Apparatus for opening and closing louver

A wiper for wiping a windshield is concealed by a louver when the wiper is not used. When the engine needs to be cooled, however, the louver is moved such as to open a wiper housing portion. Thus, the engine room is opened through the wiper housing portion, whereby cooling of the engine is promoted.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to an apparatus for opening and closing a 
louver for concealing a wiper that is adapted to be housed at a bottom 
portion of a windshield. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
As is well known, the louver is employed fundamentally to conceal the 
wiper. The louver, however, not only serves to protect the wiper but also 
contributes to a reduction in an air resistance encountered by a vehicle 
when it is running. 
Since such a louver is opened and closed by means of remote control from a 
driver's seat of the vehicle, the louver generally includes a driving 
mechanism and is adapted to be opened only when the wiper is to be used. 
On the other hand, a structure has been proposed which promotes ventilation 
in an engine room such as to improve an engine cooling effect. To adopt 
such structure, however, it is necessary to provide an opening and closing 
means for an acess to the engine which is controlled either automatically 
or as desired. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In view of the above, it is a primary object of the present invention to 
provide an apparatus for opening and closing a louver which allows the 
louver to serve not only for concealing the wiper but also for cooling the 
space occupied by the engine by making positive use of the louver. 
To this end, according to the present invention, the louver is adapted to 
be opened not only when the wiper is used but also when the vehicle speed 
is less than a predetermined value and the engine needs to be cooled, 
whereby a portion of the air passing through the engine room is discharged 
to the outside through an opening formed between the open louver and the 
windshield, thereby positively cooling the engine unit.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PEFERRED EMBODIMENT 
The present invention will be described hereinunder in detail through one 
embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
FIG. 1 shows a part of an automobile which is equipped with a louver 
opening and closing apparatus in accordance with the invention. In the 
Figure, a wiper 12 is housed at a bottom portion of a windshield 10. The 
wiper 12 is concealed by a louver 14. In this Figure, a part of the louver 
14 is cut away in order to show the concealed wiper 12. 
FIG. 2 shows one example of the disposition of a mechanism for moving the 
louver 14. In this Figure, a moving mechanism 18 is provided at each of 
the ends, in the longitudinal direction, of the louver 14. One of the 
moving mechanisms 18 is provided with a driving motor 20, together with a 
proper speed-reduction means. The other moving mechamism 18 receives the 
power transmitted to the driving motor 20 through a power-transmitting 
cable 22. The louver 14 is normally placed such that the surface thereof 
is substantially flush with that of a hood 16 (see FIGS. 1 and 3). When 
the louver 14 is opened, it is moved and then moved downward once toward 
the front end of the vehicle below the hood 16 as shown by the arrow FA in 
FIG. 2. 
Referring now to FIG. 3 which shows in detail one example of the 
construction of the moving mechanism 18, the louver 14 is formed at each 
of the longitudinal ends thereof with a pair of flanges 24, 26. The flange 
24 on the side of the louver 14 which is closer to the rear end of the 
vehicle is formed with a slot 28, while the flange 26 pivotally supports a 
link 30 by a pin 32. The slot 28 of the flange 24 receives a pin 34 
projecting from a rack 38. The distal end of the link 30 is pivotally 
supported by a pin 36 at a portion of the rack 38 on the side thereof 
which is closer to the front end of the vehicle. The link 30 is urged by a 
resilient member (not shown), so that the link 30 will rotate about the 
pin 36 in a counterclockwise direction, as shown in FIG. 3. The rack 38 is 
meshed with a pinion gear 40 to which the driving force of the motor 20 is 
transmitted. Further, in front of the rack 38 is provided a curved rail 42 
which is mounted on a cowl plate 41 such as to guide the rack 38 toward 
the front or rear end of the vehicle. 
As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, when the louver 14 is open, the inside of the 
engine room is allowed to communicate with an outside air through an 
opening formed between the louver 14 and the windshield 10. 
The operation of the moving mechanism 18 constructed described above will 
be explained hereinunder. 
First of all, when current which flows in a first direction (referred to as 
"opening current", hereinafter) flows through the armature of the driving 
motor 20 (see FIG. 2), the pinion gear 40 is mounted on a frame member 40a 
and is rotated in the counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 3. As a 
consequence, the rack 38 is moved leftwardly as viewed in FIG. 3. However, 
the louver 14 abuts at its front end against the hood 16 and therefore is 
prevented from moving. As the pinion gear 40 is further rotated, the rack 
38 is also further moved leftwardly as viewed in FIG. 3, thus causing the 
pin 36 as one of the fulcrums of the link 30 to move leftwardly. 
