JPH0348049B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method of controlling a wiper device having a rise-up mechanism for wiping a window surface, such as a wiper device for wiping a rear window or a front window of a vehicle, or a wiper device for wiping a headlamp. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a method of controlling a wiper device that reciprocates wiping a sight glass or the like in general industry.

Conventionally, the wiper switch was activated by wiping the window surface.
It is known that when the wiper blade is turned OFF, the wiper blade descends further below the lowest position during wiping. This mechanism is called a rise-up mechanism, and is used, for example, in a concealed wiper device where the wiper blade is hidden under the hood of a vehicle when the wiper device is not in use.

Further, in the case of a wiper device for wiping an opening/closing type window surface, if the wiper blade is pressed against the window surface when opening the window surface, it becomes impossible to open the window surface. Therefore, a rise-up mechanism is also required in such a case.

However, all conventional wiper devices having a rise-up mechanism are complicated and expensive, and a simple rise-up mechanism and wiper system is desired.

Therefore, there is a need for a wiper device control method that allows for easy rise-up.

For this reason, JP-A-55-144787 is known.
This rotates the output shaft of the wiper motor in the forward and reverse directions, making it easy to rise up and change the wiping range. Further, since the output shaft of this wiper device rotates back and forth, the output shaft and the wiper arm can be directly connected. In other words, this wiper device does not require a crank mechanism or a link mechanism that converts the connected rotation of the motor output shaft into reciprocating motion, as in conventional wipers.

However, this wiper device has the following problems. First, if the timing of forward and reverse rotations is off, the wiping range will change significantly. In this case, the wiper blade may come out of the glass surface. Furthermore, even if there is no large change, that is, even if the reversal position determining means operates normally, a slight shift in the reversal timing is likely to occur.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for controlling a wiper device that does not cause a large deviation in the wiping range, is safe, and allows fine adjustment of the reversal timing to be easily performed.

A wiper device constructed according to an embodiment of the method of the present invention will be described below.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes an armature of the wiper motor body, which constitutes a DC motor with a permanent magnet field, as is well known. The wiper motor 2 is constituted by the motor body and the speed reducer in a well-known manner.

3 is the output shaft of the wiper motor 2, and is also the output shaft of the reduction gear made up of a worm and a worm gear. A crank arm 4 is fixed to the output shaft 3, and when the crank arm 4 rotates once, the link rod 5 reciprocates once. Reference numeral 6 denotes a lever connected to the link rod 5 via a pivot pin 7, which converts the reciprocating motion of the link rod 5 into a pivot motion of the axis of the pivot portion 8. A wiper arm 9 is fixed to the shaft of the pivot portion 8 and is a well-known wiper arm.

The wiper arm 9 consists of a retainer and an arm piece, and holds a wiper blade 10, which is pressed against the wind surface by a spring force and performs a wiping operation. During wiping, the wiper arm 9 moves the wind surface 50 within the range from position 11 to position 12. When the wiper switch 13O in FIG. 2 is in the FF position, the wiper blade 10 rides on the iron plate 51 of the vehicle body from the window surface and stops at position 14.

In order to perform such a rise-up operation, the present invention employs a method in which the output shaft 3 of the wiper motor 2 is alternately rotated in reverse.

That is, in FIG. 1, the output shaft 3 of the wiper motor does not rotate continuously in one direction, but the rotation pin 15 of the crank arm 4 is at position 19 or
After rotating in the direction of arrow A from 7, it stops at position 16, and at this stop, the motor input current to the wiper motor body is cut off, the motor armature is short-circuited, and the electric brake is applied, and then the armature is turned in the opposite direction. The crank arm is reversed from position 16 to position 17 when input current is supplied from the direction. Thereafter, by repeating this reversal operation between positions 16 and 17, the wiper blade 10 repeatedly wipes the window surface 50 between positions 11 and 12.

For example, while the crank arm is moving from position 18 in the direction of arrow A, the wiper switch 13
is turned off, the pin 15 of the crank arm 4 is moved from position 18 in the direction of arrow A to position 16 and then to position 19.
and stops at this position 19.

As a result, the wiper blade 10 has a wiping range 11
12, and ran onto the iron plate of the vehicle body outside the window surface, stopping at position 14.

