Nidec Corporation

Genki Tanaka

Tomohiro Egawa

Takayuki Iwase

Kazuhiro Sazai

Tsutomu Arai

Keishi Otsubo

Soichiro Kimura

Shinji Minamisawa

Takeshi Sue

Kwun-Yao Ho

Shinri Ono

Tsungting Hsieh

Shinji Hatano

Shogo Kasahara

An optical unit has an optical element reflecting light between intersecting first and second directions, and a holder. The holder includes a holder body extending in a third direction intersecting the first and second directions, and a pair of surface portions extending from the holder body in an intersection direction intersecting the third direction. The optical element is arranged between the surface portions. At least one surface portion has an inner surface facing the optical element, an end surface connected to an edge of the inner surface in an intersection direction, and a concave portion arranged astride the inner and end surfaces and recessed in the intersection direction from the end surface. The concave portion accommodates an adhesive member bonding the optical element with the holder. The length of the concave portion along the end surface is greater than the depth of the concave portion in the intersection direction.

Optical unit, smartphone, and manufacturing method of optical unit

An optical unit includes a movable body including an optical module, a fixed body, a support mechanism, a flexible printed circuit board, and a positioning part. A bent part of the flexible printed circuit board has a first bent portion closest to a connection part between the connection part and the positioning part along an extension direction, and a second bent portion close to the connection part next to the first bent portion between the connection part and the positioning part along the extension direction. The second bent portion is located on a reference plane or on a side different from the side where the connection part is located with respect to the reference plane.

Optical unit

An optical unit includes a movable body including an optical element, a support body swingably supporting the movable body, and a suction mechanism. The optical element reflects light traveling in a first direction to an intersecting second direction. The suction mechanism generates suction force in the movable body between the movable body and the support body, and includes a magnet and a magnetic member. One of the magnet and the magnetic member is in the movable body, while the other is in the support body. The magnet and the magnetic member overlap each other when viewed from a predetermined direction, which is one of the first direction, the second direction, and a third direction. The third direction intersects the first and second directions. When viewed from the predetermined direction, a center of the magnet and a center of the magnetic member are separated from each other.

An optical unit that corrects a shake of an optical module includes: a movable portion having a holder that holds the optical module; and a fixed portion that rotatably supports the movable portion. The movable portion is rotatable relative to the fixed portion in first-third rotation directions correspondingly centered on first-third axes which correspondingly extend in first-third directions. The first direction is parallel to an optical axis direction of the optical module in a state in which the movable portion is stationary. The first direction, the second direction, and the third direction are perpendicular to each other. The movable portion further includes a protrusion protruding toward the fixed portion from an end of the holder closer to the fixed portion in the optical axis direction. The fixed portion includes a support portion that rotatably supports the protrusion.

In an optical unit, a first swing mechanism swings a holder with reference to the y-axis direction, and a second swing mechanism swings the holder with reference to the z-axis direction. A case has a first recess that accommodates at least a part of a first protrusion of the holder and a second recess that accommodates at least a part of a second protrusion of the holder. The first recess has a first side surface located on one side in the y-axis direction of the first protrusion, a second side surface located on the other side in the y-axis direction of the first protrusion, and a bottom surface. The second recess has a first side surface located on one side in the y-axis direction of the second protrusion, a second side surface located on the other side in the y-axis direction of the second protrusion, and a bottom surface.

An optical assembly includes a movable body that includes an optical module, a frame body radially outward of the movable body, and support portions that swingably support the movable body with respect to the frame body. Each of the support portions includes a guide portion between the movable body and the frame body to support the movable body, and a preload portion that pushes the guide portion toward the movable body. A radially inner end portion of the preload portion is connected to a radially outer end portion of the guide portion. A radially outer end portion of the preload portion is supported by the frame body. One of the movable body and the guide portion includes a first convex surface, and the other includes a first concave surface in contact with the first convex surface.

Optical assembly with shake correction function

An optical unit includes a movable body including an optical module, a fixed body, a support mechanism, a flexible printed circuit board, and a fixing part. The fixing part is superposed on a bent part formed by bending the flexible printed circuit board. At least a part of the fixing part is fixed to the bent part of the flexible printed circuit board.

An optical unit includes a movable body, a fixed body, and a first swing mechanism. The fixed body supports the movable body so as to be swingable in a first swing direction about a first swing axis. One of the movable body and the fixed body has a first magnet. The other of the movable body and the fixed body has a first magnetic body. The first magnetic body has a first magnetic body portion, a second magnetic body portion, and a third magnetic body portion. The first magnetic body portion passes through an axis perpendicular to each of the first swing axis and the optical axis of an optical element. The second magnetic body portion is disposed on one side in the first swing direction of the first magnetic body portion. The third magnetic body portion is disposed on the other side in the first swing direction of the first magnetic body portion.

An optical unit with an image stabilization function includes a movable body having an annular holder for holding a camera module, a swing support mechanism for swingably supporting the movable body, and a fixing body for supporting the movable body with the swing support mechanism interposed between them. The holder includes three or more of a plurality of protrusions that project radially. The fixing body includes a plurality of arc surfaces that come into contact with each of the plurality of protrusions from the outer peripheral side. The swing support mechanism includes the plurality of protrusions and the plurality of arc surfaces. The arc surface is a concave curved surface obtained by transferring part of a virtual spherical surface centered on a preset swing center point.

Optical unit with image stabilization function

An optical assembly includes an optical element including a reflection surface to reflect light in a first axis direction, a holder to hold the optical element, a case to support the holder, a first swing mechanism to swing the holder around a first swing axis, and a second swing mechanism to swing the holder around a second swing axis perpendicular to the first swing axis. The holder includes first and second protrusions. The case includes first and second recesses. Each of the recesses includes a first side surface located on one side in the axial direction of the second swing axis and a second side surface located on the other side with respect to the corresponding protrusion. At least one of the first and second side surfaces includes an inclined surface inclined with respect to the second swing axis.

An optical unit with a shake correction function has a shake correction function for correcting a shake of an optical module. The optical unit with a shake correction function includes: a movable body including the optical module; a fixed body disposed outward of the movable body in a radial direction with respect to an optical axis of the optical module; and a support part disposed between the movable body and the fixed body in the radial direction and structured to support the movable body such that the movable body is swingable relative to the fixed body. The movable body and the support part or the support part and the fixed body have, in a pair, a swing mechanism structured to allow the movable body to swing relative to the fixed body. The swing mechanism includes a protruded spherical portion and a recessed spherical portion that is larger in radius of curvature than the protruded spherical portion.

Growing community of inventors

Kyoto, Japan

Genki Tanaka