Lens module

Abstract

The utility model relates to a lens module, which comprises a front shell assembly, a rear shell assembly and a connector, and is characterized in that the front shell assembly comprises a photosensitive circuit board and a lens barrel located on a photosensitive path of the photosensitive circuit board; the rear shell assembly comprises serial circuit boards arranged on the side, away from the lens barrel, of the photosensitive circuit board at intervals, heating elements installed on the side, facing the photosensitive circuit board, of the serial circuit boards and electrically connected to the serial circuit boards, and a rear shell covering the serial circuit boards and fixedly connected to the lens barrel. The serial circuit boards are further provided with receding holes. The connector is electrically connected to the photosensitive circuit board, one end of the connector is installed on the side, facing the serial circuit board, of the photosensitive circuit board and is in heat transfer connection with the photosensitive circuit board and the heating element, and the other end of the connector penetrates through the receding hole and is in heat transfer connection with the rear shell. According to the arrangement, the connector extends between the photosensitive circuit board and the serial circuit board, heat of the heating element and the photosensitive circuit board can be conveniently conducted out, the overall length of the lens module is reduced, and the lens module conforms to the improvement direction of miniaturization of the vehicle-mounted camera.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The utility model relates to the technical field of vehicle-mounted cameras, in particular to a lens module. Background Art

[0002] As the automotive industry continues to evolve, automotive camera manufacturers are increasingly demanding size requirements, striving to minimize the length, width, and height of camera products. Currently, dual-board solutions (sensor circuit board and serial circuit board) can achieve some reduction in automotive camera size by stacking them. However, with the continuous advancement of photosensitive elements, their power consumption is increasing, leading to a growing problem of poor heat dissipation between the two boards in dual-board solutions. Due to the specific operating environment requirements of automotive cameras, they must operate within a temperature range of at least -40°C to 85°C to ensure proper operation. To address this heat dissipation issue, manufacturers have been forced to maintain a certain spacing between the two boards or increase the external dimensions to increase the heat dissipation area. This undoubtedly goes against the trend of miniaturization of automotive cameras. Utility Model Content

[0003] Since existing vehicle-mounted cameras cannot take into account both heat dissipation and miniaturization during the upgrade process, it is necessary to provide a lens module.

[0004] Lens module, including:

[0005] A front housing assembly comprising a photosensitive circuit board and a lens barrel located in a photosensitive path of the photosensitive circuit board;

[0006] a rear housing assembly comprising a serial circuit board spaced apart from the side of the photosensitive circuit board facing away from the lens barrel, a heating element mounted on a side of the serial circuit board facing the photosensitive circuit board and electrically connected to the serial circuit board, and a rear housing covering the serial circuit board and fixedly connected to the lens barrel, wherein the serial circuit board is further provided with an escape hole; and

[0007] A connector electrically connected to the photosensitive circuit board, one end of the connector is installed on the side of the photosensitive circuit board facing the serial circuit board and is thermally connected to the photosensitive circuit board and the heating element, and the other end is passed through the avoidance hole and is thermally connected to the rear shell.

[0008] With this arrangement, a hole is opened in the serial circuit board, so that the connector can be directly extended between the photosensitive circuit board and the serial circuit board, which facilitates the timely discharge of heat from the heating element and the photosensitive circuit board, improves the heat dissipation efficiency, and provides heat dissipation guarantee for the upgrade of the vehicle-mounted camera. Compared with traditional lens modules using connectors of the same length, the connector in the lens module provided by this application is deeper into the module, and the improved heat dissipation efficiency also helps to further reduce the distance between the photosensitive circuit board and the serial circuit board. Therefore, the overall length of the lens module can be shortened, which is in line with the improvement direction of miniaturization of vehicle-mounted cameras.

[0009] In one embodiment, the connector includes a connecting column and a disk body attached to the side of the photosensitive circuit board facing the serial circuit board. One end of the connecting column is fixedly connected to the disk body, and the other end is passed through the avoidance hole and heat-transferably connected to the rear shell body. The disk body is heat-transferably connected to the heating element on the side facing the serial circuit board.

