JP3201224B2 - Outside mirror - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an outside mirror such as a door mirror or a fender mirror mounted on a vehicle, and relates to a structure for preventing rainwater from adhering to a reflecting surface of a mirror mounted on a housing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in an outside mirror such as a door mirror or a fender mirror mounted on a vehicle such as a passenger car, a housing on which the mirror is mounted is fixed to a door or a vehicle body via a stay. When such an outside mirror, for example, a door mirror, is out of the vehicle body and travels when it rains, the traveling wind hits the front surface of the housing and raindrops adhere. The raindrops hitting the front surface of the housing receive the traveling wind and flow backward along the surface of the housing, and scatter back away from the rear edge of the housing.

[0003]

However, when the traveling wind leaves the rear end of the housing, a negative pressure region is generated near the rear end surface of the housing, and Karman vortices are generated inside the rear end edge of the housing. Such eddy currents may entrain a portion of the raindrops away from the rear edge of the housing, and the raindrops may adhere to the reflective surface of the mirror attached to the rear end opening of the housing. For this reason, there is a problem that rainwater adheres to the reflection surface of the mirror and lowers the rear view.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to prevent raindrops adhering to the front surface of the housing from wrapping around the rear end of the housing and adhering to the reflecting surface of the mirror. Another object of the present invention is to provide an outside mirror that prevents a decrease in rear view.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a housing mounted on a vehicle body, the housing having a front surface protruding toward the front of the vehicle body and having an open rear end surface; A mirror mounted in the opening of the housing, a rainwater guide groove which is recessed along the circumferential direction at the rear end peripheral surface of the housing and guides rainwater attached to the front surface of the housing, and extends along the front-rear direction of the vehicle body Forming a solid rib shape projecting downward from the housing while gradually increasing the amount of projection from the front end to the rear end, and blocking at least a part of the rainwater guide groove at the lower rear end of the housing. And a rainwater discharge protrusion disposed at a position.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the front surface of the housing is provided.
Are formed along the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body and
Further comprises a water guide groove communicating with the rainwater guide groove.
The outside mirror according to claim 1, wherein
is there.

[0007]

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the rainwater guide groove is formed in the peripheral surface of the rear end portion of the housing along the circumferential direction, the raindrop adhering to the front surface of the housing receives the traveling wind and receives the running wind. When it is washed away, it falls into the rainwater guide groove. Since this rainwater guide groove is formed along the circumferential direction, the rainwater that has fallen into the rainwater guide groove goes around the lower part of the housing. A rainwater discharge protrusion is formed at the lower portion of the housing to block the rainwater guide groove, so that rainwater flowing along the rainwater guide groove is blocked by the rainwater discharge protrusion and accumulates at the root of the rainwater discharge protrusion. . When the amount of the rainwater increases, the waterdrop becomes a large waterdrop, which drops along the rainwater discharge projection below the housing. Since the rainwater discharge projection protrudes below the housing, water droplets dropped from the lower end of the rainwater discharge protrusion are discharged to a region outside the spiral region. These water droplets are scattered rearward on the traveling wind. Therefore, the released water droplets are prevented from wrapping around the rear end of the housing and adhering to the reflecting surface of the mirror.

[0009]

Further, since the rainwater discharge projection is formed in a rib shape in which the amount of protrusion increases from the front to the rear,
The water drops dropped along the rainwater discharge projections are separated from the rear edge of the rainwater discharge projections under the force of both gravity and traveling wind. Therefore, the water droplets are easily separated from the rainwater discharge projections. Further, even when the vehicle is stopped, the water droplets easily drop along the rainwater discharge projections due to gravity.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below based on a first embodiment shown in FIGS. FIG. 1 is an external view showing a part of a passenger car. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a vehicle body, 2 denotes a front hood, 3 denotes a front pillar, and 4 denotes a door on a passenger seat side. A door mirror 5 is attached to the door 4. The door mirror 5 has a housing 10 and a stay 11. The housing 10 is fixed to the door 4 via a stay 11.

The housing 10 has a shape in which a front surface facing the front of the vehicle body 1 protrudes as described later, and an opening 12 is formed in a rear end surface as shown in FIG. A mirror holder 13 is housed in the housing 10, and a mirror 14 is mounted on the mirror holder 13.
Is installed. The mirror 14 is disposed in the opening 12 of the housing 10, and is provided at a position where the reflection surface 15 is slightly retracted into the housing 10 from the opening surface of the opening 12. The direction of the reflection surface 15 of the mirror 14 supported by the mirror holder 13 is adjustable.

