JPH01289741A - Automatic wiper device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To aim at prevention against any damage to a windowpane due to dry wiping of a windshield wiper and good sight secureness by spraying washing or the like to a wiping area of the windowpane in advance at a time when a maximum wiping interval of the wiper is reached to the specified frequency at the time of intermittent operation of the wiper or the like. CONSTITUTION:In an automatic wiper device 1, a processing circuit 3 controls a driving switch 5 for opening or closing on the basis of a detection signal out of a raindrop detecting element 4 with on-operation of an auto-mode switch 2. If so, a mode 6 drives wipers 7a, 7b, so that each of wiping areas 8a, 8b of a windshield 15 is wiped clean. At this time, when a maximum wiping interval is reached to the specified frequency at the time of intermittent operation of these wipers 7a, 7b at time of an amount of rainfall being little, by way of example, a relay switch 23 is turned on by the processing circuit 3. Therefore a washer motor is driven, washing in a tank 18 is sacked in by a pump 17, and it is sprayed to these wiping areas 8a, 8b from a nozzle 16.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic wiper device which is preferably implemented in automobiles and the like, and whose wiper blades are driven at optimal wiping intervals depending on the amount of rainfall.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, automatic wiper devices in which wiper blades are driven at wiping intervals that are optimal for the amount of rainfall have been put into practical use. There are two types of automatic wiper devices: a fully automatic type and a semi-automatic type. In the former fully automatic type, when raindrops are detected, the wiper automatically automatically wipes the wiper as described above. & The wiper grade is driven at appropriate wiping intervals, and when raindrops are no longer detected, the wiping operation is automatically stopped. In the latter semi-automatic type system, one wiping movement is started by the driver's operation, and the wiper blades are driven at the optimum wiping interval corresponding to the amount of rainfall as described above.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the above-mentioned semi-automatic wiper system, the wiper device is activated based on the judgment of the driving sound, so even when there is almost no rainfall or the rain has stopped, the driver can The wiping operation of the wiper blade continues at the maximum wiping interval until the stop operation is performed.

For this reason, the wiper blade is in a so-called dry wiping state until the driver performs a stop operation, and the wiper blade may be damaged by deer or sand stuck on the window surface, or the surface of the window glass may be scratched. or Furthermore, dirt caused by mud splashes and the like adhering to the surface of the window may be extended, and in this case, the driver's visibility is deteriorated.

The object of the present invention is that the wiping interval of the wiper blade is maximum when the rainfall is at its peak or when the rain has stopped, and the wiper blade performs the wiping operation more than a predetermined number of times at this maximum wiping interval. When this is done, the liquid is sprayed onto the window to clean away dust and sand that has adhered to the surface of the window, and to prevent damage to the wiper blade and damage to the window glass due to the dust and sand that has adhered to the window. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic wiper device that can prevent the above.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention includes a raindrop detection element, a drive means for driving a wiper blade, and a wiping interval of the wiper blade that responds to the output of the raindrop detection element and increases the wiping interval of the wiper blade as the amount of rainfall decreases. and a spraying means for spraying a liquid onto an area of the window wiped by the wiper blade, the control means controlling the wiper blade so that the wiper blade reaches a maximum, and the wiper blade wipes the window at a maximum wipe interval. This automatic wiper device is characterized in that when a wiper blade performs a wiping operation more than a predetermined number of times, a spraying means and a driving means are activated.

For production According to the invention, the control means has a raindrop detection element force of 1.

The drive means is activated in response to the output of the wiper blade, whereby the wiper blade is driven for a wiping period suitable for the amount of ml falling.

A liquid such as a cleaning liquid can be sprayed from a spraying means onto the area to be wiped by the wiper blade. The control means activates the spraying means and sprays liquid onto the area to be wiped by the wiper blade when the wiping interval reaches a maximum and the wiper blade performs the wiping operation more than a predetermined number of times at this maximum wiping interval. Inject.

Therefore, when the amount of rainfall is very small or when the rain has stopped, the wiping interval becomes maximum, and if the wiper blade performs wiping operations more than a predetermined number of times at this maximum wiping interval, the wiper blade During the wiping operation, liquid is sprayed into the wiping area, which prevents the wiper blade from wiping dry, thereby preventing damage to the wiper blade due to dust, sand, etc. adhering to the window surface. In addition, it is possible to prevent the surface of the window glass from being damaged.

Embodiment FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of an auto wiper device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this auto wiper device 1, when the driver operates the auto mode switch 2, the processing circuit 3, which is a control means, controls the opening and closing of the drive switch 5 in response to the amount of rainfall detected by the raindrop detection element 4. As a result, the wiper motor 6, which is a driving means, drives the wiper blades 7a, 7b, thereby wiping the frequently wiped areas 8a, 8b, thereby realizing an automatic wiper operation.

The raindrop detection element 4 includes a pair of light emitting elements 11 and a light receiving element 12, and is mounted on the bonnet 13 of the vehicle body, for example. An optical path 14 is formed between the light emitting element 11 and the light receiving element 12, and the amount of rain can be detected by the number of raindrops that block this optical path 14 per unit time, and the detection result is as follows. The signal is applied to the processing circuit 3.

One terminal of the wiper motor 6 is connected to a high-level power supply 1B, and the other terminal is connected to the drive switch 5.
connected to one contact of the The other contact of the drive switch 5 is grounded, and the wiper motor 6 is thus driven in accordance with the drive signal from the processing circuit 3.

A nozzle 16 is also installed on the bonnet 13 and faces the windshield 15.
A cleaning liquid pumped up from a tank 18 by a pump 17 is supplied through a conduit 19 . The pump 17 discharges the cleaning liquid as the washer motor 20 rotates.

One terminal of the washer motor 20 is connected to the high-level power supply 1B, and the other terminal is connected to one contact of a switch 21.
The other contact of is grounded.

Therefore, when the switch 21 is turned on, the washer motor 20 is driven, and the cleaning liquid is sprayed from the nozzle 16. One contact of the switch 21 is also connected to the processing circuit 3 via a line 26, which allows the processing circuit 3 to detect whether the switch 21 is made conductive, i.e. whether the washer motor is driven. can. The nozzle 16, pump 17, and washer motor 20 constitute an injection means.

The other terminal of washer motor 20 is also connected to relay 22
is connected to one contact of the relay switch 23,
The other contact of this relay switch 23 is grounded. One terminal of the relay coil 24 of the relay 22 is connected to the high-level power supply 1B, and the other terminal of the relay coil 24 is connected to the collector of the Darlington-connected transistor Tr1. A diode 25 is interposed between both terminals of the relay coil 24 to absorb back electromotive force generated when the relay coil 24 is demagnetized.

The base of the transistor Tri is connected to the emitter of the transistor Tr2, and the base of the transistor Tr2 is connected to the processing circuit 3 via resistors R1 and R2.

The collector of the transistor Tr2 is connected to the high-level power supply 1B via a resistor R3. Transistor Tr
The emitter of transistor Tr2 is grounded via resistor R4, and the emitter of transistor Tr1 is also grounded.

The auto wiper device 1 configured as described above, as shown in FIG.
, 7b are set. For example, when it is raining heavily, the wiper blades 7a and 7b perform a continuous wiping operation, and when the amount of rainfall is low or when the rain has stopped, the maximum wiping interval T1, for example 12, is set. A wiping operation is performed every second. Therefore, when the amount of rainfall is very low or when the rain has stopped, the wiper blades 7a and 7b wipe the surface of the windshield 15 more than necessary. When the wiping operation is performed a predetermined number of times, for example twice, with T reaching the maximum wiping interval T1, the cleaning liquid is injected from the nozzle 16 in the following manner.

That is, when the conditions for injecting the cleaning liquid as described above are met at time t1, the processing circuit 3 performs the third [! l!
<1), a high-level output is derived to the transistor Tr2, which makes the transistor Tr1 conductive, excites the relay coil 24 of the relay 22, makes the relay switch 23 conductive, and starts the washer motor 20. , the pump 17 sucks the cleaning liquid from the tank 18 and sprays it from the nozzle 16.

When the spraying of the cleaning liquid is started in this manner, at time t2, which is delayed by a predetermined time W1 of, for example, about 0.2 seconds from the time t1, the processing circuit 3 is activated as shown in FIG.
), the drive switch 5 is turned on, thereby causing the wiper blades 7a, 7b to start the wiping operation as shown in FIG. 3(3).

The washer motor 20 is driven from the time t2 for a predetermined time W2 of, for example, about 1 second, and the drive switch 5 is driven from the time t3 until a time t4, which is a predetermined time W3 of about 1 second. A drive signal is provided. As a result, the wiper blade 7a,
7b completes the 11th wiping movement fya at time t5 between time t3 and t4, and starts the second wiping movement from this time t5. When the second wiping operation started in this way ends at time 6, the drive signal is not derived, and the wiping operation of the wiper blades 7a, 7b is stopped. By adjusting the time W3,
It is possible to adjust the number of times the wiper blades 7a, 7b wipe in conjunction with the spraying operation of the cleaning liquid.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation. In step n1, initial settings are performed, and in step n2, it is determined whether the auto mode switch 2 is conductive. If not, that is, if it is not in auto mode, the process moves to step n3, and it is determined whether the switch 21 is conductive. , then step n
4, the washer motor 20 is driven, and the wiper motor 6 is driven in response to the operation of the washer motor 20, as described above, and the process returns to step n2. If the switch 21 is not turned on in step n3, the process returns directly to step n2.

In step n2, when the auto mode switch 2 is turned on, the process moves to step n5, the detected value of rainfall amount is initialized, and the rainfall amount is measured in step n6.

In step n7, the driving interval of the wiper motor 6, that is, the wiping interval T of the wiper blades 7a, 7b is determined based on the rainfall I measured in step n6, based on the above-mentioned FIG. It is determined whether the mode is intermittently based on the wiping interval T,
If so, the process moves to step n9.

In step n9, it is determined whether the wiping interval T is the maximum wiping interval T1, and if so, step n
LO, and the counter in the processing circuit 3 starts counting. In step r111, it is determined whether the wiper motor 6 has been driven a predetermined number of times, for example, twice. If so, that is, when the wiper blades 7a and 7b are being driven with almost no raindrops on the windshield 15, The process moves to step n12, where the count value is cleared, and in step n13, as shown at time t1 in FIG.
0 is driven.

In step n14, a delay is performed by time W1 corresponding to the time period t1 to t2, and when time t2 is reached, the wiper motor 6 is driven in step n15. In step n16, a delay is performed by the predetermined time W2 corresponding to the time period t2 to t3, and in step n17, the washer motor 20 is stopped. In step n18, time W3 corresponds to the time t3 to t4.
The drive signal is set to low level in step n19, the wiper motor 6 is stopped, and the process returns to step n2.

In step n11, the wiper blade 7a.

When the number of times of wiping in step 7b is less than the predetermined number of times, and in step n9, the wiping interval T is the maximum wiping interval T.
If it is not 1, the count value is cleared in step n20, and then the process returns to step rr2.

The counting operation may be performed by counting the number of times of wiping or by counting the wiping time.

In this way, in the present automatic wiper device 1, when there is almost no rainfall or the rain has stopped, the wiping interval T of the wiper blades 7a and 7b becomes the maximum wiping interval T1,
When the wiping operation is performed more than a predetermined number of times during this maximum wiping interval T1, the washer motor 20 is automatically started and the wiper blade 7 of the windshield 15 is
The cleaning liquid is sprayed onto the areas 8a and 8b that are wiped by the wiper blades 7a and 7b.

The wiper blades 7b are prevented from being wiped dry, the wiper blades 7a and 7b are prevented from being damaged by dust or sand adhering to the surface of the windshield 15, and the surface of the windshield 15 is also prevented from being scratched. Prevented. Furthermore, the wiper blade 7a removes mud and the like that have adhered to the surface of the windshield 15 due to mud splashing after rain.
, 7b will not be stretched by the wiping action and the visibility will not be deteriorated, and in this way the functionality can be significantly improved.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, the wiping interval of the wiper blade becomes maximum, and when the wiper blade performs the wiping operation more than a predetermined number of times at this maximum wiping interval, the wiper blade performs the wiping operation. When the liquid is wiped by the wiper blade, the spraying means is activated to spray the liquid onto the area wiped by the wiper blade. This prevents the wiper blade from being wiped dry even when the window surface is scratched or the rain has stopped, and this prevents the wiper blade from being damaged by dust, sand, etc. adhering to the window surface. At the same time, it is possible to prevent the surface of the window glass from being damaged. Furthermore, mud and the like attached to the surface of the window glass will not be stretched and deteriorate visibility, thereby improving functionality.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of an automatic wiper device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a graph showing the relationship between rainfall I and the wiping interval 1iT of wiper blades 7a, 7b.
FIG. 3 is a timing chart for explaining the operation, and FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining the operation. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Auto wiper device, 2... Auto mode switch, 3... Processing circuit, 4... Raindrop detection element, 5...
... Drive switch, 6... Wiper motor, 7a, 7b
...wiper blade, 8a, 8b...wiping area, 1
4... Light path, 15... Windshield, 16...
・Nozzle, 17...Pump, 20...Washer motor, 22...Relay agent Patent attorney Keiichi Saikyo

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A raindrop detection element; a drive means for driving a wiper blade; and control for controlling the wiping interval of the wiper blade to become longer as the amount of rainfall decreases in response to the output of the raindrop detection element. and a spraying means for spraying a liquid onto an area of a window wiped by the wiper blade, the control means being configured such that the wiping interval is a maximum, and the wiper blade is moved at least a predetermined number of times during the maximum wiping interval. An automatic wiper device characterized in that when a wiping operation is performed, a spraying means and a driving means are activated.