JP3497777B2 - Vehicle corner sensor - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technical field of a vehicle corner sensor mounted on a bumper of a vehicle such as a passenger car.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a bumper of a vehicle is out of sight of a driver. Therefore, there is a problem that a bumper corner portion is easily hit by an obstacle such as a person or an object when the vehicle is traveling. Therefore, conventionally, it has been attempted to provide a corner sensor at the bumper corner portion, but the conventional corner sensor is a genuine product type in which the sensor body is embedded in the bumper. As a result, there is a problem in that the conventional device is not versatile and cannot be installed by the user even after the corner sensor is installed.

[0003]

Therefore, it is conceivable to provide a corner sensor to which a sensor body can be retrofitted. By the way, the sensor body is required to detect a wide area in the left-right direction while avoiding road surface detection, and therefore has high directivity.However, such a sensor body with such directivity is used in the bumper corners. When mounting the bumper, not only the shape of the bumper differs depending on the car model, but also the surface has an R shape, so it is necessary to attach the sensor body securely to the bumper surface while maintaining directivity. To be done. And when doing such retrofitting,
It is proposed that the sensor body be attached to the bumper corner portion via the attachment member. However, when the attachment member is attached so as to conform to the shape of the bumper corner portion, the attachment member is attached so as to be pulled. There is a problem that the pulling affects the mounting of the sensor main body and the sensor main body is displaced, thereby impairing the maintenance of directivity, and there is a problem to be solved by the present invention.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances in order to solve these problems, and a sensor main body for detecting an obstacle is provided in a corner portion of a vehicle bumper. When mounting via the mounting member, the mounting member is assumed to be flexible and has a through-hole-shaped supporting portion, and the sensor body is fitted and mounted on the supporting portion via the holder. It is characterized by being done. With this configuration, even if the mounting member is mounted in a state in which it is tensilely deformed by the bumper corners, the holder receives this tensile deformation, which reduces the displacement of the sensor body and maintains the directivity. Can be measured. Also in this one, the holder is
The lower half part of the sensor body may be fitted and supported, and the upper half part of the sensor body protruding from the holder may be supported by the support part via a cushioning material that is softer than the mounting member. With this configuration, even if the mounting member is deformed, the displacement of the sensor main body portion protruding from the holder due to this deformation can be reduced and the directivity can be maintained.
Further, in this structure, the surface of the sensor body can be characterized by being substantially flush with the tip of the support portion. By doing so, the sensor body can be protected and the directivity is impaired. You can avoid it.

[0005]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, reference numeral 1 is a corner sensor attached to a vehicle bumper, and in the present embodiment, the corner sensor 1 will be described below as being attached to an assistant side corner portion of a rear bumper 2. The corner sensor 1 includes a sensor main body 3 and the sensor main body 3
And a mounting member 5 for mounting the holder 4 on the bumper 2. The mounting member 5 is a long member formed of a flexible rubber elastic material. In the present embodiment, the mounting member 5 is set so as to be attached to the corner portion of the bumper 2 in the left-right direction so that the length direction of the mounting member 5 will be described in the left-right direction. .

The mounting member 5 has a support portion 5a for supporting the holder 4 formed as a through hole in the center portion in the left-right direction, and in the natural state, the support portion 5a has a mountain shape with the support portion 5a as the top. A pair of mounting pieces 5b and 5c are formed so as to extend laterally opposite to each other. The attachment pieces 5b, 5c have a generally semi-cylindrical shape in cross section, and the bottom surface 5d is attached to (attached to) the bumper 2 via the double-sided adhesive tape 6 on the bumper 2, but the bottom surface 5d is a tape. 6 has a groove shape in which the central portion is slightly recessed with respect to the peripheral edge portion 5e by an amount substantially corresponding to the thickness margin of 6, so that when the mounting member 5 is attached to the bumper 2, the peripheral edge portion 5e is located in the bumper 2e. It is configured so that it can be attached without any gaps.