In other words, the device has a first predetermined rotation angle θ ₁ (θ ₁ is not shown, but position 1 is smaller than 360 degrees).
7 to position 16 in the direction of arrow A).
The wiping operation is performed between position 11 and position 12, and the rotation angle θ ₂ is larger than the rotation angle θ ₁ .
(Although θ ₂ is not shown, the angle of movement from position ₁₆ to position 19 in the direction of arrow A, or position 1
The wiper blade 10 is stopped after the output terminal shaft 3 has been rotated within the range of 9 to 17 (which is the angle plus the angle of movement in the direction of arrow A).

The important point here, as shown in Figure 1, is that
Without directly connecting the wiper blade 10 to the output shaft 3,
They are connected via a crank arm 4, a link rod 5, and a lever 6. Also, as a result,
The wiper blade 1 is larger than the rotation angle range of the output shaft 3.
The point is that the wiping angle of 0 is smaller. At this time, the accuracy of the reversal timing, which will be described later, is improved, and even if the output shaft 3 rotates more than 360 degrees for some reason, the wiper blade 10 does not rotate 360 degrees, making it possible to provide a safe wiper.

The electric circuit and mechanism for performing the above operation will be explained below.

In Fig. 1, 20 is a cam plate that rotates integrally with the output shaft 3 of the wiper motor 2, and 21 is a sliding rotary switch that also rotates integrally, and is a circular thin plate with a slit 22 made of insulating material at one location. 23 and a brush 24 that slides on the brush 23.

The rotary switch 21 is connected to the crank arm 4.
When the rotating pin 15 reaches position 19, the brush 24 rides on the slit 22 as shown in the figure, and the conductive plate 23
The current passing through the brush 24 and the brush 24 is cut off.

Since the cam plate 20 and the rotary switch 21 rotate together with the output shaft 3, the wider the rotation angle range of the output shaft 3, the more accurate the switching timing will be.

FIG. 3 is a chart showing the operation of the circuit and mechanism shown in FIG. 2, where A shows the operation of the wiper switch 13, and the state where the waveform is shown on the upper side is when the movable contact 25 is closed to the left in FIG. Hereinafter, this state will be referred to as the ON side. The state where the waveform is shown at the bottom is the state shown in FIG. 2, and hereinafter this will be referred to as the OFF side.

In addition, B in FIG. 3 indicates the ON timing of the rotary switch 21, C indicates whether the contact 28 of the cam switch 20 is on the F side (contact 29 side) or the R side (contact 41 side), and D and E indicate the relay coil 33, 34 and F indicate the rotation of the armature 1, respectively.

Now, at time t ₁ , turn wiper switch 13 from the OFF side.
When turned on, the rotary switch 21 is in the state shown in FIG. 1 in which the brush 24 rides on the insulating slit 22, so that the area between the conductor 23 and the brush 24, that is, between the terminals 26 and 27 is off. Further, the cam switch 20 is in state H in FIG. 3, and the movable contact 28 is in contact with the fixed contact 29. That is,
The cam switch 20 is closed on the left side, that is, on the side of the relay coil 33, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3.

Therefore, the battery 30→the contacts 31, 32 of the wiper switch 13→the contacts 28 of the cam switch 20,
29→A current flows through the relay coil 33 and the relay contact 34 is turned on, and the relay contact 35 is switched from the lower side to the upper side. Therefore, current flows from battery 30 to relay contacts 36 and 35 to motor armature 1 to relay contacts 37 and 38, and the motor moves as shown by arrow A.
Therefore, the cam switch 20, the rotary switch 21, and the crank arm 4 each rotate in the direction of the arrow A via the reduction gear.

Therefore, the link rod 5 moves in the direction of arrow B, and the wiper blade 10 moves in the direction of arrow C from the stop position 14, and after reaching position 11, wipes the window glass surface 50. That is, as shown in FIG. 3F, the motor rotates in the normal direction F, that is, in the direction of arrow A, and the wiper blade 10 rotates as shown in FIG. 3G.
Move from point 14 to point 12.

When the wiper blade 10 reaches the lower limit point 1a,
This time, the wiper blade 10 begins to rise due to the action of the crank arm 4. At the end of this process,
The cam switch 20 is moved from the state shown in parentheses in Fig. 3 (H to N schematically show the movement of the cam switch).
In state J, the movable contact 28 is driven to the right by the tip projection 40 of the cam (Fig. 1), and after the fixed contact 29 and the movable contact 28 are separated, the movable contact 28 and the fixed contact 41 come into contact. It comes to that. In this way, when the movable contact 28 and the fixed contact 29 are opened, the power to the relay coil 33 is cut off.
The flywheel current continues to flow through the contacts 36 and 35, keeping them ON. On the other hand, the relay coil 43 is energized by the contact between the movable contact 28 and the fixed contact 41 of the cam switch 20, and the relay contact 3
7 and 44 come into contact and the contact 34a is turned on. As a result, the armature 1 becomes the armature 1 → contacts 35, 36 → contacts 44, 37 → armature 1
With the passage of , a short circuit occurs and the dynamic brake is activated, and around time _t2 when the wiper blade 10 reaches the upper limit position 11, the speed is rapidly decelerated, and the movement of the wiper blade 10 is braked.

