I have a great idea, need input

[AK-Z]

I was driving home when it was wet outside and my wipers on (in my jeep). I would find myself constantly changing the wiper speed due to stop & go, and cruising.

 

My idea is to have a wiper control circuit that would adjust wiper speed in accordence to travel speed.

 

Of course it would have manual control just in case. I was think of having either a switch that would switch the wiper motor to the auto circuit from manual, or to have the setup mentioned and also have the peak speed for the auto circuit set by the manual controls. So what do you guys think?

[cygnusx1]

Good idea but...

1) Might already be patented. (United States Patent 6917173)

2) They already have rain sensing wipers.

3) Don't post your good ideas that might be patentable on a public forum unless you want to lose your idea.

 

LOL J/K. Very Creative.

[AK-Z]

I know that there is already "rain sensing tech" My idea doesn't involve that. I already have 2 ideas already in the process of being patented, so I'm not to concerned about this one and I already have a patent angent looking into seeing if there are any patents similar to this one and seeing what I can get away with if something is flagged.

 

And it is legal to produce something that is patented as long as its not used for finatial gain.

 

ie. something that is produced by a company that doesn't have right to the patent, with not having the intent to sell, but uses them in something to further business like putting it in there transports or business equipment. that is a no no.

 

For personal use is legal. Thats how my patent agent explained it to me.

[AK-Z]

That patent number that you posted is very close to what I was thinking, BUT

that it uses "The PWM signal duty is changed in response to a rainfall, windshield surface state and wind pressure which cause the wiping speed fluctuation." to calculate wiper speed. It doesn't say that is gets is signal through the speedo sender:mrgreen:. I already gave my agent my rough documentation to get things rolling. She hasn't called me back about it. I'm sure the patent you posted will be flagged.

 

I know these cars don't have speedo senders so I'll think of something, maybe modding a GM one like I've read here a while ago.

 

This is the site that has the patent mentioned.

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6917173.WKU.&OS=PN/6917173&RS=PN/6917173

[cygnusx1]

I do alot of patent research for work. I am a design engineer for an innovation/new technology group. I like to use the USPTO.com and freepatentsonline.com along with our team of patent lawyers to back me up.

I found patent 6917173 using freepatentsonline.com. US Patent 6917173 compensates for wind pressure on the windshield to adjust wiper speeds (maybe different than what you want to do). I like your idea because I always have to slow the wipers down at stoplights. You could tie the system into the radio volume as well.

 

BTW. I wasn't trying to shoot down your idea. Most people come up with ideas and automatically think they will be rich. I sometimes just browse patents to get ideas for myself. As you said, you can steal any of the ideas as long as you don't plan on profiting from them or cutting into the owner's profits.

[AK-Z]

Wouldn't using the radio knob be the same as a manual setup, keep in mind I going to be changing the manual control to a potenciaometer (sp) setup instead of the stock switch type, and that when I came up with the idea I was driving in my 93 jeep.

 

 

I know you didn't mean anything harsh. That is why I posted the idea to see what you guys would see that I wouldn't. I usually take everything as creative critism inless blatently insulted:mrgreen:.

[cygnusx1]

Oh sorry I was unclear aboout the radio knob thing. As the wipers slow down, the radio volume could also lower to match the lower road noise level. Alot of cars already do the volume thing but I am not sure if they use a speed sensor or an ambient noise microphone.

[tannji]

They use the ambient noise...

[EMWHYR0HEN]

pretty cool idea. I thought about the same thing with speeds that change music volume level.

 

then i found out the next day that mercedes already did it. lol

[Guest tigermountainracing]

I believe our Hundai Santa Fe has that already. You might want to check it out. When it is on the fastest setting for the delay on the wipers, it changes to constant when the vehicle reaches 35 MPH. At least that is when it seems to change every time. It might at least help with the sensor. Maybe you can adjust it from there for different delays. It just seems to be a 2 way switch with a pulse on one setting and constant power on the other. Hope that helps.

 

BTW, great idea.

 

Gary

Miller's Rod and Cycle

[AK-Z]

I believe our Hundai Santa Fe has that already. You might want to check it out. When it is on the fastest setting for the delay on the wipers' date=' it changes to constant when the vehicle reaches 35 MPH. At least that is when it seems to change every time. It might at least help with the sensor. Maybe you can adjust it from there for different delays. It just seems to be a 2 way switch with a pulse on one setting and constant power on the other. Hope that helps.

 

BTW, great idea.

 

Gary

Miller's Rod and Cycle[/quote']

 

That is Hyundai.

 

And that uses ambient noise. there design has a flaw where wind noice is miss associated as rain noise. They use something like a tube to amplify rain noise to get an acuate reading.

[alternativez2003]

You have a good idea, but our 2004 MINI S automatically regulates both wiper speed adjustment and volume, not constantly of course, but at stops. You might check to see if Jeep has such a switch or relay on a later model and wire it in. Seems rather unnecessary really, just more complexity to pay for and have to repair someday. I don't know if I want my wipers flapping wildly just because I'm going 80. Just kidding. Nice idea though. By the way, your correction of the Hyundai spelling suggests you would like to be correct in yours: agent, financial, unless, and potentiometer, and "miss associated" might be replaced by mistaken or misinterpreted. Good luck with your ideas. I invented the currently-under-development highway guidance system when I was 10 years old, some 40+ years ago. My HO roadrace set and riding in the reverse seat, staring nervously at the semi grills out the back window of the family station wagon gave me the idea, but I was a kid with a goofy idea which would prevent many highway accidents, but with no idea of how to patent it. I suppose some engineers had it going way back then also, so even if one can't actually develop an idea, the intellectual property, or idea itself, is patentable. More power to you.