JP2013170886A - Vehicular meter device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To cause the occurrence of abnormality to be notified of even in the case where notification means is failed, while eliminating the need of a master abnormality lamp.SOLUTION: A meter unit 10 (vehicular meter device) comprises meter display sections 11, 12 and 13 each displaying a measured vehicle traveling state to a vehicle occupant and warning lamps 21-26, 31-34 and 41-44 (notification means) which notifies the vehicle occupant of the fact that abnormality in an in-vehicle device is detected. The meter unit 10 further comprises failure determination means which determines for each of the warning lamps whether the warning lamp is failed or not, and control means in which, when abnormality is detected in any one of abnormality presence/absence detection positions and it is determined that a warning lamp corresponding to the abnormality detected position is failed, a plurality of other warning lamps which are determined as non-failed are controlled to be turned on.

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle meter device that displays a vehicle running state such as a vehicle speed and notifies various abnormalities.

  A conventional meter device includes a meter display unit that displays a vehicle running state such as a vehicle speed, and also includes a warning lamp (notification unit) that notifies a vehicle occupant when a vehicle abnormality is detected. Is common. For example, an airbag abnormality warning lamp that is lit when an abnormality in the airbag device is detected, an engine abnormality warning lamp that is lit when an abnormality in the engine is detected, or a power steering abnormality that is lit when an abnormality in the electric power steering device is detected A plurality of various warning lamps such as warning lamps are provided (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2010-76462 A

  However, for example, even when an abnormality of the airbag device is detected, if the warning lamp (airbag abnormality warning lamp) for notifying the abnormality is broken, the abnormality of the airbag device cannot be notified.

  In order to solve this problem, a meter device provided with a master abnormality lamp different from the above-described various warning lamps has been conventionally known. In this meter device, if a warning lamp corresponding to the abnormality is broken when an abnormality is detected, the master abnormality lamp is turned on to notify the vehicle occupant. However, the provision of the master abnormal lamp in this way increases the number of parts and increases the cost.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular meter device that can notify the occurrence of an abnormality even when a notification means has failed while making a master abnormality lamp unnecessary. There is to do.

  The invention for achieving the above object is characterized by the following points. That is, the vehicle meter device includes a meter display unit that displays the measured vehicle traveling state to the vehicle occupant, and also includes a notification unit that notifies the vehicle occupant when an abnormality of the in-vehicle device is detected. The notification means is provided corresponding to each of the abnormality presence / absence detection locations, and a failure determination means for determining whether or not the notification means has failed for each of the notification means, and the abnormality If an abnormality is detected in any of the presence / absence detection locations, and it is determined that the notification means corresponding to the abnormality detection location has failed, the other plurality determined to have not failed Control means for controlling to operate the notification means.

  According to the present invention, when an abnormality is detected at a certain location and the notification means corresponding to the abnormality detection location is broken, the other non-failed notification means is operated. On the other hand, it is possible to notify that some abnormality has occurred, even though it is impossible to notify the location where the abnormality has occurred.

  Further, in the above invention, a plurality of other informing means are operated, but when only one other informing means is operated contrary to the present invention, the presence / absence detection of abnormality corresponding to the other informing means operated. There is a concern that a vehicle occupant may be made to mistakenly recognize that an abnormality has occurred at a location. In the present invention in view of this point, since a plurality of other notification means are operated, it is possible to recognize that some abnormality has occurred while reducing the fear of erroneously recognizing the abnormality occurrence location.

  As described above, according to the above-described invention, the above-described master abnormality lamp (notification means dedicated to the failure of the notification means) is unnecessary, and even when one notification means fails, the other plurality of notification means are informed. By doing so, it is possible to notify the occurrence of an abnormality while suppressing erroneous recognition of the location where the abnormality has occurred.

