Windshield wiper device

Details Windshield wiper device Windshield wiper device

2001-03-28

2002-03-19

Ro, Bentsu (Department: 2837)

Electricity: motive power systems

Periodic, repetitious or successive operations control of...

C318SDIG002

Reexamination Certificate

active

06359407

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a windshield wiper mechanism having an electric motor which, subject to a trigger signal of a control circuit, drives a wiping system having at least one wiping space.
BACKGROUND AND INFORMATION
A windshield wiper mechanism of this type is described in German Published Patent Application No. 4417371. In this known windshield wiper device, an electric motor driving the wiping system via the wiper arm is operated subject to a trigger signal of a control circuit. The control circuit is designed in such a way that the specified wiping angle tolerances in the area of the end positions of the wiper arm are maintained largely independently of the movement energy of the windshield wiper. A still unsolved problem is that the wiping sweep is frequently irregular during travel, varying speeds of the wiper arm occurring during the upward and downward movement in particular.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide a windshield wiper mechanism of the aforementioned type in which a wiping sweep which is as consistent as possible is maintained corresponding to a specified wiping speed stage.
According to the present invention, the control circuit has a control stage for changing the trigger signal as a function of a wind load. The additional provision of the control stage having the property that the trigger signal is changed as a function of a wind load causes the upward movement of the wiper to be decelerated to the degree essentially corresponding to the set wiping speed for a relatively high speed in particular and the speed of the downward movement to be essentially brought to the setpoint value, resulting in a consistent wiping sweep that does not disturb the driver. In addition, a desired maximum deflection position is always maintained, as a result of which an optimum wiping field is always maintained.
Without special sensors for directly detecting the wind load (which is also possible), it is possible to specify it with good results in a simple manner by determining the wind load from the vehicle speed and/or the wiper speed, the wind load values being stored in a memory or continuously being recalculated. In addition, the vehicle speed can be supplied simply by obtaining it from a speedometer signal while the wiper speed is determined from a contact disk which is present in any case to generate an absolute position signal and/or a signal picked off from a Hall-effect switch which is also present in any case for a relative position signal.
In contrast to a conventional control circuit, the trigger signal may be supplied at low expense, for example, by forming it from a manipulated variable signal produced by a manipulated variable generator or a controller.
In order to smooth the wiper speed in both wiping directions as well as possible, the measures that the trigger signal is intensified as a function of the wind load during downward movement of the wiper arm and reduced during upward movement of the wiper arm are also advantageous. In this connection, a decelerating effect may also be produced via the trigger signal during the upward movement if necessary.
If the trigger signal is provided as a pulse-width modulated signal, then the trigger signal can be easily manipulated by changing the pulse width via the correction signal as a function of the wind load


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