Vehicular Camera Module Lens Mounting for High-Temperature Focus Stability
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Rearview cameras for vehicles face challenges such as lens instability at high temperatures due to epoxy softening and inadequate cable exit strategies that are costly, complex, and prone to leaks under automotive conditions.
Innovation Solution
The camera design incorporates conductive coatings on housing members for electrical connectivity and grounding, a lens mounting system with threaded engagement and interference fit for stability, and a sealed cable exit strategy using shrink wrapping for strain relief, which addresses the issues of lens stability and cable management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If epoxy is used to mount the lens member to the front housing member, then the lens member can be positioned, but the lens member becomes vulnerable to movement out of focus under high temperature due to epoxy softening
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the epoxy mounting method entirely and replaces it with a mechanical interference fit system. The lens member is directly fitted into a recess in the front housing member with interference engagement between the lens member outer surface and the recess inner surface, eliminating the temperature-sensitive epoxy material from the mounting mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the chemical bonding mechanism (epoxy) with a mechanical bonding mechanism (interference fit). The mechanical interference fit provides temperature-independent positioning stability through direct physical engagement between the lens member and housing member, substituting the failed chemical bonding system.
2Reliability
If traditional cable exit strategies with grommets and multiple contact interfaces are used, then cable protection is provided, but the system becomes complex, costly, and prone to leaking under off-axis stresses
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple separate cable protection functions into a single integrated cable access feature in the rear housing member. The cable access feature simultaneously provides cable passage, sealing, and strain relief through a unified structure rather than separate grommets, seals, and mounting mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The cable access feature performs multiple functions: it serves as the cable passage route, provides hermetic sealing through engagement between housing members, and delivers cable strain relief through its structural design. This multi-functional element replaces several specialized components in traditional designs.
3Reliability
If conductive coatings are added to housing members for electrical connectivity, then electrical connection assurance is improved, but the manufacturing process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the electrical property parameter of the housing members by adding conductive coatings to their inner surfaces. This modifies the electrical conductivity of the housing members to ensure reliable electrical connection through the interference fit interface without fundamentally changing the manufacturing process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite structure by combining the housing member material with a conductive coating layer. This composite approach integrates electrical conductivity into the existing housing structure, maintaining manufacturing simplicity while adding the required electrical connection capability.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicular camera module includes a front housing member, an imaging sensor, a lens optically aligned with the imaging sensor, a rear housing member, and a circuit board. With the circuit board accommodated within the camera housing formed by the joined front and rear housing members, the imaging sensor is closer to a first side of the circuit board than to a second side of the circuit board. The rear housing member includes an electrical plug connector having a plurality of individual electrically-conductive pins that are configured to plug into respective individual pin-receiving sockets of an electrical socket connector disposed at the second side of the circuit board. Individual electrically-conductive pins of the plurality of individual electrically-conductive pins are plugged into and make electrical-conductive contact with corresponding individual pin-receiving sockets of the plurality of individual pin-receiving sockets.