The front view which shows the meter apparatus for vehicles concerning 1st Embodiment of this invention. The electric block diagram of the vehicle meter apparatus shown in FIG. The control procedure of a warning lamp which meter ECU shown in FIG. 2 performs. The time chart which shows the one aspect | mode by control of FIG. (A) is a front view which shows the display mode of the warning lamp concerning 1st Embodiment, (b) (c) is a front view which shows the display mode of the warning lamp concerning 2nd Embodiment. The figure which shows the display mode change of a meter display part in 3rd Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, each embodiment of the meter device for vehicles concerning the present invention is described, referring to drawings. In the following embodiments, parts that are the same or equivalent to each other are denoted by the same reference numerals in the drawings, and the description of the same reference numerals is used.

(First embodiment)
A meter unit 10 (vehicle meter device) shown in FIG. 1 is attached to an instrument panel disposed in front of the vehicle interior of the vehicle. The meter unit 10 includes meter display units 11, 12, and 13 that display the measured vehicle running state to a vehicle occupant (particularly a vehicle driver) of the vehicle. In addition, a plurality of warning lamps 21 to 26, 31 to 34, and 41 to 44 (notification means) for notifying a vehicle occupant of various vehicle abnormalities are provided. The meter unit 10 further includes a meter ECU 50 (see FIG. 2) that controls the operation of the meter display unit and the warning lamp.

  The vehicle speed meter 11 and the tachometer 12 provided as a meter display unit have the same structure, and include pointers 11a and 12a, motors 11b and 12b (see FIG. 2), and scale plates 11c and 12c. A travel state signal such as a vehicle speed, an engine speed, and a travel distance is input to the meter ECU 50. The meter ECU 50 controls driving of the motors 11b and 12b based on these running state signals. Thereby, the scales displayed on the scale plates 11c and 12c are pointed by the hands 11a and 12a, and the vehicle running state (vehicle speed and engine speed in the example of FIG. 1) is displayed.

  An odometer 13 provided as a meter display unit displays an accumulated travel distance, a section travel distance, and the like of the vehicle. For example, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or LED (light emission) for displaying a well-known 7-segment display or a dot matrix display. Diode). The display contents of these LCDs or LEDs are controlled by the meter ECU 50 controlling the drive circuit 13a (see FIG. 2).

  As shown in FIG. 2, the meter ECU 50 can perform bidirectional communication (for example, CAN communication) with other ECUs that control the operation of various on-vehicle devices. Specific examples of the other ECUs are listed below: EPS ECU 100 that controls the operation of the electric power steering device (EPS), airbag ECU 110 that controls the operation of the airbag device, and the operation of the engine (the internal combustion engine for vehicle travel). Examples include an engine ECU 120 that controls, an ABS ECU that controls the operation of the antilock brake system, and the like.

  Each of these ECUs 100, 110, 120 sequentially detects whether or not an abnormality has occurred in each on-vehicle device (that is, EPS, airbag, engine, ABS) to be controlled. And when abnormality generation | occurrence | production is detected, an alarm request signal is output to meter ECU50 so that a vehicle occupant may be notified to that effect. The plurality of warning lamps 21 to 26, 31 to 34, and 41 to 44 described above are provided corresponding to these types of abnormalities.

  For example, when the meter ECU 50 receives an alarm request signal from the EPS ECU 100, the EPS abnormality warning lamp 21 is turned on. When an alarm request signal from the airbag ECU 110 is received, the airbag abnormality warning lamp 22 is turned on. When an alarm request signal from the engine ECU 120 is received, the engine abnormality warning lamp 23 is turned on. As a result, the occurrence of abnormality in the in-vehicle device is notified, and the abnormality detection location (ie, EPS, airbag, engine, ABS) is notified at which location.

  More specifically, when the meter ECU 50 (control means) receives an alarm request signal, the warning lamp (for which an alarm is requested) among the transistors 21a, 22a, 23a (switch means) provided for the respective warning lamps. Hereinafter, the meter ECU 50 turns on the transistor corresponding to “corresponding lamp”). As a result, the current from the battery power supply means flows through the corresponding lamp and lights up, and as a result, it is notified that an abnormality has been detected at the corresponding location.

