JPH11310108A - Parallel wiping type wiper device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To carry out an adequate temperorary wiping movement, in a parallel wiping type wiper device. SOLUTION: In this wiper device, a wiper blade 1 to wipe the rain drops attached on a front glass 2 is moved to reciprocate in the lateral direction of the front glass 2, while the storing position of the wire blade 1 is set to store the wire blade 1 by letting prostrate it near the front edge of the driver seat side of the front glass 2. In this case, when a temperorary wiping switch to wipe operate temporarily in the time of storing condition is turned on, the wiper blade 1 is made to carry out a reciprocating tilting movement shown as the arrow marks B and C, between the storing position and a position almost parallel to a driver seat side front pillar 6b. As a result, by carrying out only this tilting wiping movement when the attaching amount of the water drops is little, for example, a rapid wiping operation can be carried out.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a parallel wiping type wiper device in which a wiper blade for wiping raindrops adhered to a windshield is reciprocated in a lateral direction of the windshield in a substantially parallel state. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a wiper device for a vehicle such as an automobile, there is a parallel wiper type wiper device in which a wiper blade is reciprocally wiped in a substantially parallel state, in addition to a wiper blade in a fan shape. In such a parallel wiping type wiper device, for example, a wiping operation can be performed as shown in FIG.

In the apparatus shown in FIG. 3, a reciprocating wiping motion is performed in the left-right direction of the windshield 2 with the wiper blade 1 extended in the vertical direction of the windshield 2. Windshield 2 as shown
A slider 4 movable on a guide rail 3 having a shape substantially along the front edge of the wiper arm 5 and supporting a base end of a wiper arm 5 integrally holding the wiper blade 1 with the slider 4;
The slider 4 can be driven by a motor (not shown) via, for example, a belt to reciprocate the wiper blade 1 between the left and right front pillars 6a and 6b in a substantially parallel state as shown by an arrow A in the figure.

When the wiping motion is not performed, the wiper blade 1 is stored below the front edge of the windshield 2 so as not to obstruct the view. When the wiping motion is performed from the stored state, the wiper arm 5 is tilted by a motor or the like (not shown) so as to erect the wiper blade 1 as shown by an arrow B in the drawing, and the wiper blade 1 is moved to the driver's seat side front pillar. 6b. Then, as described above, the slider 4 can be driven to reciprocate the wiper blade 1 in a parallel state.

[0005] Some wiper devices allow various wiping modes in addition to the low-speed, high-speed, and intermittent wiping modes. For example, the wiper device temporarily wipes water droplets splashed by other vehicles when it rains. In some cases, a temporary wiping (mist) mode is provided in which the wiping operation is performed only one round trip to return to the original stored state.

[0006]

However, in order to perform a temporary wiping operation in the above-mentioned parallel wiping type wiper device, the wiper blade 1 is first tilted from the retracted position to an upright state, and then the right and left sides of the windshield 1 are rotated. It is conceivable to make one reciprocation in the direction to fall down to the storage position again. In this case, however, the time required for the above series of operations is long, and in particular, the reciprocating wiping motion is performed by one wiper blade as shown in the illustrated example. If the amount of water droplets is small, the wiper blade continues to perform the wiping motion even after the wiper blade is sufficiently wiped off. However, there is a problem that it is annoying.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problem and to realize that a suitable temporary wiping operation can be performed in a parallel wiping type wiper device, the present invention provides
A wiper blade for wiping raindrops attached to the windshield is reciprocated in the left-right direction of the windshield in a substantially parallel state, and the storage position of the wiper blade is set near the front edge of the windshield on the driver's seat side. In the parallel wiping-type wiper device configured to be stored in an upright position, when a temporary wiping switch for temporarily performing a wiping operation in the storage state is turned on, the wiper blade is moved to the storage position and the driver's seat side pillar. Wiping control means for performing a reciprocating tilting movement between a position substantially parallel to the wiping position. In particular, when the time during which the temporary wiping switch is turned on is shorter than a predetermined time, the wiping control unit causes the wiper blade to perform only wiping by the reciprocating tilting motion and turns on the temporary wiping switch. If the time is longer than the predetermined time, it is preferable that the wiper blade is raised by the reciprocating tilting motion and then a parallel wiping motion of the windshield is performed in the left-right direction.

In this manner, when the temporary wiping switch, which is generally operated to secure the field of view in an emergency, is turned on, the wiper blade is caused to perform only the tilting motion, and the wiping motion is performed from the storage position. It is possible to shorten a series of times from when the user goes to the storage position again. In addition, according to the length of the ON operation time of the switch, when the time is short, only the tilting wiping motion is performed, and when the switching operation time is long, the reciprocating wiping motion of the windshield in the left and right direction is also performed, so that water droplets are removed. A temporary wiping operation according to the amount of adhesion can be performed.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to specific examples shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the mist control in the temporary wiping mode by the wiping control means of the parallel wiping type wiper device to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a wiper blade 1 (wiper arm) based on the present invention. FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing a conventional example to show the operation of FIG. In FIG. 2, the same parts as those in FIG. 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

This wiper device can select OFF, INT, Lo and Hi states by a wiper switch. In the control flow described below, the state of the wiper switch is detected and the operation is appropriately performed. decide. IN
At T, the wiper arm is raised from the storage position to the rise position, and a cycle of performing parallel movement is intermittently executed at a selected cycle. In the Lo and Hi states, parallel movement is performed at low speed and high speed, respectively.

Table 1 shows an example of the operation according to the present invention in each of the above states selected by the wiper switch. In the table, the rise / retract movement of the wiper arm is described as “tilt”, and the slide movement is described as “parallel movement”.

[0013]

[Table 1]

When the mist switch is turned on for a short time at INT in Table 1, either the tilting or the parallel movement is performed according to the wiper position at that time.

Next, a control flow relating to the state of the mist switch will be described. In the control of the wiper device, the wiper switch is turned OFF, INT,
The state of the mist operating flag Fm is viewed in the normal control flow when the Lo and Hi states are selected, and the flag Fm
Is entered (Fm = 1), the flow enters the mist control flow.

In a first step ST1 of FIG. 1, it is determined whether or not a mist switch as a temporary wiping switch is on, and if it is on, a second step ST1 is performed.
2 to set the mist operation flag Fm (Fm
= 1), and proceeds to the third step ST3. Third step ST
At 3, it is determined whether or not the Hi switch for performing the high-speed wiping motion (high-speed wiping in the range indicated by the arrow A in FIG. 2) is in the off state. When the Hi switch is in the OFF state, the wiper switch is in the OFF state, the INT state, or the Lo state, and the process proceeds to the fourth step ST4.
It is determined whether or not the Lo switch for performing the low-speed wiping motion (low-speed wiping in the range indicated by the arrow A in FIG. 2) is in the off state.

If it is determined in the fourth step ST4 that the Lo switch is off, the wiper switch is turned off.
Either FF or INT state. If the Lo switch is not off, Hi in the third step ST3.
When the switch is determined to be in the OFF state and when determined to be in the Lo state in the fourth step ST4, the process proceeds to the fifth step ST5, in which case the timer Tc is reset to the overflow value. After setting to (Tmax), the process proceeds to the sixth step ST6. The process also proceeds to the sixth step ST6 when the Lo switch is in the off state in the fourth step ST4.

In a sixth step ST6, it is determined whether or not a timer Tc for counting the time during which the mist switch is on exceeds a set value Tmax. Timer Tc
Does not exceed the set value Tmax, that is, if the mist switch is still on for a short time, the process proceeds to a seventh step ST7, where the wiper blade 1 is moved as indicated by arrows BC in FIG. During the tilting movement, the rise / retract operation control for the tilting movement is continued by driving a motor (not shown) or the like. If the wiper blade 1 is performing parallel movement in the INT mode, the seventh step ST
7 is simply ignored. In any case, wiper blade 1
Once the drive from the storage position to the rise position is started, the drive always reaches the rise position by a self-holding circuit (not shown). In the next eighth step ST8, the timer Tc counts up and returns to the first step ST1.

In the sixth step ST6, when it is determined that the timer Tc has exceeded the set value Tmax (whether the wiper switch is in the Hi or Lo state, or in the OFF or INT state, If the mist switch is turned on), the process proceeds to the ninth step ST9, and it is determined whether or not the wiper blade 1 is at the rise completion position substantially parallel to the driver's seat side front pillar 6b as shown by the solid line in FIG. Is determined by, for example, a position sensor. If the wiper blade 1 has not reached the rise completion position, the process proceeds to the tenth step ST10, where rise drive control is performed.

