Preventing radio and light signal transmission loss through a transmission surface due to weather environmental and operational conditions using active flow control actuators
AssigneeActasys Inc.
InventorsDavid Menicovich, Anthony Mickalauskas
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods for cleaning transmission surfaces for optical and sensor surfaces in order to maintain optimal performance under a variety of weather and environmental conditions using synthetic jet actuators. The actuators can emit a jet of water or air depending on environmental conditions and the waveform, frequency, amplitude of the actuator can be adjusted based on particle characteristics and transmission signal quality in order to better clean the surfaces.
Claims17
A system for cleaning the surface of a vehicle vision sensor, the system comprising:
- a sensor cleaning unit, mounted on the vehicle, having at least one actuator configured to direct a fluid jet onto the vehicle vision sensor;
- a sensor cleaning unit sensor, mounted on the vehicle, having at least one environment sensor configured to capture environmental sensor data proximate the vehicle;
- a cleaning electronic control unit configured to receive the environmental sensor data from the sensor cleaning unit sensor and to determine at least one of a drive frequency and a drive amplitude for controlling at least one actuator of the sensor cleaning unit, based on the received environmental data.
A method for cleaning the surface of a vehicle vision sensor, the method comprising:
- capturing environmental sensor data proximate the vehicle from a sensor cleaning unit sensor mounted on the vehicle;
- determining, by a cleaning electronic control unit, at least one of a drive frequency and a drive amplitude for controlling at least one actuator of a sensor cleaning unit mounted on the vehicle,
- generating a fluid jet by the at least one actuator of the sensor cleaning unit to clean the surface of the vehicle vision sensor.
A system for cleaning the surface of a photovoltaic solar panel, the system comprising:
- a sensor cleaning unit, mounted on a peripheral edge of the photovoltaic solar panel, having at least one actuator configured to direct a fluid jet onto the photovoltaic solar panel;
- a cleaning electronic control unit configured to receive electricity generation efficiency data indicating obstruction of the photovoltaic panels from a control unit associated with the photovoltaic solar panel, or with an energy storage measuring device associated with the cleaning system,
- the cleaning electronic control unit determining at least one of a drive frequency and a drive amplitude for controlling the at least one actuator of the sensor cleaning unit, when the amount of generation efficiency falls below a predetermined threshold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.