Mitsuba Corporation

Mitsuba Electric Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Other

Mitsuba Electric Mfg. Co., Ltd.

Takashi Hoshino

Yasushi Yoshida

Takao Ochiai

Hiroshi Sakai

Seiji Shioiri

Toshiyuki Amagasa

Toru Namiki

Tamotsu Iwazaki

Taizo Kikuchi

Akira Takayama

Yasuhiko Yoshida

Tomofumi Kobayashi

Junichi Sekiguchi

Hiroki Tokunaka

Toru Furusawa

Hideyuki Ogawa

Based on an output signal, among a plurality of switching elements, an element control part outputs a PWM signal having a maximum duty ratio to a pair of switching elements that drive a first coil among a plurality of coils to a high level, outputs a PWM signal having a minimum duty ratio to a pair of switching elements that are connected to each other in series and that drive a second coil among the plurality of coils to a low level, and outputs a PWM signal having a medium duty ratio between the maximum duty ratio of the PWM signal and the minimum duty ratio of the PWM signal to a pair of switching elements that are connected to each other in series and that drive a third coil among the plurality of coils.

Motor drive apparatus and motor drive apparatus control method

A wiper blade () has a rubber holder () for holding a blade rubber (). This rubber holder () has a connection block () coupled to a wiper arm and two sub-holders () fixed on both sides of the connection block (), and the sub-holders () each has two rod-shaped spring members () curved with curvature radii smaller than that of a front glass and 11 holder pieces () fixed to these rod-shaped spring members () in a longitudinal direction at a predetermined interval. Further, this rubber holder () is formed so that the two sub-holders () are coupled to each other via the connection block () in the longitudinal direction.

Wiper blade

A holder piece assembly having holder pieces continuously arranged and leaf spring members connecting between each holder piece, and being curved in the longitudinal direction by elastic force of elastic members is provided. The holder piece assembly is mounted on the front edge of a wiper arm through a clip pin. Blade rubber for wiping window glass surface is mounted on the holder piece assembly. The elastic force of the leaf spring members elastically deformed when the blade rubber is allowed to conform with the window glass surface can disperse the pressing force of the wiper arm over the blade rubber longitudinal direction. The dispersed pressing force can be set by changing the connecting angle between each holder piece according to the window glass curvature thereby the wiper blade versatility is improved.

The invention provides to make an automatic opening and closing apparatus for a vehicle to be thin. An outer rack is attached to an outer side of a stay fixed to a vehicle in such a manner as to freely move in an axial direction along the stay. A thickness of the stay is set to be smaller than a width, and a cross sectional shape thereof is formed so as to be in a substantially thin convex shape. A width in a base end wall portion of the outer rack is formed so as to be larger than a width of a side surface wall portion corresponding to a thickness of the outer rack, and the outer rack is formed in a substantially thin C cross sectional shape. It is possible to make a thickness of a slide mechanism about a gear with of rack gears lined up in an axial direction in the side surface wall portion by making the width of the side surface wall portion slightly larger than the gear width of the rack gear.

Automatic opening and closing apparatus for vehicle

An appearance of a vehicle is improved by reducing an opening formed in an interior trim for vehicle. An actuator unit is mounted in a pillar of the vehicle, and a linking rod is linked to a rack bar, which linearly reciprocates along an axial direction provided at this actuator unit. This linking rod protrudes from the pillar through the opening formed in an interior trim, and the other end thereof is linked to a back door. Moreover, this actuator unit is disposed so that a moving direction of the rack bar inclines on a vehicle-rear side by an opening/closing inclination angle &agr; with respect to a direction perpendicular to the vehicle and inclines inward in a vehicle-width direction by a width inclination angle.

Automatically opening and closing system for vehicle

The invention relates to a wiper apparatus in which a pair of pivot axes are provided, one pivot axis at the central portion and the other pivot axis one side portion in the left and right direction of the window surface. In the invention, wherein the rod rush angle formed by a link arm, which rotates the pivot axes clockwise and counterclockwise, and a link rod can be made as small as possible. The second pivot axis at one side portion is disposed so that the plane, including the swinging locus, of the second link arm, that is coupled to the corresponding second pivot axis, and the axial line of the second link rod, in the lengthwise direction, are made roughly parallel to each other.

Wiper apparatus

The invention relates to a wiper blade that secures a proper error angle, wherein the wiper blade is comprised of a rubber blade and a resilient member composed of a plate spring to which a twisting feature is applied. A posture-correcting portion applies a twisting feature to the resilient member so that the full length of the resilient member and rubber blade can be curved in a spiral direction. By twisting, the resilient member approaches its natural state, and both the tip and base end portions of the rubber blade's lip portion in the lengthwise direction are adjusted in directions opposed to each other, thereby correcting the posture thereof.

Wiper blade with twist feature

A wiper device has an arm support constituting a wiper arm that is provided with a waterproof structure. The waterproof structure protects a link coupling portion of the arm support from water. First and second link coupling portions are provided on a proximal end portion of the arm support. First and second guiding passages are formed between the first and second link coupling portions, and a third guiding passage is formed above the second link coupling portion. Furthermore, locking hooks for mounting a cover that serve also as dripping guide members are provided and disposed at right ends of the first, second, and third guiding passages such that the locking hooks face each other. Thus, water on a surface of the arm support is positively drained toward a window surface.