  Further, the meter ECU 50 (failure determination means) has a function of determining whether or not the warning lamps 21 to 26, 31 to 34, and 41 to 44 have failed. In detail, as shown in FIG. 2, the failure detection circuits 21b, 22b, and 23b provided for the respective warning lamps detect the potential located on the warning lamp side with respect to the transistors 21a, 22a, and 23a. The detected potential is input to the meter ECU 50.

  This detection potential should be a value corresponding to the battery voltage when the transistors 21a, 22a, and 23a are off, and should be a value corresponding to the ground voltage when the transistors 21a, 22a, and 23a are on. However, when the warning lamps 21 to 26, 31 to 34, and 41 to 44 are out of order, there is no difference in the detection potential between when the transistors 21a, 22a, and 23a are on and when they are off. For example, when the warning lamp is disconnected, the detection potential remains at a value corresponding to the ground voltage. Therefore, the meter ECU 50 determines whether the warning lamp is disconnected (failure) based on the input detection potential.

  Next, when the microcomputer which meter ECU50 has controls operation of warning lamps 21-26, 31-34, 41-44 based on an alarm demand signal, the control procedure is explained using FIG. Note that the flowchart of FIG. 3 is repeatedly executed at a predetermined cycle by the microcomputer.

  First, in step S10 of FIG. 3, it is determined whether or not an alarm request signal is transmitted from another ECU 100, 110, 120 (presence of alarm request). If there is no alarm request (S10: NO), the process of FIG. 3 is terminated. If there is an alarm request (S10: YES), in the next step S20, the operation of the transistors 21a, 22a, 23a is controlled so that the corresponding lamp corresponding to the alarm request is turned on. In the subsequent step S30 (failure determination means), it is determined based on the detection potentials of the failure detection circuits 21b, 22b, and 23b whether or not the corresponding lamp has failed.

  If normal determination is made (S30: YES), the processing in FIG. 3 is terminated. If it is determined that a failure has occurred (S30: NO), in the subsequent step S40 (control means), the operation of the transistors 21a, 22a, and 23a is controlled so that all warning lamps other than the corresponding lamp are turned on.

  Next, a mode in which the control of FIG. 3 is performed in the case where an alarm request signal is output from the EPS ECU 100 with the occurrence of an EPS error and the warning lamp 21 corresponding to the EPS has failed will be described.

  First, as shown in FIG. 4A, when an abnormality in EPS is detected at time t1, the meter ECU 50 turns on the transistor 21a of the warning lamp 21 corresponding to EPS as shown in (c1). An ON signal is output to the base terminal of the transistor 21a. Thereafter, it is determined whether or not there is a difference in the detection potential of the failure detection circuit 21b between when the ON signal is output and when the transistor 21a is OFF.

  At time t2 when it is determined that there is no difference and the warning lamp 21 corresponding to EPS is determined to have failed, the EPS warning lamp failure flag is set to ON (see FIG. 4 (b1)). At the same time, the meter ECU 50 outputs an ON signal to the base terminals of all the transistors so that all the other warning lamps 22 to 26, 31 to 34, and 41 to 44 are turned on (FIGS. 4C2 and 4C3). )reference).

  As described above, when the EPS warning lamp 21 is broken when the EPS abnormality occurs, all the other warning lamps 22 to 26, 31 to 34, and 41 to 44 (the hatched lines in FIG. 5A are attached). The warning lamp) turned on.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when an abnormality is detected in any of the in-vehicle devices and the corresponding lamp has failed, the other non-failed warning lamp is turned on. On the other hand, even if it is not possible to notify the location where the abnormality has occurred, it is possible to notify that some abnormality has occurred.

  In that case, since all warning lamps that are not malfunctioning are lit, it is recognized that some abnormality has occurred in one of the in-vehicle devices while reducing the possibility of misrecognizing the location of the abnormality to the vehicle occupant. The vehicle occupant can be encouraged to inspect and repair the vehicle. Therefore, the master abnormality lamp described above can be made unnecessary.

