JP2003002115A - Installation and protection structure of camera for monitoring rear view of automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce an integrated error against installation accuracy of a camera in an installation and protection structure of the camera for monitoring rear view of an automobile, and also to provide such practice that simple cleaning and checkup of the camera can be made, without removing the camera, by removing only a garnish. SOLUTION: A lamp 14 lighting a license plate 11 mounted at a recessed part 10 from above is set at the recessed part 10 formed on a back wall of a car body 1, and the appentice-shaped garnish 16 covering the lamp 14 from above is mounted on the car body 1. In this structure, a bracket 22 holding the camera 5 for monitoring the rear view is fixed at the outer plate 3 of the car body 1 facing the recessed part 10, the top of the camera 5 is covered by the garnish 16 detachably mounted on the outer plate 13, and a protecting cover 23 covering the exposed surface of the camera 5 is held by the garnish 16.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention installs a lamp for illuminating a license plate mounted in the recess from above in a license plate mounting recess formed in a rear wall of a vehicle body, and covers the lamp from above. In a car in which a car is attached to the vehicle body, a rear monitoring camera is mounted using the recess, and the garnish covers the camera from above in order to avoid contact with other objects. The present invention relates to a surveillance camera mounting and protection structure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The mounting and protection structure for such a rear-view camera of an automobile is already known, as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-240370.

In the mounting and protection structure of the rear monitoring camera for automobiles disclosed in the above publication, the rear wall of the vehicle body is
A garnish that has an eave in the upper part and is fitted in the entire recess is detachably attached, and a bracket for holding the camera is fixed to the garnish directly below the eave.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned conventional structure,
Since the rear monitoring camera is mounted on the vehicle body through the bracket and the garnish, the integration error with respect to the mounting accuracy of the camera is likely to increase, and the garnish is used for easy inspection and cleaning of the camera. Even if the camera is removed from the vehicle body, the camera is pulled away from the vehicle body together with the garnish. Therefore, it is necessary to add extra slack to the lead wires of the camera that is wired inside the vehicle body to allow the camera to be pulled away. Vibration noise may occur at the slack portion of the wire.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and has a small integration error with respect to the mounting accuracy of a rear monitoring camera, and the simple inspection and cleaning of the camera does not involve moving the camera, but simply the garnish. It is an object of the present invention to provide a mounting structure and a protection structure for a rear monitoring camera of an automobile, which can be carried out only by removing the camera, and therefore does not require extra slack in the camera lead wire.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a license plate mounting recess formed in a rear wall of a vehicle body and a lamp for illuminating a license plate mounted in the recess from above. In a car with a garnish installed on the vehicle body that covers the lamp from above, a bracket that holds a rear-view camera is fixed to the outer plate of the vehicle body that faces the recess.
The first feature is that the upper part of the camera is covered with the garnish detachably attached to the outer plate.

According to the first feature, since only the bracket is interposed between the camera and the outer plate, the integration error of the mounting accuracy of the camera with respect to the outer plate can be suppressed to a small value, and the camera can take a picture in a predetermined monitoring area. The accuracy can be increased. In addition, when performing a simple inspection or cleaning of the camera, the camera can be largely exposed by removing the garnish from the outer plate, so the simple inspection and cleaning of the camera are hindered by the garnish and the protective cover. Can be done easily without. Especially, in this case, since the camera is placed in the recess while being held by the bracket and does not need to be pulled out to the outside, it is not necessary to add extra slack to the lead wire of the camera.

In addition to the first characteristic, the present invention has a second characteristic that a protective cover for covering the exposed surface of the camera except the lens is held by the garnish.

According to the second feature, the garnish can cover the exposed surface of the camera except the lens in cooperation with the protective cover, and prevent other objects from contacting the camera. Moreover, since the protective cover can be removed from the camera at the same time when the garnish is removed, the camera can be easily inspected and cleaned without being disturbed by the garnish and the protective cover.

Further, in addition to the first or second feature, the present invention further comprises a housing for holding the camera, the bracket arranged at one corner in the left-right direction of the recess, and the bracket extending from the housing for the outer plate. A third feature is that the housing is configured to be fixed to the mounting portion and the housing is tilted at a predetermined angle toward the center of the recess with respect to a perpendicular to the mounting surface of the mounting piece.

According to the third feature, even if the camera is arranged at one corner of the recess while avoiding interference with the lamp, the photographing area of the camera is aligned with the predetermined monitoring area behind the vehicle body by the simple structure of the bracket. be able to.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the embodiments of the present invention shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a rear perspective view of an automobile equipped with a rear monitoring camera, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the rear monitoring camera mounting and protection structure, and FIG. 3 is an exploded enlarged view of the periphery of the camera. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the holding structure of the camera protective cover, FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 2, FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 2, and FIG. It is sectional drawing corresponding to FIG. 6 which shows a modification.

First, in FIG. 1, an automobile A has a tail gate 1a at a rear portion of a vehicle body 1, and the tail gate 1a is opened and closed by a rear door 2 which constitutes a rear wall of the vehicle body 1. The rear door 2 includes an outer plate 3 made of a steel plate and a rear window glass 4 adhered to the outer plate 3, and a CCD camera 5 for rearward monitoring is attached to the outer plate 3. The lead wire 6 connected to the camera 5 is wired in the rear door 2, passes near the upper hinge portion, and is connected to the input wire 8 of the TV tuner 7 via the coupler 9 on the floor of the luggage compartment. The camera 5 photographs a predetermined monitoring area a behind the automobile A, and its image is displayed on a screen of a monitor installed on an instrument panel of a driver's seat. The lead wire 6 and the input wire 8 are
It is held in place on the vehicle body 1 by a clip not shown.

In FIG. 2, in the license plate mounting recess 10 formed in the lateral center of the outer plate 3 of the rear door 2, a locking piece 12 for locking the lower part of the license plate 11 and the plate 11 are provided. And a pair of left and right lamps 14 for illuminating the license plate 11 from above at night.
And a lock release lever 15 for releasing the lock of the rear door 2 between the lamps 14, and the camera 5 is installed adjacent to the outside of one of the lamps 14, that is, at one corner of the recess 10. It And the above lamp 1
4, an eave-shaped garnish 16 that covers the release lever 15 and the camera 5 from above is detachably attached to the outer plate 3.

The garnish 16 is made of synthetic resin and has a recess 1
It is molded to fit the upper edge and the left and right side edges of 0.
At its lower end, a support wall 16 that contacts the outer plate 3 of the recess 10 is provided.
a is integrally provided (see FIG. 5).

As shown in FIG. 6, the garnish 16
A plurality of connecting shafts 19 are integrally formed on the inner surface of the.
Each connecting shaft 19 has a harpoon-shaped locking claw 19a at the tip which is divided by a plurality of slits 20.
The garnish 16 is attached to the outer plate 3 by elastically engaging a with the locking hole 21 of the outer plate 3. When the locking claw 19a is compressed inward in the radial direction, it can be detached from the locking hole 21 and the garnish 16 can be taken out from the recess 10.

2 and 3, the camera 5 is
A protective cover 23 made of synthetic resin, which is supported by a bracket 22 fixed to the outer plate 3 in the license plate mounting recess 10 and covers the exposed surface of the camera 5 except the lens 5a, is held by the garnish 16. ，
Their structures are detailed below.

The bracket 22 comprises a channel-shaped housing 22a and a pair of mounting pieces 22b and 22b 'extending from the rear ends of the left and right side walls of the housing 22a. The heads of the bolts 26, 26 are fixed.

The camera 5 is inserted into the housing 22a. The camera 5 is held in the housing 22a by tightening the left and right side walls of the housing 22a with the screws 24, 24 on the left and right side walls of the camera 5. At this time, small projections 25, 25 are formed on the inner surfaces of the left and right side walls of the housing 22a, and these are bited into the left and right side surfaces of the camera 5 to ensure stable holding of the camera 5.

After holding the camera 5, the outer plate 3 of the recess 10 is held.
The mounting pieces 22 are attached to the bolt holes 27, 27 formed in the
The mounting pieces 22b, 22b 'are fixed to the outer plate 3 by inserting the bolts 26, 26 of b, 22b' and screwing and tightening nuts 28, 28 from the inside of the outer plate 3 into the bolts 26, 26. In this way, the camera 5 is attached to the outer plate 3 at one corner of the recess 10.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the bracket 2
2, the housing 22a includes a mounting piece 22b,
22b 'is formed downward with respect to the perpendicular to the mounting surface of the outer plate 3 to the outer plate 3 and at a certain angle θ toward the center of the recess 10.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the protective cover 23
Is composed of a front wall 23a, a bottom wall 23b, and left and right side walls 23c, 23c that cover the front and bottom surfaces of the camera 5 and the left and right side surfaces of the housing 22a, respectively.
Is provided with a window hole 29 through which the lens 5a of the camera 5 is exposed.

Left and right side walls 23c, 23 of the protective cover 23
On the outer surface of the upper end portion of c, a pair of grooves 30 extending in the front-rear direction,
30 is formed, and the support wall 16 a of the garnish 16 is engaged with these grooves 30, 30 to hold the protective cover 23. That is, the notch 31 is formed in the support wall 16a of the garnish 16, and the left and right inner edge portions of the notch 31 are inserted into the pair of grooves 30, 30.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

When mounting the camera 5, first,
After holding the camera 5 in the housing 22a of the bracket 22, the mounting pieces 22b and 22b 'of the bracket 22 are attached.
The bolts 26, 26 and the nut 2 on the outer plate 3 of the recess 10.
It sticks at 8,28. Next, the front and bottom surfaces of the camera 5 and the left and right side surfaces of the bracket 22 are covered with a protective cover 23, and the protective cover 23 in that state is held by one hand, while the other hand brings the garnish 16 close to the recess 10 to support it. The left and right inner edges of the notch 31 of the wall 16a are inserted into the grooves 30, 30 of the protective cover 23, and each connecting shaft 1
The engaging claws 19 a of the plate 9 are engaged with the engaging holes 21 of the outer plate 3.

Thus, the exposed surface of the camera 5 mounted on the outer plate 3 via the bracket 22 excluding the lens 5a is covered by the garnish 16 and the protective cover 23 which cover the license plate illuminating lamp 14 from above. Are protected from contact with other things. Protective cover 2
3, the front wall 23a having the window hole 29 covers the front surface of the camera 5 excluding the lens 5a, so that the illumination of the lamp 14 can be prevented from wrapping around to the lens 5a side of the camera 5 at night. The dazzling of the camera 5 is avoided.

Moreover, since only the bracket 22 is interposed between the camera 5 and the outer plate 3, the integration error of the mounting accuracy of the camera 5 with respect to the outer plate 3 is suppressed to a small level, and the photographing accuracy of the camera 5 with respect to the predetermined monitoring area a. Can be increased.

When the camera 5 is briefly inspected or cleaned, the locking claw 19a of the connecting shaft 19 of the garnish 16 is disengaged from the locking hole 21, and the garnish 16 is recessed.
Take out from. In this case, the protective cover 23 supported by the support wall 16a of the garnish 16 is also removed from the camera 5 and the bracket 22 at the same time, and the camera 5 is largely exposed. Therefore, the camera 5 can be easily inspected and cleaned. It can be easily performed without being disturbed by the protective cover 23. Particularly, in this case, since the camera 5 is placed in the recess 10 while being held by the bracket 22 and does not need to be pulled out to the outside, it is not necessary to attach extra slack to the lead wire 6 of the camera 5, Therefore, there is no problem that the lead wire 6 generates a vibration sound at the slack portion.

The camera 5 is arranged at one corner of the recess 10 so as to avoid interference with the lamp 14, and the bracket 22 supporting this is provided with a housing 22 for holding the camera 5.
a is a constant angle θ on the central side of the recess 10 with respect to the perpendicular to the mounting surface of the mounting pieces 22b, 22b 'to the outer plate 3.
Since the bracket 22 is formed so as to be inclined, the photographing area of the camera 5 can be matched with the predetermined monitoring area a behind the vehicle body 1 by such a simple structure of the bracket 22.

FIG. 7 shows a modified example of the holding structure of the camera 5, in which the structure of the housing 22a of the bracket 22 is partially different from that of the previous embodiment. That is, a stopper wall 22d that receives the rear end surface of the camera 5 is formed at the rear end of the ceiling wall of the housing 22a, and is fixed to the rear end of the camera 5 with a screw 32 to hold the camera 5 in the housing 22a. It is a thing. Other configurations are the same as those in the previous embodiment, and in FIG. 7, parts corresponding to those in the previous embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various design changes can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. For example, the present invention can be applied to a sedan type automobile.

[0033]

As described above, according to the first feature of the present invention, the lamp for illuminating the license plate mounted in the recess from above is installed in the license plate mounting recess formed in the rear wall of the vehicle body. In a vehicle having a garnish that covers the lamp from above, the bracket that holds the camera for rear monitoring is fixed to the outer plate of the vehicle body facing the recess, and the upper part of the camera is attached to the outer plate. Since it is covered with the garnish that is detachably attached to the camera, only a bracket is interposed between the camera and the outer plate, and the integration error of the mounting accuracy of the camera with respect to the outer plate can be reduced, and the camera can be imaged in a predetermined monitoring area. The accuracy can be increased. When performing a simple inspection or cleaning of the camera, simply remove the garnish from the outer plate to expose the camera to a large extent, and easily perform the simple inspection and cleaning of the camera without being disturbed by the garnish and the protective cover. be able to. In particular, since the camera is placed in the recess while being held by the bracket and does not need to be pulled out to the outside, it is not necessary to add extra slack to the lead wire of the camera.

According to the second feature of the present invention, in addition to the first feature, the garnish removes the camera lens because the protective cover for covering the exposed surface of the camera except the lens is held by the garnish. The exposed surface can be covered in cooperation with the protective cover to prevent other objects from contacting the camera. Moreover, since the protective cover can be removed from the camera at the same time when the garnish is removed, the camera can be easily inspected and cleaned without being disturbed by the garnish and the protective cover.

Further, according to the third feature of the present invention, the first
Alternatively, in addition to the second feature, the bracket arranged at one corner in the left-right direction of the recess is composed of a housing for holding the camera and a mounting piece extending from the housing and fixed to the outer plate. At the same time, since the housing is tilted at a predetermined angle toward the center of the recess with respect to the perpendicular to the mounting surface of the mounting piece, even if the camera is placed in one corner of the recess while avoiding interference with the lamp, the structure of the bracket is simple. Thus, the photographing area of the camera can be properly set to the rear center portion of the vehicle body.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a rear perspective view of an automobile to which a rear monitoring camera is attached.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of an attachment and protection structure of the rear monitoring camera.

FIG. 3 is an exploded enlarged view of the peripheral portion of the camera.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a holding structure for the camera protective cover.

5 is a sectional view taken along line 5-5 of FIG.

6 is a sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view corresponding to FIG. 6, showing a modified example of the holding structure of the camera.

[Explanation of symbols]

A ... Car a .. Rear monitoring area θ ··· Angle 1 ... ・ Car body 3 ... Outer plate 5 ... Camera 5a: Lens 10 ... Recess for mounting license plate 11 ... License plate 14 ... Lamp 16: Garnish 22 ... Bracket 22a ... Housing 22b, 22b '... Mounting piece 23 ... Protective cover

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Yoshiyuki Arai             No. 18-18 Nobidome, Niiza-shi, Saitama Stock             Within the company Honda Access (72) Inventor Tadaaki Yoshino             No. 18-18 Nobidome, Niiza-shi, Saitama Stock             Within the company Honda Access F term (reference) 3D003 AA18 BB02 CA44 DA15 DA26                 3D024 CA02 CA15 CA17

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A recess (10) for mounting a license plate, which is formed on a rear wall of a vehicle body (1), and has the recess (10).
A lamp (14) for illuminating the license plate (11) attached to the lamp from above is installed.
4) The garnish (16) that covers the vehicle body from above (1)
In the automobile mounted on the vehicle, a rear monitoring camera (5) is mounted on the outer panel (3) of the vehicle body (1) facing the recess (10).
Rear view of a vehicle, characterized in that a bracket (22) for holding the camera is fixed and the upper part of the camera (5) is covered with the garnish (16) detachably attached to the outer plate (3). Camera mounting and protection structure. 2. A rear monitoring camera mounting and protection structure for an automobile according to claim 1, wherein said camera (5)
Protective cover (2
3) A structure for mounting and protecting a rear monitoring camera for an automobile, characterized in that 3) is held by the garnish (16). 3. A rear monitoring camera mounting and protection structure for an automobile according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the bracket (22) arranged at one corner of the recess (10) in the left-right direction is provided with the camera (5). A housing (22a) for holding and mounting pieces (22b, 22) extending from the housing (22a) and fixed to the outer plate (3).
b ') and its housing (22a)
Is attached to the center of the concave portion (10) with respect to a perpendicular to the mounting surface of the mounting pieces (22b, 22b ') by a predetermined angle (?), And a rear monitoring camera mounting and protection structure for an automobile is provided. .