Wiper drive device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11186259-B2
Application number	US-201916686783-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 18, 2019
Priority date	May 22, 2017
Publication date	Nov 30, 2021
Grant date	Nov 30, 2021

Abstract

A wiper drive device includes: a drive member that is configured to cause a wiper blade to wipe a region of a windshield as a wiping operation, the region of the windshield including a to-be-imaged region of the windshield, the to-be-imaged region being included in a field of view of a camera which images a predefined imaging range near a vehicle through the windshield; and a stop section that is configured to stop the wiper blade in an outside region in response to that an anomaly that hinders the wiping operation occurs while the drive member causes the wiper blade to perform the wiping operation on the windshield, the outside region being a region of the windshield outside of the to-be-imaged region.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wiper drive device comprising:
a drive member that causes a wiper blade to wipe a region of a windshield as a wiping operation, the region of the windshield including a to-be-imaged region of the windshield, the to-be-imaged region being included in a field of view of a camera that images a predefined imaging range near a vehicle through the windshield; and
a stop section that stops the wiper blade in an outside region in response to an anomaly that hinders the wiping operation occurs while the drive member causes the wiper blade to perform the wiping operation on the windshield, the outside region being a region of the windshield outside of the to-be-imaged region,
wherein:
the drive member includes:
a wiper motor having an output shaft coupled to the wiper blade, and
an electric power supply that supplies electric power to the wiper motor to cause the wiper blade to perform the wiping operation; and

the stop section includes:
an anomaly detection section that detects whether the anomaly occurs, and
a stop controller that controls the electric power supply to cause the wiper blade to stop in the outside region in response to detecting the anomaly.

2. The wiper drive device according to claim 1 , wherein:
in response to that the anomaly occurs in a case where the wiper blade is located within the to-be-imaged region, the stop section controls the drive member to cause the wiping operation to continue until the wiper blade is moved out of the to-be-imaged region, and then stops the wiper blade.

3. The wiper drive device according to claim 1 , wherein:
the stop section includes:
an angle detection portion that is configured to detect a rotary angle of the output shaft of the wiper motor, and
a derivation section that is configured to derive a position and wiping speed of the wiper blade from the rotary angle detected; and

the stop controller stops the wiper blade based on the position and the wiping speed of the wiper blade derived by the derivation section.

4. The wiper drive device according to claim 3 , wherein:
the stop controller performs a control to decelerate and stop rotation of the output shaft when the wiper blade is stopped in the outside region.

5. The wiper drive device according to claim 4 , wherein:
the stop controller performs a control to cause the wiper motor to generate regenerative electric power so as to decelerate and stop the rotation of the output shaft.

6. The wiper drive device according to claim 4 , wherein:
the wiper motor is a brushed motor; and
the stop controller performs a control to make a short circuit between brushes of the wiper motor so as to decelerate and stop the rotation of the output shaft.

7. The wiper drive device according to claim 4 , wherein:
the wiper motor is a brushless motor; and
the stop controller performs a control to make a short circuit between phases of the wiper motor so as to decelerate and stop the rotation of the output shaft.

8. The wiper drive device according to claim 3 , further comprising:
an auxiliary power source having a capacity smaller than amount of a main power source of the wiper motor,
wherein:
the stop controller performs a control to cause the electric power supply to generate voltage, from electric power supplied by the auxiliary power source, that rotates the output shaft of the wiper motor in a direction opposite to a current rotation direction when the wiper blade stops in the outside region.

9. The wiper drive device according to claim 8 , wherein:
the stop controller performs the control to cause the electric power supply to generate voltage from the electric power supplied by the auxiliary power source so as to rotate the output shaft of the wiper motor in the current rotation direction, in response to that a stop position of the wiper blade derived based on the position and the wiping speed of the wiper blade is within the to-be-imaged region.

10. The wiper drive device according to claim 3 , wherein:
the stop controller performs a control to decelerate and stop rotation of the output shaft in response to that the wiper blade is located in the outside region due to inertia of the wiping operation after the electric power supply stops power supply to the wiper motor due to occurrence of the anomaly.

11. The wiper drive device according to claim 3 , further comprising
a moisture sensor that detects moisture on a surface of the windshield,
wherein:
in response to detecting the moisture on the windshield surface, the stop controller derives a stop position of the wiper blade by setting a longer time for decelerating and stopping rotation of the output shaft than a time for decelerating and stopping rotation in a case where the moisture sensor detecting no moisture on the surface of the windshield.

12. The wiper drive device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a moving mechanism that moves the wiper blade out of the to-be-imaged region in response to the anomaly occurring.

13. The wiper drive device according to claim 12 , wherein:
the moving mechanism comes into contact with a wiper arm that transmits driving force of the wiper motor to the wiper blade, causing the wiper blade to be moved to the outside region.

14. The wiper drive device according to claim 13 , wherein:
the moving mechanism includes:
a coil that is magnetized, and
a protrusion that has a magnetic body attracted to the coil in response to that the coil is magnetized, and in response to stopping of magnetization of the coil, the protrusion is protruded by urging force by an urging element and contacts the wiper arm; and

the stop section performs a control to stop the magnetization of the coil in response to that the anomaly occurs.

15. The wiper drive device according to claim 1 , wherein:
the stop section stops the wiper blade in the outside region in response to that the anomaly occurs during automated driving of the vehicle.

16. The wiper drive device according to claim 1 , wherein:
the stop section performs a control to move all of a plurality of wiper blades, which includes the wiper blade, to the outside region.

17. The wiper drive device according claim 1 , wherein:
the anomaly that hinders the wiping operation includes at least one of:
a case in which temperature of a board on which the wiper drive device is mounted exceeds a threshold temperature,
a case in which current generated by the drive member exceeds a threshold current,
a case in which a state of charge of a battery is not more than a predetermined reference value, or
a case in which a supply voltage for the wiper drive device is not more than a lower limit value.

18. A wiper drive device comprising:
a drive member that causes a wiper blade to wipe a region of a windshield;
a camera that images a predefined imaging range near a vehicle through the windshield, the predefined imaging range including a to-be-imaged region of the windshield, the region of the windshield to be wiped including the to-be-imaged region; and
a controller that stops the wiper blade in an outside region in response to an anomaly hindering the wiping operation occurs while the wiper blade wipes the region of the windshield, the outside region being a region of the windshield outside of the to-be-imaged region,
wherein:
the drive member includes:
a motor having an output shaft coupled to the wiper blade, and
an electric power supply that is configured to supply electric power to the wiper motor to cause the wiper blade to wipe the region of the windshield;

Assignees

• Denso Corp

Inventors

• Hase Tomomi
• Higashitani Mitsuharu
• Ikemoto Noriaki
• Suzuki Hidetoshi
• HANAI Shogo
• Koide Keisuke

Classifications

• B60S1/0452

  Position of the wipers relative to the vehicle · CPC title

• B60S1/245 Primary

  with particular rod arrangements between the motor driven axle and the wiper arm axle · CPC title

• B60S1/163

  with means for stopping or setting the wipers at their limit of movement · CPC title

• B60S1/08 Primary

  electrically driven {(conjoint control of windscreen wiper motor and liquid supply of windscreen washer B60S1/482; conjoint control of windscreen wiper motor and means for cleaning parts o parts other than windscreens or front windows B60S1/56, B60S1/58, B60S1/606)} · CPC title

• G06T7/12

  Edge-based segmentation · CPC title