JPS62253543A - Automatic light control device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the light-on timing of a light at the time of entering a tunnel from being delayed by providing a means detecting that a vehicle has entered the tunnel and turning on the light when the illumination detected by an illumination sensor is changed regularly. CONSTITUTION:When a vehicle has entered a tunnel, the light from illuminating lamps arranged at a fixed distance is detected by an illumination sensor 1, and this detected illumination is changed regularly. Then, a tunnel entrance time detecting means 12 detects this change and judges that the vehicle has entered the tunnel, and the light 2 is turned on by a control means 13 having received this output. Thereby, the light 2 can be reliably turned on even if the illumination at the inlet of the tunnel is larger. Accordingly, the light-on timing of the light 2 can be made to correctly coincide with the time of entering the tunnel without delay.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention automatically adjusts the light output according to the illuminance outside the vehicle. The present invention relates to light control devices, and in particular to measures to ensure that the lights can be turned on without malfunctioning when entering a tunnel or the like.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, as this type of vehicle light control device, an illuminance sensor consisting of a light-receiving element or the like that detects the illuminance outside the vehicle has been used, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 140620/1983. The vehicle is equipped with a light sensor, and the vehicle lights are automatically turned on when the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor is below a predetermined level.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, in tunnels such as highway passages, for example, in order to prevent the eyes of vehicle occupants from getting crushed, the installation intervals of the lighting lights installed at the entrances and exits are usually adjusted (~ By setting the illuminance smaller than that inside the tunnel, the illuminance at the entrance and exit portion of the tunnel is made brighter to approximate the illuminance outside the tunnel.

However, in the above-mentioned conventional system, when the illuminance detected by competing with the illuminance C is lower than a predetermined level, the light j.
Therefore, when the illuminance at the tunnel entrance does not decrease as described above, the light does not turn on and there is a problem in that the timing of turning on the light when entering the tunnel is delayed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and its purpose is to determine whether a vehicle has entered a tunnel based on other conditions rather than a decrease in illuminance, thereby turning on the lights when entering a tunnel. The purpose is to ensure that the light can be turned on at an entrance where the illuminance is high.

(Means for solving the problem) In order to achieve this object, the solving means of the present invention includes an illuminance sensor 1j'1 for detecting the illuminance H outside the vehicle, as shown in FIG. The object is an automatic light control device for a vehicle that automatically controls turning on or off of the vehicle lights 2 according to the illuminance H detected in step '1 (q).

Then, for this automatic light control device, a tunnel entry detecting means 12 for detecting that the vehicle has entered the tunnel based on the current change in the illuminance H detected by the illuminance sensor 1 is installed. At the same time,
Receive the output of the detection means 12 at the time of entry into the i~ channel (t), and see!
The control means 13 is configured to control the vehicle light [-2 to be turned on when the detected illumination intensity 1-1 of the good sensor'1 changes regularly.

(Function) With this configuration, in the present invention, when a vehicle enters a tunnel, the illuminance sensor 1 detects the illuminance r
ffH changes regularly. The tunnel entry detecting means '12 detects this regular change in illuminance H and determines that the vehicle is entering a tunnel, and the light 2 is turned on by the control means 13 which receives the output from the detecting means 12. Therefore, even if the illuminance at the tunnel entrance is high, the light 2 can be turned on reliably, and the timing of turning on the light 2 can be precisely matched to the time when the vehicle enters the tunnel.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described based on the drawings from FIG. 2 onwards.

FIG. 2 shows the overall configuration of an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an automobile, and reference numeral 1 denotes an illuminance sensor consisting of a light-receiving element and the like that detects the illuminance 1'' outside the automobile.
Although not shown, it is mounted facing upward on a mount placed on a dash panel in front of the seedling, for example, so that light from above that has passed through the front windshield is incident thereon.