[0010] With this arrangement, the arrangement of the disk body makes the heat transfer area between the connector and the photosensitive circuit board larger, thereby improving the heat transfer efficiency. The disk body is also heat-transfer-connected to the heating element, which means that the heating element and the serial circuit board need to be as close to the photosensitive circuit board as possible, which is in line with the direction of miniaturization improvement of the lens module. The improvement in heat transfer efficiency also ensures the specific implementation of this structure. The disk body can be regarded as a heat concentration and transfer hub between the photosensitive circuit board and the serial circuit board. This centralized heat collection method not only improves the efficiency of heat transfer, but also optimizes the heat transfer path, and provides a structural basis for further improvement.

[0011] In one embodiment, the lens module further includes a heat conducting member attached to the heating element, and a side of the disk body facing the serial circuit board is attached to the heat conducting member.

[0012] In this way, by arranging a heat conductor between the disk body and the heating element, the deficiency of reduced heat transfer efficiency caused by insufficient heat transfer area between the disk body and the heating element can be compensated, thereby ensuring heat dissipation efficiency.

[0013] In one embodiment, the disk is welded to the photosensitive circuit board.

[0014] This arrangement ensures the stability of the heat transfer path between the photosensitive circuit board and the connector, and the metal material of the welding point can also increase the heat transfer efficiency.

[0015] In one embodiment, there are multiple heating elements and they are arranged around the avoidance hole.

[0016] This arrangement concentrates multiple heating elements at the avoidance hole, allowing the disk to fully contact multiple heating elements, improving the heat dissipation effect, ensuring that the camera can operate stably within the harsh operating temperature range of -40 to 85°C, and greatly improving the camera's heat dissipation performance and working reliability.

[0017] In one embodiment, the rear shell has a bottom wall spaced apart from the serial circuit board, a sinking groove recessed from the bottom wall toward the serial circuit board, and a mounting hole located in the sinking groove and corresponding to the avoidance hole, and the connector is inserted into the mounting hole.

[0018] This setting further reduces the size of the lens module and increases the heat dissipation area, which helps to improve the heat dissipation effect.

[0019] In one embodiment, the lens module further includes a flexible heat-conducting ring located in the mounting hole and fixedly connected to the bottom wall, and the connector is interference-inserted into the flexible heat-conducting ring.

[0020] Such a setting ensures the stability of heat transfer between the connector and the rear shell, and also increases the heat transfer area between the connector and the bottom wall of the rear shell, avoiding the problem of being unable to install or unable to transfer heat due to the size mismatch between the connector and the mounting hole.

[0021] In one embodiment, the flexible heat-conductive ring is located on a side of the bottom wall facing the serial circuit board and abuts against the serial circuit board.

[0022] Such an arrangement, combined with the concave design of the bottom wall, is also beneficial for shortening the thickness of the flexible heat-conducting ring and shortening the heat transfer path between the serial circuit board and the rear wall.

[0023] In one embodiment, the photosensitive circuit board includes a circuit board and a photosensitive element mounted on the circuit board, and the connector is mounted on one end of the circuit board and arranged corresponding to the photosensitive element.

[0024] With this arrangement, the disk body is close to the heat source of the photosensitive element, which is beneficial to improving the heat dissipation effect on the photosensitive element.

[0025] In one embodiment, the avoidance hole is arranged corresponding to the photosensitive element.

[0026] This arrangement ensures that the heat of the photosensitive element is transmitted outwards along the shortest possible path, which is beneficial for improving heat dissipation efficiency. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] Figure 1 A cross-sectional view of the lens module in the first embodiment provided in this application;

[0028] Figure 2A cross-sectional view of the lens module in the second embodiment provided in this application;

[0029] Figure 3 This is a cross-sectional view of the lens module in the third embodiment provided in this application.

