Wiper motor control

• US 9,079,567 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2010
• Issued: 07/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Original Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Inventors: Wegner, Nobert, Zimmer, Joachim
• Primary Examiner(s): Ro, Bentsu
• Application Number:
  US13/579,189
• Publication Number:
  US 20130093364A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,667 Days
• Field of Search: 318/162, 318/163, 318/164, 318/400.12, 318/443
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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

Abstract

The invention relates to a wiper motor control for controlling a wiper motor that moves a wiper arm in a pendulum motion between two turning positions, said wiper motor control being designed to control a speed of the wiper arm dependent on a position of the wiper arm. The speed of the wiper arm in turning regions, which comprise the turning positions, follows a specified progression independent of the speed of the wiper arm between the turning regions.

Claims

1. A wiper motor control (135) for controlling a wiper motor (130) that moves a wiper arm (120) in a pendulum motion between two turning positions (WL), said wiper motor control (135) configured to control a speed of the wiper arm (120) dependent on a position of said wiper arm (120), characterized in that the speed of the wiper arm (120) in turning regions (WB), which comprise the turning positions (WL), follows a specified progression (210, 310, 320) independent of the speed of the wiper arm (120) between the turning regions (WB), wherein the wiper motor (130) is coupled to the wiper arm (120) by a crank mechanism (125) and the wiper motor control (135) is equipped to maintain the rotational speed of the wiper motor (130) constant while the wiper arm (120) is situated in one of the turning regions (WB), and the rotational speed of the wiper motor (130) between the turning regions (WB) is maintained constant at a lower speed than in the turning regions (WB).

2. The wiper motor control (135) according to claim 1, characterized in that the progression (210, 310, 320) of the speed in the turning regions (WB) follows substantially a sine function (210).

3. The wiper motor control (135) according to claim 2, characterized in that the speed of the wiper arm (120) between the turning regions (WB) is less than the maximum of the sine function (210).

4. The wiper motor control (135) according to claim 1, wherein the wiper motor (130) is coupled to the wiper arm (120) by a continuous gear train assembly (160).

5. The wiper motor control according to claim 1, which further comprises a device for determining whether a power consumption of the wiper motor lies above a predetermined threshold value.

6. The wiper motor control (135) according to claim 1, which further comprises a device (135) for determining whether a time that elapses until the wiper arm (120) moves from one turning position (WL) to the other turning position (WL) lies above a predetermined threshold value.

7. The wiper motor control (135) according to claim 1, which further comprises a device (150) for determining whether a wind speed in the region of the wiper arm (120) lies above a predetermined value.

8. A method for controlling a wiper motor (130), which moves a wiper arm (120) in a pendulum motion between two turning positions (WL), wherein the method comprises:

determining whether the wiper arm (120) is situated in one of two turning regions (WB), which lie around the turning positions (WL), and

actuating the wiper motor (130) such that a speed of the wiper arm (120) in the turning region (WB) follows a rigidly specified progression independent of a speed of the wiper arm (120) between the turning regions (WB);

wherein a wiper motor control (135) maintains the rotational speed of the wiper motor (130) constant while the wiper arm (120) is situated in one of the turning regions (WB), and the rotational speed of the wiper motor (130) between the turning regions (WB) is maintained constant at a lower speed than in the turning regions (WB).

9. A computer program product comprising program code means for carrying out the method according to claim 8 if the computer program product is stored on a non-transient computer readable data carrier and runs on a processing device (135).