The shape of the housing 10 will be described in detail. The front surface of the housing 10 has an upper surface portion 21 that is gently curved upward and an inclined front surface portion 22 that is gently curved downward and inclined rearward and downward. A lower surface portion 23 that is gently curved rearward is provided continuously at the lower end of the inclined front surface portion 22. The upper surface portion 21 and the inclined front surface portion 22 are defined by a protruding ridge line 24, and the protruding ridge line 24 gradually protrudes forward toward the stay 11 side. The protruding ridge line 24 is formed at a position deviated upward from the center of the housing 10, whereby the front surface of the housing 10 protrudes forward, and furthermore, the vertical branch point of the traveling wind is deviated relatively upward. Is set to

When the vehicle travels, the traveling wind hitting the front surface of the housing 10 uses the protruding ridge line 24 as a branch line to generate an arrow A,
As shown by B and C, it flows backward along each of the surfaces 21, 22 and 23, but the projecting ridge 24
Because it is provided offset from the center of the above, the vertical branch line of the traveling wind is deviated relatively upward by this,
A relatively large amount of traveling wind flows on the inclined front surface portion 22 and the lower surface portion 23 as compared with the upper surface portion 21 side.

For this reason, when raindrops attached to the front surface of the housing 10 during rainfall are transported rearward by the traveling wind, the amount of the raindrops transported to the lower surface portion 23 side of the housing 10 becomes larger than the upper surface portion 21 side.

[0016] the rear end portion of the housing 10, the peripheral surface of the housing 10, the rainwater guide groove 30 is recessed. The rainwater guide groove 30 is formed along the circumferential direction of the housing 10. In the case of the present embodiment, the rainwater guide groove 30 is formed continuously over the entire circumference of the housing 10. Note that the rainwater guide groove 30 may not be continuous over the entire circumference of the housing 10 but may be cut off halfway. However, the rainwater guide groove 30 is always provided from the upper surface to the lower surface in the outer portion of the housing 10 in the vehicle width direction. The effective width of the rainwater guide groove 30 is 5 mm to 10 mm, and the effective depth of the groove is 3 mm to 5 mm.

Also, at the rear end of the housing 10,
A rainwater discharge projection 31 is protruded from a lower corner portion on the outside. That is, the rainwater discharge projection 31 is formed at a lower portion on the outer side of the housing 10 in the vehicle width direction. The rainwater discharge projection 31 has a solid rib shape extending in the front-rear direction. The length L in the front-rear direction is set to 15 mm or more, for example, 25 mm, and the rib width a is about 3 mm to 7 mm.
For example, it is formed to 5 mm, and the height H of the highest part is 5 mm.
mm or more. This rib-shaped rainwater discharge projection 3
1 has the lowest height h at the front end and is inclined so as to gradually increase toward the rear end, and the height H at the rear end is highest.

The rainwater discharge projections 31 extend back and forth across the rainwater guide groove 30. In this embodiment, the front end of the rainwater discharge protrusion 31 crosses the rainwater guide groove 30. The rear end of the rainwater discharge projection 31 is formed so as to be flush with the opening surface of the housing 10 or rearward from the same.

The projecting direction of the rainwater discharge projection 31 projects downward from a horizontal line passing through the base, in other words, the angle θ is formed so that θ> 0 with respect to a horizontal line passing through the base. .

The operation of the door mirror 5 having such a configuration will be described. During traveling during rainfall, the traveling wind is received on the front surface of the housing 10 and raindrops adhere thereto. The raindrops attached to the front face are pushed by the traveling wind flowing in the directions indicated by arrows A, B and C, and flow toward the rear end of the housing 10. The raindrops flowing to the rear end of the housing 10 flow into the rainwater guide groove 30 formed at the rear end of the housing 10. Since the rainwater guide groove 30 is formed along the circumferential direction of the housing 10, the raindrops flowing into the rainwater guide groove 30 are moved along the rainwater guide groove 30 by the housing 1.
Go around the bottom of 0.