Further, on the back surface between the supporting portion 5a of the mounting member 5 and the mounting pieces 5b, 5c, the mounting pieces 5b, 5c are bent and bent from the natural shape along the R shape of the bumper. In the case of deformation such as abrasion, the mounting pieces 5b, 5
Although a concave groove 5f is formed in the vertical and vertical directions to allow a natural deformation along the shape of the bumper 2 of c,
Both upper and lower end portions of the groove 5f are in a thin state to cover the groove 5f and continue to the peripheral portion 5e. Thus, when the mounting member 5 is fixed to the bumper 2,
The external appearance of the groove 5f is prevented from being impaired by taking care not to expose a single portion of the groove 5f to the outside, and water is prevented from entering from the end of the groove 5f.

Further, on the back surface of one of the mounting pieces 5b, 5c, there is provided a guide groove 5g for drawing and guiding a lead wire 7 extending from a sensor body 3 which will be described later. It is formed in a vertically symmetrical shape with a depth corresponding to the height. The guide groove 5g may be formed on the back surface of the other mounting piece 4c if necessary.
Further, in the present embodiment, since the mounting member 5 has a symmetrical shape when viewed from the front, the external appearance is not damaged even when the positions of the mounting pieces 5b and 5c are reversed left and right. Since the lead-out position of the lead wire 7 can be freely changed to the left or right, the attachment of the attachment member 5 with respect to the bumper 2 will not be hindered when the lead-out position of the lead wire 7 is taken into consideration. Now, the guide groove 5g
Specifically, it is linearly formed in the left-right direction from the central portion of the back surface in the vertical direction of the support portion 5a to the vicinity of the end portion of the mounting piece 5b across the concave groove 5f, and further in the vertical direction from the end portion. The lead-out groove 5h is formed by bending it into a substantially T-shape, but the bent corner portion is R-shaped so that the lead wire 7 can be bent comfortably. . Further, in the guide groove 5g, a second lead-out groove 5i bent in the vertical direction is also formed in a portion close to the guide groove 5g, which allows lead-wires 7 to be pulled out at four convenient locations. The degree of freedom of pulling out the lead wire 7 is secured. The ends of the pull-out grooves 5h and 5i are thin in the state of continuing to the peripheral edge 5e, and when the mounting member 5 is fixed to the bumper 2, like the end of the recessed groove 5f, the pull-out grooves 5h are formed. The 5i is not exposed to the outside to ensure the appearance and prevent the ingress of water and the like.

Next, the sensor body 3 is constituted by using a general-purpose ultrasonic sensor having means for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves of a preset frequency in the present embodiment, and Connected via the lead wire 7 to a control unit (not shown) that calculates the distance to the obstacle based on the time loss (time difference) when the transmitted ultrasonic wave reflects the reflected wave reflected by the obstacle. The sensor body 3 is controlled so as to issue an alarm when the distance to the obstacle is shorter than a preset distance, but the sensor body 3 is wide in the left-right direction (for example, 140 degrees) and narrow in the up-down direction (60 It has a directivity, and is set so that a wide range of obstacles on the left and right can be detected while avoiding road surface detection. The sensor body 3 has a cylindrical shape in which the transmitter / receiver described above is incorporated, and a terminal 3b projects radially on one side of the bottom side peripheral surface thereof, and a lead wire 7 connected to the terminal 3b has a bottom surface. The lead wire 7 is wired so as to correspond to the directivity in the left-right direction, and the lead wire 7 is extended in a state of maintaining the directivity.
By fitting and setting the lead wire 7 in the guide groove 5g, it is possible to incorporate the sensor body 3 in a state where the directivity is determined with respect to the mounting member 5 of the sensor body 3.

