Denso Corporation

Nobuharu Kawai

Yoshiaki Hoashi

Noriaki Shirai

Takeshi Kazama

Kiwako Takezawa

An imaging apparatus mounted in a vehicle includes an imager substrate, a housing, and a heat dissipator. The imager substrate has an image sensor mounted thereon. The housing is equipped with a rear wall extending in an in-plane direction perpendicular to a thickness of the imager substrate and has the imager substrate disposed therein. The heat dissipator is arranged between the imager substrate and the rear wall in contact therewith to transfer heat from the imager substrate to the rear wall. The rear wall has a substrate-facing surface facing the imager substrate through the heat dissipator and also has a retainer arranged on the substrate-facing surface to hold the heat dissipator thereon. This structure ensures enhanced stability in releasing thermal energy from the image sensor or the imager substrate.

Imaging apparatus

When a temperature T detected by a thermistor built inside a camera unit exceeds a preset temperature T, at least a process, among processes executed by a CPU built inside the camera unit, that relates only to LKA or AHB (such as a white line recognizing process) is stopped. Then, the amount of heat generated by the CPU decreases, whereby the temperature inside the housing also decreases. In this way, even when the PCS control is continuously performed by continuing electric power supply to an imaging element in the camera unit, performance of the imaging element can be maintained in some cases, thus allowing the electric power supply to the imaging element to continue in a satisfactory manner for a long period.

Vehicle controller

An object detecting apparatus for a vehicle has a light radiation unit and a light receiver unit disposed in a case for detecting an object or a distance to the object. When a vehicle is at a stop, the apparatus detects an output power of a laser light radiated from the light radiation unit by the light receiving unit and feedback-controls the output power of the laser light to a predetermined level based on the detected output power of the laser light. The feedback control is effected by an amplifier circuit, a pulse width detector circuit and a current regulator circuit. Thus, the output power of the laser light is reduced not to damage human eyes when the vehicle is at a stop.

Object detecting apparatus having light radiation power regulating function

An object detecting apparatus detects an object by using a laser beam emitted from a laser diode. The apparatus has a current adjuster. An amount of electric current supplied from the current adjuster to the laser diode is controlled to change an intensity of the laser beam, and is adjusted by a feedforward control based on a signal from a temperature sensor in the apparatus to compensate a drift of the laser diode characteristics.

Object detecting apparatus having a current adjuster for controlling amount of electric current supplied to a laser device in compensation for a diversity of current-luminosity characteristics of the laser device

An angular shift determining apparatus is provided which may be employed in an automotive obstacle detection system designed to determine a distance to and angular direction of a target tracked by a radar. The angular shift determining apparatus determines an angular shift of the central axis of radiation of radar waves from the longitudinal center line of a vehicle equipped with the obstacle detection system based on a relative position of the target and removes from the determined angular shift an error component produced when a preceding vehicle traveling with a lateral offset from the system vehicle is tracked as the target and an error component produced when a stationary object located on a curved road is tracked by the radar as the target to mathematically project an actual angular shift of the central axis of radiation of radar waves.

Growing community of inventors

Okazaki, Japan

Nobuharu Kawai