Ultrasonic sensor
AssigneeDenso Corporation
InventorsYu Koyama, Tetsuya Aoyama, Takuya Nomura, Satoru Noro
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Abstract
An ultrasonic sensor includes: a first electrode that is provided in an ultrasonic microphone including a vibration element having a function of performing conversion between mechanical vibration and an electrical signal; a second electrode that is provided at a position different from the first electrode in an in-plane direction intersecting a directional axis of the ultrasonic microphone; and a detection section that is provided to detect the presence or absence of attached matter attached to the ultrasonic sensor on the basis of a change in capacitance between the first electrode and the second electrode.
Claims13
An ultrasonic sensor comprising:
- a first electrode that is provided to an ultrasonic microphone including a vibration element having a function of performing conversion between mechanical vibration and an electrical signal, the vibration element configured to deform due to the mechanical vibration in an axial direction;
- a second electrode that is provided at a position different from the first electrode in an in-plane direction intersecting a directional axis of the ultrasonic microphone, the directional axis being parallel to the axial direction;
- and
- a detection section that is provided to detect presence or absence of attached matter attached to the ultrasonic sensor on the basis of a change in capacitance between the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein
- in a mounted state in which the ultrasonic sensor is mounted to a body component of an object to which the ultrasonic sensor is mounted, the second electrode is provided to be arranged along the body component in the in-plane direction intersecting the directional axis of the ultrasonic microphone.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.