Lens Guide Device Using Rolling Bodies to Eliminate Frame Inclination
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing lens moving devices face issues with lens frame inclination during movement and stop, leading to position shifts in the optical axis, increased sliding resistance, and difficulty in maintaining a compact device size, especially when imaging direction changes.
Innovation Solution
A lens guide device incorporating a combination of guide members and rolling bodies, with a biasing mechanism to maintain contact and prevent rattling, allowing smooth movement and accurate positioning of the lens frame, utilizing spheres and flat plate-like guide members to minimize gaps and maintain contact, and a lens driving mechanism for precise control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a gap is formed between the guide hole and the first guide member to enable smooth movement, then the lens frame can move smoothly, but the lens frame becomes inclined during movement and stop, causing position shifts in the optical axis direction
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces rolling bodies (balls) as intermediary elements between the guide members and the lens frame. These rolling bodies mediate the interaction, allowing smooth movement through rolling contact while maintaining precise positioning by eliminating the inclination problem associated with direct sliding contact in gaps.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the sliding friction mechanism with a rolling friction mechanism. By substituting the direct sliding contact between the lens frame and guide members with rolling contact through ball elements, the system achieves both smooth movement and accurate positioning, eliminating the inclination issue caused by gap-based sliding guides.
2Stability of the object's composition
If a coil spring is used to bias the lens frame toward one guide member to remove rattling, then rattling is eliminated, but the sliding resistance increases and the device size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The rolling bodies serve as mediators that eliminate rattling through continuous rolling contact, replacing the need for coil springs. This intermediary mechanism provides stable guidance without the additional components and space requirements of spring-based biasing systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent substitutes the spring-based mechanical biasing system with a rolling contact guidance system. This replacement eliminates the need for elastic elements and associated mounting structures, reducing device complexity while maintaining stability and eliminating rattling through the inherent properties of rolling contact.
3Stability of the object's composition
If balls are disposed on both sides of the optical axis to guide the lens frame through rolling, then inclination is removed, but the guide mechanism increases in size making it difficult to maintain a compact device
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the guidance function and the inclination prevention function into a single integrated guide member structure. The guide members are designed with specific geometries that incorporate multiple rolling bodies in a compact arrangement, combining several functions into unified components to maintain compactness while eliminating inclination.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent optimizes the spatial arrangement of rolling bodies by utilizing three-dimensional space efficiently. Rolling bodies are positioned at strategic locations along the guide members, using vertical and lateral dimensions to provide stable guidance without increasing the overall footprint of the device, thus maintaining compactness.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively removes lens frame inclination, ensures accurate positioning, and maintains a compact device size by reducing sliding resistance and position shifts, enabling quick and accurate focusing, especially in macro imaging and varying imaging modes.
Implementation Method 1
a first rolling body moved while being in contact with the first guide member; a second rolling body moved while being in contact with the second guide member
Implementation Method 2
a biasing mechanism that biases one of the first and second rolling bodies toward the other of the first and second rolling bodies
Data Source
AI summary
There are provided a lens guide device, a lens moving device, and an imaging apparatus that can accurately position a lens frame regardless of an attitude, such as an imaging direction. A first-rail supports a first-rolling-body so as to allow the first-rolling-body to be rollable in a first-direction parallel to an optical-axis of a first-focus-lens. A second-rail supports a second-rolling-body so as to allow the second-rolling-body to be rollable in the first-direction. A biasing-mechanism supports the first-rolling-body so as to allow the first-rolling-body to be movable in the first-direction, and biases the first-rolling-body toward the first-rail. A third-rail is provided in parallel with the second-rail. The third-rail supports the second-rolling-body so as to allow the second-rolling-body to be movable in the first-direction. Since the first-rail and the second-rail are moved and guided in a first direction by the first-rolling-body and the second-rolling-body, a lens frame is not inclined.