Consequently, the pin 32 as the other fulcrum of the link 30 is moved 
downwardly, thus causing the distal end of the louver 14 to be moved 
downwardly. At this point of time, the flange 24 has the pin 34 located at 
an intermediate portion of the slot 28. After the above-described movement 
has been effected, the louver 14 is leftwardly moved as shown by the arrow 
FA in FIG. 3. 
On the other hand, when current which flows in the direction opposite to 
that of the above-described opening current (referred to as "closing 
current", hereinafter) flows through the armature of the driving motor 20, 
the pinion gear 40 is rotated in the clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 
3, so that the louver 14 is moved in the direction opposite to the 
direction of the arrow FA such as to be restored to its closed state. In 
other words, the louver 14 is adapted to be opened when the opening 
current flows through the driving motor 20 and to be closed when the 
closing current flows through the driving motor 20. 
Referring now to FIG. 4 which shows one example of a controller for 
controlling opening and closing of the louver 14, a wiper relay controller 
50 is connected to a power source 54 through keyswitches 52, 56. The 
keyswitches 52, 56 are usually adapted to turn "ON" in response to the 
operation of an ignition key. Further, the power source 54 is usually a 
battery (not shown) mounted on the automobile. 
The wiper relay controller 50 is connected is ground with a fan motor 58 
for cooling a radiator (not shown) and a vehicle speed sensor 60 which are 
inserted therebetween in parallel. Further, a water temperature sensor 62 
for sensing the temperature of the cooling water which is cooled by the 
radiator is connected to the fan motor 58 through the wiper relay 
controller 50. The arrangement is such that when the water temperature 
sensor 62 detects the fact that the cooling-water temperature is above a 
predetermined value, the fan motor 58 is energized, and the energized 
state is detected by the wiper relay controller 50. As shown in FIG. 4, 
the vehicle speed sensor 60 includes a resistor and a transistor, and is 
arranged such that the transistor effects a switching operation if the 
vehicle speed exceeds 60 km/H, whereby the vehicle speed is detected by 
the wiper relay controller 50. 
Further, the wiper relay controller 50 is connected with a wiper switch 64 
and the driving motor 20 of the above-described moving mechanism 18. The 
wiper switch 64 is provided so as to be operated by the driver sitting on 
the driver's seat and is manually operated. The driving motor 20 is 
connected at both terminals thereof to the wiper relay controller 50, 
since the driving motor 20 is supplied with each of the opening and 
closing currents which are opposite to each other in flowing direction. 
Thus, the driving motor 20 is adapted to obtain the opening current from 
the wiper relay controller 50 when the wiper switch 64 is actuated or when 
the fan motor 58 is being energized and the vehicle speed is not higher 
than 60 km/H (the vehicle speed may be below 60 km/H). 
The following is a description of the operation of the above-described 
embodiment as a whole with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7 in addition to the 
above-described drawings. 
FIG. 5 shows the operation procedure in the form of a flow chart. FIG. 6 is 
a sectional view taken along the line VI--VI of FIG. 1. Further, FIG. 7 
shows the flow of air in the engine room. 
The following operation is carried out when the keyswitches 52, 54 are 
"ON". For this reason, when the keyswitches 52, 54 are turned "ON", the 
operation is started (see the steps F100 and F102 in FIG. 5); when the 
keyswitches 52, 54 are turned "OFF", the operation is ended (see the steps 
F104 and F106 in FIG. 5). Although the flow chart in FIG. 5 shows such 
that a judgement is made in the last step of the operation as to whether 
or not the keyswitches 52, 54 are "OFF" (see the step F104 in FIG. 5), 
this is only for convenience, and, in practice, the judgement is 
constantly made regardless of the steps on the flow chart. 
When the keyswitches 52, 54 are "ON", a closed loop operation shown by the 
jump sign "A" is continuously carried out. 
