Method and device to assess the wear of a windshield wiper unit
AssigneeValeo Systèmes d'Essuyage
InventorDominique Dias
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Method to estimate the wear state of wiper blades (5) of a vehicle windshield wiper unit (1), said windshield wiper unit (1) comprising: at least one wiper blade (5) configured to wipe a windshield surface (S) when activated, at least one motor (7) configured to activate the at least one wiper blade (5), a controller (9) configured to control the at least one motor (7), comprising the steps: deriving a friction coefficient (B) between the at least one wiper blade (5) and the windshield surface (S), using the derived friction coefficient (B) to determine the wetness of the windshield surface (S), if the windshield surface (S) is dry, using the derived friction coefficient (B) to estimate the wear state of the at least one wiper blade (5).
Claims16
A method to estimate the wear state of wiper blades of a vehicle windshield wiper unit, said windshield wiper unit comprising:
- at least one wiper blade configured to wipe a windshield surface when activated,
- at least one motor configured to activate the at least one wiper blade at a wiping speed, and
- a controller configured to control the at least one motor,
- said method comprising:
- deriving a friction coefficient between the at least one wiper blade and the windshield surface;
- comparing the derived friction coefficient to a first predetermined threshold value, to determine the wetness of the windshield surface;
- and
- when the windshield surface is dry, comparing the derived friction coefficient to a second predetermined threshold value to estimate the wear state of the at least one wiper blade.
A windshield wiper unit comprising:
- at least one wiper blade configured to wipe a windshield surface when activated;
- at least one motor configured to activate the at least one wiper blade;
- and
- a controller configured to:
- control the at least one motor,
- derive a friction coefficient between the at least one wiper blade and the windshield surface,
- compare the derived friction coefficient to a first predetermined threshold value, to determine the wetness of the windshield surface, and
- if the windshield surface is dry, compare the derived friction coefficient to a second predetermined threshold value, in order to estimate the wear state of the at least one wiper blade.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.