JPH01249542A - Cornering lamp system for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To contrive the simplification of system structure by generating control voltage in a value in accordance with a steering angle and controlling, being based on this control voltage, an irradiation direction variably setting electric motor in accordance with a deviation of the actual irradiation direction of a lamp means from a target irradiation direction based on the steering angle. CONSTITUTION:A photosensor 2 is provided so as to interpose a rotary disk 1 rotating being associated with handle steering and providing two or more slits 1a in a circumferential direction, and an output signal of the photosensor 2 is input to a control voltage generating circuit 3. This control voltage generating circuit 3 decides a handle steering direction from an input pulse-state electric signal while generates control voltage in a value in accordance with a counter value of up/down signals in a quantity in accordance with right and left steering quantity to be input to a servomotor control circuit 4. In this servomotor control circuit 4, being based on the input control voltage, an electric motor 46 is controlled in accordance with a deviation of the actual irradiation direction of a headlamp from a target irradiation direction determined corresponding to a steering angle.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a cornering lamp system for a vehicle that changes the irradiation direction of a lighting means in conjunction with steering wheel steering.

[Conventional technology]

Vehicles, especially automobiles, are equipped with headlights as lighting means for illuminating the front at night, but these headlights illuminate only the front of the automobile in a fixed manner;
When the vehicle approaches a curve, the direction in which the vehicle is traveling cannot be sufficiently illuminated. In other words, when cornering around a curve, etc., sufficient illumination is not provided in the direction in which the vehicle is actually traveling, which may result in danger.

In order to solve this problem, cornering lamp systems have recently been proposed in which the direction of illumination of the headlights is varied in conjunction with the steering of the vehicle's steering wheel so that the direction of travel is illuminated.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, conventionally proposed cornering lamp systems mechanically connect the steering wheel steering mechanism and the irradiation direction variable mechanism to make the irradiation direction of the headlights follow the steering angle steplessly (linearly). ) In most cases, it is a mechanical type that is configured to be variable, which not only complicates the overall system structure (but also requires a special design depending on the vehicle type).

In addition, since the steering wheel steering mechanism and the irradiation direction variable mechanism are mechanically connected, the irradiation direction of the headlights can be changed regardless of whether it is day or night, which impairs durability. Met.

[Means to solve the problem]

The present invention has been made in view of these problems, and is designed to generate a control voltage whose value corresponds to the steering angle, and based on this control voltage, correspond to the actual irradiation direction and steering angle of the lighting means. In order to eliminate the positional deviation from the target irradiation direction determined in advance, the electric motor is driven to vary the irradiation direction of the lamp means.

[Effect]

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to linearly vary the irradiation direction of the lighting means to follow the steering angle using the electric motor based on the control voltage having a value corresponding to the steering angle.

〔Example〕

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The vehicle cornering lamp system according to the present invention will be explained in detail below. FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram showing one embodiment of this cornering lamp system.

In the figure, ``■'' is a rotating disk that rotates in conjunction with the steering of the steering wheel, and 2 is a photosensor having two pairs of light emitting elements and light receiving elements (not shown). The rotating disk l is configured to rotate to the right in the figure when the handle is steered to the right, and to the left when the handle is steered to the left. A plurality of slits 1a of the same shape are formed at equal angular intervals on the outer circumferential flange surface of the rotating disk 1, and a light emitting element and a light receiving element of the photosensor 2 are disposed opposite to each other at the passing positions of the slits 1a. In addition, a photo ink converter including a first light emitting element and a light receiving element and a photo ink converter including a second light emitting element and a light receiving element are arranged adjacent to each other in the photosensor 2 .

Then, in this first and second photo ink printer,
Slit la accompanying clockwise or counterclockwise rotation of rotating disk 1
, a pulsed electrical signal having the same waveform but with a phase shift of approximately 90' is generated, and this pulsed electrical signal is passed through the terminals 3a and 3b to the UP/UP in the control voltage generation circuit 3. The signal is input to the DOWN switching circuit 31.

