Thermal Management of a Windshield Mounted Intelligent Forward View Camera

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) rely on camera sensors to work effectively to provide warning signs to prevent forward and rearward collision, lane departure, pedestrian detection, traffic sign recognition, automatic headlight control and assists for autonomous driving. Generally, vision based ADAS systems have wide angle cameras installed on front, rear and sides of the vehicle. These camera-based vision sensors are subjected to severe thermal environments that can impact its sensing performance and image quality. Hence it is imperative to thermally qualify the camera module to ensure reliable performance without loss in functionality. The thermal environment experienced by these cameras vary based on their mounting location. Intelligent forward view cameras are mounted in windshield region of the vehicle and encounter sun load in order of 1000 W/m². The camera module will also be enclosed by a beauty cover, that acts as an enclosure leading to a higher ambient temperature around the camera module during its operation. The thermal boundary conditions experienced by cameras in the field will also vary transiently based on wind speed, vehicle movement, and air conditioning inside the cabin. The thermal qualification needs to be done for both steady state and transient condition, replicating validation conditions in thermal chamber and in field vehicle scenario respectively. Thermally qualifying the prototype design with simulation tools virtually provides the advantage of cost and time savings. This paper covers the thermal management challenges and studies carried out virtually for one of such intelligent forward view cameras.