Driving device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10444466-B2
Application number	US-201715426919-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 7, 2017
Priority date	Feb 17, 2016
Publication date	Oct 15, 2019
Grant date	Oct 15, 2019

Abstract

A driving device includes a driving motor, a first gear 3-1, and a gear 3-2 having a smaller diameter than the gear 3-1. Driving force from the driving motor is transmittable to a driven object when the gear 3-2 moves in an axial direction of a rotation shaft to be coupled to the gear 3-1. When the gear 3-2 moves in the axial direction to be decoupled from the gear 3-1, the driving force from the driving motor can be prevented from being transmitted to the driven object.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A driving device configured to transmit driving force to a manual operation member operable by a user, the manual operation member being configured to be rotatable, the driving device comprising:
a driving source;
a rotation shaft;
a first driving member configured to be rotatable about an axial direction of the rotation shaft and that has a position fixed in the axial direction;
a second driving member that has a smaller diameter than the first driving member, is rotatable about the axial direction and configured to move in the axial direction to be coupled with the first driving member so that the driving force from the driving source becomes transmittable to the manual operation member, and further configured to move in the axial direction to be decoupled from the first driving member so that the driving force from the driving source is prevented from being transmitted to the manual operation member; and
a selection unit configured to select a position of the second driving member in the axial direction between a first position in which the second driving member is coupled with the first driving member and a second position in which the second driving member is decoupled from the first driving member,
wherein the driving force from the driving source is transmitted to the manual operation member in a case that the selection unit selects the first position as the position of the second driving member in the axial direction, and
wherein the second driving member is held at the second position in a case that the selection unit selects the second position as the position of the second driving member in the axial direction.

2. The driving device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the second driving member includes a protruded portion and the first driving member includes a recessed portion into which the protruded portion engages, and
wherein the second driving member and the first driving member couple with each other in a case that the protruded portion engages in the recessed portion.

3. The driving device according to claim 2 ,
wherein the protruded portion includes a first inclined surface, and the recessed portion includes a second inclined surface capable of coming into contact with the first inclined surface in a case that the protruded portion engages in the recessed portion.

4. The driving device according to claim 1 , wherein the second driving member is in contact with a driving member adjacent to the second driving member regardless of whether the second driving member is coupled with the first driving member or not.

5. The driving device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a third driving member configured to transmit the driving force to the manual operation member via the second driving member, and
a fourth driving member configured to transmit the driving force to the third driving member via the second driving member.

6. The driving device according to claim 5 , wherein the second driving member is in contact with the fourth driving member regardless of whether the second driving member is coupled with the first driving member.

7. The driving device according to claim 5 , wherein the second driving member is a spur gear and the fourth driving member is a spur gear.

8. The driving device according to claim 1 , wherein the second driving member is a spur gear, and the first driving member is a helical gear.

9. The driving device according to claim 1 , wherein the second driving member moves together with the rotation shaft in the axial direction.

10. The driving device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the driving device is a lens driving device attachable to and detachable from a lens barrel including a lens unit movable in an optical axis direction and the manual operation member, and
wherein the driving force from the driving device is transmitted to the lens unit in a state where the second driving member is coupled with the first driving member.

11. The driving device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the driving device is provided to a lens barrel including a lens unit movable in an optical axis direction and manual operation member, and
wherein the driving force from the driving device is transmitted to the lens unit in a state where the second driving member is coupled with the first driving member.

12. The driving device according to claim 1 , wherein the selection unit is a switch member that can be accessed from an outside of the driving device.

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Sato Katsuhiko

Classifications

• H02K37/00

  Motors with rotor rotating step by step and without interrupter or commutator driven by the rotor, e.g. stepping motors · CPC title

• H02K7/116

  with gears · CPC title

• G02B7/102

  controlled by a microcomputer (cameras with interchangeable lenses G03B17/14) · CPC title

• G02B7/09 Primary

  adapted for automatic focusing or varying magnification · CPC title

• H02N2/101

  using intermittent driving, e.g. step motors · CPC title