2 Introduction

Ultrasonic Lens Cleaning is a new way to clean lenses without any bulky components. ULC is highly effective at clearing water or ice, and significantly improves visibility with contaminants such as mud or dirt. For strict cleaning applications, ULC can pair with a water jet. Compared with a traditional water jet system, ULC eliminates the need for a complimentary air jet system and reduces water consumption.

Texas Instruments created the Ultrasonic Lens Cleaning (ULC) system for removing water, ice, or other contaminants from cover lenses in automotive and industrial systems. This technology uses a carefully manufactured mechanical system comprised of a piezo transducer glued directly, or indirectly through a bracket, to a lens (glass or other materials) that can be placed over the camera or in the camera stack. A glued transducer and lens combination intended to cover a camera module is called a Lens Cover. The Lens Cover is mounted inside a housing creating the Lens Cover System (LCS). For the purpose of this document, LCS refers to a lens cover system as well as an integrated piezo-based lens cleaning system. The ULC1001-DRV290x EVM is the electrical system developed to drive the piezo element of the LCS causing expulsion of contaminants from the lens through mechanical vibrations. This EVM is easily controlled via I²C using the available PC based GUI. The schematic is shown in Section 6.1.

Texas Instruments develops prototype mechanical systems and production ready electrical systems required for Ultrasonic Lens Cleaning. Mechanical systems developed by other companies can also be driven with the ULC1001-DRV290x EVM. Texas Instruments’ LCS is designed using specific parameters and components to provide high reliability and excellent cleaning performance. For more mechanical details on the LCS, please refer the Mechanical Design Guides.

The ULC1001-DRV290x EVM is a flexible system designed to eliminate design complexities for ultrasonic lens cleaning applications. Through the GUI, users can quickly start developing and evaluating ultrasonic lens cleaning applications. Alternatively, four programmable buttons on the EVM can be programmed to drive specific cleaning modes using the on-board MSP430. The ULC1001-DRV290x EVM contents are listed in Section 3.1.