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Windshield Wiper System Design Integration
Houng Y. Chang
General Motors Company
ABSTRACT
This paper presents development work on the design and
analysis of the windshield wiper system. Three design
categories are presented: geometrical design, wiper module
and motor kinetics, and snow block structural analysis
method.
A comprehensive structural analysis method is outlined to
determine the wiper system capability for continuous
operation under a snow blocked condition. By using this
design and analysis method, a robust windshield wiper
system will be achieved.
INTRODUCTION
The design of vehicle front windshield wiper system
combines art, geometry, math science, and engineering into
the assembly. In general the wiper system should be designed
to meet a variety of requirements, such as:
• The wiping pattern should cover the windshield area large
enough for the vehicle driver vision requirement. The
FMVSS 104 defines this requirement.
• The wiping pattern and speed should prevent water dripping
from the “widow peak”.
• The pivot axes should be located and oriented for best wiper
arm rise and fall so that optimum blade pressure can be
distributed across the windshield.
• The blade attack angle across the wiping motion should be
within an optimum range to assure smooth wiping.
• The linkage including the crank arm and connecting rods
should form a harmonic wiping motion.
• The blade natural curvature and pressure distribution should
conform to the windshield curvature so that the best wiping
quality can be achieved.
2011-01-0239
Published
04/12/2011
Copyright © 2011 SAE International
doi:10.4271/2011-01-0239
• The packaging of the arm and blade in the parking position
should meet the wind noise requirement.
• The blade and the arm in the out-wipe area can prevent
wiper lift from wind.
• The system is packaged such that at high speed wiping
motion the system will not interfere with the surrounding
components.
• Water flow in the plenum will not affect motor operation.
• The module linkage is arranged such that pop-off from the
ball joints will not happen.
• The module frame, the linkage components, the motor crank
arm and levers are sized properly to accommodate the motor
stall torque in the severe snow block loading condition.
• The system is tuned such that the system stiffness, strength
and the motor torque allow sufficient snow build up on the
windshield for continuous wiper operation.
• The system is durable for vehicle life time operation.
These design requirements can be categorized to the
following areas: the geometry, the motor kinetics in normal
operation, and the component durability for extreme loading
condition.
THE WIPING PATTERN AND WIPER
MODULE DESIGN
The FMVSS 104 (ref 1 & 2) specifies two requirements for
the wiper system: (1) the wiper system should operate with
two levels of operating frequencies, and (2) the wiped area
should cover a zone larger than a minimum percentage for
vehicles of various lengths
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Three types of wiper system are commonly used to achieve Running the computer program, the wiper motion is revealed.
the desired wiping area, as shown in Figure 1. Wiping area and wiping mode are clearly observed. The
critical feature of this analysis is that the system motion can
be detected even before the hardware build.

Figure 3 shows the geometrical results of the wiper system.

These include the blade rise/fall condition, the blade attack
angle, the link ball joint pop-off angle, and the windshield
curvature along the blade direction in the full wiping position.

Figure 1. Three types of wiper module

Each system uses a combination of two or three sets of 3D-

four bar linkages to create blade motion. The motion is then
adjusted to confirm to the windshield surface curvature.

The formulation of the wiper motion has determinate

solution. Starting from the crank arm pivot position, the
corresponding coordinates of links, levers, wiper arms and
blades can be directly calculated. This calculation is to solve
for their coordinates in the three-dimensional four bar
linkage. In addition, by comparing the positions between the
blade and windshield, one can obtain the blade's rise/fall, the Figure 3. Analysis output: rise/fall, blade attack angle,
attack angle and the curvature along the blade direction. link pop-off angle, and windshield curvature.
These calculations can be achieved effectively through
computer programming.
The pressure acting on the windshield is evaluated, as shown
Figure 2 illustrates the wiping pattern of a windshield wiper in Figure 4, using the windshield curvature, the arm tip force
system using a computer program developed by the author. and the blade natural state curvature and stiffness data.

