JP2012056509A - Visual assisting device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To visualize a blind area around a vehicle in a wide range by a simple structure using an existing nozzle drive mechanism of a lamp cleaner.SOLUTION: The lamp cleaner 6 of a headlight unit 3 is provided with a cylinder 12, a pop-up nozzle 13, and the nozzle drive mechanism 14. The pop-up nozzle 13 is provided with a cleaning solution injecting nozzle 16 and a nozzle cover 17 at the tip of a telescopical shaft 15, and a camera 7 and a luminous body 18 are arranged on a front face of the nozzle cover 17. The pop-up nozzle 13 protrudes to the front side of the vehicle body before an intersection, and the areas on both right and left sides of the intersection are captured by the camera 7. Images captured by the camera 7 are displayed on an in-vehicle monitor to notify a driver about the existence of other vehicles and pedestrians on the intersection in an early stage.

Description

  The present invention relates to a visual support device for a vehicle for visualizing an area where a driver's line of sight cannot reach.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a vehicle vision support apparatus using a camera is known. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a “vehicle tip confirmation device” in which a camera is installed on a fender portion at the front end of a vehicle body so that the camera can be raised and lowered, and a blind spot area around a front wheel is visualized by a camera at an elevated position. Patent Document 2 proposes a “vehicle periphery monitoring device” that installs a camera at the center in the left-right direction at the front end of the vehicle body and monitors other vehicles and pedestrians on the intersection at the intersection.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-224088 JP 2010-2275 A

  However, according to the conventional device of Patent Document 1, a large-scale modification is required such as making a hole in the vehicle body or incorporating a lifting mechanism. Further, since the camera is moved in the vertical direction, there is a problem in that a blind spot area still remains on the lower side of the vehicle body. The conventional device of Patent Document 2 has a problem that a blind spot area remains on both the left and right sides of the intersection and the lower side of the vehicle body because the camera is fixedly installed.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular visual assistance device that can visualize a blind spot area around the vehicle widely with a relatively simple configuration.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the visual support device for a vehicle according to the present invention is characterized in that an optical means for expanding a driver's field of view is provided in a pop-up nozzle of a lamp cleaner.

  Here, as a lamp cleaner, the cleaner assembled | attached to the headlamp unit or the cleaner equipped in the rear combination lamp can be illustrated. As the pop-up nozzle, a nozzle that can move or expand and contract within a horizontal plane including the front-rear direction and the left-right direction of the vehicle body can be preferably used.

  As the optical means, a camera that captures an area around the vehicle body can be used, and an image of the camera can be displayed on a monitor installed in the vehicle interior. Further, as the optical means, a reflecting mirror that reflects the light of the lamp provided on the vehicle body can be used.

  Furthermore, it is also possible to combine a camera and a monitor with the reflecting mirror, take an image of the area around the vehicle body including the reflecting mirror with the camera, and display the camera image on the monitor in the vehicle interior. It is desirable to provide a light emitter at the tip of the pop-up nozzle so that the driver and pedestrians of other vehicles can check the operating state of the lamp cleaner.

  According to the visual assistance device for a vehicle of the present invention, the optical means for expanding the visual field of the driver is provided in the pop-up nozzle of the lamp cleaner, so that the blind spot around the vehicle can be obtained by a simple configuration using the existing drive mechanism in the cleaner. There is an effect that the area can be visualized widely.

It is a front view of the motor vehicle which shows Example 1 of this invention. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the headlamp unit which shows the visual assistance apparatus of Example 1. FIG. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of the visual assistance apparatus at the time of an intersection approach. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of the visual assistance apparatus at the time of vehicle start. It is a front view of the motor vehicle which shows Example 2 of this invention. It is a top view which shows the structure and operation | movement of the visual assistance apparatus of Example 2. FIG. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of the visual assistance apparatus at the time of vehicle start.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the vehicular visual assistance device 11 according to the first embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 4, the lamp cleaner 6 is provided with a camera 7 as optical means. In the vehicular visual assistance device 21 of Example 2 shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, the lamp cleaner 6 is provided with reflecting mirrors 22 and 25 as optical means. In each figure, the same code | symbol shows the same member.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a vehicle body 2 of an automobile 1 is equipped with a pair of left and right headlamp units 3, and each unit 3 is provided with a headlamp 4, a clearance lamp 5, and a lamp cleaner 6. The lamp cleaner 6 is provided with a camera 7 capable of photographing the front of the vehicle body 2 at a wide angle. A monitor 9 for displaying the video of the camera 7 is installed in the passenger compartment 8. The monitor 9 and the camera 7 constitute a visual support device 11 for the automobile 1.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the lamp cleaner 6 is installed in the lower part of the lamp housing 10 and includes a cylinder 12, a pop-up nozzle 13, and a nozzle drive mechanism 14. The pop-up nozzle 13 includes an extendable shaft 15, and a cleaning liquid spray nozzle 16 and a nozzle cover 17 are provided at the tip of the shaft 15. A camera 7 and a light emitter (LED) 18 are provided on the front surface of the nozzle cover 17, and the light emitter 18 can notify the driver or pedestrian of the other vehicle of the operating state of the lamp cleaner 6.

  The nozzle drive mechanism 14 includes a motor and a cleaning liquid pump (not shown), and the shaft 15 is expanded and contracted in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body 2 in a horizontal plane by the motor. As the shaft 15 expands and contracts, the nozzle 16 has a retracted position inside the housing 10 (solid line position in FIG. 2A) and a cleaning position protruding forward from the housing 10 (a chain line position shown in FIG. 2A). Further, the camera 7 is arranged at a photographing position further forward than the cleaning position (the maximum protruding position is shown in FIG. 2B).

