Development of a LiDAR Cleaning System for Autonomous Trucks
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Program
Product development (MPPDE), MSc
Publicerad
2019
Författare
Gustafsson, Carl
Karlsson, Fredrik
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
Abstract
Autonomous driving is emerging as the future of transportation. For autonomous
driving to be safe and reliable the perception sensors need sufficient vision in sometimes
challenging operating conditions including dust, dirt and moisture. LiDAR
perception sensors used in certain autonomous driving solutions require both a clean
and dry sensor screen. The purpose of this thesis is that through developing and
testing of concepts, provide Volvo with both knowledge and a baseline design to help
with future product development of sensor cleaning systems in similar applications.
The developed concept for an improved cleaning system for the 2D-LiDAR sensors
mounted to autonomous Volvo trucks are used in a mining operation. Emphasis in
the concept is on the resource efficiency of the fluid available on the truck during
operation. A cleaning head placed above the LiDAR does not compete for space
with other systems around the LiDAR, allowing for greater design freedom. The
prototypes indicate high potential in cleaning performance and as they were 3D
printed in PA 12, proved a promising manufacturing method allowing complex geometries.
The design combined with 3D printing also enables flexibility, allowing
quick design changes to conform to different LiDAR shapes. Comparative testing
against the currently implemented cleaning system is done in this thesis with dirt
scenarios from intended to use-cases.
The result provides clear evidence of improvements against the current solution.
Following an exploratory design and testing phase, it was concluded that great
improvement in resource efficiency was achieved through the use of fluid specific
nozzles, drastically reducing the fluid consumption of previous cleaning systems used
by Volvo. Testing also gave evidence of existing knowledge gaps due to the novelty
of the LiDAR cleaning task. This convinced the thesis workers that more research
is needed and that standardized test methods need to be established to facilitate
comparability between cleaning systems developed and tested in the future.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
Autonomous Driving, Autonomous Trucks, LiDAR, Sensor, Cleaning, , Nozzle, 3D printing, Product Development