Vehicle Sensor Cleaning Control for Uneven Precipitation Exposure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Vehicle sensors, such as lidar, sonar, radar, and cameras, face compromised vision due to precipitation like snow, rain, or fog, which can degrade the navigation accuracy of autonomous vehicles, and existing cleaning systems face challenges in efficiently managing different sensor orientations and attributes without increasing hardware costs or power consumption.
Innovation Solution
A cleaning system that activates cleaning elements, such as nozzles or wipers, at frequencies tailored to the orientation and attributes of each sensor, prioritizing sensors more severely affected by precipitation, using a controller to determine optimal cleaning frequencies based on environmental conditions and vehicle attributes, allowing for improved vision without hardware changes or increased power consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If cleaning elements are activated at the same frequency for all sensors, then the cleaning system is simple to control, but sensors with different orientations and attributes experience different levels of precipitation accumulation, leading to compromised vision for some sensors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different cleaning frequencies to different sensors based on their specific orientations and attributes. Forward-facing sensors, which accumulate precipitation more severely, are cleaned at higher frequencies compared to rearward-facing or sideward-facing sensors. This differentiated approach ensures each sensor receives appropriate cleaning attention tailored to its exposure conditions, maintaining reliable vision across all sensors without uniformly increasing system complexity.
2Reliability
If cleaning frequency is increased for all sensors, then sensor vision is maintained better, but power consumption and hardware requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements partial action by applying cleaning only where and when needed based on precipitation accumulation risk. Rather than uniformly cleaning all sensors at high frequency, the system selectively increases cleaning frequency for forward-facing sensors that are most severely affected by precipitation, while maintaining lower frequencies for less affected sensors. This approach maintains sensor vision reliability for critical sensors without unnecessarily increasing overall power consumption.
3Adaptability or versatility
If cleaning elements are activated independently for each sensor, then cleaning can be optimized for each sensor's specific conditions, but the control system becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by configuring each cleaning element with parameters tailored to its associated sensor's orientation and attributes. Forward-facing sensors have cleaning elements set to higher activation frequencies, while rearward-facing and sideward-facing sensors use lower frequencies. This per-sensor optimization achieves adaptability to local conditions while the controller manages the differentiated settings through organized groups, balancing versatility with manageable system complexity.
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 effectively maintains sensor vision by prioritizing cleaning frequencies for sensors most affected by precipitation, enhancing navigation accuracy without the need for larger or more powerful hardware, thus improving overall vehicle performance.
Implementation Method 1
Activating the cleaning elements may then cause compressed gas, such as air, to be emitted from the nozzles to clean the sensors
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are described for cleaning sensors of a vehicle. An attribute of the surrounding environment (e.g., type of precipitation, intensity of precipitation, etc.) is determined along with orientations and/or attributes of the sensors (e.g. fields-of-view, focal lengths, spectral ranges, etc). Cleaning frequencies are then be determined based, at least in part, on the attribute of the environment together with the orientations and/or attributes of the sensors. Cleaning elements are then activated at the determined frequencies to clean the sensors. In some examples, the cleaning frequencies may be determined based additionally on an attribute of travel of the vehicle (e.g. direction of travel of the vehicle, speed of the vehicle, etc.).