JPH11142514A - Automotive radar system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To provide an on-vehicle radar system capable of always accurately measuring the distance to a preceding vehicle and the relative speed even under bad weather conditions such as snowfall. SOLUTION: A film with a hole 6 is circulated in front of a radar antenna 3 to remove snow and the like attached to the film with a hole with brushes 10 and 11, and then an outside air temperature sensor 15 and a wiper sensor 16 are provided. And information such as snow and rain is taken in by using an in-vehicle receiver 17, and the operation of the motor 12 for driving the perforated film 6 is started and stopped, and the rotation speed is controlled. In addition, a method of providing a snow shield in front of the radar antenna, wiping its surface with a wiper, or spraying a cleaning liquid, furthermore, a method using hot water, heating with hot air or a method using wind power, and methods of these methods Also disclosed is a radar antenna having a function of removing snow, rainwater or dirt attached to the surface of a radar antenna by a combination.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a collision alarm for measuring the relative speed and the distance between an obstacle such as a preceding vehicle and a host vehicle using a millimeter-wave radar and notifying a driver of the presence of the obstacle. The present invention relates to an on-vehicle radar system used for a system or the like, and more particularly, to an on-vehicle radar system capable of preventing a reduction in transmission / reception capability due to the attachment of dust or snow to a radar antenna or dirt in such a radar system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, attention has been paid to an inter-vehicle distance warning system which measures a distance between vehicles and generates an alarm in order to prevent a car accident. For the system, an inter-vehicle distance measuring means such as a millimeter-wave radar or a laser radar has been intensively studied, researched and developed. However, since these are all used under various weather conditions outdoors, dust and snow, rain, ice, and other foreign matters adhere to the antenna and the laser emitting portion, and are left untouched. Then, the transmission / reception function of the transmitter / receiver deteriorates, and the accuracy of detecting the inter-vehicle distance decreases, and the preceding vehicle cannot be detected.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI 8-29535 discloses a laser radar system in which a cover glass covering the light emitting portion and the light receiving portion of a laser radar is provided with a heater for heating the cover glass and an ultrasonic wave for exciting bending vibration. A method for applying the vibrator is proposed.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 6-130149, in an ultrasonic radar system, ultrasonic vibrations given by a vibrator used in a transceiver for an ultrasonic radar are used to remove dirt attached to the transceiver. For this purpose, an ultrasonic detector which is also used for ultrasonic vibration has been proposed. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-7155, an injection nozzle connected to a surge tank via an electromagnetic valve is used. Proposes a system in which high pressure air is blown onto the surface of a transceiver to form an air curtain.

[0005]

The above prior art has the following problems. First, JP-A-8-29535
In the method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H10-209, a heater and an ultrasonic vibrator are provided on a cover glass that covers the front surface of a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit of a laser radar, but when this method is applied to a millimeter wave radar, These heaters and ultrasonic transducers affect the transmission and reception of radio waves, resulting in a problem that the measurement performance of the millimeter wave radar is reduced.

Next, the method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 6-130149 is to use the ultrasonic vibration generated by the ultrasonic transmission / reception vibrator as the ultrasonic vibration for removing dirt from the transmitter / receiver. Yes, and therefore cannot be applied to a millimeter wave radar system in principle.

Further, in the method by blowing high-pressure air disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-7155, it is difficult to completely remove snow and the like adhering to the transmitter / receiver, and the snow remaining without being removed is easily frozen. There is a problem that the measurement performance of the millimeter wave radar is significantly reduced.

[0008] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to prevent the adhesion of foreign substances such as snow and dust to an antenna without fail, and to always obtain accurate measurement results. An object of the present invention is to provide an on-vehicle radar system that can be obtained.

[0009]

According to the present invention, the object is to wipe the surface of a snow protection plate with a brush or a wiper, spray a cleaning liquid, control the temperature in a snow protection plate housing by ventilation or water flow, and a combination thereof. Thereby, the loss of the function of the radar antenna due to snow and dirt is achieved. Therefore, specifically, the following means are applied.

First, according to the first means, the above object is as follows.
A radar antenna having directivity in front of the vehicle, and weather detecting means for detecting a weather condition in a running environment of the vehicle, and a safety inter-vehicle distance setting value for determining a degree of danger in accordance with a result of detection by the weather detecting means. In the on-vehicle radar system configured to be switched, an endless belt-shaped member with a feed hole that circulates through the front surface of the radar antenna, and a belt driving unit including a toothed rotary shaft that circulates and moves the endless belt-shaped member, This is achieved by providing cleaning brush means in contact with the surface of the endless belt-shaped member, and controlling the circulating movement state of the endless belt-shaped member according to the detection result by the weather detection means.

Next, according to the second means, the above object is as follows.
A radar antenna having directivity in front of the vehicle, a snow shield plate covering at least the front surface of the radar antenna, a wiper member for wiping the surface of the snow shield plate, and moving the wiper member to wipe the surface of the snow shield member. In a vehicle-mounted radar system including a wiper driving unit including a link mechanism, when the wiper member is not operating, a unit that sequentially saves a measurement result by a detection signal of the radar antenna is provided, and the wiper member is During operation, the object is achieved by calculating the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle and the relative speed from the measurement results stored in the means.

According to a third means, the object is to provide a vehicle-mounted radar system comprising: a radar antenna having directivity in front of a vehicle; and a snow-proof plate housing accommodating the radar antenna. This is achieved by providing means for feeding air for temperature adjustment into the snow-proof plate housing, and controlling the temperature of the temperature-adjusting air by the means according to the temperature in the snow-proof plate housing.

Further, according to the fourth means, the object is to provide an on-vehicle radar system comprising a radar antenna having directivity in front of a vehicle, and a snow-proof plate housing containing the radar antenna. A washer means for spraying a cleaning liquid on the front surface of the snow-proof plate housing, and an air injection means for blowing air on the front surface of the snow-proof plate housing, and after blowing the cleaning liquid by the washer means, This is achieved by spraying.

Further, according to the fifth means, the above object is as follows.
In a vehicle-mounted radar system having a directional radar antenna in front of a vehicle, an eaves member is provided to cover a front surface of the radar antenna downward, and the eaves member allows the radar antenna to travel with the vehicle. This is achieved in such a way that a downward air flow is generated in front of the front.

According to a sixth aspect, the object is to provide an on-vehicle radar system including a radar antenna having directivity in front of a vehicle, and a snow-proof plate housing containing the radar antenna. This is achieved by providing a means for distributing hot water in the snow-proof plate housing and controlling the amount of hot water flow by the means according to the temperature in the snow-proof plate housing.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A vehicle-mounted radar system according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. The present invention considers the effects of weather conditions and visibility conditions such as snow, rain, and fog, and provides an in-vehicle radar system for performing an inter-vehicle distance warning.
It is designed to prevent the adhesion of dirt,
For this reason, some embodiments described below are used.

First, FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1A, a bumper 2 of an automobile 1 is provided with a radar antenna 3 for millimeter waves, and a radar signal is provided. An in-vehicle radar system provided with an inter-vehicle distance warning display device 5 that issues an inter-vehicle distance danger warning under the control of the processing unit 4. This is an example of an on-vehicle radar system in which ice and snow and dirt are prevented from adhering to the radar antenna by circulating the film 5 and circulating the film.

The radar antenna 3 is a unidirectional antenna for the millimeter wave band having directivity in front of the vehicle 1 and has a function of radiating an electromagnetic wave of millimeter waves to the front of the vehicle 1 and receiving the reflected wave. I do. The radar signal processing unit 4 includes a millimeter-wave transmitter and a receiver, transmits a millimeter wave to the front of the automobile 1 by the radar antenna 3, receives the reflected wave, and calculates an inter-vehicle distance and the like from the signal. Processing, and processing such as an alarm. The distance to an object in front of the automobile 1, that is, the inter-vehicle distance and the relative speed are detected, and the measured inter-vehicle distance is set to a preset safety inter-vehicle distance setting value. When the measured inter-vehicle distance becomes equal to or less than the safe inter-vehicle distance set value, the driver is notified of the inter-vehicle distance danger warning by the inter-vehicle distance warning display device 5 assuming that the vehicle is in a dangerous state in which a collision may occur. Work.

The perforated film 6 is made of an endless belt (endless belt) using a film made of a material such as polycarbonate and polyester which has low electromagnetic wave absorption and little adhesion of ice and snow. At the end, as shown in FIG. 1 (c), a hole (perforation) 6a for feeding is provided similarly to a well-known 35 mm photographic film.

Next, in FIG. 1B, reference numeral 7 denotes a toothed rotary shaft (sprocket wheel) for driving the belt feed.
Reference numeral 9 denotes a guide rotation shaft (guide roller). And the film 6 with a hole, as shown in the figure, the rotating shaft 7 with teeth,
The rotating shafts 8 and 9 for guiding are used, thereby extending the front of the radar antenna 3 and extending along the toothed rotating shaft 7.
Is configured to be circulated in the direction of arrow B by rotationally driving the motor.

Here, the mounting accuracy of the radar antenna 3 is as follows.
High accuracy is required because it greatly affects the measurement accuracy of the radar system. So, considering this point,
The perforated film 6 is separated from the radar antenna 3 by the rotating shafts 8 and 9 so as not to be in contact with the radar antenna 3 and is stretched apart from the front.

Reference numerals 10 and 11 denote cleaning brushes, which are provided around the rotating shafts 8 and 9 so as to be in contact with the outer peripheral surface side of the film 6 having holes. Then, thereby, the perforated film 6 circulates and moves between the rotating shafts 8 and 9 and the brushes 10 and 11, and at this time, the brushes 10 and 11 Each comes into contact with the outer surface of the perforated film 6, and the surface is cleaned.

Next, 12 is a motor, and 13 is a drive power supply circuit. First, the motor 12 is controlled by the drive power supply circuit 13 so that the toothed rotary shaft 7 can be driven by switching between two different rotational speeds, for example, a relatively low speed of 30 rpm and a considerably high speed of 60 rpm. ing.

The drive power supply circuit 13 includes a motor 12
, A switch 14 provided in the cabin of the automobile 1 so as to be operated by a driver, an outside temperature sensor 15 for detecting and taking in the temperature of outside air, and detecting that a windshield wiper is operating. The wiper operation sensor 16 is connected to the radar signal processing unit 4.

The radar signal processing unit 4 further includes an on-vehicle receiver 17 for receiving predetermined information such as weather information from a predetermined communication facility provided on the road (ground side), and a running speed of the own vehicle. A vehicle speed sensor 18 for detecting is connected. Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described in more detail.

First, the motor 12 is stopped by the drive power supply circuit 13 according to the following three types of input conditions,
(30 rpm) rotation or high speed (60 rpm) rotation. First, the first input condition is an operation state of the switch 14 in the vehicle interior, that is, whether the switch 14 is turned off (OFF),
Alternatively, the condition is determined depending on whether the operation is being performed at high speed.

The switch 14 is a so-called three-operation position switch having three buttons, an OFF button, a low-speed button, and a high-speed button. The low-speed button and the high-speed button are interlocked with each other. Only the low speed button and the high speed button are turned off when the OFF button is pressed.

First, when the switch 14 is off, that is, when neither the low-speed button nor the high-speed button is turned on, the motor 12 is literally kept stopped. When the high-speed button is turned on, the motor 12 is controlled to rotate at high speed.

Next, the second input condition is a condition determined by the information received by the on-vehicle receiver 17 from the road facility. In this case, when the in-vehicle receiver 17 receives the snowfall information, the motor 12 is rotated, and according to the snowfall obtained from the received snowfall information, the speed is low when the snowfall is small, and high when the snowfall is large. Are controlled so that the motor 12 rotates.

The third input condition is that the outside air temperature sensor 1
5 and a condition determined by the detection result of the wiper operation sensor 16. At this time, the motor 12 is controlled to rotate at a low speed when the outside air temperature is equal to or lower than zero degrees and the windshield wiper is operating.

As described above, when any of the conditions is satisfied and the motor 12 is rotated, the toothed rotary shaft 7 is rotated at a low speed or a high speed. 3 and continuously moves at a predetermined speed. At this time, feed holes 6a are provided at both ends of the perforated film 6, and the feed holes 6a are formed in the teeth of the toothed rotary shaft 7. Because they are engaged
The film 6 with holes can be reliably moved in a state in which the rotation of the toothed rotary shaft 7 is completely coincident with the rotation.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 2, the perforated film 6 passes through the gap between the rotating shafts 8 and 9 and the brushes 10 and 11, so that it adheres to the surface of the perforated film 6. Debris such as snow falling on these brushes 10 and 11
Is completely removed by the wiping action.

As a result, since the front surface of the radar antenna 3 is entirely covered with the moving film 6 with holes, the radar antenna 3 is reliably protected from the adhesion of foreign substances such as snow to the radar antenna 3, and as a result, the radar antenna 3 After snow etc. adhere to 3, the remaining snow that has not been removed freezes,
It is possible to reliably eliminate the occurrence of problems such as a significant decrease in the measurement performance of the millimeter wave radar.

In addition, at this time, since only the very thin film 6 with holes is present on the front surface of the radar antenna 3, there is almost no possibility that the performance of the radar antenna 3 will be impaired. Can be measured, and high reliability can be easily maintained.

At this time, the running of the car 1
As described with reference to FIG. 2, foreign matters such as ice, snow and water droplets attached to the front surface of the film with holes 6 from the direction of arrow A are sequentially removed by the brushes 10 and 11 as the film 6 with holes moves. In addition, at this time, the moving speed of the perforated film 6 is switched to two kinds of speeds according to the state of snowfall or rainfall, and moves relatively slowly in the state of light snow or light rain, and considerably in the case of heavy snow or heavy rain. They are moving fast.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, regardless of the state of snowfall or rainfall, the presence of foreign matter such as ice and snow on the front surface of the radar antenna 3 is limited to a very short time, and the film with a hole is provided. Since the front surface of 6 is always kept in a clean state, the distance between vehicles and the like can always be measured with high accuracy, and high reliability can be easily maintained.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the automobile 1
However, even when traveling in bad weather, for example, when snow is falling, there is almost no possibility that the transmission / reception state of the radar antenna 3 is affected by ice and snow, and normal radar operation can always be maintained. In addition, measurements such as the distance between vehicles and the relative speed can always be reliably obtained with a specified accuracy.

