Omron Corporation

Yasunobu Sakai

Junichi Takagi

Takayoshi Takahara

Hisashi Takeuchi

Tetuya Uno

Takeshi Ishida

Hiroshi Fukui

Tetsuya Uno

A device for measuring the speed of an object. The device includes a spatial filter scheme to provide quick-response photodetectors and an efficient use of light. The device projects light onto the object by a light source 1, and the light reflected by the object is received by a lens. This light passes through aperture stop 4 and strikes prism array 7, where it is split alternately into two paths at a fixed pitch with respect to the optical axis. The two split beams are received respectively by two photodetectors. The speed of the object moving relative to the measuring device can be calculated based on the data collected by photodetectors.

Optical device for measuring speed

A raindrop sensor of the present invention including light emitting part which emits a strip-shaped light; light receiving part which receives the strip-shaped light emitted from the light emitting means; and detecting device which detects a raindrop based on the amount of the light received by the light receiving device. The raindrop sensor of the present invention is applied to a wiper apparatus of a vehicle. The wiper apparatus includes a wiper for wiping a windshield of the vehicle, and a control unit for instructing a given wiper operation to the wiper in accordance with a given output signals from the raindrop sensor, the wiper being driven in accordance with the instruction from the control unit. Also, the wiper apparatus using the raindrop sensor is applied to a vehicle.

Sensor for detecting raindrops, wiper drive apparatus using the device,

Road surface discriminator and apparatus applying same

Growing community of inventors

Kyoto, Japan

Yasunobu Sakai