At the next instant, the flywheel current flowing through the diode 42 is attenuated, so that the contact 34 and the contact 3
6 and 35 are opened and the contact 35 moves to the normally closed position, so that the contact between the contacts 35 and 45 is turned on.

Therefore, the current flows from the battery 30 to the contacts 44 and 37.
→ Armature 1 → Contacts 35 and 45 The flow motor reverses, and the wiper blade 10 is reversed from the upper limit position 11 and moves toward the lower limit position 12.

Then, at time _t3 when the cam switch 20 reaches the upper limit position 11 again, the cam switch 20 enters the state L shown in FIG. 3, and the motor is reversed again.

From now on, repeat this operation and wiper blade 1
0 wipes the window surface 50.

Next, a case will be described in which the wiper switch 13 is turned off at time _t4 during such a wiping operation.

Just before this time _t4 , the relay coil 33 is energized, the armature 1 of the motor is rotating in the direction of arrow A, that is, the direction of the positive point F, and the wiper blade 1
0 is moving from the upper limit position 11 to the lower limit position 12 and is located approximately in the middle between the lower limit position 12 and the upper limit position 11.

When the wiper switch 13 is turned off at time _t4 and the state shown in FIG. 2 is reached, the current flows from the battery 30→
Wiper switch contacts 31, 46 → Rotary switch terminals 26, 27 → Relay contact 34 → Relay coil 3
3, the relay coil 33 continues to be energized regardless of whether the wiper switch 13 is turned off, and the wiper blade 10 eventually reaches the lower limit 12, reverses from the lower limit 12, and moves toward the upper limit 11. Even when the cam switch reaches approximately the upper limit position 11 and the contacts 28 and 41 of the cam switch are turned on as shown in FIG. 3M, the motor continues to rotate in the direction of arrow A. Therefore, the protrusion 40 of the cam switch 20 deforms the movable contact 28 significantly as shown in FIG. 3N, but since the movable contact 28 has sufficient springiness, the cam switch 20 will not break down.

Then, the wiper blade 10 exceeds the upper limit position 11, detaches from the window surface 50, rides on the steel plate of the vehicle body, that is, on the non-window surface 51, and the pin 15 of the crank arm 4 of the wiper motor 2 reaches the position 19 in FIG. Then, since the brush 24 of the rotary switch 21 rides on the insulating slit 22, the connection between the rotary switch terminals 26 and 27 is turned off, and the current flowing from the battery 30 to the relay coil 33 is cut off.

Therefore, the relay contact 35 is separated from the contact 36 as shown in FIG. 2, and the contact 45 is turned on. Therefore, armature 1 is armature 1 → contacts 38, 37 → contacts 35, 45 → armature 1
A short circuit occurs in the path, and the electric brake is activated, causing the vehicle to come to a sudden stop.

When the wiper switch 13 is turned on again at time t ₅ to establish conduction between the contacts 31 and 32, the wiper blade 10 moves from the stop position 14 from the upper side 11 to the lower side 12 by the energization of the relay coil 33. Then, when the wiper switch 13 is turned off at time _t6 , the wiper blade returns to the stop position 14 and stops again.

As shown in FIG. 2, in a wiper device in which the wiper blade 10 is reciprocated by alternately repeating normal and reverse rotations of the armature 1 of the wiper motor,
Single-pole, double-throw relay contacts 35, 37 are provided on both sides of the armature 1 of the wiper motor, so that currents in opposite directions flow from the battery 30 to the armature 1 through the relay contacts. Since the armature 1 is short-circuited by switching back, the electric brake is applied during reversal, which has the advantage of reducing the number of reversals.

Also, in Fig. 3, ON in Fig. 3 D and E indicates the state in which the relay coil is energized.
Waveform F in FIG. 3F, which indicates armature rotation, indicates that the motor rotates in the normal direction, that is, in the direction of arrow A, and waveform R is the opposite.