[0030] Reference numerals:

[0031] 10. Front shell assembly; 11. Photosensitive circuit board; 111. Circuit board; 112. Photosensitive element; 12. Lens barrel; 121. Barrel body; 122. Front shell; 20. Rear shell assembly; 21. Serial circuit board; 211. Avoidance hole; 22. Heating element; 23. Rear shell; 231. Sinking groove; 232. Mounting hole; 30. Connector; 31. Disk; 32. Connecting column; 40. Heat conductor; 50. Flexible thermal ring. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] To make the above-mentioned objects, features, and advantages of the present invention more clearly understood, the following detailed description of specific embodiments of the present invention is provided in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The following description sets forth many specific details to facilitate a full understanding of the present invention. However, the present invention can be implemented in many other ways than those described herein, and those skilled in the art may make similar modifications without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.

[0033] In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", "axial", "radial", "circumferential" and the like to indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be understood as a limitation to the present invention.

[0034] Furthermore, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of the technical features being referred to. Thus, a feature specified as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one such feature. In the description of this utility model, "plurality" means at least two, such as two, three, etc., unless otherwise specifically defined.

[0035] In the utility model, unless another definite provision and limitation, the terms "mount", "connect", "joint", "fix" and so on should do the broad sense understanding, for example, can be fixed connection, also can be detachable connection, or be integrated;Can be mechanical connection, also can be electrical connection;Can be direct connection, also can be indirectly connected through the intermediate medium, can be the intercommunication of two elements or the interaction of two elements, unless another definite limitation.For the ordinary skill in the art, the specific meaning of the above terms in the utility model can be understood according to the specific circumstances.

[0036] In the utility model, unless another definite provision and limitation, the first feature is "on" or "under" the second feature can be that the first and second features are in direct contact, or the first and second features are indirectly in contact through an intermediate medium.Moreover, the first feature "above", "over" and "on" the second feature can be that the first feature is directly above or obliquely above the second feature, or only indicates that the horizontal height of the first feature is higher than that of the second feature.The first feature "below", "under" and "on" the second feature can be that the first feature is directly below or obliquely below the second feature, or only indicates that the horizontal height of the first feature is less than that of the second feature.

[0037] It should be noted that when an element is referred to as "fixed to" or "provided to" another element, it can be directly on another element or there can be a middle element.When an element is considered "connected" to another element, it can be directly connected to another element or there can be a middle element.The terms "vertical", "horizontal", "up", "down", "left", "right" and similar expressions used herein are for illustrative purposes only and are not the only implementation.

[0038] With the continuous evolution of the vehicle-mounted industry, the vehicle-mounted camera client is increasingly strict in its size requirements, striving to minimize the length, width and height of the camera product.Currently, the double-board (sensor circuit board and serial circuit board) scheme can reduce the size of the vehicle-mounted camera to a certain extent through the stacking method.However, with the continuous upgrading of the photosensitive element, the power consumption of the photosensitive element is increasing, which causes the problem of poor heat dissipation between the two boards in the double-board scheme to become increasingly serious.Because of the special requirements of the working environment, the vehicle-mounted camera must at least meet the working temperature range of-40~85℃ to ensure its normal operation.In order to solve this heat dissipation problem, manufacturers have to take measures such as keeping the spacing between the double boards within a certain range or increasing the external size to increase the heat dissipation area, which is undoubtedly contrary to the development direction of the miniaturization of vehicle-mounted cameras.

[0039] Therefore, it is necessary to provide a lens module that can improve the heat dissipation effect while maintaining the size of the existing vehicle-mounted camera.

