JPH09207720A - Wiper device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To omit the operation of a wiper switch by an occupant by providing the information that a vehicle enters a ceiling fitted traveling path from a navigation means for detecting the traveling position of the vehicle, and controlling the wiping frequency of a wiper in the reducing direction. SOLUTION: A navigation control device 6 having data related to inlet and outlet positions of tunnels and positions of roofed parking garages such as multistory parking garage and underground parking garage of a map data memory device 4 judges whether a vehicle passes the inlet or outlet of a tunnel. or gets into or leave a parking garage, and outputs this information to a wiper control device 20. The wiper control device 20 outputs a control signal to a driving mechanism 22 according to the operation of a wiper switch 21, and controls the wiping frequency of a wiper to the traveling within a tunnel or within a parking garage in the reducing direction. Thus, the operation of the wiper switch 21 by an occupant can be omitted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle wiper device for wiping a vehicle wiper.

[0002]

Conventionally, in a vehicle wiper, an occupant operates a wiper switch to operate the wiper. Therefore, when the vehicle enters the tunnel or enters the covered parking lot such as the multilevel parking lot or the underground parking lot during the wiper operation, the occupant may intermittently or stop the wiper,
There is a problem that the wiper switch has to be operated and the operation is troublesome.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to automatically reduce the wiping frequency of a wiper when a vehicle enters a traveling path with a ceiling.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, in the invention described in claims 1 and 2, the information that the vehicle has entered the traveling path with the ceiling is obtained from the navigation means, and the wiper is wiped. The feature is that the frequency is controlled to decrease. Therefore, when the vehicle enters the traveling path with the ceiling, the wiping frequency of the wiper can be automatically reduced, and the operation of the wiper switch by the occupant can be omitted.

In this case, a means (1) for determining whether or not the wiper is in operation, as shown in the embodiment described later.
02, 202), and it is preferable to control the wiping frequency of the wiper in a decreasing direction when it is determined that the wiper is operating. Controlling the wiping frequency of the wiper in the decreasing direction means, for example, changing the wiper from continuous operation to intermittent operation, lengthening the intermittent time, or stopping the wiper.

[0006] Further, the ceiling-equipped traveling path means a traveling path having a ceiling such as a tunnel, a covered parking lot, a covered gas station, and a fast food restaurant where you can shop while riding. Further, as in the invention according to claim 2, if the wiping frequency of the wiper is gradually reduced according to the elapsed state after the vehicle enters the traveling path with the ceiling, depending on the residual raindrops, Appropriate wiper control can be performed.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The navigation device 10
A GPS receiver 1, a gyro 2 and a vehicle speed sensor 3 are provided as current position detecting means for detecting the current position (running position) of the vehicle. The GPS receiver 1 receives a radio wave from an artificial satellite and outputs a signal indicating the current position of the vehicle. The gyro 2 outputs a signal according to the horizontal angular velocity of the vehicle. The vehicle speed sensor 3 outputs a signal according to the traveling speed of the vehicle.

The map data storage device 4 is provided with a storage medium such as a CDROM for storing map data, and outputs the map data to the navigation control device 6. The operation switch section 5 is operated by an occupant and outputs a switch signal necessary for navigation. Navigation control device 6
Detects the current position of the vehicle based on the current position obtained by the self-contained navigation based on the signals from the gyro 2 and the vehicle speed sensor 3 and the current position based on the signal from the GPS receiver 1, and further from the map data storage device 4. The map data is read and the display device 7 displays the road map including the current position of the vehicle and the current position of the vehicle. Further, the operation switch section 5
When the destination is set by the destination setting operation to, the destination route from the current position to the destination is set, and the route is highlighted on the display device 7.

Further, the map data stored in the storage medium includes data relating to the entrances and exits of tunnels, the positions of covered parking lots (hereinafter simply referred to as parking lots) such as multistory parking lots and underground parking lots. Therefore, the navigation control device 6 can determine whether the vehicle has passed through the entrance and exit of the tunnel, entered the parking lot, or exited from the parking lot based on the current position and the position information thereof. Then, based on the determination, information to that effect is output to the wiper control device 20.

Wiper control device (wiper control means) 2
Reference numeral 0 denotes a drive mechanism (drive means for driving the wiper) configured by a motor or the like by operating the wiper switch 21.
22 is controlled to operate the wiper. Further, the operation state of the wiper is controlled by the information from the navigation device 10 described above. Next, in the wiper control device 20, control for operating the wiper based on the information output from the navigation device 10 will be described.

The wiper control device 20 controls the wiper according to the operation of the wiper switch 21, and performs the wiper operation for traveling in a tunnel and a parking lot, which will be described later. (Wiper control for traveling in the tunnel) When the wiper control device 20 receives from the navigation device 10 the information indicating that the tunnel has passed through the tunnel, the wiper control device 20 determines that the tunnel has passed through (step 101 in FIG. 2). It is determined whether or not it is operating (step 102). In the wiper control by operating the wiper switch 21, the wiper control device 20 stores operation information indicating the operation of the wiper (whether or not it is operating, intermittent operation, low speed operation, high speed operation), and stores the operation information. Based on step 1
In 02, it is determined whether or not the wiper is operating.

