阅读说明：本技术 用于在车辆中分配清洗液的装置 (Device for dispensing a washing liquid in a vehicle ) 是由 朴钟旼 孔珞敬 韩胜植 李骐泓 李钟旭 于 2020-11-18 设计创作，主要内容包括：本公开涉及一种用于在车辆中分配清洗液的装置,其包括：壳体,包括一个或多个排出孔；轨道部件,位于壳体内；管组件,沿着轨道部件移动并且构造成将清洗液排出到一个或多个排出孔；电机组件,构造成施加驱动力以允许管组件沿着轨道部件移动；软管,与管组件接合并且与管组件一起沿着轨道部件一体地移动；以及控制器,构造成响应于清洁请求控制电机组件的驱动力以使得管组件将清洗液排出到选择的排出孔。(The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for dispensing a washing liquid in a vehicle, comprising: a housing including one or more exhaust holes; a rail member located within the housing; a pipe assembly moving along the rail member and configured to discharge the cleaning liquid to one or more discharge holes; a motor assembly configured to apply a driving force to allow the pipe assembly to move along the rail member; a hose engaged with the pipe assembly and integrally moved along the rail member together with the pipe assembly; and a controller configured to control a driving force of the motor assembly in response to the cleaning request to cause the pipe assembly to discharge the cleaning liquid to the selected discharge hole.)

1. An apparatus for dispensing a cleaning fluid in a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:

a housing including one or more exhaust holes;

a pipe assembly moving along the housing and configured to discharge a cleaning liquid to one or more of the discharge holes;

a motor assembly configured to apply a driving force to allow the tube assembly to move along the housing;

a hose engaged with the pipe assembly and integrally moved along the housing together with the pipe assembly; and

a controller configured to control a driving force of the motor assembly in response to a cleaning request such that the pipe assembly discharges a cleaning liquid through a selected discharge hole.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a rail member located within the housing;

wherein the tube assembly is configured to move along the rail member.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the tube assembly comprises:

a fixing member fixed to the housing;

a discharge portion located within the fixed member and configured to be protruded due to hydraulic pressure; and

an elastic member located between the discharge portion and the fixing part and configured to apply an elastic force to allow the extended discharge portion to be reset.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the motor assembly comprises:

a stepper motor located at a distal end of the rail member; and

a gear member configured to transmit a rotational force of the stepper motor to allow the tube assembly to move on the rail member.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein in an initial state, the tube assembly is disposed at a location corresponding to a central one of the plurality of exhaust apertures.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein one end of the hose is configured to fluidly connect to a wash pump.

7. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the rail member comprises:

a skid to which the tube assembly is secured;

a pinion gear located on a lower surface of the slide table and to which a driving force of the motor assembly is applied; and

a track configured to move the tube assembly.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for dispensing washing liquid in a vehicle, and more particularly, to an apparatus for dispensing washing liquid, which performs dispensing of washing liquid by moving a pipe assembly to a position corresponding to a selected one of a plurality of discharge holes included in an upper housing.

Background

Conventionally, a washer pump system is mounted on a vehicle to selectively supply a washer fluid located in a washer tank to a front windshield and a rear windshield.

Since the surfaces of a front windshield and a rear windshield (interchangeably, also referred to as "windshield") are often contaminated with foreign matter such as dust, the foreign matter located on the surface of the windshield should be removed in order to sufficiently ensure the front sight and achieve safe operation.

As described above, in order to remove foreign matter and the like located on the windshield of the vehicle, the vehicle is provided with a washing nozzle for spraying washing liquid together with a wiper system.

Therefore, when a driver operates a wash switch installed in the vehicle in order to make the region of sight clear, a wash motor connected to the wash switch is operated, and wash liquid stored in a wash liquid storage tank is sprayed to the windshield through a clear nozzle due to the operation of the wash motor. By the spray of the washing liquid and the wiper operation, foreign substances that obstruct the driver's sight line can be removed, so that the driver can safely operate the vehicle in a state where the field of sight line is ensured.

However, in recent years, when pollutants are attached to a plurality of devices (a camera, radio detection and ranging (radar), light detection and ranging (light arrival), and the like) coupled to the outside of a vehicle for autonomous driving, measurement data for performing autonomous driving has been problematic. Such devices that can invalidate the measurement data greatly threaten the stability of the vehicle.

