JPS59230839A - Angle detector for motor-driven rear-view mirror - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable to detect the angle of a mirror part with high accuracy by a small-type inexpensive construction, by providing a variable resistor member on the back side of the mirror part so that the angle of inclination of the mirror part can be detected through a change in the resistance of the variable resistor member. CONSTITUTION:In a motor-driven rear-view mirror incorporating driving parts 15, 16 for inclining the mirror part 13 in lateral and vertical directions with a fulcrum part as a center, the driving parts 15, 16 are so constructed that an operating member 17 engaged into a threaded hole 23a of a converting gear 23 and restrained from rotation is moved in the axial direction by rotating the gear 23 by a motor 28 through a speed-reducing gear 25. The operating member 17 is formed as an electrical resistor member consisting of a rubber-like body mixed with resistor particles or the like and having a predetermined resistivity, and a contact element 34 is engaged to a rectilinear guide groove 33 provided on one side of the member 17. Accordingly, an inclination angle detector 37 is constituted in which an electrical resistance value proportional to the moving stroke quantity of the operating member 17 is obtained between lead wires 35, 36.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an angle detection device for an electric rearview mirror in an automobile.

A portion of the mirror is supported by a drive device (motor unit) fixed inside the mirror housing, and the viewing direction of this portion of the mirror can be adjusted remotely by operating a control switch installed inside the vehicle. Electric rearview mirrors have been put into practical use.

In addition, in recent years, a microcomputer has been installed that automatically adjusts the desired visibility by storing and setting the tilting angle of a portion of the mirror in memory for each driver, entering a highway, parking in a garage, etc. Electric rearview mirrors that can be adjusted in different directions are also known.

By the way, in this case, it is necessary to provide an angle detection device (sensor) that detects the tilt angle (position) of a part of the mirror, and to control the drive device using this detection result.

Conventionally, such a detection device uses a variable resistor as a mirror...
A variable resistor is provided in the housing, and an operating rod or the like that moves in conjunction with the mirror part is connected to the variable resistor, and the displacement of the mirror part acts on the variable resistor, and the change in resistance causes the mirror part to move. A means for detecting the tilt angle of the vehicle has been proposed.

However, such a detection device is equipped with a separate variable resistor, and requires a mechanism including at least an actuating rod or the like that causes displacement of a portion of the mirror to act on the variable resistor. Therefore, the number of joint parts such as pivot parts increases, and sufficient detection accuracy cannot be obtained in this type of mechanism that detects relatively small displacements.

This increases the number of components, which takes up storage space, making it difficult to miniaturize the device, especially to make it thinner for use in door mirrors. Furthermore, there are many points that need to be improved, such as the increase in the number of component parts, which leads to a deterioration in ease of assembly, and the inability to reduce costs due to the double cost of parts and manufacturing costs.

The object of the present invention is to eliminate such problems, and to provide an electric type that can detect the angle of a part of the mirror with high precision, and that can reduce the size, cost, and ease of assembly of the mirror. This invention provides a rearview mirror angle detection device.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is applied to an angle detection means for an electric rearview mirror having a portion of the mirror tiltably supported by a drive device fixed to the housing side, and its main components are as follows: Either the variable resistance member, that is, the electric resistance part paulownia or the contact in contact with this resistance member is provided directly on the back surface of the mirror part, and the other is provided on the housing side, and in particular, the resistance member is connected to the drive device. A part or all of the operating member for displacing a portion of the mirror from the mirror is made of a resistive material, so that the tilting angle of the portion of the mirror can be detected by a change in the resistance value of the resistive member. .

Below, preferred embodiments that further embody the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view clearly showing the internal structure of an electric rearview mirror to which an angle detection device according to the present invention is applied.

First, in order to clarify the present invention, the overall schematic structure of the electric rearview mirror will be described with reference to the same drawing. The electric rearview mirror indicated by the reference numeral 1 in the figure is a so-called door mirror that is installed on the outer side of the door of an automobile. The electric rearview mirror 1 includes a base portion 2 fixedly provided on the outside surface of the door,
The main body part 3 is elastically supported by the base part 2 so as to be tiltable in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body.

The main body part 3 is equipped with a mirror housing 4 that has a continuous external appearance with respect to the base part 2, and this housing is made of 4 pieces of synthetic resin and is molded into a case shape with a front opening. For example, the front and rear ends are joined by concave and convex, generally hinged, so as to be tiltable with respect to 2.

