicle or a moving body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this kind of on-vehicle camera device has been used as a device for confirming the rear of a vehicle and for confirming the situation of a blind spot inside or outside the vehicle, which cannot be seen by a driver, with a camera image. The quality of the image is degraded by mud and water droplets splashing up due to the running condition of the car on the protective equipment such as the glass on the front of the onboard camera installed outside the vehicle, which deteriorates the image quality, and every time the front glass etc. is manually cleaned Must.

[0003] In this case, in the above-mentioned conventional vehicle-mounted camera device, there is a trouble that the vehicle must be stopped to clean the front surface of the vehicle-mounted camera in consideration of safety.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a conventional on-vehicle camera device. An on-vehicle camera 102 is provided at the back of a vehicle 101 or the like, and is used for confirming the back. Normally, an image signal captured by the on-board camera 103 is transmitted by a transmission cable 110 such as a coaxial cable,
The rear image is displayed on the monitor 104 installed in the vehicle or the monitor of the car navigation.

When the front glass of the housing of the on-vehicle camera 102 is clean, an image is clearly captured like a monitor image 105, but the front glass of the camera housing is
7. If it becomes dirty with the mud 108 and the dirt 109, a clear image like the monitor image 106 cannot be displayed.

In such a situation, it is sufficient to stop the vehicle and clean it manually, but it is not possible to stop the vehicle and clean the front of the on-vehicle camera 102 on an expressway or in bad weather. There's a problem.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the conventional on-vehicle camera device, and is effective in removing water droplets and mud on the front glass of the on-vehicle camera housing in a short time. It is an object of the present invention to provide an on-vehicle camera device and a method for cleaning an on-vehicle camera, which can be cleaned more efficiently and eliminate a blind spot in driving a vehicle to enable higher safe driving.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that an in-vehicle camera mounted on a car or a moving body is provided with a means for blowing high-pressure air to a glass in front of the camera. It is.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an in-vehicle camera mounted on a vehicle or a moving body, wherein the glass on the front of the camera is interlocked with a wiper operation of the car or the moving body. It is characterized by comprising means for blowing high-pressure air.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of cleaning a vehicle-mounted camera mounted on a vehicle or a moving body, wherein high-pressure water is sprayed on a glass in front of the camera. It is characterized by blowing high-pressure air.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for cleaning a vehicle-mounted camera mounted on a car or a moving body, wherein air or water is blown onto glass in front of the camera at a high pressure. Is intermittently repeated a plurality of times.

As described above, the on-vehicle camera device and the method for cleaning the on-vehicle camera according to the present invention can be used when the front glass of the on-vehicle camera housing becomes dirty during rainfall or by mud splashes of the own vehicle and other vehicles. The glass surface of the vehicle can be cleaned by remote control from the driver's seat, and it can be taken by the driver of the vehicle or moving body, and the image of the blind spot inside and outside the vehicle can be checked on the monitor inside the vehicle and the vehicle and moving It is designed to provide more safety when driving the body.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 2, an in-vehicle camera 202 is provided behind the vehicle 201 to capture an image behind the driver in the imaging range 209 which is a blind spot. Explaining in an enlarged view, when the front glass 206 of the in-vehicle camera 204 is contaminated by rainfall or mud splashing of the vehicle, the driver turns on the switch 208 inside the vehicle, so that the height of the nozzle 207 is higher than the compressed air generation unit 205. Water droplets or air at a pressure (about 2 to 3 atm) are applied to the front glass 206 so that the image can be seen cleanly by the driver.

When the on-vehicle camera 202 is contaminated by rain or mud splashes, the front window of the vehicle 201 is usually also contaminated, so that the in-vehicle switch 208 receives the wiper operation signal 212 and the driver manually operates the in-vehicle switch 208 each time. It is also possible to operate automatically without turning it on.

