JPH0216254Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Field of industrial application] This invention is an automobile steering wheel that displays the direction of the front wheels, whose direction is changed by the steering wheel, on the driver's seat by detecting the amount of rotation of the steering wheel. The present invention relates to an angle detection device.

[Prior art]

Conventionally, when starting a car again after parking it, it is difficult to determine whether the steering wheel is being operated in neutral or left or right, and the car may move in an unexpected direction when starting, making it difficult to operate the steering wheel. This was difficult and there was a risk of collision with other vehicles.

[Purpose of invention]

The present invention was developed in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to display the direction of the front wheels on the driver's seat so that the driver can predict the direction in which the vehicle will travel when starting. An object of the present invention is to provide a steering wheel angle detection device for an automobile that facilitates driving operations.

[Summary of the idea]

The present invention provides a movable body that is engaged with a spiral groove of a rotor that rotates integrally with the steering wheel and is displaced according to the rotation angle of the steering wheel, and a light emitting element and a light receiving element are arranged facing each other with this movable body sandwiched between them. , the movable body is provided with a through hole whose area or number is changed according to the amount of displacement of the movable body to adjust the amount of light emitted from the light emitting element reaching the light receiving element; The present invention is characterized in that a display device is provided that performs a display according to a change in the amount of light reaching the light receiving element via the light receiving element, and a display according to the direction of the front wheel is provided.

〔Example〕

The following is an example of the present invention shown in Figures 1 to 4.
This will be explained with reference to the figures. Reference numeral 1 denotes a switch base fixed to the upper end of the steering column. A cylindrical body (not shown) through which the steering shaft passes is integrally erected in the center of the switch base, and a switch base 1 is attached to the outer periphery of the cylindrical body. A cylindrical cancel cam 2 is rotatably supported. A protrusion 3 provided on the cancel cam 2 is engaged with an engagement hole provided in the steering wheel, so that it can rotate together with the steering wheel. 4
5 is a turn signal switch located on the right half of the switch base 1, 5 is a wiper switch located on the left half of the switch base 1, and the turn signal switch 4 is self-cancelled by the rotation of the cancel cam 2. However, since these turn signal switch 4 and wiper switch 5 are not directly related to the present application and have a well-known configuration, detailed explanation will be omitted. On the other hand, reference numeral 6 denotes an annular detection case that is attached to the upper surface of the switch base 1 and can be divided into vertical parts. A rotor 8 is rotatably supported around the outer periphery of the rotor 7 . The rotor 8 is integrally formed with an annular flange 9 that penetrates the cylindrical part 7 on the inner surface side and projects toward the inner circumferential side of the cylindrical part 7. The recesses 10, 10 are the cam ridges 2 of the cancel cam 2.
a, 2a, so that the rotor 8 can rotate integrally with a steering wheel (not shown) via the cancel cam 2. and,
A spiral groove 1 having a rectangular cross section is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the rotor 8.
1 is engraved. Reference numeral 12 denotes a rectangular cylindrical guide case portion formed on the outer periphery of the detection case 6 so as to be substantially parallel to the steering shaft, and a slide plate 13 as a movable body is disposed inside the guide case portion so as to be slidable up and down. has been done. This slide plate 13 has a protrusion 1 protruding from its upper end.
4 is engaged with the spiral groove 11, and a third
A slit hole 15 as a triangular through hole as shown in the figure is bored. Reference numerals 16 and 17 indicate storage chambers formed in the lower part of the guide case portion 12 so as to sandwich the slit hole 15. A light emitting diode 18 as a light emitting element is stored in the storage chamber 16, and a light receiving element as a light receiving element is stored in the storage chamber 17. Contains CdS19. This storage chamber 17 is provided with a partition wall 20 that contacts the slide plate 13, and a slit groove 21 perpendicular to the moving direction of the slide plate 13 is formed in the partition wall 20. Thus, the slide plate 13, the light emitting diode 18 and
The CdS 19 constitutes a non-contact type detector 22.

