JP5099051B2 - Vehicle presence notification device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle presence notification device that notifies the presence of a vehicle.

  In recent years, vehicles driven by motors such as electric vehicles and hybrid cars are increasing. And since driving driving by a motor is quieter than driving driving by an engine, a pedestrian or the like may not feel the presence of a vehicle. Therefore, a vehicle presence notification device is known that attaches a speaker to a vehicle to generate a notification sound such as a pseudo engine sound and reports the presence of the vehicle to a pedestrian or the like ahead of the vehicle (for example, Patent Document 1, 2).

  However, if the notification sound is simply radiated, the notification sound is diffused and attenuated to the surroundings, so that a large-capacity speaker is required and it is difficult to mount the notification sound on the vehicle. In addition, if a notification sound is emitted from a large-capacity speaker, the notification sound can be heard by pedestrians other than the front of the vehicle (for example, pedestrians behind the vehicle) and passengers in the vehicle interior. There is a risk of feeling.

  Patent Document 3 discloses a vehicle presence notification device that transmits a notification radio wave together with a notification sound and receives the radio wave so that the presence of the vehicle can be grasped tactilely or visually. ing. However, in order to grasp the presence of the vehicle by the vehicle presence notification device, it is necessary to equip the vehicle with a radio wave transmission device, and it operates on a pedestrian or the like according to the radio wave reception device or radio wave reception. It is necessary to carry a sensory device and the like, and handling is inconvenient.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-201001 JP 2006-199110 A JP 2007-182195 A

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle presence notification device that does not require a large-capacity speaker and can suppress the diffusion of notification sound.

[Means of Claim 1]
The vehicle presence notification device according to claim 1 notifies the presence of a vehicle by a notification sound, a speaker that radiates the notification sound into the air, a reflector that determines an optical axis of a headlight of the vehicle, and a reflector And an optical axis varying mechanism that varies the optical axis, and a control unit that controls the radiation direction of the notification sound from the speaker. The speaker is attached to the reflector, and the direction of the notification sound is determined by the reflector, and the control unit controls the operation of the optical axis variable mechanism to control the direction of the notification sound.

  Thereby, since a reflector can be utilized as a parabola of a notification sound, the directivity of a notification sound can be improved. For this reason, by controlling the operation of the optical axis variable mechanism and changing the radiation direction of the notification sound by the reflector, a pedestrian or the like has a highly directional notification sound, that is, a notification sound in which diffusion is suppressed. Can radiate in the direction. For this reason, even if it does not use a high capacity | capacitance speaker, the spreading | diffusion of a notification sound can be suppressed and the presence of a vehicle can be alert | reported to a pedestrian etc.

[Means of claim 2]
According to the vehicle presence notification device of the second aspect, the optical axis varying mechanism can vary the optical axis in the vertical direction.
Thus, for example, since the optical axis can be varied according to the attitude of the vehicle in the vertical direction, when the reflector is used as a parabola for the alarm sound, the emission direction of the alarm sound is variably controlled according to the attitude of the vehicle in the vertical direction. can do. For this reason, even if the vehicle changes its attitude in the vertical direction according to the inclination of the road surface, and the radiation direction of the notification sound fluctuates up and down, the operation control of the optical axis variable mechanism can cope with such fluctuation in the radiation direction. The notification sound can be radiated in the target direction by variably controlling the radiation direction in the vertical direction.

[Means of claim 3]
According to the vehicle presence notification device of the third aspect, the optical axis variable mechanism can change the optical axis in the left-right direction.
Thereby, for example, since the optical axis can be varied according to the steering direction of the vehicle, when the reflector is used as a parabola for the notification sound, the emission direction of the notification sound can be variably controlled according to the steering direction of the vehicle. . For this reason, for example, when the vehicle changes its traveling direction in the left-right direction in accordance with the steering of the vehicle, the advancement after steering is made by changing the emission direction of the notification sound to the left and right before the change in the traveling direction of the vehicle. The presence of the vehicle can be notified earlier in the direction.

[Means of claim 4]
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the vehicle presence notification device includes a human detection unit that detects a person, and the control unit controls the operation of the optical axis variable mechanism in accordance with a detection state by the human detection unit.
Thereby, the notification sound is radiated in a surely directed direction in which a pedestrian or the like is present. For this reason, a pedestrian etc. can grasp | ascertain presence of a vehicle reliably.

(A) is a block diagram of a vehicle presence notification apparatus, (b) is a block diagram of a vehicle presence notification apparatus (Example).

The vehicle presence notification device notifies the presence of a vehicle by a notification sound, a speaker that radiates the notification sound into the air, a reflector that determines an optical axis of a vehicle headlamp, and an optical axis that drives the reflector. And a control means for controlling the radiation direction of the notification sound from the speaker. The speaker is attached to the reflector, and the direction of the notification sound is determined by the reflector, and the control unit controls the operation of the optical axis variable mechanism to control the direction of the notification sound.
The optical axis variable mechanism can change the optical axis in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction.

