JP2001206200A - Water repellent coated windshield - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a water repellent coated windshield capable of preventing a chattering while the external surface of the windshield main body is wiped off with a wiper by improving the a water repellent coat forming area on the external surface of the windshield main body. SOLUTION: In this water repellent coated front windshield 10, uncoated portions 11a and 11b are formed in the area of a wiping area 11 corresponding to the reciprocating movement end parts of a sliding member 20b.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to, for example, a vehicle windshield, and more particularly to a water-repellent coat windshield formed with a water-repellent coat.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, some automobiles are equipped with a water-repellent coated windshield in which a water-repellent coat is formed over the entire outer surface of a windshield main body. According to this, since the water-repellent coat windshield repels water in a ball shape by the water-repellent coat, water does not remain in a streak shape, and a good view can be secured.

[0003]

However, in the above water-repellent coated windshield, since a water film is hardly formed on the surface of the water-repellent coating, the rubber wiper blade of the wiper is directly in contact with the surface of the water-repellent coated windshield. Easy to contact. Therefore, the friction coefficient between the wiper blade and the surface of the water-repellent coated windshield, such as the coefficient of static friction and the coefficient of dynamic friction, tends to increase.

[0004] When the friction coefficient increases as described above, the speed dependency of the friction coefficient (decrease in friction coefficient due to increase in speed or increase in friction coefficient due to decrease in speed) increases, so that the wiper blade is wiped by the wiper. And the water-repellent coated windshield tend to cause chatter, which makes it difficult to wipe well with the wiper and causes noise.

On the other hand, it is conceivable to apply a friction-reducing treatment such as coating to the contact surface of the wiper blade with the water-repellent coated windshield, but this necessitates the development of new technologies and the burden due to increased costs. This causes a problem that the increase occurs.

Therefore, the present inventors have studied various measures for eliminating the chatter. First, when the relationship between the friction coefficient and the wiping speed of the wiper blade was examined for both the water-repellent coated glass and the uncoated glass, the results shown in FIG. 5 were obtained. Here, the curve P is for the water-repellent coated glass, and the curve Q is for the uncoated glass.

According to this, it can be seen that the static friction coefficient (the friction coefficient when the wiping speed is zero) and the dynamic friction coefficient are considerably smaller in the curve Q than in the curve P. Therefore, it can be said that uncoated glass is better for reducing the friction coefficient.

The relationship between the occurrence of chatter and the terminal voltage of a DC motor (hereinafter referred to as a motor terminal voltage) as a drive source of the wiper was examined for both water-repellent coated glass and uncoated glass. The results as shown in the table of FIG. 6 were obtained. Here, the mark “○” indicates that the chatter does not occur, and the mark “X” indicates that the chatter occurs.

According to this, it can be seen that the range of the motor terminal voltage in which the chatter does not occur extends to a lower voltage in the uncoated glass than in the case of the water-repellent coated glass. Therefore, the prevention of the chatter is
It can be said that uncoated glass is possible from a lower motor terminal voltage, that is, a lower wiping speed.

From the above, it can be seen that in order to prevent the occurrence of the chatter, it is necessary not to increase the friction coefficient even in the range where the wiping speed is low.

In view of the above, the present invention devises a region where the water-repellent coat is formed on the outer surface of the windshield main body to prevent chattering when wiping with the wiper. An object is to provide a water-repellent coated windshield.

[0012]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a water-repellent coated windshield according to the first aspect of the present invention is formed along a windshield main body and outer surfaces (10a, 10c) of the windshield main body. The water repellent coat (10b) is provided, and the outer surface of the windshield body is wiped by the reciprocating motion of the windshield wiper blade (22) through the water repellent coat.

Here, in the water-repellent coat windshield, the water-repellent coat is formed on the outer surface of the windshield body except for portions (11a to 11e, 13) corresponding to the reciprocating ends of the wiper blade. It is characterized by being.

Thus, even if the wiper blade starts sliding or inverts at the uncoated portion corresponding to the reciprocating end portion, the wiper blade does not have a water-repellent coat but a window at the uncoated portion. Since it is in direct contact with the outer surface of the seed body, the coefficient of friction associated with this contact is considerably smaller than in the case of contact with the water-repellent coat.

Therefore, the wiper blade can satisfactorily wipe the wiping area on the surface of the water-repellent coated windshield without chattering. As a result, good visibility and quietness can be secured. In this case, even if the terminal voltage of the motor for driving the wiper blade is lower than that in the case where the uncoated portion is not formed, chatter can be prevented.

The reference numerals in parentheses of the above means indicate the correspondence with specific means described in the embodiments described later.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 shows a water-repellent coated front windshield 10 for an automobile to which the present invention is applied.
Is shown. The automobile includes a wiper 20, and the wiper 20 includes a drive mechanism 20a and left and right wiping members 20b driven by the drive mechanism 20a.

The drive mechanism 20a drives the two wiping members 20b back and forth by a DC motor as a drive source via a link mechanism. Each wiping member 20b includes a wiper arm 21 and a wiper blade 22 attached to the wiper arm 21. The two wiping members 20b are connected to the respective wiper blades 22.
The wiper blade 22 is reciprocated along the left and right fan-shaped wiping regions 11 on the front windshield 10 around the base of the front windshield 10, and the respective wiping regions 11, 11 are wiped by the respective wiper blades 22. . In addition, each wiper blade 22 is connected to the link mechanism at its base, and is driven by the link mechanism so as to perform the reciprocating motion in the same direction in synchronization.

Water-repellent coated front windshield 10
Is formed by forming a water-repellent coat 10b along the outer surface 10a of the front windshield main body made of glass. Here, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the water-repellent coat 10b corresponds to both reciprocating ends of each wiper blade 22 in both wiping areas 11, 11 on the outer surface 10a of the front windshield main body. Parts 11a, 1
1b (hereinafter, referred to as uncoated portions 11a and 11b).

However, each uncoated portion 11a, 11b
Although it is a portion corresponding to both reciprocating ends of each wiper blade 22, preferably, as shown in FIG. 5, a region where the difference in friction coefficient is large, that is, the wiping speed of the wiper blade 22 is 1.0 ( m / s). Further, each of the uncoated portions 11a and 11b has a rectangular shape somewhat wider than the shape corresponding to the contact surface of each wiper blade 22 with the outer surface 10a of the front windshield main body. Water-repellent coat 1
A portion corresponding to each of the uncoated portions 11a and 11b of the outer surface of the front windshield 10b and the outer surface 10a of the front windshield main body corresponds to the surface of the water-repellent coated front windshield 10.

In this embodiment configured as described above,
When each sliding member 20b is stopped on its storage side,
Each wiper blade 22 is located corresponding to each uncoated portion 11b. This means that each wiper blade 22 is in direct contact with a portion of the outer surface 10a of the front windshield body corresponding to each uncoated portion 11b.

When each of the sliding members 20b is driven by the driving mechanism 20a in such a state, the respective sliding members 20b are driven.
b starts to move toward the uncoated portion 11a. At this time, since each wiper blade 22 is in direct contact with the outer surface 10a of the front windshield main body, the coefficient of static friction and the coefficient of kinetic friction at this contact portion are, as can be seen from FIG. Coat 10b
It is considerably smaller than when it is in contact. If the terminal voltage of the DC motor of the drive mechanism 20a is 9 V or more, the DC motor is driven at a voltage that does not cause chatter, as already described with reference to FIG.

Therefore, even if each wiper blade 22 starts sliding in a state where the wiper blade 22 is in direct contact with the outer surface 10a of the front windshield main body at the corresponding uncoated portion 11b, the wiper blade 22 will chatter. Work without any problems. After that, each wiper blade 2
2 moves out of the corresponding uncoated portion 11a with the increase of the wiping speed, and performs the wiping operation along the portion of the outer surface of the water-repellent coat 10b corresponding to the corresponding wiping region 11.

At this time, since the wiping speed of each wiper blade 22 is increasing as described above, even if each wiper blade 22 comes into contact with the outer surface of the water-repellent coat 10b,
As can be seen from what has already been described with reference to FIG. 5, the coefficient of dynamic friction is considerably reduced. For this reason, the wiping of each wiping area 11 by each wiper blade 22 is performed smoothly without occurrence of chatter.

Thereafter, when each wiper blade 22 moves to the position corresponding to the corresponding uncoated portion 11a and reverses, the wiping speed of each wiper blade 22 becomes substantially zero. However, even in each of the uncoated portions 11a,
As in the case of the uncoated portion 11b, each wiper blade 10b directly contacts the outer surface 10a of the front windshield body. For this reason, the coefficient of static friction and the coefficient of dynamic friction in the contact portion are considerably smaller than those in contact with the water-repellent coat 10b, as can be understood from the explanation based on FIG. Also, the terminal voltage of the DC motor is a voltage that does not cause chatter as in the case described above.

Therefore, even if each wiper blade 22 starts sliding in a state where the wiper blade 22 is in direct contact with the outer surface 10a of the front windshield main body at the corresponding uncoated portion 11a, the wiper blades 22 are chattered. And the inverting operation is performed. Thereafter, each wiper blade 22 escapes from the corresponding uncoated portion 11a with an increase in the wiping speed, and follows the portion corresponding to each corresponding wiping region 11 on the outer surface of the water-repellent coat 10b in the same manner as described above. The wiping operation is performed smoothly with a decrease in the coefficient of dynamic friction.

By repeating the above operation, each sliding member 20b smoothly wipes the corresponding wiping area 11 without chattering with the surface of the water-repellent coated front windshield 10. obtain.

FIG. 3 shows a first modification of the above embodiment. In the first modified example, the left sliding member 20b of the two sliding members 20b reciprocates in the opposite direction to the right sliding member 20b, unlike the above-described embodiment.

Accordingly, a single uncoated portion 13 is formed on the water-repellent coat 10b, as shown in FIG. 3, instead of the two uncoated portions 11b described in the above embodiment. . The uncoated portion 11c is formed at the outer reciprocating end of the left sliding member 20b of the water-repellent coat 10b instead of the left uncoated portion 11a described in the above embodiment. Other configurations are the same as those of the above embodiment. According to such a first modification, the same operation and effect as the above embodiment can be achieved.

FIG. 4 shows a second modification of the above embodiment. In the second modified example, the vehicle includes a wiper (hereinafter, referred to as a rear wiper) applied to the water-repellent rear windshield 10A, and the rear wiper includes a sliding member 20c. The sliding member 20c moves the wiper blade 22 from the fan-shaped wiping area 11 of the surface of the water-repellent rear windshield 10A.
Reciprocating along A, the wiping area 11A is wiped.
The wiper blade 22 of the sliding member 20c is driven substantially in the same manner as described in the above embodiment.

However, a water-repellent coated rear windshield 1
0A is along the outer surface 10c of the rear windshield body made of glass, and the water-repellent coat 10 described in the above embodiment is used.
b is formed. Here, the water-repellent coat 10
b is different from the above embodiment, as shown in FIG.
In the outer surface 10c of the rear windshield main body, portions 11d and 11e (hereinafter, uncoated portions 11) of the wiping area 11A corresponding to the two reciprocating ends of the wiper blade 22.
d, 11e). here,
The coated portions 11d and 11e play substantially the same role as the uncoated portions 11a and 11b described in the above embodiment.

In the second modified example having the above-described structure, the sliding member 20c is connected to the wiper blade 22.
In the process of wiping the wiping area 11A of the water-repellent coated rear windshield 10A by the wiper blade 2
At 2, the contact is made directly with the outer surface 10c of the rear windshield main body via the uncoated portions 11d and 11e, so that the same operation and effect as in the above embodiment can be achieved.

In practicing the present invention, the present invention is not limited to a water-repellent coated windshield for automobiles, but may be applied to wiping windshields of ships, aircrafts and general buildings with wipers.

In implementing the present invention, the sliding member 2
0b and 20c are not limited to those that reciprocate along the fan-shaped wiping area as described in the above embodiment, and may be, for example, those that reciprocate along a rectangular or other rectangular wiping area. Good.

In practicing the present invention, the front windshield body may be made of resin.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged front view showing each uncoated portion of the water-repellent coated front windshield of FIG. 1 in relation to a fan-shaped wiping region.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a first modification of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing a second modification of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing a relationship between a coefficient of friction and a wiping speed of a wiper blade in the case of a water-repellent coated glass and an uncoated glass.

FIG. 6 is a table showing the relationship between occurrence of chatter and motor terminal voltage in the case of uncoated glass and water-repellent coated glass.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 10: water-repellent coated front windshield, 10A: water-repellent coated rear windshield, 10a: outer surface of front windshield main body, 10b: water-repellent coating, 10c: outer surface of rear windshield main body, 11a, 11b, 11c, 11d, 11e: uncoated portion, 20b, 20c: sliding member, 22: wiper blade.

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Naoki Agata 390 Umeda, Kosai-shi, Shizuoka Prefecture Asmo Stock Company In-house F-term (reference) 3D025 AA01 AC01 AC20 AD02

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A windshield main body and a water-repellent coat (10b) formed along the outer surfaces (10a, 10c) of the windshield main body, and the outer surface of the windshield main body is interposed through the water-repellent coat. In a water repellent coat windshield configured to be wiped by a reciprocating motion of a wiper blade (22) of the wiper, the water repellent coat corresponds to a reciprocating end of the wiper blade on the outer surface of the windshield body. A water-repellent coated windshield formed except for portions (11a to 11e, 13).