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AUTOMATED RAIN WIPER SYSTEM FOR AUTOMOBILES

Conference Paper · October 2020

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Akila Wijesinghe Nipun Dulantha Wickramasinghe

University of Peradeniya Farbe Technologies
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 AUTOMATED RAIN WIPER SYSTEM FOR AUTOMOBILES
Akila Wijesinghe Dulantha Wickramasinghe
Electrical and Electronic Engineering Electrical and Electronic Engineering
University of Peradeniya University of Peradeniya
Kandy,Sri Lanka Kandy,Sri lanka
akiladwijesinghe@gmail.com dulanthawickramasinghe001@gmail.com
Abstract— The automated rain wiper system is used to detect
rainfall and activate wiper automatically without driver interaction.
This system fulfills the safety of the drivers to focus on their
primary task of driving. At present, engineers are investigating fully
automated systems that vary the speed of the wiper blades according
to the rate of the rainfall and the speed of the vehicle. These
systems are used in luxury cars, SUVs, and other expensive
automobiles. So, that the aim is to develop an automated wiper
system which varies the speed of the wiper blades with the rate of
the rainfall for non-expensive automobiles which ordinary
customers can buy. The project consists of simple components; a
simple raindrop sensor based on the moisture only it shows the
resistance, L293D motor driver IC with 12V motor, pic16F877A
micro-controller and regulators. Furthermore, project’s future
development is to set it up using a standard wiper motor with a
control system and low budget. By adopting this technique we can
achieve the high safety of driver as well as passengers.
Keywords—Automobile,wiper,sensor,automated,control
system,non-expensive
I. INTRODUCTION
Windshield wiper plays an important role in automobiles. It
is an essential requirement in almost all motor vehicles
including trains, aircrafts and watercraft. A wiper normally
consists of an arm, pivoting at one end with a long rubber
blade attached to the other. The blade is swung back and forth
over the surface, removing water. The speed is normally
adjustable manually, with several continuous speeds and often
one or more intermittent settings.
In the modern world, researchers are trying to develop
automobile industry immensely for safety, reliability,
flexibility and entertainment by using modern technology. On
the other hand, consumers are expecting their vehicles to be
auto-driven, voice controlled and GPS assisted visual
directions for driving and equipped with mp3 player, video
player and many more gadgets. These interactions with
gadgets could be very dangerous distraction for the drivers and
passengers. These may cause disastrous accidents.in Unites
states 2841 number of people killed by distracted driving, and
400,000 estimate of people injured in crashed involving
distracted drivers in 2018.So, modern systems have introduced
automated wipers to minimize the distractions of the driver.
This paper proposes a low cost wiper system with simple
and effective concept of electro-mechanical concept to wipe
Chamod Wijedasa
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
University of Peradeniya
Kandy,Sri Lanka
chamodsachintha@gmail.com
the windshield automatically. Automated rain wiper system
provides a clear visibility in rainy seasons to the driver
without any human interrupt. Nowadays, vehicles are
automated whereas the cost of the embedded system used for
critical applications are too high. The vehicle cost will be high
when there is more technology. Current rain sensing systems
use an optical sensor to detect the presence of water which is
too expensive and has many drawbacks. So, this criteria makes
to develop low cost automated wiper system for economy
class automobiles which ordinary consumers can buy.
A. Why automatic wiper?
The National Highway and Transportation Safety
Association reports that twenty six percent of all car accidents
are caused by distraction due to talking on cell phones, eating
while driving, and other similar distractions that take a driver
focus off the road.
Nowadays the entire automobile vehicle is having
automation for the safety purpose. So that automation of
windshield wiper is necessary to reduce the accidents due to
poor visibility. It eliminates the driver attention to on/off or
adjusts the speed of the wiper. Due to automatic operated
wiper the driver can concentrate on road without any
distraction. Therefore, we have pleasure in introducing our
project “Automated rain wiper system for automobiles”. This
system can be implemented in common economic cars
where a common man can also enjoy the benefits.
II. DESIGN
This prototype project consists of following components.
• PIC16F877A microcontroller
• LM7805 regulators
• L293D motor driver IC
• Rain drop sensor
• 15pF capacitors
• 4MHz crystal oscillator
The rain drop sensor is used to measure the rate of rain.
The PIC16F877A microcontroller is used to control the motor
driver according to the output of the rain drop sensor. Sensor
output is given as an input to the microcontroller. This input is
very high when there is no rain and the input is at its lowest
when the rain is at its highest. Microcontroller is programmed
(in assembly language) to give an inverted PWM (pulse-width
modulation) output according to the input. (When the input is
the lowest, PWM output is the highest and when the input is
the highest, PWM output is the lowest.) To make sure the
clock of the microcontroller is working correctly, an external
Fig. 2. LM7805 5V regulator
4MHz crystal oscillator is used. Also, 0V is used as the
reference voltage (Pin 5). To power up the microcontroller 5V 2. Rain drop sensor
is given to 11 and 32 pins. The PWM output of the
Rain drop sensor has two parts, which are power control
microcontroller is given to the “EN1” pin of the motor driver.
circuit and the sensing plate. Sensing plate has nickel strips.
Input1 is given as 5V and Input2 is given as 0V through the
Power control sensing unit supply 5V to the sensing plate
microcontroller. VSS pin is used to power up the motor
terminals. Also, this unit gives the sensor output to the user
controller and the VS pin is used to power up the 12-Volt DC
interface.
motor. Therefore, VSS is given 5V and VS is given 12V.
Since both L293D motor driver and the PIC16f877A
microcontroller use 5V, two regulators are used to supply
power.

Fig. 3. Rain drop sensor

3. PIC16F877A microcontroller
This is a 40-pin microcontroller is used to get analog input
voltage and then to give PWM output voltage according to the
input.

Fig. 1. Proteus simulated circuit

Fig. 4. PIC16F877A microcontroller

III. COMPONENTS OF AUTOMATIC WIPER SYSTEM

4. L293D motor driver
1. LM7805 regulator This IC works on basic principal of H-bridge. Since, the
This 5V regulator is used to reduce the car battery PIC cannot supply the current needed to run the 12V DC
voltage (12V) to 5V. motor L293D motor driver is used.
 V. CONCLUSON AND FUTURE WORK
This project successfully monitors the flow rate of the
water on the surface of the sensor and varies the speed of the
motor accordingly. Thus, this automated wiper system helps
the driver to see the road without any interferences or
obstacles. So, it increases the safety of the driver as well as the
passengers. Most importantly, this automation is low cost,
reliable and can be integrated in economic class automobiles.
Fig. 5. L293D Motor Driver IC
The future scope of this system is to implement this setup
using a standard servo motor with a control system and a low
budget.
5. 4MHz crystal oscillator
Microcontroller clock is adjusted by the crystal oscillator.
This is an electronic oscillator circuit that uses the mechanical
resonance of a vibrating crystal of piezoelectric material to ACKNOWLEDGMENT
create an electrical signal with a precise frequency. This
We would like to express our deep and sincere gratitude to
frequency is used to keep track of time. Mr. Sudheera Nawaratne and Mr. Nalin Harischandra
, the lecturers in Electrical and Electronic department of
university of Peradeniya for giving us the opportunity to do the
project and providing invaluable guidance throughout this
IV. RESULTS
project and the paper.
TABLE 1: Test cases and their Outcomes

Test Plan
REFERENCES
Test
No
PWM Expected Result [1] Kumar Anushumali,and Saswati Bhattacharaya,”Automatic Rain
Test condition
Input data result obtained Sensing Vehicle Wiper”.
Duty ratio Turn off the [2] Muller,Donald L.,and Glen A.Nyberg,”Vehicle Windshield and Wiper
When water Motor is off with Rain Sensor”,U.S.Patent No.4,827,198.2 May 1989.
1 is less motor
is not present mode
than 10% accordingly [3] W. Fleming, “Overview of Automotive Sensors”, IEEE [4]. Sensors J.,
Duty ratio vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 296-308, Dec. 2011.
Motor is on
When low is Turn on the
mode. Speed
2 amount water between motor
is low
is present 10%-50% accordingly

When Turn on the

Duty ratio
considerable motor Motor is on
is
3 amount of Accordingly mode. Speed
between
water is and speed is high
50%-90%
present variation a.
Turn on the
When high
Duty ratio motor Motor is on
amount of
4 is more Accordingly mode. Speed
water is
than 90% and speed is very high
present
variation

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