Since the housing 10 of the present embodiment has the protruding ridge 24 projecting forward, rainwater adhering to the front surface of the housing 10 can be effectively guided to the outer corner portion of the housing 10. That is, while the vehicle is traveling, the traveling airflow flows backward along the upper surface of the front hood 2,
As shown in FIG. 1, this air flow tends to be bent outward and outward in the vehicle width direction near the lower end of the front pillar 3. Therefore, the front pillar 3
When an airflow strikes a door mirror 5 attached to a door 4 in the vicinity, the airflow flows rearward and also flows outward in the vehicle width direction. In the housing 10 of the above embodiment, since the protruding ridge line 24 formed at the boundary between the upper surface portion 21 and the inclined front surface portion 22 is provided so as to be deviated above the center of the housing 10, the vertical branch line of the traveling wind Is displaced relatively upward, so that a relatively large amount of traveling wind is received on the inclined front surface portion 22 and the lower surface portion 23 than on the upper surface portion 21 side. For this reason, the downward and outward airflow increases on the front surface of the housing 10. For this reason, the raindrops attached to the front surface of the housing 10 during rainfall are transported more to the rear end portion along the lower surface portion 23 side than the upper surface portion 21 side of the housing 10 and tend to be transported outward. Become stronger. Therefore, more rainwater flows into the rainwater guide groove 30 formed at the rear end of the housing 10 on the lower surface 23 side and outside than on the upper surface 21 side of the housing 10, and eventually the outer corner portion of the housing 10. A large amount of rainwater can be guided to the rainwater guide groove 30 of FIG. The rainwater flowing into the rainwater guide groove 30 on the upper surface 21 side of the housing 10 is subjected to the rainwater guide groove 3 by gravity.
It is guided at 0 and gathers at the outer corner of the housing 10. For this reason, the rainwater adhering to the front surface of the housing 10 can be effectively guided to the rainwater discharge projection 31 formed on the outer corner portion of the housing 10.

The rainwater guide groove 30 at the outer corner of the housing 10 has a rainwater discharge projection 31 formed across the rainwater guide groove 30.
The raindrops flowing along the zero are blocked by the rainwater discharge projections 31. The blocked rainwater accumulates at the root of the rainwater discharge projection 31 in the rainwater guide groove 30. When the raindrops accumulate at the root, the raindrops grow large. The grown raindrops flow down the rainwater discharge projections 31 by gravity. The raindrop reaching the tip of the rainwater discharge projection 31 receives the traveling wind, flows toward the rear end of the rainwater discharge projection 31, and drops away from the lower end of the rear end. Raindrops dropped from the rear end of the rainwater discharge projection 31 are scattered rearward on the traveling wind.

The lower end of the rear end of the rainwater discharge projection 31 is located at a position away from the negative pressure region generated at the end face of the rear end opening 12 of the housing 10, and the raindrop dropped from the rainwater discharge projection 31 has large particles. Because it has a large weight,
Raindrops scattered from the rainwater discharge projections 31 are not caught in the vortex in the negative pressure region. Therefore, the raindrop is mirror 1
4 is prevented from adhering to the reflection surface 15, and a decrease in visibility such as the reflection surface 15 being fogged can be reduced.

As described above, the rainwater guide groove 30 and the rainwater discharge projection 31 are provided at the rear end of the housing 10 projecting forward, so that the raindrops adhering to the front surface of the housing 10 can be removed by the rear end of the housing 10. It is possible to prevent the edge from going around and attaching to the mirror 14.

Since the projecting direction of the rainwater discharge projections 31 is inclined downward from the horizontal direction, the raindrops propagating through the rainwater discharge projections 31 can flow smoothly downward, and the drainage from the lower end of the rainwater discharge projections 31 can be drained well. Is done.

Since the height of the rear end of the rainwater discharge protrusion 31 is gradually increased as compared with the front end, the raindrop transmitted through the rainwater discharge protrusion 31 can be satisfactorily applied to the lower end of the rear end of the rainwater discharge protrusion 31 by running wind and own weight. This can promote the backward flow of raindrops and improve drainage efficiency. Moreover, since the lower end of the rear end of the rainwater discharge projection 31 moves away from the negative pressure region, the raindrop that drops away from the rainwater discharge projection 31 does not get caught in the vortex. Further, even when the vehicle is stopped, the water droplets easily drop along the rear end of the rainwater discharge projection 31 due to gravity. Further, the rainwater discharge projection 31 has a small shape with respect to the entire shape of the door mirror 5, does not disturb the flow around the mirror housing, and does not affect the air resistance.

If the rear end of the rainwater discharge projection 31 is formed so as to protrude further rearward than the opening end surface of the housing 10, it is possible to further prevent raindrops from being caught in the vortex.

(Modification) In the above embodiment, the rainwater discharge projection 31 is formed so as to completely cross the rainwater guide groove 30.
Although the rainwater flowing along the rainwater guide groove 30 is completely shut off and stopped, as in the second embodiment shown in FIG. You may make it cut off. In the case of the second embodiment shown in FIG. 8, the front end of the rainwater discharge projection 31 is formed so as to cross the rainwater guide groove 30 halfway. Even with such a structure, the rainwater discharge projection 31 can stop rainwater flowing along the rainwater guide groove 30 and quickly grow a large water droplet.

In the third embodiment shown in FIG. 9, a plurality of water guide grooves 4 are formed on the front surface of the housing 10 in the front-rear direction.
0 are formed, and the rear ends of the water guide grooves 40 are connected to the rainwater guide grooves 30. These water channel 40
Are formed on the upper surface portion 21, the inclined front surface portion 22, and the lower surface portion 23.
It acts to lead to zero. Therefore, the water collecting action of the rainwater guide groove 30 is improved.

Further, in the above embodiment, the door mirror is described as an example of the outside mirror, but the present invention can be applied to other outside mirrors such as a fender mirror.

The case where the projecting ridge line 24 is formed at a position deviated above the center of the housing 10 has been described as the shape of the housing 10, but the projecting shape of the housing 10 is not limited to this. The shape may be such as.

The height of the rear end side of the rainwater guide groove 30 from the bottom of the groove may be higher than that of the front end side. By doing so, it becomes easier to collect rainwater in the rainwater guide groove 30, and it is possible to prevent rainwater from flowing past the rainwater guide groove 30 to the rear end side.

[0033]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a rainwater guide groove is formed along the circumferential direction on the peripheral surface of the rear end portion of the housing, and the rainwater guide groove is formed at the lower portion of the housing by blocking the rainwater guide groove. Since the discharge projection is formed, the rainwater attached to the front surface of the housing is guided along the rainwater guide groove, and drops along the rainwater discharge projection below the housing. Therefore, the dropped water drops are released to the area outside the swirl area, and the water drops are scattered rearward by the traveling wind, so they go around the rear end of the housing and hit the reflecting surface of the mirror. Adherence is prevented. For this reason, a decrease in the rear view is suppressed.

[0034]

Further, since the rainwater discharge projection is formed in a rib shape whose projection increases from the front to the rear,
The water drops dropped along the rainwater discharge projections are separated from the rear edge of the rainwater discharge projections under the force of both gravity and traveling wind. Therefore, the water droplets are easily separated from the rainwater discharge projections. Further, even when the vehicle is stopped, the water droplets easily drop along the rainwater discharge projections due to gravity. The invention of claim 2
According to the above, the water channel does not function to guide rainwater to the rainwater guide channel.
Therefore, the water collecting action of the rainwater guide groove is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention and is an external view showing a part of a passenger car.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the door mirror of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the door mirror of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the door mirror of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the door mirror taken along line VV in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view showing a VI part in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line VII-VII in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a view showing a second embodiment of the present invention and illustrating details of a rainwater discharge projection.

FIG. 9 is a front view of a door mirror according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Body 4 ... Door 5 ... Door mirror 10 ... Housing 11 ... Stay 12 ... Opening 13 ... Mirror holder 14 ... Mirror 15 ... Reflective surface 21 ... Upper surface part 22 ... Inclined front part 23 ... Lower surface part 24 ... Projection ridge line 30 ... Rain water Guide groove 31 ... Rainwater discharge projection

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-3-235743 (JP, A) Japanese Utility Model Application No. 60-85250 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model Application No. 57-98402 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model Application No. 61-1985 122135 (JP, U) JP-A-62-184043 (JP, U) JP-A 2-90176 (JP, U) JP-A 3-28065 (JP, U) JP-A 50-21698 (JP, Y2) Jikken 39-24926 (JP, Y1) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B60R 1/06

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A housing mounted on a vehicle body, having a front surface protruding toward the front of the vehicle body and having an open rear end surface, a mirror mounted on an opening of the housing, and a periphery of a rear end portion of the housing. A rainwater guide groove that is recessed along the circumferential direction on the surface and guides rainwater attached to the front of the housing, and the amount of protrusion gradually increases from the front end to the rear end along the front and rear direction of the vehicle body A rainwater discharge projection that is formed in a solid rib shape that protrudes downward from the housing while increasing, and that is disposed at a position below the rear end of the housing so as to block at least a part of the rainwater guide groove. An outside mirror characterized by the following. 2. The outboard according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of water guide grooves are formed on a front surface of the housing along a longitudinal direction of the vehicle body and a rear end of the housing communicates with the rainwater guide groove. Side mirror.