JPH04163259A - Wiper control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform control of a wiper matching the feeling of a driver regardless of the magnitude of a car speed by detecting the number of revolutions of an engine and changing the maximum intermittent time of wiper operation. CONSTITUTION:During running of a vehicle, a microcomputer MC integrates a sensor pulse outputted from a rain sensor 1 to obtain an integrated value SIGMARp, which is compared with a given threshold THR. When the SIGMARp is increased to a value higher than the THR, a relay 52 is turned ON through a driver circuit 42, and a wiper motor 6 is run at a low speed. Meanwhile, when the pulse integrated value SIGMARp of the rain sensor 1 does not attain the control threshold THR, it is detected whether or not an engine is in an idling state, when it is YES, after a laps of a given time, for example, 15 seconds, the wiper motor 6 is run at a low speed one time. When it is NO, a progress to a stop 11 is effected, and after a lapse of a given time set according to the number of revolutions, the wiper motor 6 is run at a low speed one time.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] Regarding the wiper control device, the purpose is to perform wiper control that matches the driver's feeling regardless of the vehicle speed, and detects the engine rotation speed and controls the wiper operation accordingly. The maximum intermittence time is configured to vary.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a wiper control device for a vehicle.

[Conventional technology]

The amount of rain that falls on a vehicle's front window is proportional to the amount of rain and vehicle speed. The rain sensor detects the amount of raindrops by outputting a pulse proportional to the amount of raindrops, but the detection area is extremely small compared to the area of the front window, and the amount of detection decreases especially at low vehicle speeds (not enough for control). This results in a delay in wiper control, making it impossible to control the wiper in a way that matches the driver's feeling.

Therefore, correction can be made by controlling the signal from the vehicle speed sensor, but it is generally difficult to incorporate the vehicle speed signal into the ECU. In other words, even if it is mechanical (transmits the rotation of a propeller shaft, etc., to a wire using gears) or electric (electromagnetic pickup), it is still used for important controls (fuel injection control, anti-lock braking systems, etc.) Therefore, it is undesirable to take in the vehicle speed signals used in these important safety parts unnecessarily because it may have an adverse effect on the system.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The present invention was made to solve such problems,
The engine speed can be detected by detecting the frequency (for example, the period of noise) of noise (ignition pulses) on the iG line (ignition line, that is, the power line that is supplied when the key switch is set to the 10 position). For example, if the period of the noise is short, the engine speed increases accordingly. ), if the engine speed is high, the vehicle speed is determined to be high, and if the engine speed is low, it is determined to be the vehicle speed rate, and the maximum intermittent time of wiper operation is changed accordingly, thereby improving the driver's feeling regardless of the vehicle speed. This allows for consistent wiper control.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve this problem, the present invention provides a wiper control device that detects the engine speed and changes the maximum intermittent time of wiper operation based on the detected engine speed.

[For production]

According to the above configuration, if the engine speed is high, the vehicle speed is high;
If it is low, it is determined to be the vehicle speed rate, and the maximum intermittent time of wiper operation is changed accordingly, so wiper control can be performed that matches the driver's feeling regardless of the vehicle speed. There is no need to use it.

〔Example〕

Fig. 1 shows the configuration of a wiper control device as an embodiment of the present invention. 3
A predetermined power supply voltage is supplied through the input interface 33 through the capacitor 32, and noise corresponding to the engine speed on the IG line is input through the capacitor 32.
The noise is waveform-shaped and input to the microcomputer MC. Further, the pulse output from the rain sensor 1 is inputted to the microcomputer MC through the input interface 34. Further, a signal from a cam switch 7 provided in conjunction with the wiper motor 6 (when the cam switch 7 is in the OFF position, it becomes the ground potential, and when the cam switch 7 is in the ON position, it becomes the voltage of the IG line) is transmitted through the input interface 35. It is input to the microcomputer MC. Here, the cam switch 7 is in the OFF position until the wiper arm moves approximately 10° from the stop position, and when the wiper arm moves further, it is switched to the ON position, and the cam switch 7 is switched to the ON position when the wiper arm is moved from the end position to the cup. The on position is maintained until the wiper arm moves to the stop position and returns to the stop position, and when the wiper arm returns to the stop position, it switches to the off position again.

As a result, when the cam switch 7 is in the ON position, it is monitored that the wiper arm (that is, the wiper motor 6) is operating by the cam switch signal (voltage of the iG line) inputted to the microcomputer MC. When the cam switch 7 is in the OFF position, a cam switch signal (ground potential) input to the microcomputer MC detects that the wiper arm has returned to the stop position.

41 and 42 are driver circuits connected to the output side of the microcomputer MC, and through the driver circuit 41 the relay 510 is turned on and off, and through the driver circuit 42 the relay 520 is turned on and off. Ru. Then, as described above, when the wiper arm returns to the stop position, the cam switch 7 is turned off, and the cam switch signal input to the microcomputer MC at that time causes the cam switch to be activated via the microcomputer MC and the driver circuits 41 and 42. Then, both relays 51 and 52 are turned off. As a result, a ground potential is supplied to the low-speed control terminal 61 of the wiper motor 6 through the off contact of the cam switch 7 and the off contact of the relay 51, 52 (that is, the wiper motor 6 is short-circuited). 6, a braking current flows through the short circuit, causing the wiper arm to stop at its rest position.