Figure 4. Pressure applied on the windshield

Figure 2. Wiping pattern and motion evaluation

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THE WIPER KINETICS IN NORMAL Figure 6 illustrates the system responses from the calculation.
In normal service condition, the required motor torque is
OPERATION between 2 to 4 Nm to drive the system.
The kinetics and dynamics of the wiper operation are the
second phase of the system design. The motor drives the
crank arm to wipe the windshield. The input torque from the
motor is transmitted through the links, levers, shafts, and
wiper arms to the wiper blades. The motor exerts a torque to
overcome the resistance from the blade.

The electric wiper motor has the characteristics as shown in

Figure 5. Two settings of operation speed are implemented in
the system, as required by the FMVSS 104: a normal and a
high speed. Within each setting, the torque and speed are
inversely proportional: when the resistant torque is low, the
motor runs at high speed and vice versa.

Figure 5. Torque and speed of a typical wiper motor. Figure 6. Wiper system operation performance

The system drag on the motor comes mainly from blade

resistance. The blade resistance across the windshield follows
STRUCTURAL DESIGN FOR
a pattern dependent upon the windshield surface condition, EXTREME LOADING CONDITION
i.e., subjected to snow or rain. The resistance from the blade The most extreme system forces happen when the wiper arms
wiping is the resultant of blade length, the pressure on the are blocked by snow which is piled up on the windshield, as
arm tip, and the amount of mass to be moved. Using this seen in Figure 7
resistance the moment at the arm pivot can be calculated.
From the linkage geometrical position, the motor torque and
its instantaneous speed can be directly determined from the
motor torque-speed relationship. Because the linkage position
changes when the crank arm rotates the length of moment
arm varies. The required torque also changes magnitude with
varied moment arm lengths. Therefore, the instantaneous
rotation speed also changes.
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Figure 7. Driving with snow piled on the windshield.
The snow pile hampers the wiper blade from smooth full
cycle motion, especially at the in-wipe area. If the pile is high
enough, the wiper motion is also restricted when the blades
hit the snow piles. This causes stresses in the wiper system to
rise. The high stress may cause components to break.
The ability of a wiper system to withstand snow blocking is
its built in characteristics. The maximum blocking angle is
the resultant of the system stiffness, strength and size of the
motor.
PHYSICAL TESTING TO DETERMINE
THE STALL ANGLE FOR A BLOCKED
WIPER SYSTEM
For an existing windshield wiper system on the vehicle, the
maximum blocked angle the wiper can endure without
stalling can be tested using the setup outlined in Figure 8.
Figure 8. Schematic illustration of blocked wiper
operation
As illustrated in Figure 8, when the wiper system is running,
block the arm tip using an obstructive object such as a
wooden or rubber block. If the block angle is small, the wiper
system can continue to wipe. Then increase the blocking
angle. At wider angles, the motor will output more torque
with lower speed but can continue to operate. Continue this
process until the angle is wide enough such that the system
stalls. At this instant, the angle is called critical reversal angle
of the wiper module.
From this test the following phenomena can be observed:
1. The critical reversal angle is proportional to the capacity
of the motor. The system with a motor of higher capacity will
stall at a wider critical reversal angle.
2. Within the range of the critical reversal angle, the wiper
system deformed, either elastically or plastically, so that the
crank arm overcomes the obstacle to continue the rotational
motion.
3. If the wiper module and the linkage are softer, with the
same motor, the system's reversal angle is wider.
4. The system flexibility, the critical reversal angle, and the
motor capacity form a unique relationship.
This testing procedure can be simulated from structural
analysis before a prototype is built.
Structural analysis and design method of
snow blocked wiping
The snow block condition is analyzed using geometrical
nonlinear large displacement method. This method is
particularly beneficial during the wiper development stage.
The analysis is carried out using these steps:
1. Position the wiper model at a small restricted angle from
the parking position, two degrees at driver arm, for example.
Configure the system components, including arms, linkage,
and motor crank, corresponding to this position.
2. Constrain the module at the three anchor points according