In the tenth step ST10, when the set value Tmax is set to be shorter than the rise driving time from the storage position to the completion of the rise, the process proceeds from the sixth step ST6 to the tenth step ST10. It can be determined that the drive is still in the middle of the rise drive, and the wiper arm 5 is tilted by the tilt drive motor (not shown) from the storage position (downward state) to the rise completion position (standing state) as shown by the arrow B in FIG. Rise drive control is performed to return to the first step ST1.

In a ninth step ST9, the wiper blade 1
Has reached the rise completion position, the eleventh step ST
Then, the rise drive control is stopped in step 11, and in the twelfth step ST12, it is determined that it is preferable to increase the wiping amount because the amount of water droplets attached is large, and the slide Hi drive control is performed. Return. Here, it can be determined that the case where the mist switch is turned on for a long time and the wiping operation is to be temporarily performed is a case where some urgency is required,
In such a case, it is preferable that the wiping be performed as quickly as possible. Therefore, the slider 4 is driven at a high speed in the left-right direction of the windshield 2.

When the wiper switch is in the Hi or Lo state, the timer Tc is forcibly overflowed in the fifth step ST5 even if the mist switch is turned on for a short time. If so, the rise completion position has already been confirmed, so that the process proceeds from the ninth step ST9 to the eleventh step ST11 to perform the slide Hi drive control simply by ignoring the rise drive stop signal (ST11) (ST12).

As described above, when the mist switch is turned on for a long time, the slide Hi drive control is performed assuming that a large area is to be quickly wiped.
When the mist switch is turned on for a short time, only the rise / retract operation control for tilting the wiper blade 1 is continued while the mist switch is on.

If it is determined in the first step ST1 that the mist switch is not on, the process proceeds to a thirteenth step ST13, where it is determined whether the Hi switch is off or not, and the Hi switch is turned on. In the case of, since the mist switch has already been turned off, if the current state is the Hi state, the state is maintained and the process proceeds to the fourteenth step ST14, where the mist operation flag Fm is reset (Fm = 0), and return to the normal control flow.

If it is determined in step ST13 that the Hi switch is off, then it is determined whether the Lo switch is off (step 15).
T15) When the Lo switch is on, the 16th
Proceeding to step ST16, since the mist switch is already in the OFF state, if the current state is the Lo state, the state is maintained, and the mist switch is turned on when the immediately preceding control was the mist control. As a result, if the state is the Hi state, the state is changed to the Lo state. continue,
In a fourteenth step ST14, the mist operation flag Fm is reset (Fm = 0), and the process returns to the normal control flow.

In the seventeenth step ST17, the timer Tc
Is greater than or equal to the set value Tmax. First
If the timer Tc exceeds the set value Tmax in step ST17, it means that the mist switch has been turned on after being turned on for a long time in the INT or OFF state,
The wiper blade 1 is in the parallel motion, and the process proceeds to the eighteenth step ST18, where it is determined whether or not the slider 4 is at the auto stop position (the driver's seat side wiping reversal position). If it is determined that the position is the auto stop position, the process proceeds to a nineteenth step ST19, in which the drive control of the slider 4 is stopped, the timer Tc is reset (Tc = 0) in the next twentieth step ST20, and the next twenty-first step ST20 is performed. Step ST21
Resets the mist operating flag Fm (Fm = 0) and returns to the normal control flow.

If it is determined in the eighteenth step ST18 that the current position is not the automatic stop position, the operation proceeds to a twenty-second step ST22, in which the driving of the slider 4 is switched from high-speed control to low-speed control, and the operation returns to the first step ST1.
Therefore, the wiper blade 1 does not stop in the middle of the windshield 2 and continues the low-speed parallel movement until the wiper blade 1 reaches the auto stop position in the subsequent control cycle. When the automatic stop position is determined in the eighteenth step ST18, the process proceeds to a nineteenth step ST19, and the above control is performed.

If it is determined in step 17 that the timer Tc has not exceeded the set value Tmax (overflow), the mist switch is turned on for a short time in the INT or OFF state and then turned off. Alternatively, it means a state in which the timer has been reset after reaching the auto-stop position (ST19, ST20), and accordingly, the wiper blade 1 is in a state of being tilted or shifting to a tilting motion. In that case, the process proceeds to the twenty-third step ST23, where it is determined whether or not the wiper blade 1 (wiper arm 5) is at the storage position. When it is determined that the wiper blade 1 is at the storage position, the process proceeds to a fourteenth step ST14, where the mist operation flag Fm is reset (Fm = 0), and the process returns to the normal control flow.

