JPH0612488B2 - Cornering lamp system for vehicles - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a vehicle cornering lamp system that changes the irradiation direction of a headlight in conjunction with steering of a steering wheel.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in vehicles, particularly automobiles, a plurality of slits are provided at equal angular intervals in a rotating disk that rotates in conjunction with steering of a steering wheel, and two photo interrupters are arranged adjacent to each other at the positions where the slits pass. Then, various controls associated with steering of the steering wheel are performed.

That is, in association with steering of the steering wheel, the first and second
The photo interrupter generates a pulsed electric signal having the same waveform and a phase difference of approximately 90 °, and the electric signal is counted to detect the rotation direction and the rotation position of the handle.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, such a conventional rotational position detector has no means for correcting the error in the case where the counter causes a miscount due to electric noise or the like. Also, in order to reduce power consumption, if the power supply to the rotary position detector is cut off after the ignition switch is turned off, the rotation position change of the steering wheel until the next ignition switch is turned on causes an error. , It was something that would be accumulated.

Therefore, when trying to apply this rotational position detector to a cornering lamp system for vehicles, the accumulation of the error causes a large deviation in the irradiation direction of the headlight, which causes a problem that it will not be corrected forever. It was

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and includes a rotating body that rotates in a clockwise direction and a counterclockwise direction in conjunction with steering of a vehicle, and an amount of rotation in association with the rotation of the rotating body. Rotation amount detecting means for sending up signal and down signal according to the above, counter means for increasing and decreasing the count value based on the up signal and down signal from this rotation amount detecting means, and the count value in this counter means An irradiation direction changing means for changing the irradiation direction of the headlight according to the above, and an origin position detecting means for detecting an origin position at which the rotating body is positioned for each rotation with a predetermined rotation angle position of the rotating body as an origin position. Of the origin positions for each revolution of the rotating body, the origin position detected when the vehicle is running at a speed equal to or higher than a predetermined speed is determined as the center of rotation of the rotating body in the clockwise and counterclockwise directions. To, in which a correction means for correcting the count value of the counter means.

[Action]

Therefore, according to the present invention, the origin position detected when the vehicle is traveling at a speed equal to or higher than a predetermined speed, out of the origin positions that are located for each rotation of the rotating body that rotates in association with steering of the steering wheel, rotates the rotating body. It is determined as the center position.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the method for determining the center position of the rotating body according to the present invention will be described in detail. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the center position determining method. In the figure, 5 is an UP / DOWN switching circuit which receives a pulsed electric signal sent from a rotational position detection sensor (Fig. 2) as an input and sends a processing signal (up signal and down signal) according to steering of a steering wheel, 6 Is an UP / DOWN counter which receives the processing signal sent from the UP / DOWN switching circuit 5, and 7 selects an output terminal (not shown) at a position corresponding to the count value of the counter 6 and sets its level to " Decoder to be "L" or "H",
Reference numeral 8 denotes a lamp drive circuit that changes the irradiation direction of a headlight (not shown) according to the output state of the decoder 7.

The rotational position detection sensor shown in FIG. 2 is composed of a rotating disc 1 that rotates in association with steering of a vehicle steering wheel, and photo interrupters 2 to 4 having a light emitting element and a light receiving element. Photo interrupters 2 and 3 are
It is arranged adjacent to the passage position of the slits 1a of the same shape opened at equal angular intervals on the outer peripheral surface of the rotary disc 1. Then, the photo interrupters 2 and 3 generate a pulse-shaped electric signal having the same waveform and a phase difference of approximately 90 ° by passing through the slit 1a accompanying the rotation of the rotary disk 1. Electrical signal UP / DOWN
It is adapted to be input to the switching circuit 5. In addition, at the predetermined rotation angle position of the outer peripheral surface of the rotating disk 1, independently,
A slit 1b for detecting the origin position is opened, and the photo interrupter 4 detects the passage of the slit 1b. That is, the rotation position where the slit 1b faces the photo interrupter 4 is the origin position of the rotating disk 1, and this origin position corresponds to the steering wheel steering position (hereinafter, this steering position is referred to as the steering wheel center) when traveling straight ahead. It is also set. That is, in the handle center, the rotary disc 1 is located at the origin position as shown in the figure (hereinafter, this position is referred to as the rotary center of the rotary disc), and the handle centered on the handle center The origin position of the rotating disk 1 is detected to be deviated by 360 ° for each rotation in the clockwise direction and the counterclockwise direction. In general, a steering wheel of an automobile has two wheels in each of a clockwise direction (hereinafter, rightward direction) and a counterclockwise direction (hereinafter, leftward direction) about a steering wheel center.
Since the photo interrupter 4 can be rotated by less than the rotation, the photo interrupter 4 detects a total of three origin positions by aligning the rotation centers. At the time of detecting the origin position, the AND gate 9 in FIG. An "H" level origin position detection signal is input to one of the input terminals of.