Now, in the electrical circuit diagram shown in Figure 4, 2
3, 23... are light emitting diodes as indicators,
For example, nine rows of these are arranged on the front surface of the dash board or the column cover. 24 is the positive power line 2 from the ignition switch (not shown)
Diode connected to 5, 26 and 27 resistors,
28 is a capacitor connected in series with resistors 26 and 27 to form a time constant circuit, 29 is a diode that discharges the charge stored in the capacitor 36 when the ignition switch is turned off, 30 is a PNP type transistor, and 31 is an NPN type The transistor 32 is a Zener diode. 33 and 34 are resistors connected in series to the light emitting diode 18 and the CdS 19, 35 is a resistor, 36 is a condenser, and 37 is a variable resistor. 38 is a driver, which turns on any one of the nine light emitting diodes 23, 23, . . . in accordance with the voltage value input to the input terminal 38a.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be explained. When the steering wheel (not shown) is in a neutral state, the approximate center of the slit hole 15 of the slide plate 13 faces the slit groove 21, and for example, when the steering wheel is rotated clockwise, the slide plate 13 is displaced downward. and the slit groove 21
For example, when the steering wheel is rotated to the left, the slide plate 13 is displaced upward, and the width of the slit hole 15 facing the slit groove 21 gradually increases. will start to decrease. That is, the area of the slit hole 15 located between the light emitting diode 18 and the CdS 19 is increased or decreased in accordance with the displacement of the slide plate 3, and the amount of light reaching the CdS 19 is increased or decreased.

On the other hand, when the ignition switch is operated and power is supplied to the positive power line 25, current flows through the diode 24, the resistors 26 and 27, and the capacitor 38 in that order, charging the capacitor 38. During charging, the PNP transistor A base current is supplied to the base of transistor 30 to turn on transistor 30, and while transistor 30 is on, NPN transistor 31 is turned on. Then, when the transistors 30 and 31 are turned on, power is supplied to the light emitting diode 18, CdS 19 and driver 38, and light from the light emitting diode 18 enters the slit hole 1.
5 and the slit groove 21, and a voltage proportional to the amount of light reaching the CdS 19 is generated across a resistor 34 connected in series with the CdS 19. The voltage generated across this resistor 34 is the resistor 3
5 and the variable resistor 37, and the voltage is divided by the driver 3.
The resistance value of the variable resistor 37 is adjusted in advance so that the center light emitting diode 23 lights up when the steering wheel is in the neutral state.

When the steering wheel is rotated to the right from the neutral position, the width of the slit hole 15 facing the slit groove 23 increases in accordance with the rightward rotation angle of the front wheel, and the light emitting diode Since the amount of light reaching the CdS 19 from 18 increases, the voltage value applied to the input terminal 38a of the driver 38 also increases in accordance with the rotation angle of the front wheel, and as the voltage value increases, light emission according to the voltage value increases. The diodes 23 light up in sequence, thereby indicating the rotation angle of the front wheels. Further, when the steering wheel is rotated to the left from the neutral position, the width dimension of the slit hole 15 facing the slit groove 21 decreases according to the rotation angle of the front wheel to the left, and the light emitting diode 18 is Since the amount of light reaching the CdS 19 decreases, the voltage value applied to the input terminal 38a of the driver 38 also decreases according to the rotation angle of the front wheel, and as the voltage value decreases, the light emitting diode 23 according to the voltage value decreases. will light up in sequence to display the rotation angle of the front wheels in the same way as described above. On the other hand, capacitor 28
When charging of the capacitor 28 is completed after a predetermined period of time has passed after the ignition switch is operated, the current flowing through the resistors 26 and 27 disappears, the transistors 30 and 31 are turned off, and the light emitting diode 2
The display of 3, 23, etc. ends. The time period during which the transistors 30 and 31 are turned off after the ignition switch is operated is, for example, 1 to 3
This time period is set to 1 minute, but this time period may be selected as appropriate.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show other embodiments of the present invention, and only the parts that are different from the previously described embodiments will be explained. That is, four photodiodes 39 to 42 are arranged in the storage chamber 17 along the slit groove 21. Further, the slide plate 13 is provided with a plurality of through holes 43 to 51 corresponding to the photodiodes 39 to 42. Each through hole 43-5
1 does not face any of the photodiodes 39 to 42 when the front wheel is in a neutral state, and when the front wheel is rotated to the left and the slide plate 13 is displaced upward, the front wheel is moved in accordance with the displacement. As shown in Figure 5, the binary code “1”, “2”,
"3" and "4" are detected, and when the front wheel is rotated to the right and the slide plate 13 is displaced downward, the binary code is changed according to the displacement as shown in FIG. "5", "6", "7", "8"
Each position and number are set so that it can be detected. The light emitting diode 20 and photodiodes 39 to 42 constitute a digital non-contact type detector 52. 53-56
57 is a decoder that converts the binary code into a decimal number; 58 is a driver that amplifies the output of the decoder 57; 59, 59... are light emitting diodes; 60, 60... is each light emitting diode 59, 59
It is a current limiting resistor connected in series with...

In this configuration, when an ignition switch (not shown) is turned on, the light emitting diode 18 lights up, and power is supplied to the decoder 57 and driver 58. When the steering wheel is in a neutral state, none of the through holes 43 to 51 face the slit groove 21, so the light emitting diodes 59, 59, . . . are all turned off. When the steering wheel is rotated to the left and the slide plate 13 is displaced upward, the through holes 43 to 51 selectively face the slit groove 21 according to the displacement,
The light from the light emitting diodes 18 reaches the photodiodes 39-42 through the through holes 43-51, and the light emitted from the light-emitting diodes 18 reaches the photodiodes 39-42 depending on the rotation angle of the front wheel.
42 outputs binary codes of "1", "2", "3", and "4", so the corresponding output terminal of the driver 58 becomes "LO" level via the decoder 57 according to the binary code. light emitting diode 59,
One of 59... lights up to display the rotation angle of the front wheel. Further, when the steering wheel is rotated to the right and the slide plate is displaced downward, the through holes 43 to 51 selectively face the slit groove 21 according to the displacement, and the through holes 4
The light from the light emitting diode 18 reaches the photodiodes 39 to 42 via the light emitting diodes 18 through 3 to 51, and the photodiodes 39 to 42 change to "5", "6", "7", "8" binary code is output, so the decoder 5
7, the corresponding output terminal of the driver 58 goes to the "LO" level, and the light emitting diodes 59, 59
One of the lights lights up to display the rotation angle of the front wheels.

In each of the embodiments described above, the light emitting diodes 23, 2
Since the direction of the front wheels can be determined from the driver's seat according to the lighting status of the light emitting diodes 23, 23, 59, 59, etc., the direction of travel can be predicted when the vehicle starts moving.
The driver can start the vehicle after correcting the direction of the front wheels while checking the lighting status of the vehicle 59, which facilitates the driving operation at the time of departure and prevents the risk of colliding with another vehicle.

Incidentally, in each of the above embodiments, the angle is displayed in multiple stages on both the left and right sides depending on the angle of the front wheels, but the point is that if it is possible to display that the front wheels have rotated by a predetermined angle to the left and right, it is sufficient to display only one stage at a time. In addition to light emitting diodes, various devices such as lamps and liquid crystal displays can be used as the display device, and it is also possible to use a single light emitting display for the left and right sides for display.

[Effect of idea]

As is clear from the above description, the present invention displays the direction of the front wheels on the driver's seat, allowing the driver to predict the direction in which the vehicle will travel when starting.
Therefore, it is possible to provide a steering wheel angle detection device for an automobile that allows easy driving operation.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 4 show an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a top view, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view,
Fig. 3 is a plan view of the slide plate, Fig. 4 is an electric circuit diagram, Figs. 5 and 6 show other embodiments of the present invention, and Fig. 5 is a plan view of the slide plate. Figure 6 is an electrical circuit diagram. In the drawing, 1 is a switch base, 2 is a cancel cam, 6 is a detection case, 8 is a rotor, 11 is a spiral groove, 13 is a slide plate, 15 is a slit hole, 18 is a light emitting diode, 19 is a CdS, and 22 is a non-contact point. 23, 23... are light emitting diodes, 38 is a driver, 39 to 42 are photodiodes, 43 to 51 are through holes, 52 is a non-contact type detector, 57 is a decoder, 58 is a driver, 59, 5
9... is a light emitting diode.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A cancel cam that rotates integrally with the steering wheel; a rotor that is connected to the cancel cam by engagement and rotates integrally with the steering wheel and has a spiral groove formed on its outer periphery; and a rotor that is engaged with the spiral groove of the rotor and rotates integrally with the steering wheel. a movable body that is moved and displaced in a direction parallel to the steering shaft rotated by the steering wheel according to the rotation angle of the steering wheel; a light emitting element and a light receiving element that are arranged opposite to each other with this movable body in between; a through hole that adjusts the amount of light emitted from the light emitting element reaching the light receiving element by changing the area or number according to the amount of displacement of the movable body; A steering wheel angle detection device for an automobile, comprising a display device that displays a display according to a change in the amount of light reaching a light receiving element.