If it is determined in the above-mentioned twenty-third step ST23 that it is not at the storage position, the twenty-fourth step ST24
Then, the tilt drive motor performs storage drive control for tilting the wiper arm 5 from the rise completion position to the storage position as shown by the arrow C in FIG. In the next 25th step ST25, the timer Tc is reset (Tc
= 0), and then proceeds to a fourteenth step ST14, in which the mist operation flag Fm is reset (Fm = 0), and the flow returns to the normal control flow.

As described above, when the mist switch is turned on and the ON time is short, the wiping can be performed by the tilting movement between the storage position and the rise completion position in the seventh step ST7. As shown by arrows B and C in FIG. 2, one reciprocating tilting motion is performed. The tilting wiping range 7 wiped in this way is a part of the windshield 2 as shown in FIG. 2, but is a range in front of the driver's eyes. Is sufficient to make Then, before the timer Tc overflows, the process proceeds to the thirteenth step ST13,
Or, if INT is selected, the 17th step S
From T17, the process proceeds to the twenty-third step ST23 to perform storage control, and the short-time processing in the mist mode ends. In addition, during the parallel movement with the INT selection, the above storage control is ignored and the parallel wiping control is continued.

When the amount of adhesion is large, it is preferable to wipe the entire windshield 2, in which case the ON time of the mist switch may be lengthened. In this case, if the timer Tc exceeds the set value Tmax in the sixth step ST6, the process proceeds to the ninth step ST9. In this state, a parallel reciprocating wiping motion is performed at a high speed from this state, and the entire surface of the windshield 2 can be wiped. Even if the amount of raindrops attached is large and the mist switch is on for a long time, the windshield 2
In some cases, it is not necessary to wipe the entire surface of the vehicle. In such a case, the arrow B in FIG.
It is also possible to set so that the tilting movement shown in C is performed continuously.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the parallel wiping type wiper device which performs the parallel wiping movement in the left and right direction of the windshield, the storage position is provided at a position below the front edge of the windshield. When the temporary wiping switch is turned on, the wiper blade can perform a reciprocating tilting motion within a fan-shaped range between the retracted position and a position substantially parallel to the driver's seat side pillar. Wiping can be performed within a minimum necessary range of the field of view of the hand by a quick wiping operation. Further, by changing the wiping range according to the length of the mist switch ON time, when the mist switch ON time is short, the wiping operation on the driver's seat side is performed,
If the amount of water drops is large, consider pressing the mist switch for a long time, and if the on-time is extended, perform a parallel wiping motion that reciprocates in the left and right direction of the windshield. In this case, the field of view of the entire surface of the windshield can be secured, and the temporary wiping operation can be suitably performed in accordance with the amount of water droplets attached.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing mist control in a temporary wiping mode of a parallel wiping type wiper device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the operation of a wiper blade according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing the operation of a wiper blade in a conventional parallel wiping type wiper device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wiper blade 2 Front glass 3 Guide rail 4 Slider 5 Wiper arm 6a / 6b Front pillar 7 Tilt wiping range

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Taizo Kikuchi 1-4-1 Chuo, Wako-shi, Saitama Prefecture Inside Honda R & D Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Toru Hagi 1-4-1-1 Chuo, Wako-shi, Saitama No. Inside Honda R & D Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takashi Hoshino 1-2681-1, Hirosawa-cho, Kiryu-shi, Gunma Pref.

Claims (2)

[Claims] A wiper blade for wiping raindrops adhered to a windshield is reciprocated in a left-right direction of the windshield in a substantially parallel state, and a storage position of the wiper blade is set to a driver's seat side of the windshield. In a parallel wiping-type wiper device which is stored in the vicinity of the front edge of the wiper blade, when a temporary wiping switch for temporarily performing a wiping operation in the storage state is turned on, the wiper blade is moved to the storage position. A wiping control means for performing a reciprocating tilting movement between the wiper control device and a position substantially parallel to a driver side pillar. 2. The wiping control means causes the wiper blade to perform only wiping by the reciprocating tilting motion when the time during which the temporary wiping switch is turned on is shorter than a predetermined time. The method according to claim 1, wherein, when the time during which is turned on is longer than the predetermined time, a parallel wiping motion of the windshield is performed in the left-right direction after the wiper blade is erected by the reciprocating tilting motion. The parallel wiping type wiper device as described in the above.