On the other hand, the UP / DOWN switching circuit 5 processes the inputted pulse-shaped electric signal and sends out the number of up signals and down signals corresponding to the right steering amount and the left steering amount of the steering wheel, The UP / DOWN counter 6 counts up or down by the number of input up signals or down signals. That is, the count value in the UP / DOWN counter 6 is set to zero with reference to the time when the rotating disk is at the rotation center position, and the count value is sequentially increased by steering the steering wheel to the right, and the count value is incremented by steering to the left. The values are decreasing sequentially. And this UP / D
The count value sent from the OWN counter 6 is input to the decoder 7, and the operation of the lamp drive circuit 8 based on the output state of the decoder 7 controls the irradiation direction of the headlight in conjunction with steering of the steering wheel. ing.

On the other hand, an "H" level speed signal is input to the other input end of the India gate 9 through the speed signal generation circuit 10 when the vehicle is running at a speed equal to or higher than a predetermined speed. When the output of the AND gate 9 becomes the "H" level, the monostable multivibrator 11 operates and the reset signal for returning the count value to zero is input to the counter 6. The speed signal generation circuit 10 is NP
It is composed of an N-transistor Tr ₁ , a diode D ₁ , a capacitor C ₁ , a comparator CP ₁ and resistors R _{1 to} R _7, and has a signal sent to the input terminal 10a thereof as the vehicle runs, such as a vehicle speed sensor ( A vehicle speed signal (not shown) is sent as a distance pulse after waveform shaping.

Next, the operation of the apparatus thus configured will be described. That is, it is assumed that the vehicle is now traveling straight ahead and the rotating disk 1 that rotates in association with steering of the steering wheel is at the rotation sensor position as shown in FIG. At this time, UP / D
The count value in the OWN counter 6 should actually be zero, but it becomes a count value deviated from zero due to the electric noise as described above or the handle rotation after the ignition switch is turned off. There is a possibility that When such a deviated count value is input to the decoder 7, there occurs a problem that the irradiation direction variable operation of the headlamp controlled using the decoder 7 deviates corresponding to the count value. . However, in the present embodiment, since the correction operation as described below is performed promptly, it becomes possible to control the irradiation direction of the headlight in conjunction with the steering of the steering wheel without any trouble.

That is, the origin position detection signal input to the AND gate 9 is generated at the rotation center position of the rotating disk 1 that rotates in association with steering of the steering wheel and at the one rotation position in the right and left directions centering on this rotation center position. It becomes "H" level. That is, the origin position detection signal of “H” level is input to the AND gate 9 at the straight steering position and the one-turn steering position of the steering wheel. Here, let us consider the speed that the car can take out with the steering wheel fixed at the straight steering position and the one-turn steering position. The speed that can be obtained with the steering wheel fixed at the one-turn steering position depends on the performance of the car and the tire. Obviously, there is a limit, and the speed becomes lower than the speed that can be obtained in the straight steering position. In the investigation based on the actual vehicle by the inventor, the maximum speed that can be stably output with the steering wheel fixed at the one-turn steering position is 20 to 30 km / h, and it does not exceed 30 km / h. Therefore, 30km / h
At a traveling speed exceeding 1, the origin position detection signal will not be generated at one rotation position in the right and left directions. In other words, it can be considered that the origin position detection signal generated when the vehicle speed is 30 km / h or more is generated only at the rotation center position of the rotating disc 1. In this embodiment, The output of the AND gate 9 is set to "H" level.

