JP3052491B2 - Automatic door safety devices for automobiles - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a safety device for an automatic door of an automobile, for example, which can automatically and safely open and close a door of a passenger car, and more particularly to whether or not the operating state of the safety device is normal. Can be easily inspected.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, doors of a sightseeing bus or a route bus are automatically opened and closed. In a taxi, the door on the left side of the rear seat is automatically opened and closed. However, taxi doors are automatic doors, but are actually operated by the driver manually.

[0003]

However, with the recent trend toward higher-grade passenger cars, a request for automatically opening and closing the doors of the passenger cars by a servomotor has begun to appear. -76669). When manufacturing an automatic door by applying a servo system, unlike a machine tool, etc., accuracy is not so much required, but safety in opening and closing operation is particularly required, so a control program that meets this requirement It is necessary to build In particular, it is dangerous if a person is pinched by the door while the door is closed, and if an obstacle exists in the path of rotation of the door, the automobile or the obstacle will be damaged. Therefore, in developing automatic doors,
At the same time, the development of a safety device that detects the presence or absence of an obstacle when the door is opened and closed, and feeds back the result to the door drive unit is also required. In addition, when this safety device is employed, various detection means must always operate normally, so that a function for checking the operation status of the detection means is also required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention, which has been made in view of such circumstances, is to detect an obstacle that may interfere during opening and closing of a door and immediately stop the opening and closing operation, while inspecting a failure of the detecting means. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic door safety device for an automobile, which maintains the door opening / closing safety and the opening / closing reliability.

[0005] To achieve the above object, according to claim 1
The present invention relates to a hinge arm provided on a vehicle body side support shaft rotatably provided at a front end of a door opening formed in an automobile body.
Attach one end of the door via the
A safety device for an automatic door for an automobile provided with an arm driving motor for adjusting the rotation angle with respect to the automobile body of the hinge arm, an obstacle in the rotational path of the door attached to the door opening an optical sensor for detecting whether there is a light shielding plate for shielding the sensor when closing the door attached to the door, the vehicle body
The door is closed by detecting the rotation angle of the side support shaft.
Control means for taking in the information of the optical sensor when it is determined that the light is transmitted and alerting the user when the light is in the light-transmitting state. The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the hinge
The other end of the hinge arm is rotatably mounted on the door.
Pivotally attached to the door-side support shaft
Adjust the pivot angle of the door to the hinge arm on the support shaft
A motor for driving the door, wherein the control means
Detecting the rotation angle between the support shaft and the door-side support shaft
When it is determined that the door is closed, the optical
Be careful if the sensor is in transmissive state by importing sensor information
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein
A safety device for an automatic door for a vehicle according to the above.

[0006]

According to the present invention as described above,
The safety device operates as follows. That is, an arm driving motor and / or a door drive of an automatic door for an automobile.
The current door opening is determined by a door opening detecting means such as a potentiometer or an encoder provided on the moving motor . If the door is closed, information from an optical sensor is taken in. Based on this information, it is determined that the optical sensor is operating normally in the light-shielded state, while it is determined that some abnormality has occurred in the optical sensor in the light-transmitted state. If it is determined that the optical sensor is in an abnormal state, the automatic opening and closing of the door is canceled, or an occupant is alerted by an abnormal display, a warning buzzer, or the like. As a result, it is possible to determine the failure of the optical sensor of the safety device without performing a special inspection, and to maintain the safety and reliability of opening and closing the door. Further, according to the second aspect,
Akira decided to support the door with two support shafts
In comparison with a door that opens and closes at a single point,
The open / close trajectory can be obtained, and various
The door can be opened and closed so as not to hit obstacles,
The mode of avoidance for objects is widened.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a safety device for an automatic door for a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a diagram to which the safety device according to the embodiment is applied. Plan view showing an automatic door for an automobile, FIG. 4
5 is a perspective view showing the automatic door in the opened state, FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing the hinge arm of the automatic door, FIG. 6 is a plan view of a main part of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. In the following embodiments, a so-called two-door vehicle body will be described as an example. However, the safety device according to the present invention can also be applied to a four-door vehicle body provided with a total of four doors in front, rear, left, and right.