In the above embodiment, the link rod 5 is used as the coupling means, but the rotation of the wiper motor output shaft 3 is transmitted to the fan-shaped gear, and the wiper blade and the gear on the arm side engaged with this gear are rotated to rotate the wiper motor. It may also be used to transmit force to the wiper blade. The present invention can also be applied to wiper devices that use cables instead of link rods.

In other words, the connecting means can be configured such that the wiping angle of the wiper blade is smaller than the rotational angle range of the output shaft, and can mechanically limit the expansion of the wiping angle.

Further, in the embodiment described above, the stop position detection means for detecting the stop position of the wiper blade 10 and generating a signal is detected by the rotary switch 21, but this can also be constituted by a limit switch or the like. Even if it is a switch, if the rotation angle range of the output shaft 3 is wide, installation is easy.

Further, the cam switch 20 is a forward/reverse detection means that detects and stores whether the wiper motor 2 is rotating normally or reversely, and reverses the operation when the wiper motor 2 rotates normally or reversely.
Although it is configured mechanically, it can also be configured electrically using a self-holding circuit such as a relay.

As described above, in the method of the present invention, the wiping operation of the wiper blade is performed by alternately rotating the output shaft 3 in forward and reverse directions within a first predetermined rotation angle θ ₁ less than 360 degrees, and Since the wiper blade 10 is stopped after the output shaft 3 has rotated within the range of rotation angle θ ₂ that is larger than the predetermined rotation angle θ ₁ , the wiper blade 10 can be increased by devising a mechanism and an electric circuit for forward and reverse rotation of the wiper motor. The function can be applied to the wiper device, the connecting means and wiper blade can be almost the same as conventional ones, and even if changes are made, they do not need to be major changes, and the clutch mechanism for rise up can be applied. Since the present invention does not require a special eccentric rotation pin unlike the conventional method, it has the advantage that it can be constructed at low cost.

Therefore, it is possible to provide a rise-up function to a wiper device that has conventionally not been able to have a rise-up function due to price constraints.For example, a front wiper can be configured as a retractable wiper that does not obstruct vision. This has the advantage that the headlamp wiper does not reduce the amount of light, and the rear wiper can easily configure a wiper device that can handle opening and closing of the window.

Furthermore, the output shaft and the wiper blade are connected by a connecting means, and the rotating angle range of the output shaft is made wider than the wiping angle of the wiper blade by this connecting means, so that the output shaft is Even if the rotation angle range deviates by a small angle, this deviation (error) has little effect on the wiping angle deviation, so there is an effect that the accuracy of the vertically inverted position and stop position of the wiper blade is increased.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a link motion mechanism of a wiper device using an embodiment of the method of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an electric circuit diagram of the wiper device, and FIG. 3 is an operation of the circuit diagram. This is a chart showing the following. 2... Wiper motor, 3... Output shaft, 4, 5,
6... Connection means, 10... Wiper blade, 9...
...wiper arm, 8...pivot part, 50...window surface, 51...non-window surface.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A wiper motor 2 having at least a motor and a speed reducer for decelerating the rotation of the motor, an output shaft 3 of the wiper motor 2, a means for connecting the output shaft 3, 4,
In a wiper device comprising a wiper blade 10 and a wiper arm 9 which are connected through a wiper blade 10 and a wiper arm 9 and which are connected to each other through a wiper blade 10 and a wiper arm 9, the output shaft 3 rotates forward and reverse within a first predetermined rotation angle smaller than 360 degrees. The wiping operation of the wiper blade 10 is performed by alternately performing
In the wiper device control method, the wiper blade 10 is stopped after the output shaft 3 has rotated to a rotation angle range larger than the first predetermined rotation angle. The wiper blades are alternately operated at a wiping angle smaller than a predetermined rotation angle, and the wiping range of the wiper blades is restricted by the mechanical drive range of the connecting means, and the connecting means A method for controlling a wiper device, characterized in that a rotation angle range is expanded beyond the wiping angle, and a reversal timing of the wiper blade is set within the rotation angle range. 2. The connecting means comprises a crank arm 4 connected to the output shaft 3, a rod 5 connected to the crank arm 4, and a lever 6 that reciprocates about a pivot portion 8 by the reciprocating movement of the rod. A method for controlling a wiper device according to claim 1, characterized in that: 3. The wiper device includes a stop position detection means 21 that detects the stop position of the wiper blade 10 and generates a signal, and detects and stores whether the wiper motor is rotating forward or reverse, and detects whether the wiper motor is rotating forward or reverse. 3. The wiper device control method according to claim 1, further comprising a forward/reverse rotation detecting means 20 whose operation is sometimes reversed.