Wiper device

The invention relates to a wiper apparatus, which can effectively regulate overrun of a wiper arm, wherein the base end portion of the main wiper arm is pivotally supported at the vehicle body side via a pivotal axis so as to rock, the wiper arm and one end of the first link are pivotally supported so as to rock, via the first pivotal axis at an intermediate position at the tip end side of the corresponding axis one end of the second link is pivotally supported, via the second pivotal axis at the other end of the first link and the other end of the second link is connected integral with the main wiper axis corresponding to the third pivotal axis, and wherein the main wiper arm is set so as to be located at the upper reversing position when the first pivotal axis the second pivotal axis and main wiper axis (third pivotal axis) are positioned in the same straight line in order.

The wiper system with translational motion is additionally capable of moving the wiper arm in angular motion at an auto stop position so that the wiper blade may be stowed away from the view of the vehicle operator when the wiper system is not in use. The retracted position may be defined immediately below the lower edge of the windshield. When a mist switch is turned on so as to effect a quick wiping action, the wiper arm can angularly move from the retracted position to the upright position. When the wiper arm is already in the translational motion, turning on of the mist switch may increase the speed of the translational motion. To prevent the wiper blade from obstructing the view of the vehicle operator in an intermittent mode, the position of the temporary stop of the wiper blade may be selected at the reversing position which is remote from the vehicle operator. If the interval of the intermittent operation of the wiper arm is relatively short, the position of the temporary stop may then be selected at the auto stop position because the duration of the temporary stop is so short that the obstruction of the view of the vehicle operator is insignificant.

Wiper system with translational motion

The wiper control method is capable of preventing damages on a wiper due to erroneous operation of the wiper when a vehicle is subjected to a car washer with its wiper operation kept in an 'AUTO' mode, and the wiper automatically operates without troubles while driving. The wiper control method is used for an automatic wiper system which automatically controls wiper operation of a vehicle by sensing the climate condition by a rain drop sensor 7, and the state of a door mirror of the vehicle is detected by a mirror folding detection switch 5. When the door mirror is folded, wiper operation control performed by the automatic wiper system is stopped so that the wiper is not operated even if the rain drop sensor 7 detects a rain drop.

Wiper control method

A wiper device having a simple structure by which nearly the entire rectangular windshield surface of a vehicle can be wiped. In the wiper device, an arm comprises a drive link adapted to reciprocatively swing according to a drive operation of a wiper drive unit, a connecting link swingably and pivotally supported at an extreme end portion of the drive link, an operating link having a base end portion integrally fixed to the connecting link, a guide link that has a base end portion, which is swingably and pivotally supported on the vehicle body, and an extreme end portion, which is swingably and pivotally supported on the other end portion of the connecting link, and that is operative to guide the operating link in such a manner that the extreme end portion of the operating link reciprocatively moves in an approximately straight line with a reciprocative movement of the drive link, a supporting link swingably and pivotally supported at the extreme end portion of the operating link, and a holding link that has an extreme end portion, which is swingably and pivotally supported on the supporting link, and a base end portion, which is swingably and pivotally supported on the guide link, and that is operative to hold the supporting link in such a manner that the angle (.theta.) between the supporting link and the movement locus (A) of the extreme end portion of the operating link is maintained at a nearly constant value.

Wiper device with linear wipe pattern

An opposed wiping type wiper unit for use with one of right-hand and left-hand specifications has a crank arm that rotates when driven by a motor, an intermediate link connected to right-hand and left-hand wiper shafts through driving rods, and a connecting rod that connects the crank arm and the intermediate link. The length of the connecting rod and the connecting position thereof to the intermediate link are set so that the actual angular acceleration change of the intermediate link is substantially symmetrical. The angular velocity changes of right-hand and left-hand wiper arms are made asymmetrical on the basis of the length of the driving rods and the connecting positions thereof to the intermediate link. Only the lengths of the driving rods and their connecting positions to the intermediate link need to be varied. Thus, the opposed wiping type wiper unit can easily be designed in accordance with both right-hand and left-hand specifications, and permits the use of as many parts common to the specifications as possible, thereby decreasing the cost.

Opposed wiping type wiper unit

A structure for mounting a wind receiving member on a wiper device is provided. An extending section extends from the extreme end side of a wiper arm beyond where a connector member is rotatably supported. Mounting holes are defined in the extending section and in the wiper arm in its base end side opposite the connector member. Mounting pieces of a wind receiving member are fixed by rivets through the mounting holes. The wind receiving member is mounted at the extreme end of the wiper arm by the use of the extending section. With this arrangement, the wind receiving member prevents the floating-up of a wiper blade when a vehicle travels at a high speed.

Structure for mounting a wind receiving member on a wiper device

An operable angle adjusting structure for a wiper produces a maximally wide wiping angle is realized within the range where wiper arms will not interfere with window pillars and each other and will not require a precision machining apparatus. A drive link includes a ball joint disposed in one end portion, and the ball joint is integrally mounted to one surface of an adjusting member such that the center axis of the ball joint is eccentric with respect to the center of a screw hole by a specified distance. The adjusting member is turned to change the axis-to-axis distance between a wiper drive shaft and the ball joint for proper adjustment.

Growing community of inventors

Isesaki, Japan

Takashi Hoshino