On the other hand, 2 is a headlight that illuminates the front of the vehicle, and the headlight 2 consists of a high beam lamp 3 for driving that illuminates the front of the vehicle far away, and a low beam lamp 4 that illuminates a nearby area for passing each other. , these beam lamps 3.4 are equipped with a changeover switch 58 and a lighting/extinguishing control relay 11 for switching the lighting of both the beam lamps 3, 4.
Connect to the battery power supply via the relay switch 1'1a. -1, / #-・11 Keyless switch that turns on when the key (7 not shown) is inserted into the key cylinder, 7 executes auto light control Togini O
N operated auto switch, 8 is the above headlight 2
This is a light switch that is manually operated to turn the light on and off. Reference numeral 9 denotes a vehicle speed sensor for detecting the traveling speed V of the automobile, and the illuminance sensor 1, three switches 6 to 8, and a vehicle speed sensor 9 are microcontrollers for controlling turning on and off of the headlights 2. computer 1
0, and when a control signal is output from the microcomputer 10, the control relay 11 is operated to turn on the headlights 2.

To explain the signal processing performed by the microcomputer 10 with reference to FIG. 3, first, in the first step S1 after the start, the timer flag F+Lf3 is
and reset the memory flag F2GF1=F2=O. The above-mentioned timer flag F1 identifies whether or not the timer has executed the time count (it must be set to Fl-1 when the time count is executed. Also, the memory flag F2 is used to identify whether or not the timer has executed the time count). This is used to identify whether or not the command is stored in memory, and when it is stored in memory, it is set to F2-1.

After that, in step S2, the illuminance sensor 1
In step S3, input the vehicle exterior illuminance 1-1 detected by the vehicle outside the vehicle. In step S3, input the vehicle speed V detected by the vehicle speed sensor 9. In step S4, check whether the illuminance H is lower than a predetermined threshold value. Determine whether or not.

If this determination is YES with H<k, for example, R9
In step S5, a timer time T+ = f (V) is set according to the vehicle speed V, and in the next step S6, it is checked whether or not the timer time T+ has elapsed. In S7, the headlight 2 is turned on.

On the other hand, if the determination in the above step $4 is NO (H≧1), the rate of change of the illuminance T1 (dH/<at: is calculated in step S8. Then, in the next step S9 Check whether this rate of change 1''- is larger than O゛', that is, whether 1fH before incidence is increasing or not.
', and if this determination is i\O with H-≦0, the process returns to step S2 and the subsequent step S3 r
34 Repeat *.... Also, when the judgment is Yf3S with Todo〉O, proceed to step S+o and check whether the above change rate +(' or H-=0, that is, before the incidence as shown in Fig. 4). =H is starting to decrease from the maximum itα or not by 'F, +1 constant, and when Toji≠O, return to step S2 above.Also, ?11 constant is I(-=OI7) If YES, it is determined in step 3n whether or not the timer flag F1 is F1=1;
When this judgment is 1\0 of F+ = O, step 81
After proceeding to step 2 and resetting the timer count time T to T=0, the next step 313 is to reset the timer's power “non[・・
is started, the timer flag F+ is set to F1=1 in step SI4, and the process returns to step S2. Steps $11 to 514)1]- detect the elapsed time from the maximum value of the incident illuminance H, as shown in FIG.

In addition, the determination in step SII above is YE of I−+=1.
When the result is S, the process advances to step S15 and it is determined whether or not the memory fluff lower 2 is F2=-1. If the determination is No (F+=O), the time T counted by the timer is stored in the memory tI in step S16, and the product of the stored memory 1X and the vehicle speed \/+ is stored in the next step St7. ,=tl XV
Calculate. After this, in step S+8, the memory flag "
2 is set to F2="l", and the count time T of the timer is reset to T-0 again in step 319, and then the timer is newly counted in step S20, and the process returns to step S2. The flow from steps S11 to S20 is as shown in FIG. 4, by detecting the time interval when the incident illuminance H reaches its maximum value and storing it in the memory t1.
While the illuminance is allowed to relax for 1 hour, the elapsed time from the maximum value of the illuminance (-() is continuously detected.

