公开(公告)号：US20220113381A1

公开(公告)日：2022-04-14

申请号：US17645574

申请日：2021-12-22

Applicant: DENSO CORPORATION

Inventor： Masahiro YAMAMOTO ,  Chiharu UCHIYAMA

IPC: G01S7/481 ,  G01S17/931

Abstract: A ranging apparatus is provided which is mountable to a vehicle and emits a transmit wave and receives a reflected wave arising from reflection of the transmit signal from an object to calculate a distance to the object. The ranging apparatus includes a light transmissive window, a heater, and a controller. The light transmissive window permits at least one of the transmit wave and the reflected wave to pass through. The heater works to add thermal energy to the light transmissive window. The controller uses an ambient temperature outside the ranging apparatus and a speed of the vehicle derived from a vehicle speed sensor to control energization of the heater. When the vehicle speed sensor is malfunctioning, the controller controls the energization of the heater as a function of the ambient temperature without use of the speed of the vehicle.