Next, when the relay 52 is turned on via the driver circuit 42 in response to an instruction from the microcomputer MC (at this time, the relay 51 is turned off), the voltage of the IG line connected to the on-side contact of the relay 52 is applied to the relay. The signal is supplied to the low speed control terminal 61 of the wiper motor 6 through the on contact of the relay 52 and the off contact of the relay 51, so that the wiper motor (and thus the wiper arm) performs a predetermined low speed operation. When the wiper arm operates once and returns to the above-mentioned stop position, the relays 51 and 52 are turned off and the wiper motor is temporarily stopped as described above.

Furthermore, when the amount of rain exceeds a predetermined value, the driver circuit 41 receives an instruction from the microcomputer MC.
．． 42, relays 51 and 52 are both turned on. At this time, the voltage of the IG line connected to the on-side contact of the relay 52 is supplied to the high-speed control terminal 62 of the wiper motor 6 via the on-contact of the relays 52 and 51, and the wiper motor (therefore, the wiper arm) is performs high-speed operation.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 indicates an auto wiper switch (power switch), and by turning on this switch when it starts to rain, the auto wiper controller is activated.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operating procedure of the apparatus of the present invention. In step 1, an initialization operation is performed, and in step 2, the engine rotation speed is detected. In this case, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the engine speed is detected from the frequency of noise occurring in the IG line that supplies the power supply voltage to the microcomputer MC, as described above.

Next, in step 3, the sensor pulses output from the rain sensor are integrated to obtain the integrated value ERp, and in step 4, the ERp is compared with a predetermined control threshold THR. If ΣRp>THR, the process proceeds to step 5, where the relay 52 is turned on through the driver circuit 42 to operate the wiper motor (therefore, the wiper arm) at a low speed. Then, in step 6, it is monitored that the wiper motor (and therefore the wiper arm) is in operation by turning on the cam switch.

Further, in step 7, the cam switch is turned off, and it is detected that the wiper arm has operated once and returned to the stop position.Therefore, in step 8, the wiper motor is stopped (that is, the relay 52 is activated through the driver circuit 42). ).

Then, in step 9, the pulse integrated value of the rain sensor is cleared.

On the other hand, if the pulse integrated value ΣRp of the rain sensor does not reach the predetermined control threshold THR in step 4, the process proceeds to step 10, and the idling state is determined based on the detected engine speed. It is detected whether or not there is. If the wiper motor is idling, the process proceeds to step 12, and after 15 seconds has elapsed, the process returns to step 5, and the wiper motor (therefore, the wiper arm) is operated once at a low speed through the steps 5 to 9 described above.

If it is detected in step 10 that the engine is not idling, the process proceeds to step 11, where it is detected whether the engine speed is higher than a predetermined value, and if the engine speed is lower than a predetermined value. If so, proceed to step 13 and return to step 5 after 10 seconds have elapsed, and if the engine speed is greater than the predetermined value, proceed to step 14 and return to step 2.
After 5 seconds have elapsed, the process returns to step 5, and in either case, the wiper motor (therefore, the wiper arm) is operated once at a low speed through the steps 5 to 9 described above.

In the above flowchart, in step 4, ΣRp>
When the wiper motor reaches THR, the wiper motor is operated at low speed, but if there is a large amount of raindrops (for example, when ΣRp > THR within a predetermined time from the previous wiper operation), the driver circuits 41 and 42 Turn on both the relays 51 and 52 through the wiper motor (
Therefore, the wiper arm can also be operated at high speed.

As described above, in the present invention, even when the amount of raindrops is relatively small and the pulse integrated value ΣRp of the rain sensor has not yet reached the predetermined control threshold THR, the maximum wiper operation can be adjusted according to the engine speed. Intermittent time is specified.

That is, when the vehicle is idling, the wiper is operated, for example, once every 15 seconds regardless of the input from the rain sensor. In other words, in the case of such idling (state where the vehicle is stopped), the maximum intermittent time (for example, 15 seconds) is set for the purpose of preventing the driver from moving the wiper unnecessarily, rather than ensuring visibility. Ru.

Next, when the engine speed is low, the wiper is operated, for example, once every 10 seconds, regardless of the input from the rain sensor. In other words, the engine speed is low (low speed driving)
In this case, it is assumed that visibility is secured, and as mentioned above, in such low speed conditions, the amount of rain sensor detection decreases and readings are likely to be missed. seconds) is set.

Further, when the engine speed is high, the wiper is operated, for example, once every 25 seconds, regardless of the input from the rain sensor. In other words, the engine speed is high (high speed driving)
In this case, it is assumed that visibility is secured, but since there is almost no missed reading by the rain sensor, the maximum intermittent time (for example, 25 seconds) is set in consideration of these points.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, it is possible to perform wiper control that matches the driver's feeling regardless of the magnitude of the vehicle speed, and there is no need to take in a sensor signal from the vehicle speed sensor for this purpose.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a wiper control device as an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operating procedure of the device of the present invention. (Explanation of symbols) 1... Rain sensor, 2... Auto wiper switch, 31... Voltage stabilization circuit, 33.34.35... Input interface, MC.
...Microcomputer, 41.42...Driver circuit, 51.52...Relay, 6...Wiper motor, 7...Cam switch.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A wiper control device characterized by detecting engine rotational speed and changing the maximum intermittent time of wiper operation accordingly. 2. The wiper control device according to claim 1, wherein the engine rotation speed is detected from the frequency of occurrence of noise in the ignition line.