JP2001218088A - Imaging device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To enable an image pickup unit to be securely attached to an apparatus main body without screwing, and to reduce the size of the entire apparatus. SOLUTION: A mounting concave portion 24 is provided on a side surface 1a of an apparatus main body 1 on which a lens unit 2 is mounted on an upper portion, a main body portion 21 of a coupling plate 20 is mounted in the mounting concave portion 24, and an element mounting plate is mounted on the coupling plate 20. The image pickup unit 4 was fixed to the lower surface of the apparatus main body 1 with the solder 12 attached thereto. Therefore, the image pickup unit 4 can be securely attached to the apparatus main body 1 without screwing the image pickup unit 4 to the apparatus main body 1 unlike the related art. Since the coupling plate 20 is mounted, there is no need to provide a screw hole requiring a sufficient wall thickness in the apparatus main body 1 and to provide a wide space for installing the screw hole as in the related art. Therefore, the outer shape of the apparatus main body 1 can be reduced, and the size of the entire apparatus can be reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an imaging device such as a digital camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a digital camera using an image pickup device such as a CCD, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, for example, a lens is provided at one end (upper end in FIG. 5) of an apparatus body 1 of an image pickup portion. There is a structure in which a unit 2 is provided, an optical low-pass filter 3 is provided inside the apparatus main body 1, and an imaging unit 4 is attached to the other end (lower end in FIG. 5) of the apparatus main body 1 with a plurality of screws 5. In this case, the device main body 1 is made of a synthetic resin, is formed in a substantially square box shape, and has a structure in which a cylindrical portion 6 is formed on the upper surface thereof so as to protrude upward. As shown in FIG. 5, a hollow portion 7 having a small diameter on the upper side and gradually increasing in diameter in a stepwise manner toward the lower side is formed in the inside of the apparatus main body 1 continuously with the cylindrical portion 6. The lens unit 2 includes a lens 8 and a lens barrel 9.
The lens barrel 9 is screwed to the upper small-diameter portion in the hollow portion 7 of the apparatus main body 1, thereby being attached to the apparatus main body 1 in a state of protruding above the cylindrical section 6. .

The optical low-pass filter 3 is inserted from the lower side of the apparatus main body 1 into an intermediate portion in the hollow portion 7 of the apparatus main body 1, and the center thereof is aligned with the optical axis of the lens unit 2. It is fixed by a ring-shaped holding member 10. The image pickup unit 4 has a structure in which an image pickup device 11 such as a CCD is attached to an element attachment plate (element attachment member) 12, and the image pickup device 11 is inserted into a large-diameter portion on the lower side in the hollow portion 7 of the apparatus main body 1. And this imaging element 11
With the center of the lens unit 2 aligned with the optical axis of the lens unit 2,
The element mounting plate 12 is attached to the lower surface of the apparatus main body 1 by a plurality of screws 5, and thereby is fixed to the lower part of the apparatus main body 1. Note that the image sensor 11 is electrically connected to a wiring board (not shown) arranged on the lower surface of the element mounting plate 12. As shown in FIG. 6, the plurality of screws 5 pass through screw insertion holes 13 provided at four corners of the element mounting plate 12 and, as shown in FIG. The element mounting plate 12 is mounted on the lower portion of the apparatus main body 1 by being screwed and tightened.

[0004]

However, in such a digital camera, since the element mounting plate 12 of the imaging unit 4 is attached to the apparatus main body 1 with a plurality of screws 5, each screw 5 is attached to the apparatus main body 1. It is necessary to provide a plurality of screw holes 14 into which screws are to be screwed, and since the apparatus main body 1 is made of a synthetic resin, sufficient mechanical strength must be ensured unless the thickness of the screw holes 14 around the holes is increased. Therefore, a large space for installing the screw hole 14 in the apparatus main body 1 is required, which causes a problem that the external shape of the apparatus main body 1 becomes large and the entire camera becomes large. Further, in this digital camera, the element mounting plate 12 of the imaging unit 4 is attached to the apparatus main body 1 with a plurality of screws 5. Deformation such as twisting may occur. In such a case, the image sensor 11
Is tilted with respect to the optical axis of the lens unit 2, so that there is a problem that a good photographed image cannot be obtained.

An object of the present invention is to enable an image pickup unit to be securely attached to an apparatus main body without screwing, and to reduce the size of the entire apparatus.

[0006]

An image pickup apparatus according to the present invention comprises:
An apparatus main body, a lens unit attached to one end of the apparatus main body, an image pickup unit in which an image pickup element is attached to an element attaching member, and mounted on a side surface of the apparatus main body,
And a coupling member for fixing the imaging unit to the other end of the apparatus main body by attaching the imaging unit. According to the present invention, the image pickup unit is fixed to the other end of the apparatus main body by attaching the coupling member to the side surface of the apparatus main body to which the lens unit is attached at one end, and attaching the element mounting member to the coupling member. Therefore, the imaging unit can be securely attached to the apparatus main body without screwing the imaging unit to the apparatus main body unlike the related art, and the coupling member is attached to the side surface of the apparatus main body. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide a screw hole requiring a sufficient wall thickness in the apparatus main body as in the related art, and it is not necessary to provide a wide space for installing the screw hole, so that the outer shape of the apparatus main body is reduced. Therefore, the size of the entire apparatus can be reduced.

