DEPOSIT SENSOR AND CONTROL APPARATUS COMPRISING IT

摘要

A deposit sensor and a control apparatus which evaluate and sense the strain or blocking of a view field by deposits on a sensing face. A transparent substrate (100) is provided with a sensing face (110). A reference pattern (200) with a constant pattern is provided between a light source (10) and the sensing face (110). When the sensing face (110) is irradiated with light from the light source (10), the irradiation light passes through the sensing face (110) and is received via a lens (40) by a photodetector section (50) where photodetectors are arrayed. The incidence side focus of the lens (40) is adjusted to the reference pattern (200), and the emission side one to the photodetector section (50), so that a clear pattern image is obtained in the photodetector section (50). Photodetection signals are arranged by corresponding to the array of the photodetectors to form a signal pattern. If the signal pattern is strained, it is estimated that deposits are present on the sensing face (110).