US-20260125029-A1 - AUTONOMOUS DRIVING SENSOR CLEANING DEVICE

Abstract

An autonomous driving sensor cleaning device includes a housing assembly; a bracket disposed inside the housing assembly, connected to at least a portion of the housing assembly, and including a camera seating portion; a sensor assembly mounted in the bracket; a cover disposed apart from the sensor assembly and connected to a portion of the housing assembly; a wiper assembly, wherein at least a portion of the wiper assembly is in contact with the cover; a blower assembly adjacent to the wiper assembly and the sensor assembly and including an outlet disposed adjacent to the cover; and a controller configured to control the wiper assembly and the blower assembly.

Inventors

• Kyung Hwan Kim
• Nak Kyoung Kong
• Sang Heon Wang
• Denis Thebault
• Andrew LASSAUZET

Assignees

• HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY
• KIA CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20250711

Priority Date

20241104

Claims (20)

1. 1 . An autonomous driving sensor cleaning apparatus, comprising: a housing assembly; a bracket disposed inside the housing assembly, connected to at least a portion of the housing assembly, and including a camera seating portion; a sensor assembly mounted in the bracket; a cover disposed apart from the sensor assembly and connected to a portion of the housing assembly; a wiper assembly, wherein at least a portion of the wiper assembly is in contact with the cover; a blower assembly adjacent to the wiper assembly and the sensor assembly and including an outlet disposed adjacent to the cover; and a controller configured to control the wiper assembly and the blower assembly.
2. 2 . The autonomous driving sensor cleaning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the housing assembly includes: a frame to which the bracket is fixed; an upper cover surrounding an upper end portion of the frame; a lower cover fixed to a lower end portion of the frame; and a face cover disposed to surround the cover.
3. 3 . The autonomous driving sensor cleaning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the sensor assembly includes: a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensor fixed to an upper surface of the bracket; and a camera sensor inserted into the camera seating portion.
4. 4 . The autonomous driving sensor cleaning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the wiper assembly includes: a motor; a motor frame connected to the motor; a screw connected to the motor and rotatably mounted on the motor frame; a wiper guide coupled to the screw; a wiper blade contacting with the cover and including washer liquid outlets disposed on at least one of first and second side surfaces of the wiper blade; and a wiper arm pivotally connecting the wiper blade to the wiper guide.
5. 5 . The autonomous driving sensor cleaning apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the wiper blade and the wiper guide are elastically coupled.
6. 6 . The autonomous driving sensor cleaning apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the wiper blade is moved integrally with the wiper guide through the wiper arm and moved in a longitudinal direction of the screw by a rotation of the motor.
7. 7 . The autonomous driving sensor cleaning apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising: a guide shaft fixed to the motor frame and slidably coupled to the wiper guide.
8. 8 . The autonomous driving sensor cleaning apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising: a bumper mounted on the motor frame; a washer hose connected to the wiper blade; and a hose guide configured to guide the washer hose.
9. 9 . The autonomous driving sensor cleaning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the blower assembly includes: a blower panel connected to the bracket; a blower connected to the blower panel; and an air duct fluidly connecting the outlet of the blower assembly to an outlet of the blower, wherein an end of the air duct is faced to the cover.
10. 10 . The autonomous driving sensor cleaning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to operate either a blower of the blower assembly or a motor of the wiper assembly according to a contamination status of the sensor assembly.
11. 11 . The autonomous driving sensor cleaning apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the controller is further configured for measuring a contamination status of the sensor assembly, and based on that a measured contamination level of the sensor assembly is greater than or equal to a first set value, the controller is further configured to control the motor to move the wiper blade to a contamination position.
12. 12 . The autonomous driving sensor cleaning apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the controller is further configured to receive a current position of the wiper blade from a Hall sensor and to compare the current position of the wiper blade with the contamination position, and based on that the wiper blade is not moved to the contamination position, the controller is further configured to control the motor to move the wiper blade to the contamination position.
13. 13 . The autonomous driving sensor cleaning apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the controller is further configured to receive a current position of the wiper blade from a Hall sensor and to compare the current position of the wiper blade with the contamination position, and based on that the wiper blade is moved to the contamination position, the controller is further configured to control the motor to move the wiper blade in a reverse direction thereof.
14. 14 . The autonomous driving sensor cleaning apparatus of claim 13 , wherein, after the controller controls the motor to move the wiper blade in the reverse direction, the controller re-measures the contamination status of the sensor assembly, and based on that the sensor contamination level is greater than or equal to a second set value, the controller is further configured to control the motor to move the wiper blade to the contamination position.
15. 15 . The autonomous driving sensor cleaning apparatus of claim 14 , wherein, after the controller controls the motor to move the wiper blade in the reverse direction, the controller re-measures the contamination status of the sensor assembly, and based on that the sensor contamination level is less than the second set value, the controller is configured to control the motor to move the wiper blade to a set position.
16. 16 . The autonomous driving sensor cleaning apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the controller is further configured for measuring the contamination status of the sensor assembly, and based on that a measured sensor contamination level is less than the first set value, the controller is further configured to apply power to a blower of the blower assembly.
17. 17 . The autonomous driving sensor cleaning apparatus of claim 16 , wherein, after the controller supplies the power to the blower, the controller is configured to determine an operating status of the wiper assembly, and based on that the wiper assembly is operating, the controller is configured to stop a supply of the power to the blower.
18. 18 . The autonomous driving sensor cleaning apparatus of claim 17 , wherein, after the controller stops the supply of the power to the blower, the controller is configured to re-measure the operating status of the wiper assembly, and based on that the wiper assembly is not operating, the controller is configured to apply the power to the blower again.
19. 19 . The autonomous driving sensor cleaning apparatus of claim 4 , wherein a fluid is sprayed through the washer liquid outlets in a direction in which the wiper blade is moved.
20. 20 . A vehicle comprising the autonomous driving sensor cleaning apparatus of claim 1 .