When it is determined that the wiper is operating, it is determined whether 10 seconds have passed since the entrance of the tunnel was passed (step 103), and whether the tunnel exit was passed until 10 seconds passed. It is determined whether or not (step 107). Whether or not the tunnel exit has been passed is determined by whether or not information indicating that the tunnel exit has been output from the navigation device 10.

When the information indicating that the tunnel has passed through the exit of the tunnel is output before the passage of 10 seconds, the control is terminated through step 108. That is, when the tunnel is short, the wiping speed of the wiper should not be changed. Further, when 10 seconds have passed after passing through the tunnel entrance, the vehicle speed signal from the vehicle speed sensor 3 causes the vehicle speed to be 10k.
It is determined whether or not m / h or less (step 104),
When the vehicle speed is higher than 10 km / h, a control signal is output to the drive mechanism 22 so as to intermittently operate the wiper (step 105). After that, the wiper is intermittently operated while the vehicle speed is higher than 10 km / h.

After entering the tunnel, the windshield has some raindrops remaining, so it is necessary to operate the wiper to some extent. However, as the raindrops decrease as the vehicle travels inside the tunnel, at step 105. It is preferable that the wiper is intermittently operated so as to gradually increase the intermittent time, and then the wiper is stopped.

When the vehicle speed becomes 10 km / h or less due to traffic congestion or the like, the wiper is stopped (step 1
06). After that, when the navigation device 10 outputs the information indicating that the exit of the tunnel has been passed, the wiper is returned to the same operation as before entering the tunnel based on the operation information of the wiper before entering the tunnel (step 108). (Wiper control for traveling in the parking lot) Next, wiper control for traveling in the parking lot will be described.

When the wiper control device 20 receives the information that the parking lot has been entered from the navigation device 10, it determines that the parking lot has been entered (step 201 in FIG. 3), and then the wiper is operating. It is determined whether or not (step 202). Then, when it is determined that the wiper is operating, it is determined whether or not 3 seconds have passed after passing through the entrance of the parking lot (step 203), and when 3 seconds have passed, the drive mechanism is configured to intermittently operate the wiper. A control signal is output to 22 (steps 204 → 205), and when it is determined that 5 seconds have elapsed (step 204), the wiper is stopped (step 206). Therefore, the wiping operation of the wiper can be gradually reduced depending on the elapsed time after passing through the entrance of the parking lot.

After that, when the information indicating that the vehicle has passed through the exit of the parking lot is output from the navigation device 10, the wiper is returned to the same operation as before entering the parking lot based on the operation information of the wiper before entering the parking lot. (Step 208). In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, although what was applied to the traveling path in a tunnel and a parking lot was shown, you may apply to the other traveling path with a ceiling. For example, when it is determined that the elevated road and the ordinary road are parallel to each other and the vehicle is traveling on the ordinary road below the elevated road, the wiper control can be performed as in the case of traveling in the tunnel described above. . However, even in such traveling, rain may adhere to the windshield depending on the traveling lane, wind direction, etc. Therefore, it is preferable to control the wiper in consideration of such a situation. In addition, as the traveling path with a ceiling, there are a gas station with a ceiling, a fast food restaurant where you can shop while riding, and the like. In any case, the wiper can be appropriately controlled as in the above embodiment.

Further, in the above embodiment, the wiping frequency of the wiper is reduced stepwise according to the elapsed time after the vehicle has entered the traveling path with the ceiling, but the wiper is gradually wiped according to the traveling distance. The frequency may be reduced. In the above embodiment, the navigation control device 6 and the wiper control device 20 are separate control devices,
You may make it implement as one control device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a wiper control device 20 for running in a tunnel.
3 is a flowchart showing the control of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing control of a wiper control device 20 for running in a parking lot.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... GPS receiver, 2 ... gyro, 3 ... vehicle speed sensor, 4
... map data storage device, 5 ... operation switch section, 6 ... navigation control device, 7 ... display device, 10 ... navigation device, 20 ... power window control device, 21 ... wiper switch, 22 ... drive mechanism.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle wiper device for wiping a wiper of a vehicle, navigation means (10) for detecting a traveling position of the vehicle.
A vehicle wiper comprising control means (101 to 108, 201 to 208) for obtaining information indicating that the vehicle has entered a traveling path with a ceiling from the vehicle and controlling the wiping frequency of the wiper in a decreasing direction. apparatus. 2. The control means reduces the wiping frequency of the wiper stepwise according to the state of progress after the vehicle enters the traveling path with the ceiling.
The wiper device for a vehicle according to item 1.