JPH05178167A - Wiper control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To protect a wiper blade inexpensively in cost by driving a wiper blade driving means to stand the wiper blade upright in a vertical direction when a wiper control device detects that the engine has stopped. CONSTITUTION:When a key switch 1 is turned OFF, this wiper control device judges that an engine has stopped, and after returning a blade to an initial position by performing reciprocating driving of the blade based on the output signal of a cam switch 31, drives the blade again. Counting is performed to detect the turnaround time T of the blade in this way and stops it at an upright position, and again, driving of the blade is started from the initial position, thereby processing to stand the blade upright is completed, namely, control signal of a MPU 21 is set at a L level and stopped while it continues to count the driving time from the initial position as the blade is driven, so that the blade may be stopped when it reaches the upright position.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

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

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a wiper blade made of a rubber member is in a rest position (when not in use), if dust adheres to it,
Dust collects and the blade becomes dirty, but if the blade is driven during rainfall, this dust can be easily washed away. However, if the blade is left in the rest position, if dust such as mixed exhaust gas (carbon gas) adheres to the blade, the blade will be integrated with the blade due to a chemical change to form a lump. If this happens, even if the wiper is driven during rain, this lump cannot be washed away, and if this lump is interposed between the glass window and the blade, part of the blade will float from the glass and the wiper blade The wiping ability of is reduced.
If the wiper blade is driven on a sunny day as it is, the glass will be scratched. Therefore, it is necessary to protect the blade when it is not used.

Therefore, a riser function has been adopted in the wiper blade as a means for protecting the wiper blade. This function lowers the wiper blade further below the normal rest position of the wiper blade when the vehicle is not in use, and stores it inside the hood of the vehicle away from the glass. By doing so, dust is less likely to adhere to the blade, and the wiping ability of the blade can be maintained.

[0004]

Normally, in order to drive the wiper blade, the motor connected to the wiper blade is rotated, but when the rise-up function is adopted, a dedicated motor for driving the blade further downward from the rest position. Will be needed anew. Furthermore, in order to separate the blade from the glass, special parts for scooping the blade must be provided.

As described above, if the rise-up function is adopted, a new mechanical component is required, which leads to an increase in cost. The present invention intends to protect the wiper blade at a low cost while maintaining the conventional mechanism.

[0006]

According to the present invention, a wiper blade driving means for reciprocally driving a wiper blade, a detecting means for detecting that the engine has stopped, and a detecting means for judging that the engine has stopped, The wiper blade drive means is provided with a wiper blade upright means for standing upright in the vertical direction, and also wiper blade drive means for reciprocally driving the wiper blade, and a detection means for detecting that the engine has stopped, When the raindrop detecting means for detecting the amount of raindrops and the detecting means stop the engine, and when the raindrop detecting means determines that it is in a raining state, the wiper blade driving means is driven to vertically stand up the wiper blade. And upright means.

[0007]

When the engine is stopped and the passenger abandons driving the vehicle, there is no problem even if the view of the windshield is obstructed. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, if the wiper blade 101 is set in the vertical direction, the dust naturally drops from the blade, so that the dust is not collected between the windshield 102 and the windshield 102. The present invention pays attention to these points and merely adds a function of stopping the wiper blade in the vertical direction when the engine is stopped while the wiper mechanism remains unchanged. By not adding the mechanism in this way, the blade can be protected while reducing the cost.

Further, according to the present invention, since the blade is erected only when it is raining, it is not necessary to dry and wipe the glass, and it is possible to prevent scratches from being formed there.

[0009]

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a wiper control device (automatic wiper control device) equipped with a raindrop sensor. The wiper blade control circuit 2 including the wiper blade upright means is mainly composed of a microcomputer (MPU) 21, and has a VCC 22 and processing circuits 23 to 2 on the input side.
6, an output driver 27 and a relay circuit 28 on the output side.
Is provided with a driver circuit 29.