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION The present application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2024-0154247 filed on Nov. 4, 2024, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein for all purposes by this reference. BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE Field of the Present Disclosure The present disclosure relates to a sensor cleaning device for an autonomous driving vehicle or a vehicle including advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), and to a sensor cleaning device that can prevent contamination of an external sensor of a vehicle or effectively remove contamination by utilizing a wiper assembly and a blower assembly. Description of Related Art Sensors used in autonomous driving vehicles and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) should always be kept clean to accurately detect and recognize a road condition. When the sensors are contaminated, the driving safety and autonomous driving performance of the vehicles may be greatly affected. For the present reason, a sensor cleaning device plays a very important role. Conventional sensor cleaning devices have mainly used a method of spraying air compressed through an air compressor onto a sensor surface or a method of removing dust or foreign materials from the sensor surface using a wiper. These methods may remove contamination from the sensor surface to some extent, but the compressed air alone has limitations in removing contaminants mixed with moisture or oil, and the wiper method alone has a problem in that it is difficult to prevent contamination before the sensor is contaminated. Furthermore, the continuous use of the compressed air may result in high energy consumption and maintenance costs for the air compressor. To overcome these limitations of the related art, research on a new cleaning method combining a blower and a wiper assembly has recently been actively conducted. The present method aims to prevent contamination of the sensor by forming an air curtain by drawing air inside the vehicle through a blower and discharging the air onto a cover. Furthermore, the wiper assembly includes a washer liquid outlet in a wiper blade itself, adding a function of spraying a washer liquid according in a direction in which a wiper moves, effectively removing contaminants attached to the sensor surface. Research is being conducted to maintain cleanliness of sensors and improve the safety and performance of autonomous driving vehicles and ADAS. The information included in this Background of the present disclosure is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the present disclosure and may not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art. BRIEF SUMMARY Various aspects of the present disclosure are directed to providing a sensor cleaning device that can prevent contamination of a sensor by combining a blower and a wiper assembly and can effectively remove contaminants on a sensor surface by including a washer liquid outlet in a wiper blade to spray a washer liquid in a direction in which a wiper moves. Objectives of the present disclosure are not limited to the above-described objectives, and other objectives of the present disclosure, which are not described, may be clearly understood to those skilled in the art (hereinafter, referred to as an “ordinary skilled in the art”) in the field of the present disclosure to which the present disclosure pertains from the following description. An autonomous driving sensor cleaning device for achieving the objectives of the present disclosure includes the following configuration. In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the present disclosure provides an autonomous driving sensor cleaning device including a housing assembly; a bracket disposed inside the housing assembly, connected to at least a portion of the housing assembly, and including a camera seating portion; a sensor assembly mounted in the bracket; a cover disposed apart from the sensor assembly and connected to a portion of the housing assembly; a wiper assembly, wherein at least a portion of the wiper assembly is in contact with the cover; a blower assembly adjacent to the wiper assembly and the sensor assembly and including an outlet disposed adjacent to the cover; and a controller configured to control the wiper assembly and the blower assembly. Furthermore, the housing assembly may include a frame to which the bracket is fixed, an upper cover surrounding an upper end portion of the frame, a lower cover fixed to a lower end portion of the frame, and a face cover disposed to surround the cover. Furthermore, the sensor assembly may include a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensor fixed to an upper surface of the bracket, and a camera sensor inserted into the camera seating portion. Furthermore, the wiper assembly may include a motor, a motor frame connected to the motor, a screw rotatably mounted o