Therefore, a device for dispensing the cleaning liquid is inevitably required to spray the cleaning liquid to a plurality of locations.

Disclosure of Invention

In one aspect, the present disclosure provides an apparatus for dispensing cleaning fluid that includes multiple flow paths through a single cleaning pump.

In another aspect, the present disclosure provides a device for dispensing cleaning fluid that includes a tube assembly configured to correspond to a drain hole and capable of selectively dispensing cleaning fluid to the drain hole fluidly connected to the device requiring cleaning.

The object of the present disclosure is not limited to the above object, and other objects not mentioned of the present disclosure may be understood by the following description, and will also be fully understood by the embodiments of the present disclosure. Further, the objects of the present disclosure can be implemented by the means described in the claims and combinations thereof.

The apparatus for dispensing cleaning fluid includes the following components.

In an exemplary embodiment, the present disclosure provides an apparatus for dispensing cleaning fluid, comprising: a housing having one or more discharge holes; a rail member located within the housing; a pipe assembly moving along the rail member and configured to discharge the cleaning liquid to one or more discharge holes; a motor assembly configured to apply a driving force to allow the pipe assembly to move along the rail member; a hose engaged with the pipe assembly and integrally moved along the rail member together with the pipe assembly; and a controller configured to control a driving force of the motor assembly in response to a cleaning request to cause the pipe assembly to discharge the cleaning liquid through the selected discharge hole.

Further, the tube assembly may include: a fixing member fixed to the rail member; a discharge portion located within the fixed member and configured to protrude therefrom due to hydraulic pressure; and an elastic member located between the discharge portion and the fixing part and configured to apply an elastic force to allow the extended discharge portion to be restored.

Further, the motor assembly may include: a stepper motor located at a distal end of the rail member; and a gear member configured to transmit a rotational force of the stepping motor to allow the pipe assembly to move on the rail member.

Further, in the initial state, the pipe assembly may be disposed at a position corresponding to a central discharge hole of the plurality of discharge holes.

Further, one end of the hose may be configured to fluidly connect to a wash pump.

Further, the rail member may include: a slip to which the pipe assembly is fixed; a pinion gear located on a lower surface of the slide table and to which a driving force of the motor assembly is applied; and a track configured to move the tube assembly.

Other aspects and preferred embodiments of the disclosure are discussed below.

Drawings

The above and other features of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to certain exemplary embodiments thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which are given for illustrative purposes only and thus do not limit the disclosure, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus for dispensing cleaning fluid in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an apparatus for dispensing cleaning fluid according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a part diagram illustrating an apparatus for dispensing cleaning fluid according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a tube assembly according to one embodiment of the present disclosure; and

fig. 5 is a view illustrating a coupling relationship between a motor assembly and a rail member according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

It should be understood that the drawings are not necessarily to scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various preferred features illustrative of the basic principles of the disclosure. As disclosed herein, specific design features of the present disclosure, including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations, and shapes, will be determined in part by the specific intended application and use environment.

In the drawings, like reference numerals refer to like or equivalent parts of the disclosure throughout the several views of the drawings.

Detailed Description

It should be understood that the term "vehicle" or "vehicular" or other similar terms as used herein includes a broad range of motor vehicles, such as: passenger vehicles including Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs), buses, trucks, various commercial vehicles, water vehicles including various watercraft and watercraft, aircraft, and the like, and hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles, hydrogen powered vehicles, and other alternative fuel (e.g., fuels produced from resources other than petroleum) vehicles. As referred to herein, a hybrid vehicle is a vehicle having two or more power sources, such as gasoline-powered and electric-powered vehicles.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. Throughout the specification, unless explicitly described to the contrary, the word "comprise", and variations such as "comprises" and "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of stated elements but not the exclusion of any other elements. Further, the terms "unit", "piece", "section", and "module" described in the present specification refer to a unit for performing at least one function and operation, and may be implemented by hardware components, software components, and a combination thereof.

