阅读说明：本技术 刮水器系统及其控制方法 (Wiper system and control method thereof ) 是由 吴继栋 刘攀 于 2020-05-26 设计创作，主要内容包括：本申请提供一种刮水器系统,包括：至少一个刮臂,其具有用于刮刷被清洁表面的刮片；电机,其被配置成驱动所述至少一个刮臂沿第一方向以及与第一方向相反的第二方向往复摆动；其中,所述刮水器系统设有初始化模式,在所述初始化模式中,所述电机被配置成使所述至少一个刮臂沿所述第一方向摆动,直到所述至少一个刮臂受到阻挡,且沿所述第一方向在所述至少一个刮臂受到阻挡的位置之前且相隔安全间距的位置被确定为所述至少一个刮臂的第一反转位置。另外,本申请还提供一种刮水器系统的控制方法。根据本申请的技术方案,可以动态地调整刮臂的最大摆动位置,以提高刮刷覆盖率,提高行车安全性。(The present application provides a wiper system comprising: at least one wiper arm having a wiper blade for wiping a surface to be cleaned; a motor configured to drive the at least one wiper arm to oscillate reciprocally in a first direction and a second direction opposite to the first direction; wherein the wiper system is provided with an initialization mode in which the motor is configured to oscillate the at least one wiper arm in the first direction until the at least one wiper arm is blocked, and a position in the first direction that is before and at a safe interval from the position at which the at least one wiper arm is blocked is determined as a first reversal position of the at least one wiper arm. In addition, the application also provides a control method of the wiper system. According to the technical scheme of this application, can adjust the biggest swing position of scraping the arm dynamically to improve and scrape the brush coverage, improve driving safety.)

1. A wiper system comprising:

at least one wiper arm having a wiper blade for wiping a surface to be cleaned;

a motor (40) configured to drive the at least one wiper arm to oscillate reciprocally in a first direction and in a second direction opposite to the first direction;

characterized in that the wiper system is provided with an initialization mode in which the motor (40) is configured to oscillate the at least one wiper arm in the first direction until the at least one wiper arm is blocked, and a position in the first direction which is before the position in which the at least one wiper arm is blocked and which is at a safety distance apart is determined as a first reversal position of the at least one wiper arm.

2. Wiper system according to claim 1, characterized in that in the initialization mode the motor (40) is further configured to oscillate the at least one wiper arm in the second direction until the at least one wiper arm is blocked, and that a position in the second direction which is before the position in which the at least one wiper arm is blocked and which is spaced apart by the safety spacing is determined as a second reversal position of the at least one wiper arm.

3. The wiper system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the safety pitch is defined as a rotation angle of the at least one wiper arm, the rotation angle being between 1 and 2 degrees.

4. The wiper system according to claim 1, wherein a second reversal position in which said at least one wiper arm oscillates in said second direction is preset.

5. Wiper system according to claim 2 or 4, characterized in that the wiper system has an operating mode in which the motor (40) is configured to drive the at least one wiper arm to oscillate back and forth between the first and second reversal positions.

6. Wiper system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the wiper system further comprises a control unit (60) configured to control the rotation of the electric motor (40).

7. A control method of a wiper system including at least one wiper arm having a wiper blade for wiping a surface to be cleaned; a motor configured to drive the at least one wiper arm to oscillate reciprocally in a first direction and a second direction opposite to the first direction; the control method comprises the following steps:

starting the wiper system;

judging whether an instruction for starting an initialization mode of the wiper system is received;

controlling the motor to rotate in the first direction until the at least one wiper arm is blocked if the command is received, and

a position in the first direction before the position in which the at least one wiper arm is blocked and at a safe interval is determined as a first reversal position of the at least one wiper arm.

8. The control method according to claim 7, characterized by further comprising:

controlling the motor to rotate in the second direction until the at least one wiper arm is blocked, an

A position in the second direction before the position in which the at least one wiper arm is blocked and spaced apart by the safety spacing is determined as a second reversal position of the at least one wiper arm.

9. The control method according to claim 8, wherein the control method further comprises:

activating an operating mode of the wiper system in which the at least one wiper arm is driven to oscillate back and forth between the first and second reversal positions.