[Configuration of Example]
The structure of the vehicle presence alerting apparatus 1 of an Example is demonstrated based on drawing.
The vehicle presence notification device 1 is mounted on a vehicle in which a pedestrian or the like may not feel presence due to silence due to motor driving, such as an electric vehicle or a hybrid car, The presence of

  The vehicle presence notification device 1 includes a speaker 2 that emits a notification sound into the air, a reflector 4 that determines an optical axis that is an irradiation direction of a headlamp 3 of the vehicle, and light that drives the reflector 4 to change the optical axis. The shaft variable mechanism 5 and an electronic control unit (ECU) 6 that controls the radiation direction of the notification sound from the speaker 2 are provided. The reflector 4 and the optical axis variable mechanism 5 constitute the headlamp 3 together with the light bulb 9, the translucent cover 10 and the like, and the headlamp 3 is controlled by the ECU 6.

  The speaker 2 has a well-known structure that converts an electrical signal input to itself into mechanical vibration and generates sound waves by the mechanical vibration. The electric signal input to the speaker 2 is obtained by amplifying the electric signal output from the ECU 6 by the amplifier 11. In other words, the ECU 6 synthesizes and outputs an electrical signal corresponding to the waveform of the sound wave as the notification sound, and the electrical signal output from the ECU 6 is amplified by the amplifier 11 to such an extent that the speaker 2 can be driven.

  For example, the reflector 4 reflects the light of the light bulb 9 by a parabolic reflecting surface 13 and directs it in the direction of the optical axis. The speaker 2 is attached to the reflector 4, and the reflector 4 functions as a parabola for notification sound. That is, the notification sound radiated from the speaker 2 is reflected by the reflecting surface 13 of the reflector 4 to determine the radiation direction, and is radiated with high directivity in the radiation direction determined by the reflector 4.

  The optical axis variable mechanism 5 includes, for example, a vertical actuator 14 that drives the reflector 4 in the vertical direction, and a left / right actuator 15 that drives the reflector 4 in the horizontal direction. The optical axis variable mechanism 5 is controlled in operation by a control signal output from the ECU 6 and functions as a part of the headlamp 3 to drive the reflector 4 to change the optical axis in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction. . Further, when the optical axis variable mechanism 5 functions as a part of the vehicle presence notification device 1, the optical axis variable mechanism 5 drives the reflector 4 as a parabola to change the radiation direction of the notification sound in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction.

  Here, the upper and lower and left and right actuators 14 and 15 are each a link mechanism (not shown) that mechanically links a drive source (not shown) such as a stepping motor, an output shaft of the drive source, and an input shaft of the reflector 4. Z). When a control signal output from the ECU 6 is input to the drive circuits 16 and 17 for operating the vertical and horizontal actuators 14 and 15, respectively, the drive sources of the vertical and left and right actuators 14 and 15 are energized. Then, the reflector 4 is driven, and the radiation direction of the optical axis and the notification sound is varied in a target direction.

The ECU 6 is configured to include a CPU having a control function and an arithmetic function, various storage devices such as ROM and RAM, an input device, and a known microcomputer having an output device.
Then, for example, when it is necessary to irradiate the front of the vehicle with the headlamp 3 at night, the ECU 6 performs variable control of the optical axis by controlling the optical axis variable mechanism 5 and driving the reflector 4. Do.

  For example, the ECU 6 grasps the posture of the vehicle in the vertical direction based on a signal output from the vehicle height sensor 20 that detects the vehicle height. In order to prevent the oncoming vehicle occupant from being dazzled, the ECU 6 changes the light irradiation direction variation caused by the vehicle posture variation when the vehicle changes its posture in the vertical direction according to the inclination of the road surface. The vertical actuator 14 is controlled in accordance with the signal from the vehicle height sensor 20 to change the irradiation direction in the vertical direction.

  Further, the ECU 6 grasps the steering direction based on a signal output from the angle sensor 21 that detects the steering angle of the steering. In order to irradiate light early in the traveling direction after steering, when the vehicle changes the traveling direction in the left-right direction, the ECU 6 precedes the steering of the vehicle and responds to the signal from the angle sensor 21 according to the signal from the angle sensor 21. The irradiation direction is varied in the horizontal direction by controlling the operation of

  Further, for example, when it is not necessary to irradiate the front of the vehicle with the headlamp 3 as in the daytime, the ECU 6 controls the operation of the optical axis variable mechanism 5 to drive the reflector 4 so that the direction of the notification sound is emitted. Perform variable control.