The VCC 22 is a constant voltage circuit for converting the voltage supplied from the battery power source + B to 5 V, and always applies this constant voltage to the MPU 21 so that the MPU 21 can always operate. The first processing circuit 23 is a key switch 1 as a detection means (which is built in the key cylinder and operates in response to insertion / extraction of an ignition key (not shown)).
For converting the ON / OFF state of the switch to the H / L level, and the second processing circuit 24 for converting the ON / OFF state of the auto switch 4 for switching the operation mode of the wiper to the H / L level. Is. The third processing circuit 25 detects the amount of raindrops from the raindrop sensor 5 (raindrop detection means),
It is a comparator that converts an analog output having a level and a width corresponding to the raindrop diameter into an H / L pulse wave with an appropriate level as a reference value. Further, the fourth processing circuit 26 converts the output signal level from the cam switch 31 into an H / L level.

When the ignition key is mounted on the key cylinder and the ignition switch (not shown) is turned on, the MPU 21 operates the auto switch 4 and receives an H signal from the processing circuit 24, so that the H level in the pulse output of the processing circuit 25 is reached. Then, the integrated value is compared with a predetermined threshold value. When the integrated value reaches the threshold value, one H-level control signal (pulse) is output to the driver circuit 29, and the integrated value is cleared, and integration is restarted from the beginning.

The output driver 27 of the driver circuit 29 is M
Upon receiving the H control signal from the PU 21, the coil in the relay circuit 28 is energized. When this coil is energized, the relay switch in the relay circuit 28 is connected to the battery power source + B side (ON contact), whereby a current flows through the wiper motor 3 which is the wiper driving means and rotates. On the contrary, when the control signal of L is received, the relay circuit 28 finishes energization and returns the relay switch to the OFF contact.

The cam switch 31 switches according to the movement of the wiper blade, is connected to the ignition power source IG side when the blade is in the operating position, and is connected to the ground side when the blade returns to the initial position (rest position). Connected. It should be noted that this ignition power supply IG generates a + B potential when the ignition key is turned on. Conversely, when the key is off, open potential (indeterminate potential)
become. Also, since the output voltage from here changes depending on the connection position of this cam switch 31 (0 on the ground side).
It is possible to know the connection state of the cam switch 31 when the V and IG sides are 12 V or open potential. Then, the output of the cam switch 31 is sent to the processing circuit 26, and the MPU 2
1 enables monitoring of the connection position here, that is, the position of the blade, based on the output voltage of the cam switch 31. This output is also sent to the OFF contact of the relay switch.

Next, the control operation of the auto wiper when the ignition key is turned on will be described. When the auto switch 4 is turned on, the MPU 21 enters the auto mode, and when the integrated value exceeds the threshold value based on the amount of rain detected by the raindrop sensor 5, the H control signal is output to the output driver 27.
Upon receiving the H control signal from the MPU 21, the output driver turns on the relay switch to rotate the motor 3. As a result, the wiper blade starts driving, and the cam switch 31 is connected to the IG side accordingly. After that, when the blade reciprocates once and returns to the initial position, the cam switch 31
Is connected to the ground side, and when this connection position is detected by the MPU 21 via the processing circuit 26, an L control signal is output to the output driver 27, the relay switch is turned off, the motor 3 is stopped, and the blade is moved to the initial position. Make it stand by. This completes the reciprocal drive of the blade. If the amount of rainfall is large, the integrated value reaches the threshold value in a short time, so the intermittent time of the wiper becomes short.

Further, in the case of performing normal continuous drive, if a manual switch (not shown) is turned on (the auto switch is turned off at the same time), the MPU 21 continues to output the control signal of H, whereby the wiper is continuously driven. When the manual switch is turned off, the control signal becomes L level and the relay switch is turned off. At this time, even if the wiper blade is in the operating position, the motor 3 is still + in the path of the power source IG-cam switch 31-off contact of relay switch-motor 3.
Since the B power is being supplied, the motor 3 continues to rotate, and only after the blade returns to the initial position, it stops. In other words, if the ignition key is turned on, even if the manual switch is turned off during the operation of the blade, the blade can always be returned to the original initial position and can be stored. On the contrary, if the key is turned off during the operation, the power source IG becomes an open potential, so that it stops at that position.

The above description is for the normal auto wiper control when the ignition key is turned on. Next, the basic operation of the MPU 21 according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. explain. In step S1, it is determined whether or not the ignition key is removed. If the key switch 1 is turned on, that is, if the ignition key is loaded in the cylinder, the process proceeds to step S16 to perform the above-mentioned normal wiper control.

