发明名称 Optical detection of water droplets using light refraction with a mask to prevent detection of unrefracted light
摘要 An optical detection system for detecting rain or other water droplets on the outer surface of a window and fog on the inner surface with a single photo-detector. The invention measures the accumulation of water droplets on the window by light refraction of a first light beam with droplets to redirect a first light beam to the photo-detector. A masking device prevents light from reaching the photo-detector directly without refraction. As a result the rain measurement output signal of the photo-detector increases with an increasing accumulation of water droplets on the window. The fog accumulation is measured by a second light beam reflected off the inner surface of the window to the photo-detector so that the output signal of the photo-detector decreases with increasing amounts of fog since fog scatters the light to reduce the amount of light reflected to the photo-detector. A third light source is focused directly on the photo-detector to bias it into an operating point of high sensitivity to infrared light and is connected in a negative feedback circuit from the output of the photo-detector amplifier. The photo-detector output is connected to a narrowband amplifier that is tuned to the frequency of an oscillator which pulses the first and second light sources at different times. As a result of this negative feedback, changes in the output signal due to external factors are cancelled so they do not produce errors.
申请公布号 US5386111(A) 申请公布日期 1995.01.31
申请号 US19930134407 申请日期 1993.10.08
申请人 ZIMMERMAN, H. ALLEN 发明人 ZIMMERMAN, H. ALLEN
分类号 G01N21/17;B60S1/08;G01N21/41;G01N21/43;G01N21/47;(IPC1-7):H01J5/16 主分类号 G01N21/17
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