Vehicle camera cleaning system

• US 10,093,284 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2017
• Issued: 10/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thunder Power New Energy Vehicle Development Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Thunder Power New Energy Vehicle Development Company Limited
• Inventors: Hsiao, Jen-Chieh, Wu, Tai-Te, Chen, Yen-An
• Primary Examiner(s): FULLER, RODNEY EVAN
• Application Number:
  US15/459,641
• Publication Number:
  US 20170182981A1
• Time in Patent Office: 573 Days
• Field of Search: 396429
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 3/02 Cleaning by the force of jets or sprays
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 3/10 with additional treatment of the liquid or of the object being cleaned, e.g. by heat, by electricity or by vibration
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 5/02 Cleaning by the force of jets, e.g. blowing-out cavities airguns or nozzles per se B05B1/005
• CPC Class Codes: B60S 1/0862 including additional sensors vehicle speed sensors B60S1/0896
• CPC Class Codes: B60S 1/485 including control systems responsive to external conditions, e.g. by detection of moisture, dirt or the like
• CPC Class Codes: B60S 1/52 Arrangement of nozzles; Liquid spreading meansnozzles per se B05B
• CPC Class Codes: B60S 1/54 using gas, e.g. hot air
• CPC Class Codes: B60S 1/56 specially adapted for cleaning other parts or devices than front windows or windscreens rear-view mirror arrangements mounted on vehicle exterior including cleaning devices B60R1/0602
• CPC Class Codes: B60S 1/566 including wiping devices B60S1/563, B60S1/583 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0006 with means to keep optical surfaces clean, e.g. by preventing or removing dirt, stains, contamination, condensation G02B1/18 takes precedence; cleaning in general B08B
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/811 by dust removal, e.g. from surfaces of the image sensor or processing of the image signal output by the electronic image sensor

Abstract

Various techniques described herein relate to vehicle camera cleaning systems used for cleaning foreign matter off of a camera lens, including, for example, a water flow nozzle arranged to eject water flow, an air nozzle arranged to eject air, and a central controller used to control the water flow nozzle and air nozzle. In certain embodiments, a plurality of sensing devices are used for sensing the conditions of the camera lens, such as an infrared water drop sensor, a temperature sensor, a camera sensing sensor, and the like. The central controller may determine whether there are water drops, ice, snow, or other foreign matter on the lens based on signals received from the plurality of sensing devices, and may control the air nozzle and the water flow nozzle to clean the camera lens based on the foreign matter present.

Claims

1. A vehicle camera cleaning system, comprising:

an air-emitting device arranged proximate to a camera lens of the camera cleaning system, the air-emitting device being configured to emit air onto a camera lens of a vehicle camera;

a water drop sensor configured to generate water drop information based on an amount of infrared rays received by the water drop sensor, the infrared rays being reflected the by the camera lens;

a processing device including one or more processors configured to;

receive water drop information from the water drop sensor;

determine whether there are water drops on the camera lens based on the water drop information; and

in response to determining there are water drops on the camera lens, generate an instruction to activate the dispersion device to remove the water drops.

2. The vehicle camera cleaning system of claim 1, further comprising:

a foreign matter image sensor comprising a sensor camera, wherein the foreign matter image sensor is configured to generating foreign matter information indicating foreign matter being detected on the camera lens; and

, wherein

the processing device is further configured such that the determination whether there are water drops on the camera lens is further based on foreign matter information.

3. The vehicle camera cleaning system of claim 2, wherein the water drop sensor is arranged on the inner side of the camera lens.

4. The vehicle camera cleaning system of claim 3, wherein the water drop sensor comprises a infrared receiver configured to receive the infrared rays and an infrared transmitter configured to transmit infrared rays;

and

the water drop sensor information is generated by comparing the amount of infrared rays received by the infrared receiver in comparison to an amount of the infrared rays emitted by the infrared transmitter.

5. The vehicle camera cleaning system of claim 2, wherein the foreign matter image sensor is configured to detect foreign matter on the camera lens based on a determination of whether a set of images captured by the sensor camera is continuous.

6. The vehicle camera cleaning system of claim 1, further comprising:

a heater configured to heat a water flow;

a temperature sensor, the temperature sensor being configured to generate environment temperature information indicating an environment temperature of the camera lens; and

wherein the processing device is further configured to;

determine whether the environment temperature is lower than a threshold temperature value in response to receiving the environment temperate information; and

generate an activation instruction to activate the heater in response to determining the environment temperature is lower than a threshold temperature value.

7. The vehicle camera cleaning system of claim 1, further comprising:

a rubber airbag connected to the dispersion device, such that when the rubber airbag is compressed, air is expelled by the dispersion device.

8. The vehicle camera cleaning system of claim 7, further comprising:

an air blowing motor connected to a first end of a crank, wherein a second end of the crank is connected to a piston configured to compress the rubber airbag,

wherein the air blowing motor is configured to receive activation instructions from the processing device, and wherein upon activation the air blowing motor is configured to drive rotation of the crank, thereby driving the piston back and forth to enable the piston to compress and release the rubber airbag to expel or take in air.

9. The vehicle camera cleaning system of claim 1, further comprising:

a heater configured to receive activation instructions from the central controller.

10. A method of using a vehicle camera cleaning system to clean a camera lens in the vehicle, the camera cleaning system comprising an air-emitting device arranged proximate to the camera lens, the an air-emitting device being configured to emit air onto the camera lens, a water drop sensor configured to generate water drop sensor information based on an amount of infrared rays received by the water drop sensor, the infrared rays being reflected the by the camera lens, and a processing device including one or more processors, the processing device being configured to implement the method, the method comprising:

receiving water drop information from the water drop sensor;

determining whether there are water drops on the camera lens based on the water drop information; and

in response to determining there are water drops on the camera lens, generating an instruction to activate the dispersion device to remove the water drops.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the vehicle camera cleaning system further comprises a foreign matter image sensor comprising a sensor camera, wherein the foreign matter image sensor is configured to generating foreign matter information indicating foreign matter being detected on the camera lens, and wherein the determination whether there are water drops on the camera lens is further based on the foreign matter information.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the water drop sensor comprises a infrared receiver configured to receive the infrared rays and an infrared transmitter configured to transmit infrared rays, and wherein determining whether there are water drops on the camera lens comprises:

comparing the amount of infrared rays received by the infrared receiver in comparison to the amount of the infrared rays emitted by the infrared emitter.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein detecting foreign matter on the camera lens, by the foreign matter image sensor, is based on a determination of whether a set of images captured by the sensor camera is continuous.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the vehicle cleaning system further comprises a heater configured to heat a water flow, and a temperature sensor, the temperature sensor being configured to generate environment temperature information indicating an environment temperature of the camera lens, and wherein the method further comprises:

Determining whether the environment temperature is lower than a threshold temperature value in response to receiving the environment temperate information; and

Generating an activation instruction to activate the heater in response to determining the environment temperature is lower than a threshold temperature value.