  Next, the operation of the visual assistance device 11 will be described. As shown in FIG. 3 (a), when the host vehicle 1A reaches before the intersection CR, the lamp cleaner 6 is operated by manual operation or automatic operation, the pop-up nozzle 13 is protruded in front of the vehicle body 2, and the camera 7 is photographed. Place in position. And the camera 7 image | photographs area | region A1 including the both right and left sides of the intersection CR, and as shown in FIG.3 (b), the monitor 9 displays the image | video of the other vehicle 1B and a pedestrian on an intersection.

  Therefore, the driver can reliably recognize the other vehicle 1B and the pedestrian existing in the blind spot area from the image of the monitor 9, and can decelerate or stop the host vehicle 1A at an early stage. Further, since the camera 7 is mounted on the pop-up nozzle 13, the blind spot area of the intersection CR can be visualized over a wide range with a simple configuration using the nozzle drive mechanism 14 that is already installed in the lamp cleaner 6. The lamp cleaner 6 and the camera 7 can be automatically operated in conjunction with a brake, a handle, a shift lever, a winker, etc., and may be operable only at slow speeds of, for example, 30 km / h or less.

  As shown in FIG. 4, when the automobile 1 starts, the camera 7 captures an area A <b> 2 below the lamp cleaner 6 at the capturing position in front of the vehicle, and the monitor 9 displays an image of the road surface F including the lower side of the vehicle body 2. indicate. At this time, since the pop-up nozzle 13 extends in the horizontal direction, the blind spot area around the front wheel can be visualized in a wider range compared to the conventional case where the camera is moved vertically. When starting from the garage, after confirming the safety around the front wheels, the camera 7 is directed forward at the same shooting position, and the left and right safety confirmations of the road in front of the garage are performed in the same way as in the case of the intersection.

  As shown in FIG. 5, in the automobile 1 according to the second embodiment, the lamp cleaner 6 of the headlamp unit 3 is provided with a reflecting mirror 22 that reflects a part of the light from the headlamp 4. A camera 24 is installed on the front grill 23 of the vehicle body 2 to photograph a region in front of the vehicle body at a wide angle. A monitor 9 that displays the video of the camera 24 is installed in the passenger compartment 8. The monitor 9, the camera 24, and the reflecting mirror 22 constitute a visual assistance device 21 for the automobile 1.

  As shown in FIG. 6A, the reflecting mirror 22 is formed obliquely on the back surface of the nozzle cover 17 and is disposed at the operating position in front of the vehicle body when the shaft 15 is extended. The inclination angle of the reflecting mirror 22 is set such that the reflected light R1 irradiates one or both of the left and right regions in front of the vehicle body. Then, as shown in FIG. 6B, before the host vehicle 1A enters the intersection CR, the lamp cleaner 6 places the reflecting mirror 22 at the operating position, and the reflected light R1 causes the other vehicle 1B or the walking on the intersection. A person is notified of the presence of the vehicle 1A.

  The reflecting mirror 25 shown in FIG. 7A is formed on the back surface of the nozzle cover 17 at such an angle that the reflected light R2 irradiates the road surface F immediately before the vehicle body. When the vehicle 1 is started, the reflecting mirror 25 is disposed at the operating position in front of the vehicle body, the reflected light R2 irradiates the road surface F including the lower side of the vehicle body 2, and the camera 24 takes an image of the area in front of the vehicle body including the reflecting mirror 25. To do. Then, as shown in FIG. 7B, the monitor 9 displays a map of the reflecting mirror 25 on a part of the image in front of the vehicle body to inform the driver of children and small animals lurking below the vehicle body 2. Therefore, according to the vision assistance apparatus 21 of Example 2, there is an advantage that the blind spot area can be visualized widely with an inexpensive configuration using the reflecting mirrors 22 and 25 in particular.

In addition, this invention is not limited to the said Example, As shown below, it is also possible to implement suitably changing the structure of each part in the range which does not deviate from the meaning of invention.
(1) The pop-up nozzle of the lamp cleaner is provided so as to be extendable in the left-right direction or the oblique front-rear direction in a horizontal plane.
(2) Use optical means such as a camera or reflector provided in the pop-up nozzle to confirm the safety of passing vehicles or pedestrians on the side of the vehicle.
(3) The optical means is provided on the lamp cleaner at the rear of the vehicle body.
(4) The optical means is provided in a lamp cleaner of a large vehicle such as a truck or a bus.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Car 6 Lamp cleaner 7 Camera 8 Cabin 9 Monitor 11 Visual support device (Example 1)
13 Pop-up nozzle 14 Nozzle drive mechanism 17 Nozzle cover 18 Light emitter 21 Visual support device (Example 2)
22 Reflector 24 Camera 25 Reflector

Claims (5)

  A visual support device for a vehicle, characterized in that an optical means for expanding a driver's field of view is provided in a pop-up nozzle of a lamp cleaner.   The vehicular vision support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the optical means includes a camera that captures an area around the vehicle body, and a monitor that displays an image of the camera is installed in the vehicle interior.   The visual support apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the optical means includes a reflecting mirror that reflects light from a lamp on a vehicle body.   The vehicular vision support apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the optical means further includes a camera that captures an area around the vehicle body including a reflecting mirror, and a monitor that displays an image of the camera is installed in the vehicle interior.   The visual assistance apparatus for vehicles as described in any one of Claims 1-4 which provided the light-emitting body in the front-end | tip of the said pop-up nozzle.

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