  For example, the ECU 6 controls the operation of the vertical actuator 14 in accordance with the signal from the vehicle height sensor 20 to change the direction of notification sound emission in the vertical direction. That is, even if the vehicle changes its attitude in the vertical direction according to the inclination of the road surface and the radiation direction of the notification sound fluctuates, the ECU 6 radiates the fluctuation of the radiation direction by controlling the operation of the vertical actuator 14. The direction is variably controlled in the vertical direction, and the notification sound is emitted in the target direction.

  Further, the ECU 6 controls the operation of the left and right actuators 15 in accordance with the signal from the angle sensor 21 to change the radiation direction of the notification sound in the left and right directions. That is, when the vehicle changes its traveling direction in the left-right direction in accordance with the steering of the vehicle, the ECU 6 advances the direction of travel after steering by, for example, changing the radial direction of the notification sound before the change in the traveling direction of the vehicle. In addition, the notification sound is emitted earlier.

[Effects of Examples]
According to the vehicle presence notification device 1 of the embodiment, the speaker 2 is mounted on the reflector 4 of the headlamp 3, the direction of notification sound is determined by the reflector 4, and the ECU 6 controls the operation of the optical axis variable mechanism 5. By doing so, the radiation direction of the notification sound is controlled.
Thereby, since the reflector 4 can be utilized as a parabola of the notification sound, the directivity of the notification sound can be enhanced.

  For this reason, by controlling the operation of the optical axis variable mechanism 5 and changing the radiation direction of the notification sound by the reflector 4, a pedestrian or the like generates a highly directional notification sound, that is, a notification sound with suppressed diffusion. It can radiate in the existing direction. For this reason, even if it does not use the large capacity speaker 2, it can suppress the spreading | diffusion of alerting | reporting sound and can alert | report the presence of a vehicle to a pedestrian etc.

The optical axis variable mechanism 5 can change the optical axis in the vertical direction by the vertical actuator 14.
Thereby, when using the reflector 4 as a parabola of a notification sound, the radiation direction of a notification sound can be variably controlled according to the attitude | position regarding the up-down direction of a vehicle. For this reason, even if the vehicle changes its attitude in the vertical direction in accordance with the inclination of the road surface and the radial direction of the notification sound fluctuates up and down, the operation control of the optical axis variable mechanism 5 against such fluctuation in the radial direction. Thus, the notification direction can be radiated in the target direction by variably controlling the emission direction in the vertical direction.

Further, the optical axis variable mechanism 5 can change the optical axis in the left-right direction by the left-right actuator 15.
Thereby, when utilizing the reflector 4 as a parabola of a notification sound, the radiation direction of a notification sound can be variably controlled according to the steering direction of the vehicle. For this reason, for example, when the vehicle changes its traveling direction in the left-right direction in accordance with the steering of the vehicle, the advancement after steering is made by changing the emission direction of the notification sound to the left and right before the change in the traveling direction of the vehicle. The presence of the vehicle can be notified earlier in the direction.

[Modification]
According to the vehicle presence notification device 1 of the embodiment, the ECU 6 controls the optical axis variable mechanism 5 according to a signal from the vehicle height sensor 20 that detects the vehicle height and a signal from the angle sensor 21 that detects the steering angle of the steering. Although the operation control was performed, the vehicle presence notification device 1 is equipped with a human detection means for detecting a person, and an ECU 6 is provided so as to control the operation of the optical axis variable mechanism 5 according to the detection status by the human detection means. Also good.

  In this case, the notification sound is radiated in a surely directed direction in which a pedestrian or the like is present. For this reason, a pedestrian etc. can grasp | ascertain presence of a vehicle reliably. Note that an infrared sensor, a video camera, or the like can be used as the human detection means.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle presence notification apparatus 2 Speaker 3 Headlamp 4 Reflector 5 Optical axis variable mechanism 6 ECU (control means)

Claims (4)

In the vehicle presence notification device that notifies the presence of the vehicle by a notification sound,
A speaker that radiates notification sound into the air, a reflector that determines the optical axis of the headlight of the vehicle, an optical axis variable mechanism that changes the optical axis by driving the reflector, and a direction in which notification sound is emitted by the speaker Control means for controlling
The speaker is attached to the reflector, the direction of the notification sound is determined by the reflector,
The vehicle presence notification device, wherein the control means controls the radiation direction of the notification sound by controlling the operation of the optical axis variable mechanism. The vehicle presence notification device according to claim 1,
The vehicle presence notification device characterized in that the optical axis varying mechanism can vary the optical axis in the vertical direction. In the vehicle presence notification device according to claim 1 or 2,
The vehicle presence notification device characterized in that the optical axis varying mechanism can vary the optical axis in the left-right direction. In the vehicle presence notification device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
With human detection means to detect people,
The vehicle presence notification device, wherein the control unit controls the operation of the optical axis variable mechanism in accordance with a detection state by the human detection unit.

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