Heated windshield wiper washer nozzle system and method
US5979796A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 18, 1996 |
| Grant date | Nov 9, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 18, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC B)Performing Operations; Transporting
- CPC primaryB60S1/52
- WIPO fieldTransport
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
A system and method for maintaining a washer fluid above a predetermined temperature at a point of delivery where the fluid is directed onto a windshield of a vehicle. The system and method include a washer nozzle that has an internal resistance such that, when a current is passed through the nozzle, a temperature of nozzle is maintained at a predetermined temperature which is above the freezing temperature of the fluid. In one embodiment, the nozzle body and its electrical terminals are a one-piece molded construction, with another embodiment having a plurality of metallic conductors insert-molded into the nozzle. The nozzle has a nozzle body which is molded of an electrically conductive, internally-resistive, thermo-plastic which can be energized with less than about twenty or even ten amperes so that the nozzle body temperature is maintained above, for example, one hundred twenty degrees Fahrenheit when an ambient temperature of about seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit. In one embodiment, the nozzle body in the embodiment being described has a volume resistance of less than 10.sup.11 ohms-cm and a internal resistance of less than about 500 ohms.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.