  Here, unlike other display devices, the meter unit 10 is strongly required to intuitively notify the vehicle occupant so as not to hinder the vehicle operation. For this reason, for example, it is not desirable to display abnormality information on the meter unit 10 such as which vehicle-mounted device is detected as abnormal. In view of this point, in the present embodiment, a warning lamp is turned on to notify when a corresponding lamp failure occurs, so that it is intuitive to the vehicle occupant that any abnormality has occurred in any of the in-vehicle devices. Can be notified.

(Second Embodiment)
In the first embodiment, when an abnormality is detected in any of the in-vehicle devices and the corresponding lamp is broken, all other warning lamps are turned on (see FIG. 5A). On the other hand, in this embodiment, only the warning lamp described below is turned on (see FIGS. 5B and 5C).

  That is, the plurality of warning lamps are lit in different colors depending on the type of the lamp. For example, warning lamps 21 to 26 for in-vehicle devices that require quick repair are lit in red (first color), and warning lamps 31 to 34 for in-vehicle devices that are less urgent to request repairs are orange (second Color). Further, warning lamps 41 to 44 (operation confirmation lamps) for notifying that the in-vehicle device is operating are lit in blue (third color). Thus, the plurality of warning lamps 21 to 26, 31 to 34, and 41 to 44 are classified according to the color to be lit. In the present embodiment, warning lamps 21 to 26 that are lit in red, warning lamps 31 to 34 that are lit in orange, and warning lamps 41 to 44 that are lit in blue are classified.

  The plurality of warning lamps that are turned on instead of the corresponding lamps that are out of order are the warning lamps of the same classification as the corresponding lamps. For example, if the EPS abnormality warning lamp 21 is broken when an EPS abnormality is detected, all the warning lamps 22 to 26 that are lit in red are turned on similarly to the EPS abnormality warning lamp 21 (see FIG. 5B). . At this time, the warning lamps 31 to 34 and 41 to 44 of other classifications are not turned on. Therefore, the vehicle occupant can recognize that an abnormality has occurred in the in-vehicle device that requires quick repair.

  Alternatively, if the air conditioner is malfunctioning when an abnormality of the air conditioner is detected, all of the warning lamps 31, 32, and 34 that are lit in orange are turned on similarly to the air conditioner abnormality warning lamp 33 (see FIG. 5C). ). At this time, the warning lamps 21 to 26 and 41 to 44 of other classifications are not turned on. Therefore, the vehicle occupant can be made aware that an abnormality has occurred in the in-vehicle device with a low urgency of repair request.

  In short, in this embodiment, a plurality of warning lamps that are operated in place of the corresponding lamps that are malfunctioning are warning lamps of the same classification as the corresponding lamps. The degree can be recognized by the vehicle occupant.

(Third embodiment)
In the present embodiment, in addition to lighting a plurality of other warning lamps in place of the malfunctioning lamp, the meter ECU 50 (display control means) has a meter display unit in a mode different from the mode for displaying the vehicle running state. (Odometer 13) is operated to display. Specifically, when it is determined that the warning lamp 21 corresponding to the EPS is broken at time t2 shown in FIG. 6, a flag for displaying the warning on the odometer 13 is set to ON (see FIG. 6D). . At time t2, the display content of the odometer 13 is switched from the normal display described below to the warning display.

  In the normal display, in addition to the accumulated travel distance, the gear ratio of the transmission, the shift range indicating the power transmission state, the current time, and the like are displayed (see FIG. 6 (d1)). On the other hand, in the warning display, an error message such as “ERROR” is displayed on the integrated travel distance display section (see FIG. 6 (d2)). Alternatively, in the warning display, all of the seven segments are lit (see FIG. 6 (d3)), or all of the dot matrix is lit.

