Liquid Lens Drive Controller Resonance Tracking Delayer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Variable focal length lens apparatuses with resonance locking experience image quality degradation and visual discomfort due to frequency changes during image measurement, causing flickering and motion-sickness-like effects.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a tracking delayer, such as a low-pass filter, to delay and constrain frequency changes in the drive signal, ensuring gentle changes and reducing high-frequency components, thereby stabilizing image quality without requiring high-processing-capability computers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If resonance locking control is applied to automatically track the drive signal frequency, then the standing wave generation efficiency is improved, but the image quality deteriorates due to frequency changes during image measurement
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the drive signal frequency to track the resonance frequency of the liquid lens system, improving standing wave generation efficiency. The frequency is not fixed but adapts to the system's resonance characteristics, allowing optimal energy transfer while maintaining image quality through controlled adjustment rates.
Solution Approach 2:
The resonance lock controller changes the frequency parameter of the drive signal to match the resonance frequency of the liquid lens system. By adjusting this parameter dynamically, the system achieves efficient standing wave generation while the controlled rate of change prevents image quality degradation.
2Speed
If the frequency of the drive signal is changed rapidly to track resonance frequency, then the response speed is improved, but visual discomfort increases due to flickering
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs dynamic frequency adjustment where the drive signal frequency tracks the resonance frequency. The tracking is performed with controlled speed to balance response time with image stability, preventing flickering while maintaining adequate tracking performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The system prepares for potential frequency shifts by implementing smooth transition protocols. The frequency changes are buffered and controlled to avoid abrupt transitions that would cause flickering, cushioning the impact of frequency adjustments on image quality.
3Measurement precision
If a high-processing-capability computer is used to control frequency changes, then the control precision is improved, but the system cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces expensive high-processing-capability computers with a simpler, more cost-effective control implementation. The resonance lock controller achieves adequate control precision through efficient algorithms and hardware optimization, eliminating the need for costly computing resources.
Solution Approach 2:
The system substitutes complex computational processing with a more straightforward control architecture. By using dedicated control hardware and optimized algorithms, the system achieves the necessary control precision without relying on high-performance general-purpose computers, thereby reducing system cost.
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
This approach allows for efficient generation of standing waves and high-quality image acquisition while avoiding flickering and the need for expensive processing systems, enabling a low-cost variable focal length lens apparatus.
Implementation Method 1
a hollow cylindrical oscillating member that is formed of a piezoelectric material. In the liquid lens system, when AC voltage is applied to an inner circumferential surface and outer circumferential surface of the oscillating member, the oscillating member expands and contracts in a thickness direction and oscillates the liquid inside the oscillating member
Implementation Method 2
By adjusting a frequency of the applied voltage according to the natural frequency of the liquid, a standing wave of concentric circles is formed in the liquid
Implementation Method 3
concentric circular regions having different refractive indexes are formed centered on a center axis line of the oscillating member. In this state, when light transits along the center axis line of the oscillating member, the light travels along a path that either disperses or converges the light in accordance with the refractive index of each concentric circular region
Data Source
AI summary
A variable focal length lens apparatus includes a liquid lens apparatus in which the refractive index changes in accordance with an input drive signal, and a drive controller that outputs the drive signal to the liquid lens apparatus. The drive controller includes a resonance lock controller that changes a frequency of the drive signal by tracking the drive signal to a resonance frequency of the liquid lens apparatus, and a tracking delayer that delays a change in the frequency of the drive signal that is due to the resonance lock controller.