At this time, since the film 6 with a hole is present in front of the radar antenna 3, there is a concern that the film 6 may have an effect on millimeter waves. If a film such as polycarbonate, polyester or the like is used, the strength is high, so that an extremely thin film can be formed, and these materials are coupled with a sufficiently low loss against a millimeter wave. However, practically, it can hardly cause a problem.

On the other hand, the radar signal processing unit 4 compares the inter-vehicle distance measured by the radar operation based on the signal of the radar antenna 3 with a preset safety inter-vehicle distance setting value, and determines the measured inter-vehicle distance. When the vehicle distance becomes equal to or less than the safe vehicle distance setting value, a warning is displayed by the vehicle distance warning display device 5. At this time, in this embodiment, according to the climate information received by the on-vehicle receiver 17, Thus, the safety inter-vehicle distance setting value is modified.

For example, when the road condition or the visibility condition is estimated from snowfall, rainfall, fog, or the like, and it is determined that the road surface is slippery or the visibility is poor,
The safety inter-vehicle distance setting value is increased, and the inter-vehicle distance warning is issued so that the vehicle can always be stopped safely.

Next, FIG. 3 shows an embodiment in which the layout of the perforated film 6 and its driving system is changed. In this embodiment, the perforated film 6 is turned back in front of the radar antenna 3 and circulated. It is intended to be. According to this embodiment, the entire drive system including the perforated film 6 can be compactly separated from the radar antenna 3, and as a result, the entire snow protection mechanism of the antenna with the perforated film is unitized. , Can be easily applied as retrofit.

In the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the perforated film 3 is folded in front of the radar antenna 3 so that two films are present. Furthermore, by using a film of polycarbonate, polyester, or the like as the perforated film 6, even in this case, practically, there is almost no problem.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
And the flowchart of FIG. First, FIG. 4 shows a radar process by the radar signal processing unit 4, where S is an abbreviation for a step. The processing according to the flowchart of FIG. 4 is repeatedly executed at a cycle of 100 msec. When this processing routine is started, first, in S91, the on-vehicle receiver 17 receives the snow weather information from the road facility. Is determined.

If the result of the determination in S91 is No (negative), that is, if information on snow and rain has not been received from the road facility, in the next S92, it is determined that snow and It is determined whether there is rain information. If the result of the determination is No, that is, if there is no information on snow and rain, the flow proceeds to S94 assuming that there is neither snow nor rain. In this case, the safety inter-vehicle distance set value is set to the normal value S ₀ , and then S98 Proceed to.

On the other hand, if the determination result in S91 is Yes (Yes),
That is, the information of snow and rain is received from the road facility, and if it is snow, the process proceeds to S93, and the driving power supply circuit 13
, And then, in S95, the amount of snow or rain is determined. First, when the determination result in S95 is Yes, that is, when it is determined that the amount of snow or rain is large, it is heavy snow or heavy rain, and the road condition and the visibility are considerably poor. set the inter-vehicle distance setting value to the second modification value S _2, then the process proceeds to S98.

On the other hand, when the result of the determination in S95 is No, that is, when the amount of snow or rain is small, it is assumed that light snow or light rain is present, and the road condition and visibility are not so bad. is the S97, sets the safe inter-vehicle distance setting value to the first modification value S _1, then, it is to proceed to S98. Then, in S98, the signal of the radar antenna 3 is processed, the inter-vehicle distance and the like are obtained, and the processing is terminated.
The safe inter-vehicle distance set value at this time is as follows. Normal value S ₀ Inter-vehicle distance that a normal driver can safely stop when there is no particularly poor visibility under normal road conditions. Although in the first modification values S ₁ light snow or drizzle, when road conditions and visibility is less bad, could be stopped if safe ordinary driver-vehicle distance. A second correction value S ₂ snow or rain, road conditions and visibility even when fairly bad, could be stopped if safe ordinary driver-vehicle distance. Therefore, for these values, S ₀ <
There is a relationship of S ₁ <S ₂ .

As a result, according to this embodiment, the state of the road and the state of visibility are estimated from the state of snowfall, rainfall, fog, and the like, and when it is determined that the road surface is slippery, or when the visibility is poor. When this is done, the safety inter-vehicle distance set value is increased, so that a warning is always issued so that the vehicle can be safely stopped with a margin, which can greatly help prevent a rear-end collision and the like.

Next, FIG. 5 shows the control processing of the motor 12 by the drive power supply circuit 13. The processing according to the flowchart of FIG. 5 is also periodically and repeatedly executed. When this processing routine is started, first, S100
It is determined whether or not the switch 14 has been turned on.
First, when the result is Yes, the following processing is performed.

That is, first, the process proceeds to S108, and this time,
It is determined whether the operation position of the switch 14 is high or not. If the determination result is No, it means that the operation position of the switch 14 is low. In S110, information indicating that the amount of snow is small is transmitted to the radar signal processing unit 4, and then in S107, the motor 12 is controlled to rotate at a low speed of 30 rpm, and the process is terminated.

On the other hand, when the result of the determination in S109 is Yes, that is, when it is determined that the switch 14 is in the high-speed position, the process proceeds from S109 to S106.
The information that the amount of snow is large is transmitted to the radar signal processing unit 4, and then, in S106, the motor 12 is controlled so as to rotate at a high speed of 60 rpm, and the processing ends.

Next, when the result in S100 is No, that is, when it is determined that the switch 14 is kept off, the following processing is performed. That is, first, S10
In step 1, it is determined based on a signal from the outside air temperature sensor 15 whether the outside air temperature is equal to or lower than zero degrees. When the determination result is No, the process directly proceeds to S103, but when the determination result is Yes, the process proceeds to S103.
Proceed to 102 where the wiper motion sensor 16
, It is determined whether the windshield wiper is in operation or not. When the determination result is No, the process also proceeds to S103.

In S103, the radar signal processing unit 4
Then, it is determined whether or not snow information has been input from the controller. If the determination result is No, the process proceeds to S105, and the motor 12 is stopped. On the other hand, when the result of the determination in S102 is Yes, the process proceeds to S111, where information on the presence of snow is first transmitted to the radar signal processing unit 4, and thereafter, in S10
In step 7, the motor 12 is controlled to rotate at a low speed of 30 rpm, and the process is terminated.

