JPH0459454A - Headlamp washer - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a headlamp washer that cleans the lenses of automobile headlamps as needed.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in automobile models, cleaning liquid in a cleaning liquid tank installed inside the car body is sprayed from a nozzle toward the headlights, thereby removing dirt adhering to the headlights. It is equipped with a headlamp washer. Incidentally, some European countries require headlamp washers to be equipped. Various types of headlamp washers have been proposed, but as shown in FIG. 7, an example of such a headlamp washer is shown in FIG.
A structure in which the shutoff valve 4 is opened and the cleaning liquid 1 is sprayed from the nozzle 5 toward the lens of the headlamp 6 (e.g., Utility Model Application No. 158233/1983, No. 6315/1983)
No. 1 etc.) are known. To explain this in more detail, the cylinder 3 is built into the inside of the vehicle body, for example, inside the bumper 7, and the cleaning liquid supply port 8 that opens at the bottom is connected to a cleaning liquid tank (Fig. (not shown). The piston 2 has a flow passage 10 formed therethrough and is slidably inserted into the cylinder 3 with one end protruding outside, and the outer end, that is, the protruding end, is opened in the bumper 7. A valve body 13 is attached to the bumper 7 and protrudes forward from the opening 11, and the inner end receives one end of a spring 14 that is fitted onto the outer peripheral surface of the piston 2 and urges the piston 2 inward. A portion 2A of the spring receiver for fixing and holding is integrally provided.

The valve body 13 is mounted with its axis substantially perpendicular to the piston 2, and has a flow passage 15 formed of a through hole that communicates orthogonally with the flow passage 10 inside, and has an opening at one end for receiving the cleaning liquid. The injection nozzle 5 is fitted and fixed, the opening at the other end is hermetically closed by a lid 16, and the shutoff valve 4 is installed in the center of the flow path 15.

The shutoff valve 4 is formed of rubber, resin, or the like into a substantially hat shape, so that the valve seat 1 provided in the valve body 13
a cylindrical closing part 18 which is seated on the valve body 13 and normally closes the flow passage 15; An elastically deformable diaphragm 19 is held and fixed to the side wall surface of the lid 16, and a dome-shaped top portion of the closing portion is connected to the valve seat between the inside of the closing portion 18 and the lid 16. This is a storage chamber for a spring 20 that presses against the spring 17. The spring force of the spring 20 is set larger than the spring force of the spring 14 which biases the piston 2.

A cover 21 covering the valve body 13 is fixed to the lid 16 with a set screw 22.

Headlamp washer 23 having such a configuration
When the cleaning liquid 1 in the cleaning liquid tank is pumped into the cylinder 3 through the cleaning liquid pressure feeding line 9, the fluid pressure P in the cylinder 3 gradually increases, and the spring bearing of the piston 2 The force acting on the spring 14
When the spring force is exceeded, the piston 2 is pushed up, thereby moving the nozzle 5 to the most suitable position for cleaning the headlamp 6, as shown by the two-dot chain line. When the piston 2 rises by a certain amount and stops, the fluid pressure P in the cylinder 3 starts to rise further, and when it overcomes the spring force of the spring 2o,
This time, the diaphragm 19 of the shutoff valve 4 has a lid of 16g! It is elastically deformed. As a result, the closing portion 18 of the shutoff valve 4 separates from the valve seat 17 to communicate the flow path 10 and the flow path 15, and the cleaning liquid 1 is sprayed from the nozzle 5 toward the headlamp 6.

Note that when the pressure feeding of the cleaning liquid 1 is stopped, the pressure P of the cleaning liquid 1 decreases.
As this decreases, the stop valve 4 is closed by the spring force of the spring 2o, and the piston 2 is returned to its original position by the spring 14.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in such a conventional headlamp washer 23, the shutoff valve 4 is built into the valve body 13, so the valve body 13 becomes large and the bumper 7
If it protrudes to the outside, it looks unsightly, and
It is also conceivable to make the bumper 7 protrude forward and store the valve body 13 inside the bumper 7 as shown by the dashed dotted line, but in that case, the opening 11 of the bumper 7 becomes large and there is a problem that the appearance becomes unsightly. there were. Furthermore, since the cleaning liquid 1 guided to the valve body 13 acts on the shutoff valve 4 from a direction perpendicular to its axis, it is difficult to tilt the shutoff valve 4 and properly seat the closing portion 18 on the valve seat 17.
It is not possible to completely prevent the cleaning liquid 1 from leaking when closed.
There was also the problem of deteriorating the closing characteristics of the valve.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its purpose is to eliminate the valve body, reduce the size of the nozzle part, and improve the external appearance. It is an object of the present invention to provide a headlamp washer which has good valve locking characteristics and can reliably prevent leakage of cleaning liquid.

1. Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a cylinder having a cleaning liquid supply port communicating with a cleaning liquid pumping system path, and a cleaning liquid flow path that can freely move forward and backward into the cylinder. A piston provided therein, a spring that presses the piston inward into the cylinder, a cleaning fluid injection nozzle attached to the outer end of the piston, and a shutoff valve that is built into the piston and normally closes the flow path. and a spring having a larger spring force than the spring and biasing the shutoff valve in the closing direction.

[Operation] In the present invention, the piston is slidably disposed within the cylinder, and is projected from the cylinder when the pressure of the cleaning liquid overcomes the force of the spring urging the piston inward. The shutoff valve is built into the piston and normally closes the flow path within the piston, and opens when the pressure of the cleaning fluid becomes greater than the force of the spring that biases the shutoff valve in the closing direction. The nozzle is attached to the outer end of the piston,
When the shutoff valve opens, cleaning fluid is sprayed.

[Embodiment N] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the headlamp washer according to the present invention when not in use, Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the guide, and Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in Fig. 1. . Components in the figure that are the same as those in FIG. 7 are designated by the same reference numerals, and their explanations will be omitted. In these figures, the piston 2 slidably inserted into the cylinder 3 is
A first piston 3 is formed of two piston forming members, that is, a cylindrical body with both ends open, and one end protrudes outside from an opening 30 at one end of the cylinder 3, and a first piston 3 is fitted into an opening at the other end of the first piston 31. A third piston 33 is fitted and fixed to an end surface of the second piston 32 opposite to the first piston 31, and an opening on the outer end side of the first piston 31. A cleaning liquid injection nozzle 5 is fitted into the holder, and a shutoff valve 37 is installed inside the second piston 32 on the upper end side.
A cylindrical guide 36 that accommodates is fitted. 1st-
1. Passage holes 10A, 10B, and 10C forming a flow passage 10 are formed coaxially through the centers of the second and third pistons 31, 32, and 33.

The passage hole 10A of the first piston 31 has large diameter holes at both end openings, and the outer peripheral surface of one end of the second piston 32 is fitted into the large diameter hole on the second piston 32 side. The engaging claw 38 and the engaging recess 39 are integrally connected to each other by engagement with each other. Further, in order to withstand large fluid pressure, it is desirable that they be joined together by welding or the like.

At the end of the second piston 32 opposite to the first piston 31 side, there is provided a spring bearing part 40 which fights against the inner diameter of the cylinder 3 and has a slightly larger outer diameter and which holds one end of the spring 14. This spring receiver has a seal member 3 on the circumferential surface of the portion 40.
An annular groove 41 into which 4 is fitted is formed.

The third piston 33 is formed in the shape of a disk having an outer diameter that matches the spring bearing part 40, so that it also serves as one groove wall of the annular groove 41, and the second piston 33 has the spring bearing in the center.
A boss portion 44 that fits into the second fitting recess 42 is integrally provided and is joined to the piston 32 by welding or the like.

The shutoff valve 37 is integrally formed of resin, metal, etc., and is inserted into the guide 36 so as to be freely movable in the axial direction, and is normally biased in the closing direction by the spring 20 to close the second piston. 32, and closes the passage hole 10B.

A stopper 47 is provided on the inner circumferential surface of the hole 46 of the guide 36 into which the spring 20 and the stop valve 37 are inserted and which restricts the movement of the stop valve 37 in the nozzle direction.

The stopper 47 is composed of, for example, four protrusions that are equally spaced in the circumferential direction and protrude toward the center of the guide 36, as shown in FIG. The opening end of the hole 46 on the nozzle side is formed into a cross-shaped opening 48 to prevent the spring 20 from coming off, and the opening end on the shutoff valve side is formed to be larger than the outer diameter of the shutoff valve 37.

A female thread 5 is provided on the inner surface of the opening 30 at one end of the cylinder 3.
0 is formed, and a cylinder cover 51 is screwed into this female threaded portion 50. The cylinder cover 51 has a male thread 52 formed on its outer peripheral surface to be screwed into the female thread 50,
It consists of a cylindrical body with an inner flange 51A integrally provided at the outer open end, and an insertion hole 53 (Fig. 3) through which the first piston 31 is slidably penetrated is provided in the center of the inner flange 51A. There is. Furthermore, four anti-rotation recesses 54 are formed in the hole wall surface of the insertion hole 53 and are equally spaced in the circumferential direction, and the four portions 54 are provided with a radial length extending from the outer circumferential surface of the first piston 31. Rotation of the piston 2 is prevented by slidably inserting a protrusion 55 extending thereinto.

The inner end surface of the cylinder cover 51 forms a stopper 56 (FIG. 1) that restricts the upward movement of the piston 2.

An outer flange 57 is integrally provided on the outer circumferential surface of the open end of the cylinder 3, and this outer flange 57 is brought into close contact with the inner surface of the bumper 7 and is firmly fixed by a plurality of bolts 58 and nuts 59. ing. The bolt 58 is attached from the outside of the bumper 7, and its head is molded with resin 60 to prevent visibility from the outside. The resin 60 is formed in an annular shape so as to surround the opening 11 of the bumper 7, and is raised high to make it difficult to see that the nozzle 5 protrudes.

In this case, in this embodiment, the cylinder cover 51 is attached to the opening 30 at one end of the cylinder 3 by screwing, but the invention is not limited thereto. They can be integrally connected by engaging the claw and the engaging recess, or can be simply fitted together and then welded, screwed, or
Of course, they may be integrally joined using rivets or the like, or may be fixed by ultrasonic welding.

Furthermore, the method of fixing the cylinder 3 to the bumper 7 is as follows:
In addition to bolts 58 and nuts 59, various fixing methods can be considered. For example, a male thread (or female thread) may be provided integrally with the cylinder 3, and this may be attached to a female thread (or male thread) provided on the bumper 7. It may be fixed by screwing together, or a protrusion may be integrally provided on the outer periphery of the cylinder 3, and this protrusion may be fixed to the inner surface of the bumper 7 by pressure using a spring or the like.

The cleaning liquid injection nozzle 5 is fitted into the outer open end of the first piston 31 so that the nozzle hole 61 protrudes to the outside so that the angle can be adjusted slightly.

Next, a headlamp washer with such a configuration
The operation of 23 will be explained.

When the cleaning liquid 1 is pumped into the cylinder 3 in the valve closed state shown in FIG. When the spring force 14 is overcome, the piston 2 is pushed up against the spring 14 as shown in FIG. At this time, the fluid pressure P is still smaller than the spring force of the spring 20 (therefore, the shutoff valve 37 remains closed). As the piston 2 rises, the spring bearing part 40 of the second piston 32 moves to the stopper of the cylinder cover 51. 56 and stops, the fluid pressure P in the cylinder 3 starts to rise again, and when it becomes greater than the spring force of the spring 20, the shutoff valve 37 is pushed up against the spring 20 and separated from the valve seat 45. is the stopper 47 of the guide 36
The cleaning liquid 1 hits the third piston 33 and stops, opening the passage hole 10B.
is led to the nozzle 5 through the passage hole 10C of the second piston 32, the passage hole 10B of the second piston 32, the hole 46 of the guide 36, and the passage hole 10A of the first piston 31, and is sprayed toward the headlamp to clean the lens. .

When the pressure feeding of the cleaning liquid 1 is stopped, the fluid pressure P decreases, so the closing valve 37 is closed by the spring force of the spring 20.
The piston 2 is returned to its original position by the spring force of the spring 14.

Thus, in such a headlance washer, the shutoff valve 37 is built into the piston 2 to open and close the flow passage 10, so the nozzle 5 can be installed directly inside the outer open end of the piston 2, and the This has the advantage that the valve body 13 in the conventional device shown in FIG. 7 is not required, and the head portion of the washer can be made smaller. Also, if the head part becomes smaller, the opening 1 of the bumper 7
1 can be made small so that it can be easily stored in the bumper 7, and the appearance can be improved. Furthermore, since the fluid pressure P acts on the shutoff valve 37 in its axial direction,
The shutoff valve 37 moves well, is less prone to tilting, is stably seated on the valve seat 45, and can prevent the cleaning liquid 1 from leaking when closed. In addition, since the shutoff valve 37 forms a movable valve, it is not subject to material restrictions and can be made of metal such as stainless steel, and has excellent durability.

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention in a cleaning state. In this embodiment, the headlamp washer 23 is housed in the bumper 7, and when in use, the nozzle 5 is projected outward from the opening 11 of the bumper 7 together with the piston 2, as shown by the solid line, and when not in use, it is installed in the head part. The opening 11 is closed by a lid 70 as shown by the two-dot chain line, so that the nozzle 5 is not visible from the outside. The piston 2 is formed thinner than the nozzle 5.

The other configurations are substantially the same as those of the above embodiment.

With this configuration, the headlamp washer can be stored in the bumper 7 when not in use, and the opening 11 is closed with the lid 70, so the appearance is good.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of essential parts showing still another embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment includes a nozzle protection cover 7 that protects the nozzle 5 from foreign objects and prevents it from being seen from the front of the vehicle.
1 is fitted and fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the outer end of the cylinder 3, and
The cylinder 3 is fixed to the inside of the bumper 7 by a leaf spring 72.

The nozzle protection cover 71 is formed of resin or the like into a substantially hemispherical shape, and has a small diameter hole 73A formed on the upper surface side into which the upper part of the piston 2 is slidably inserted, and a cylinder 3 on the lower surface side.
A large-diameter hole 73B is formed into which the upper end of the hole 73B is fitted. The small diameter hole 73A and the large diameter hole 73B are formed coaxially,
communicate with each other. At the upper end of the outer circumferential surface of the cylinder 3, a plurality of removal prevention protrusions 74 having a triangular cross-sectional shape to prevent the nozzle protection cover 71 from coming off are protruded evenly distributed in the circumferential direction. An engagement recess 75 with which the protrusion 74 engages is formed in the hole wall surface of the large diameter hole 73B.

When installing the cover 71, the protrusion 74 and the engaging recess 7
5 and align the upper end of the cylinder 3 with the large diameter hole 73B.
The protrusion 74 may be press-fitted into the engagement recess 75.

The leaf spring 72 has both ends of a semicircular curved portion 72A pressed against the lower surface of the bumper 7, and a recess 77 provided at the center of the curved portion 72A is pressed into engagement with a protrusion 78 provided on the outer peripheral surface of the cylinder 3. By doing so, the headlamp washer-23
is stably fixed to the lower surface of the bumper 7.

The other configurations are the same as those of the above embodiment.

Even in this configuration, the appearance when not in use is good.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the headlamp washer according to the present invention uses the water pressure of the cleaning fluid to cause the piston to protrude from the cylinder, and then opens the shutoff valve to direct the cleaning fluid from the nozzle toward the headlamp. Since the shutoff valve is built into the piston in the injector, the nozzle part can be made smaller, and when the nozzle part is placed protruding from the vehicle body, the appearance is good and there are no problems. When stored in the vehicle body during use, the opening can be made small, and in this case as well, the appearance is good. Furthermore, if the nozzle portion is small, there is little negative effect on the illumination of the headlamp. Furthermore, when the shut-off valve is installed in the flow path of the piston, the fluid pressure can be applied in the axial direction of the shut-off valve, so the movement of the shut-off valve is stable and good, and the valve closing characteristics are improved. The effect is great.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the headlamp washer according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the guide, Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along line I-1, and Fig. 4 shows that the piston is moved by fluid pressure. 5 is a side sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 6 is a sectional view of main parts showing another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 7 is a headlamp 6 is a sectional view showing a conventional example of a washer. 1...Cleaning liquid, 2...Piston, 3...Cylinder, 4...Shutoff valve, 5...Cleaning liquid injection nozzle, 6...
・Headlamp, 7... Pamba, 8...-Cleaning liquid supply port, 9-...-Cleaning liquid pressure feeding system path, 10... Distribution path, 11
...Opening, 13...Valve body, 14...Spring, 15-...Flow path, 17...Valve seat, 20...Spring, 36...Guide, 37...Shutoff valve , 51・
...Cylinder cover patent applicant Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A cylinder having a cleaning liquid supply port communicating with a cleaning liquid pressure feeding system path, a piston having a cleaning liquid flow path and disposed in the cylinder so as to be able to move forward and backward, and a spring that presses the piston inward of the cylinder. , a cleaning liquid injection nozzle attached to the outer end of the piston, a shutoff valve built into the piston and normally closing the flow passage, and a spring force greater than the spring to urge the shutoff valve in the closing direction. A headlamp washer characterized by being equipped with a spring that presses the headlamp.