10. Control method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the safety pitch is defined as the angle of rotation of the at least one wiper arm, which angle of rotation is between 1 and 2 degrees.

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of vehicle equipment technology, and in particular, to a wiper system and a control method for a wiper system.

Background

Generally, vehicles are equipped with wiper systems at the front window (and the rear window of some vehicles) to clean rain water or dust, etc. The existing wiper system generally comprises a motor, a speed reducing mechanism, a connecting rod, a wiper arm and the like, wherein the output of the motor is transmitted to the connecting rod through the speed reducing mechanism, and then the wiper arm is driven to swing back and forth on the surface of a vehicle windshield glass, so that a wiper blade on the wiper arm can wipe off rainwater and the like.

In the design of wiper systems, wiper coverage is an important performance parameter, and all countries in the world place mandatory requirements for minimum wiper coverage. For example, the european union requires that the scrub coverage in the a zone be 98% or more, and the scrub coverage in the B zone be 80% or more. However, in order to avoid interference between the wiper arm and the vehicle body, a certain safety distance must be maintained from the vehicle body when the wiper arm travels to the first reversal position (i.e., the position near the a-pillar) and the second reversal position (which may also be referred to as the parking position, i.e., the position near the cowl). At present, these safety distances are unavoidable, mainly for the following reasons: wiper angle errors of wiper systems are unavoidable, and increasing precision means increased costs, some distance must be reserved to accommodate the wiper angle error; the error of the vehicle body is inevitable, and the positions of the A column and the vehicle cover of the vehicle have deviation; mounting errors of a driving part, a wiper arm and the like in the wiper system are inevitable; wear of the wiper system is unavoidable, which leads to an increased error in the wiper angle.

Therefore, when the wiper arm is in the second reversal position, a sufficient distance must be left between the wiper arm and the vehicle cover, which makes the second reversal position of the wiper arm high and may block the view of the driver. When the wiper arm is in the first reversal position, the wiper arm and the a-pillar must also be kept at a sufficient distance, which may reduce the safety of the vehicle by leaving a large area between the wiper arm and the a-pillar that is not wiped. Therefore, the existing wiper system inevitably has some problems affecting the coverage of the wiper.

Therefore, there is a need for an improved wiper system and a control method thereof to increase the wiping coverage as much as possible, thereby improving driving safety.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the shortcomings in the prior art, it is an object of the present application to provide an improved wiper system and a control method thereof to further improve the wiper coverage.

According to an aspect of the present application, there is provided a wiper system including:

at least one wiper arm having a wiper blade for wiping a surface to be cleaned;

a motor configured to drive the at least one wiper arm to oscillate reciprocally in a first direction and a second direction opposite to the first direction;

wherein the wiper system is provided with an initialization mode in which the motor is configured to oscillate the at least one wiper arm in the first direction until the at least one wiper arm is blocked, and a position in the first direction that is before and at a safe interval from the position at which the at least one wiper arm is blocked is determined as a first reversal position of the at least one wiper arm.

According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a control method of a wiper system including at least one wiper arm having a wiper blade for wiping a surface to be cleaned; a motor configured to drive the at least one wiper arm to oscillate reciprocally in a first direction and a second direction opposite to the first direction; the control method comprises the following steps:

starting the wiper system;

judging whether an instruction for starting an initialization mode of the wiper system is received;

controlling the motor to rotate in the first direction until the at least one wiper arm is blocked if the command is received; and

a position in the first direction before the position in which the at least one wiper arm is blocked and at a safe interval is determined as a first reversal position of the at least one wiper arm.

The wiper system and the control method thereof can improve the coverage rate of the wiper and improve the driving safety.