If the result of the determination in S103 is Yes, the process first proceeds to S104, where it is determined whether or not it is heavy snow. If the result of the determination is No, the motor 12 is rotated at a low speed also in S107. And the process ends.
Then, in S104, it is determined that it is heavy snow, and the result is Y
When es is reached, the process proceeds to S106, where the motor 12 is controlled to rotate at a high speed, and the process ends.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the moving speed of the perforated film 6 is switched to two speeds in accordance with the state of snowfall or rainfall, moves slowly in the state of light snow or light rain, and moves slowly in heavy snow or rain. When it rains he moves fast,
As a result, the front surface of the perforated film 6 is always kept clean regardless of the state of snowfall or rainfall, so that the distance between vehicles can be measured with high accuracy and high reliability can be easily maintained. Can be.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
This will be described with reference to FIG. In each of the embodiments shown in FIG. 6, the bumper 2 of the automobile 1 has a radar antenna 3 for millimeter wave radar.
And a snow-prevention plate 20, a wiper 21 is provided on the front surface of the snow-prevention plate 20, and a driving device 22 is further provided. Here, FIG. FIG. 3B shows an embodiment in which the same is embedded in the bumper 2.

First, FIG. 7 shows an example of the embodiment of FIG. 6 (a) in which the driving device 22 is mounted on the bumper 2, and FIG. 7 (a) is a front view thereof. FIG. (B) is a plan view. The snow plate 21 is a thin plate made of synthetic resin such as polycarbonate and polyester, or glass.
The radar antenna 3 is directly mounted on the bumper 2 by the mounting screw 200 with a slight gap left so as to cover the front surface of the radar antenna 3.

As described above, the mounting accuracy of the radar antenna 3 has an effect on the accuracy of the radar. Therefore, the snowproof plate 20 is provided so that the force of the wiper 21 is not applied to the radar antenna 3. .

The wiper 21 is held in a state of being pressed against the front surface of the snow-proof plate 20 with a predetermined elastic force by an adjusting nut 210 and an elastic mechanism (not shown). In addition, by reciprocating, the surface of the snow protection plate 20 is cleaned.

The driving device 22 includes a casing 22 having a predetermined size.
7, is housed together with the drive power supply circuit 13 and is mounted on the bumper 2 by fixing screws 221 as shown in FIG. The housing 220 houses the motor 12, a worm gear 222 for reduction, a link mechanism 223, and a rail 224 for guiding the adjustment nut 212.
By rotating, the wiper 21 can be moved.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, as shown in the figure, the wiper 21 and the driving device 22 are formed independently of the radar antenna 3 and the snow protection plate 20, and the
21 is attached to the bumper 2 of the automobile 1 so that the wiper 2 can be used when it is unnecessary in a season other than winter.
Only the drive 2 and the driving device 22 can be removed from the bumper 2.

The drive of the motor 12 is controlled by a drive power supply circuit 13.
By selecting the low speed button and the high speed button, the rotation speed thereof is controlled.
It is possible to switch between a low-speed movement of 60 times / minute and a high-speed movement of 60 times / minute.

As shown in FIG. 7, in the embodiment of FIG. 7, the rotational movement of the motor 12 is converted into a reciprocating movement by the worm gear 222, the link mechanism 223, and the rail 224, and the wiper 22 is moved linearly. In this case, the position of the wiper 21 is adjusted by the adjustment nut 212 by the wiper 2.
It can be obtained by changing the distance between 1 and the housing 220 of the drive device 22.

During the operation of the wiper 21, the rotation angle of the worm gear 222 is detected by the rotation angle sensor 225, and the detected rotation angle signal is transmitted to the radar signal processing unit 4.
Is processed to recognize the operating state and the movement position of the wiper 21. In this regard,
It will be described later.

By the way, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, a modified example is provided so that any vehicle can be applied in an optimum mounting state to the bumper regardless of the type of the vehicle to which the bumper is applied. This will be described below.

In the embodiment shown in FIG.
The drive device 22 is mounted on the upper part of the
May be provided at the front of the bumper 2, or the driving device 22 may be mounted below the bumper 2. As described above, if the drive device 22 can be mounted not only on the upper portion of the bumper 2 but also on the front portion or the lower portion, the embodiment of the present invention can be applied to any type of vehicle, and is always suitable. It can be used optimally at the mounting position.

FIG. 8 shows an embodiment in which the wiper 21 is reciprocated in a pendulum manner. Here, the upper side is a view from the front, and is indicated by the line AA in this figure. Thus, the lower side is viewed from the side. In this embodiment, first, the radar antenna 3 is mounted on the snow-proof plate housing 7.
0. The front surface of the snow-proof plate housing 70 functions as a snow-proof plate.

Next, the wiper 21 is moved to the driving arm 71.
It is attached to. The arm 71 is coupled to the motor 12 via a mounting shaft 72 with an adjusting nut and a link mechanism 73, and as shown in the figure, from one extreme position,
Between the other extreme positions, the wiper is reciprocated in a pendulum type within the movement range of the wiper indicated by an arrow.

The wiper blade 21A of the wiper 21
Is configured to be held on an arm 71 by a shaft 74 and to maintain a contact pressure between the front surface of the snow-proof plate casing 70 at a predetermined constant level by a spring 75. The sliding portion of the blade 21 </ b> A is made of rubber, and has a flat shape or a curved shape according to the shape of the surface of the snow-proof plate housing 70.

At this time, by adjusting the length L of the arm 71 from the mounting shaft 72 to the link mechanism 73 with an adjusting nut provided on the mounting shaft 72, the moving range of the wiper can be reduced. 3 to 90% or more of the front surface area.

At this time, in order to reduce the influence of the radar antenna 3 on the transmission and reception of millimeter-wave radar radio waves, the wiper 21 as well as the snow-proof plate housing 70 and the arm 71, the mounting shaft 72 and the adjusting nut, and the link mechanism 73 Are all made of synthetic resin. However, the snowproof plate housing 7
The portion in front of the radar antenna 3 and in front of the radar antenna 3 may be made of, for example, glass.

FIG. 8 shows a detailed configuration example of the snow-proof plate housing 70. First, FIG. 9 (a) is an open type, and as shown, it is made in one piece and has a single-plate structure to be installed in front of the radar antenna 3, and FIG. In this type, a back plate is provided on the snow-proof plate housing 70 to thereby provide a structure capable of half sealing.

In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, reference numeral 80 denotes a radar antenna fixing bracket. First, the radar antenna 3 is attached to the radar antenna fixing bracket 80 with a radar antenna fixing screw 81. ,After this,
The snow protection board housing 70 is attached with the snow protection board fixing screw 82, and in the case of the embodiment of FIG. 9B, the back plate 83 is also attached at this time.

After that, the radar antenna fixing bracket 80 is fixed to the bumper fixing screws 84 and 85.
Therefore, according to these embodiments, the radar antenna 3 can be easily mounted without affecting the mounting accuracy of the radar antenna 3, and the radar antenna fixing bracket 80 can be mounted.
Can be easily removed by itself.

At this time, a coating made of a material such as Teflon which is hardly attached to ice and snow is formed on the surface of the snow-proof plate housing 70, thereby suppressing the attachment of ice and snow, and reducing the performance of the radar antenna 3. The effect is further reduced.

Next, control processing of the motor 12 in the wiper system described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 9 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, FIG.
Is a processing routine included in a 100 msec periodic processing routine by the radar signal processing unit 4. When this processing is started, first, in S1, the position signal of the wiper 21 detected by the rotation angle sensor 225 is transmitted to the driving power supply circuit. 13 is transmitted.

