Cleaning nozzle unit and on-vehicle camera unit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11458934-B2
Application number	US-202016819599-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 16, 2020
Priority date	Mar 26, 2019
Publication date	Oct 4, 2022
Grant date	Oct 4, 2022

Abstract

In a cleaning nozzle unit including an inner liquid passage guiding a cleaning solution, an inner air passage feeding air to an outlet of the inner liquid passage, and an injection port that mixes the cleaning solution guided by the inner liquid passage and the air fed by the inner air passage and injects a mixture of the cleaning solution and the air to a surface of an object, a plurality of the injection ports are provided, are disposed at predetermined intervals and inject the mixtures in directions such that the mixtures hits each other in the surface at a substantially predetermined angle in a front view of the surface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cleaning nozzle unit comprising:
an inner liquid passage guiding a cleaning solution;
inner air passages to feed and guide air; and
an injection port that mixes the cleaning solution guided by the inner liquid passage and the air fed by the inner air passages and injects a mixture of the cleaning solution and the air to a surface of an object, wherein
a plurality of the injection ports are provided, are disposed at predetermined intervals and inject the mixtures in directions such that at the surface, the mixtures hits each other at a substantially predetermined angle in a front view of the surface,
the cleaning nozzle unit further comprises:
tip end liquid passages and tip end air passages, wherein each tip end air passage and tip end liquid passage communicate with a respective one of the plurality of injection ports
the tip end liquid passages connect an outlet of the inner liquid passage and the respective injection ports; and
the tip end air passages connect outlets of the inner air passages and the respective injection ports in one to one correspondence,

the tip end liquid passages and the tip end air passages meet, respectively, at a junction before the respective injection ports,
a lid body is provided in the outlet of the inner liquid passage, the lid body closes the outlet of the inner liquid passage to inhibit outflow of the cleaning solution from the outlet of the inner liquid passage to the tip end liquid passages and opens the outlet of the inner liquid passage by elastically deforming by hydraulic pressure of the cleaning solution when the cleaning solution is fed to the inner liquid passage, and
the respective injection ports are provided vertically below the outlet of the inner liquid passage, and the tip end liquid passages are formed without providing a spot that guides the cleaning solution upward through a path of each of the tip end liquid passages so that the cleaning solution flows down only downward to the respective injection ports from the outlet of the inner liquid passage.

2. The cleaning nozzle unit according to claim 1 ,
wherein in a case that the cleaning nozzle unit is installed in an on-vehicle camera, the object is a lens of the on-vehicle camera, the lens having a spherical shape, and the plurality of injection ports are disposed at angles so that the mixtures hits each other at an apex of the lens.

3. The cleaning nozzle unit according to claim 2 ,
wherein a number of the plurality of injection ports is two, and
an angle formed by the two injection ports is 50 degrees or more, and less than 180 degrees seen from the apex of the lens.

4. An on-vehicle camera unit, comprising:
an on-vehicle camera having a spherical lens; and
the cleaning nozzle unit according to claim 1 .

Assignees

• Clarion Co Ltd

Inventors

• Morita Shinji
• Tamura Hideyuki
• Hata Tetsuo
• Sato Nobuhiro
• Mochiji Nobuhiko
• Shojima Hiroshi
• Nakano Norihiko
• Aoki Hiroshi
• Akiyama Yukari
• Noguchi Naohiro
• Tsutsumi Hiroko

Classifications

• B60S1/52

  Arrangement of nozzles; {Liquid spreading means}(nozzles per se B05B) · CPC title

• B05B1/323 Primary

  the valve member being actuated by the pressure of the fluid to be sprayed (single unit outlet valves actuated by the pressure of the fluid to be sprayed B05B11/0062) · CPC title

• B05B1/267

  the liquid or other fluent material being deflected in determined directions · CPC title

• G02B27/0006

  with means to keep optical surfaces clean, e.g. by preventing or removing dirt, stains, contamination, condensation (G02B1/18 takes precedence; cleaning in general B08B) · CPC title

• B60S1/60 Primary

  for signalling devices, e.g. reflectors · CPC title