Interior windshield wiper with water vapor pump
AssigneeKing Faisal University
InventorAbdelrahim Fathy Ismail
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An interior windshield wiper system of a vehicle includes a water tank and a heater located within the water tank. The heater heats contents of the water tank. A conduit leads from the water tank to an interior surface of a vehicle. Apertures of the conduit are located at an end of the conduit proximate to the interior surface, and may be covered by a porous plenum. The contents of the water tank can travel though the conduit, then through apertures, then through the porous plenum, and then onto the interior surface of the vehicle, such as a windshield. A wiper is located proximate to the interior surface to wipe the interior surface with the porous plenum.
Claims13
An interior windshield wiper system of a vehicle, comprising:
- a water tank mounted to the vehicle, the water tank having an interior storage area, the interior storage area having a first portion thereof configured to store water therein and a second portion thereof configured to be free of water and to store water vapor therein;
- a heater located in the first portion of the interior storage area of the water tank, the heater being configured to heat the water in the first portion of the interior storage area of the water tank to form water vapor, the formed water vapor being stored in the second portion of the interior storage area of the water tank;
- a wiper blade located proximate to an interior windshield surface of the vehicle, the wiper blade being configured to wipe the interior windshield surface;
- a conduit having an inlet opening in fluid communication with the second portion of the interior storage area of the water tank, at least one outlet opening connected to the wiper blade, and an elongated body extending between the inlet opening and the at least one outlet opening;
- a pump mounted to the vehicle, the pump being in fluid communication with the elongated body of the conduit, the pump being configured to suction the water vapor stored in the second portion of the interior storage area of the water tank via the inlet opening of the conduit, and to pump the suctioned water vapor toward the at least one outlet opening of the conduit;
- and
- a porous plenum connected to the wiper blade and movably engaged to the interior windshield surface, wherein the porous plenum covers the at least one outlet opening of the conduit,
- wherein the porous plenum is configured to receive water vapor from the at least one covered outlet opening, to disperse the received water vapor across its body, and to eject the dispersed water vapor toward the interior windshield surface to clean the interior windshield surface by wiping said interior windshield surface, when the wiper blade is used to wipe the interior windshield surface, and by ejecting the dispersed water vapor onto the interior windshield surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.