Next, in S2, it is determined whether or not the wiper 21 is operating. If the result is No, that is, if the wiper 21 is stopped, the process proceeds to S3, and the actual inter-vehicle distance is calculated using the actual measurement signal of the radar antenna 3. Ask for. Also, the result is Yes
When the wiper 21 is operating, the process proceeds to S4, in which case the inter-vehicle distance and the relative speed are estimated using the inter-vehicle distance before the wiper operation, the relative speed and the current vehicle speed and acceleration / deceleration. .

Therefore, according to this embodiment, when the wiper 21 is operating and there is a possibility that the signal of the radar antenna 3 may be adversely affected, immediately before that, when the wiper 21 is not moving. The inter-vehicle distance and the relative speed are estimated using the measurement result. As a result, there is no possibility of using an erroneous measurement result, and a highly reliable alarm can always be obtained based on the high-precision measurement result. .

Next, FIG. 10B shows a processing routine of the drive power supply circuit 13. This routine is based on the on / off state of the switch 14 and the position state of the wiper 21.
2 to operate the wiper 21. Therefore, first, in S10, it is determined whether the switch 14 is on. As described above, the switch 14 is turned on when either the low speed button or the high speed button is turned on.

If the switch 14 is on, S
Then, the program proceeds to S14, where the timer T is checked, and it is determined whether or not the count value is 10 seconds or less. If the determination result is No, the process proceeds to S18, where the motor 12 is stopped.
If the result of the determination in S14 is Yes, that is, if the count value of the counter T is equal to or longer than 10 seconds, S15
Then, the motor 12 is driven to rotate, and as a result, the motor 12 starts rotating and the wiper 21 starts moving.

At this time, the rotation speed of the motor 12 becomes low or high depending on whether the low speed button or the high speed button of the switch 14 is selected. In step S16, the position of the wiper 21 is checked.
In step S12, the drive of the motor 12 is continued. When the wiper 21 is at the start point, the process proceeds to step S17, where the counter T is cleared, and then the motor 12 is stopped in step S18.

On the other hand, if it is determined in S10 that the switch 14 is off, the process proceeds to S16. As a result, the motor 12 is stopped only when the wiper 21 is returned to the start point. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, when the switch 14 is turned on, the wiper 21 automatically moves at regular time intervals (10 s) to wipe off the snow on the surface of the snow protection plate 20 and the switch 1
When the switch 4 is turned off, the wiper 21 always stops after returning to the start point. As a result, it is possible to reliably remove the adverse effect on the transmission and reception of the radar antenna 3.

Next, FIG. 11 shows an embodiment of the present invention in which the wiper is driven by a belt mechanism.
(a) is a front view, and (b) is a plan view. In these figures, 100 is an endless belt, 101 is a drive shaft (a pulley rotated by a motor 12), and 102 is an inertia shaft (endless belt). 100 is the same as that of the embodiment shown in FIG. 7.

The wiper 21 is driven by a horizontal drive link 103 and a vertical drive link 104 to form
The entirety of these mechanisms are assembled together in a drive unit housing 105 and attached to the bumper 2 of the vehicle by fixing screws 106.

Although not shown, the inertia axis 102
Is provided with a rotation angle sensor (the same as the rotation angle sensor 225 in the embodiment of FIG. 7), so that the position of the wiper 21 can be detected.
Then, by driving the motor 12 alternately in one direction and the other direction by the drive power supply circuit 13 and reciprocating the belt 100 left and right, the wiper 21 reciprocates in a linear direction, and the A wiping operation can be obtained.

In this embodiment, the motor 12
The operation of the low speed button and the high speed button of the switch 14 in the vehicle cabin causes a low speed of 30 rpm and a high speed of 60 rpm.
It is designed to be able to rotate at high speed.
In this embodiment, the link 10 for driving the wiper is used.
4 enters the interior of the drive housing 105 from the rear surface and is coupled to the belt 100, thereby preventing snow from entering the drive housing 105.

Next, control processing of the motor 12 in the embodiment of FIG. 11 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, FIG. 12 (a) shows the radar signal processing unit 4
When this processing is started in the processing routine included in the periodic processing routine of 100 msec according to
The position signal of the wiper 21 detected by the rotation angle sensor 225 is transmitted to the drive power supply circuit 13.

Next, in S21, it is determined whether or not the wiper 21 is operating. If the result is No, that is, if the wiper 21 is stopped, the process proceeds to S22, and the actual inter-vehicle distance is calculated using the actual measurement signal of the radar antenna 3. Ask for. Also, the result is Yes
When the wiper 21 is operating, the process proceeds to S23,
At this time, the inter-vehicle distance and the relative speed are estimated using the inter-vehicle distance and the relative speed before the wiper operation and the current vehicle speed and acceleration / deceleration.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, when the wiper 21 is operating and there is a possibility that the signal of the radar antenna 3 may be adversely affected, immediately before that, when the wiper 21 is not moving. The inter-vehicle distance and the relative speed are estimated using the measurement result. As a result, there is no possibility of using an erroneous measurement result, and a highly reliable alarm can always be obtained based on the high-precision measurement result. .

FIG. 12B shows a processing routine of the drive power supply circuit 13. This routine is based on the on / off state of the switch 14 and the position state of the wiper 21.
2 to operate the wiper 21. Therefore, first, in S30, it is determined whether the switch 14 is on. As described above, the switch 14 is turned on when either the low speed button or the high speed button is turned on.

If the switch 14 is on, S
In step 34, the time counter T is checked, and it is determined whether or not the count value is 10 seconds or less. If the determination result is No, the process exits to END without doing anything. If the result of the determination in S34 is Yes, that is, if the count value of the counter T is equal to or longer than 10 seconds, the flow proceeds to S55 and the motor 12
Is rotated, and as a result, the motor 12 starts rotating, and the wiper 21 starts to move.

At this time, the rotation speed of the motor 12 becomes low or high depending on whether the low speed button or the high speed button of the switch 14 is selected. In step S36, the position of the wiper 21 is checked.
Proceeding to 39, the driving of the motor 12 is continued, but if the wiper 21 is at the start point, proceeding to S37, the counter T is cleared, and then the motor 12 is stopped in S38.

If it is determined in S36 that the position of the wiper 21 is at the maximum position point on the opposite side of the start point, the process proceeds to S36.
The process proceeds to 33, in which case the motor 12 is rotated in the opposite direction.

On the other hand, if it is determined in S10 that the switch 14 is off, the process proceeds directly to S16. As a result, the motor 12 is stopped only when the wiper 21 is returned to the start point.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, when the switch 14 is turned on, the wiper 21 automatically moves to the left and right at regular time intervals (10 seconds) to wipe off the snow on the surface of the snow protection plate 20, Further, when the switch 14 is turned off, the wiper 21 always stops after returning to the start point, and as a result, the adverse effect on the transmission and reception of the radar antenna 3 can be reliably removed.

By the way, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 11, the drive unit housing 105 is mounted on the upper part of the bumper 2 of the automobile 1, but it may be provided at the front part of the bumper 2, or You may make it attach to a lower side. As described above, if the drive device housing 105 can be mounted not only on the upper portion of the bumper 2 but also on the front portion or the lower portion, the embodiment of the present invention can be applied to any type of vehicle, and is always available. A proper mounting condition can be obtained,
It can be used in optimal conditions.

Next, still another embodiment of the present invention will be described. First, the embodiment of FIG. 13 prevents the snow or the like from adhering to the surface of the snow protection plate in front of the radar antenna 3 or makes it easy to fall, and prevents the radar from becoming inoperable due to snow accumulation or the like. The hot air is sent into the interior of the snow-proof plate housing 64 to increase the temperature.

In FIG. 13, reference numeral 120 denotes an air conditioner unit, 121 denotes an air conditioner control unit,
The other components such as the radar antenna 3, the radar signal processing unit 4, the switch 14, and the snowboard housing 70 are the same as those described in the embodiment of FIG. 7, for example.

The air outlet 122 for air for cooling and heating of the air conditioner unit 120 is connected to a blower nozzle 123 opened in the snow-proof plate housing 70 by a predetermined pipe, and an inlet 124
Are also communicated with the inside of the snowboard housing 70 by a predetermined pipe line, and the temperature sensor 125 is provided inside the snowboard housing 70.
Is provided. Therefore, this embodiment is suitable for a vehicle equipped with an air conditioner. In this case, the vehicle air conditioner can be shared.

When the switch 14 in the passenger compartment is turned on, the air conditioner control unit 121 controls the air conditioner unit 120 and the air conditioner unit 120
Then, air at a predetermined temperature is sent into the inside of the snow-proof plate housing 70. As a result, the snow-proof plate housing 70 is heated, and the temperature of the front part of the radar antenna 3 can be made sufficiently higher than the outside air temperature. As a result, ice and snow adhere to a certain hot plate in front of the radar antenna 3. This is prevented, and the attached ice and snow is quickly melted and easily dropped off, so that there is no fear that the radar antenna 3 is affected by ice and snow.

Next, the control operation of the embodiment of FIG. 13 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When the process according to the control routine of the air conditioner control unit shown in FIG.
Determine the OFF state. If the result of the determination is No, that is, if the switch 14 is off, the process proceeds to S56, in which the airflow from the air conditioner unit 120 to the inside of the snowproof board housing 70 is stopped.

On the other hand, if the result of the determination in S50 is Yes, that is, if the switch 14 is on, the flow proceeds to S52, where the signal from the temperature sensor 125 determines the temperature t in the snowproof plate housing 70.
Is measured. Then, after that, according to the determinations in S54 and S55, processing is performed so as to give any of the following three types of control. First, if the determination result is No in S54, this means that the temperature t is higher than the preset high temperature determination value of 50 ° C.
Go to 57 and move from the air conditioning unit 120 to the
Send cool air into 0.

Next, if the determination result in S54 becomes Yes after the determination result in S54 becomes No, then the temperature t is equal to or less than the preset low temperature determination value of 10 ° C. Therefore, in this case, the process proceeds to S58, in which warm air is sent from the air conditioner unit 120 into the snow-proof plate housing 70.

Further, if the determination result in S54 is Yes after the determination result in S54 is Yes, the temperature t is changed from the low-temperature determination value 10 ° C. to the high-temperature determination value 50
It means that it is at the appropriate temperature between ° C
At this time, the process proceeds to S58, in which the blowing of air from the air conditioner unit 120 into the snow-proof plate housing 70 is stopped.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, when the outside air temperature is low in winter or the like, the snow-proof plate housing 70 is heated,
Since the surface temperature is raised, it prevents ice and snow from adhering, and even if it adheres, it can be easily melted and fall off easily. Even at this time, at this time, since the cold wind is sent into the snow-proof plate housing 70, there is no possibility that the temperature of the radar antenna 3 will increase.
Regular performance can be easily maintained at all times, and measurements such as inter-vehicle distance can be reliably obtained with specified accuracy.

Next, FIG. 15 shows an embodiment of the present invention in which a cleaning liquid or a thawing liquid mixed with a cleaning liquid and a hot air are blown onto the surface of a snowproof plate in front of a radar antenna. In the figures, reference numeral 140 denotes a washer device, and the rest is the same as the embodiment described in FIG. 1 and the embodiment described in FIG.

The washer device 140 includes a tank 141 for storing the cleaning liquid, a heater 142 for heating the cleaning liquid to a predetermined temperature, a pump 143 for pumping the cleaning liquid, and a pump 143.
, A jet nozzle 145 for jetting the cleaning liquid to the outer surface of the snow-proof plate housing 70, and a pipe 146 connecting the pump 143 and the jet nozzle 145.

The washer device 140 operates under the control of the radar signal processing unit 4 and, when necessary, blows out the cleaning liquid from the spray nozzle 145 and blows it to the front surface of the snow-proof plate housing 70. . On the other hand, the air conditioner unit 120 has a discharge port 122 connected to a blower nozzle 123 through a blower pipe 126, and the hot air blown out from the blower nozzle 123 is supplied to the snowproof plate housing 7.
0 can be sprayed on the front.

The air conditioner unit 120
As in the embodiment of FIG. 13, the air conditioner includes an air conditioner control unit 121, which is also controlled by the radar signal processing unit 4, and functions to blow hot air blown out from the blower nozzle 123 to the front surface of the snowproof board housing 70.

In this embodiment, for example, a washing liquid in which a thawing solution is mixed at a ratio of 1: 5 is put into the tank 142, and a predetermined temperature is set by the heater 88. When necessary, the washing solution is snow-proofed. Spraying on the outer surface of the plate housing 70,
After that, warm air is blown out from the blower nozzle 123 for a certain period of time, and is blown to the outer surface of the snowproof board housing 70.

When the switch 14 in the passenger compartment is turned on, the power of the heater 142 of the washer device 140 is turned on, and the injection signal is output from the radar signal processing unit 4 to the motor 1.
44, which drives the pump 143,
A certain amount of the cleaning liquid (including the thawing liquid) is sprayed from the injection nozzle 145 onto the outer surface of the snow-proof plate housing 70 as a single dose,
As a result, ice and snow adhering to the outer surface of the snowproof plate housing 70 are melted and removed. After that, the cleaning liquid remaining on the surface of the snow-proof plate housing 70 is dried by the warm air blown from the blowing nozzle 123.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 15, and will be described below with reference to FIG.
This processing is performed by the radar signal processing unit 4 for 100 ms.
ec is included in the periodic processing routine.
At 131, the power of the heater 142 is turned on. In S120, counting of the time T by the timer counter is started. Thereafter, in S121, it is determined whether or not the time T is 60 seconds or less.

Then, first, the judgment result in S121 is Y
In the case of es, the process proceeds to S130, and the actual inter-vehicle distance is obtained using the actual measurement signal from the radar antenna 3. On the other hand, S
If the determination result at 121 is No, that is, if the time T is 60 seconds or longer, the timer counter T is first cleared at S122, and then it is determined that there is snowfall according to the following three types of determination conditions.

The first determination condition is when the switch 4 is turned on in S123, and the second determination condition is when the in-vehicle receiver 17 receives snow weather information from the road facility in S124. Further, the third determination condition state is S125.
This is the time when the outside air temperature detected by the outside air temperature sensor 15 is equal to or lower than zero degree and the wiper operation sensor 16 detects that the windshield wiper is operating in S126.

When it is determined that there is snow on the basis of these determination conditions, first, the radar signal processing unit 4
In step S127, the motor 144 is driven, and the cleaning liquid in which the thawing liquid is mixed is jetted once from the jet nozzle 145, and is sprayed on the surface of the snow-proof board housing 70. Next, S1
At 28, a control signal for sending warm air from the blower nozzle 123 to the surface of the snow-proof plate housing 70 for a certain period of time is sent to the air-conditioner control unit 121, whereby the air-conditioner is controlled by the air-conditioner control unit 121. The unit 120 is operated for a predetermined time, for example, 10
Send out warm air during c.

Thereafter, in S129, the inter-vehicle distance and the relative speed are estimated using the inter-vehicle distance, the relative speed, the current vehicle speed, and the acceleration / deceleration before the washer device is activated. On the other hand, when it is determined that there is no snow under the above three types of determination conditions, that is, when the determination result in S125 is No, and thereafter, the determination results in S125 and S126 are also No,
In step S132, the power supply of the heater 142 is turned off, and in step S130, the actual inter-vehicle distance is obtained using the actual measurement signal of the radar antenna 3.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, when the switch 14 is turned on or when it is determined that there is snowfall, the cleaning liquid and the thawing liquid are applied to the front surface of the snowproof plate housing 70 at regular time intervals (60 seconds). After spraying the liquid, a drying treatment with hot air is performed, so that snow and residual liquid on the surface of the snowproof plate can always be reliably removed. In this embodiment, also, in order to prevent ice and snow from adhering to the surface of the snowproof plate housing 70,
Alternatively, a coating made of a material such as Teflon, which is hardly attached to ice and snow, is formed to make it easier to fall down, so that the attachment of ice and snow is suppressed, and the influence on the performance of the radar antenna 3 is further reduced.

Next, an embodiment of a snow-proof plate housing according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 17 and 18. FIG. First, Figure 1
7 (a) and 7 (b) show a snowproof plate housing 70 according to this embodiment, where (a) shows a cross section and (b) shows a disassembled and assembled state. As described above, in this embodiment, the upper side of the snow-proof plate housing 70 is an eave portion 71, whereby the front portion 72 is inclined downward. This is the same as the embodiment shown in a).

The embodiment shown in FIG.
Of the front part 72 of the
By providing a function, when a car travels in the snow, the downward air flow generated in the front part 72 prevents snow from sticking to this part or makes it easy to fall. Thus, the performance of the radar antenna 3 is prevented from deteriorating due to the attachment of snow or the like.

The snow-proof plate housing 70, including its front surface portion 72, is made of a synthetic resin that does not easily absorb radio waves.
A coating of a material such as Teflon, which hardly adheres to ice and snow, is formed to make it difficult for ice and snow to adhere and to be easily dropped even if adhered. In this embodiment, first, the radar antenna 3 is attached to the radar antenna fixing bracket 80 with the radar antenna fixing screw 81, and thereafter, the snowproof plate fixing screw 82 is mounted.
To attach the snow-proof plate housing 70.

Thereafter, the bracket 80 for fixing the radar antenna is fixed to the bumper fixing screws 84 and 85.
Therefore, according to these embodiments, the radar antenna 3 can be easily mounted without affecting the mounting accuracy of the radar antenna 3, and the radar antenna fixing bracket 80 can be mounted.
Can be easily removed by itself. In addition, as a result, in a season other than winter, the snow-proof plate housing 70 can be easily removed from the radar antenna fixing bracket 80.

FIG. 18 shows an example in which the on-vehicle radar system according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 17 is mounted on a work vehicle 119 such as a snowplow. The example of FIG. 18 shows a case where the mounting axis 117 of the radar antenna 3 is mounted in front of the roof of the work vehicle 119 at a predetermined downward angle θ with respect to the horizontal line 118, whereby the snow is removed. When the work vehicle 119 travels while falling, a downward airflow is generated in the front portion 72, and it is possible to prevent snow from sticking to this portion or to make it easy to fall.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the performance of the radar antenna 3 can be easily prevented from deteriorating due to the attachment of snow or the like simply by providing the snow-proof plate housing 70. For simplicity, as shown in FIG. 18B, an open eave 120 may be simply provided.

By applying the embodiment of FIG. 17 to the embodiment of FIG. 13 or the embodiment of FIG. 15 described above, both functions are used in combination and implemented as a complex on-board radar system. Is also good.

Next, FIG. 19 shows an embodiment of a vehicle-mounted radar system of the present invention using a hot water circulation system. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. In this case, the engine cooling water is circulated, and the inside is entirely warmed by the heat of the hot water so that ice or snow does not adhere to the outer surface of the snow-proof plate housing 70 or the snow-proof plate housing 70 is easily dropped.

For this reason, using the hot water pump 180 and the flow control valve 181,
The hot water is circulated through a hot water circulation path 183 provided in the inside of the housing, and the temperature inside the snow-proof board housing 70 at this time is detected by the temperature sensor 125, whereby the radar signal processing unit 4 The pump 180 and the flow control valve 181 are controlled so that the temperature in the snow-proof plate housing 70 is maintained in an appropriate state. Here, the power supply circuit 1
84 serves to supply electric power for operating the hot water pump 180 and the flow control valve 181.

The hot water pump 180 is connected to a cooling water passage of the engine of the automobile by a pipe line (not shown), so that a hot water circulation path 183 is provided as shown by an arrow.
The hot water is circulated through the inside, and the amount of hot water circulated at this time is controlled by a flow control valve 181.

The hot water circulation path 183 functions as a heat exchanger for radiating heat by being heated by the hot water passing therethrough, and serves to increase the temperature in the snowproof board housing 70. At this time, in order not to affect the operation of transmitting and receiving radio waves by the radar antenna 3, the pipe 183A forming the hot water circulation path 183 passes through the periphery of the radar antenna 3 as shown in FIG. Place,
This prevents the radar antenna 3 from being parallel to the transmission / reception direction of the radio wave indicated by the arrow. One end is a hot water inlet 183B, and the other end is a hot water outlet 183C.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing the control operation of the hot water pump 180 and the flow control valve 181 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 19. This processing is included in the routine for processing 100 msec by the radar signal processing unit 4. Is what it is. First, in S70, the time T is counted using a 10-second timer counter. Then, while the determination result is No, that is, while the time T is less than 10 seconds, the process directly proceeds to S78, where the radar signal processing unit 4 processes the measurement signal from the radar antenna 3, obtains the inter-vehicle distance and the relative speed, and performs the processing. end.

