JPH01285430A - Control method of light for vehicle use - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the satisfactory automatic light control by altering the delay time of lighting on and off or either one of them, making the fixed output value of an ambient illumination detecting means the reference value of lighting on and off as well as based on the output value of a front illumination detecting means. CONSTITUTION:Two illumination receiving components 3A, 3B are storaged in the case 2 of a illumination sensor 1, a half front bevel 2a is provided at the front of the illumination receiving component 3A with an optical axis approximately upward, and an offset lens 5 is further fixed; these compose an ambient illumination detecting means that detects the illumination in the wide area in the fixed direction G. A projecting lens 6 is also provided at the front of the illumination receiving component 3B, and this becomes a front illuminating detecting means by conforming the axis S with the proceeding direction of a vehicle. The delay time of lighting on and off or either one of them is altered based on the ambient illumination as well as the front illumination in the neighboring area of the respective reference values. As a result, appropriate actions can be obtained under all running conditions.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to automatic light control that turns on and off headlights, small lights, etc. of vehicles such as automobiles depending on the brightness of outside light.

[Conventional technology]

In the past, a large number of methods have been proposed for this type of automatic light control.
As shown in Publication No. 203542, a method is proposed to deal with this especially when passing through a tunnel, but basically the brightness of external light detected by a single illuminance detection means is used as a reference value for turning on and off. By turning the lights on or off with a reasonable delay from the moment this detection was detected, it was possible to prevent inconveniences such as turning off the own army's lamps due to the lights of oncoming vehicles at night.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in any case, the above-mentioned conventional methods aim to eliminate the above-mentioned inconvenience by using the delay time, and the delay time is selected from the data as the most appropriate value, but it is only the maximum value. It is a common divisor, and for example, the conditions are naturally different for vehicles that mainly drive in urban areas and those that mainly drive in suburban areas.
For this reason, it is far from possible to give all vehicle drivers a sense of satisfaction that the vehicle is operating properly, and it has been an issue to solve this problem.

[Means to solve the problem]

The present invention provides, as specific means for solving the problems that occur with the conventional ones, an ambient illuminance detection means for detecting the illuminance around the vehicle, and a forward illuminance detection means for similarly detecting the illuminance in front of the vehicle in the direction of travel. A predetermined value of the output of the ambient illuminance detection means is used as a reference value for turning on and off the light, and a delay in turning on and off, or either one of the lights, is set based on the value of the output of the front illuminance detection means. By providing a method for controlling a vehicle light characterized by changing the time, the state of the traveling direction is predicted in advance, and the delay time is changed to an appropriate value based on this prediction. This is a solution to a conventional problem.

【Example】

Next, based on an embodiment of the present invention shown in the drawings, □
Explain in detail. FIG. 1 shows an example of the illuminance detection means used in the present invention. What is indicated by the reference numeral 1 in the figure is an illuminance sensor, and inside the case 2 of this illuminance sensor 1 there are two photodiodes, etc. The light receiving element 3A. 3B is housed, and a front half slope 2a is provided on the front surface of one of the light receiving elements 3A to direct the optical axis toward the road, and a biasing lens 5 having a cylindrical lens cut and a prismatic lens cut is attached. The device is used as ambient illuminance detection means for detecting illuminance from a wide range in a predetermined direction G, and a convex lens 6 is attached to the front surface of the other light receiving element 3B to detect illuminance from a narrow range in the horizontal direction. By aligning this axis S with the traveling direction of the vehicle, the forward illuminance detection means is used. The details of this illuminance sensor 1 have been filed by the same applicant as U.S. Pat. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the control method of the present invention using the ambient illuminance detection means and front illuminance detection means described above. Below, this control method will be explained using an example during normal lighting such as sunset. First, in step 11.12, the ambient illuminance and front illuminance are detected, and when the ambient illuminance becomes 1801x or less (step 21), the control method is disabled. Lighting of the small lamp (with a delay time of 10 seconds (step 41))
Perform step 51). When the ambient illuminance further decreases to 351x or less (step 22), the forward illuminance is referenced, and if the forward illuminance at this time is also 351x or less (step 32a), it is determined that the ambient illuminance has decreased due to a smooth sunset. 0.2
There is a lighting delay of seconds (step 42a), that is, the headlamps are turned on almost instantaneously (step 52). However, if the front illuminance is above 351x and below 4001x (step 32b), it is determined that the decrease in ambient illuminance is due to a temporary shadow, etc., and a 5 second lighting delay is set (step 42b). Therefore, if there is actually a shadow and the ambient illuminance recovers within these 5 seconds, the headlights will stop lighting. A similar procedure is provided when the lights are turned off, and the ambient illuminance increases and
When the front illuminance becomes 001x or more (step 23), the front illuminance is referred to, and if the front illuminance at this time is also 3001x or more (step 33a), it is determined that the increase in the ambient illuminance is due to a smooth increase of 8, and the front illuminance is determined to be 0. .5 seconds lights-out delay (
Step 43a), that is, the headlamps are turned off almost instantaneously (Step 53). However, if the front illuminance is less than 3001x, it is determined that the increase in ambient illuminance is due to temporary lighting, etc., and a 10-second lights-out delay is set (step 43b). If the ambient illuminance recovers within 10 seconds, the headlights will stop turning off. In this way, by using the ambient illuminance as a reference and comparing the forward illuminance at this time, the state of the vehicle in question is detected in the direction of travel, and by setting the delay time for turning on or off the lights in response to this detection, problems can be solved. When it is determined that there is no problem, the light is turned on or off immediately, and when it is determined that there is a problem, the operation is postponed until the vehicle approaches the problem location, and the operation is performed after obtaining the next detection result. The aim is to reduce the inconsistency felt by the driver. Next, an example of tunnel determination, which is a unique operation example of the present invention, starting from step 25 will be explained. When the ambient illuminance is 8001x or higher (step 25), the rate of change of this ambient illuminance is higher than the specified value (step 3).
5a), and the brightness due to the illumination light is 50Hz
Alternatively, when an AC frequency that is an integer multiple of 80 Hz is detected (step 35b), it is predicted that there is an extremely high probability that the user will enter a tunnel, and of course turning on the headlights should be considered. In the invention, the forward illuminance is also referred to at this time, and if this forward illuminance is 351x or less (step 35d), the headlamp is immediately turned on (step 55), and under other conditions, the headlamp is not turned on. do not have. What is shown in FIG. 3 is the measurement result by the illuminance sensor 1 in a tunnel with a total length of 120 m in which it is felt that it is necessary to turn on the headlamp normally, and the output Psi of the forward illuminance detection means is the starting position Ti1 of the tunnel. It is expected that the illuminance will decrease from a considerable distance ahead of the tunnel and the area in front will become dark, whereas the output Pg1 of one of the surrounding illuminance detection means will be affected by the illumination light installed near the entrance of the tunnel. Although it has considerable output even after passing through Ti1,
The rate of change is very steep. Therefore, if the headlights are turned on based on this rate of change and the forward illuminance, they will turn on almost at the same time as the vehicle enters the vehicle, and by adding the presence of the above-mentioned lighting as a condition, the judgment will be made even more accurate. Similarly, FIG. 4 shows the measurement results by the illuminance sensor 1 in a tunnel with a total length of 40 m in which it is not normally felt necessary to turn on the headlamp, and similarly to the above, the output Ps2 of the forward illuminance detection means is It is expected that the illuminance will decrease from a considerable distance ahead of the starting position Ti2 and the area in front will become dark, but by the time the starting position TI2 is reached, the end position T has already been reached.
When the illuminance of o2 is detected, the output is in the rising direction, so the output Ps2 of the front illuminance detection means will never fall below 351x, which is the level at which it is felt that the headlamp should be turned on, and therefore, the headlamp will not be turned on. Similarly, referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, when leaving the tunnel, the forward illuminance is referred to when the ambient illuminance is 901x (step 61), and at this time, the forward illuminance is If it is 4001X or more (step 71a), the end position Tol of the tunnel is considered to be close and 0.
Lights out for 5 seconds. Set the delay time (step 81a), then turn off the lights, and if it is less than 4001x, set the lights-off delay time of 2.5 seconds (step 81b), check the change in driving condition during this lights-off delay time. while preparing for the next action. When passing through a tunnel as described above, a comparison of the conventional method using only ambient illuminance as reference and the present invention in actual driving shows that the conventional method runs approximately 10 m without lights after entering the tunnel, and approximately 30 m after leaving the tunnel. While the driver was driving with the lights on, the device of the present invention only had about 2 seconds of light after entering the vehicle.
The lights were turned on after driving for m, and turned off after driving approximately 5 meters after leaving the vehicle, which coincided with the point at which the driver desired the operation, and it was confirmed that there was no sense of discomfort. In this way, according to the present invention, the illuminance sensor 1 that measures the ambient illuminance and the forward illuminance is provided, and the turn-on or turn-off delay time is set at the current forward illuminance based on the ambient illuminance. It has become possible to perform appropriate operations under certain conditions. The circuit diagram shown in FIG. 5 is an example of a circuit diagram for implementing the present invention, and after the light receiving element 3A13B of the illuminance sensor 1 is combined with appropriate preamplifiers A1, A2, etc., the circuit diagram shown in FIG. The steps shown can be easily implemented by inputting them into a programmed microcomputer CPU.

【Effect of the invention】

As explained above, the present invention includes an ambient illuminance detection means for detecting the ambient illuminance of the vehicle, and a forward illuminance detection means for similarly detecting the illuminance in front of the vehicle in the traveling direction, and the output of the ambient illuminance detection means A predetermined value of is used as a reference value for turning on and off the light, and the delay time for turning on and off the light, or for either one, is determined based on the value of the output of the forward illuminance detection means in the vicinity of each reference value. By making this change, the forward illuminance detection means can predict and respond to the conditions in the direction of travel in advance, thereby eliminating discomfort for the driver such as delayed operation or frequent flashing, and ensuring accurate operation. This has the excellent effect of increasing safety.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a part of the illuminance detection means of the vehicle light control method according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart also showing the control method of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the respective illuminances in a long tunnel. FIG. 4 is a graph showing the outputs of the detection means, FIG. 4 is a graph showing the outputs of the respective illuminance detection means in a short tunnel, and FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the electric circuit of the present invention. 1... Illuminance sensor 3A13B... Light receiving element CPU... Microcomputer Figure 3 @4m

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) Ambient illuminance detection means for detecting the ambient illuminance of the vehicle;
and a forward illuminance detecting means for detecting the illuminance in front of the vehicle in the traveling direction of the vehicle, and a predetermined value of the output of the ambient illuminance detecting means is used as a reference value for turning on and off the light, and the value of the output of the forward illuminance detecting means A method for controlling vehicle lights, characterized in that the delay time for turning on and turning off the lights, or for either one, is changed based on the following. (2) The ambient illuminance detection means is provided with means for detecting a change coefficient based on time or distance, and when this change coefficient exceeds a predetermined value, the light is turned off using the output of the forward illuminance detection means. A method for controlling a vehicle light according to claim 1, characterized in that: