JPH03279040A - Direction control device for lamp of vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To control direction of lamps so as to conform to sensitivity of a driver by instituting a reference level of displacement quantity of steering angle to be higher according to higher vehicle speed. CONSTITUTION:In the graph of the figure, the hatched territory is a dead zone territory. In this territory, regardless of quantity of the steering angle S, the direction of lamps is always maintained to face to the front. This dead zone territory is spread according to higher vehicle speed. For example, at the vehicle speed V1 the dead zone territory is + or -S1, but at the vehicle speed V2 the dead zone territory is spread up to + or -S2. At a lamp switch ON, steering angle S and vehicle speed V are detected. Nextly, it is judged whether combination of these detected values S and V exists in the dead zone territory shown in the figure or not. If it is in the dead zone territory, it is instituted to be deflecting angle theta=0. If not, the deflecting angle theta is instituted corresponding to the steering angle S.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a vehicle lamp direction control device, and more particularly to a vehicle lamp direction control device that controls the direction of a vehicle lamp in conjunction with a steering angle.

[Conventional technology]

BACKGROUND ART Controls that change the direction of vehicle lamps in conjunction with steering operations have been known. By performing such control, the optical axis of the lamp can always be aligned with the direction of travel of the vehicle even if the road is curved. Recently, a control device has been proposed that performs control with a so-called dead zone in which the direction of the lamp is maintained at the front position until the amount of displacement of the steering angle reaches a predetermined reference level. According to this control device, it is possible to avoid fluctuations in the irradiation direction of the lamp when the vehicle is traveling straight. For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-168537, the area until the amount of displacement of the steering angle from the neutral point reaches ±15° is defined as a dead zone area, and within this area, the direction of the run and the beam are maintained at the front position. Disclosed is a device that performs control to keep the device open.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in the conventional lamp direction control device, the dead zone is set regardless of the vehicle speed, so there is a problem in that it is not possible to perform control that suits the driver's sensibilities. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a device that can control the direction of a lamp in a manner that suits the driver's sensibilities.

[Means to solve the problem]

The present invention provides a control device that controls changing the direction of a vehicle lamp from a front position according to the amount of displacement of a steering angle from a neutral point, when the amount of displacement of the steering angle is less than a predetermined reference level. In this system, the direction of the vehicle lamp is maintained at the front position regardless of the value of the displacement amount, and this reference level is set higher as the speed of the vehicle increases.

[For production]

In the control device of the present invention, since the setting of the dead zone is changed according to the vehicle speed, the responsiveness of the lamp that moves following the steering operation changes according to the vehicle speed. That is, when the vehicle is running at low speed, the reference level is set low and the dead zone area becomes narrow.

For this reason, the responsiveness of the lamps to follow steering operations is increased, and control is performed in accordance with requests from the driver when driving at low speeds. On the other hand, when driving at high speeds, the reference level is set high and the dead zone area widens.

Therefore, the responsiveness of the lamp is reduced and fluctuations in the direction of the lamp can be prevented while the vehicle is driving, and as a result, control is performed in accordance with the driver's requests during high-speed driving.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be described below based on illustrated embodiments. 1st
The figure is a graph explaining the basic concept of the present invention, and shows how the dead zone region changes depending on the vehicle speed. In this graph, the horizontal axis shows the vehicle speed V, and the vertical axis shows the steering angle S. The steering angle S indicates an angle when the neutral point is 0'', and corresponds to the amount of displacement from the neutral point. In reality, a graph that is vertically symmetrical with respect to the horizontal axis (left-right symmetrical with respect to the operating direction of the steering wheel) is shown.

In the graph of Fig. 1, the hatched area is the dead zone area, and within this area, the steering angle S
Regardless of the size of the lamp, the orientation of the lamp is always maintained in the front position. This dead zone area becomes wider as the vehicle speed increases. For example, when the vehicle speed is vl, the dead band area is ±81, but when the vehicle speed is v2, the dead band area is ±81.
Expands to 82. In this embodiment, the dead zone region is the vehicle speed V
When V is 0, it is ±9@, and from then on, as the vehicle speed increases, the dead zone area also expands until the vehicle speed V is 60 km /
When h is exceeded, the dead zone region is saturated to a value of ±40''.

Next, basic changes in the direction of the lamp will be explained based on the graph of FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, the horizontal axis indicates the steering angle S, the position of the origin 0 is the neutral point, a positive direction corresponds to a rightward steering operation, and a negative direction corresponds to a leftward steering operation.

In addition, the vertical axis shows the lamp contact angle θ, and the position of the origin O corresponds to the state where the lamp is facing the front position, the positive direction is the inclination of the lamp to the right, and the negative direction is the inclination of the lamp to the left. corresponds to The function F shown in this graph is a graph showing the basic relationship between the steering angle S and the lamp contact angle θ. According to the function F in this embodiment, the steering angle S and the lamp contact angle θ are in a proportional relationship.

Therefore, for example, when the steering wheel is operated to the right (S increases in the positive direction), the direction of the lamp accordingly tilts to the right (θ increases in the positive direction).

Now, the function F in FIG. 2 corresponds to the operation when no dead zone area is provided. In reality, the operation near the origin 0 deviates from the function F due to the setting of the dead zone region. For example, when the vehicle speed is vl, the dead zone region is ±81 as described above, and the function F1 shown in FIG. 3 is applied instead of the function F. That is, unless the steering angle S exceeds the reference level of +S1 or -S1, the lamp contact angle θ is O. therefore,
If you slowly turn the steering wheel to the right while driving straight ahead at vehicle speed V1 (S-0), S
As long as Sl is 5-Sl, the lamp will remain facing the front position, and when it reaches 5-Sl, the lamp contact angle will change from 0 to 61.
The lamp changes in a step-like manner, and the lamp turns to the right by the touch angle θ1 (although in reality, the lamp touch angle is set to 0).
There is a slight delay in response from the point to the position 61). After that, as S increases, θ also increases. On the other hand, when the vehicle speed reaches V2, the function F2 shown in FIG. 4 is applied. That is, the dead zone area expands to ±82. Therefore, if you perform a rightward steering operation while driving straight at vehicle speed v2, the lamp will remain facing the front position (θ-0) as long as S is S2, and 5-5
2, the lamp contact angle θ changes from 0 to θ.
Changes to 2. After that, as S increases, θ also increases.

Such a lamp direction control operation is adapted to the driver's sensibilities. In other words, when driving at low speeds (for example, vehicle speed Vl), the dead zone area is relatively narrow, so if the steering operation is such that the steering angle S exceeds ±81,
The direction of the lamp changes accordingly, so you can fully experience the responsiveness of the direction of the lamp. On the other hand, when driving at high speeds (for example, vehicle speed V2), the dead zone area expands, so
The direction of the lamp does not change unless the steering angle S exceeds ±52. Therefore, even if a light steering operation is performed while driving at high speeds, the direction of the lamps will not fluctuate, giving the driver a sense of stability.

The basic concept of the present invention has been explained above, and next, the basic configuration of the control device according to the present invention will be explained based on the block diagram of FIG. 5. The control unit 1 is a unit that centrally controls the entire device, and receives the steering angle S from the steering angle sensor 2 and the vehicle speed V from the vehicle speed sensor 3.

The lamp switch 4 is used to control a left lamp 5 and a right lamp 6 (for example, two fog lamps) that are to be controlled by this device.
This switch is used to turn on the
A signal indicating whether it is in the N state or the OFF state is given to the control unit 1. The left lamp drive motor 7 and the right lamp drive motor 8 are motors that adjust the contact angle θ of the left lamp 5 and the right lamp 6, respectively, based on instructions from the control unit 1, and their actual contact angles are as follows. It is detected by the left lamp angle sensor 9 and the right lamp angle sensor 10, and the detected value is given to the control unit 1 as a feedback amount. Therefore, the control unit 1 can perform feedback control to direct the left and right lamps 5 and 6 to the position of the desired contact angle θ.

The control operation of this control unit 1 will be explained based on the flowchart of FIG. 6. First, in step S1, it is determined whether the lamp switch is ON. This judgment is made by a signal from the lamp switch 4. If the lamp switch is OFF, there is no need to control the direction of the lamp, and this operation ends. When the lamp switch is ON, the steering angle S is detected in step S2, and the vehicle speed V is detected in step S3. These detected values are provided from the steering angle sensor 2 and vehicle speed sensor 3, respectively. Subsequently, in step S4, it is determined whether the combination of detected values S and V is within the dead zone region shown in FIG. If it is in the dead zone region, the touch angle is set to θ-0 in step S5. If it is not in the dead zone area, step S
6, the touch angle θ is set according to the steering angle S.

This is θ corresponding to S based on the function F shown in FIG.
All you have to do is ask for. Once the touch angle θ is determined in this way, in step S7, the motor is controlled according to the touch angle θ so that the lamp is directed to the position of the touch angle θ.

The present invention has been described above based on the illustrated embodiments, but
The present invention is not limited to these two examples,
In addition to this, it can be implemented in various other ways. For example, the graph showing the dead zone area in FIG. 1 is shown as an example, and it is possible to set various other dead zone areas. In the graph of FIG. 1, the dead zone region gradually widens as the vehicle speed increases, but it is also possible to widen it stepwise. in short,
Any graph may be used as long as a relationship is obtained in which the dead zone area becomes wider when comparing low speed and high speed. In addition, as a basic relationship between the steering angle S and the lamp contact angle θ, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the relationship (proportional relationship) between the function F expressed by a straight line in FIG.
is used, but various relationships expressed by curves may be used.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, in the vehicle lamp orientation control device according to the present invention, the dead zone is set wider as the vehicle speed increases, and the responsiveness of the lamps that follow steering operations changes according to the vehicle speed. Even when driving at low speeds, the direction of the lamps can be controlled to suit the driver's sensibilities.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a graph showing an example of a dead zone area set in the direction control device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an example of the basic relationship between the steering angle S and the lamp contact angle θ in the direction control device according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a graph showing the graph in FIG. 2 with a dead zone area at vehicle speed v1 added, FIG. 4 is a graph showing the graph in FIG. 2 with a dead zone area at vehicle speed v2, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of the orientation control device according to the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a flow chart explaining the operation of the device shown in FIG. F...Function showing the basic relationship between steering angle S and lamp contact angle θ, Fl...Function with a dead band region provided at vehicle speed ■1, F2...Function provided with a dead band region at vehicle speed v2. function.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A control device that performs control to change the direction of a vehicle lamp from a front position according to an amount of displacement of a steering angle from a neutral point, comprising: The vehicle is characterized in that the direction of the vehicle lamp is maintained at the front position regardless of the value of the displacement amount, and the reference level is set higher as the speed of the vehicle increases. Lamp orientation control device.