On the other hand, if the decision result in S71 is Yes, that is, if the time T is 10 seconds or longer, first, in S72, the on / off state of the switch 14 is decided. When the determination result is No, that is, when the state of the switch 14 is off,
Proceeding to S73, the operation of the hot water pump 180 is stopped, the circulation of hot water is stopped, and the process of S78 is executed to end the process.

Thus, the determination result in S72 is Yes,
That is, when the switch 14 is turned on, first, at S7
3, the temperature t in the snow-proof plate housing 70 is measured from the temperature sensor 125, and a temperature t-valve full-opening rate q characteristic curve as shown in FIG. A valve opening (%) for obtaining a flow rate of the hot water required for the circulation path 183 is calculated, and a control signal is supplied to the power supply circuit 184.

Thus, the power supply circuit 184 controls the operation of the hot water pump 180 and the flow control valve 181 to adjust the flow rate of the hot water passing through the hot water circulation path 168, so that the temperature of the snow-proof plate housing 70 becomes an appropriate value. Such control is obtained. Then, after that, S78 is executed similarly, the measurement signal of the radar antenna 3 is processed, the inter-vehicle distance and the relative speed are obtained, and then the processing is terminated.

According to the embodiment shown in FIG. 19, the radar antenna 3 is heated by using the waste heat of the engine, so that the radar antenna 3 can be used for ice and snow even in a cold region without using extra energy. Can be prevented from becoming inoperable, so that the function as a vehicle-mounted radar system can be sufficiently exhibited, and safety can be easily ensured.

[0133]

According to the present invention, even when the vehicle is running in the snow, snow and ice can be reliably prevented from adhering to the surface of the radar antenna. Therefore, the function as a vehicle-mounted radar system can be fully exhibited and safety can be ensured.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of an on-vehicle radar system according to the present invention using a film with holes.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a perforated film in the first embodiment of the vehicle-mounted radar system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing another embodiment of a vehicle-mounted radar system according to the present invention using a film with holes.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a radar processing operation in an on-vehicle radar system according to an embodiment of the present invention using a film with holes.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a control operation of a perforated film driving motor in an on-vehicle radar system according to an embodiment of the present invention using a perforated film.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing an embodiment of a vehicle-mounted radar system according to the present invention using a wiper.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a mounting state of an on-vehicle radar system according to an embodiment of the present invention using a wiper.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing another embodiment of a vehicle-mounted radar system according to the present invention using a wiper.

FIG. 9 is a detailed explanatory view of a snow-proof plate housing in an embodiment of a vehicle-mounted radar system using a wiper according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of an embodiment of a vehicle-mounted radar system using a wiper according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory view showing another embodiment of a vehicle-mounted radar system according to the present invention using a wiper.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of another embodiment of the vehicle-mounted radar system according to the present invention using a wiper.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory view showing an embodiment of a vehicle-mounted radar system of a hot air heating type according to the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of an embodiment of a hot-air heating type vehicle-mounted radar system according to the present invention.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of an on-vehicle radar system according to the present invention in which a washer and a blast heating system are used together.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of an embodiment of an on-vehicle radar system according to the present invention using both a washer and a hot air heating system.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of an on-vehicle radar system according to the present invention using an eaves-type snowproof plate housing.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory view showing another embodiment of the on-vehicle radar system according to the present invention using an eaves-type snowproof plate housing.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram showing one embodiment of a vehicle-mounted radar system of the present invention of a hot-water circulation type.

FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram of a hot water circulation path in an embodiment of a vehicle circulation radar system of a hot water circulation type according to the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of an embodiment of a vehicle-mounted radar system of the hot water circulation type according to the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a characteristic diagram of a flow control valve in an embodiment of a vehicle-mounted radar system of a hot-water circulation type according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 automobile 2 bumper 3 radar antenna 4 radar signal processing unit 5 inter-vehicle distance alarm display device 6 film with holes 7 toothed rotating shaft 8, 9 rotating shaft 10 brush 12 motor 13 drive power supply circuit 14 switch 15 outside temperature sensor 16 wiper operation sensor 17 Onboard receiver 18 Vehicle speed sensor 20 Snow plate 21 Wiper 22 Drive device 70 Snow plate case

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Mitsuru Nakamura 2520 Takaba, Hitachinaka-shi, Ibaraki Prefecture Inside the Automotive Equipment Division, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Kazuo Takano 2520 Takaba, Hitachinaka-shi, Ibaraki Hitachi, Ltd. Manufacturing Equipment Division

Claims (6)

[Claims] A radar antenna having directivity in front of a vehicle, and weather detection means for detecting a weather condition in a running environment of the vehicle, wherein a safety for determining a degree of danger is determined according to a detection result by the weather detection means. An in-vehicle radar system in which an inter-vehicle distance setting value is switched, an endless belt-shaped member with a feed hole circulating through a front surface of the radar antenna, a toothed rotary shaft and a motor for circulating the endless belt-shaped member A belt driving unit including: a cleaning brush unit that is in contact with the surface of the endless belt-shaped member, and controls a circulating movement state of the endless belt-shaped member according to a detection result by the weather detection unit. An on-vehicle radar system characterized by comprising. 2. A radar antenna having directivity in front of a vehicle, a snow protection plate covering at least a front surface of the radar antenna, a wiper member for wiping a surface of the snow protection plate, and moving the wiper member to move the snow protection member. An on-vehicle radar system comprising: a wiper driving unit including a link mechanism for wiping the surface of the vehicle, wherein when the wiper member is not operating, a unit for sequentially storing a measurement result based on a detection signal of the radar antenna is provided. The on-vehicle radar system is configured to calculate an inter-vehicle distance to a preceding vehicle and a relative speed from a measurement result stored in the means while the wiper member is operating. 3. An on-vehicle radar system comprising: a radar antenna having directivity in front of a vehicle; and a snow-proof plate housing housing the radar antenna, wherein air for temperature adjustment is provided in the snow-proof plate housing. Means for feeding the air, and controlling the temperature of the air for temperature adjustment by the means according to the temperature in the snowproof casing. 4. A vehicle-mounted radar system comprising: a radar antenna having directivity in front of a vehicle; and a snow-proof plate housing that houses the radar antenna, wherein a washer that sprays a cleaning liquid onto a front surface of the snow-proof plate housing. Means, and an air injection means for blowing air on the front surface of the snowproof plate housing, wherein after the washing liquid is sprayed by the washer means, the air is sprayed by the air injection means. Automotive radar system. 5. An on-vehicle radar system comprising a radar antenna having directivity in front of a vehicle, comprising: an eaves member that covers a front surface of the radar antenna downward; A vehicle-mounted radar system characterized in that a downward airflow is generated in front of the radar antenna. 6. A vehicle-mounted radar system comprising: a radar antenna having directivity in front of a vehicle; and a snow-proof plate housing accommodating the radar antenna, wherein means for flowing hot water through the snow-proof plate housing. A vehicle-mounted radar system characterized by comprising: controlling a flow rate of hot water by the means according to a temperature in the snow-proof plate housing.