That is, in the present embodiment, the speed signal generation circuit 10
Comparison reference voltage U ₁ in the comparator CP ₁ is set to a value corresponding to 30 km / h in the speed, when 30 km / h equivalent or more voltage is input to the non-inverting input terminal of the comparator CP ₁ The AND gate 9 is adapted to send an "H" level speed signal. That is, as the traveling speed of the automobile increases, the input terminal 10 of the speed signal generation circuit 10
The cycle of the distance pulse input to a is shortened, the switching speed of the transistor Tr ₁ is increased, and the potential of the capacitor C ₁ is increased in proportion to the traveling speed. When the potential of this capacitor C ₁ exceeds V _1, that is, the running speed of the car
When it exceeds 30 km / h, the output of the comparator CP ₁ becomes “H” level, and the “H” level speed signal is input to the AND gate 9. At this time, if the origin position detection signal of "H" level is input to the AND gate 9, the output of the AND gate 9 becomes "H", the monostable multivibrator 11 operates, and the UP / DOWN counter 6 is reset. . On the other hand, when the origin position detection signal is generated at one rotation position in the right and left directions, the traveling speed of the vehicle at this time does not exceed 30 km / h as described above, and therefore, the speed signal generation circuit 10 is operated. The potential of the capacitor C ₁ does not exceed V ₁ and the comparator CP ₁ does not output the “H” level speed signal. Therefore, even if the origin position detection signal is input to the AND gate 9, the AND gate 9 does not output the "H" level output signal and the UP / DOWN counter 6 is not reset.

That is, the counter 6 is not reset when the origin position is detected at the right and left one rotation positions of the rotary disc 1, but the counter 6 is reset only when the origin position is detected at the rotation center position. That is, at the time of detecting the origin position at the rotation center position,
The count value of the counter 6 should be zero, and even if the counter 6 is miscounting at this time, the count value is properly corrected at the time when the vehicle straightly travels over 30 km / h, and thereafter Even if 6 causes a miscount, the correction is appropriately performed at the true rotation center position of the rotating disk, and the irradiation direction of the headlight can be controlled without any problem by interlocking with steering of the steering wheel.

In the present embodiment, the comparison reference voltage V ₁ of the comparator CP ₁ is set to a value corresponding to 30 km / h as the traveling speed, but the value is not limited to 30 km / h, and the steering wheel is a normal traveling wheel. It goes without saying that any value may be set as long as it is a speed at which there is no risk of traveling with one rotation.

〔The invention's effect〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention,
Of the origin positions that are located for each rotation of the rotating body that rotates in conjunction with steering of the steering wheel, the origin position that is detected when the vehicle is traveling at a predetermined speed or higher is determined to be the rotation center position of the rotating body. By appropriately selecting the predetermined speed, the straight-ahead steering position of the vehicle is accurately determined in correspondence with the rotation center position, and at the time of the determination of the straight-ahead steering position, the miscount in the counter means is corrected and the headlight irradiation is performed. Disorientation will be corrected.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a method for determining the center position of a rotating body according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a rotational position detecting sensor used in this center position determining method. It is a block diagram. 1 ... Rotating disk, 1b ... Origin position detection slit, 2
4 ... Photo interrupter, 5 ... UP / DOWN switching circuit,
6 ... UP / DOWN counter, 10 ... Speed signal generation circuit, C
P ₁ ... Comparator.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim: What is claimed is: 1. A rotating body that rotates in a clockwise direction and a counterclockwise direction in association with steering of a vehicle steering wheel, and a rotation that outputs an up signal and a down signal according to the amount of rotation in association with the rotation of the rotating body. Amount detecting means, counter means for increasing and decreasing the count value based on the up signal and the down signal from the rotation amount detecting means, and the irradiation direction of the headlight is changed according to the count value of the counter means. Irradiation direction changing means, origin position detecting means for detecting an origin position at which this rotating body is positioned for each rotation with an origin position at a predetermined rotation angle position of the rotating body, and origin position for each rotation of the rotating body Among these, the origin position detected when the vehicle is traveling at a predetermined speed or more is determined as the rotational center position of the rotating body in the clockwise direction and the counterclockwise direction, and The vehicle cornering lamp system characterized by comprising a correction means for correcting the count value in the data unit.