[0040] Please refer to Figure 1 , Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the lens module in the first embodiment provided by this application. The lens module includes a front shell assembly 10, a rear shell assembly 20 and a connector 30. The front shell assembly 10 includes a photosensitive circuit board 11 and a lens barrel 12 located in the photosensitive path of the photosensitive circuit board 11. The photosensitive circuit board 11 includes a circuit board 111 and a photosensitive element 112 installed on the circuit board 111. The lens barrel 12 includes a front shell 122 and a barrel body 121 installed on the front shell 122. The rear shell assembly 20 includes a serial circuit board 21, a heating element 22 and a rear shell 23. The serial circuit board 21 is arranged at intervals between the photosensitive circuit board 111 and the photosensitive element 112 installed on the circuit board 111. The board 11 is on the side facing away from the lens barrel 12, the heating element 22 is installed on the side of the serial circuit board 21 facing the photosensitive circuit board 11 and is electrically connected to the serial circuit board 21, the rear shell 23 is covered by the serial circuit board 21 and fixedly connected to the lens barrel 12, the connector 30 is electrically connected to the photosensitive circuit board 11, one end of the connector 30 is installed on the side of the photosensitive circuit board 11 facing the serial circuit board 21 and is heat-transferably connected to the photosensitive circuit board 11 and the heating element 22, and the other end is passed through the avoidance hole 211 and is heat-transferably connected to the rear shell 23. This arrangement has at least the following advantages: First, the serial circuit board 21 is opened so that the connector 30 can be directly inserted between the photosensitive circuit board 11 and the serial circuit board 21, which facilitates the timely discharge of heat from the heating element 22. The heat of the photosensitive circuit board 11 can also be discharged through the heat dissipation path of the connector 30, thereby improving the heat dissipation efficiency and providing heat dissipation guarantee for the upgrade of the vehicle-mounted camera; at the same time, compared with the traditional lens module using a connector 30 of the same length, the connector 30 in the lens module provided by the present application is deeper into the module, and the improved heat dissipation efficiency also helps to further reduce the distance between the photosensitive circuit board 11 and the serial circuit board 21, so the overall length of the lens module can be reduced, which is in line with the improvement direction of miniaturization of vehicle-mounted cameras.

[0041] Optionally, in order to further improve the heat dissipation effect and reduce the overall length of the lens module, in an embodiment provided by the present application, the connector 30 comprises a connecting column 32 and a disc body 31, the disc body 31 is attached to the side of the photosensitive circuit board 11 facing the serial circuit board 21, one end of the connecting column 32 is fixedly connected to the disc body 31, the other end is arranged in the avoiding hole 211 and is heat-transferringly connected to the rear shell 23, and the side of the disc body 31 facing the serial circuit board 21 is heat-transferringly connected to the heating element 22. First, the disc body 31 is arranged to make the heat transfer area between the connector 30 and the photosensitive circuit board 11 larger, thereby improving the heat transfer efficiency; second, the disc body 31 is also heat-transferringly connected to the heating element 22, since the disc body 31 is attached to the photosensitive circuit board 11, the heating element 22 also needs to be as close as possible to the photosensitive circuit board 11, which means that the serial circuit board 21 also needs to be as close as possible to the photosensitive circuit board 11, that is, the lens module needs to shorten the interval between the photosensitive circuit board 11 and the serial circuit board 21 in the structural design, which conforms to the direction of miniaturization improvement of the lens module, and the high heat dissipation efficiency of the connector 30 also ensures the implementation of the structural design. From the overall heat dissipation of the lens module, the disc body 31 can be regarded as a heat collection and transmission hub between the photosensitive circuit board 11 and the serial circuit board 21, this centralized heat collection method not only improves the heat transfer efficiency, but also optimizes the heat transfer path and provides a structural basis for further improvement: for example, in the upgrading process of the vehicle-mounted camera, other heating devices added can also be heat-dissipated outward through the disc body 31, only the corresponding heat pipe needs to be added or the shape of the disc body 31 needs to be designed accordingly, without the need to redesign the photosensitive circuit board 11 or the serial circuit board 21 again, which undoubtedly reduces the development cost and testing cost. It can be understood that the shape of the disc body 31 can be but is not limited to circular, square, oval, as long as it does not affect the circuit arrangement of the photosensitive circuit board 11. Preferably, the end of the connector 30 installed on the circuit board 111 is arranged corresponding to the photosensitive element 112, that is, the disc body 31 is arranged corresponding to the photosensitive element 112, so that the disc body 31 is close to the heat source of the photosensitive element 112; further, the avoiding hole 211 is arranged corresponding to the photosensitive element 112, which makes the heat transfer path of the photosensitive element 112 outward the shortest, which is beneficial to improve the heat dissipation efficiency.