First, an example of an automatic door for an automobile to which the safety device of the present invention is applied will be described. In this automatic door, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 , the vehicle body W is provided with one door 10 and 11 on the left and right, respectively.
Reference numerals 0 and 11 are rotatably attached to the tip of the hinge arm 12. The other end of the hinge arm 12 is
The front arm F is rotatably mounted on the front pillar F, and the structure of the hinge arm 12 is as shown in FIG.
That is, the bearing 1 is vertically attached to the front pillar F of the vehicle body W.
3 are fixed by screw connection.
A body-side support shaft 14 provided at one end of a hinge arm 12 is rotatably supported. A door-side support shaft 15 is provided at the other end of the hinge arm 12, and the door-side support shaft 15 is rotatably supported by a bearing 16 fixed to the door by screw connection.

An arm driving motor 21 (arm angle adjusting means) is attached to the vehicle body W by a bracket 17 as shown in FIG.
One drive shaft is fitted in the vehicle body side support shaft 14, and this drive shaft is integrated with the vehicle body side support shaft 14. On the other hand, a door driving motor 22 (door angle adjusting means) is attached to the door 11 by a bracket 18, and a driving gear 23 fixed to a driving shaft of the door driving motor 22.
Meshes with a driven gear 24 integrated with the door-side support shaft 15. Further, each motor 21 and 22 has a built-in reduction gear, and therefore,
The doors 11 are automatically opened and closed by driving the hinge arms 12 and 22 to rotate the hinge arm 12 with respect to the vehicle body W and simultaneously rotate the door 11 with respect to the hinge arm 12. When the door 11 is closed, the door opening S formed in the vehicle body W is closed by the door 11.
The left door 10 shown in FIG. 1 is automatically opened and closed by the same structure.

On the other hand, when the door is closed, the door 11 is closed.
A striker member 25 is attached to quarter pillar Q of the vehicle body so as to fasten the vehicle and vehicle body W to each other.
At the rear end. FIG.
, A latch member not shown is provided.
Further, when the door is closed, the first engagement portion 27 formed of a protrusion is provided for fastening the door 11 and the hinge arm 12 to each other, as shown in FIGS.
When the second engagement portion 28 formed of a concave portion provided in the hinge arm 12 closes the door, the first engagement portion 2
7. When the door is opened, the engagement state of these engagement portions 27 and 28 is automatically released by driving means such as a solenoid. Further, the first engaging portion 27 is formed as a concave portion and the second engaging portion 2
8 as protrusions, may be an uneven relationship between these engaging portion in the opposite.

As described above, when the door is closed, the striker member 25 serving as the first locking means engages with the latch member of the locking portion 26 to fasten the door 11 and the vehicle body W, and the second locking means serves as the second locking means. The hinge arm 12 and the door 11 are fastened by the engagement members 27 and 28. Thereby, the opening and closing operation is performed by the two support shafts 1.
The door 11 is securely locked in spite of the fact that the doors 4 and 15 are mainly used.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the opening and closing of the automatic door. FIG. 7A is a plan view of the door when a vehicle Wa having a conventional manual door 11a is parked adjacent to an obstacle G. It is a figure showing an opening. In this case, the automatic door 1 described above is provided at an interval equal to the interval D between the vehicle Wa and the obstacle G.
When the door 1 is opened, as shown in FIG. 7B, the space for the occupant to go up and down can be set larger than the conventional door 11a. The reason why a sufficient space for ascending and descending can be secured between the door and the vehicle body even in such a narrow space is that the above-mentioned automatic door 11 is such that when the door is opened, the door is moved forward by the opening operation of the hinge arm 12. Because they open in a way that they approach. In this case, when the door is opened, the hinge arm 12 is opened with respect to the vehicle body W, and the door itself 11 is rotated with respect to the hinge arm 12 in a direction opposite to the direction in which the hinge arm is rotated with respect to the vehicle body. Will be. As a result, a sufficient elevating space can be secured in a narrow place. FIG. 7B
When there is no obstacle as shown in FIG.
The door 11 can be widely opened as shown in FIG.
In this case, the hinge arm 12 is opened to the maximum extent with respect to the vehicle body W, and the door 11 does not rotate with respect to the hinge arm 12. The open state of the door itself can be set in various modes by selecting the hinge arm and the pivot angle of the door in various modes.

The safety device according to the present invention, which is preferably applied to such an automatic door for an automobile, comprises photoelectric sensors 30 and 31 (optical sensors) mounted on the vehicle body side, and a light shielding plate 32 fixed to the door 11. Control means 33 for taking in information from the photoelectric sensors 30 and 31 to detect the operating state of the photoelectric sensors, and a sensor abnormality for inviting an occupant or the like to an abnormal state when the photoelectric sensors 30 and 31 are out of order. And a display unit 34.

The automatic door to which the safety device of this embodiment is applied operates as described above, and as shown in FIG.
Are opened and closed (shown by a solid line) and the door 11 is closed (shown by a two-dot chain line). Here, the safety device of the present embodiment secures the safety by stopping the door particularly when there is an obstacle such as a person or clothes in the movement trajectory of the door in the process of closing the door from the open state. Therefore, photoelectric sensors 30 and 31 for detecting the presence of an obstacle are attached to the door opening S as shown in FIG.
The photoelectric sensor includes a light projecting unit 30 that irradiates light and a light receiving unit 31 that receives the light irradiated from the light projecting unit 30. Power supply is connected. Also, the light receiving unit 31
Has a light detection sensor for determining whether or not the light emitted from the light projecting unit 30 has entered, and is connected so as to output the result to the control unit 33 as an electric signal. The light emitting unit 30 and the light receiving unit 31 are fixed to the front pillar F and the quarter pillar Q via brackets 36 and 37, respectively. In addition, in FIG.
Although 0 is attached to the front pillar F and the light receiving unit 31 is attached to the quarter pillar Q, the light emitting unit 30 may be attached to the quarter pillar Q and the light receiving unit 31 may be attached to the front pillar F. The photoelectric sensors 30 and 31 are connected to the door 1
Since it is a detecting means for detecting whether or not an obstacle is present in one movement locus, it is desirable to mount it at a position where the obstacle can be detected most efficiently. Therefore, in the case of the vehicle body W having the shape shown in FIG. 4, the door opening is formed so that the optical path H extends along the front-rear direction of the vehicle body W as shown in FIG. It can be said that it is preferable to mount the device slightly below the center of S. If the shapes of the vehicle body W and the door 11 change, the mounting position of the photoelectric sensors 30 and 31 according to the present invention can be changed. In short, the optical sensor is set at a position where the obstacle can be detected most efficiently. Just do it.

On the other hand, with the door 11 fully closed, a light shielding plate 32 for blocking the optical path H of the photoelectric sensors 30, 31 described above.
Are fixed to the inner panel of the door 11. The shape and material of the light shielding plate 32 are not limited as long as the light shielding plate 32 blocks the optical path H of the photoelectric sensors 30 and 31.

The control means 33 is adapted to make judgments and commands regarding safety processing based on information input from the light projecting section 30 and the light receiving section 31, respectively. That is, first, the light emitting unit 3
From 0, it is determined whether or not the light is normally emitted. If the light source is out of order, the door 11 is automatically turned on.
Stop opening / closing and manually open / close. Further, when the light is normally emitted from the light projecting unit 30 but the light receiving sensor of the light receiving unit 31 is out of order, even when the door 11 is closed, that is, when the light shielding plate 32 is Is in the light receiving state in spite of the presence of, the light receiving section 31 is determined to be abnormal, and switching to manual opening and closing is performed. At the same time, a display command is output to the sensor abnormality display unit 34 to alert the occupant or the like that an abnormality has occurred in the light emitting unit 30 or the light receiving unit 31. Next, the photoelectric sensor 3
When 0 and 31 are normal and the door 11 is performing the opening and closing operation, it is determined whether or not an obstacle exists in the movement locus of the door based on the light blocking state of the light receiving unit 31. That is, when the light receiving unit 31 does not receive the light from the light projecting unit 30, it is determined that there is some obstacle in the movement trajectory of the door, the opening and closing operation of the door 11 is immediately stopped, and the operation is switched to manual. . At the same time, an alarm is output to a warning display unit 35 such as a warning buzzer to evoke the presence of an obstacle in the movement trajectory of the door.

The sensor abnormality display section 34 of the present embodiment is provided, for example, on an instrument panel in a room.
It is preferable to classify and display the abnormalities of the light source, the light receiving unit 31, the optical path H being displaced, and the like. At the same time, a warning buzzer may be sounded to draw more attention.

Next, the operation will be described. First, it is always determined whether or not the light projecting unit 30 constituting the photoelectric sensor normally emits light (step 1). When the light source is out of order, the automatic opening and closing of the door 11 is stopped and the door 11 is manually opened and closed (step 2). At the same time, a display command is output to the sensor abnormality display unit 34 to alert the occupant or the like that an abnormality has occurred in the light projection unit 30 (step 3).

When the light emitting unit 30 of the photoelectric sensor is operating normally, whether the door 11 is fully closed or not is determined by the arm driving motor 21 and / or the door driving motor 22.
(Step 4). If the door 11 is in the fully closed state, the light-shielding state of the light receiving section 31 is determined (Step 5). When the door 11 is in the fully closed state, the optical path H of the photoelectric sensor should be shielded from light by the light shielding plate 32 attached to the door inner.
At this time, if a failure occurs in the light receiving unit sensor or the like of the light receiving unit 31 and the light receiving unit is in a light receiving state, it is determined that the light receiving unit 31 has failed, the opening and closing of the door 11 is automatically stopped, and manual operation is performed. Open and close (step 2). At the same time, a display command is output to the sensor abnormality display section 34 to alert the occupant or the like that an abnormality has occurred in the light receiving section (step 3).

On the other hand, it is determined in step 4 that the door 11 is open. In this case, when a command to close the door is output from the state in which the door is open, whether an obstacle exists in the movement locus of the door is determined. If the light receiving unit 31 is in the light receiving state while detecting whether or not the light is received by the photoelectric sensors 30 and 31, the process of closing the door 11 is started in accordance with a preset speed command (step 7). The current limit at this time is also
The door opening operation is started at the limited current value that also takes into account the inclination of the vehicle. While the door is moving, the photoelectric sensor determines whether there is an obstacle in the movement trajectory between the door and the vehicle body. At the same time, the occurrence of overload is also determined based on the current limit value. Is determined. On the other hand, if an obstacle is detected in step 6, the automatic door 11
Is stopped and opened manually (step 8). At the same time, a display command is output to the warning display unit 35 to alert the occupant or the like of the presence of the obstacle (step 9). When a load is detected and an emergency stop switch is operated, an emergency stop process is performed, and the door 11 is stopped.
Can be opened and closed manually.

When a command to open the door 11 is issued, a current limit for detecting overload of the motor is first set based on the attitude of the vehicle, and the door 11 starts to open at a predetermined speed. When the door 11 starts to be opened, the opening operation of the door 11 is performed while detecting an obstacle in the movement trajectory outside the door by an ultrasonic sensor (not shown) and checking the load state of the motor. This process is continuously performed until the door is completely opened or a preset open state is reached.

[0022]

As described above, the first aspect of the present invention is as described above.
According to the safety device according to the optical sensor for detecting whether an obstacle in a rotation locus of the door there is attached to the door opening, optical when closing the door attached to the door A light-shielding plate that blocks the target sensor and a control unit that takes in the information of the optical sensor at least when the door is closed and draws attention when the door is in a light-transmitting state, so that interference occurs during opening and closing of the door. While a possible obstacle is detected and its opening / closing operation is immediately stopped, by inspecting the failure of the detecting means, it is possible to maintain door opening / closing safety and opening / closing reliability. Claim 2
According to the described invention, the door is supported by the two support shafts.
So that the door itself opens and closes with one point support
More open and closed trajectories than in
Doors can be opened and closed to avoid hitting various existing obstacles
And the manner of avoiding obstacles is expanded.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an automatic door safety device for an automobile according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an automatic door for a vehicle to which the safety device according to the embodiment is applied.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state where the automatic door is opened.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing the hinge arm of the automatic door.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a main part of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing an open / close state of an automatic door.

[Explanation of symbols]

W: car body, S: door opening, 11: door, 12 ...
Hinge arm, 14: Support shaft on vehicle body side , 15: Support on door side
Shaft , 21 ... Arm drive motor , 22 ... Door drive motor
Motor, 30, 31 ... optical sensor, 32 ... light shielding plate, 33 ...
Control means, 34: sensor abnormality display section .

Continuation of front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B60J 5/00 E05F 7/00

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A vehicle body-side support shaft rotatably provided at a front end of a door opening formed in an automobile body.
Attach one end of the door through the
A safety apparatus for an automobile automatic door provided with arm drive motor to adjust the rotation angle with respect to the automobile body of the hinge arm, an obstacle in the rotational path of the door attached to the door opening An optical sensor for detecting whether or not it is present;
A light-shielding plate attached to the door and shielding the sensor when the door is closed, and rotation of the vehicle-body-side support shaft;
Judging that the door is closed by detecting the angle
To time, safety device for an automatic door for a motor vehicle incorporating the information of the optical sensor when a light-transmitting state, characterized in that a control means allowed to call attention. 2. The hinge arm according to claim 1 , wherein the other end of the hinge arm is rotatably attached to a door-side support shaft rotatably provided on the door, and the door-side support shaft is rotatable with respect to the hinge arm of the door. An optical sensor for detecting that the door is closed by detecting a rotation angle between the vehicle-body-side support shaft and the door-side support shaft; 2. The automatic door safety device according to claim 1, wherein when the vehicle is in the light-transmitting state, the user is alerted.