Drawings

Exemplary embodiments of the present application will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings, with the understanding that the following description of the embodiments is intended to be illustrative, and not limiting of the scope of the application, and in which:

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a block diagram of a wiper system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 schematically shows a flowchart of a wiper system control method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

Preferred embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to examples. In the embodiments of the present application, the present application will be described by taking as an example a wiper system driven by a motor that can rotate in both forward and reverse directions and a control method thereof. However, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that these exemplary embodiments are not meant to limit the present application in any way. Furthermore, the features in the embodiments of the present application may be combined with each other without conflict. For the sake of brevity, other components and steps are omitted in the drawings, but this does not indicate that the wiper system of the present application may not include other components, nor that the control method of the wiper system of the present application may include other steps. It should be understood that the dimensions, proportions and numbers of parts and steps shown in the accompanying drawings are not intended to limit the present application.

As shown in fig. 1, a wiper system according to an embodiment of the present application includes at least one wiper arm (a first wiper arm 20 and a second wiper arm 30 are shown in fig. 1) and a motor 40, wherein the first wiper arm 20 and the second wiper arm 20 respectively have blades (not shown) for wiping a surface 10 to be cleaned (i.e., a windshield of a vehicle), and the motor 40 is configured to drive the first wiper arm 20 and the second wiper arm 30 to oscillate reciprocally in a first direction and a second direction opposite to the first direction. In addition, fig. 1 also shows that the motor 40 is coupled to the speed reducing mechanism 50, and the speed reducing mechanism 50 swings the first link 21 coupled to the first scraping arm 20 and the second link 31 coupled to the second scraping arm 30, so that the first scraping arm 20 and the second scraping arm 30 perform the scraping and brushing motion. The first link 21 and the second link 31 may be separate members or may be integrated with the first scraper arm 20 and the second scraper arm 30, respectively. In view of the common use of the reduction mechanism 50 in the art, such as a conventional worm-and-worm gear reduction mechanism, the specific structure thereof will not be further described herein. In addition, depending on the specific configuration of the motor 40, the speed reduction mechanism 50 may be omitted, and the first link 21 and the first scraper arm 20 and the second link 31 and the second scraper arm 30 may be directly driven by the motor 40.

For example, as shown in fig. 1, the first wiper arm 20 is normally reciprocally swung between a first preset position 22 and a second preset position 24 by the driving of the motor 40, the first preset position 22 being shown as a position close to the a-pillar 12 of the vehicle, and the second preset position 24 being shown as a position close to the cowl 11. For the various reasons previously described, the first preset position 22 and the second preset position 24 tend to remain at a greater distance from the vehicle body, affecting the scrub coverage and the driver's line of sight. To this end, the wiper system of the present application is provided with an initialization mode in which the motor 40 is configured to swing at least one wiper arm (e.g., the first wiper arm 20) in a first direction (shown as a clockwise direction in fig. 1) until the at least one wiper arm is blocked, and a position that is before and spaced apart from the position where the at least one wiper arm is blocked in the first direction is determined as a first reversal position (shown as 23 in fig. 1) of the at least one wiper arm. Obviously, the first reversal position 23 allows the first squeegee arm 20 to swing to a position closer to the a-pillar 12 but not in contact with the a-pillar 12, so that the squeegee area can be enlarged and the squeegee coverage can be improved.

In addition, in the initialization mode, the motor 40 may be further configured to swing the at least one wiper arm (e.g., the first wiper arm 20) in the second direction (shown as a counterclockwise direction in fig. 1) until the at least one wiper arm is blocked, and a position that is before and spaced apart from the position where the at least one wiper arm is blocked in the second direction is determined as a second reverse position (shown as 25 in fig. 1) of the at least one wiper arm. Obviously, the second reversal position 25 allows the first wiper arm 20 to swing to a position closer to the vehicle cover 11 but not contacting the vehicle cover 11, so that the wiper coverage can be further improved and the driver's sight can be prevented from being obstructed.

In the initialization mode, when the wiper arm of the wiper system is blocked by hitting the a-pillar 12 or the cowl 11, the motor 40 may detect such blocking, for example, by detecting a stalling current of the motor, detecting a rotation speed of the motor by a photoelectric counter, or the like. The maximum angle that the motor 40 rotates in the first direction when the motor 40 detects a blockage may be the basis for determining the first reverse position 23. For the wiper arm, the safety spacing may be defined as the angle of rotation of the at least one wiper arm, which may be between 1 and 2 degrees, for example.

Specifically, an angle value obtained by subtracting one angle θ from the maximum angle at which the motor 40 rotates in the first direction may be set to correspond to the first reverse position 23. For example, the subtracted one angle θ may be defined as an angle by which the first scraper arm 20 can rotate between 1 to 2 degrees when the motor 40 rotates in the first direction by the subtracted one angle θ. Thus, the first reversal position 23 may be as close as possible to the A-pillar 12 but still a safe distance from the A-pillar. In fig. 1, the area between the first preset position 22 and the first reversal position 23 is schematically shown by an area a1, and an area a1 is a wiping area that increases after the initialization mode is performed.

In addition, an angle value obtained by subtracting one angle θ from the maximum angle of rotation of the motor 40 in the second direction may be set to correspond to the second reverse position 25. For example, the subtracted one angle θ may also be defined as an angle by which the first scraper arm 20 can rotate between 1 degree and 2 degrees when the motor 40 rotates in the second direction by the subtracted one angle θ. In this way, the second reversal position 25 can be as close as possible to the vehicle cover 11 but still at a safe distance from the vehicle cover 11 without obstructing the driver's view. In fig. 1, the area between the second preset position 24 and the second reversal position 25 is schematically shown by the area a2, and the area a2 is also the wiping area that is increased after the initialization mode is performed.

Of course, in the initialization mode, it is also possible to not determine the second reversal position 25, but to use the second preset position 24 directly as the second reversal position of the wiper arm in the second direction. For example, the first reversal position may be more important for the driver, while the second reversal position has less influence, and thus, the second reversal position may not be determined in the initialization mode, and may be preset.

Depending on the design of the vehicle, the wiper system may be provided with one or more wiper arms. The operation of determining the first reversal position and the second reversal position of one of the wiper arms has been described above. Next, how to determine the first reversal position and the second reversal position of the two wiper arms will be described. In the embodiment shown in fig. 1, the second wiper arm 30 is similar to the first wiper arm 20, but is typically of a different size to cover as large an area as possible and avoid interference with the two. The motor 40 may also be generally configured to drive the second wiper arm 20 to oscillate back and forth between the third preset position 26 and the fourth preset position 28. In the embodiment shown in fig. 1, the third preset position 26 is a position over the middle of the vehicle windscreen, the fourth preset position 28 is a parking position close to the cowl 11, and the second wiper arm 30 is shown in the third preset position 26.

It should be noted that, since the first and second reversal positions of the wiper arm can be accurately determined by performing the initialization mode, the wiper system of the present application can be applied to a case where no preset position is set to the wiper arm, and the aforementioned preset positions (e.g., the first preset position 22, the second preset position 24, the third preset position 26, the fourth preset position 28) are shown only for the purpose of convenience of description.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 1, both the first and second wiper arms 20 and 30 swing in the same direction, i.e., "forward swing". Of course, the first and second wiper arms 20 and 30 may also oscillate in opposite directions, i.e., "counter-oscillating". The concept of the present application is further described below by taking the "forward swing" embodiment shown in fig. 1 as an example.

Since the motor 40 drives the first and second wiper arms 20 and 30 at the same time, the motor 40 can detect such a blockage when the swing of any one of the first and second wiper arms 20 and 30 in the first or second direction is blocked. For example, when swinging in the first direction, the first wiper arm 20 is first blocked by the a-pillar 12, and when swinging in the second direction, one of the first wiper arm 20 and the second wiper arm 30 is first blocked by the vehicle cover 11, and as described above, the motor 40 can detect these blockages. Accordingly, regardless of which of the first and second wiper arms 20 and 30 is blocked first, the motor 40 can detect and can determine a position before and spaced apart from the position where the corresponding wiper arm is blocked in the corresponding direction as the reverse rotation position of the corresponding wiper arm. Similarly, an angle value obtained by subtracting one angle θ from the maximum angle by which the motor 40 is rotated in the first direction may be set to correspond to the first reverse rotation position, and an angle value obtained by subtracting one angle θ from the maximum angle by which the motor 40 is rotated in the second direction may be set to correspond to the second reverse rotation position. As for the specific value of the angle θ, adjustment or calibration can be performed according to different designs. For illustrative purposes, the angle θ may be defined as an angle at which the corresponding wiper arm can rotate between 1 and 2 degrees when the motor 40 rotates by the angle θ in the first or second direction. Since the rotation of the motor corresponds to the swing of the wiper arm, the swing angle of the wiper arm can be calculated by calculating the rotation angle of the motor, and vice versa.

For the embodiment in which the first and second wiper arms 20 and 30 are "swung in opposite directions", the reverse rotation positions of the first and second wiper arms 20 and 30 can be adjusted by a structure similar to that described above.

As shown in fig. 1, the wiper system of the present application may further include a control unit 60, which may be a separate component or may be a part of an electronic control unit ECU of the vehicle. The control unit 60 controls the rotation of the motor 40 in each direction. For example, in the initialization mode, the control unit 60 may control the rotation of the motor such that one of the first and second wiper arms 20 and 30 is blocked first. After being blocked, the motor 40 may detect the blocking so that the first and second reverse positions may be determined, as described above.

By means of the above-described initialization mode, the reversal position of the at least one wiper arm can be determined. In the following operational mode of the wiper system, the motor 40 may be configured to drive the at least one wiper arm to oscillate back and forth between the first reversal position and the second reversal position, so that the wiper system of the present application may improve the wiper coverage.

Having described the wiper system of the present application above, a schematic flowchart of a control method of the wiper system according to an embodiment of the present application is described below with reference to fig. 2.

As shown in fig. 2, the control method of the wiper system of the present application includes the steps of:

at step 101, a wiper system is activated;

at step 102, determining whether an instruction to start an initialization mode of the wiper system is received;

at step 103, if an instruction is received, controlling the motor 40 to rotate in a first direction until the at least one wiper arm is blocked; and

at step 104, a position in the first direction before the position where the at least one wiper arm is blocked and spaced apart by a safety distance is determined as a first reversal position of the at least one wiper arm.

By determining the first reversal position, the at least one wiper arm can be made to wipe a larger area.

In addition, the control method of the present application may further include the steps of:

at step 105, controlling the motor 40 to rotate in a second direction opposite the first direction until the at least one wiper arm is blocked;

at step 106, a position in the second direction before the position where the at least one wiper arm is blocked and spaced apart by a safety distance is determined as a second reversal position of the at least one wiper arm.

The above steps 105 and 106 may determine the second reversal position, and thus, may make the at least one wiper arm wipe a larger area, further improve the wiping coverage, and avoid blocking the driver's sight.

After the initialization mode, the wiper arm of the wiper system can be swung back and forth over a larger swing range.

In the above-described control method, the instruction to start the initialization mode of the wiper system may be automatically issued when the wiper system is first operated, may be issued through a physical button or a virtual button at any time during the use of the vehicle (after the wiper arm is worn or replaced with a new wiper arm), or may be automatically issued at regular times by an electronic control unit of the vehicle, so that the reverse rotation position of the wiper arm can be dynamically determined according to the actual conditions of the components of the wiper system and the relevant components of the vehicle.

Further, in the above method, if an instruction to start the initialization mode of the wiper system is not received, the operation mode of the wiper system is started, that is, at step 107, the at least one wiper arm is driven to oscillate back and forth between the first reversal position and the second reversal position. It should be noted that the wiper system of the present application must perform the initialization mode when it is first operated, so it is necessary to be able to determine the first and second reversal positions.

In addition, the motor may be rotated at a relatively slow speed during the execution of the initialization mode to avoid a destructive collision between the wiper arm and the vehicle body.

The wiper system and the control method thereof can dynamically adjust the maximum rotating angle of the motor according to the actual conditions of the wiper system and a vehicle, thereby dynamically adjusting the reverse rotation position of the wiper arm, improving the wiper coverage rate and improving the driving safety.

The present application is described in detail above with reference to specific embodiments. It is to be understood that both the foregoing description and the embodiments shown in the drawings are to be considered exemplary and not restrictive of the application. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit of the application, and these changes and modifications do not depart from the scope of the application.