Also, the determination in step S+s above is YES of F2-1.
If so, proceed to step 321 and click in step 320]-Step S22 of the started timer
Then, the memory t2 is multiplied by the vehicle speed V, and the product of both is 1z=t2X
V is determined, and then, in step S23, it is determined whether the lever bond 11 and the product 11 calculated in step S17 are equal. Therefore, this judgment is 1. When YES = +2, the illuminance H incident on the illuminance 1 good sensor]
reaches its maximum at a certain time interval. In other words, it is assumed that the illuminance H changes regularly as the car enters the tunnel, and the process proceeds to steps 85 to SA.
Turn on headlight 2. Also, 't''1 constant)]
If \0 of ≠12, the incident illuminance H does not change normally, and the mountain! Assuming that the vehicle a has not entered the tunnel, the timer flag F] and the memory flag F2 are both reset to F, -F2-0 in step 324, and then the flow returns to step S2 from the beginning. Repeat the.

Therefore, in this embodiment, in steps 88 to S23 in the above control procedure, the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor 1 due to the tunnel illumination is 116, +7-
; IIM Ile wo -(IX7G"4il11tjJ1
, L12, Il, rj, -+1-:5f), 1. A tunnel entry detecting means 12 is configured to detect when the tunnel enters the tunnel.

Further, in steps 85 to S7, when the output of the tunnel entry detecting means 12 is received and the detected illuminance T1 of the illuminance sensor 1 changes regularly as the automobile enters the tunnel, the headlight A control means 13 is configured to perform control such that point 2) stagnates.

Therefore, in the above embodiment, when the keyless switch (b), the light switch 8 and the auto switch 7 are all turned on, the microcomputer = +0
The illuminance H detected by the illuminance sensor 1 is compared with the threshold value, and when the illuminance H is lower than the threshold value, the headlights 2 are turned on, and when it is above the threshold value, the headlights 2 are turned on. Not done.

However, even if the illuminance H input to the illuminance sensor 1 is equal to or higher than the threshold value 1, when the illuminance H changes regularly, the tunnel entry detection means 12 detects this. It is determined that the car is entering the tunnel, and based on this F11 cut, the C illuminance is 1-1 or the threshold value is 1.
(Despite the above, l\tlight 1 and 2 are lit. For this reason, the illuminance is set too high to penetrate the eyes of the occupants, and the illuminance is different from the simple illuminance H and the threshold value.) In comparison, when the illumination intensity H increases above the threshold value, headlight 2 is not turned on. For example, headlight 2 can be reliably turned on even at the entrance to a tunnel on an expressway. Accurate matching can contribute to improved safety.

Incidentally, in the above embodiment, regular changes in the illuminance H are detected by looking at the time interval at which the illuminance H detected by the illuminance sensor '1 reaches its maximum value. It may be changed to detect by looking at the time interval with the minimum value, etc., and the same effect as the above embodiment can be achieved.

In addition, although the above embodiments show the case where the present invention is applied to an automobile, it goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to other vehicles.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the present invention, the detected illuminance is By determining that a heavy vehicle is entering a tunnel based on regular increases and decreases in the light, the light is turned on, so that even if the illuminance at the tunnel entrance is set too high, The light can be turned on reliably, and the timing of turning on the light can be accurately matched to the time when the vehicle enters the tunnel, thereby improving the safety of the vehicle when driving in the tunnel.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the structure of the present invention. 2 to 4 show embodiments of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram of a light control device, FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the procedure of signal processing performed by a microcomputer, and FIG. Detected illuminance '1... Illuminance sensor, 2... Headlight, 10... Microcomputer, 12.
... Tunnel entry detection means, 13... Control means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) An automatic light control device for a vehicle that is equipped with an illuminance sensor that detects the illuminance outside the vehicle, and that automatically controls turning on or off of vehicle lights according to the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor. tunnel entry detection means for detecting that the vehicle has entered the tunnel based on regular changes in illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor; An automatic light control device for a vehicle, comprising a control means for controlling the vehicle light to turn on when the light changes regularly.