JPH0920173A - Light guard - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent mud from sticking to a lens of a light by opening and closing shielding plates by defining a condition to determine an opening-closing condition of the shielding plates when a certain condition is realized by a combination of a light sensor to detect external brightness and a sensor to detect sticking of mud. SOLUTION: Slit type plural shielding plates 2 are supported on a front face of a light 1 with a light guard frame 3 by pins 4, and rotate with the pins 4 as a center. The whole shielding plates 2 are connected to an upper part or a lower part of a shielding plate by two links 6 through pins 5 put at equal intervals from a rotational center of the shielding plates 2, and the two links 6 are connected to a rotary shaft of an actuator 7. Whether or not the shielding plates 2 are put in an opening or closing position is processed and determined by a computing element 10 by a signal from a sensor 9. When electric power is not supplied to the actuator, the shielding plates 2 are put in a reference opening position. Normally, an automatic-manual changeover switch is set in an automatic position, and is set in a closing position only when a light sensor and a mud sensor joined in series to each other are turned on.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle light, and more particularly to a light guard capable of preventing the lens of the light from being contaminated by splashing mud when traveling on muddy ground.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been no vehicle equipped with a light guard for the purpose of preventing the lens of a light from being contaminated.

[0003]

Since the conventional vehicle is not equipped with a light guard for preventing the lens of the light from being soiled, mud adheres to the lens of the light due to splashing of the mud when traveling on a muddy ground. However, there was a problem that the brightness of the light was reduced.

An object of the present invention is to provide a light guard which prevents mud from adhering to the lens of the light.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a shield plate driven by an actuator and a link mechanism is arranged on the lens side of the light, and an optical sensor for detecting external brightness and adhesion of mud are detected. The combination of sensors defines the condition that determines the open / closed state of the shield plate, and the shield plate is opened / closed accordingly. The fixed position of the shield plate with no signal is a position where the optical axis is parallel to the shield plate surface so as not to shield the light of the light, and the shield plate so as to shield the light of the light when certain conditions are satisfied. This is the position where the plane and the optical axis are perpendicular. A certain condition is that the mud splashes up during use of the light during the daytime, when traveling on a muddy ground, or immediately before the mud adheres to the lens of the light. The daytime state is detected by an optical sensor, and the state immediately before the mud adheres to the light lens is detected by a sensor that detects the adhesion of mud.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, two grid-shaped conductors that cover the size of the lens of the light are arranged in parallel with a minute interval. The roughness of the grid is such that flying mud contacts the grid. Mud is detected when the flying mud collides with a grid-shaped conductor and the mud crosses with the other grid-shaped conductor, so that water contained in the mud causes the mud to flow between the two conductors. By being electrically shortened,
Detects adhesion of mud.

[0007]

According to the present invention, the external condition is detected by the sensor, the signal from the sensor is transmitted to the arithmetic unit, the actuator is driven by the signal from the arithmetic unit, and the shield plate is closed through the link mechanism. This prevents the splashed mud from sticking to the light.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the AND circuit in the daytime condition detected by the optical sensor and the muddy condition detected by the sensor for detecting the adhesion of the mud causes the actuator to operate and the shielding plate to close. It can prevent the splashed mud from sticking to the light.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a system diagram of the light guard. Several slit-type shield plates 2 are supported on the front surface of the light 1 by a pin 4 on a frame 3 of the light guard, and can rotate about the pin 4. The entire shield plate 2 is connected to the upper or lower part of the shield plate by two links 6 via pins 5 equidistant from the rotation center of the shield plate 2, and the two links 6 are connected to the rotary shaft of an actuator 7. It

The drive of the actuator 7 is stopped at either an open position with the position where the shield plate 2 is open as a reference or a closed position where the shield plate 2 rotated 90 ° from the reference is closed. The drive source 8 is electric or hydraulic, and whether the shield plate 2 is in the open position or the closed position is determined by the signal from the sensor 9 in the calculator 10.
It is processed and decided by.

FIG. 2 is an electric circuit diagram for driving the shield plate.
When power is not supplied to the actuator ACT, the shield plate 2 is in the reference open position. Normally, the automatic / manual changeover switch SW1 is set to automatic A so that the closed position is set only when the optical sensor S1 and the mud sensor S2 connected in series are turned on. When it is in the closed position due to a sensor failure or the like, the automatic / manual switch SW1 is switched to the manual M, and the shield plate 2 is opened / closed by the manual switch SW2.

FIG. 3 is a system diagram of the mud sensor. Light 1
Two grid plates 31 made of a conductive material that cover the size of the lens
They are placed in front of the light 1 in parallel with a small interval.
At this time, the grid plates 31 must be completely insulated. The roughness of the grid plate 31 is such that when the mud flies, the mud contacts the grid. The connection is such that the power source 32 and the detector 33 are connected in series between the lattice plates 31, and when the lattice plates 31 are short-circuited, the detector 33 detects the adhesion of mud and outputs it to the arithmetic unit 10.

[0013]

According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the mud from adhering to the lens of the light by detecting the adhesion of the mud to the lens when the light is used and driving the shield plate to shield the mud. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system diagram of a light guard.

FIG. 2 is an electric circuit diagram for driving the shield plate.

FIG. 3 is a system diagram of a mud sensor.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... Shielding plate, 6 ... Link, 7 ... Actuator, 8 ...
Drive source, 9 ... Sensor, 10 ... Arithmetic unit.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Koichi Maezawa 2-4-4 Jinto Higashi, Tsuchiura City, Ibaraki Prefecture Hitachi Techno Engineering Co., Ltd. Tsuchiura Plant

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A light guard for a vehicle light, comprising a light sensor and a sensor for detecting adhesion of mud, and automatically opening and closing a light shielding plate.