JP2558997Y2 - Water drop removal device for automotive outside mirror - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for removing water droplets from an outside mirror for an automobile, and more particularly, to a device for removing water droplets adhering to the surface of a mirror by jetting a cleaning liquid and air onto the surface of the mirror. It relates to a removing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, when morning dew, night fog, raindrops at the time of rainfall, etc. adhere to the surface of an automobile mirror, the visibility of the rear decreases. In order to remove these water drops adhering to the mirror surface and secure the rear visibility, conventionally, various devices for removing the water drops have been provided.

For example, a cleaning liquid contained in a cleaning liquid tank provided inside a vehicle body is dropped or jetted from nozzles onto the mirror glass surfaces of left and right mirrors attached to the vehicle body using a pump, so that the mirror glass surface is removed. Nozzles attached to the periphery of each of the left and right mirror glass attached to the vehicle body, using a liquid jet type raindrop removal device that removes raindrops attached to the vehicle, and high pressure air supplied by an air compressor installed inside the vehicle body Air spray type raindrop removal device of the type that blows off waterdrops by spraying on the mirror glass surface from (for example,
JP-A-61-285157 and JP-A-56-163.
No. 931). These devices are generally equipped with a mirror assembly which is held in a mirror visor from behind by a mirror glass holding plate and has a peripheral locking portion surrounding the mirror glass periphery. Applied to

[0004] In the above-mentioned air spray type raindrop removing apparatus, a higher pressure is required to blow out the raindrops attached to the mirror glass surface more reliably, especially to blow away the raindrops attached farther from the nozzle. Air is needed. However, in order to achieve this, a stronger and larger compressor had to be mounted inside the vehicle body, causing a problem of a space for mounting the compressor inside the vehicle body. Alternatively, even if this could be achieved, further problems such as the use of high-pressure air and an increase in the height of the air blowing nozzle near the nozzle had arisen.

[0005]

Accordingly, a technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to make it possible to more reliably remove raindrops adhered to the mirror glass surface even when lower pressure air is used. That is.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for removing water droplets from an outside mirror for a vehicle having the following structure. That is, a vehicle outside mirror applied to this raindrop removing device has a mirror assembly in which a mirror glass is held in a mirror visor from behind by a holding plate and a peripheral edge of the mirror glass is held by a peripheral edge locking portion. Lee. This device includes a nozzle formed at a predetermined position above the peripheral locking portion of the holding plate, a cleaning liquid tank, a pump for supplying the cleaning liquid in the cleaning liquid tank to the nozzle, and a compressor for supplying air to the nozzle. It has.
The nozzle has a nozzle opening that opens along the upper surface of the mirror glass, and a water supply passage for cleaning liquid and an air supply passage for air that are respectively inserted into the nozzle openings, formed at predetermined positions on the periphery of the holding plate. Thus, the cleaning liquid sent from the water supply passage is scattered over the entire mirror glass surface by the air sent from the air supply passage.

According to the above structure, since the water supply passage and the air supply passage are provided in the same nozzle opening, when air is supplied through the air supply passage, an air flow is generated in the nozzle opening to be supplied through the water supply passage. The cleaning liquid thus sprayed is further scattered in a droplet state. When the droplets thus scattered adhere to the surface of the mirror glass, these droplets are taken further on the surface of the mirror glass by air, but each droplet is in the middle of its course. Since it has the property of absorbing certain water drops one after another and falling while growing, the raindrops attached to the mirror glass surface are washed away together with the cleaning liquid. The cleaning liquid having a larger mass than the air can be scattered farther in a droplet state even when low-pressure air is used. Therefore, raindrops adhering to the mirror glass surface are more reliably removed even when lower pressure air is used.

In the above structure, the mirror glass is
It is preferable to form the entire surface as a water-repellent surface. By doing so, the water droplets are repelled on the mirror glass surface, so that the water droplet removal effect is further enhanced.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 shows an example in which the water drop removing device according to the present embodiment is applied to an outside mirror 2 for a vehicle. As shown in the figure, the present apparatus includes an air compressor 11 and a cleaning liquid tank inside a vehicle body. These components are connected to the outside mirror 2 mounted on the vehicle body as shown in FIG. 2 by independent pipes, that is, an air pipe 8 and a cleaning liquid pipe 10. Further, an air reservoir 13 mounted inside the vehicle body and a valve connected to the air reservoir 13 for restricting air discharged from the air reservoir 13 are provided in the middle of the air conduit 8. In the middle of 10, a pump with a check valve attached to the vehicle body is provided. By the air compressor 11 and the pump, the air and the cleaning liquid in the cleaning liquid tank pass through the air line 8 and the cleaning liquid line 10, respectively.
Supplied to

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the outside mirror 2.
FIG. 3 is a front view of the main part, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line. As best shown in FIG. 4, the outside mirror 2 includes a mirror visor 4, a mirror glass 6 housed in the visor, and a back holding plate 22 for holding the mirror glass 6 from the back. And a mirror assembly. The mirror glass 6 has a rear holding plate 22
It is held by an L-shaped peripheral edge locking portion 26 integrally formed with the base member.

