Using Lasers to wipe Debris off of Vehicles: Tesla’s wild Idea gets published.

Electric vehicle manufacturer and clean energy conglomerate Tesla Inc. have managed to obtain a patent for using laser beams as windshield wipers to clear debris from a driver’s line of sight.

The application titled “Pulsed Laser Cleaning of Debris Accumulated on Glass Articles in Vehicles and Photovoltaic Assemblies” was filed in May 2019 and was granted a patent in September 2021. 

Tesla has dabbled with several ideas for windshield wipers. Previously, Tesla has unveiled a single-wiper system that utilizes an electromagnetic linear actuator to clean the windshield.

The published patent describes the invention as:

“A cleaning system for a vehicle includes a beam optics assembly that emits a laser beam to irradiate a region on a glass article of the vehicle, debris detection circuitry that detects debris accumulated over the region, and control circuitry. The control circuitry calibrates a set of parameters associated with the laser beam emitted from the beam optics assembly based on detection of the debris accumulated over the region on the glass article, controls an exposure level of the laser beam on the debris accumulated based on calibration of the set of parameters associated with the laser beam, wherein the exposure level is controlled based on pulsing the laser beam at a calibrated rate that limits penetration of the laser beam to a depth that is less than a thickness of the glass article and removes the debris accumulated over the region on the glass article using the laser beam”. (Source: USPTO)

The application area of the invention is in cleaning or clearing debris off of glass articles installed on a vehicle and photovoltaic assemblies such as solar panels.

The cleaning system described in the patent includes a debris detection circuitry configured to automatically detect debris amassed on different localized regions of a glass article installed in a vehicle. Various images sensors installed in and outside of the vehicle detect the presence of debris. The calibrated control circuitry limits the exposure level of the laser beam past the thickness of the glass article to “mitigate a risk of damage to different in-vehicle components beneath the region on the glass article”.

Tesla’s Flowchart explains the process of debris removal using a laser in five simple steps:

1. Detect debris accumulated on a region on glass article installed in vehicle.
2. Calibrate a set of parameters associated with laser beam emitted from beam optics assembly, based on detection of debris accumulated on a region on glass article.
3. Control exposure level of laser beam on detected debris accumulated on glass article based on calibration of set of parameters associated with laser beam.
4. Irradiate region associated with the detected debris on glass article by laser beam.
5. Remove detected debris accumulated on region by laser beam.

The technology described is not limited to vehicles only as it can be used to clean solar panels also.

It is critical to note that just because Tesla has the patent does not mean it is going to use it. It could be one of the cases where organizations obtain a patent on a technology that hardly reaches the market. So, it is not yet certain that the future vehicle model from Tesla will feature this technology. Tesla also has a patent on electromagnetic wiper which appears to be more realistic than using laser beams.