Electronic apparatus comprising driven body driven by actuator, image pickup apparatus, and moving body

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10627703-B2
Application number	US-201815995886-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 1, 2018
Priority date	Jun 2, 2017
Publication date	Apr 21, 2020
Grant date	Apr 21, 2020

Abstract

A downsizable electronic apparatus is provided. A supporting unit supports a driven body and has a shaft portion, and a rotation plate which is arranged coaxially with and perpendicular to the shaft portion and has a sliding surface with the shaft portion at its center and a scale arranged coaxially with the slicing surface and at an outer peripheral side in the rotation plate. A base unit, on which the supporting unit is provided in a standing manner, has a control substrate, an actuator drives the supporting unit and is arranged so as to be brought into pressure contact with the sliding surface, and a position detecting unit detects a rotational position of the supporting unit and reads the scale, and rotatably supports the supporting unit. Wiring drawn from the driven body is inserted into a wiring region and connected to the control substrate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image pickup apparatus comprising an image pickup unit, a supporting unit that supports the image pickup unit, and a base unit on which the supporting unit is provided in a standing manner,
wherein the base unit has a control substrate, an actuator that drives the supporting unit, and a position detecting unit that detects a rotational position of the supporting unit,
the supporting unit has a cylindrical shaft portion, and a disk-shaped rotation plate and an annular scale plate arranged with the shaft portion at their center,
the base unit rotatably supports the supporting unit by fitting the shaft portion into a hole of the base unit,
wiring drawn from the image pickup unit is inserted into a wiring region comprised of a hollow portion of the shaft portion and connected to the control substrate,
the rotation plate has an annular sliding surface formed with the shaft portion at its center, and the scale plate has a plurality of scales arranged in a circumferential direction with the shaft portion at its center,
the actuator is arranged so as to be brought into pressure contact with the sliding surface,
the position detecting unit reads the scale, and
the scale plate is arranged at an outer peripheral side in the rotation plate.

2. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the supporting unit has another actuator that drives the image pickup unit, and
another wiring drawn from the another actuator is inserted into the wiring region and connected to the control substrate.

3. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 2 ,
wherein the wiring region is divided into at least two regions comprised of a first region and a second region,
the first region includes a rotational axis of the supporting unit,
the second region is formed to surround the first region,
the wiring is inserted into the first region, and the another wiring is arranged in a wounded manner in the second region.

4. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the wiring is inserted into the first region so as to be along the rotational axis of the supporting unit.

5. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the actuator has a driving unit that transmits a driving force to the sliding surface, and a fixing unit to which the driving unit is attached, and
when viewed along a rotational axis of the supporting unit, the driving unit is arranged so as to overlap with the sliding surface and not to overlap with the scale, and both ends of the fixing unit are arranged so as to overlap with the scale.

6. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the driving unit has an oscillator, a piezoelectric element that excites vibration in the oscillator, and a wiring member that supplies power to the piezoelectric element, and
by the vibration excited in the oscillator, the driving unit causes the sliding surface to move relatively to the oscillator.

7. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein when viewed along a rotational axis of the supporting unit, at least a part of an outer peripheral portion of the rotation plate overlaps with at least a part of an inner peripheral portion of the scale plate, and the scale plate is fixed to the rotation plate.

8. An apparatus, comprising:
a moving body;
an image pickup apparatus according to claim 1 mounted on the moving body.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the moving body comprises a flying mechanism,
wherein the image pickup apparatus is configured to pick up an image while the moving body is flying.

10. An image pickup apparatus comprising:
an image pickup unit;
a supporting unit that supports the image pickup unit;
a control substrate;
an actuator that drives the supporting unit; and
a detecting unit that detects a rotational amount of the supporting unit,
wherein the supporting unit has a shaft portion and a disk-shaped rotation plate arranged with the shaft portion at their center,
wiring drawn from the image pickup unit is inserted into a wiring region comprised of a hollow portion of the shaft portion and connected to the control substrate,
the rotation plate has an annular sliding surface formed with the shaft portion at its center, and
the actuator has a vibrator which includes contact points brought into contact with the annular sliding surface, a piezoelectric element, and a pressure unit, the vibrator causing a relative movement of the image pickup unit by driving of the piezoelectric element, the pressure unit pressing the contact points against the annular sliding surface.

11. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the supporting unit has another actuator that drives the image pickup unit, and
another wiring drawn from the another actuator is inserted into the wiring region and connected to the control substrate.

12. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 11 ,
wherein the wiring region is divided into at least two regions comprised of a first region and a second region,
the first region contains a rotational axis of the supporting unit,
the second region exists such as to surround the first region,
the wiring is inserted into the first region, and
the another wiring is arranged in a wounded manner in the second region.

13. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 12 ,
wherein the wiring is inserted into the first region so as to be along the rotational axis of the supporting unit.

14. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 11 ,
wherein the another actuator has another vibrator which includes other contact points brought into contact with a surface of the image pickup unit, another piezoelectric element, and another pressure unit, the another vibrator causing a relative movement of the image pickup unit by driving of the another piezoelectric element, the another pressure unit pressing the contact points against the surface.

15. An apparatus, comprising:
a moving body;
an image pickup apparatus according to claim 10 mounted on the moving body.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the moving body comprises a flying mechanism,
wherein the image pickup apparatus is configured to pick up an image while the moving body is flying.

17. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the shaft portion is a cylindrical shaft portion.

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Obana Shinji
• Nemoto Ayumu

Classifications

• G03B17/02 Primary

  Bodies · CPC title

• G03B2205/0061

  using piezoelectric actuators · CPC title

• G03B15/006

  Apparatus mounted on flying objects · CPC title

• G03B17/561

  Support related camera accessories · CPC title

• B64D47/08 Primary

  Arrangements of cameras · CPC title