JP5238541B2 - Vehicle direction indicating device and malfunction prevention device thereof - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicular direction indicating device having a disconnection detecting function and a malfunction prevention device thereof.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known a vehicular direction indicating device that displays a traveling direction by blinking a direction indicating lamp when changing the traveling direction. In such a vehicular direction indicating device, when the incandescent bulb constituting the direction indicating lamp is disconnected, the incandescent bulb that is not disconnected performs high-speed blinking operation by reducing the electrical load of the control unit. Accordingly, there is one having a disconnection (ball breakage) detection function for notifying the disconnection of the incandescent bulb.

JP-A-5-139206

  In recent years, an incandescent bulb constituting a direction indicating lamp has been changed to an LED (Light Emitting Diode) from the viewpoint of power saving. However, when the incandescent bulb is changed to an LED in the vehicular direction indicating device having a disconnection detection function, the electrical load of the control unit is reduced as in the case of the disconnection, so that no disconnection occurs. The direction indicator lamp blinks at high speed. From such a background, in the conventional vehicular direction indicating device, when the incandescent bulb is changed to the LED, a resistance element corresponding to a decrease in the electrical load is connected to the control unit as a dummy element, and the electrical By suppressing the decrease in load, malfunction of the disconnection detection function was prevented. However, when the disconnection detecting function is prevented from malfunctioning by connecting a dummy element, the dummy element consumes power, so that power is wasted and heat is generated in the dummy element portion at the same time.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and the object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle direction indication that can suppress malfunction of the disconnection detection function without wasting power and suppressing heat generation. An object of the present invention is to provide a device and a malfunction prevention device thereof.

  A vehicle direction indicating device according to the present invention is a vehicle direction indicating device that displays a traveling direction by blinking a direction indicating lamp when changing the traveling direction, and controls the blinking operation of the direction indicating lamp. Unit, storage means for storing information on the operating state of the control unit when the direction indicator lamp is composed of incandescent bulbs as first operating state information, and when the direction indicator lamp is changed from incandescent bulb to LED Detection means for detecting information relating to the operation state of the control unit as second operation state information, first operation state information stored in the storage means, and second operation state information detected by the second detection means Is used to calculate the amount of change from the first operating state to the second operating state, and using the calculated amount of change, the operating state of the control unit is set to be substantially the first operating state. And a positive correcting means.

  The malfunction prevention device for a vehicle direction indicator according to the present invention provides information on the operating state of the control unit that controls the blinking operation of the direction indicator lamp when the direction indicator lamp is composed of an incandescent bulb. Storage means for storing as state information, detection means for detecting information on the operating state of the control unit when the direction indicating lamp is changed from an incandescent bulb to an LED, as second operating state information, and storage means. A change amount from the first operation state to the second operation state is calculated using the first operation state information and the second operation state information detected by the second detection means, and the calculated change amount is calculated. And a correcting means for correcting the operating state of the control unit so as to be in a substantially first operating state.

  According to the vehicle direction indicating device and the malfunction prevention device thereof according to the present invention, it is possible to suppress malfunction of the disconnection detection function without wasting power and suppressing heat generation.

It is a circuit diagram for demonstrating operation | movement when the structure of the direction indicator device for vehicles used as embodiment of this invention and the direction indicator lamp are comprised by the incandescent bulb. It is a circuit diagram for demonstrating operation | movement of the vehicle direction indicator when the direction indicator lamp in the vehicle direction indicator shown in FIG. 1 is changed from the incandescent bulb to LED.

  Hereinafter, with reference to the drawings, a vehicle direction indicating device and an operation thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[Configuration of vehicle direction indicator]
First, with reference to FIG. 1, the structure of the vehicle direction indicator device which is embodiment of this invention is demonstrated.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a vehicular direction indicating device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention supplies electric power to two incandescent bulbs 2a and 2b and incandescent bulbs 2a and 2b connected in parallel to a winker control unit 4. And a blinker control unit 4 for controlling on / off of power supply to the incandescent bulbs 2a and 2b, and a malfunction prevention circuit 5 for preventing malfunction of the disconnection detection function. The malfunction prevention circuit 5 includes a terminal 11 to which an electric signal supplied to the incandescent bulbs 2a and 2b is input, a terminal 12 to which an electric signal from the battery 3 is input, an inductor L connected in series to the terminal 11, and A switching element Q such as a MOSFET (Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor), a resistance element R and a diode D connected in series to the terminal 12, a terminal 11 side end of the inductor L, and a cathode terminal of the diode D A smoothing capacitor CA disposed between them and a control circuit 13 are provided. The anode terminal of the diode D is connected to the connection point between the inductor L and the switching element Q.

