A vehicle wiper device and vehicle wiper device control method are provided that are capable of changing a position of a wiping range of a wiper arm in a manner that is less distracting.

When a switch for an enlarged wiping operation has been switched ON, a microcomputer 58 performs control to change the position of a wiping range by starting rotation of an output shaft of a second motor 12 in a predetermined direction when a rotation angle of an output shaft of a first motor 11 has reached an angle corresponding to a position within a predetermined range in the vicinity of one out of a upper return position P1P or a lower return position P2P. Accordingly, when a front passenger seat side wiper blade 36 changes direction at either the upper return position P1P or the lower return position P2P, a front passenger seat side wiper arm 35 begins to extend, and the position of a wiping range of the front passenger seat side wiper blade 36 is moved upward on a front passenger seat side.

A wiping system for a motor vehicle having a blade configured to move in linear translation over a window and in a direction parallel to two opposite sides of this window, is disclosed. The wiping system also includes a first rail and a second rail which are arranged at the sides of the window, the rails having a curvature to espouse the shape of the window and for housing a first runner and a second runner which are respectively connected to first and second ends of the blade, and a first drive motor and a second drive motor arranged respectively at the first rail and at the second rail to drive the first and second runner via a first coupling mechanism and second coupling mechanism, the first and second drive motors being operated by a control unit configured to synchronize movements of the first and second runners.

A method and system determine, during movement of a vehicle system along a route, a tractive load demanded by the vehicle system to propel the vehicle system along the route. The vehicle system includes a propulsion-generating vehicle having plural individually controllable traction motors. A first selected set of the traction motors for deactivation is identified during the movement of the vehicle system along the route based at least in part on the tractive load demanded by the vehicle system. The traction motors in the first selected set are deactivated while at least one of the traction motors in a first remaining set of the traction motors continues to generate tractive effort to propel the vehicle system. The traction motors that are selected for deactivation may all be on the same vehicle in the vehicle system, or may be on different vehicles of the same vehicle system.

An electric motor is subjected to PWM duty control based on a target speed (tgt spd) set according to a position of a wiper blade. After a deceleration start position of wiping operation, the electric motor is driven at a PWM duty value (sld sta dutyKsd) obtained by multiplying a PWM duty value (sld sta duty) at the deceleration start position by a predetermined deceleration coefficient (Ksd) set according to the blade position. The deceleration coefficient (Ksd) is set according to the position of the wiper blade based on a ratio (tgt spd/pek tgt spd) between the target speed (pek tgt spd) of the wiper blade at the start of deceleration and the target speed (tgt spd) of the wiper blade.

A wiper device is provided. An operating range of each of two sets of wiper arm units can be properly restricted. A first wiper arm unit is prevented from colliding with a first front pillar or a dash panel when a first output shaft of a first speed reduction mechanism has rotated beyond a first control angle, and a second wiper arm unit is prevented from colliding with a second front pillar or the dash panel when a second output shaft of a second speed reduction mechanism has rotated beyond a second control angle.

In the case of a windshield wiper system with two opposite wipers 1, 2, 4, 5 and two reversing motors 6, 7, the risk of a collision of the wipers can be diminished greatly in that a defined phase displacement is generated between the wiping movements of the two wipers, which are driven in a reversing manner, with the aid of the lever mechanism 8 associated with the reversing motors, and said phase displacement is arranged so that the one wiper is leading relative to the other wiper in the first wiping direction and lagging in the second wiping direction.

When the number of times of vehicle speed detections reaches a prescribed times n, a DR-side wiper blade is moved in such a way that when the front end side of a lip reaches a lower-side stop position APS1, the DR-side wiper blade is temporarily moved to a lower limit position for stop EPSL, then moved to an upper-side stop position APS2 and stopped there, and in such a way that when the front end side of the lip reaches an upper-side stop position APS2, the DR-side wiper blade is moved temporarily to an upper limit position for stop EPSU, then moved to the lower-side stop position APS1 and stopped there.

A method and system determine, during movement of a vehicle system along a route, a tractive load demanded by the vehicle system to propel the vehicle system along the route. The vehicle system includes a propulsion-generating vehicle having plural individually controllable traction motors. A first selected set of the traction motors for deactivation is identified during the movement of the vehicle system along the route based at least in part on the tractive load demanded by the vehicle system. The traction motors in the first selected set are deactivated while at least one of the traction motors in a first remaining set of the traction motors continues to generate tractive effort to propel the vehicle system. The traction motors that are selected for deactivation may all be on the same vehicle in the vehicle system, or may be on different vehicles of the same vehicle system.

A vehicle wiper device includes: a first blade having an operating range that includes an upper mid region of a vehicle windshield; a second blade having an operating range that includes a lower region of the operating range of the first blade; a blade driving unit that causes each blade to reciprocate; and a controller that controls operation of the blade driving unit. When a tip end of the second blade moves in a special control region that is oriented toward a specific region preliminarily specified in the upper mid region, the controller controls the blade driving unit such that a moving speed of the second blade is lower than a moving speed of the second blade when moving in another region.

When the number of times of vehicle speed detections reaches a prescribed times n, a DR-side wiper blade is moved in such a way that when the front end side of a lip reaches a lower-side stop position APS1, the DR-side wiper blade is temporarily moved to a lower limit position for stop EPSL, then moved to an upper-side stop position APS2 and stopped there, and in such a way that when the front end side of the lip reaches an upper-side stop position APS2, the DR-side wiper blade is moved temporarily to an upper limit position for stop EPSU, then moved to the lower-side stop position APS1 and stopped there.