Intermittent windshield wiper control device

Claim 2

In a windshield wiper cleaning system, a wiper motor unit for driving said system through repeating wiping cycles, and control means for activating said wiper motor unit intermittently with a dwell period at the end of each wiping cycle which dwell period varies in accordance with the load on said wiper motor unit, said control means comprising means for deenergizing said wiper motor unit at the end of each wiping cycle, and timing means for energizing said wiper motor unit after said dwell period to start another wiping cycle, said timing means including means for measuring the integral of the load on said wiper motor unit over at least a portion of a wiping cycle and setting the dwell period in accordance with the integral measured during the wiping cycle.

Claim 3

The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein the speed of the wiper motor varies inversely with the load on said wiper motor, the speed decreasing as the load increases and increasing as the load decreases and wherein said measuring means includes integrating means for measuring the time of each wiping cycle to thereby integrate the load on said wiper motor unit.

Claim 4

The invention as defined in claim 2 wherein the motor of said wiper motor unit is an electric motor and said integrating means includes means connected to a source of potential during each wiping cycle for integrating the potential over the time of the wiping cycle.

Claim 5

In a windshield wiper cleaning system, a wiper motor unit for driving said system through repeating wiping cycles, and control means for activating said wiper motor unit intermittently with a dwell period at the end of each wiping cycle which dwell period varies in accordance with the moisture on the windshield, said control means comprising means for energizing said wiper motor unit for complete wiping cycles and deenergizing said wiper motor unit at the end of each wiping cycle, and timing means for energizing said wiper motor unit after each of said dwell periods to start the next wiping cycle, said timing means including means for sensing the moisture on the windshield during a wiping cycle while the wiper motor unit is energized and determining the length of time of the dwell period in response to the amount of moisture sensed, the length of time of each dwell period varying inversely to the amount of moisture sensed by said sensing means.

Claim 6

In a windshield wiper cleaning system, a wiper motor unit for driving said system through repeating wiping cycles, and control means for activating said wiper motor unit intermittently with a dwell period at the end of each wiping cycle which dwell period varies in accordance with the moisture on the windshield, said control means comprising means for energizing said wiper motor unit for complete wiping cycles and deenergizing said wiper motor unit at the end of each wiping cycle, and timing means for energizing said wiper motor unit after each of said dwell periods to start the next wiping cycle, said timing means including means for sensing the moisture on the windshield during a wiping cycle while the wiper motor unit is energized and determining the length of time of the dwell period in response to the amount of moisture sensed, the length of time of each dwell period varying inversely to the amount of moisture sensed by said sensing means.

Claim 7

In combination with a vehicle having a windshield, a windshield cleaning system comprising wiper blade means slidably engaging said windshield, motor actuated drive means for driving said wiper blade means through repeating wiping cycles, each of said wiping cycles having the same number of strokes of said wiper blade means, and automatic control means for activating said drive means to drive said wiper blade means through said repeating wiping cycles, said automatic control means including means responsive to the degree of dryness of the windshield for varying the time interval between the beginning of successive wiping cycles through a range of time intervals between and including minimum and maximum time intervals, the length of time of said time intervals automatically increasing when the moisture on the windshield decreases and automatically decreasing when the moisture on the windshield increases.

Claim 8

In combination with a vehicle having a windshield, a windshield cleaning system comprising wiper blade means slidably engaging said windshield, motor actuated drive means for driving said wiper blade means through repeating wiping cycles, each of said wiping cycles having the same number of strokes of said wiper blade means, and automatic control means for activating said drive means to drive said wiper blade means through said repeating wiping cycles, said automatic control means including means responsive to the degree of dryness of the windshield for varying the time interval between the beginning of successive wiping cycles through a range of time intervals between and including minimum and maximum time intervals, the length of time of said time intervals automatically increasing when the moisture on the windshield decreases and automatically decreasing when the moisture on the windshield increases.

Claim 9

The windshield wiper cleaning system of claim 5 wherein said automatic control means activates said drive means intermittently to produce an intermittent mode of operation with dwell periods between successive wiping cycles, and wherein said last mentioned means varies the length of time of each of said dwell periods in response to the moisture on the windshield, the length of time of each of said dwell periods increasing as the moisture on the windshield decreases and decreasing as the moisture on the windshield increases.

Claim 10

In a windshield cleaning system, motor driven windshield wiper drive means for driving wiper blade means across the windshield in repeating wiping cycles each cycle including a wiping portion and a dwell period, and automatic control means for activating said motor intermittently to produce complete wiping cycles including means for manually varying the dwell period associated with a particular degree of dryness of the windshield and means for automatically changing the manually established dwell period in response to changes from said particular degree of dryness of the windshield.

Claim 11

In a windshield cleaning system, motor driven windshield wiper drive means for driving wiper blade means across the windshield in repeating wiping cycles each cycle including a wiping portion and a dwell period, and automatic control means for activating said motor intermittently to produce complete wiping cycles including means for manually varying the dwell period associated with a particular degree of dryness of the windshield and means for automatically changing the manually established dwell period in response to changes from said particular degree of dryness of the windshield.

Claim 12

The invention defined in claim 7, wherein said control means further includes first switch means having a bias condition for activating said motor to initiate a wiping cycle and de-activating said motor to terminate a wiping cycle, timing means to determine said dwell period and second switch means responsive to the position of said drive means for conditioning said timing means to change the bias condition on the first switch means at the end of each wiping portion of a wiping cycle to begin said dwell period, said timing means comprising at least resistance and capacitance means, and wherein the means for manually varying said dwell period is a variable resistance in the resistance and capacitance means and said means responsive to the degree of dryness of the windshield includes a capacitor in the resistance capacitance means the charge on which varies in accordance with the value of the resistance and capacitance in the resistance and capacitance means and the degree of dryness of the windshield.

Claim 13

In a windshield cleaning system, a wiper motor unit for intermittently driving said system through repeating wiping cycles each including a wiping portion followed by a dwell period which dwell period varies in accordance with the load on said wiper motor unit and control means comprising means for de-activating said wiper motor unit at the end of each wiping Portion of the cycle, and timing means for activating said wiper motor unit after said dwell period to start another wiping portion of a cycle, said timing means including means responsive to a measure of the load on said wiper motor unit over at least a part of the wiping portion of the cycle to set at least a part of the dwell period in accordance with the measure of the load sensed during the wiping cycle.

Claim 14

In a windshield cleaning system, a wiper motor unit for intermittently driving said system through repeating wiping cycles each including a wiping portion followed by a dwell period which dwell period varies in accordance with the load on said wiper motor unit and control means comprising means for de-activating said wiper motor unit at the end of each wiping Portion of the cycle, and timing means for activating said wiper motor unit after said dwell period to start another wiping portion of a cycle, said timing means including means responsive to a measure of the load on said wiper motor unit over at least a part of the wiping portion of the cycle to set at least a part of the dwell period in accordance with the measure of the load sensed during the wiping cycle.

Claim 15

The invention as defined in claim 9, wherein the means responsive to a measure of the load consists of means for integrating a function of the load.

Claim 16

In combination with a vehicle having a windshield, a windshield cleaning system comprising wiper blade means slidably engaging said windshield, motor actuated drive means for driving said wiper blade means through repeating wiping cycles, each cycle including a wiping portion and a dwell period, and automatic control means for activating said drive means to drive said wiper blade means through said repeating wiping cycles, said automatic control means including means for automatically varying the length of time of the dwell period in response to the time required for the wiper blade means to complete the wiping portion of the cycle.

Claim 17

In combination with a vehicle having a windshield, a windshield cleaning system comprising wiper blade means slidably engaging said windshield, motor actuated drive means for driving said wiper blade means through repeating wiping cycles, each cycle including a wiping portion and a dwell period, and automatic control means for activating said drive means to drive said wiper blade means through said repeating wiping cycles, said automatic control means including means for automatically varying the length of time of the dwell period in response to the time required for the wiper blade means to complete the wiping portion of the cycle.

Claim 18

In combination with a vehicle having a windshield, a windshield cleaning system comprising wiper blade means slidably engaging said windshield, motor actuated drive means for driving said wiper blade means through repeating wiping cycles, each cycle including a wiping portion and a dwell period, and automatic control means for activating said drive means to drive said wiper blade means through said repeating wiping cycles, said automatic control means including means for automatically varying the length of time of the dwell period of a wiping cycle in response to the degree of dryness of the windshield sensed in the wiping portion of the same cycle.

Claim 19

In combination with a vehicle having a windshield, a windshield cleaning system comprising wiper blade means slidably engaging said windshield, motor actuated drive means for driving said wiper blade means through repeating wiping cycles, each cycle including a wiping portion and a dwell period, and automatic control means for activating said drive means to drive said wiper blade means through said repeating wiping cycles, said automatic control means including means for automatically varying the length of time of the dwell period of a wiping cycle in response to the degree of dryness of the windshield sensed in the wiping portion of the same cycle.

Claim 20

The invention defined in claim 11, wherein said means for automatically varying the length of time of the dwell period includes means responsive to the integral with respect to time of a system characteristic.

Claim 21

The invention defined in claim 13, wherein the system characteristic is a constant charging rate substantially independent of the motor condition.

Claim 22

The invention defined in claim 11, wherein the means for automatically varying the length of time of the dwell period is operable to increase the dwell period as the windshield becomes drier and to decrease the dwell period as the windshield becomes wetter.

Claim 23

In combination with a vehicle having a windshield, a windshield cleaning system comprising wiper blade means slidably engaging said windshield, motor actuated drive means for driving said wiper blade means through repeating wiping cycles, each of said wiping cycles having the same number of strokes of said wiper blade means, and automatic control means for activating said drive means to drive said wiper blade means through said repeating wiping cycles, said automatic control means including means responsive to the degree of dryness of the windshield for varying the time interval between the beginning of successive wiping cycles through a range of time intervals between and including minimum and maximum time intervals, the length of time of said time intervals automatically increasing when the moisture on the windshield decreases and automatically decreasing when the moisture on the windshield increases.

Claim 24

In combination with a vehicle having a windshield, a windshield cleaning system comprising wiper blade means slidably engaging said windshield, motor actuated drive means for driving said wiper blade means through repeating wiping cycles, each of said wiping cycles having the same number of strokes of said wiper blade means, and automatic control means for activating said drive means to drive said wiper blade means through said repeating wiping cycles, said automatic control means including means responsive to the degree of dryness of the windshield for varying the time interval between the beginning of successive wiping cycles through a range of time intervals between and including minimum and maximum time intervals, the length of time of said time intervals automatically increasing when the moisture on the windshield decreases and automatically decreasing when the moisture on the windshield increases.

Claim 25

The windshield wiper cleaning system of claim 16 wherein said responsive means incrementally varies the length of said time intervals between said maximum and minimum time intervals.

Claim 26

The windshield wiper cleaning system of claim 16 wherein said automatic control means activates said drive means intermittently to produce an intermittent mode of operation with dwell periods between successive wiping cycles, and wherein said last mentioned means varies the length of time of each of said dwell periods in response to the mositure on the windshield, the length of time of each of said dWell periods increasing as the moisture on the windshield decreases and decreasing as the moisture on the windshield increases.