As shown in FIG.
Is formed with a nozzle 20 having a nozzle opening 24 that opens along the upper surface of the mirror glass 6. In the nozzle opening, as best shown in FIG. 3, a water supply passage 16 and a blower passage 18 are formed at a predetermined position on the peripheral edge of the back holding plate at a predetermined interval. As shown in FIG. 4, a connection pipe 28 is fitted on the back side of the nozzle 20 as shown in the figure, and one end of the connection pipe 28 is One end is connected.

On the other hand, the water supply passage 16 in the nozzle opening has the same cross-sectional structure as that of FIG. 4, and the water supply passage 16 is connected to the cleaning liquid via the connection pipe 28 similarly to the air line 8. It is connected to a conduit 10. FIG. 5 shows a connection state between the two connection pipes 28 and the two pipe lines 8 and 10. As described above, in this embodiment, the water supply passage 16 and the air supply passage 18 are formed in the same nozzle opening, but the water supply passage 16 is located above the air supply passage 18 as best shown in FIG. Further, it is formed near the center of the mirror glass 6. As shown in FIG. 2, the nozzle opening is formed so that the cleaning liquid sent from the water supply passage 16 is scattered toward the mirror glass surface at an angle including the entire mirror glass surface by the air sent from the air supply passage 18. Reference numeral 24 is formed as a shape that spreads from the outside to the inside in the radial direction of the mirror glass 6 at the above angle.

By the way, in the water drop removing device shown in FIG. 1, the opening / closing device of the air valve and the cleaning liquid pump are each electrically connected to an operation switch via a controller (not shown). When the operation switch is kept on, the cleaning liquid pump is operated, and the cleaning liquid in the cleaning liquid tank is sucked up. The cleaning liquid is guided through the cleaning liquid pipe 10 to the water supply passage 16 in the nozzle formed in the peripheral locking portion 26. The cleaning liquid is dropped from the nozzle 20 toward the lower part of the mirror glass surface under the action of gravity. After a lapse of a predetermined time, the air valve is opened by the controller. This air is guided to the air passage 18 in the nozzle through the air pipe 8, and the air is jetted from the nozzle 20 toward the mirror glass surface. At this time, the cleaning liquid dropped toward the lower portion of the mirror glass surface is scattered over the entire mirror glass surface under the influence of the wind pressure in the nozzle. If the switch is turned off at this stage, the cleaning liquid pump stops, and the supply of the cleaning liquid to the nozzle 20 is cut off. However, the air valve is kept open for a while by the controller, and the air is continuously jetted from the nozzle 20 to the mirror glass surface. As a result, droplets adhering to the mirror glass surface are pushed in the direction opposite to the nozzles by the wind pressure, and are removed from the mirror glass surface. These series of operation times are completed in at most about 2 seconds.

FIG. 6 shows the time relationship between the cleaning liquid ejected from the nozzle 20 and the air. Needless to say, it is preferable to perform a water-repellent treatment on the entire mirror glass surface.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a pipeline system of a device for removing water droplets of an outside mirror for an automobile according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged front view of the outside mirror shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway front view showing an enlarged main part of the outside mirror shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the main part of the outside mirror shown in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line V-IV.

FIG. 5 is a rear view of a main part of the outside mirror shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a graph showing the relationship between the ejection time of the cleaning liquid and the air.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 Outside Mirror 4 Mirror Visor 6 Mirror Glass 8 Air Pipeline 10 Cleaning Liquid Pipeline 12 Stay 14 Water Drop 16 Water Supply Pathway 18 Ventilation Pathway 20 Nozzle 22 Back Holding Plate 24 Nozzle Opening 26 Peripheral Edge Locking Section 28 Connection Pipe

Claims (2)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A mirror glass in a mirror visor (4).
Outside mirror for automobiles comprising a mirror assembly holding (6) from behind by a holding plate (22) and enclosing the periphery of the mirror glass with a peripheral locking portion (26)
In the water droplet removing device of (2), the nozzle (20) formed at a predetermined position above the peripheral portion (26) of the holding plate (22), the cleaning liquid tank, and the cleaning liquid in the cleaning liquid tank are supplied to the nozzle (20). Pump for supplying air to the nozzle (20)
A nozzle opening (24) opening along the upper surface of the mirror glass (6) and a water supply passage (16) for a cleaning liquid communicating with the nozzle opening (24). And a ventilation passage (18) for air are formed at a predetermined position on the peripheral edge of the holding plate, and the cleaning liquid sent from the water passage (16) is supplied to the mirror glass by the air sent from the ventilation passage (18). A water droplet removing device for an outside mirror (2) for an automobile, wherein the device is made to scatter over the entire surface. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the entire surface of said mirror glass is formed as a water-repellent surface.