Unmanned aerial vehicle for cleaning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10633094-B2
Application number	US-201715641404-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 5, 2017
Priority date	Jul 5, 2017
Publication date	Apr 28, 2020
Grant date	Apr 28, 2020

Abstract

A system includes an unmanned aerial vehicle including a chassis, a tank attached to the chassis, a sprayer fluidly connected to the tank, a heating element attached to the chassis, a fan drawing air over the heating element, and a clamp attached to the chassis; and a computer in communication with the unmanned aerial vehicle and programmed to instruct the clamp to attach to an external sensor of a vehicle, instruct the sprayer to spray water and detergent onto the external sensor, and instruct the fan to blow heated air at the external sensor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An unmanned aerial vehicle comprising:
a chassis;
a tank attached to the chassis;
a sprayer fluidly connected to the tank;
a heating element attached to the chassis;
a fan drawing air over the heating element; and
a clamp attached to the chassis;
wherein the clamp includes two clamp halves movable relative to each other;
the clamp halves are semicircular in shape; and
the sprayer is movable along the semicircular shape of one of the clamp halves.

2. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the clamp is a first clamp, the unmanned aerial vehicle further comprising a second clamp attached to the chassis and a brush movably connected to the second clamp.

3. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the clamp is a first clamp, the unmanned aerial vehicle further comprising a second clamp attached to the chassis.

4. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 3 , wherein the sprayer is movably connected to the second clamp.

5. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 4 , wherein the tank is a first tank and the sprayer is a first sprayer, the unmanned aerial vehicle further comprising a second tank attached to the chassis and a second sprayer fluidly connected to the second tank, the second sprayer movably connected to the first clamp.

6. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 5 , further comprising a third clamp attached to the chassis, wherein the heating element is movably connected to the third clamp.

7. A system, comprising:
an unmanned aerial vehicle including
a chassis;
a tank attached to the chassis;
a sprayer fluidly connected to the tank;
a heating element attached to the chassis;
a fan drawing air over the heating element; and
a clamp attached to the chassis; and

a computer in communication with the unmanned aerial vehicle and programmed to
instruct the clamp to attach to an external sensor of a vehicle;
instruct the sprayer to spray water and detergent onto the external sensor; and
instruct the fan to blow heated air at the external sensor.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the computer is programmed to instruct the clamp to attach to the external sensor before instructing the sprayer to spray water and detergent.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the clamp is a first clamp, and the unmanned aerial vehicle further includes a second clamp attached to the chassis.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the computer is further programmed to instruct the first clamp to detach from the external sensor, and then instruct the second clamp to attach before instructing the fan to blow heated air.

11. The system of claim 7 , wherein the clamp is a first clamp, and the unmanned aerial vehicle further includes a second clamp attached to the chassis and a brush movably connected to the second clamp.

12. The system of claim 7 , wherein the tank is a first tank, the sprayer is a first sprayer, the unmanned aerial vehicle further includes a second tank attached to the chassis and a second sprayer fluidly connected to the second tank, the computer further programmed to instruct the second sprayer to rinse the external sensor.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc
• Ford Global Tech

Inventors

• Perez Barrera Oswaldo

Classifications

• B05B13/005

  mounted on vehicles or designed to apply a liquid on a very large surface, e.g. on the road, on the surface of large containers · CPC title

• B60S3/04 Primary

  for exteriors of land vehicles {(B60S3/002, B60S3/004 take precedence; specially adapted for railway vehicles B60S3/006)} · CPC title

• B64D1/18 Primary

  by spraying, e.g. insecticides · CPC title

• B60S3/002

  Vehicle drying apparatus · CPC title

• B64C2201/027

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic