Vehicle roof snow removal

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10442409-B2
Application number	US-201815864166-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 8, 2018
Priority date	Jan 8, 2018
Publication date	Oct 15, 2019
Grant date	Oct 15, 2019

Abstract

A roof-rack for a vehicle and method of operation where the siderails and the crossbars are both automatically movable via a control circuit to clear snow from a vehicle roof.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A snow removal roof-rack comprising:
siderails and crossbars configured to support objects on a vehicle roof;
anchors fixed to the roof, selectively securing the siderails and crossbars to the roof; and
an apparatus engaging the crossbars, siderails and anchors to automatically and selectively move the siderails laterally and the crossbars longitudinally.

2. The roof-rack of claim 1 wherein the apparatus includes racks on inboard surfaces of the anchors, siderails and crossbars, and each of the siderails and crossbars includes a pair of pinions that mate with corresponding racks.

3. The roof-rack of claim 2 wherein the apparatus includes motors drivingly engaging at least one pinion of each of the crossbars and siderails.

4. The roof-rack of claim 3 including a controller selectively actuating the motors to selectively cause movement of the siderails and crossbars.

5. The roof-rack of claim 1 wherein the apparatus includes motors drivingly engaging the crossbars and siderails to selectively move the siderails laterally and the crossbars longitudinally.

6. The roof-rack of claim 1 wherein the anchors are located at outboard-most ends of the siderails and crossbars when the siderails and crossbars are in outboard-most positions on the roof.

7. The roof-rack of claim 1 wherein the anchors are located under the siderails and crossbars when the siderails and crossbars are in outboard-most positions on the roof.

8. The roof-rack of claim 1 including object detection sensors communicating with a controller to selectively prevent siderail and crossbar movement when the objects are detected mounted on the roof-rack.

9. The roof-rack of claim 1 including a snow sensor that detects snow accumulation on the roof.

10. The roof-rack of claim 1 including a temperature sensor and heating elements mounted to the siderails and crossbars, and a control circuit to communicate with the temperature sensor and selectively activate the heating elements to melt snow on the roof.

11. The roof-rack of claim 1 wherein the apparatus includes sensors to detect when the siderails are in outboard-most positions and selectively lock the siderails to the anchors.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Chatten Alyssa
• Lavoie Erick M
• Van Wiemeersch John R

Classifications

• B60S1/66 Primary

  for cleaning vehicle exterior · CPC title

• B60R9/04

  Carriers associated with vehicle roof (B60R9/08 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B60R9/045

  Carriers being adjustable or transformable, e.g. expansible, collapsible {(transformable into tents B60P3/36; into beds B60P3/38)} · CPC title

• B08B7/0071

  by heating (B08B7/0035 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B08B1/001

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic