Optical unit with shake correction function

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12422694-B2
Application number	US-202318322568-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 23, 2023
Priority date	May 27, 2022
Publication date	Sep 23, 2025
Grant date	Sep 23, 2025

Abstract

In an optical unit with a shake correction function, a cylindrical holder having an inner peripheral side on which a camera module is fixed is composed of metal. In the optical unit with a shake correction function, a case-side protrusion projecting toward the inner peripheral side of a cylindrical case surrounding the outer peripheral surface of the holder is formed on the inner peripheral side of the case. When a movable body moves relative to a fixed body while the optical axis of a camera module tilts the most, portions of the holder farther inside in the optical axis direction than edges formed on the outer peripheral surface of the holder before the edges come into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the case.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optical unit with a shake correction function, comprising:
a movable body comprising a camera module;
an intermediate member that holds the movable body in a rotatable manner;
a fixed body that holds the intermediate member in a rotatable manner; and
a drive mechanism to rotate the movable body relative to the fixed body in such a manner that an optical axis of the camera module tilts in a selected direction, wherein,
the movable body comprises a cylindrical metal holder having an inner peripheral side on which the camera module is fixed, the movable body being rotatable relative to the intermediate member with a first intersecting direction being an axial direction of rotation, the first intersecting direction intersecting the optical axis of the camera module,
the intermediate member comprises a plate spring and is rotatable relative to the fixed body with a second intersecting direction being an axial direction of rotation, the second intersecting direction intersecting the first intersecting direction and the optical axis of the camera module,
the fixed body comprising a cylindrical resin case surrounding an outer peripheral surface of the holder, and a metal rotation regulating member being fixed to the case and being in contact with the holder to regulate a range of rotation of the movable body relative to the fixed body, and
when a direction of the optical axis of the camera module is an optical axis direction, and a direction orthogonal to the optical axis of the camera module positioned at a predetermined reference position is a first direction,
the outer peripheral surface of the holder has an edge comprising an end portion of an end surface in the optical axis direction of a metal part comprising at least a portion of the outer peripheral surface of the holder,
an inner peripheral side of the case has a case-side protrusion projecting toward the inner peripheral side of the case, and when the movable body moves in the first direction relative to the fixed body while the optical axis of the camera module has a maximum tilt, a portion of the metal part disposed farther inward than the edge in the optical axis direction comes into contact with the case-side protrusion before the edge comes into contact with an inner peripheral surface of the case, or a holder-side protrusion projecting toward an outer peripheral side of the holder is formed or fixed on the outer peripheral side of the holder, and
when the movable body moves in the first direction relative to the fixed body while the optical axis of the camera module has the maximum tilt, the holder-side protrusion comes into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the case before the edge comes into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the case.

2. The optical unit with a shake correction function according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a spherical body serving as a fulcrum of rotation of the movable body relative to the intermediate member, wherein,
the holder comprises a cylindrical module fixing member having an inner peripheral side on which the camera module is fixed, and a sphere fixing member to which the spherical body is fixed, the sphere fixing member being fixed to an outer peripheral surface of the module fixing member, and
the sphere fixing member comprises the metal part.

3. The optical unit with a shake correction function according to claim 1 , wherein the case-side protrusion is formed on the inner peripheral side of the case.

4. The optical unit with a shake correction function according to claim 3 , wherein when the optical axis direction is a reference optical axis direction while the camera module is positioned at the reference position,
a center of the case-side protrusion in the reference optical axis direction is positioned at a same position in the reference optical axis direction as a fulcrum of the rotation of the intermediate member relative to the fixed body.

5. The optical unit with a shake correction function according to claim 3 , wherein when the optical axis direction is a reference optical axis direction while the camera module is positioned at the reference position,
the case-side protrusion comprises a first tilting portion, a second tilting portion, and a connecting portion, the first tilting portion having a first tilting surface tilting farther to an outer peripheral side of the case at one side in the reference optical axis direction, the second tilting portion having a second tilting surface tilting farther to the outer peripheral side of the case at another side in the reference optical axis direction, the connecting portion having a connecting surface connecting the first tilting surface and the second tilting surface and being disposed parallel to the reference optical axis direction.

Assignees

• Nidec Instruments Corp

Inventors

• Arai Tsutomu
• Sue Takeshi
• Minamisawa Shinji

Classifications

• G03B2205/0007

  Movement of one or more optical elements for control of motion blur · CPC title

• H04N23/687

  by shifting the lens or sensor position · CPC title

• H04N23/54

  Mounting of pick-up tubes, electronic image sensors, deviation or focusing coils · CPC title

• H04N23/57

  Mechanical or electrical details of cameras or camera modules specially adapted for being embedded in other devices · CPC title

• H04N23/681

  Motion detection · CPC title