A cleaning unit for cleaning foreign matter from a cover, in particular a cover of a transmitter/receiver window of an environment sensor, including at least one movable wiper blade, which is arranged so as to wipe off foreign matter such as water or dirt on the cover by movement along the cover. For this purpose, the wiper blade touches the cover for example with one or multiple rubber lips. The wiper blade is positioned in an inclined manner with respect to a direction of movement of the wiper blade and is thus movable in such a way that a force exerted by the moved wiper blade on the foreign matter has a component in the direction of the force of gravity. Also described is a related device for sensing the environment as well as a method for cleaning a cover.

The present teaching relates to method and system for an assembly for protecting a sensor. The assembly includes a first structure having a rectangular prism and connected with a truncated tube, wherein the rectangular prism and the truncated tube have parallel longitudinal axes and the tube is truncated to yield a cross section having a norm that forms an angle with the longitudinal axis of the truncated tube and a second structure of a trapezoid prism having a longitudinal axis parallel to the longitudinal axes and with the first structure embedded therein. The second structure has a slanted surface in the front that meets the cross section of the truncated tube and has the norm of the cross section.

A cleaning device for a lidar sensor set-up. The cleaning device includes a movable cleaning element, and is configured, for a cleaning operation, to move the cleaning element over a window of the lidar sensor set-up, on a side facing away from the lidar sensor device and facing the field of view of the lidar sensor set-up. The movable cleaning element has an optical element. The optical element is configured to send back and, in particular, reflect back primary light from a transmitting path of the lidar sensor set-up, which is incident upon the optical element, into a receiving path of the lidar sensor set-up.

A cleaning device for a surface, such as a windshield of a vehicle, includes an active positioning system and a cleaning head. The active positioning system is configured to deploy from a storage position hidden from view within a covered storage space and to position the cleaning head upon the windshield. The active positioning system includes a first extension member and a second extension member that move relative to one another to position the cleaning head, and also move the cleaning head across the windshield along a path. The cleaning head can have a brush portion configured to agitate debris from the window, and a drying portion configured to dry the window after cleaning. The cleaning device can be controlled via a touch-screen display in the vehicle, enabling a user to direct that specific portions of the windshield be cleaned as desired.

A sensor assembly includes a sensor and a cover disposed adjacent to the sensor to protect the sensor. The cover has an inner cover surface and an outer cover surface opposite the inner cover surface. The inner cover surface faces the sensor, and the outer cover surface faces away from the sensor. The cover has a first end wall and a second end wall apart from the first end wall along a first direction. The sensor assembly includes a cleaning system having a wiper movable along the outer cover surface of the cover in the first direction to clean to the outer cover surface. The wiper is at least partly made of a wiper material, and the wiper material includes a hydrophilic material to facilitate removal of water from the outer cover surface of the cover.

A sensor assembly includes a sensor and a cover disposed adjacent to the sensor to protect the sensor. The cover has an inner cover surface and an outer cover surface opposite the inner cover surface. The inner cover surface faces the sensor, and the outer cover surface faces away from the sensor. The cover has a first end wall and a second end wall apart from the first end wall along a first direction. The sensor assembly includes a cleaning system having a wiper movable along the outer cover surface of the cover in the first direction to clean to the outer cover surface. The wiper is at least partly made of a wiper material, and the wiper material includes a hydrophilic material to facilitate removal of water from the outer cover surface of the cover.

The present teaching relates to method and system for an assembly for protecting a sensor. The assembly includes a first structure having a rectangular prism and connected with a truncated tube, wherein the rectangular prism and the truncated tube have parallel longitudinal axes and the tube is truncated to yield a cross section having a norm that forms an angle with the longitudinal axis of the truncated tube and a second structure of a trapezoid prism having a longitudinal axis parallel to the longitudinal axes and with the first structure embedded therein. The second structure has a slanted surface in the front that meets the cross section of the truncated tube and has the norm of the cross section.

The present teaching relates to method, system, medium, and implementation for sensor protection. It is determined whether a cleaning operation needs to be applied to a portion of a sensor assembly deployed on a vehicle and hosting a sensor therein to acquire information of a surrounding through the portion to facilitate autonomous driving. If the cleaning operation is to be applied, at least one type of cleaning is selected to be carried out by one or more devices mounted on the sensor assembly with respect to the portion. For each of the devices, needed control signal is generated for activating the device to perform a cleaning task the device is configured for and sent to the device to clean the certain portion of the sensor assembly in order to prevent degradation in the information acquired by the sensor through the portion.

A sensor (100) mounting apparatus is provided, including a housing (10), a guiding component (20) provided on the housing (10), a first cleaning member (30) slidably arranged on the guiding component (20), and a first driving element (40). The housing (10) has an accommodating cavity (11), the first driving element (40) is configured to drive the first cleaning member (30) to slide along the guiding component (20), and the first cleaning member (30) includes a second driving element (31) and a cleaning element (32) in transmission connection with the second driving element (31). The second driving element (31) is configured to drive the cleaning element (32) to swing back and forth around a direction perpendicular to a light-transmitting surface (12).

According to an example aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cleaning system comprising a first guiding configured to be coupled to an object, a second guiding configured to be coupled to the object such that the second guiding is arranged at a distance from the first guiding, a first part movably coupled to the first guiding, a second part movably coupled to the second guiding, wherein the first part is movable relative to the second part, and wherein the system further comprises a drive system configured to simultaneously move the first part and the second part along the first guiding and the second guiding.