JP5210242B2 - Cleaning device for vehicle lamp - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a cleaning apparatus for spraying a cleaning liquid onto a vehicle lamp such as a headlamp to clean the surface thereof.

  For example, if the front surface of a vehicle, such as a headlamp, becomes dirty due to adhesion of dust, mud, etc., the amount of light may be insufficient. Therefore, if necessary, the cleaning liquid is sprayed toward the headlamp to clean the surface of the headlamp. The cleaning device is installed behind the front bumper. The cleaning device includes a cylinder to which cleaning liquid is supplied, a piston slidably fitted in the cylinder, a valve case attached to the tip of the piston, and a nozzle holder supported by the valve case. The injection nozzle is supported by the nozzle holder, and the cleaning liquid is injected from the injection nozzle toward the vehicular lamp.

  In such a cleaning apparatus, the nozzle is stored behind the front bumper when not cleaning, and when the headlamp is cleaned, the injection nozzle is moved forward from the opening formed in the front bumper by the pressure of the cleaning liquid. When the pressure of the cleaning liquid rises above the predetermined value, the check valve opens and the cleaning liquid is supplied to the injection nozzle, and the cleaning liquid is injected from the injection port that opens to the injection nozzle toward the headlamp, and is applied to the front surface of the headlamp. Adhered dust and mud are removed. When the cleaning of the headlamp is completed, the spray nozzle is returned to the retracted position on the back side of the front bumper by a biasing means such as a spring.

  By the way, in the type of cleaning device in which the injection nozzle is fixed to the nozzle holder, it is not possible to adjust the injection direction of the cleaning liquid from the injection nozzle. For example, it is necessary to prepare a plurality of cleaning devices having different injection angles for each vehicle type. There is a problem that there is.

  Therefore, Patent Document 1 proposes a cleaning device capable of adjusting the spraying direction of the cleaning liquid sprayed from the spray nozzle. FIG. 9 shows a part of such a cleaning device.

  That is, FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of the spray nozzle portion of the cleaning device, in which 117 is a nozzle holder for holding the spray nozzle 104, and the nozzle holder 117 has a connecting portion 117a as a water supply body ( The valve case 107 is connected to the water supply body 107 by being press-fitted into a cleaning liquid supply pipe 107 a protruding from the valve case 107. The nozzle holder 117 is formed with a bottomed cylindrical holding portion 117b that opens upward, and the substantially cylindrical held portion 104a of the injection nozzle 104 is inserted into the holding portion 117b from above. Has been.

  Accordingly, the injection nozzle 104 can rotate in the RR direction around the first axis (vertical axis) x in the insertion direction into the nozzle holder 117, and the press-fitting direction of the nozzle holder 117 into the water supply body 107. Since the second axis (horizontal axis) y can be rotated in the SS direction, the cleaning liquid spraying direction from the spray nozzle 104 can be adjusted.

