US-20260126535-A1 - BOAT SENSOR SYSTEM AND BOAT

Abstract

A boat sensor system includes a sensor housing including a transmission window to transmit at least one of light or waves from outside the sensor housing, a sensor in the sensor housing and facing the transmission window, a liquid jet nozzle to jet liquid toward an outer surface of the transmission window, and a gas jet nozzle to jet gas toward the outer surface of the transmission window.

Inventors

• Akihiro TAGATA
• Kazumichi Yoshida

Assignees

• YAMAHA HATSUDOKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20251030

Priority Date

20241101

Claims (12)

1. 1 . A boat sensor system comprising: a sensor housing including a transmission window to transmit at least one of light or waves from outside the sensor housing; a sensor in the sensor housing and facing the transmission window; a liquid jet nozzle to jet liquid toward the outer surface of the transmission window; and a gas jet nozzle to jet gas toward the outer surface of the transmission window.
2. 2 . The boat sensor system according to claim 1 , wherein the liquid jet nozzle includes a plurality of liquid jet nozzles; and jet outlets of the plurality of liquid jet nozzles are each directed at a different region on the outer surface of the transmission window.
3. 3 . The boat sensor system according to claim 1 , wherein the gas jet nozzle includes a plurality of gas jet nozzles; and jet outlets of the plurality of gas jet nozzles are each directed at a different region on the outer surface of the transmission window.
4. 4 . The boat sensor system according to claim 1 , further comprising: a controller configured or programmed to: determine a degree of adhesion of adhered matter on the outer surface of the transmission window based on sensing results from the sensor; and increase an amount of liquid jetted by the liquid jet nozzle as the degree of adhesion increases.
5. 5 . The boat sensor system according to claim 1 , further comprising: a controller configured or programmed to: determine a degree of attitude change of the sensor housing; and increase at least one of an amount of liquid jetted by the liquid jet nozzle and an amount of gas jetted by the gas jet nozzle as the degree of attitude change increases.
6. 6 . The boat sensor system according to claim 1 , further comprising: a controller configured or programmed to: determine an amount of position change of the sensor housing; and determine that there is adhered matter on the outer surface of the transmission window based on the amount of position change being equal to or more than a reference value and there is an unchanged portion that does not move or change from a certain point in light reception results acquired by the sensor.
7. 7 . The boat sensor system according to claim 1 , further comprising: a controller configured or programmed to cause the liquid jet nozzle to jet liquid and then cause the gas jet nozzle to jet gas when adhered matter is detected on the outer surface of the transmission window.
8. 8 . A boat comprising: a boat body; and the boat sensor system according to claim 1 attached to the boat body.
9. 9 . The boat according to claim 8 , further comprising a controller configured or programmed to: determine a degree of adhesion of adhered matter on the outer surface of the transmission window based on sensing results from the sensor; and increase an amount of liquid jetted by the liquid jet nozzle as the degree of adhesion increases.
10. 10 . The boat according to claim 8 , further comprising: a controller; and an attitude sensor to detect an attitude of the boat body; wherein the controller is configured or programed to: determine a degree of attitude change of the sensor housing based on detection results from the attitude sensor; and increase at least one of an amount of liquid jetted by the liquid jet nozzle or an amount of gas jetted by the gas jet nozzle as the degree of attitude change increases.
11. 11 . The boat according to claim 8 , further comprising a controller; and an attitude sensor to detect an attitude of the boat body; wherein the controller is configured or programmed to: determine a degree of attitude change of the sensor housing based on detection results from the attitude sensor; and determine that there is adhered matter on the outer surface of the transmission window when the degree of attitude change is equal to or more than a reference level and there is an unchanged portion that does not move or change from a certain point in light reception results acquired by the sensor.
12. 12 . The boat according to claim 8 , further comprising a controller configured or programmed to cause the liquid jet nozzle to jet liquid and then cause the gas jet nozzle to jet gas when adhered matter is detected on the outer surface of the transmission window.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2024-192847 filed on Nov. 1, 2024. The entire contents of this application are hereby incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The technologies disclosed herein relate to boat sensor systems and boats. 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a forward monitoring system has been known that uses a television camera to monitor the front of a boat (see e.g. JP 2007-022349 A, JP 2020-148811 A, and KR 10-2470100 B). SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The inventors of example embodiments of the present invention investigated a boat sensor system that monitors the surroundings of the boat using sensors such as LiDAR (light detection and ranging) rather than a television camera. This boat sensor system includes a sensor housing with a transmission window that transmits at least one of light and waves from the outside, and a sensor located inside the sensor housing and facing the transmission window. The sensor housing is exposed to the outside so foreign matter easily adheres to the transmission window. When foreign matter adheres to the transmission window, the sensing accuracy of the sensor decreases. In particular, when seawater adheres to the transmission window and dries, it becomes a white deposit. This deposit blocks the view of the sensor and is difficult to remove. Example embodiments of the present invention disclose technologies that are able to solve the above-described problems, and can be implemented in the following example embodiments, for example. A boat sensor system according to an example embodiment of the present invention includes a sensor housing including a transmission window to transmit at least one of light or waves from outside the sensor housing, a sensor in the sensor housing and facing the transmission window, a liquid jet nozzle to jet liquid toward an outer surface of the transmission window, and a gas jet nozzle to jet gas toward the outer surface of the transmission window. The technologies disclosed herein can be implemented in various applications and example embodiments including, e.g., boat sensor systems, sensors, boats, cleaning systems including liquid jet nozzles, gas jet nozzles, and controllers, a computer program for determining the presence or absence of adhered matter on the transmission window of the sensor, and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing the computer program. The example embodiments can, e.g., wash away the adhered matter on the transmission window by jetting liquid onto the outer surface of the transmission window using a liquid jet nozzle and blow away the water droplets remaining on the outer surface by jetting gas using a gas jet nozzle. The above and other elements, features, steps, characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the example embodiments with reference to the attached drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically illustrating a configuration of a boat. FIG. 2 is an explanatory view illustrating a configuration of a boat sensor system. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of a cleaning process. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically illustrating a configuration of a boat 10. FIG. 1 shows arrows representing each direction with respect to the position of the boat 10. More specifically, each figure shows arrows representing the front direction (FRONT), rear direction (REAR), left direction (LEFT), right direction (RIGHT), upper direction (UPPER), and lower direction (LOWER), respectively. The front-rear direction, left-right direction, and upper-lower (vertical) direction are orthogonal to each other. It should be noted that, in this specification, axes, members, and the like, extending in the front-rear direction need not necessarily be parallel to the front-rear direction. Axes and members extending in the front-rear direction include axes and members that are inclined in the range of +45° to the front-rear direction. Similarly, axes and members extending in the upper-lower direction include axes and members inclined within a range of +45° to the upper-lower direction, and axes and members extending in the left-right direction include axes and members inclined within a range of +45° to the left-right direction. The boat 10 includes a boat body 200 and an outboard motor 100. In this example embodiment, the boat 10 includes only one outboard motor 100, but the boat 10 may have multiple outboard motors 100. The boat body 200 is the portion of the boat 10 for occupants to ride. The boat body 200 includes a boat main body 202, a pilot seat 240, and a steering device 250. The boat main body 202 includes a living space 204. The pilot seat 240 is located in the living space 204. The stee