Koito Manufacturing Company, Ltd.

Toshihisa Hayami

Hideki Uchida

Kazuhiro Suzuki

Yusuke Funami

Makoto Izawa

Atsushi Sugimoto

Shoji Kobayashi

Masaaki Ishikawa

Kazuki Takahashi

Hiroyuki Ishida

Akinobu Kubota

Kazuki Kawamura

Osamu Sato

Hideki Ohashi

Tomoaki Serizawa

Tetsuya Ishida

Hikaru Nagai

Takayuki Unno

Yoshio Ito

Yuki Usuda

Yuki Tawa

Masaaki Ishikawaa

A vehicle cleaner system includes a cleaner unit discharges a cleaning fluid toward a cleaning target mounted on a vehicle; a motor pump supplies the cleaning fluid to the cleaner unit; a normally closed type solenoid valve provided between the cleaner unit and the motor pump and switches between permission and non-permission of movement of the cleaning fluid from the motor pump to the cleaner unit; and a cleaner control unit controls the motor pump and the solenoid valve. The cleaner control unit sets an operation stop time period for stopping an operation of at least one of the motor pump and the solenoid valve, and after the cleaning fluid is discharged to the cleaning target, stops the operation of at least one of the motor pump and the solenoid valve during the operation stop time period based on a predetermined condition.

Vehicle cleaner system

A sensor system equipped with a vehicular cleaner comprising: a sensor configured to operate in a normal mode and a standby mode; a cleaner unit configured to clean the sensor in response to an operation signal output in accordance with a dirt determination result of the sensor; and a control unit configured to control the sensor and the cleaner unit. The sensor is configured to operate in the normal mode, in which the sensor is operated at a predetermined cycle, and in the standby mode, in which the sensor is operated at a cycle longer than in the normal mode. The cleaner unit is configured to operate in a regular mode in which the cleaner unit operates in response to the operation signal and to operate in a block mode in which the cleaner unit does not operate even when the operation signal is input.

Vehicle sensor cleaning systems

An illumination apparatus generates illumination light. A patterning device includes a digital micromirror device (DMD) configured to spatially modulate and reflect the illumination light according to a pattern signal. A DMD controller generates the pattern signal. The DMD controller generates a refresh pattern signal for repeatedly turning on and off micromirrors in a period in which the DMD is set to the enable state and the illumination light is turned off.

Automotive lamp and control method for DMD

A control device that includes a plurality of input ports, each of which receives a binary signal including a first level and a second level, and a setting unit, which sets a numerical value related to control based on the binary signal input to each of the input ports, is disclosed. The input port is configured to be at the second level when a failure occurs, and the setting unit associates different binary signal arrays with a plurality of the numerical values, respectively, and sets a binary signal array corresponding to a numerical value equivalent to a reference value among the plurality of numerical values as an array in which the number of the second level is the largest.

Control device for a vehicle lamp and light distribution control system

A monitoring device includes a comparison unit and a clock control unit. The comparison unit is configured to compare a signal level of a transmission signal and a signal level of a monitoring signal that has received the transmission signal with each other at a timing synchronized with a clock signal. The clock control unit is configured to detect the signal level of the monitoring signal and synchronize the clock signal with a timing when the signal level of the monitoring signal changes.

Monitoring device and light distribution control device for lamp

A vehicle headlamp is provided with a lamp unit, a first actuator for controlling the irradiation direction within the horizontal plane, a second actuator for controlling the irradiation direction within the vertical plane. A communication unit transmits and receives a signal between the actuators and a controller provided outside of the lamp body via a communication line. A glare preventing unit detects an abnormality or a failure of the actuators, the controller, and the communication line, without using the communication unit. The irradiation direction or the lighting state is changed in accordance with a portion where the abnormality or the failure.

Vehicle headlamp

In a headlamp apparatus comprising a sub-CPU integrally provided on a headlamp for controlling an optical axis direction changing operation and a main CPU for sending out to the sub-control circuit a control signal for changing the direction of the optical axis, the sub-CPU comprises a power-on resetting circuit of a simple configuration comprising a capacitor and a resistor. When the main CPU detects an abnormality in the sub-CPU, a power supply is temporarily cut off by a power supply control means, and the sub-CPU is reset by a power-on resetting circuit. An abnormality triggered by a runaway of the sub-CPU can be resolved so that the sub-CPU can be restored to a normal condition as quickly as possible.

Vehicle headlamp apparatus

A headlamp device for a vehicle includes a first light distribution controlling portion moving light irradiated forward from a light source in a lateral direction of the vehicle, and a second light distribution controlling portion moving the light irradiated forward from the light source in a vertical direction of the vehicle. A light distribution is controlled in response to a signal sent from the first light distribution controlling portion to the second light distribution controlling portion.

Headlamp device for vehicle

A vehicle lighting apparatus includes lamp deflection angle controlling means for controlling the change of a deflection angle of a lamp. The vehicle lighting apparatus further includes a reference angular position setting means for setting the deflection angle of the lamp to a predetermined reference angular position when a deflection angle detecting means for detecting the deflection angle of the lamp is broken down. When the deflection angle of the lamp cannot be detected in an adaptive front-lighting system (AFS), and thus the AFS lapsed into malfunction, the deflection angle of the lamp is fixed to a reference position obtained by rotating a motor for deflecting the lamp in one direction to the locked state, and from this locked state, rotating by the given amount in the reverse direction.

Vehicle lighting apparatus

An adaptive front-lighting system includes lamp deflection angle controlling means having a steering angle sensor for detecting a steering direction of a vehicle and supplying a signal and controlling a deflection angle of a lamp based on sensor outputs from the steering angle sensor. The lamp deflection angle controlling means includes an arithmetic control means for calculating a time series moving average of the output from the steering angle sensor. Averaging the output from the steering angle sensor on the time axis in the arithmetic circuit means enables to obtain outputs having smaller step widths than step widths of the outputs from the steering angle sensor, and controlling the deflection angle of the lamp based on the output enables to control the deflection angle of the lamp with the minute step widths.

An adaptive front-lighting system includes a lamp deflection angle controlling means for controlling a deflection angle of an auxiliary lamp that is attached to a main lamp corresponding to a traveling state of a vehicle. The system is provided with vehicle halting state detecting means for detecting a halted state in which the vehicle is halted or traveling at a very low speed, and illumination controlling means for turning off or dimming an auxiliary lamp when the halted state is continued for more than a prescribed time period. When the vehicle is halted with the auxiliary lamp deflected, and the halted state is continued for more than the prescribed time period, the auxiliary lamp is turned off or dimmed, and thus other cars and pedestrians are prevented from being dazzled by the auxiliary lamp, and the trailing car may be prevented from having a sense of insecurity.

A vehicle lighting apparatus includes abnormality detecting means for detecting abnormality in the AFS of the vehicle lighting apparatus, and means for adjusting optical axis of the lamp in the vertical direction for setting the angle of the optical axis of the lamp downward in the vertical direction in comparison with the reference angle upon receipt of abnormality-detected signal from the abnormality detecting means. When the vehicle lighting apparatus lapsed into malfunction, by tilting the optical axis of the lamp in the deflected state downward in the vertical direction, the lamp is prevented from dazzling oncoming cars even when the lamp is in the deflected state toward the oncoming cars, thereby realizing failsafe which is preferable in terms of traffic safety.

A lighting system for vehicles including a plurality of dimmer lamps, a steering sensor, and an electronic control unit (ECU). The dimmer lamps are provided at the front of a vehicle in its moving direction, and their radiated ranges differ from each other and their quantity of light also varies, according to the steering angle as sensed by the steering sensor. The ECU changes the combination of radiated ranges of the lamps to realize light distribution control ahead and sideways of a vehicle by turning-on/off the lamps, as well as changes the quantity of light of each lamp according to the wheel steering angle. The ECU sequentially turns on the lamps according to the steering angle and increases the corresponding quantity of radiation in proportion to the magnitude of the steering angle. Thus, the radiated range gradually expands in the vehicle's turning direction and its brightness gradually increases.

Lighting system for vehicles

The lighting device for a vehicle includes running direction detect means,for detecting the vehicle running direction or the vehicle steering angle and vehicle speed detect means,for detecting the vehicle speed. An illumination control means,specifies the turn-on and turn-off of a plurality of lamps in accordance with detect signals output from the means,and,, thereby changing the combinations of the illumination ranges of the lamps.

Lighting device for vehicles

An irradiation direction control apparatus for a vehicular lamp including: a vehicle state detection device for detecting a state of a vehicle; a drive device for directing irradiation light of a lamp toward a desired direction; and a compensation calculation device for performing a compensation calculation to keep the irradiation light of the lamp to a predetermined direction in accordance with a signal from the vehicle state detection device and sending a compensation signal to the drive device, whereby at the time of lighting the lamp or during lighting of the lamp, the compensation calculation device performs the compensation calculation to keep the irradiation light of the lamp to the predetermined direction in accordance with the signal from the vehicle state detection device and sends the compensation signal based on a calculation result to the drive device to drive the lamp or components thereof, whereas at the time of deactivating the lamp or during deactivation of the lamp and with a power source of the vehicle in operation or during running of the vehicle, the compensation calculation device performs only the compensation calculation to keep the irradiation light of the lamp to the predetermined direction in accordance with the signal from the vehicle state detection device and does not send the compensation signal to the drive device.

Growing community of inventors

Shizuoka, Japan

Toshihisa Hayami