JP 2005-162146 A

  However, it is necessary to install a cleaning device at a position where the cleaning solution reaches in order to spray the cleaning solution to an area to be cleaned of a lens such as a headlamp. In the cleaning device shown in FIG. Since the nozzle 104 can only rotate in the RR direction centered on the first axis x and the SS direction centered on the second axis y, the area where the cleaning liquid can be sprayed is small, There is a problem that the mounting position is limited, and depending on the vehicle type, it is difficult to ensure a sufficient distance from other vehicle body components.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and the purpose of the invention is to allow the spraying direction of the cleaning liquid to be freely adjusted in the actual three-dimensional direction, to expand the area where the cleaning liquid can be sprayed, and to deal with various types of vehicles. Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular lamp cleaning device.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 includes a cylinder to which cleaning liquid is supplied, a piston slidably fitted in the cylinder, a valve case attached to the tip of the piston, In a vehicular lamp cleaning apparatus comprising a nozzle holder supported by the valve case, and an injection nozzle supported by the nozzle holder, and spraying a cleaning liquid from the injection nozzle toward the vehicle lamp,
The valve case includes an elliptical portion having a transverse cross-sectional shape that is flat in the lateral direction and having a check valve inside, a rectangular column portion formed on a tip side of the upper portion of the elliptical portion, and left and right sides of the rectangular column portion with respect to the rectangular column portion. And a cylindrical portion formed in a direction perpendicular to the axis,
The flow path between the elliptical portion of the valve case and the prism portion and the flow passage between the prism portion and the cylindrical portion have a constant width in a horizontal section,
By press-fitting the base end portion spherical fitting portion formed on the nozzle holder to the concave spherical bearing formed in the radially inner portion of the cylindrical portion, against the nozzle holder before Symbol valve case It is characterized by being held so as to be rotatable in a three-dimensional direction.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the injection nozzle is press-fitted and fitted so as to be rotatable about an axis in a press-fitting direction into the nozzle holder.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the nozzle holder is press-fitted and fitted to the valve case in a three-dimensional direction by the spherical fitting portion, the cleaning liquid is ejected from the ejection nozzle held by the nozzle holder. Can be freely adjusted in the actual three-dimensional direction, and the area where the cleaning liquid can be sprayed is expanded.

  According to the invention of claim 2, since the injection nozzle is press-fitted and fitted so as to be rotatable around the axis of the press-fitting direction into the nozzle holder, it becomes possible to finely adjust the injection direction of the cleaning liquid from the injection nozzle, It becomes possible to narrow the range to be injected at a time. Thereby, it becomes unnecessary to inject water unnecessarily, and water can be saved.

It is a side view of the washing | cleaning apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a top view of the washing | cleaning apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a disassembled perspective view of the principal part of the washing | cleaning apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a disassembled perspective view of the injection nozzle part of the washing | cleaning apparatus which concerns on this invention. (A), (b) is a plane sectional view of a check valve mechanism part and an injection nozzle part of a cleaning device concerning the present invention. It is the sectional view on the AA line of Fig.5 (a). It is the BB sectional view taken on the line of Fig.5 (a). It is CC sectional view taken on the line of Fig.5 (a). It is a disassembled perspective view of the injection nozzle part of the conventional washing | cleaning apparatus.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  1 is a side view of a cleaning apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the cleaning apparatus, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the main part of the cleaning apparatus, and FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of an injection nozzle portion of the cleaning apparatus. 5 (a) and 5 (b) are plan sectional views of the check valve mechanism portion and the injection nozzle portion of the cleaning device, FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 5 (a), and FIG. ) Is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 8, and FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line CC in FIG.

  The cleaning device 1 according to the present embodiment is a device for spraying cleaning liquid toward the front surface of a headlamp (not shown) to clean the front surface, and is disposed on the back side of a front bumper (not shown). . In addition, although the washing | cleaning apparatus 1 is each installed with respect to the right and left headlamps, since the structure and effect | action are the same, only one washing | cleaning apparatus 1 is demonstrated below.

  A cleaning device 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 has a piston (not shown) slidably inserted into a cylindrical cylinder 2 and a pair of left and right injection nozzles via a check valve mechanism 3 at the tip of the piston. 4 is attached.

  The cylinder 2 is supplied with cleaning liquid from a washer tank (not shown), and a plug 5 is provided at the rear end thereof. The inside of the cylinder 2 is connected to a pipe (not shown) connected to the plug 5. To the washer tank. A bracket 6 is attached to the outer periphery of the front end of the cylinder 2, and the cleaning device 1 is attached to the back side of a front bumper (not shown) via the bracket 6. Although not shown, a return spring is interposed between the cylinder 2 and a piston that is slidably inserted in the cylinder 2 as a biasing means that biases the piston in a direction in which the piston is pulled into the cylinder 2. ing.