The fJP/Do song switching circuit 3I determines the rotational direction of the rotary disk 1, that is, the steering direction of the steering wheel, based on the phase of the pulsed electric signal inputted through the terminals 3a and 3b, and also determines the amount of rightward steering of the steering wheel. UP/DOWN counter 32 It is now entered into The IIP/DOWN counter 32 up-counts or down-counts its internal count value by the number of input up signals or down signals, and generates a control voltage corresponding to the count value in the tlP/DOWN counter 32. is generated in the D/A converter 33, and this control voltage is Vin,
From the output terminal 3C of the control voltage generation circuit 3 to its input terminal 4
A is manually inputted to the servo motor control circuit 4 via a. In other words, the control voltage V has a value corresponding to the steering angle.
in is generated in the D/A converter 33 and input to the servo motor control circuit 4, and this control voltage Vin has a characteristic that it decreases with right steering and increases with left steering. .

The servo motor control circuit 4 includes a first comparator 41 that receives the control voltage Vin as its inverting input, and a first comparator 41 that receives the control voltage Vin as its inverting input.
a second comparator 42 whose non-inverting input is a value obtained by dividing the voltage by a diode 43 and a resistor 44; and a potentiometer 47 whose output voltage Vpot varies according to the rotation angle position of the comparator 41.
and an inverting input of the comparator 42. That is, in the comparator 41, the control '4
1 ■ Voltage Vin and output voltage Vp of potentiometer 47
ot is compared, and if Vpot>Vin, the output OI of the comparator 41 becomes rHJ level. Further, the comparator 42 compares the value (Vin O, 7) obtained by subtracting the voltage drop (0, TV) in the diode 43 from the control voltage Vin with the output voltage Vpot of the potentiometer 47, and determines that Vpot< Vin-0, 7.
Then, the output 0□ of the comparator 42 becomes the rHJ level. If Vtn>Vpot>Vin-0,7,
The output 0° of the comparator 41 and the output Ot of the comparator 42 are at the rLJ level, and when the outputs O2 and 0□ are at the rHJ and rLJ levels, the motor driver 4
5, a current is supplied to the electric motor 46 in the direction of arrow A in the figure, and the motor 46 rotates in the normal direction. Also, the output is 0. When 0□ is at rLJ and "H" level, a current is supplied to the electric motor 46 in the direction of arrow B in the figure through the motor driver 45, and the motor 46 rotates in reverse. That is, as shown in the table below, Vi
The rotation of the electric motor 46 is controlled based on the magnitude relationship between n and Vpot.

The servo motor control circuit 4 is configured such that the irradiation direction of a headlamp 5 (FIG. 2) provided on the vehicle can be varied by the rotational driving force of the electric motor 46 in the servo motor control circuit 4. That is, by supplying a current in the direction of arrow A to the electric motor 46, the output shaft of the motor (46a shown in FIG. 3) rotates clockwise and forward, driving the crown gear 46b and the worm gear 46C. Then, lamp 5
By rotating a sub-reflector 5b rotatably provided on the back surface of the vehicle a (FIG. 2), the direction of irradiation of the headlight 5 can be changed to the right when viewed from the driver's seat. Furthermore, by supplying a current in the direction of arrow B to the electric motor 46, its output shaft 46a rotates counterclockwise.
The sub-reflector 5b is rotated by driving the crown gear 46b and the worm gear 46c, so that the irradiation direction of the headlight 5 can be varied to the left when viewed from the driver's seat side.

Note that a crown gear 46 is attached to the output shaft 46a of the electric motor 46.
b. A deceleration drive mechanism 51 is constructed by mechanically coupling the worm gear 46c. The sub-reflector 5b
It is configured to swing to the right or left. Also,
When the electric motor 46 is not driven, the "zero" mechanism 53 mechanically connected to the link 52 forcibly returns the sub-reflector 5b to its rotational center position, and the headlight 5
The irradiation direction is held and fixed in the front direction of the vehicle. A potentiometer 47 is attached to the deceleration drive mechanism 51, and a servo motor control board 48 on which comparators 41 and 42 and a motor driver 45 are formed is arranged below the potentiometer 47.

Next, the operation of the cornering lamp system configured as described above will be explained. That is, the steering wheel is now in the straight steering position, the sub-reflector 5b is located at its center of rotation, the direction of illumination of the headlight 5 is facing forward, and the control voltage Vin and the output voltage ■pot match. If you turn the steering wheel and start steering to the right, for example, from this state, IJP/DOWN will change depending on the amount of right steering.
The count value in the counter 32 increases, and the value of the control voltage Vin decreases in accordance with the increased count value. That is, in the comparator 41, Vpot>V
in, and the electric motor 46 begins to rotate normally. That is, a drive current is supplied to the electric motor 46 in the direction of arrow A, and the rotation of the sub-reflector 5b due to the clockwise rotation of the output shaft 46a causes the illumination direction of the headlamp 5 to change to the driver's seat side. When viewed from the front, it becomes possible to change the direction to the right (steering wheel direction) (see Figure 4).

When the irradiation direction of the headlight 5 changes to the right, the value of the output voltage Vpot set to the comparators 41 and 42 decreases depending on the rotation angle position of the output shaft 46a of the electric motor 46, and VpoL<Vin. At this point, the supply of current to the electric motor 46 is cut off. Despite this interruption of the supply current to the motor 46, if the irradiation direction of the headlamp 5 changes further to the right due to its inertia force, the comparator 42 determines that Vpot< Vin-
0.7, the electric motor 46 begins to rotate in reverse.

That is, a drive current is supplied to the electric motor 46 in the direction of arrow B, and the rotation of the sub-reflector 5b due to the counterclockwise rotation of the output shaft 46a causes the illumination direction of the headlight 5 to be directed toward the driver's seat. When viewed from the side, you will be swung back to the left. And Vin>Vpot>Vin-
The above operation is repeated until Vin>Vp
When ot>Vin-0, 7, the electric motor 46 is braked, and the target irradiation direction determined in association with the steering angle matches the actual irradiation direction of the headlight 5. That is, the target irradiation direction and the actual irradiation direction accurately match within a zone of 0.7 cm in terms of the output voltage value of the potentiometer 47.

The above describes the operation in the case of right steering starting from the straight steering position, but the same applies to left steering starting from the straight steering position. Similarly, even in the case of right steering after left steering, the target irradiation direction and the actual irradiation direction will accurately match.

In this embodiment, the voltage drop across the diode 43 is set to 0.7V to define the matching zone between the target irradiation direction and the actual irradiation direction, but this value is 0.7V.
7. It is of course possible to obtain this matching zone not only by using diodes but also by other means.

As described above, according to the cornering lamp system according to the present embodiment, the irradiation direction of the headlight 5 can be linearly varied by using the electric motor 46 to follow the steering angle. Compared to a lamp system, the system structure can be simplified, and there is no need for a special design depending on the vehicle type.

Further, since it is possible to perform variable operation of the irradiation direction of the headlight 5 only at night, there are many excellent effects such as being able to significantly improve its durability.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the vehicle cornering lamp system according to the present invention, a control voltage having a value corresponding to the steering angle is generated, and based on this control voltage, it corresponds to the actual irradiation direction and steering angle of the lighting means. In order to eliminate the positional deviation from the target irradiation direction determined by
Based on the control voltage that corresponds to the steering angle, it is possible to linearly vary the irradiation direction of the lighting means by following the steering angle using an electric motor, which is superior to conventional mechanical cornering lamp systems. This makes it possible to simplify the system structure.

Furthermore, there is no need to provide a special design depending on the vehicle type, and the irradiation direction can be varied only at night, so its durability can be greatly improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block circuit configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a vehicle cornering lamp system according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of a headlamp whose irradiation direction is variable using this cornering lamp system, and FIG. FIG. 3 is an external perspective view showing a deceleration drive mechanism connected to an electric motor in this cornering lamp system, and FIG. 4 is a plan sectional view of the headlamp shown in FIG. 2. 3... Control voltage generation circuit, 31... tJP/DOW
N switching circuit, 32...LIP/DOWN counter, 3
3...D/A converter, 4...Servo motor system (
211 circuit, 41.42... comparator, 43...
- Diode, 44... Resistor, 45... Motor driver, 46... Electric motor, 47... Potentiometer.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A cornering lamp system for a vehicle that changes the irradiation direction of a lighting means in conjunction with steering wheel steering includes a control voltage generation means for generating a control voltage having a value corresponding to a steering angle, and a control voltage generated by the control voltage generation means. irradiation direction variable driving an electric motor to vary the irradiation direction of the lighting means in order to eliminate a positional deviation between the actual irradiation direction of the lighting means and the target irradiation direction determined in association with the steering angle based on the steering angle; A cornering lamp system for a vehicle comprising means.