JP3052652B2 - Vehicle lamp drive - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicular lamp driving device, and more particularly to a vehicular lamp driving device which determines that a vehicle stopped due to an accident such as a vehicle collision is in a vehicle abnormal state and displays an abnormality outside the vehicle using a vehicle lamp. The present invention relates to a lamp drive device for a vehicle that detects a state of a lamp and a current supply circuit thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.
As shown in the publication, when a collision is detected, a relay is actuated to turn on an emergency flashing display lamp (hazard lamp) to notify the surroundings of the occurrence of an accident. In addition, as a vehicle lamp disconnection alarm device, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.
551, as a load abnormality detecting device
No. 86113 is known.

[0003]

However, in a conventional vehicle lamp driving device, a switch or a relay is actuated to connect the lamp to a power supply in response to a detection signal that detects a vehicle collision. That is, disconnection detection and short-circuit detection of the lamp and the circuit are not performed.

[0004] For this reason, even if there is an abnormality in the wiring between the power supply and the lamp due to a collision, the power is supplied, so that unnecessary power is supplied via the short-circuited portion. In addition, when the power is supplied in a state where even one point is short-circuited, such as a hazard lamp, if the power is supplied in a state where the fuse is short-circuited, a plurality of fuses connected to the current through the fuse are disconnected. There was a problem that all the lamps could not be turned on.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to quickly determine the occurrence of an abnormal situation such as a vehicle collision, and to perform the abnormality notification to the outside of the vehicle without fail. Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle lamp drive device capable of preventing wasteful energization and quickly ensuring safety for a vehicle, a vehicle occupant, and surroundings after an abnormal situation has occurred.

[0006]

A vehicle lamp abnormality detecting apparatus according to the present invention detects a collision of a vehicle and outputs a detection signal, and receives a detection signal from the collision detection means. Circuit status detection means for detecting the normal / abnormal state of the current-carrying circuit for the lamp which was turned off immediately before the collision, and energization only to the current-carrying circuit whose circuit status was confirmed by the circuit-state detection means. And control means for performing the control.

[0007]

According to the present invention, when the collision detecting means detects a collision of a vehicle and outputs a detection signal, the circuit state detecting means receives the detection signal and supplies a current to the lamp which has been turned off until immediately before the collision. Detects whether the circuit is normal or abnormal. The control means can energize only the energized circuit whose circuit state is confirmed to be in a normal state by the circuit state detection means and turn on the lamp, thereby reliably reporting the vehicle abnormality to the outside of the vehicle. In addition, unnecessary energization of the lamp having the circuit abnormality can be prevented.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a vehicular lamp driving device according to the present invention. The lamp driving device includes a turn lamp 1, a head lamp 2, a fog lamp 3, and each of the above-mentioned lamps 1 to 3. A front detection ECU 5 (electronic control unit) is shown as a circuit state detecting means for detecting whether or not there is an abnormality such as the above, and these constitute a front lamp unit. In addition, turn lamp 13, stop lamp 1
4, the tail lamp 15, and each of the lamps 13 to 15
And a rear detection ECU 12 (electronic control unit) as circuit state detecting means for detecting whether the circuit has an abnormality such as a disconnection or a short circuit. It is configured. Further, a master ECU 6 as a control unit controls the entire vehicle lamp drive circuit, and is connected to a switch group 7 for turning on and off lamps, a display unit (meter) 8, and the like. As a collision detecting means, for example, a collision detection E such as an acceleration sensor of an air bag or the like is used.
The CU 9 is connected to the master ECU 6 and forms a lamp network. The front detection ECU 5, the master ECU 6, and the rear detection ECU 12 are connected by a multiplex communication line 10, and the front detection ECU 5 and the rear detection E
The battery 4 is directly connected to the CU 12.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the front detection ECU 5.
Are abnormality detection circuits 16-1 to 16-3 individually connected to the lamps 1 to 3, respectively, and the abnormality detection circuits 16-1 to 16-3
A drive control unit 17 for controlling the driving of the
And an interface 18 for connecting to the multiplex communication line 10.

The configuration of the rear detection ECU 12 is the same as that of the front detection ECU 5.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the abnormality detection circuit 16-1. The abnormality detection circuit 16-1 is a predetermined lamp circuit (in the case of the abnormality detection circuit 16-1, the turn lamp 1). A disconnection detection circuit 20 for flowing a weak current having a digital modulation signal with a specific code, an overcurrent detection circuit 21 for flowing a short detection current larger than the weak current (current having a value close to the rated current of the lamp), And a drive circuit 22 for supplying a lamp lighting current when the lamp circuit is driven.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.

[Normal lighting] When the master ECU 6 receives the ON signal of the switch group 7, it transmits a specific code signal of the lamp corresponding to the ON signal to the front detection ECU 5 and the rear detection ECU 12 via the multiplex communication line 10. . The front detection ECU 5 and the rear detection ECU 12 determine whether or not the lamp corresponding to the transmitted specific code signal is connected by the control unit 17, and supply the lighting current from the battery 4 to the relevant lamp via the drive circuit 22. The corresponding lamp is turned on.

