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US 12,222,449 B2Granted
Vibration based actuator system for cleaning of optical surface
AssigneeCarrier Corporation
InventorsSuman Dwari, Rajiv Ranjan, Peter R. Harris
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Abstract
A scanner of an optical detection system includes a housing, an optical surface coupled to the housing, and an actuator coupled to the optical surface. The optical surface is movable to direct light into an area being scanned and to receive a reflected light pulse from the area being scanned. The actuator is operable to agitate the optical surface to remove debris from the optical surface.
Claims19
A scanner of an optical detection system comprising:
- a housing;
- an optical surface coupled to the housing, the optical surface being movable to direct light into an area being scanned and to receive a reflected light pulse from the area being scanned;
- an electromechanical actuator having an output shaft operably coupled to the optical surface, wherein the electromechanical actuator is operable to rotate the optical surface during normal operation;
- and
- a solid state flexible actuator, separate from the electromechanical actuator, the solid state flexible actuator being operably coupled to the output shaft, wherein the solid state flexible actuator is operable to rotate the optical surface during a cleaning operation, the solid state flexible actuator being operable at a higher frequency than the electrometrical actuator.
2 more elements
A method of cleaning a scanner of a detection system comprising:
- agitating an optical surface of the scanner via an electromechanical actuator at a first frequency, the electromechanical actuator having an output shaft operably coupled to the optical surface;
- initiating a cleaning operation;
- and
- rotating the optical surface of the scanner via a solid state flexible actuator, the solid state flexible actuator being separate from the electromechanical actuator, wherein the optical surface is rotated by the solid state flexible actuator at a second frequency, the second frequency is greater than the first frequency and is at least 1 Hz.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.