LiDAR Cleaning Nozzle Alignment for Aimed Vehicle Sensors
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current vehicle systems lack an efficient method for cleaning LiDAR sensors without smudging vehicle design components and preventing false detection, while ensuring effective cleaning and preventing cleaner malfunctions.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle sensor system with an aiming mechanism and a cleaner nozzle that adjusts to the LiDAR's position, incorporating a check valve to prevent backflow and a discharge hole to escape cleaning medium, ensuring the nozzle sprays at an acute angle to efficiently clean the LiDAR without smudging the vehicle.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a fixed nozzle is used for cleaning the LiDAR, then the cleaner structure is simple, but the cleaning effectiveness deteriorates when the LiDAR position is adjusted via the aiming mechanism
Solution Approach 1:
The nozzle is made dynamically adjustable through the aiming mechanism, allowing it to change its pointing direction to follow the LiDAR position. This dynamic adjustment ensures that the cleaning medium always reaches the LiDAR surface effectively, regardless of the LiDAR's angular position, thereby maintaining cleaning effectiveness without excessive structural complexity.
2Productivity
If the cleaning medium is sprayed directly at the LiDAR, then cleaning efficiency is improved, but the design component of the vehicle may be smudged
Solution Approach 1:
The discharge hole is specifically positioned and oriented to create a localized cleaning effect. By controlling the spraying direction through the aiming mechanism and positioning the discharge hole appropriately, the cleaning medium is concentrated precisely on the LiDAR surface while avoiding adjacent design components, thus achieving effective cleaning without smudging.
3Reliability
If the nozzle is positioned close to the LiDAR for efficient cleaning, then cleaning effectiveness is improved, but the piping may deviate when the LiDAR is aimed
Solution Approach 1:
The piping is designed with flexibility to accommodate the movement of the LiDAR during aiming. The flexible piping can bend and follow the LiDAR's angular displacement, maintaining a reliable connection between the water supply and the nozzle while allowing the nozzle to stay close to the LiDAR for effective cleaning.
4Ease of operation
If the cleaner nozzle is placed in a concave part of the design component, then the LiDAR is easily accessible for cleaning, but the cleaning medium may remain stagnant causing false detection
Solution Approach 1:
The discharge hole is strategically positioned to extract and remove the cleaning medium from the concave part after cleaning. This extraction function prevents the cleaning medium from remaining stagnant in the concave area, ensuring that the LiDAR surface and surrounding areas remain clean and free from substances that could cause false detection.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system efficiently cleans LiDAR sensors, prevents false detection, and avoids smudging the vehicle, ensuring reliable operation and easy nozzle placement.
Implementation Method 1
the cleaner may further include a check valve, and the check valve may be attached to the support component
Implementation Method 2
a discharge hole formed to escape the cleaning medium from the cleaning target surface... configured to spray the cleaning medium at an acute angle toward the cleaning target surface
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
This vehicle sensor system comprises: an on-board sensor (6f) that can be attached to a vehicle via an aiming mechanism (40); and a cleaner (50) that has a nozzle (103) for spraying a cleaning medium onto the vehicle sensor (6f). The nozzle (103) is attached to a component (21) the position of which changes in accordance with vehicle sensor (6f) aiming.