Then, inside the housing 4, a steel support substrate 5 is attached and fixed to a plurality of support columns 6 integrally formed with the housing 4 with screws 7. This support substrate 5 is formed in a dog-like shape covering almost the entire surface of the bottom 4a of the housing 4, and a drive device (motor unit) 8 is provided in a space formed in the middle portion.
Fix the installation with screws 9...

Further, on the support substrate 5, one end of the spring 10 is hooked to the tip side of the housing 4, and this other end is attached to the first end.
It is hooked to one side of the connecting member 11 as shown in the figure. Furthermore, by hooking the hook portion of one end of the link member 12 to the other side of the connecting member 11 and hooking the hook portion of the other end to the base portion 2 side, the using 4 is elastically attached to the base portion 2. Let me touch you.

On the other hand, a mirror mounting portion 8a is provided approximately at the center of the drive device 8, and the center of the back surface of the mirror portion 13 is swingably supported at the tip by, for example, a hemispherical joint 14.

Further, the drive device 8 includes a left-right drive section 15 horizontally inside the mirror mounting section 8a, and a vertical drive section 16 below the mirror mounting section 8a in the vertical direction. Each drive unit 1
5 and 16 are actuated members 1 by the rotation action of the built-in motor.
7 and 18, and the tips of the actuating members 17 and 18 are swingably connected to the back surface of the mirror portion 13 using ball joints 19 and 20.
The mirror part 13 is tilted in the left and right directions around .

The other drive unit 16 moves the mirror part 1 around the joint 14.
3 has the function of tilting in the vertical direction.

In addition, the reference numeral 21 in the figure indicates a wire harness that connects to the drive device 8 and the control FF 11 mounted on the vehicle body side. line, and a detection signal line connected to an angle detection device (sensor) to be described later.

On the other hand, the vehicle body side is provided with a control section composed of a microcomputer or the like, and an operation section connected to the control section and arranged on an instrument panel inside the vehicle interior. Therefore, by operating the operation section, the control section 2 is actuated, and this control section controls the drive sections 15 and 16,
The viewing angle of the mirror part 13 can be adjusted arbitrarily.

2 is a cross-sectional configuration diagram of the drive unit 15 taken along the dotted line circle A in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. 2.

Next, the configuration of the drive section 15 will be explained in more detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. In each figure, the same parts as in FIG. 1 are given the same reference numerals to clarify the structure.

Reference numeral 1γ denotes the actuating portion, which is a rod-shaped body provided with a screw 22 on the outer periphery. The actuating portion 17 is integrally molded as a whole from a rubber material, and is further mixed with certain resistive particles to form an electrically resistive member having a certain electrical resistivity as a whole.

Further, a ring-shaped operation conversion gear 23 having a screw hole 23a formed in the inner circumference is screwed into the screw 22 on the outer circumference of the actuation member 17.

On the other hand, the small gear 26 of the reduction gear 25 is meshed with the teeth 23b formed on the outer periphery of the conversion gear 23.
A worm gear 30 fixed to the shaft 29 of the motor 28 is meshed with the other large gear 27 to transmit the forward and reverse rotation of the motor 28 to the conversion gear 23 at reduced speed.

On the other hand, a coil spring 32 is compressed between the end of the actuating member 17 opposite to the ball joint 19 and the case 31.
A linear guide groove 33 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the actuating member 17 in its axial direction, and a retaining pin (contact) 34 fixed to the case 31 is engaged with this.

Therefore, when the conversion gear 23 is rotated by the rotation of the motor 28, the rotation of the actuating part phase 17 is restricted by the retaining pin 34, so that the motion is converted and the actuating part phase 17 moves in the axial direction.

Further, a lead wire 3 is attached to the end of the spring 32 on the case 31 side.
In addition, a lead wire 36 is connected to the holding bottle 34. As a result, the lead wire 35, the spring 32,
A resistance circuit is formed in the path of the actuation member 17, the engagement pin 34, and the lead a136, and this is connected to the angle detection device (sensor) 3.
It will constitute 7. For this purpose, the spring 32, the support metal fitting 38 interposed between the actuating part phase 17 and the spring 32
, and the engagement pin 34 are made of a conductive material.
1. Gears, etc. are made of insulating material such as synthetic resin. The spring 32 also has the function of preventing rattling of the gear mechanism and the actuating member 17 and of increasing detection accuracy. In addition, the locking pin 34 is shaped and configured so that the conductive portion contacts only the bottom of the guide groove 33 of the actuating member 17, to prevent variations in detection accuracy and to restrict the rotation of the actuating member 1γ. Considering the mechanical strength, etc., since it also serves the same function.

In the actuating part 17 described above, the resistance member is formed of a rubber-like material mixed with resistance particles, etc., but it is also made of conductive synthetic resin with a certain resistivity, or the guide groove 33
A portion may be made of a resistive member by coating or pasting a certain resistive material, for example, a carbon film, on the bottom of the resistive member. Note that the reference numeral 39 in the figure is a rubber cover.

Therefore, with the above configuration, when the motor 28 rotates in forward and reverse directions, the actuating member 1γ moves in its own axial direction, and there is a gap between each of the lead wires 35 and 36 proportional to the amount of movement of the actuating part 17. It is possible to obtain the electrical resistance value.

Note that the other drive section 16 is also configured in exactly the same manner as the drive section 15.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of the electrical circuit portion of the electric rearview mirror 1 according to the present invention. First, as mentioned above, the operation unit 40 consists of operation switches etc. arranged in the interior of the car, and the controller is a microcomputer including a CPU (central processing unit), memory (storage device), interface (driver device), etc. Connect to the configured control section 41.

The drive units 15 and 16 are connected to the control unit 41, and the drive units 15 and/or 16 are connected to the control unit 41 by manual operation of the operation unit 40.
can be arbitrarily driven to adjust the angle of the mirror part 13 in the vertical and/or horizontal directions.

On the other hand, once the angle of the mirror part 13 is set, the predetermined resistance R obtained from the self-actuating member 17 (resistance member), and the predetermined resistance value R2 obtained from the force of the other actuating member 18 (resistance member) are determined. can be actually measured and detected by the detection unit 42 and stored in the memory of the control unit 41. As a result, even if the mirror part 13 is at any other arbitrary angle, it can be automatically changed to the set angle by a predetermined operation, and each of these controls can be executed according to the control flowchart of the control section 41.

In the above embodiments, the case where the actuating member is directly formed as a resistor phase has been exemplified, and in this embodiment, the angle detection device can be constructed by simple means such as changing the material, and does not require any other separate construction. Therefore, in terms of installation space, ease of assembly, etc.
The configuration is almost the same as the case where such a detection device is not provided, and furthermore, since it can be disposed inside the case 31, external influences such as rainwater can be avoided.

The angle detection device may be constructed by separately forming a resistor part, attaching it directly to the back surface of the mirror part 13, and providing a contact in contact with the resistor part on the housing 4 side. Alternatively, on the contrary, it is also possible to directly attach the resistance member to the No-Uji puffer fish 4 side and provide a contact on the back surface of the mirror part 13.

As is clear from the above description, since the angle detection device for an electric rearview mirror according to the present invention is configured such that the variable resistance member is directly provided on the back surface of a portion of the mirror, the first problem is to detect the displacement of a portion of the rearview mirror. A mechanism including an actuating rod for transmitting information to a variable resistor or the like is completely unnecessary, and the angle detection accuracy of the mirror part can be greatly improved.

Secondly, the number of components is small, making it easy to secure storage space, and depending on the embodiment, there is no need for it at all. Therefore, it can greatly contribute to miniaturization, especially to thinning of the mira part and the webbing.

Furthermore, thirdly, the structure is simple and easy to assemble, and it has various advantages such as being advantageous in terms of cost such as parts cost and manufacturing cost, and can be provided as an inexpensive angle detection device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a plan view clearly showing the internal structure of an electric rearview mirror to which angle detection accuracy according to the present invention is applied, and Fig.
A cross-sectional configuration diagram of the drive unit in the dashed-dotted line circle A section in the figure, 3rd
The figure is a sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a block system diagram of the electric circuit portion of the electric knock mirror according to the present invention. In addition, in the drawing, 4 is a mirror part/Using, 8 is a drive device, 1
3 is a part of Mira, 1T is an operating member (electric resistance part paulownia), 34
37 is an angle detection device. Patent applicant Matsuyama Seisakusho Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) ...In an electric rearview mirror having a portion of the mirror that is tiltably supported by a drive device fixed to the housing side, a variable resistance member is directly provided on the back of the portion of the mirror, and the portion of the mirror is An angle detection device for an electric rearview mirror, characterized in that a tilting angle is detected by a change in resistance value of the variable resistance member. (2) A patent characterized in that the variable resistance member is configured such that either the resistance member or the contact in contact with the resistance part is provided directly on the back surface of the mirror part, and the other is provided on the housing side. An angle detection device for an electric rearview mirror according to claim 1. (3) The resistance member is characterized in that part or all of an operating member for displacing a portion of the mirror from the drive device is formed of a resistance material. An angle detection device for an electric rearview mirror as described in .