JP5493213B2 - Cleaning device for vehicle lamp - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a cleaning apparatus for spraying a cleaning liquid onto a vehicle lamp such as a headlamp to clean the lens surface thereof.

  If the lens surface of a vehicle's headlamp, for example, becomes dirty due to dust or dirt, the amount of light may be insufficient. If necessary, spray the cleaning liquid toward the headlamp to clean the lens surface of the headlamp. A cleaning device is installed behind the front bumper. The cleaning device includes a cylinder to which cleaning liquid is supplied, a piston slidably fitted in the cylinder, biasing means for biasing the piston in a direction in which the piston is pulled into the cylinder, and cleaning liquid to the headlamp. And a check valve mechanism that opens and supplies the cleaning liquid to the injection nozzle when the pressure of the cleaning liquid exceeds a predetermined value.

  In such a cleaning device, when not in use, the injection nozzle is stored behind the front bumper, and when cleaning the headlamp, the piston is extended by the pressure of the cleaning liquid and the injection nozzle is formed in the front bumper. If the pressure of the cleaning liquid rises above the predetermined value, the valve of the check valve mechanism opens and the cleaning liquid is supplied to the injection nozzle, and the cleaning liquid is directed to the headlamp from the injection port that opens in the injection nozzle. The dust and mud adhering to the lens surface of the headlamp are removed. When the cleaning of the headlamp is completed, the spray nozzle is returned to the retracted position on the back side of the front bumper by a biasing means such as a spring. When the injection nozzle is stored on the back side of the front bumper, the opening formed in the front bumper is covered with a nozzle cover attached to the tip of the injection nozzle to prevent the appearance from being deteriorated.

  By the way, the thing of a structure as shown in FIG.8 and FIG.9 is proposed by patent document 1 regarding the washing | cleaning apparatus of such a vehicle lamp.

That is, FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view of a conventional cleaning device, FIG. 9 is a side view of the cleaning device, and the cleaning device 101 shown is the tip of a piston 103 slidably fitted in a cylinder 102. Further, the injection nozzle 105 is attached via the Chuk valve mechanism 104. In this cleaning device 101, a joint portion 106 is attached to one end opening of the cylinder 102, and the inside of the cylindrical piston 103 is configured as a cleaning liquid passage, and a tension spring 107 is inserted into the cleaning liquid passage. Yes. Here, one end of the tension spring 107 is locked to a spring hooking portion 106 a formed on the joint portion 106, and the other end is locked to a spring hooking bar 108 laid on the tip of the pinton 103. The spring 107 urges the piston 103 in a direction to draw the piston 103 into the cylinder 102. Therefore, in a state where the vehicle lamp is not cleaned, the piston 103 is drawn into the cylinder 102 as shown, and the injection nozzle 105 attached to the tip of the piston 103 is stored behind the front bumper (not shown). Yes.

  Thus, when cleaning the vehicular lamp, high-pressure cleaning liquid is supplied from a washer tank (not shown) to the cylinder 102 of the cleaning device 11. Then, the piston 103 slides forward (to the left in FIG. 8) inside the cylinder 102 while pulling the tension spring 107 by the pressure of the cleaning liquid, and an injection nozzle 105 provided at the tip of the piston 103 is an opening formed in the front bumper. Push out from the part (not shown) to the front of the vehicle. Thereafter, when the pressure of the cleaning liquid exceeds a predetermined value, the valve 109 of the check valve mechanism 104 is opened and the cleaning liquid is sprayed from the injection nozzle 105 toward the vehicle lamp, and dust or mud adhering to the lens surface of the vehicle lamp is removed. Wash away. When the cleaning of the headlamp is completed and the supply of the cleaning liquid to the cylinder 102 is interrupted, the piston 103 is drawn into the cylinder 102 by the tension spring 107, so that the injection nozzle 105 is moved to the retracted position on the back side of the front bumper. Returned.

  In such a cleaning apparatus 101, the tension spring 107 is used as an urging means for pulling the piston 103 into the cylinder 102. Therefore, the tension spring 107 is used as the spring hooking portion 106 a of the joint portion 106 and the spring of the piston 103. It is necessary to hang on the hanging bar 108, and in order to form the spring hanging portion 106a in the joint portion 106, it is necessary to bend the plug 110 formed on the joint portion 106 in the direction perpendicular to the axis.

  However, when the plug 110 bent in the direction perpendicular to the axis is formed in the joint portion 106, there is a problem that the direction of the hose (not shown) connected to the plug 110 is restricted. To solve this problem It is necessary to prepare a plurality of types of cleaning devices 101 having different plug 110 directions.

  Therefore, as shown in the plane cross-sectional view of FIG. 10, when a configuration using a compression spring 210 as an urging means for pulling the piston 203 into the cylinder 202 is employed, there is no need to hook the compression spring 210. A plug 206 can be formed along the axial direction at the center of one end of 202, and a hose connected to the plug 206 can be freely routed in any direction.

JP 2006-151150 A

  However, when a plug 206 is formed in the center of one end of the cylinder 202 as shown in FIG. 10 along the axial direction, high-pressure cleaning liquid is supplied from the hose (not shown) connected to the plug 206 into the cylinder 202 when cleaning the vehicle lamp. Since the cleaning liquid flows straight from the plug 206 into the cylinder 202, the force for pushing the piston 203 against the urging force of the compression spring 210 is weak, and the piston 203 may not be pushed out.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular lamp cleaning device capable of reliably pushing out a piston while improving the manageability of a hose connected to a cylinder. There is to do.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim 1 is directed to a cylinder to which cleaning liquid is supplied, a piston slidably fitted in the cylinder, and a force for pulling the piston into the cylinder. A vehicular lamp cleaning apparatus comprising: an urging unit; an injection nozzle that injects cleaning liquid toward the vehicle lamp; and a check valve mechanism that opens when the pressure of the cleaning liquid exceeds a predetermined value and supplies the cleaning liquid to the injection nozzle. The biasing means is formed of a compression spring, and a plug for connecting a hose for supplying the cleaning liquid into the cylinder is formed in the center of one end of the cylinder along the axial direction, and near the outlet of the plug. A diffusion rib is installed in a direction perpendicular to the axis, and a pressure receiving rib is installed in the vicinity of the inlet of the cleaning liquid passage inside the piston in a direction perpendicular to the axis.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the diffusion rib and the pressure receiving rib are arranged so as to cross in a cross shape when viewed in the axial direction.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the compression spring is used as the urging means for pulling the piston into the cylinder, and the plug for connecting the hose for supplying the cleaning liquid into the cylinder is attached to the center of one end of the cylinder. Since it formed along a direction, the manageability of the hose connected to a cylinder is improved. The cleaning liquid supplied from the hose flows into the cylinder while being diffused by diffusion ribs installed in the direction perpendicular to the axis in the vicinity of the outlet of the plug, and the cleaning liquid flowing into the cylinder is near the inlet of the cleaning liquid passage in the piston. Since pressure is exerted on the pressure receiving ribs installed in the direction perpendicular to the axis, the piston is reliably pushed out, the injection nozzle attached to the tip of the piston moves to a predetermined position, and the cleaning liquid flows from the injection nozzle toward the vehicle lamp. The lens surface of the vehicular lamp is reliably cleaned by being injected.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the diffusion rib and the pressure receiving rib are arranged so as to cross in a cross shape when viewed in the axial direction, the cleaning liquid diffused by the diffusion rib effectively collides with the pressure receiving rib and pushes it out to the piston. Exerts a directional pressure, which results in a more reliable extrusion of the piston.