The present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
It is installed at the rear position of 1 for rear confirmation, and as described above, the in-vehicle camera 202 whose front glass becomes dirty due to rainfall or mud splash of the own vehicle or another vehicle is enlarged as shown in the upper right figure. As is apparent from this, the compressed air generating unit 205 is installed, and the compressed air of the compressed air generating unit 205 blows high-pressure air from the nozzle 207 to the front glass 206 of the vehicle-mounted camera 204, so that the above-described water droplets are formed.
Mud and dirt can be removed instantaneously, and the front switch 206 can be cleaned remotely by operating the switch 208 in the vehicle without the driver getting out of the vehicle.

FIG. 3 shows a front glass 301 of a vehicle-mounted camera housing 305.
When the image is deteriorated by the water droplets 312, the mud 320, and the dirt 321, water / compressed air 303 having a higher pressure than the compressed air generating unit 306 is blown from the nozzle 302 onto the front glass 301.

Normally, when the front glass 311 made of ordinary glass is made into a water-repellent glass 315, water droplets adhere to the periphery of the glass, and the water droplets 316 are not so affected by the mud 317 and dirt 322. Also, the captured image deteriorates.

Also, in order to effectively remove water droplets 318 and remove water droplets and mud 319 with compressed air, a short period of shot-like compressed air is sprayed on the front glass a plurality of times to effectively remove water droplets and dirt on the front glass. Can be removed.

Now, the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
As described above, not only water droplets 312 but also mud 317 may adhere to the glass 311 of the in-vehicle camera housing 310 due to splashing of mud from the own vehicle or another vehicle, and the mud 317 hardens after a while. Since it is difficult to remove the compressed air just by applying compressed air, the front glass 311 of the in-vehicle camera housing 310 is
6 Not only compressed air from nozzle 302 but also water / compressed air
303 is sprayed with water at a predetermined compression pressure as shown in 319 for removing water droplets and mud, and then compressed air is repeatedly sprayed at a predetermined compression pressure an appropriate number of times onto the front glass 311 to thereby remove the glass 311 on the front of the camera. Water drops 312, mud 320, dirt 321
Can be effectively removed.

In FIG. 3, if the glass 311 of the on-vehicle camera housing 310 is a normal glass, the water droplet 31
When 2 arrives, it forms a polka dot, and since the polka dot acts as a lens 313, light does not pass through the water droplet 312 in a straight line, and the water droplet 107 arrives as shown in the monitor image 106 shown in FIG. The portion of the video that has fluttered is skipped as a video and cannot be reproduced, resulting in degradation of the video.

The present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 3. If the front glass 301 of the on-vehicle camera housing 305 is made of a water-repellent glass 315 in FIG. 3, the water droplets 316 are not polka dots but stick to the front surface. Since it hardens more around,
Water-repellent treated glass 31 on front glass 301 of in-vehicle camera housing 305
By setting the value to 5, even if the water droplets 316 arrive, it is possible to prevent the polka dots from being formed as in the case of ordinary glass, whereby a relatively clean image can be obtained without image deterioration.

However, even if water repellent treatment has been performed, mud 317 and dirt 322 may adhere due to splashing of mud from the own vehicle or another vehicle. A clear backward confirmation can be made without lowering the image level of the on-vehicle camera due to the blowing action of compressed air or high-pressure water.

The present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 3, water droplets are formed on the front glass 301 of the vehicle-mounted camera housing 305.
In order to remove 312 and mud 320, water / compressed air 303 is blown out from the nozzle 302. In this case,
Rather than lengthening the time of a single spray, the spray of a short time is repeated a plurality of times as shown in water droplet removal 318, so that water droplets 312 on the front glass 301 of the vehicle-mounted camera housing 305 and mud 3
21 can be effectively removed.

Immediately after the air is ejected from the nozzle 302 is the time when the pressure is most increased, and it is easy to maintain the pressure of the compressed air at a high level for a short time.