to its constraint condition on the vehicle.
3. Constrain the arm tip for three possible snow blocked
conditions:
◦ driver arm tip constrained
◦ passenger arm tip constrained
◦ both arm tips constrained
4. For each of the three arm tip constrained conditions, apply
enforced crank arm rotation on the crank shaft. Carry out
geometrical nonlinear large displacement analysis.
5. In each non-linear large displacement analysis, the
enforced rotation at the crank shaft is applied step-by-step
incrementally. The analysis outputs in each step are the forces
and stresses of the system at the corresponding crank rotation
angle. Within this analysis step the calculation can be stopped
when the crank arm passes through the point of maximum
restricted load. As an illustration, the link force and the
cranking torque through the process are shown in Figure 9.
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Figure 9. Link force and crank torque of an analysis step
6. Increase the block angle and carry out the analysis steps 1
through 5. A new set of output will be obtained.
7. Repeat step 6 until high block angle with high crank
torque is achieved.
8. Combine all analysis results, converting the step number
to crank arm angle, a summary chart of the system is shown
in Figure 10.
Figure 10. Crank torque as a function of blocked angle.
Figure 10 reveals the wiper system behavior when arm tip(s)
is blocked. The horizontal axis is the crank arm angle and the
vertical axis is the required motor torque. Using the red curve
as an example, the system is blocked when the crank arm is at
57.12 degrees. From that angle, the shaft starts to output more
torque. The torque required to rotate the crank shaft is shown
at the vertical axis. When the crank arm is at 32.12 degrees,
the torque is at its maximum, 65.34 Nm. After that angle, the
crank arm does not require motor torque to rotate.
By connecting the peak points of each curve, we obtain the
relationship of the block angle vs. the torque requirement,
Tq-Ang curve. This curve is quite useful to decide the motor
size vs. the snow block angle. If a snow block of, for example
8 degree, is to be designed, the corresponding crank arm
angle is 44.06 degree. Then from the 44.06 curve, at the top
of the curve, 34.2 Nm of the motor torque is obtained. Using
a motor with capacity of 34.2 Nm will achieve 8 degree snow
block reversal angle for the linkage system.
This analysis simulates the phenomena of the snow block
condition. The system forces are the direct response of the
blocked condition. The components can be designed based on
the structural response.
Balance of system stiffness, strength,
reversal angle, and motor stall torque
For a given vehicle, the critical reversal angle is a design
input. To achieve the angle, the wiper module may require
higher motor torque or softer system components. But the
component should be strong enough to meet the stress and
strength requirements. Iterative process is required to
converge to an optimum design that balances the system
stiffness, component strength, reversal angle requirements
and the motor torque.
CONCLUSION
This work developed the design and analysis methods for
windshield wiper system design integration. With
advancement in structural analysis programming the wiper
system can now be designed to meet the geometrical and
mechanical requirements much earlier in the design phase
and with limited or no hardware.
The advancement in this work is particularly useful in the
snow block analysis for the extreme load structural design.
This analysis utilizes the geometrical nonlinear structural
analysis method to closely simulate the true structural
behavior of the snow blocking condition. Before building the
prototype the analysis can detect the weakest link in the
module and size the components properly. With this design
method the wiper system can be robustly detailed.
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REFERENCES
1. http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2002/octqtr/pdf/
49cfr571.104.pdf
2. http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations/
administration/fmcsr/fmcsrruletext.aspx?
chunkkey=090163348008f291

CONTACT INFORMATION
Houng Y Chang, General Motors Company,
houng.chang@gm.com

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author would like to thank Judith Miller for error-
proofing this paper. He is also thankful to GM managements
for supporting this project: Jeanne Polan, Robert Dallos,
Khris Lee and Greg Warden. The effort from the wiper team
is also greatly appreciated: Tom Jozwiak, Greg Baron, Tom
Cox, Mark Denison, Ed Gamero, Jim Maluchnik, Scott
Morris, Mario Ocasio, Wendell Summerville, Jeff Wilson and
Brian Lardie.

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