WIPER DEVICE

• US 20190322244A1
• Filed: 04/11/2019
• Published: 10/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: OOTANI, Hiromu
• Granted Patent: US 11,305,734 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60S 1/08 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 Class Codes: B60S 1/0818 including control systems responsive to external conditions, e.g. by detection of moisture, dirt or the like
• CPC Class Codes: B60S 1/163 with means for stopping or setting the wipers at their limit of movement
• CPC Class Codes: B60S 1/166 characterised by the combination of a motor-reduction unit and a mechanism for converting rotary into oscillatory movement
• CPC Class Codes: B60S 1/18 mechanically B60S1/166 takes precedence

Abstract

A wiper device that includes: a first control section that, during intermittent operation, controls power supply to a drive source such that a wiper blade wipes to-and-fro between a first return position and a second return position on a windshield and stops moving for a predetermined duration at the first return position, and that performs position retention control that controls power supply to the drive source such that the stopped wiper blade is retained at a position at which the wiper blade is stopped; and a second control section that suspends the position retention control by the first control section in a case in which a current flowing in the drive source is detected to have increased by a predetermined value or greater while the wiper blade moves toward the first return position within a predetermined region in a vicinity of the first return position.

Claims

1. A wiper device comprising:

a drive source that generates drive force by being supplied with power;

a wiper arm to which drive force of the drive source is transmitted by the wiper arm being coupled with a wiper blade;

a first control section that, during intermittent operation, controls power supply to the drive source such that the wiper blade wipes to-and-fro between a first return position and a second return position on a windshield and stops moving for a predetermined duration at the first return position, and that performs position retention control that controls power supply to the drive source such that the stopped wiper blade is retained at a position at which the wiper blade is stopped; and

a second control section that suspends the position retention control by the first control section in a case in which a current flowing in the drive source is detected to have increased by a predetermined value or greater while the wiper blade moves toward the first return position within a predetermined region in a vicinity of the first return position.

2. The wiper device of claim 1, wherein:

the second control section increases a count value each time the current flowing in the drive source is detected to have increased while the wiper blade moves toward the first return position within the predetermined region, and the second control section determines an increase of the predetermined value or greater to have been detected in a case in which the count value becomes equal to or greater than a threshold value.

3. The wiper device of claim 1, wherein:

the first control section performs the position retention control at the position at which the wiper blade has been stopped in a case in which the wiper blade has stopped before arriving at the first return position; and

in a case in which the current flowing in the drive source is detected to have increased by a predetermined value or greater while the wiper blade moves toward the first return position within the predetermined region in the vicinity of the first return position, the second control section sets instruction information to suspend the position retention control and holds the instruction information until movement of the wiper blade toward the second return position begins.

4. The wiper device of claim 1, wherein the first return position is a lower return position, and the second return position is an upper return position.