Method of controlling cleaning of sensor units

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12434723-B2
Application number	US-202318209745-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 14, 2023
Priority date	Nov 15, 2022
Publication date	Oct 7, 2025
Grant date	Oct 7, 2025

Abstract

A method of controlling cleaning of a sensor unit, includes determining, by a controller, whether autonomous driving is possible, determining, by a measurement unit, whether a vehicle is in a rainy environment, determining, by the controller, priorities of a plurality of sensor units according to a driving environment of the vehicle during the autonomous driving of the vehicle, setting, by the controller, the priorities of the sensor units according to the rainy environment and the driving environment of the vehicle, and pressure of air according to the driving environment, and setting a cleaning mode for determining air sprayed to each of the sensor units, and spraying air stored in an air tank to the sensor units according to the set cleaning mode.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of controlling cleaning of a sensor unit, the method comprising:
determining, by a controller, whether an autonomous driving of a vehicle is possible;
determining, by a rain sensor, whether the vehicle is in a rainy environment;
determining, by the controller, priorities of a plurality of cameras according to a driving environment of the vehicle during the autonomous driving of the vehicle;
setting, by the controller, the priorities of the cameras according to the rainy environment and the driving environment of the vehicle setting a pressure of air to be sprayed to each of the cameras based on the driving environment, and setting a cleaning mode for determining air sprayed to each of the cameras; and
spraying air stored in an air tank to the cameras according to the set cleaning mode,
wherein a sequence of spraying the air to the camera is determined based on a speed of the vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the air tank includes a low-pressure tank, and
wherein the setting of the cleaning mode for determining air sprayed to each of the cameras includes:
setting the cleaning mode to a pressure lower than a predetermined pressure value; and
spraying air having the pressure lower than the predetermined pressure value to a selected camera according to the priorities of the cameras from the low-pressure tank in consideration of the speed of the vehicle.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the spraying of the air having the pressure lower than the predetermined pressure value includes:
determining whether the vehicle is stopped;
spraying the air having the pressure lower than the predetermined pressure value to all the cameras when the controller concludes that the vehicle is in a stopped state;
determining whether the vehicle is driven at a speed less than a first speed when the vehicle is in the stopped state; and
spraying the air having the pressure lower than the predetermined pressure value at a ratio greater than a first reference value to a camera located at a front of the vehicle among the plurality of cameras when the vehicle is driven at the speed less than the first speed, and spraying the air having the pressure lower than the predetermined pressure value at a ratio less than the first reference value to the camera located at the front of the vehicle when the vehicle is driven at a speed greater than or equal to the first speed.

4. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the air tank includes a low-pressure tank, and
wherein the determining of whether the vehicle is in the rainy environment includes:
filling the low-pressure tank with air having a pressure lower than a predetermined pressure value using a compressor when the controller concludes that the vehicle is in the rainy environment by the rain sensor;
determining, by the rain sensor, whether precipitation is greater than or equal to a first precipitation and less than or equal to a second precipitation;
determining whether a camera among the plurality of cameras operates normally when the precipitation is less than the first precipitation in the determining of whether the precipitation is greater than or equal to the first precipitation and less than or equal to the second precipitation; and
spraying the air having the pressure lower than the predetermined pressure value once when the camera does not operate normally in the determining of whether the camera normally operates.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the spraying of the air stored in the air tank to the cameras according to the set cleaning mode includes setting pressure of the sprayed air according to the speed of the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of whether the autonomous driving of the vehicle is possible includes:
determining the priorities of the cameras when the controller concludes that the autonomous driving of the vehicle is impossible;
determining whether the vehicle has been in the rainy environment;
sequentially spraying air to the cameras according to the priorities when the vehicle has been in the rainy environment, and determining whether the vehicle is currently in the rainy environment when the vehicle has not been in the rainy environment; and
spraying air to a camera having a priority higher than a predetermined priority when the vehicle is currently in the rainy environment, and spraying a washer fluid to the cameras when the vehicle is not currently in the rainy environment.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the determining of whether the vehicle is currently in the rainy environment includes spraying the washer fluid and the air a set number of times according to importance of the cameras when the vehicle is not currently in the rainy environment.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of the priorities of the plurality of cameras includes:
assigning, by the controller, weights according to the priorities of the cameras;
determining an amount of rainwater flowing into each of the cameras to which the weights are assigned; and
setting air required for the cameras based on the weights set for the respective cameras and the amount of rainwater flowing into each of the cameras.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of whether the autonomous driving of the vehicle is possible includes:
setting the priorities of the plurality of cameras;
determining whether the vehicle has been in a precipitation environment;
determining whether the vehicle is currently in the precipitation environment when the vehicle has not been in the precipitation environment; and
spraying compressed air to each of the cameras according to the priorities when the vehicle is currently in the precipitation environment, and spraying a washer fluid to each of the cameras when the vehicle has not been in the current precipitation environment.

10. A method of controlling cleaning of a sensor unit, the method comprising:
determining, by a controller, whether an autonomous driving of a vehicle is possible;
determining, by a rain sensor, whether the vehicle is in a rainy environment;
determining, by the controller, priorities of a plurality of cameras according to a driving environment of the vehicle during the autonomous driving of the vehicle;
setting, by the controller, the priorities of cameras according to the rainy environment and the driving environment of the vehicle, and pressure of air according to the driving environment, and setting a cleaning mode for determining air sprayed to each of the cameras; and
spraying air stored in an air tank to the cameras according to the set cleaning mode,
wherein the air tank includes a high-pressure tank, and
wherein the setting of the cleaning mode for determining air sprayed to each of the cameras includes:
determining, by the rain sensor, whether precipitation is greater than a second precipitation; and
spraying air having a pressure higher than a predetermined pressure value to a selected camera according to the priorities of the cameras from the high-pressure tank in consideration of a speed of the vehicle when measured precipitation is greater than the second precipitation in the determining of whether the precipitation is greater than the second precipitation.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the spraying of the air having the pressure higher than the predetermined pressure value to the selected camera according to the priorities of the cameras from the high-pressure tank includes:
determining whether the vehicle is stopped;
spraying the air having the pressure higher than the predetermined pressure value to all the cameras when the controller concludes that the vehicle is in a stopped state

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Corp

Inventors

• Park Jong Min
• Kong Nak Kyoung

Classifications

• B60S1/54

  using gas, e.g. hot air · CPC title

• B60W2050/0215

  Sensor drifts or sensor failures · CPC title

• B60W2555/20

  Ambient conditions, e.g. wind or rain · CPC title

• B60S1/56 Primary

  specially adapted for cleaning other parts or devices than front windows or windscreens {(rear-view mirror arrangements mounted on vehicle exterior including cleaning devices B60R1/0602)} · CPC title

• B60W2554/802

  Longitudinal distance · CPC title