[0042] Preferably, in one embodiment provided herein, the lens module further includes a heat conductor 40 attached to the heating element 22. The side of the disk 31 facing the serial circuit board 21 is attached to the heat conductor 40. This compensates for the reduced heat transfer efficiency caused by the insufficient heat transfer area between the disk 31 and the heating element 22, thereby ensuring heat dissipation efficiency. Specifically, in one embodiment provided herein, the heat conductor 40 is a thermally conductive coating applied to the heating element 22. The thermally conductive coating can be made of thermal grease or thermally conductive adhesive. The thermal conductivity of the thermally conductive coating is 5 to 10 W / mk, and the thickness of the thermally conductive coating is 0.5 to 1 mm. Optionally, when the distance between the heating element 22 and the disk body 31 is large, the thermally conductive coating is no longer applicable. To solve this problem, in an embodiment provided in the present application, the thermal conductive member 40 adopts a flexible thermally conductive insulating sheet that is attached to the heating element 22, and the side of the disk body 31 facing the serial circuit board 21 abuts against the flexible thermally conductive insulating sheet. For easy installation, the flexible thermally conductive insulating sheet is pre-bonded to the surface of the heating element 22. When the connector 30 is installed in the rear shell assembly 20 along with the front shell assembly 10, the disk body 31 of the connector 30 abuts against the flexible thermally conductive insulating sheet. Under the action of extrusion, the flexible thermally conductive insulating sheet is deformed to fully fit with the heating element 22 and the disk body 31, thereby ensuring the stability of the heat transfer path; in addition, the flexible thermally conductive insulating sheet can also play a buffering role, and can also absorb vibration energy when the lens module is vibrated, thereby protecting the heating element 22.

[0043] Optionally, to improve the stability of the connector 30 installation, the plate 31 is welded to the photosensitive circuit board 11. It can be understood that the plate 31 is a welding plate. This can also ensure the stability of the heat transfer path between the photosensitive circuit board 11 and the connector 30. The metal material of the welding point can also increase the heat transfer efficiency.

[0044] Optionally, in one embodiment provided herein, there are multiple heating elements 22 arranged around the avoidance hole 211. In this way, the multiple heating elements 22 are concentrated at the avoidance hole 211, so that the disk 31 can fully contact the multiple heating elements 22, thereby improving the heat dissipation effect, ensuring that the camera can operate stably within the strict operating temperature range of -40 to 85°C, and greatly improving the camera's heat dissipation performance and operating reliability.

[0045] Optionally, in order to further reduce the size of the lens module, in this embodiment provided in the present application, the rear shell 23 has a bottom wall spaced apart from the serial circuit board 21, a sinking groove 231 recessed from the bottom wall toward the serial circuit board 21, and a mounting hole 232 located in the sinking groove 231 and corresponding to the avoidance hole 211. The connector 30 is passed through the mounting hole 232, which further increases the heat dissipation area and helps to improve the heat dissipation effect.

[0046] Please also refer to Figure 1-3 , Figure 2 This is a schematic structural diagram of the lens module in the second embodiment provided in this application. Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the lens module in the third embodiment provided in the present application. Furthermore, in order to ensure the stability of heat transfer between the connector 30 and the rear shell 23, in one embodiment provided in the present application, the lens module also includes a flexible heat-conducting ring 50 located in the mounting hole 232 and fixedly connected to the bottom wall. The connector 30 is interference-inserted in the flexible heat-conducting ring 50. The flexible heat-conducting ring 50 also increases the heat transfer area between the connector 30 and the bottom wall of the rear shell 23, thereby avoiding the problem of being unable to install or unable to transfer heat due to the size mismatch between the connector 30 and the mounting hole 232. It is understandable that, if Figure 1 and Figure 2 As shown, the flexible heat-conducting ring 50 can be located on the side of the bottom wall facing the serial circuit board 21 , or on the side of the bottom wall facing outward.

