METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IDENTIFYING AN ICE-COVERED ELECTROACOUSTIC SENSOR

• Main Authors: SCHOENHERR, Michael, SCHNEIDER, Marcus
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 17.10.2018
• Subjects: ALARM SYSTEMS; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION ORRERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; MEASURING; ORDER TELEGRAPHS; PHYSICS; RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; SIGNALLING; SIGNALLING OR CALLING SYSTEMS; TESTING

A method for detecting a diaphragm of an electroacoustic sensor covered with snow/ice (e.g., an ultrasonic sensor on a vehicle). The method includes: a) after a sensor operation start, a temperature sensor, disposed in the interior of a sensor housing, ascertains a temporal temperature characteristic of an interior of the electroacoustic sensor, where the temperature of the sensor interior at the beginning of the sensor operation is below 0° C. In b), a second time range of the ascertained temperature characteristic is detected by a processing unit in that the temperature increase drops significantly in comparison with a temporally preceding first range. In c), if such a time range is detected, then it is inferred therefrom that the diaphragm of the electroacoustic sensor is covered with snow/ice. In d), if it was detected that a diaphragm of the electroacoustic sensor is covered with snow/ice, a warning is output to the driver.