[Operation of vehicle direction indicator]
The vehicle direction indicating device 1 shown in FIG. 1 operates as described below to display the direction of travel by causing the incandescent balls 2a and 2b to blink when the vehicle changes the direction of travel. That is, when a driving command is input from the ECU (Electronic Control Unit) of the vehicle to the winker control unit 4, the winker control unit 4 converts the electric signal supplied from the battery 3 to 60 to 120 times / minute (in accordance with the winker signal). Pulse control is performed at a fixed timing within a range of 1 to 0.5 Hz. The pulse signal output from the winker control unit 4 is input to the incandescent balls 2 a and 2 b connected in parallel, and the incandescent balls 2 a and 2 b blink at a timing fixed by the winker control unit 4. The blinking operation (flashing cycle) of the incandescent bulbs 2a and 2b can be confirmed from the direction indicator monitor and the relay operation sound in the driver's seat meter.

  Further, in this vehicle direction indicating device 1, the malfunction prevention circuit 5 operates as described below, thereby storing information relating to the operating state when the direction indicating lamp is composed of incandescent bulbs 2a and 2b. . That is, the control circuit 13 performs A / D conversion on the pulse signal from the blinker control unit 4 input via the terminal 11 and the input port 14. The control circuit 13 A / D converts the power signal from the battery 3 input via the terminal 12 and the input port 15. In addition, the arrow in FIG. 1 shows the direction of the electric current in this process. Then, the control circuit 13 calculates and stores the potential difference between the pulse signal from the winker control unit 4 and the electric signal from the battery 3 as information regarding the operating state when the direction indicating lamp is composed of the incandescent bulbs 2a and 2b. Note that this potential difference becomes small when the incandescent bulbs 2a and 2b are disconnected, and the incandescent bulb is informed by the high-speed blinking operation of the incandescent bulb that is not disconnected (disconnection detection function).

[Operation when changing the incandescent bulb to LED]
In the vehicular direction indicating device 1 having such a configuration, when the incandescent bulbs 2a and 2b are changed to LEDs, the malfunction preventing device 5 operates as described below to waste power. In addition, the malfunction of the disconnection detection function is suppressed while suppressing heat generation. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, when the incandescent bulbs 2a and 2b are changed to the LEDs 6a and 6b, the control circuit 13 receives the pulse signal from the winker control unit 4 input via the terminal 11 and the input port 14 as A / D-convert. The control circuit 13 A / D converts the power signal from the battery 3 input via the terminal 12 and the input port 15. Then, the control circuit 13 calculates the potential difference between the pulse signal from the blinker control unit 4 and the power signal from the battery 3. Since the electrical load (work amount) of the winker control unit 4 is reduced by changing the incandescent bulbs 2a and 2b to the LEDs 6a and 6b, the calculated potential difference is determined by the direction indicator lamp being composed of the incandescent bulbs 2a and 2b. It becomes smaller than the stored potential difference.

  Therefore, the control circuit 13 compares the potential difference when the direction indicating lamp is composed of the incandescent bulbs 2a and 2b with the calculated potential difference, and if the calculated potential difference is smaller, the direction indicating lamp is the incandescent bulb 2a. , 2b, a current is added to the winker control unit 4 so as to be substantially equal to the potential difference when it is configured. Specifically, in this embodiment, the control circuit 13 outputs a PWM control signal to the switching element Q via the port 17. The switching element Q is turned on when the PWM control signal is at a high level, the pulse signal from the winker control unit 4 flows to the ground through the inductor L, and energy is stored in the inductor L.

  On the other hand, when the PWM control signal is at the low level, the switching element Q is turned off, and the current flowing from the inductor L to the ground is stopped and accumulated in the inductor L as indicated by the arrow in FIG. The energy passes through the blinker control unit 4 via the diode D, the resistance element R, and the terminal 12, and is supplied to the inductor L again. In this way, a current is added to the blinker control unit 4 in accordance with the operation of the PWM control signal. The amount of current flowing through the winker control unit 4 is determined by the duty ratio of the PWM control signal. If the high level time is long, the current increases. Conversely, if the high level time is short, the current decreases. Therefore, the control circuit 13 adjusts the duty ratio of the PWM control signal so that the calculated potential difference becomes the potential difference when the direction indicating lamp is composed of the incandescent bulbs 2a and 2b, thereby causing the LEDs 6a and 6b to operate at high speed. It is possible to suppress the blinking operation. The duty ratio of the PWM control signal includes an input voltage value at the port 14, a voltage value at the port 15, an input voltage value at the port 16 (voltage value between the resistance element R and the diode D), a voltage detection timing at the port 15, and the like. It can be determined by analyzing the conditions.