On the other hand, with respect to the holder 4, the holder 4 is formed of a hard resin material and has a cylindrical shape with a bottom. The inner diameter of the cylindrical portion is larger than the outer diameter of the sensor body 3. Then, the bottom portion of the sensor body 3 on which the lead wire 7 extends is fitted in a loose fit. When the fitting is fitted, a silicone resin or the like is provided between the bottom portion and the peripheral portion of the sensor body 3. It is set to be fitted and incorporated with the flexible filler 8 interposed. Further, the bottom portion 4a of the holder 4 has an R shape and is set so as to follow the surface shape of the bumper 2. With this configuration, when the mounting member 5 is mounted on the bumper 2, the mounting pieces 5b, 5
Even if the support part 5a is distorted due to attachment (adhesion) such that c is pulled to some extent, deformation and displacement of the holder 4 are reduced as much as possible to maintain the directivity of the sensor body 3. Is designed so that It should be noted that the holder 4 has water drainage holes 4b formed at the top and bottom, while the lead wire drawing groove 4c and the fitting groove 4d of the terminal 3b formed on the peripheral surface of the sensor body 3 oppose each other on the peripheral surface portion. It is formed in a state where it does. In this configuration, as described above, the sensor body 3 is loosely fitted to the holder 4 both at the bottom portion and at the peripheral portion. However, the positioning including the directivity thereof is such that the terminal 3b contacts the inner bottom surface of the holder 4 and Lead wire 7 is lead-out groove 4
The setting is made by fitting the sensor body 3 to the holder 4 in a state of fitting to c.

The support portion 5a is formed at the center of the mounting member 5, and the support portion 5a includes a mounting piece 5b,
5c has a cylindrical top shape with a tip protruding from the front surface, the inner diameter of the cylinder is from the rear surface side to the holder 4
Of the holder 4, and the first inner diameter portion 5j corresponding to the height of the holder 4 and the first inner diameter portion 5j have a step-like small diameter and substantially match the inner diameter of the holder 4. Second inner diameter part 5
k, and a thin-walled third inner diameter portion 5l having a step-like smaller diameter with respect to the second inner diameter portion 5k and having an inner diameter substantially equal to the outer diameter of the sensor body 3. When the holder 4 into which the sensor body 3 is fitted is fitted from the bottom surface side of the support portion 5a, the cylinder tip of the holder 4 abuts on the stepped portion between the first and second inner diameter portions 5j and 5k. Positioning is built in, and in this built-in state, the sensor body 3
Is set so as to substantially match the tip surface of the support portion 5a, and as a result, the protection of the sensor body 3 is impaired as if the sensor body tip surface 3a protrudes from the tip of the support portion 5a. While avoiding this, it is avoided that the sensor body tip surface 3a is largely depressed from the tip of the support portion 5a and the directivity of the sensor body 3 (particularly the wide directivity in the left-right direction) is impaired.

Further, in this structure, a portion of the sensor body 3 which projects from the holder 4 and faces the second inner diameter portion 5k has a gap between the second inner diameter portion 5k and the mounting member. A cushioning material 9 made of a rubber-like elastic material having a hardness lower than that of 5 (softer and higher elasticity) is interposed, whereby the mounting member 5 receives the excessive pulling force on the bumper 2 as described above. When the support portion 5a is fixed and is distorted, the soft cushioning material 9 absorbs the distortion of the second inner diameter portion 5k due to the distortion and the displacement of the sensor body 3 is avoided so that the directivity can be maintained. Has been done.

When the corner sensor 1 is attached to the bumper 2, the holder 4 to which the sensor body 3 is attached is fitted and supported by the support portion 5a in the configuration as described above. After selecting the necessary lead-out grooves 5h and 5i from the guide groove 5f and drawing them around,
One surface of the double-sided adhesive tape 6 may be attached to the back surfaces of both the attachment pieces 5b and 5c, and the other surface of the tape 6 may be attached to the corner portion of the bumper 2 so as to face the left-right direction. The lead wire 7 drawn out is routed inside the vehicle and connected to a control unit (not shown). By doing so, it becomes possible to easily attach the sensor body 3 to the corner portion of the bumper 2 while ensuring a wide directivity in the left-right direction.

As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, the corner sensor 1 can be retrofitted, but in this case, the sensor body 3 is not directly mounted on the bumper 2 but is mounted on it. Although the mounting member 5 is mounted via the member 5, since the mounting member 5 is configured to include the mounting pieces 5b and 5c having flexibility, it is possible to mount the mounting member 5 closely in conformity with the R shape of the bumper. As a result, the mountability is improved. Moreover, in this case, the sensor body 3 is supported by the holder 4, but the bottom surface of the holder 4 is R.
The bumper 2 has a shape that follows the R-shaped surface of the bumper 2. As a result, even if the holder 4 is made of a hard material so that the sensor body 3 can be reliably supported,
The holder 4 can be installed along the bumper 2 without difficulty.