[0047] Optional, such as Figure 3 As shown in , when the flexible thermally conductive ring 50 can be located on the side of the bottom wall facing the serial circuit board 21, the flexible thermally conductive ring 50 also abuts against the serial circuit board 21. At this time, the concave design of the bottom wall is also conducive to shortening the thickness of the flexible thermally conductive ring 50 and shortening the heat transfer path between the serial circuit board 21 and the rear wall.

[0048] It is understandable that there can be two flexible heat-conducting rings 50 , which are respectively attached to the inner and outer sides of the bottom wall. This can further increase the sealing performance of the mounting hole 232 and enhance the waterproof and dustproof effects.

[0049] See also Figure 1 Optionally, in the embodiment provided in the present application, when the flexible thermally conductive ring 50 is spaced apart from the serial circuit board 21, metal particles may be added to the flexible thermally conductive ring 50 to conduct electricity with the connector 30, thereby solving the problem of EMC (Electro Magnetic Compatibility) of the circuit board.

[0050] The technical features of the above-mentioned embodiments can be combined arbitrarily. In order to make the description concise, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above-mentioned embodiments are described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, they should be considered to be within the scope of this specification.

[0051] The above-described embodiments merely represent several implementations of the present invention. While the descriptions are relatively specific and detailed, they should not be construed as limiting the scope of the utility model patent. It should be noted that a person skilled in the art would be able to make various modifications and improvements without departing from the concept of the present invention, and these modifications and improvements fall within the scope of protection of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present utility model patent shall be determined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A lens module, characterized in that: include: A front housing assembly comprising a photosensitive circuit board and a lens barrel located in a photosensitive path of the photosensitive circuit board; a rear housing assembly comprising a serial circuit board spaced apart from the side of the photosensitive circuit board facing away from the lens barrel, a heating element mounted on a side of the serial circuit board facing the photosensitive circuit board and electrically connected to the serial circuit board, and a rear housing covering the serial circuit board and fixedly connected to the lens barrel, wherein the serial circuit board is further provided with an escape hole; and A connector electrically connected to the photosensitive circuit board, one end of the connector is installed on the side of the photosensitive circuit board facing the serial circuit board and is thermally connected to the photosensitive circuit board and the heating element, and the other end is passed through the avoidance hole and is thermally connected to the rear shell.

2. The lens module according to claim 1, wherein: The connector includes a connecting column and a disk body attached to the side of the photosensitive circuit board facing the serial circuit board. One end of the connecting column is fixedly connected to the disk body, and the other end is passed through the avoidance hole and heat-transferably connected to the rear shell body. The disk body is heat-transferably connected to the heating element on the side facing the serial circuit board.

3. The lens module according to claim 2, wherein: The lens module further includes a heat conducting member attached to the heating element, and a side of the disk body facing the serial circuit board is attached to the heat conducting member.

4. The lens module according to claim 2, wherein: The disk body is welded to the photosensitive circuit board.

5. The lens module according to claim 1, wherein: There are multiple heating elements and they are arranged around the avoidance hole.

6. The lens module according to claim 1, wherein: The rear housing has a bottom wall spaced apart from the serial circuit board, a sinking groove recessed from the bottom wall toward the serial circuit board, and a mounting hole located in the sinking groove and corresponding to the avoidance hole, and the connector is passed through the mounting hole.

7. The lens module according to claim 6, wherein: The lens module further includes a flexible heat-conducting ring located in the mounting hole and fixedly connected to the bottom wall, and the connector is interference-inserted in the flexible heat-conducting ring.

8. The lens module according to claim 7, wherein: The flexible heat-conductive ring is located on a side of the bottom wall facing the serial circuit board and abuts against the serial circuit board.

9. The lens module according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein: The photosensitive circuit board includes a circuit board and a photosensitive element installed on the circuit board. The connector is installed on one end of the circuit board and arranged corresponding to the photosensitive element.

10. The lens module according to claim 9, wherein: The avoidance hole is arranged corresponding to the photosensitive element.

Images