Will now be described with reference to details of the check valve mechanism 3 configured Naru及 beauty injection nozzle 4 of the holding mechanism in FIGS. 3-8.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the check valve mechanism 3 includes a valve 8 inside the valve case 7, a guide 9 that slidably holds the valve 8, and a valve that urges the valve 8 in the closing direction. The spring 10 is accommodated, and the entire cross-sectional shape is an elliptical shape that is flat in the horizontal direction.

  The valve case 7 is configured by joining and integrating case halves 7A and 7B which are divided into two parts in the front and rear, and one case half 7A is formed by combining a cylindrical portion 7a and a flat elliptic cylinder portion 7b. The rectangular engagement holes 11 (only the upper two are shown in FIG. 3) are formed at four locations on the entire circumference of the elliptic cylinder portion 7b, and a part of the opening end surface of the elliptic cylinder portion 7b (see FIG. 3). A V-shaped fitting groove 12 is formed in the upper part). And as shown in FIG. 5, the cylindrical valve seat 14 is formed in the center part of the wall 13 which partitions off the cylindrical part 7a and the elliptical cylinder part 7b of case half 7A.

  The other case half 7B is composed of a flat oval cylindrical portion 7c and a rectangular column portion 7d connected to the tip of the oval cylindrical portion 7c. The oval cylindrical portion 7c has a small outer diameter and a thin small diameter portion 7c1. And a thick large-diameter portion 7c2. The engagement claws 15 (shown in FIG. 3) are provided at four locations on the outer periphery of the small diameter portion 7c1 of the elliptic cylinder portion 7c (locations corresponding to the engagement holes 11 formed in the elliptic cylinder portion 7b of the other case half 7A). (Only the upper two are shown) project. Further, a part of the boundary (step part) between the large diameter part 7c2 and the small diameter part 7c1 of the elliptic cylinder part 7c (part corresponding to the fitting groove 12 formed in the elliptic cylinder part 7b of the other case half body 7A). A V-shaped fitting projection 16 is formed on the.

  Further, cylindrical portions 7e are formed on the left and right sides of the prism portion 7d formed at the tip of the case half 7B, and the nozzle holder 17 is formed in these cylindrical portions 7e. Each is press-fitted. Here, as shown in FIG. 4, a spherical fitting portion 17a is formed at the base end portion of each nozzle holder 17, and the inner diameter of the cylindrical portion 7e of the valve case 7 to which the spherical fitting portion 17a is fitted. A concave spherical bearing 7f is formed in the portion, and the spherical holder 17a of the nozzle holder 17 is press-fitted into the concave spherical bearing 7f, so that the nozzle holder 17 is three-dimensional with respect to the valve case 7. It is held so as to be rotatable in the direction (all directions).

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, a cylindrical portion 17b is formed vertically at the outer end portion of each nozzle holder 17, and the injection nozzle 4 is press-fitted into the cylindrical portion b from above. The injection nozzle 4 is held so as to be horizontally rotatable about an axis (vertical axis) in the press-fitting direction into the nozzle holder 17. Each injection nozzle 4 is formed with an injection port 18 that opens toward the front surface of the headlamp (not shown).

  Thus, the engaging claw 15 formed on the outer periphery of the small diameter portion 7c1 is formed by fitting the elliptic cylindrical portion 7b of one case half 7A into the outer periphery of the small diameter portion 7c1 of the elliptic cylindrical portion 7c of the other case half 7B. Is engaged with the engagement hole 11 formed in the oval cylindrical portion 7c, the fitting projection 16 on the case half 7B side is fitted into the fitting groove 12 on the case half 7A side, and the two cases Half valve body 7A, 7B is positioned and joined, and one valve case 7 is assembled.

  The valve 8 is composed of a disc-shaped valve body 8a and a valve shaft 8b integrally extending in the direction perpendicular to the axis from the center of the valve body 8a. As shown in FIG. 5, the valve seat of the valve body 8a A ring-shaped seal member 19 is assembled to a portion seated on the ring 14. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the valve shaft 8 b is formed in a triangular prism shape, and the ridge line 8 c is in sliding contact with the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion 9 </ b> A of the guide 9. The bottom surface of the valve shaft 8b is supported by two guide ribs 20 formed in parallel to the bottom portion in the cylindrical portion 9A of the guide 9 along the longitudinal direction (perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 8).