It is a top view of the washing | cleaning apparatus which concerns on this invention. (A), (b) is a plane sectional view of the washing device concerning the present invention. It is the A section enlarged detail drawing of Fig.2 (a). FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 3. (A) is a side view of a piston, (b) is a figure of the arrow C direction of (a). (A) is a side view of a cylinder, (b) is the DD sectional view taken on the line of (a). (A), (b) is a plane sectional view explaining composition and operation of a check valve mechanism of a cleaning device concerning the present invention. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the conventional washing | cleaning apparatus. It is a side view of the conventional washing | cleaning apparatus. It is a plane sectional view of the conventional cleaning device.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  1 is a plan view of a cleaning apparatus according to the present invention, FIGS. 2A and 2B are plan sectional views of the cleaning apparatus, FIG. 3 is an enlarged detail view of a portion A in FIG. 2A, and FIG. FIG. 5A is a side view of the piston, FIG. 5B is a view in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 5A, FIG. 6A is a side view of the cylinder, 6B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line DD of FIG. 6A, and FIGS. 7A and 7B are plan cross-sectional views illustrating the configuration and operation of the check valve mechanism of the cleaning device.

  The cleaning device 1 according to the present embodiment is a device for spraying cleaning liquid toward the front surface of a headlamp (not shown) to clean the front surface, and is disposed on the back side of a front bumper (not shown). ing. Although the cleaning device 1 is installed for each of the left and right headlamps, since the configuration and operation are the same, only one cleaning device will be illustrated and described below.

  A cleaning apparatus 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 has a cylindrical piston 3 slidably fitted into a cylindrical cylinder 2 and an injection nozzle 5 via a check valve mechanism 4 at the tip of the piston 3. It is configured with an attached.

  The cylinder 2 is supplied with a cleaning liquid from a washer tank (not shown). A plug 6 is provided at the center of the rear end of the cylinder 2, and a hose (not shown) connected to the plug 6 is inside the cylinder 2. It communicates with the washer tank via. A bottomed cylindrical cover 7 is fitted on the inner periphery of the front end of the cylinder 2, and a bracket 8 is attached to the outer periphery of the cover 7. The cleaning device 1 is attached to the back side of a front bumper (not shown) via a bracket 8.

  Here, as shown in FIGS. 3, 4, and 6 (b), in the vicinity of the outlet of the plug 6 on the inner surface of the rear end of the cylinder 2, the diffusion rib 9 is perpendicular to the circular hole 6 a of the plug 6. The diffusion rib 9 is provided in a state separated from the outlet of the plug 6 by a predetermined distance.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a compression spring 10 as a biasing means for biasing the piston 3 in the direction in which the piston 3 is pulled into the cylinder 2 is wound around the outer periphery of the piston 3 in the cylinder 2. The spring 10 is contracted between the cover 7 and the cylinder 2.

  The rear end portion of the large diameter of the piston 3 is in sliding contact with the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder 2 via a rubber seal member 11, and a cleaning liquid passage 3a penetrating in the axial direction is formed in the inside. As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, a pressure receiving rib 12 is installed near the inlet of the cleaning liquid passage 3 a of the piston 3 in a direction perpendicular to the axis so as to cross the cleaning liquid passage 3 a. Here, the pressure receiving rib 12 and the diffusion rib 9 formed near the outlet of the plug 6 of the cylinder 2 are arranged so as to cross in a cross shape when viewed in the axial direction.

  Next, details of the structure of the check valve mechanism 4 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The check valve mechanism 4 is configured such that a valve 14, a guide 15 that slidably holds the valve 14, and a valve spring 16 that urges the valve 14 in a closing direction are accommodated inside the valve case 13. The overall cross-sectional shape is an elliptical shape that is flat in the horizontal direction.

  The valve case 13 is configured by joining and integrating case halves 13A and 13B which are divided into two parts in the front and rear, and one case half 13A includes a small-diameter cylindrical portion 13a and a flat elliptic cylindrical portion 13b. A cylindrical valve seat 18 is formed at the center of the wall 17 that partitions the cylindrical portion 13a and the elliptical cylindrical portion 13b of the case half 13A.

  The other case half 13B is composed of a flat oval cylindrical portion 13c and left and right cylindrical portions 13d connected to the tip thereof. The oval cylindrical portion 13d is the inner circumference of the oval cylindrical portion 13b of the case half 13A. The valve case 13 is assembled by being fitted and fixed to. The end portions of the fitting portions of the case halves 13A and 13B are sealed by a seal ring 19.

  Further, the base end portion of the nozzle holder 20 is fitted and held in the left and right cylindrical portions 13d formed at the distal end portion of the case half body 13B so as to be rotatable in all directions. As shown in FIG. 1, the injection nozzles 5 are respectively fitted and held, and each injection nozzle 5 is formed with an injection port 21 that opens toward a lens surface of a headlamp (not shown). . Here, as shown in FIG. 7, flow paths S1 and S2 for the cleaning liquid are formed on the left and right sides of the valve 14 and the guide 15 in the valve case 13, respectively. Each of the paths S1 and S2 is open.

  The valve 14 is composed of a disc-like valve body 14a and a valve shaft 14b that integrally extends in the direction perpendicular to the axis from the center of the valve body 14a. A ring-shaped seal member 22 is assembled.

  The guide 15 is integrally formed in a cylindrical shape at the center of the case half 13B of the valve case 13, and the valve shaft 14b of the valve 14 is disposed in the front-rear direction (left-right direction in FIG. 7). It is slidably fitted and held. Accordingly, the valve 14 is supported by the guide 15 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction (moving direction of the piston 3). The valve 14 is attached in the closing direction (the direction in which the valve seat 18 is seated) by the valve spring 16. It is energized. Here, the valve spring 16 is inserted into the outer periphery of the guide 15 and is contracted between a valve body 14 a of the valve 14 and a step portion (spring receiver) 15 a formed on the outer periphery of the guide 15. The spring constant of the valve spring 16 is set larger than the spring constant of the compression spring 10.

  Next, the operation of the cleaning device 1 configured as described above will be described.

  In the cleaning apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, when the headlamp is not cleaned, the piston 3 is pulled into the cylinder 2 by the urging force of the compression spring 10 as shown in FIGS. At this time, as shown in FIG. 7A, the check valve mechanism 34 valve 14 is pressed against the valve seat 18 by the valve spring 16 and is in a closed state. The injection nozzle 5 is stored on the back side of a front bumper of a vehicle (not shown).

  Thus, when the headlamp is cleaned by the cleaning device 1, high-pressure cleaning liquid is supplied from the washer tank (not shown) to the cylinder 2 of the cleaning device 1 through the hose (not shown). In the embodiment, since the diffusion rib 9 is formed in the vicinity of the outlet of the plug 6 of the cylinder 2 as described above, the cleaning liquid supplied from the hose flows into the cylinder 2 while being diffused by the diffusion rib 9.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the pressure receiving rib 12 is formed in the vicinity of the inlet of the cleaning liquid passage 3a of the piston 3 as described above, so that the cleaning liquid that has flown into the cylinder 2 exerts pressure on the pressure receiving rib 12. Therefore, the piston 3 is reliably pushed forward while compressing and compressing the compression spring 10 as shown in FIG. In particular, in the present embodiment, since the diffusion rib 9 and the pressure receiving rib 12 are arranged so as to cross in a cross shape in the axial direction, the cleaning liquid diffused by the diffusion rib 9 effectively collides with the pressure receiving rib 12 and strikes the piston 3. A pressure is exerted in the direction in which the piston 3 is pushed out. As a result, the piston 3 is pushed forward more reliably.

  As described above, when the piston 3 is reliably pushed forward, the injection nozzle 5 provided at the tip is pushed forward from the opening (not shown) formed in the front bumper. In this case, since the spring constant of the valve spring 16 is set larger than the spring constant of the compression spring 10 as described above, the valve 14 of the check valve mechanism 4 remains closed as shown in FIG. Thus, the cleaning liquid is not supplied to the injection nozzle 5.

  As described above, after the piston 3 moves forward due to the pressure of the cleaning liquid, the pressure of the cleaning liquid rises above a predetermined value, and the force based on the pressure of the cleaning liquid acting on the valve 14 of the check valve mechanism 4 is the biasing force of the valve spring 16. When it is larger than that, the valve 14 moves forward along the guide 15 and leaves the valve seat 18 as shown in FIG. 3B, so that the valve 14 opens as shown. Then, as shown by an arrow in FIG. 7B, the cleaning liquid is divided into left and right without largely changing the direction and smoothly flows forward when the left and right flow paths S1 and S2 in the valve case 13 are straightened. The flow then flows through the left and right nozzle holders 20 without being merged or branched, and is supplied to the spray nozzles 5 as they are.

