My solution for windshield wiper design! What do you think?

[Toonces]

The linear drive is much less reliable than the pivoting one. The problem is the contamination of the guides/slides. The snow and ice is another serious obstruction.

The rails could be preheated and facing down to minimize debris intrusion.

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[GnarlyDudeLive]

Whatever the solution the blade *MUST* be very firmly and mechanically attached else a abrupt stop (ie, crash) would sent the wiper blade off whirling like a heat seeking katana of death.

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

All I can say is they're idiots trying to sell you on a product.

Dirt includes bits of rust and iron. That sticks to the magnets. It grinds your surfaces down. It's a pain. If there's an exposed magnetic track... yuck.

-Crissa

That would make sense. The drives in the first link I showed are completely sealed and waterproof and that is one reason I asked for more detail.

 

[Crissa]

That would make sense. The drives in the first link I showed are completely sealed and waterproof and that is one reason I asked for more detail.

Yeah, if they're sealed, but this is a wiper blade, which couldn't be, by definition. The wiper needs to be sticking out into the world to wipe the outside of the windshield,

-Crissa

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

Yeah, if they're sealed, but this is a wiper blade, which couldn't be, by definition. The wiper needs to be sticking out into the world to wipe the outside of the windshield,

-Crissa

I agree, of course, that the wiper does but the drive doesn't. This is not a problem that 'we' can solve and either Tesla can/will solve it or they won't (at least for the first round of CTs). The more I think of it the less conviction I have that the single wiper can work on the CT. It is one thing to attach one to a prototype but an entirely different thing to have it work in all the conditions people here have mentioned. Dual wipers would work as well or poorly as they do now but that would require an opening between the hood and the windshield which Elon appears to have an issue with.

 

[Otar Botchorishvili]

First of all thank you for your answers and ideas.
I'll try to answer and comment topics that need more specific descriptions by me.

* Firstly, arguments around magnetic and ordinary linear motors got HOT. I was thinking about ordinary linear belt using system motor just like they are in CNC machines or plotters. Well, firstly it is simple and well tested for long and dirty use.

* About contamination of the linear system. Dirt, snow and etc. can be issue if they are not taken in account. It is hard to write it down, but in general it is easy to prevent such danger.

* About durability. I agree, it must be tested first. It is impossible to conclude durability over idea.

 

[Dusty]

I'm no expert but I think that if a wiper is that low profile it doesn't prevent the water from resettling on the windshield. As it moves across the windscreen the water is scooped off of the window, flows over the traveling wiper and ends up right back on the windshield as the car travels through the rain.

The wiper has to fling the water off of the window with enough force so that it doesn't find its way back to the window again as the car travels forward. I know there's a video that shows this happening... (searching...)

This video shows a great example of this with the conventional frame style wiper vs beam style. With the frame wiper the water dams up and flows over the thin strip of wiper blade.

 

[GnarlyDudeLive]

The solution to the issue of symmetry of the wiper design is very simple: 2 BAW, one on each side. If 1 BAW is good, logic dictates that 2 would be ~15x better.... Ditch the center mounted camera and replace it with 2 forward looking cameras to allow better wiper coverage for cleaning the lens and to allow stereoscopic vision. This would aid in depth as well as distance perception with only a single frame of data rather than the latency of calculating depth by using a series of frames.

 

[Cyberman]

Well, I guess it's back to laser blasting all water off!

 

[BillyGee]

It has an air compressor, right?

Air knife.

 

[Newton]

iv never really thought of fixing wipers expect 1 time years ago, i pictured a grid of lasers across the windshield to vaporize water before it touched the windshield, but that was just a random though.

because there's no reason, they work fine, are extremely cheap and reliable and easy to replace.

u can come up with novel ways to do anything, high speed air like a dyson hand-dryer, ultrasonic, porus windshields, rereouting ICE exaust to heat air and blow it over the windows, etc.
but rarely would it be better imo

 

[anionic1]

I previously mentioned using the same mechanism that is currently planned for the CT, but instead of this huge traditional wiper using a flat piece of stainless like OP is proposing. That would go much more seemlessly with the design and it could tuck close to the A pillar. Obviously these Tesla engineers are top notch so they're likely trying to come up with the best option available with the constraints they have. I doubt telsa wants to create a custom wiper that you can only buy from them so it looks like they are trying to accomodate industry standard parts there. But it definitely is ugly. And for sure with the current design your passenger wont be able to see very clearly in rain. Overall, the current CT windshield wiper still isn't a very good design.

 

[anionic1]

The linear drive is much less reliable than the pivoting one. The problem is the contamination of the guides/slides. The snow and ice is another serious obstruction.

Snow and ice would be an issue with any wiper, track or not. They could easily heat the track and gasket it to shield it as best as possible. I was thinking a electromagnet solution where the track is actually just a smooth piece of stainless above and below the windshield and a powerful electromagnet pulled a rolling windshield wiper across the window without actually having a mechanical connection. I am guessing it would be a little jerky and not as fast as would be required in heavy rain conditions.

 

[Cybertruck Hawaii]

Well. I was thinking about the wiper problem with the CT. I came across an idea that can be very stylish and also not expensive to implement. I attach video link bellow for better understanding.

The idea is to place the wiper on a beam between the windshield and the door so it doesn't take up any visible space. When not in use, it will be on the level of the surface, like Model S door handles in the closed position. once activated, it will rise to the surface and start moving horizontally (linear motor is not needed, normal servo motor will make it work perfectly). Such a movement will allow you to wipe the entire surface without leaving dusty arcs, as regular wipers do.

If there is a problem with pressure on the surface, a simple low pressure vacuum mechanism can be implemented. Even this feature doesn't make wipers as complicated as regular wipers.





What do you think of this decision. As CT owners, would you like to have these wipers? Or, if there are engineers here, it would be great to hear your opinion.

I still remember my father’s 1960 Ford with engine vacuum operated windshield wipers. It would stop working with climbing a steep hill, and resume working when going downhill, again. It wasn’t broken. That’s just how the laws of physics works.

 

[Klaxon]

Snow and ice would be an issue with any wiper, track or not. They could easily heat the track and gasket it to shield it as best as possible. I was thinking a electromagnet solution where the track is actually just a smooth piece of stainless above and below the windshield and a powerful electromagnet pulled a rolling windshield wiper across the window without actually having a mechanical connection. I am guessing it would be a little jerky and not as fast as would be required in heavy rain conditions.

I guess you never built a real linear drive? With my 40+ in automation and electromechanical design I know that linear drive must have at least 1:3 relation between the guide thickness and the slide length just to start moving. For the reliably working drive that rate should be 1:10. And the slide length is a dead space on a windshield. The rollers should have a min. gap, otherwise the drive will jam. Any torque created by off axis resistance (here sticky insect on a windshield) creates huge jamming force. The dust on a guide under the rollers kills that drive. Sinchronized drive on the both sides of a bridge/vertical bar mechanically is very complex, and non sinchronized will jam. There are many more problems.
From the other side the DC gearmotor has good protection from contamination and is extremely reliable. I designed the test stations for automotive part environment testing where used those gearmotors to drive the multi-million cycle tests in the harshest conditions in a temperature chamber. The gearmotors never failed.
That is a very big topic with tons of details. Sorry, no time for wider explanations.

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