The guide 9 is constituted by a small diameter cylindrical portion 9A and a flange portion 9B integrally formed elliptically shaped at its distal end, as shown in FIG. 7, 4 up, down, left and right end surfaces of the flange portion 9B A rectangular fitting groove 21 is formed at the location. Also, as shown in FIG. 6, a crescent opening 9a communicating with the nozzle 4 is formed on the left and right sides of the cylindrical portion 9A of the flange portion 9B.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the triangular prismatic valve shaft 8 b of the valve 8 is slidably fitted in the cylindrical portion 9 </ b> A of the guide 9. Therefore, the valve 8 is centered in the valve case 7. The valve 8 is urged in a closing direction (a direction in which the valve seat 14 is seated) by the valve spring 10. Here, the valve spring 10 is inserted through the outer periphery of the cylindrical portion 9 </ b> A of the guide 9 and is contracted between the valve body 8 a of the valve 8 and the flange portion 9 </ b> B of the guide 9. The spring constant of the valve spring 10 is set larger than the spring constant of the return spring (not shown).

  Thus, the guide 9 has both a function as a valve guide and a function as a spring guide. In the valve case 7, the guide 9 is caused by the reaction force of the valve spring 10 as shown in FIG. 7, the position is fixed by being pressed by the wall 22 within the valve case 7, and as shown in FIG. Positioning in the valve case 7 is performed by fitting the fitting protrusions 23 projecting at the places (places corresponding to the fitting grooves 21).

  In the cleaning apparatus 1 configured as described above, when the headlamp is not cleaned, a piston (not shown) is drawn into the cylinder 2 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 by the urging force of the return spring. At this time, the valve 8 of the check valve mechanism 3 is pressed against the valve seat 14 by the valve spring 10 as shown in FIG. The nozzle 4 is stored behind the front bumper (not shown).

  Thus, when the headlamp is cleaned by the cleaning device 1, a high-pressure cleaning liquid is supplied from a washer tank (not shown) to a cylinder 2 of the cleaning device 1 via a pipe (not shown). Then, the piston slides forward in the cylinder 2 by the pressure of the cleaning liquid, and pushes the nozzle 4 provided at the tip of the piston forward from the opening (not shown) formed in the front bumper. In this case, since the spring constant of the valve spring 10 is set larger than the spring constant of the return spring as described above, the valve 8 of the check valve mechanism 3 remains closed as shown in FIG. The cleaning liquid is not supplied to the nozzle 4.

  As described above, after the piston moves forward due to the pressure of the cleaning liquid, the pressure of the cleaning liquid rises above a predetermined value, and the force based on the pressure of the cleaning liquid acting on the valve 8 of the check valve mechanism 3 is greater than the biasing force of the valve spring 10. When the valve 8 becomes larger, the valve 8 moves forward along the guide 9 and moves away from the valve seat 14 as shown in FIG. 5B, so that the valve 8 is opened and the cleaning liquid is in FIG. 5B. As shown by the arrows in FIG. 8, the valve case 7 flows forward, passes through the left and right openings 9a formed in the flange portion 9B of the guide 9 and branches to the left and right. It is supplied to the nozzle 4. The cleaning liquid supplied to the jet nozzle 4 is jetted from the jet port 18 (see FIG. 4) toward the headlamp, and the dust, mud and the like adhering to the front face of the headlamp are washed away.

  Here, in the cleaning device 1 according to the present embodiment, since the moving direction of the valve 8 of the check valve mechanism 3 is the same as the sliding direction of the piston, that is, the direction of flow of the cleaning liquid, the valve 8 is shown in FIG. When opened, the cleaning liquid passes through the valve 8 and flows straight and smoothly to the nozzle 4 without changing its direction. For this reason, the pressure loss of the cleaning liquid is suppressed to a low level, the reduction of the spraying pressure and the spraying speed of the cleaning liquid from the nozzle 4 is prevented, and the cleaning device 1 can stably maintain a high cleaning ability.