First of all, a judgement is made as to whether or not the wiper switch 64 
is "ON" (see the step F108 in FIG. 5). When the driver needs the operation 
of the wiper 12, the wiper switch 64 is turned "ON". This fact is detected 
by the wiper relay controller 50, whereby the opening current is supplied 
to the driving motor 20 (see the step F110 in FIG. 5). This opening 
current continuously flows until the louver 14 has been completely opened 
(see the steps F110, F112 and F114 in FIG. 5). 
Even when the wiper switch 64 is "OFF", if a rise in temperature of the 
cooling water is detected by the water temperature sensor 62, the fan 
motor 58 is energized (see the step F116 in FIG. 5). When the fan motor 58 
is being energized and the vehicle speed is not higher than 60 km/H (see 
the step F118 in FIG. 5), these facts are detected by the wiper relay 
controller 50, whereby the driving motor 20 is supplied with the opening 
current, thus causing the louver 14 to be opened (see the steps F110, F112 
and F114 in FIG. 5). In this case, the wiper switch 64 is "OFF"; 
therefore, the wiper 12 is not operated. However, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 
7, when the louver 14 in the position shown by the broken line 14A is 
moved in the direction of the arrow FC such as to be opened, an opening is 
formed between the louver 14 and a lower mole portion 10A which 
constitutes the bottom portion of the windshield 10. In other words, air 
flows through the space occupied by the engine as shown by the arrows FD. 
On the other hand, the conditions for the louver 14 to be opened in this 
case include the condition that current is being supplied to the fan motor 
58 as described above, and therefore, the fan motor 58 is rotating at this 
time. Accordingly, the flow of air in the direction of the arrows FD is 
further intensified, so that the whole of the unit having an engine EG 
centered therein is excellently cooled. 
The following is a description of the closing operation of the louver 14. 
The closing operation of the louver 14 is carried out when the following 
conditions are satisfied: the current supply to the fan motor 58 is 
stopped or the vehicle speed is 61 km/H or higher; and the wiper switch 64 
is turned "OFF" (see the steps F120, F122 and F124 in FIG. 5). More 
specifically, the current supply to the fan motor 58 is stopped when the 
water temperature sensor 62 detects the fact that the temperature of the 
cooling water has lowered below a predetermined value, and consequently, 
it is no longer necessary to rotate the fan motor 58 for cooling the 
engine unit. On the other hand, the fact that the vehicle speed is 61 km 
or higher represents the fact that the natural draft is sufficiently 
strong and that there is therefore no need for a special cooling 
operation. Further, the fact that the wiper switch 64 is turned "OFF" 
means that the driver no longer needs the operation of the wiper 12. 
In the above-described cases, the driving motor 20 is supplied with the 
closing current until the louver 14 has been completely closed (see the 
steps F126, F128 and F130 in FIG. 5). 
Thus, the louver 14 is opened or closed by repetition of the 
above-described operations, and the louver 14 is opened when the wiper 12 
is to be used or the engine needs to be cooled. 
It is to be noted that, in the flow chart shown in FIG. 5, either the 
judgement shown in the step F116 or the judgement shown in the step F118 
may be first made, and the same is the case with the judgements 
respectively shown in the steps F120 and F122. 
It is to be noted also that, although, in the above-described embodiment, 
it is, as a matter of course, possible to constitute the wiper relay 
controller 50 by a microprocessor or other similar means, the wiper relay 
controller 50 can be easily constituted by an ordinary relay means or 
logical circuit. For instance, the judgement as to whether or not a given 
condition meets the condition wherein the fan motor 58 is being energized 
and the vehicle speed is not higher than 60 km/H corresponds to an ANDing 
operation. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a judgement of this fact by 
means of two relay switches connected in series or an AND gate circuit. On 
the other hand, the judgement as to whether a given condition meets the 
above-described condition or the condition wherein the wiper switch 64 is 
"ON" corresponds to an ORing operation. It is, therefore, possible to 
obtain a judgement of these facts by means of two relay switches connected 
in parallel or an OR gate circuit. 
Further, although in the above-described embodiment the cooling conditions 
of the engine unit are detected from the current supply to the fan motor 
and the vehicle speed, the engine unit cooling conditions may be detected 
by other means, for example, by directly sensing the temperature of the 
engine. 
As has been described above, according to the louver opening and closing 
apparatus of the present invention, the louver is opened or closed not 
only for concealing the wiper but also for cooling the engine unit 
according to the cooling conditions of the engine unit. Thus, the louver 
is advantageously capable of serving also as a cooling means.