Omnidirectional Imaging Lens with 90-Degree Optical Path Bend
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional omnidirectional imaging devices face challenges in downsizing while maintaining image quality due to the blocking of incident light beams by the substrate, which houses the imaging sensor and circuit elements, leading to increased size and vignetting issues.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates two imaging optical systems with wide-angle lenses that have a front group with negative power and a back group with positive power, featuring a reflection surface that bends the optical axis by 90 degrees, allowing the imaging sensors to be positioned on a substrate with a predetermined size and shape to prevent light beam obstruction, with the substrate's corners being aligned within the intersection lines formed by the maximum angle of view light beams.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the angle of view is increased for downsizing a wide-angle lens, then the device size is reduced, but a part of the incident light beam is blocked by the substrate, causing vignetting and increasing the substrate size requirement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a bent optical path using a reflection surface (prism) that changes the direction of light propagation by 90 degrees. This dimensional change in the optical path allows the substrate to be positioned away from the direct incident light path, eliminating the blocking problem while maintaining a compact form factor. The optical axis is bent from a straight line to a folded path, effectively using three-dimensional space to resolve the two-dimensional conflict between substrate size and light beam clearance.
2Manufacturing precision
If the number of lenses constituting a wide-angle lens is increased to maintain reasonable performance, then image quality is improved, but the entire length of the wide-angle lens is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The reflection surface bends the optical path at 90 degrees, effectively folding the optical system into a more compact configuration. This allows multiple lens elements to be arranged in a shorter axial distance while maintaining the required optical path length for image quality. The bent optical path enables the lens assembly to achieve both high image quality and compact size by utilizing three-dimensional space more efficiently.
3Adaptability or versatility
If two wide-angle lenses are combined to be opposite to each other, then omnidirectional coverage is achieved, but a non-photographable space where the maximum angle of view light beams do not overlap is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs asymmetric arrangement of the two wide-angle lenses with their front groups facing opposite directions and optical axes aligned. The bent optical path configuration creates asymmetric light beam paths that overlap more effectively in the central region, reducing the non-photographable space between the two lenses while maintaining full omnidirectional coverage. This asymmetric configuration optimizes the overlap area of maximum angle of view light beams from both lenses.
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 configuration effectively prevents light beam blocking, enables a compact omnidirectional imaging device, and maintains high image quality by ensuring that the substrate's corners do not exceed the intersection lines, thus allowing for a portable and efficient imaging system.
Implementation Method 1
a reflection surface and a back group having a positive power, and is configured to bend an optical axis of the front group by the reflection surface at 90 degrees toward the back group
Data Source
AI summary
An imaging device includes two imaging optical systems each of the imaging optical systems including a wide-angle lens having an angle of view wider than 180 degrees, and an imaging sensor configured to image an image by the wide-angle lens, so as to obtain an image in a solid angle of 4π radian by synthesizing the images by the respective imaging optical systems, wherein the wide-angle lens of each of the imaging optical systems includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a front group having a negative power, a reflection surface and a back group having a positive power, and is configured to bend an optical axis of the front group by the reflection surface at 90 degrees toward the back group.