  As described above, the cleaning liquid supplied to the left and right ejection nozzles 5 is ejected from the ejection ports 21 (see FIG. 1) opened to the respective ejection nozzles 5 toward the lens surface of a headlamp (not shown). Wash away dust and mud adhering to the lens surface of the lamp. When the cleaning of the headlamp is completed and the supply of the cleaning liquid to the cylinder 2 is interrupted, the piston 3 is pulled into the cylinder 2 by the urging force of the compression spring 10 as shown in FIGS. Therefore, the injection nozzle 5 is returned to the retracted position on the back side of the front bumper, and the valve 14 of the check valve mechanism 4 is closed again as shown in FIG.

  As described above, in the cleaning device 1 according to the present embodiment, the compression spring 10 is used as the urging means for drawing the piston 3 into the cylinder 2, and the hose for supplying the cleaning liquid into the cylinder 2 is provided. Since the plug 6 to be connected is formed in the center of the rear end of the cylinder 2 along the axial direction, the manageability of the hose connected to the cylinder 2 is improved.

  Then, the cleaning liquid supplied from the hose flows into the cylinder 2 while being diffused by the diffusion rib 9 installed in the vicinity of the outlet of the plug 6 in the direction perpendicular to the axis, and the cleaning liquid flowing into the cylinder 2 is the cleaning liquid in the piston 3. Since pressure is exerted on the pressure receiving rib 12 installed in the direction perpendicular to the axis in the vicinity of the inlet of the passage 3a, the piston 3 is reliably pushed out, and the injection nozzle 5 attached to the tip of the piston 3 moves to a predetermined position. The cleaning liquid is sprayed from 5 toward the headlamp, and the lens surface of the headlamp is reliably cleaned.

  In the above, the embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a cleaning device used for cleaning a headlamp has been described. However, the present invention is applied to a cleaning device used for cleaning any other vehicular lamp. Of course, the present invention can be similarly applied.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cleaning apparatus 2 Cylinder 3 Piston 3a Piston cleaning liquid passage 4 Check valve mechanism 5 Injection nozzle 6 Plug 6a Plug circular hole 7 Cover 8 Bracket 9 Diffusion rib 10 Compression spring (biasing means)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Seal member 12 Pressure-receiving rib 13 Valve case 13A, 13B Case half 13a Case half cylindrical part 13b, 13c Case half elliptic cylinder part 13d Case half cylinder part 14 Valve 14a Valve valve body 14b Valve valve Shaft 15 Guide 15a Guide step (spring receiver)
16 Valve spring 17 Valve case wall 18 Valve seat 19 Seal ring 20 Nozzle holder 21 Injection nozzle injection port 22 Seal member S1, S2 Cleaning fluid flow path

Claims (2)

Cylinder to which cleaning liquid is supplied, a piston slidably inserted in the cylinder, urging means for urging the piston in a direction in which the piston is pulled into the cylinder, and cleaning liquid is sprayed toward the vehicular lamp. In a vehicular lamp cleaning device having a spray valve and a check valve mechanism that opens when the pressure of the cleaning liquid reaches a predetermined value or more and supplies the cleaning liquid to the spray nozzle,
The biasing means comprises a compression spring, and a plug for connecting a hose for supplying cleaning liquid into the cylinder is formed along the axial direction at the center of one end of the cylinder, and a diffusion rib is formed near the outlet of the plug. Is constructed in a direction perpendicular to the axis, and a pressure receiving rib is constructed in the direction perpendicular to the axis in the vicinity of the inlet of the cleaning liquid passage inside the piston. 2. The vehicular lamp cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the diffusion rib and the pressure receiving rib are arranged so as to cross in a cross shape when viewed in the axial direction.

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