Patent ID: 7775224

Claim:
Apparatus for cleaning a window of a vehicle, comprising: a vessel, having an inlet through which a washing fluid is received from a reservoir and an outlet through which the fluid is discharged for cleaning the window; a heating element for selectively heating the fluid in the vessel and for selectively preheating the vessel before the fluid is received therein; a pump for selectively conveying the fluid from the reservoir into the vessel; a vessel temperature sensor for generating signals indicative of a temperature associated with the vessel sensed thereby; and a controller for selectively actuating the heating element, for receiving the signals from the temperature sensor, and for regulating the discharge of the fluid from the vessel and the conveyance of the fluid into the vessel by the pump at least partly in response to the signals, whereby the controller is configured to actuate the heating element to preheat the vessel prior to causing the pump to convey an initial quantity of the fluid into the vessel for rapid heating thereof, then to cause the discharge of the preheated fluid from the vessel.