Also, in this structure, when the mounting pieces 5b, 5c are fixed to the bumper 2, there is a groove 5d between the mounting pieces 5b, 5c and the supporting portion 5a, so that the mounting pieces 5b, 5a can be easily folded over the supporting portion 5a. Bending is possible, and as a result, bumper 2
Even when the surface is bent to the right and left in the left-right direction, the support portion 5a can be mounted while avoiding deformation as much as possible, and the directivity of the sensor body 3 can be maintained. Moreover, in this case, since the sensor body 3 is not directly supported by the flexible mounting member 5 but is supported by the holder 4, the mounting member 5 is not bent (bent). Even if the support portion 5a is mounted so that it is tightly pulled, the tensile deformation of the support portion 5a acts on the holder 4 and does not directly act on the sensor body 3. As a result, the tensile deformation of the supporting portion 5a acts on the sensor body 3 to prevent the mounting position of the sensor body 3 from being displaced, thereby preventing the directivity from being impaired. The attachment for maintaining the directivity is not limited to the holder 4,
It is also fulfilled by the cushioning material 9. That is, in the present embodiment, the upper half of the sensor body 3 is configured to be exposed from the holder 4, but this exposed portion is attached to the support portion 5a via the cushioning material 9 which is softer than the mounting member 5. If the support portion 5a is deformed as a result, the deformation of the support member 5a is absorbed by the deformation of the cushioning member 9 and the effect on the sensor body 3 is reduced, which contributes to maintaining the directivity. ing.

Further, the lead wire 7 drawn out from the sensor main body 3 is drawn out from the selected drawing grooves 5h, 5i via the guide groove 5g, but the remaining drawing grooves 5h, 5i which are not used are thin. Since the lead-out grooves 5h and 5i are not exposed to the outside because they are closed by the peripheral edge portion 5e, the plurality of lead-out grooves 5h and 5i are provided in order to secure a wide degree of freedom in drawing out the lead wire 7. At the same time, it is possible to prevent the ingress of water as well as the appearance is not impaired.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view of a corner sensor.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a corner sensor.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the corner sensor.

FIG. 4 is a detailed view of the holder, (A) is a front view,
(B) is a bottom view, (C) is a left side view, (D) is a right side view, (E) is a rear view, (F) is an X-X sectional view, and (G) is a Y-Y sectional view. is there.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a state where a corner sensor is attached to a bumper corner portion.

FIG. 6A is an explanatory diagram showing a horizontal directionality of a corner sensor, and FIG. 6B is an explanatory diagram showing a vertical directionality of the corner sensor.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 corner sensor 2 bumpers 3 sensor body 4 holder 5 Mounting member 5a support 5b, 5c Mounting piece 5f concave groove 5g guide groove 5h, 5i Drawout groove 7 lead wire 9 cushioning material

Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-4-35600 (JP, A) JP-A-2001-59867 (JP, A) JP-A-11-133137 (JP, A) JP-A-9-30348 (JP, A) JP-A-1-127990 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01S 7/521 B60R 19/44 B60R 19/48 B60R 21/00 628 G01S 15/93

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. When attaching a sensor body for detecting an obstacle to a corner portion of a vehicle bumper via a mounting member, the mounting member has flexibility and a through-hole-shaped support portion is formed. A corner sensor for a vehicle, wherein the sensor body is fitted and attached to the support portion via a holder. 2. The holder according to claim 1, wherein the lower half of the sensor main body is fitted and supported, and the upper half of the sensor main body protruding from the holder is supported via a cushioning material that is softer than the mounting member. A corner sensor for a vehicle, which is supported by a section. 3. The vehicle corner sensor according to claim 1, wherein the surface of the sensor body is substantially flush with the tip of the support portion.