On the other hand, when the key switch 1 is turned off, that is, when the key is removed, the engine is stopped, it is judged that the occupant has left the vehicle, and the process goes to steps S2 to S15 which are upright means to start the upright control of the blade. First, step S2
Proceed to step 1 to determine if the blade is currently in the upright position. That is, as will be described later, this step is to judge the state of the upright flag which is set to 1 when the upright control of the blade is performed.

Therefore, if the flag remains reset, it is determined that the upright control has not been performed yet, and the process proceeds to step S3 to output the H control signal to start driving the blade. In the next steps S4 and S5, it is determined based on the output signal of the cam switch 31 whether or not the driven blade makes one round trip and returns to the initial position. These steps are provided. For example, if the blade is stopped midway, the position of the blade cannot be detected only by the cam switch 31. Therefore, the blade is reciprocally driven once to return to the initial position, and then the upright control is performed. It depends on the purpose. (It can be detected at the initial position.) When the blade returns to the initial position, the blade starts to drive from the initial position again. At this time, the blade is reciprocated once to detect the reciprocating time T in steps S7 to S9. Count.
Here, the round trip time is sampled because the time from the initial position to the upright position is to be calculated based on the round trip time. By doing so, even if the reciprocating time changes due to the sliding condition of the blade due to rain, etc., the blade can be accurately stopped at the upright position.

When the blade returns to the initial position and the counting of T is completed in step S9, the next step S10
After obtaining the time t from the initial position to reaching the upright position, the round trip time T is cleared. (This time T, t is R
This time t (stored in AM) can be determined by the following equation. t (second) = constant N × reciprocating time T (second) Here, the constant N is obtained by actual measurement in consideration of the natural rotation speed of the motor 3 and the like. If N is simply obtained, it may be calculated from the maximum drive angle of the blade. (Example;
When the maximum angle is 120 degrees, N = 90 (upright) / (120
X2) = 3/8) Further, the blade starts to be driven from the initial position, but the processing of making the blade upright is completed in steps S11 to S15. That is, the blade is driven and step S1
In 1 the drive time of the blade from the initial position is counted, and when this count value reaches t in step S12 (at this time the blade has reached the upright position), step S1
After clearing the count value in 3, the MPU 21 sets the control signal to L level so as to stop the blade in step S14. This means that the blade has stopped in the upright position, thus preventing dust from accumulating there. Then, in the next step S15, the upright flag indicating that the upright control has been performed is set to 1, and the process returns to step S1. At this time, if the ignition key is not yet loaded, the flag is confirmed in step S2. At this time, since the blade is already in the upright position (1 is set in the flag), the process does not proceed to step S3 and thereafter, the steps S1 and S2 are repeated, and when the key switch 1 is turned on, the process returns to step S16. Become.

Next, the operation of the MPU 21 when the raindrop sensor 5 according to the second embodiment of the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the flow charts of FIGS. 4 and 5. In this example, when the ignition key is removed and it starts to rain, the blade is set upright, and then when the rain stops, the blade is returned to the initial position. The same processing steps as those in FIG. 3 are designated by the same reference numerals.

First, the initial state in which it is not raining when the key is removed will be described. When the ignition key is removed and this is confirmed in step S1, the engine stops, it is determined that the occupant has left the vehicle, and the process proceeds to steps Q1 to Q5 to start monitoring the rainfall state. That is, 1
The H level period in the pulse output of the processing circuit 25 is integrated in units of 5 seconds, and it is determined in step Q5 whether the integrated value sampled in units of 15 seconds is greater than or equal to the threshold value. At this time, it is not raining and the integrated value is below the threshold value, so the routine proceeds to step Q6. In this step, it is judged whether or not the blade is now in the upright position. At this time, the upright control is not yet performed, and since the ignition key is not loaded, the procedure proceeds from step S1 to step Q1 and the integrated value is calculated. After clearing, the rainfall accumulation will start again. In other words, in this state,
It is in a state of continuously monitoring every 5 seconds.