Thus, in the present embodiment, the spherical fitting portions 17a of the left and right nozzle holders 17 are press-fitted and fitted to the concave spherical bearing 7f of the valve case 7 so as to be rotatable in a three-dimensional direction as described above. By freely adjusting the spraying direction of the cleaning liquid from the spray nozzle 4 held by the nozzle holder 17 in the actual three-dimensional direction (all directions), the area where the cleaning liquid can be sprayed is expanded, and the mounting position on the vehicle body is free. degree is increased, it is possible to cope with each car species.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the left and right injection nozzles 4 are press-fitted and fitted so as to be horizontally rotatable about the axis (vertical axis) in the press-fitting direction into the nozzle holder 17, so that the cleaning liquid from each injection nozzle 4 The injection direction can be finely adjusted, and the range to be injected at a time can be narrowed. Thereby, it becomes unnecessary to inject water unnecessarily, and water can be saved.

  When the cleaning of the headlamp is completed as described above, a piston (not shown) is drawn into the cylinder 2 by the return spring, so that the injection nozzle 4 is returned to the storage position on the back side of the front bumper, and the valve of the check valve mechanism 3 8 is closed again as shown in FIG.

  In the above, the embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a cleaning device used for cleaning a headlight has been described. However, the present invention is applied to a cleaning device used for cleaning any other vehicle lamp other than a headlight. Of course, the present invention can be similarly applied.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cleaning apparatus 2 Cylinder 3 Check valve mechanism 4 Injection nozzle 5 Plug 6 Bracket 7 Valve case 7A, 7B Case half 7a Case half cylindrical part 7b, 7c Case half elliptical cylinder part 7c1 Elliptical cylindrical part small diameter part 7c2 Large diameter portion of elliptic cylinder portion 7d Square column portion of case half 7e Cylindrical portion of square column portion 7f Concave spherical bearing of cylindrical portion 8 Valve 8a Valve body 8b Valve shaft 9 Guide 9A Guide cylindrical portion 9B Guide flange portion 9a Flange 10 Valve spring 11 Engagement hole 12 Engagement groove 13 Wall inside valve case 14 Valve seat 15 Engagement claw 16 Engagement projection 17 Nozzle holder 17a Nozzle holder spherical fitting part 17b Nozzle holder cylindrical part 18 Injection Port 19 Seal Member 20 Guide Rib 21 Fitting Groove 22 Wall in Valve Case 23 Fitting Protrusion

Claims (2)

A cylinder to which cleaning liquid is supplied, a piston slidably inserted in the cylinder, a valve case attached to the tip of the piston, a nozzle holder supported by the valve case, and a nozzle holder In a vehicular lamp cleaning apparatus that includes a supported injection nozzle and injects a cleaning liquid from the injection nozzle toward the vehicular lamp.
The valve case includes an elliptical portion having a transverse cross-sectional shape that is flat in the lateral direction and having a check valve inside, a rectangular column portion formed on a tip side of the upper portion of the elliptical portion, and left and right sides of the rectangular column portion with respect to the rectangular column portion. And a cylindrical portion formed in a direction perpendicular to the axis,
The flow path between the elliptical portion of the valve case and the prism portion and the flow passage between the prism portion and the cylindrical portion have a constant width in a horizontal section,
By press-fitting the base end portion spherical fitting portion formed on the nozzle holder to the concave spherical bearing formed in the radially inner portion of the cylindrical portion, against the nozzle holder before Symbol valve case A vehicular lamp cleaning apparatus characterized by being held so as to be rotatable in a three-dimensional direction.
  2. The vehicular lamp cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the injection nozzle is press-fitted and fitted so as to be rotatable about an axis in a press-fitting direction into the nozzle holder.

Images