  In short, in the present embodiment, a plurality of warning lamps are turned on instead of the corresponding lamps that have failed, and the display content on the meter display unit (odometer 13) is different from the normal display that displays the vehicle running state. To display (warning display). Therefore, it is possible to prompt the vehicle occupant who has viewed the warning display different from the normal display to recognize that some abnormality has occurred.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention is not limited to the description of the above embodiment, and may be modified as follows. Moreover, you may make it combine the characteristic structure of each embodiment arbitrarily, respectively.

  -In the said 2nd Embodiment, although the lighting color is classified according to the emergency degree, you may classify a lighting color according to an occurrence location, for example. Specifically, safety devices that are directly related to vehicle occupants such as airbags and seat belts, various parts related to the engine that is the driving source for driving (for example, fuel injection valves, ignition devices, throttle valves, etc.), vehicles such as brakes, etc. Classify into various parts related to braking. In this case, it is possible to make the vehicle occupant recognize which of the safety device-related, engine-related, and braking-related locations is where the abnormality has occurred.

  In the first embodiment, all the warning lamps other than the corresponding lamp are turned on in step S40 of FIG. 3, but instead of this process S40, the process is changed to the process indicated by the alternate long and short dash line S40a in FIG. May be. In this process S40a, all the lamps of the same color as the corresponding lamp are turned on, and the lamps of different colors are kept off. According to this, it is possible to make a vehicle occupant recognize that an abnormality has occurred in a device of the same classification as the same color lamp. For example, when the lighting color is classified according to the degree of emergency as described above, the degree of emergency can be recognized even if the location where the abnormality has occurred cannot be notified.

  In the second embodiment, when an abnormality is detected in any of the in-vehicle devices and the corresponding lamp has failed, the other non-failed warning lamp is turned on, and the meter display unit In both cases, the warning is displayed. On the other hand, the warning display on the meter display unit may be stopped without turning on another warning lamp.

  In each of the above embodiments, a warning lamp (display means) is employed as the notification means, and the vehicle occupant is notified of the occurrence of an abnormality by lighting the warning lamp, but a warning buzzer (sound generation means) is provided to the notification means. May be used to notify the vehicle occupant of the occurrence of an abnormality by a buzzer sound.

  The warning lamps 21 to 26, 31 to 34, and 41 to 44 may employ LEDs (light emitting diodes) or bulbs (light bulbs).

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Meter unit (vehicle meter apparatus), 11 ... Vehicle speed meter (meter display part), 12 ... Tachometer (meter display part), 13 ... Odometer (meter display part), 50 ... Meter ECU (control means, failure determination means) ) 21-26, 31-34, 41-44 ... warning lamp (notification means), S30 ... failure determination means, S40 ... control means.

Claims (3)

A meter display unit (11, 12, 13) for displaying the measured vehicle running state to the vehicle occupant, and a notification means (21 for notifying the vehicle occupant when an abnormality of the in-vehicle device is detected. -26, 31-34, 41-44) in a vehicle meter device (10),
The notification means is provided corresponding to each abnormality presence / absence detection location,
Failure determination means (S30) for determining whether or not the notification means has failed for each of the notification means;
If an abnormality is detected in any of the abnormality presence / absence detection points, and it is determined that the notification means corresponding to the abnormality detection point is broken, it is determined that there is no failure. Control means (S40) for controlling the plurality of notification means to operate,
A vehicle meter device comprising: The plurality of notification means are classified into notification means (21 to 26) that lights or blinks in the first color, and notification means (31 to 34) that lights or blinks in the second color,
The vehicular meter device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit sets the other plurality of notification units to be operated as a notification unit of the same classification as the malfunctioning notification unit.   When an abnormality is detected in any of the abnormality presence / absence detection points and it is determined that the notification means provided corresponding to the abnormality detection point is broken, the vehicle running state is displayed. The vehicle meter device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising display control means (50) for displaying and operating the meter display unit (13) in a mode different from the mode.

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