Vehicle wiper control system and method

#The present disclosure relates to vehicle wipers and more particularly to a control system for vehicle wipers.

#Electrically driven wipers are known for vehicles to remove water and other matter from windows and headlights. The wipers typically have an arm driven about a pivot to sweep a wiper blade along a vehicle surface. In cold weather climates, snow and ice may accumulate on the surface to be wiped. In some instances, such snow and ice is difficult or impossible for the wiper to remove and can cause inoperability of the wipers at least until the snow and ice is sufficiently melted or dispersed.

#In at least one implementation, a vehicle wiper control system includes an actuator and a controller. The actuator is coupled to the wiper and operable to selectively move the wiper from a normal operating position engaged with a vehicle surface to be wiped and to a deployed position not engaged with said vehicle surface. The controller is communicated with the actuator and with a source of weather information regarding one or more weather factors, the controller being operable to cause the actuator to move the wiper from its normal position to its deployed position when one or more of the weather factors are at or beyond a threshold for said one or more weather factors. This may cause, for example, a wiper blade to be moved off of a vehicle surface if the current or predicted weather is indicative of possible snow fall or ice formation.

#FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a vehicle wiper and control system;

#FIG. 2 is a flowchart according to a method of deploying the wiper;

#FIG. 3 is a flowchart according to a method of returning the wiper; and

#Referring in more detail to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates a vehicle wiper and control system 10 that is responsive to weather information to move a wiper 12 relative to a surface 14 to be wiped. In at least one implementation, the wiper and control system 10 operates to remove an operative surface 16 of the wiper 12 (e.g. a “wiper blade”) from the vehicle surface 14 when the weather information indicates the possibility of snow, ice or freezing of the wiper blade 16 to the surface 14. In the implementation shown, the wiper 12 includes an arm 18, a mount 20 coupling the arm 18 to the vehicle and the blade 16 carried by the arm 18 for movement with the arm relative to the vehicle surface 14 to be wiped. The wiper 12 is driven by a control system 10 to permit selective operation of the wiper. The control system 10 may include a motor 22 that drives the arm 12, a controller 24 through which the motor 22 is actuated and at least one source 26 of weather related information that determines or obtains and provides such weather information, or a signal indicative thereof, to the controller 24. While one example of a wiper 12 is shown in FIG. 1, any type of wiper 12 may be used and the wiper need not be pivoted and can be otherwise coupled to the vehicle, as desired. To move the wiper blade 16 along the vehicle surface 14 (e.g. a window) in normal operation of the system 10, the motor 22 is actuated to move the wiper arm 18 so that the wiper blade 16 reciprocates along and against the vehicle surface 14. In accordance with well-known practice, the wiper 12 may be oscillated back and forth across the vehicle surface continuously or in intermittently.

#The system 10 may also include an actuator 28 capable of moving the wiper blade 16 to a deployed position away from its associated vehicle surface 14. The actuator 28 may include the same motor 22 that drives the wiper arm 18 in normal operation, and/or an additional motor, and/or a solenoid driven device or other electrically driven or responsive member that actively displaces the wiper 12 or causes the wiper blade to be displaced out of contact with the vehicle surface 14. In at least certain implementations, no part of the wiper blade 16 engages the vehicle surface 14 or any surrounding area of the vehicle when the wiper 12 is in its deployed position. That is, when the wiper 12 is in its deployed position, a contact surface of the wiper blade 16 may be spaced from the vehicle and suspended in air.

#To control movement of the wiper 12, the controller 24 may be communicated by any suitable means with the motor 22 and actuator 28 (which, as noted above, can be the same device). The controller 24 is operable to initiate or cause movement of the wiper 12 to its deployed position in response to certain weather related information being at or beyond a threshold. The controller 24 may use any desired software, instructions, code, and hardware to accomplish this task. The controller 24 may be independent from or part of another vehicle controller, may be carried by or located separately from the vehicle, and/or more than one controller may be used. To determine whether the wiper 12 should be moved to its deployed position, the controller 24 is communicated with at least one source 26 of weather information. The communication may be in any form (for example, wired or wireless), and by any protocol and means.