Further, the control logic of the present disclosure may be embodied as a non-transitory computer readable medium on a computer readable medium, the computer readable medium comprising executable program instructions executed by a processor, controller, or the like. Examples of computer readable media include, but are not limited to, ROM, RAM, (CD) -ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disk, flash disk, smart cards, and optical data storage devices. The computer readable medium CAN also be distributed over a network coupled to computer systems so that the computer readable medium is stored and executed in a distributed fashion, such as through a telematics service or Controller Area Network (CAN).

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments of the present disclosure may be modified in various forms, and the scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited by the following embodiments. These embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete to those skilled in the art.

Further, the terms "-means", "-assembly", "-motor", etc. used herein refer to a unit for performing at least one function or operation, and the unit may be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software.

The present disclosure relates to a cleaning liquid dispensing device 100, and provides a technique for dispensing a cleaning liquid to a plurality of external devices 500 located outside a vehicle and contaminated by contaminants.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a plurality of discharge ports 113 are configured to be connected to external device 500 located outside the vehicle, and a single discharge port 113 is configured to be connected to different external device 500.

The external device 500 located outside the vehicle includes a camera for providing one or more of a front image, a rear image, and a side image of the vehicle, and light detection and ranging (LiDAR), light arrival) and radio detection and ranging (RADAR), RADAR) for receiving driving information.

A light control light device and other devices connected to the light device (e.g., a light processor (not shown) for processing the light sensing output). Such control includes, for example, power supply control, reset control, Clock (CLK) control, data communication control, memory control, and the like. Meanwhile, the light reaching device is used to sense a front area of the vehicle. Such a light reaching device is located on a front surface in a vehicle, specifically, below a front windshield to transmit and receive laser light passing through the front windshield.

Further, for example, a radar is connected to the radar device, which is a sensor. The radar apparatus is a sensor apparatus that measures an angle, a distance, and a speed of an object using electromagnetic waves. When the radar apparatus is used, an object up to the front side 150m within a horizontal angle of 30 degrees may be detected using a Frequency Modulated Carrier Wave (FMCW) method or a pulse carrier method. The radar controls the radar apparatus and other apparatuses connected to the radar apparatus, for example, a radar processor (not shown) for processing radar sensing output.

As described above, the contaminants adhere not only to the camera but also to the radar and the radar, thereby making it impossible to accept the driving environment information in the autonomous driving state of the vehicle, and therefore, a structure of an ejection device capable of ejecting the washing liquid on each device is necessarily required.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a coupling relationship of a cleaning solution dispensing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown, the present disclosure includes a controller 200 that receives a user request and controls the cleaning liquid dispensing device 100 based on the received user request. The controller 200 is controlled to inject a washing liquid to the external device 500 requiring cleaning, perform driving of the washing pump 300, and control the washing liquid located in the reservoir to be introduced into the washing liquid injector based on an input signal of a user or vehicle sensing information.

More preferably, the controller 200 moves the pipe assembly 120 along the housing 110 to spray the washing liquid to the external device 500 requiring cleaning. More preferably, the controller 200 is configured to move the tube assembly 120 along the track 152 of the track member 150 located within the housing 110. Further, the controller 200 is configured to control the voltage applied to the motor assembly 130 located at the distal end of the housing 110 to move the tube assembly 120. The voltage applied to the motor assembly 130 is a pulsed voltage. The time for applying the pulse voltage may be controlled according to the distance between the discharge holes 113. Based on the initial state, the number of times the pulse voltage is applied may be determined to correspond to the number of discharge holes 113 through which pipe assembly 120 moves.

When a cleaning request of the external device 500 is determined as a failure state or receives recognition accuracy less than or equal to a reference value through a sensor located in each device, the controller 200 may be controlled to automatically perform cleaning of the corresponding device or configured to perform cleaning in response to a direct input of a user.

The washing pump 300 is configured in the reservoir 400 or at a position fluidly connected to the reservoir 400, and is configured to pressurize the washing liquid introduced into the washing liquid dispensing apparatus 100. More preferably, the washing pump 300 may be configured to pressurize the washing liquid to have a pressure that allows the discharge portion 122 of the pipe assembly 120 to protrude above the fixing part. When the discharge portion 122 protrudes above the fixing member, it is configured such that the cleaning solution introduced through the hose 140 is discharged through the discharge hole 113.