Next, a description will be given of when the rain starts to rain in this state. As described above, the rain condition is monitored in steps Q1 to Q5. When it starts to rain and the integrated value exceeds the threshold value, the process goes from step Q5 to step S2 to check whether the blade is upright. To judge.
At this time, control has not been performed yet, so to proceed with this, the process proceeds to step S3, and the drive of the blade is started. When it is confirmed that the blade reciprocates once and returns to the initial position in the next steps S4 and S5, it is determined again in step Q7 whether or not the upright control has been performed. Of course, since the control is not yet completed, the blade starts to drive from the initial position as it is, but in order to detect the reciprocating time T of this blade, counting is performed in the next steps S6 to S9.

When the blade returns to the initial position and counting of T is completed in step S9, the next step S10
After the time t from the initial position to the upright position is obtained based on the count T, the round trip time T is cleared. Then, the blade is driven again from the initial position, but is stopped after time t, and the processing of erecting the blade is completed in steps S11 to S15.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent dust from accumulating here, and furthermore, when the blade is placed in the upright position, the glass is not wiped dry and the glass is not scratched. After finishing the upright control, the process returns to step S1. At this time, the ignition key is not loaded yet,
The process proceeds to step Q1 again to monitor the rainfall condition. Further, since it is still raining at this time, the process proceeds from step Q5 to step S2, but the upright control is not repeated in step S2. That is, since 1 has already been set in the flag, the process does not proceed to step S3, but returns to step S1 and repeats this process to constantly monitor the rainfall state.

Next, a state in which it has stopped raining after completion of the blade upright control will be described. As described above, after the blade upright control is completed, the rain condition is constantly monitored in steps Q1 to Q5. When the rain stops and the integrated value falls below the threshold value in step Q5, the process proceeds to step Q6. In step Q6, it is confirmed whether or not the upright control is performed. Of course, since this control is completed, the process proceeds to steps S3 to S5. That is, since the blade is now in the upright position, it is reciprocated once to return it to the initial position. After returning to the initial position, the upright control is confirmed in step Q7 (the flag is naturally set to 1), the control signal is set to the L level in step Q8 to stop the blade at the initial position, and the upright flag is set in step Q9. Indicates that resetting has not performed upright control. After that, after confirming the key switch 1 in step S1 (still the key switch 1
Is not turned on), the process proceeds to step Q1 again and the rainfall state is monitored until the key switch 1 is turned on. Naturally, upright control is performed in this state as if rain starts again. In this way, in this example, the function of returning the blade at the same time when the rain stops is added, so it is possible to prevent the glass from being scratched without having to wipe the glass dry when returning the blade to the original position. ..

When the occupant returns to the vehicle, the ignition key is loaded into the cylinder, and the key switch 1 is turned on, the process proceeds from step S1 to step S16 to perform normal wiper control. If the wiper control device does not have the key switch 1, the upright control may be performed if the ignition switch is turned off and a courtesy switch (not shown) that is turned on when the vehicle door is opened is turned on. That is, these switches allow the passenger to stop the engine,
You can see that you have opened the door and left the vehicle.

Further, steps S6 to S10 shown in FIGS.
Even if the time t to the upright position is not accurately obtained as described above, the blade may simply be stopped after a predetermined time (for example, 1 second) has elapsed from the initial position.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention, the wiper mechanism is left as it is and the wiper blade is made to stand upright when the engine is stopped. Therefore, it is possible to protect the blade while reducing the cost without adding any mechanism. Further, if the blade is set up only when it is raining, the glass can be prevented from being damaged.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an operation explanatory diagram of a wiper blade according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a wiper control device that is an example of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the MPU 21 in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart (A) showing the operation of the MPU 21 in the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart (B) showing the operation of the MPU 21 in the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Key switch 3 Wiper motor 5 Raindrop sensor 21 MPU 101 Wiper blade

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A wiper blade drive means for reciprocating a wiper blade, a detection means for detecting that the engine has stopped, and a drive means for driving the wiper blade when the detection means determines that the engine has stopped. And a wiper blade erecting means for erecting the wiper blade in a vertical direction. 2. A wiper blade drive means for reciprocally driving a wiper blade, a detection means for detecting that the engine has stopped, a raindrop detection means for detecting the amount of raindrops, the detection means stops the engine, and A wiper blade upright means for driving the wiper blade driving means to upright the wiper blade in a vertical direction when the raindrop detecting means determines that the rainy state is occurring.