When water is sprayed for the first time, water droplets and mud are removed.
As shown in FIG. 9, dirt can be effectively removed by repeatedly applying compressed air to front glass 301 after water injection.

The present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. Referring to FIG.
The 5 front glass 301 gets dirty when it rains,
This is the time when the mud from the own vehicle or another vehicle becomes dirty with splashes. At this time, the front window of the vehicle also becomes dirty at the same time, which often coincides with the case where the front window must be wiped to be clean.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, the wiper operation signal 212 activates the switch 208 inside the vehicle at the same time as the wiper operation, and the water or the compressed air is applied to the front glass 206 from the nozzle 207 by the wiper. The spray operation is performed at the timing to clean the front glass.

When the wiper must operate continuously due to continuous rainfall, the wiper is operated intermittently by a timer provided in the switch 208 in the vehicle.

FIG. 4 shows an operation flow of the vehicle-mounted camera device described above. Steps in FIG.
At 401, it is detected that water drops or mud adhere to the front glass of the on-vehicle camera due to rainfall or mud splashing of the car, and that the monitor image is deteriorated.

In step 402, the in-vehicle switch 208 is turned on to clean the front glass. Step 4 in this case
It is also automatically turned on by the wiper operation signal 212 output when the wiper switch is turned on in 06.

In step 403, the compressed air generating unit operates to blow water and compressed air from the nozzle onto the front glass of the vehicle-mounted camera housing.

In step 404, the front glass is cleaned by blowing the compressed air intermittently onto the front glass a plurality of times.

In step 405, it is detected that the front window is dirty by rainfall or mud splashes from a car. Step 406
Then, the switch for operating the wiper is turned on. In step 407, the wiper operates to clean the front window.

In the above operation flow, water droplets and mud on the front glass of the in-vehicle camera housing provided for confirming the rear of the vehicle or confirming the side and front of the vehicle are effectively cleaned in a short time, and the vehicle is driven. It has a special effect of eliminating blind spots in driving and enabling higher safe driving.

[0035]

As described above, according to the on-vehicle camera apparatus and the on-vehicle camera cleaning method of the present invention, the situation of the rear, side, and other positions, which are blind spots of the driver of the vehicle, can be confirmed by the video from the on-vehicle camera. In such a case, an excellent effect that the user can view the image without deteriorating even in bad weather or on a bad road is exhibited.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an operation of a conventional vehicle-mounted camera device mounted on a vehicle;

FIG. 2 is a view for explaining an operation for cleaning a front glass of a vehicle-mounted camera housing;

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an operation of cleaning the front glass of the vehicle-mounted camera housing by spraying water or blowing compressed air;

FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart for explaining the vehicle-mounted camera device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101, 201 Vehicle 102, 103, 202, 204 In-vehicle camera 104 Monitor 105, 106 Monitor image 107, 312, 316 Water drop 108, 317, 320 Mud 109, 321, 322 Dirt 110 Transmission cable 205, 306 Compressed air generation unit 206, 301 Front glass 207, 302 Nozzle 208 In-car switch 209 Imaging range 210 Air 211 Water 212 Wiper operation signal 303 Water / Compressed air 305, 310, 314 In-vehicle camera housing 311 Glass 313 Lens 315 Water-repellent glass 318 Water droplet removal 319 Water droplet / Mud removal

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An in-vehicle camera for use in a vehicle or a moving object, comprising: means for blowing high-pressure air onto a glass in front of the camera. 2. An in-vehicle camera mounted on a car or a moving body, comprising: means for blowing high-pressure air onto a glass in front of the camera in conjunction with a wiper operation of the car or the moving body. 3. A method for cleaning a vehicle-mounted camera mounted on a vehicle or a moving body, wherein high-pressure air is blown after blowing high-pressure water on a glass in front of the camera. 4. A method of cleaning an on-vehicle camera mounted on a car or a moving body, wherein an operation of blowing air or water to a glass in front of the camera at a high pressure is intermittently repeated a plurality of times.