  As is apparent from the above description, in the vehicle direction indicating device 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, the malfunction prevention circuit 5 includes the potential difference and the direction indicating lamp when the direction indicating lamp is composed of the LEDs 6a and 6b. Is compared with the potential difference when it is composed of the incandescent balls 2a and 2b, and the current corresponding to the difference value of the potential difference is added to the winker control unit 4 to prevent malfunction of the disconnection detection function. According to such a configuration, the malfunction of the disconnection detection function is suppressed by adding a small potential difference to the winker control unit 4 instead of passing a current through the dummy element as in the conventional vehicle direction indicator. Therefore, it is possible to suppress malfunction of the disconnection detection function without wasting power, and suppressing heat generation.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment which applied the invention made by the present inventors was described, this invention is not limited by description and drawing which make a part of indication of this invention by this embodiment. For example, although the present embodiment is configured by two incandescent spheres, the present invention is not limited to the number of incandescent spheres. The blinker control unit 4 may be incorporated in the vehicle centralized control unit. That is, the present invention can be applied to various vehicle forms other than the present embodiment. As described above, other embodiments, examples, operation techniques, and the like made by those skilled in the art based on the present embodiment are all included in the scope of the present invention.

1: vehicle direction indicator 2a, 2b: incandescent bulb 3: battery 4: winker control unit 5: malfunction prevention circuit 6a, 6b: LED
11, 12: Terminal 13: Control circuits 14, 15, 16, 17: Port CA: Smoothing capacitor D: Diode L: Inductor Q: Switching element R: Resistance element

Claims (6)

A vehicle direction indicator device that blinks a direction indicator lamp to display a direction of travel when changing the direction of travel,
A control unit for controlling the blinking operation of the direction indicator lamp;
Storage means for storing, as first operating state information, information relating to the operating state of the control unit when the direction indicator lamp is configured by an incandescent bulb;
Detecting means for detecting, as second operating state information, information relating to the operating state of the control unit when the direction indicating lamp is changed from an incandescent bulb to an LED;
The amount of change from the first operating state to the second operating state is calculated using the first operating state information stored in the storage means and the second operating state information detected by the second detecting means. A vehicular direction indicating device, comprising: a correction unit that calculates and corrects the operating state of the control unit so that the calculated operating amount is approximately the first operating state. The vehicle direction indicating device according to claim 1,
The information on the operating state of the control unit includes information on a potential difference in the control unit. The vehicle direction indicating device according to claim 2,
The correction means additionally adds a difference value between a current flowing through the control unit when the direction indicating lamp is configured by an incandescent bulb and a current flowing through the control unit when the direction indicating lamp is configured by an LED to the control unit. Accordingly, the vehicular direction indicating device corrects the operating state of the control unit so as to be in a substantially first operating state. Storage means for storing, as first operating state information, information relating to the operating state of the control unit that controls the blinking operation of the direction indicating lamp when the direction indicating lamp is composed of an incandescent bulb;
Detecting means for detecting, as second operating state information, information relating to the operating state of the control unit when the direction indicating lamp is changed from an incandescent bulb to an LED;
The amount of change from the first operating state to the second operating state is calculated using the first operating state information stored in the storage means and the second operating state information detected by the second detecting means. And a correction means for correcting the operation state of the control unit so as to be in a substantially first operation state using the calculated amount of change, and a malfunction prevention device for a vehicle direction indicator device, comprising: . In the malfunction prevention apparatus of the direction indicator device for vehicles of Claim 4,
The information on the operating state of the control unit includes information on a potential difference in the control unit. In the malfunction prevention apparatus of the direction indicator device for vehicles of Claim 5,
The correction means adds, to the control unit, a difference value between a current value flowing through the control unit when the direction indicating lamp is configured by an incandescent bulb and a current value flowing through the control unit when the direction indicating lamp is configured by an LED. The malfunction prevention device for a vehicle direction indicator device, wherein the actuation state of the control unit is corrected so as to be in a substantially first actuation state.

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