Patent Application
20220091270
The subject disclosure relates to a vehicle-integrated lidar system.
Vehicles (e.g., automobiles, trucks, construction equipment, farm equipment, automated factory equipment) increasingly employ sensors to obtain information about the vehicle and its environment. Information from the sensors facilitates semi-autonomous operation (e.g., lane departure correction, automated steering or braking) and autonomous operation of the vehicle. Exemplary sensors that obtain information about the environment of the vehicle include cameras, radio detection and ranging (radar) systems, and light detection and ranging (lidar) systems. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a vehicle-integrated lidar system.
In one exemplary embodiment, a method of integrating a lidar system in a vehicle includes disposing one or more receive portions of the lidar system in one or more first locations of the vehicle, and fabricating an integrated transmit portion of the lidar system to be disposed in a second location of the vehicle. The fabricating includes injection molding optical components to light emitting devices affixed to a printed circuit board to form a transmit portion and overmolding one or more additional elements to the transmit portion. The overmolding includes performing one or more additional injection molding processes.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the injection molding the optical components includes aligning each of the optical components to each of the light emitting devices based on locating pins.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the overmolding the one or more additional elements includes overmolding a high transmission material.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the overmolding the one or more additional elements includes overmolding an external component, the external component being a headlight, trim piece, facia, housing, or panel.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, disposing the integrated transmit portion in the second location includes positioning the integrated transmit portion behind a headlight.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, disposing the integrated transmit portion in the second location includes positioning the integrated transmit portion behind vehicle badging.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, disposing the integrated transmit portion in the second location includes positioning the integrated transmit portion behind facia of the vehicle.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the disposing the one or more receive portions includes disposing one receive portion on a roof of the vehicle.
In another exemplary embodiment, a method of fabricating an integrated transmit portion of a lidar system in a vehicle includes injection molding optical components to light emitting devices affixed to a printed circuit board to form a transmit portion and overmolding one or more additional elements to the transmit portion.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the injection molding the optical components includes aligning each of the optical components to each of the light emitting devices using locating pins.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the overmolding the one or more additional elements includes overmolding a high transmission material.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the overmolding the one or more additional elements includes overmolding an external component, the external component being a headlight, trim piece, facia, housing, or panel.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the method also includes disposing the integrated transmit portion behind a headlight.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the method also includes disposing the integrated transmit portion behind vehicle badging.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the method also includes disposing the integrated transmit portion behind facia of the vehicle.
In yet another exemplary embodiment, an integrated transmit portion of a lidar system in a vehicle includes light emitting devices affixed to a printed circuit board (PCB), and optical components that are injection molded to the light emitting devices to be bonded with the light emitting devices. The light emitting devices, PCB, and the optical components form a transmit portion. Each of the optical components is aligned with one of the light emitting devices.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the light emitting devices include light emitting diodes or a vertical cavity surface emitting laser array, and the optical components include an array of micro lenses or beam shapers.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the integrated transmit portion also includes one or more additional elements overmolded to be bonded with the transmit portion, wherein the one or more additional elements include a high transmission material or an external component, the external component being a headlight, trim piece, facia, housing, or panel.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the integrated transmit portion is located behind a headlight, vehicle badging, or facia of the vehicle.
In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the PCB includes a thermoelectric cooler c to transfer heat from the light emitting devices to a coolant system of the vehicle.
The above features and advantages, and other features and advantages of the disclosure are readily apparent from the following detailed description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.
Other features, advantages and details appear, by way of example only, in the following detailed description, the detailed description referring to the drawings in which:
The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure, its application or uses. It should be understood that throughout the drawings, corresponding reference numerals indicate like or corresponding parts and features.
As previously noted, a lidar system is among the sensors in a vehicle that may be used to obtain information about the environment around the vehicle. This information may facilitate semi-autonomous or autonomous operation of the vehicle. Embodiments of the systems and methods detailed herein relate to a vehicle-integrated lidar system. Generally, a lidar system includes a transmit portion that emits light and a receive portion that detects the reflection of some of the emitted light by an object (e.g., road surface, another vehicle, pedestrian). A set of detections, referred to as a point cloud, can provide an accurate image within the field of view of the lidar system.
A vehicle lidar system may have the transmit portion and receive portion packaged together and placed on the roof or in a cutout portion of the grill or facia of the vehicle. However, the size of such a combined system can prove problematic. For example, the relatively large combined system can be difficult to hide for aesthetic considerations. In addition, the heat generated by both the transmit portion and receive portion is exacerbated by the combination and the locations available to the combination. On the roof, sunloading can exacerbate the thermal output of the system itself, and behind the grill or facia, engine heat can add to the thermal output of the system.
In view of these issues, the vehicle-integrated lidar system according to one or more embodiments separates the transmit portion and receive portion. The receive portion may be placed behind the windshield in the passenger compartment where it does not present heat-generation issues and where it can be kept clean, for example. The transmit portion is placed behind facia, as detailed herein. More specifically, the transmit portion is fabricated into an integrated transmit portion based on overmolding according to one or more embodiments. This integrated transmit portion may be placed behind an optically transparent exterior component of the vehicle or may be integrated into different parts of the vehicle (i.e., an exterior component is overmolded as part of the integrated transmit portion). Overmolding refers to a multi-step injection molding process, as detailed. Because the transmit portion is separated from the receive portion, additional receivers aligned with the transmit portion may be arranged within the vehicle or a receive portion may scan over areas illuminated by additional transmit portions. The numbers and relative arrangements of the transmit portion and the receive portion are not limited by the discussion herein.
In accordance with an exemplary embodiment,
The vehicle 100 may also include one or more controllers 130. The controller 130 may obtain information from the lidar system 105 and/or one or more other sensors 140 and control autonomous or semi-autonomous operation of the vehicle 100. The controller 130 includes processing circuitry that may include an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and memory that executes one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that provide the described functionality.
As shown, the PCB 230 may include a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) 240 that manages the heat in the transmit portion 110. Specifically, the TEC 240 absorbs heat from the light emitting devices 210 and transfers the heat to a coolant system 250 of the vehicle 100. According to exemplary alternate embodiments, the TEC 240 may transfer heat to a liquid coolant of a battery pack or a cooler of a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system of the vehicle 100. That is, the arrangement and exemplary location of the transmit portion 110 not only allows this high power and heat component of the lidar system 115 to be separated from the receive portion 120 in the passenger compartment but also facilitates taking advantage of a cooling system 250 that is already present in the vehicle 100.
As further detailed in
In alternate embodiments, the optical components 220 may be placed in correspondence with the light emitting devices 210. In either case, precise alignment between each light emitting device 210 and corresponding optical component 220 is facilitated by locating pins used by the injection molding tool 310 or locating pins used in the placement. Once the optical components 220 are injected in the first shot, according to the exemplary embodiment, the core 320 is removed.
While the above disclosure has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from its scope. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the disclosure without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the present disclosure not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but will include all embodiments falling within the scope thereof.