At the time of this energization, abnormality is detected by monitoring the circuit current of the lamp circuit driven by the ON signal of the switch group 7.

[At the time of a collision] Lamps that were lit immediately before the collision are excluded from the targets of abnormality detection at the time of a collision. That is,
This is because, when the circuit of the lit lamp is disconnected or short-circuited at the same time as the collision, it is possible to stop the energization by detecting an abnormality in the control at the time of normal lighting.

Therefore, the detection of an abnormality at the time of a collision is performed in the order of the detection of the stairs and the detection of the short circuit for the lamp which has been turned off until immediately before the collision. Here, the ON / OFF state of the switch group 7 is stored in a memory (not shown) in the master ECU 6 to determine which lamp has been turned off.

[Disconnection Detection] When the collision detection ECU 9 detects a vehicle collision, a collision detection signal is input from the collision detection ECU 9 to the master ECU 6. The master ECU 6 transmits to the front detection ECU 5 and the rear detection ECU 12 data using the multiplex communication line 10 to instruct the lamps 1 to 3, 13 to 15 and the harness 19 to check for normality / abnormality. Front detection ECU 5 and rear detection E
The CU 12 turns on the internal abnormality detection circuit 16 and outputs a disconnection detection signal to the lamp whose disconnection detection circuit 20 has been turned off. This disconnection detection signal is a digital modulation signal using a different code for each lamp group, and is supplied as a weak current in each lamp group.

If the front lamps 1 to 3 and the rear lamps 13 to 15 or the harness 19 are disconnected, a disconnection detection signal (digital modulation signal) is emitted from the disconnected portion. This is the receiver of the ECU 6 (not shown)
, It is possible to know which lamp circuit is disconnected. In response to this, the disconnection state is stored in the memory in the ECU 6. If a short circuit occurs, a disconnection detection signal is not emitted, so that a short circuit cannot be detected by disconnection detection.

As described above, unlike the disconnection detection by the normal application of 12 V, the disconnection is detected by the radio wave radiated from the disconnected portion using a weak current, so that it is possible to detect the broken portion without an arc spark or the like. .

[Short Detection] Short circuit detection is performed after disconnection detection is completed. As shown in FIG. 4, a lamp generally has a sharp rise (rush current) of current at the time of initial energization. Therefore, the threshold current I _TH is set to be larger than the peak current I _R of the rush current (I _TH ≧ I _R ) in order to prevent erroneous detection due to rush current in short detection. When the current for detecting a short circuit reaches the threshold current value I _TH , a short circuit is detected, and the control unit 17 stops energization. further,
From the control unit 17 via the multiplex signal line 10, the master ECU 6
To the short-circuit state, and the master ECU stores it in the memory in 6.

Here, during the time from the occurrence of the collision t ₀ to the time t ₁ , a disconnection detection period in which a minute current is applied, and from the time t ₁ to the time t _P
Is a short-circuit detection period in which a short-circuit detection current flows. In particular, since t _{1 to} t _P are less than 1 ms, a short circuit can be detected instantaneously. In FIG. 4, I _L is a lamp rated current.

As described above, by performing "disconnection detection" and "short detection" instantaneously, the master ECU
A lamp 6 can select a lamp to be energized (it can be turned on), and energizes only a lamp that is reliably turned on.

Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent unnecessary energization of the unlit lamp.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a collision of a vehicle is detected by the collision detecting means, the lamp which has been turned off until immediately before the collision has a normal or abnormal energizing circuit. Is instantaneously detected by the circuit state detecting means, and only the energizing circuit for which the control has been confirmed to be in a normal state is energized by the control means.

Accordingly, the occurrence of an abnormal situation at the time of a vehicle collision is quickly determined, and only the illuminable lamps are energized to reliably inform the outside of the vehicle of the abnormality and to prevent unnecessary energization. It is possible to quickly secure the vehicle, the vehicle occupant, and the surroundings after the occurrence.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a vehicle ramp track device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a front detection ECU which is a component of the apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an abnormality detection circuit which is a component of the front detection ECU of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a characteristic diagram of a current value with respect to time for explaining detection of a short circuit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1-3 Front lamp 13-15 Rear lamp 5 Front detection ECU (circuit state detection means) 6 Master ECU (control means) 9 Collision detection ECU (collision detection means) 12 Rear detection ECU (circuit state detection means)

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B60Q 1/52

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A collision detecting means for detecting a collision of a vehicle and outputting a detection signal, and receiving a detection signal from the collision detecting means, and supplying an electric current to a lamp which has been turned off until immediately before the collision. normal·
A lamp driving device for a vehicle, comprising: circuit state detecting means for detecting an abnormal state; and control means for energizing only an energized circuit whose circuit is confirmed to be normal by the circuit state detecting means. .