RAINFALL DETERMINATION DEVICE

• Main Authors: ARIKI TOMOHIDE, SUGIURA MAKIKO, OTSUKA KIYOSHI, YOSHIDA TAKAHIKO
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 27.03.2014
• Subjects: MEASURING; METEOROLOGY; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; SERVICING, CLEANING, REPAIRING, SUPPORTING, LIFTING, ORMANOEUVRING OF VEHICLES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; TESTING; TRANSPORTING; VEHICLES IN GENERAL

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a rainfall determination device whose detection accuracy of raindrops is maintained.SOLUTION: A rainfall determination device comprises: a rainfall prediction unit 10 which predicts rainfalls; a raindrop detection unit 30 which detects raindrops; an operation unit 50 which determines rainfall amount on the basis of an output signal from the raindrop detection unit. The raindrop detection unit includes an irradiation unit 31 which irradiates a transparent plate with light and a light receiving unit 32 which receives the light reflected from the transparent plate. The operation unit, which has a first threshold (T1) as a reference value for determining the presence or absence of raindrops, determines that it is raining when an output signal from the light receiving unit falls below the first threshold, and, based on an output signal from the rainfall prediction unit, renews the first threshold.