As described above, the washing liquid dispensing apparatus 100 is disclosed according to the present disclosure, in which the controller 200 receives a cleaning request signal and controls the washing pump and motor assembly 130 based on the received cleaning request signal to selectively dispense the washing liquid to the external apparatus 500 requiring cleaning.

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate perspective and detail views of a cleaning solution dispensing apparatus 100 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

The cleaning liquid dispensing device 100 according to the present disclosure includes: an upper case 111 including one or more discharge holes 113; a lower case 112 corresponding to the upper case 111; a pipe assembly 120 configured to move along a rail member 150 located inside the lower housing 112 and discharge a cleaning solution through one or more discharge holes 113; and a motor assembly 130 configured to apply a driving force to perform the movement of the tube assembly 120.

Further, the tube assembly 120 includes a hose 140 fluidly connected to the reservoir 400 and/or the wash pump 300 and configured to allow a wash liquid to be introduced into the tube assembly 120. The hose 140 is configured to move simultaneously with the pipe assembly 120 on the upper surface of the rail member 150.

In response to a request from the external device 500 or an input from a user, the controller 200 is configured to control the duration and number of times the pulse voltage is applied to the motor assembly 130. In one embodiment of the present disclosure, pipe assembly 120 moves to a position corresponding to adjacent discharge hole 113 upon application of a pulse voltage once, and the number of times pipe assembly 120 moves to discharge hole 113 is increased according to the number of times pulse voltage is applied based on an initial state. Further, the duration (time) of the pulse voltage applied through motor assembly 130 may be differently set according to the distance between adjacent discharge holes 113.

More preferably, after the cleaning is completed, the controller 200 is configured to apply a pulse voltage of the motor assembly 130 to the pipe assembly 120 to switch the pipe assembly 120 to an initial state. The initial state refers to the following case: pipe assembly 120 is located at a position corresponding to discharge hole 113 at a central portion among a plurality of discharge holes 113 in the length direction, or at a position closest to discharge hole 113 at the central portion among a plurality of discharge holes 113.

Thus, after cleaning is complete, the controller 200 is configured to apply a pulsed voltage having an opposite polarity through the motor assembly 130 to move the tube assembly 120 to the initial state.

Tube assembly 120 is configured to be secured to a slip table 151 on track member 150, and a lower surface of slip table 151 is configured to engage with gear member 132, which rotates integrally with the rotor of motor assembly 130. More preferably, the gear part 132 rotating integrally with the rotor of the motor assembly 130 may be formed as a rack and pinion positioned along the length direction of the rail part 150.

Further, the lower surface of the slide table 151 is configured such that the pipe assembly 120 moves in the length direction of the rail member 150 due to the rotational force of a rack gear, which includes a pinion gear and rotates integrally with the rotor.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of tube assembly 120 showing a side cross-sectional view that assumes a driving relationship between an initial state (resting state) and an operational state.

Tube assembly 120 includes a stationary member fixed to rail member 150 and a discharge portion 122 located within the stationary member and configured to protrude to be inserted into discharge hole 113. More preferably, the fixing member is configured to engage with the slide table 151.

When a cleaning request is applied, pipe assembly 120 moves along rail member 150, and thus, is configured such that discharge portion 122 is inserted into discharge hole 113 due to the hydraulic pressure of the washing liquid introduced along hose 140, and thus, the washing liquid is discharged through discharge hole 113.

The fixing member is formed in a cylindrical shape and includes a nipple to be fluidly connected to the hose 140. More preferably, the joint engaged with the hose 140 is configured to be located on a side surface of the fixing member capable of providing hydraulic pressure to the rear surface of the discharge portion 122.

The discharge portion 122 is configured to be located within the fixed member and to move in the height direction. At least a part of the discharge portion 122 is configured to protrude above the fixing member due to the hydraulic pressure of the cleaning liquid introduced along the hose 140, and is configured to allow the cleaning liquid to be introduced into the fixing member to be discharged through the discharge hole 113.

When the hydraulic pressure is removed from the discharge part 122 inserted into the discharge hole 113, an elastic member 123 is included between the fixing part of the pipe assembly 120 and the discharge part 122, so that the discharge part 122 is returned to the inside of the fixing part.

The tube assembly 120 is moved along the rail member 150 by the motor assembly 130 located at one end of the rail member 150. Accordingly, in response to a cleaning request signal applied from the controller 200, the slide table 151 engaged with the gear part 132 is moved, and the pipe assembly 120 fixed to the slide table 151 is configured to be moved to a position corresponding to the discharge hole 113 connected to the external device 500. Thereafter, the discharge part 122 moves in the height direction of the fixing member according to the hydraulic pressure of the cleaning liquid, and is configured such that the cleaning liquid introduced through the fixing member is sprayed to the external device 500 to be cleaned through the discharge hole 113.

In summary, tube assembly 120 is moved by motor assembly 130 to a position corresponding to exhaust port 113, which is fluidly connected to external device 500 requiring cleaning. It is configured such that the washing liquid pressurized by the washing pump 300 is introduced into the pipe assembly 120 through the hose 140, and thus, the discharge portion 122 is inserted into the discharge hole 113, so that the washing liquid introduced into the fixing part is sprayed to the external device 500 through the discharge hole 113.

Fig. 5 illustrates a coupling relationship between the motor assembly 130 and the rail member 150 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

The rail member 150 includes: a rail 152 through which the pipe assembly 120 moves; a slide 151 moving along the rail 152 and engaging with a fixed part of the pipe assembly 120; and a pinion gear engaged to allow the sliding table 151 to move due to the driving force of the motor assembly 130.

Slip 151 includes one surface that engages tube assembly 120 and is configured to surround at least a portion of track 152. More preferably, the rails 152 are formed in two rows of rails 152, and the slide table 151 is configured to surround at least a portion of both side surfaces of the two rows of rails 152 and move along the length direction of the two rows of rails 152.

The stepping motor 131 of the motor assembly 130 is configured to be located at one distal end of the two rows of rails 152, and the gear member 132 integrally formed with the rotor of the stepping motor 131 is configured to be positioned along the two rows of rails 152 in the length direction thereof to engage with the slide table 151.

The slide 151 engaged with the gear part 132 of the motor assembly 130 includes a pinion gear on a rear surface of the slide 151 engaged with the pipe assembly 120. More preferably, the gear part 132 is formed as a rack gear and is configured to engage with a slide table 151 including a pinion gear.

The stepper motor 131 of the motor assembly 130 is configured to receive power applied by the controller 200. Configured such that the pulse power is applied by corresponding to discharge hole 113, and pipe assembly 120 is moved to adjacent discharge hole 113 near the initial position in response to the pulse power.

Further, when pulse power is applied to pipe assembly 120, stepping motor 131 may be configured to rotate in two directions, and thus, pipe assembly 120 is configured to move to two discharge holes 113 adjacent to each other. Accordingly, controller 200 is configured to control the number of times of pulse power applied to stepping motor 131 according to the number of discharge holes 113 between discharge holes 113 requested to be cleaned and discharge holes 113 in the initial state.

Further, in order to switch the pipe assembly 120 to the initial state in a state where cleaning is completed, the controller 200 is configured to apply the pulse voltage again, and thus, when cleaning is completed, the pipe assembly 120 is configured to always switch to the initial state.

According to the combination of the above-described embodiments and the configurations and use relationships to be described below, the present disclosure can obtain the following effects.

According to the present disclosure, a plurality of discharge holes are configured, and a pipe assembly is configured to be selectively located at a position corresponding to each discharge hole so as to have an effect that a cleaning liquid can be sprayed to a plurality of branches by driving of a single cleaning pump.

Further, according to the present disclosure, fluid connection to a plurality of device cleaning solution dispensers through a single cleaning pump may be provided with the effect of improved component serviceability.

The foregoing detailed description illustrates the present disclosure. Moreover, the foregoing is intended to illustrate and describe exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, and the present disclosure may be used in various other combinations, modifications, and environments. That is, substitutions and modifications may be practiced without departing from the scope of the disclosure disclosed in the specification, equivalents, and/or within the skill and knowledge of the art to which the disclosure pertains. The described embodiments are intended to explain the best mode for carrying out the technical spirit of the disclosure and may be variously modified for specific applications and uses of the disclosure. Therefore, the detailed description disclosed herein is not intended to limit the disclosure to the disclosed embodiments. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the claims are intended to include other embodiments.