In this case, as described in claim 2, if the mounting recess is formed on the side surface of the apparatus main body so that the connecting member is press-fitted and fixed, the connecting member is easily fixed to the mounting recess of the apparatus main body by press-fitting. be able to. Further, as described in claim 3, if the locking portion is provided on the side surface of the device main body and the coupling member is provided with an engaging portion that engages with the locking portion of the device main body, the engagement of the device main body is provided. The coupling member can be easily attached to the side surface of the apparatus main body only by engaging the engagement portion of the coupling member with the stop portion. Furthermore, if the element mounting member of the imaging unit is mounted on the coupling member by soldering as described in claim 4, deformation such as twisting of the element mounting member or the apparatus body due to the tightening force of the screw as in the related art. It does not occur, and the imaging unit can be attached to the main body of the device satisfactorily, and the imaging unit can be easily removed from the connecting member and the main body of the device simply by melting the solder. Maintenance work can be easily performed.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which an image pickup apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a digital camera will be described below with reference to FIGS. The same parts as those in the conventional example shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals and described. In this digital camera, coupling plates (coupling members) 20 are mounted on both left and right side surfaces 1a of the apparatus main body 1, respectively.
0 has an element mounting plate 12 of the imaging unit 4 attached thereto, and the other structure is the same as that of the conventional example. That is, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the coupling plate 20 includes a main body 21 made of a band-shaped metal plate, and a contact portion in which an upper portion of the main body 21 is bent to contact the upper surface 1 b of the apparatus main body 1. 22, the contact portion 22 is disposed on the upper surface 1b of the apparatus main body 1, and the main body 21 is disposed on the side surface 1a of the apparatus main body 1.
, The lower end 23 of the main body 21 protrudes below the apparatus main body 1.

In this case, the left and right side surfaces 1a of the apparatus main body 1
As shown in FIG. 2, mounting recesses 24 to which the main body 21 of the coupling plate 20 is mounted by press fitting are provided. On the other hand, the lower ends 23 of the coupling plates 20 are respectively inserted and protruded downward at predetermined positions of the element mounting plate 12 of the imaging unit 4, that is, at two lower right corners and upper left corners shown in FIG. A slit-shaped mounting hole 25 is formed. A solder mounting portion 27 made of a metal film such as copper, on which the solder 26 is provided, is provided on the lower surface of the element mounting plate 12 around the mounting hole 25.

Next, a case of assembling such a digital camera will be described. First, the lens barrel 9 to which the lens 8 is attached is screwed into the upper small-diameter portion in the hollow portion 7 of the apparatus main body 1, whereby the lens unit 2 is attached to the upper part of the apparatus main body 1 by protruding. Further, the optical low-pass filter 3 is disposed at an intermediate portion in the hollow portion 7 of the apparatus main body 1 and is fixed by a ring-shaped pressing member 10.
In this state, the main body 21 of the coupling plate 20 is press-fitted and fixed in the mounting recesses 24 provided on the left and right side surfaces 1a of the apparatus main body 1. At this time, the upper contact portion 22 of the coupling plate 20 is brought into contact with the upper surface 1 b of the device main body 1, and the lower end portion 23 is projected below the device main body 1. This allows
The coupling plate 20 is fixed to the upper surface 1 b of the apparatus main body 1 by the contact portion 22.
And is attached to the side surface 1a of the apparatus main body 1 without being locked downward.

Thereafter, the image pickup unit 4 having the image pickup element 11 mounted on the element mounting plate 12 is disposed below the apparatus main body 1, and the image pickup element 11 is disposed at a large diameter at the lower end in the hollow portion 7 of the apparatus main body 1. And the center of the image sensor 11 is aligned with the optical axis of the lens unit 2. In this state, the slit-shaped mounting hole 2 provided in the element mounting plate 12 is
5, the lower end 23 of the coupling plate 20 is relatively inserted. Then, the element mounting plate 12 is brought into contact with the lower surface of the apparatus main body 1,
The lower end 23 of the coupling plate 20 is projected below the solder mounting portion 27 of the element mounting plate 12, and the projected lower end 3 of the coupling plate 20 and the solder mounting portion 27 of the element mounting plate 12 are fixed with solder 26. I do. Thereby, the element mounting plate 12 is mounted on the lower end 23 of the coupling plate 20 by the solder 26, and the imaging unit 4 is fixed to the lower portion of the apparatus main body 1.

As described above, in this digital camera, the side surface 1a of the apparatus main body 1 on which the lens unit 2 is mounted.
The main body 21 of the coupling plate 20 is mounted in the mounting concave portion 24 provided in the
Is fixed to the lower part of the apparatus main body 1 by soldering with the solder 26, so that the imaging unit 4 is not screwed to the apparatus main body 1 as in the related art.
The imaging unit 4 can be securely attached to the apparatus main body 1. In particular, since the main body 21 of the coupling plate 20 is press-fitted into the mounting recess 24 provided on the side surface 1a of the apparatus main body 1, the coupling plate 2 is mounted on the side surface 1a of the apparatus main body 1.
0 can be easily fixed, and there is no need to provide a screw hole 14 requiring a sufficient wall thickness in the apparatus main body 1 as in the prior art, and a large space for installing the screw hole 14 is provided. Since there is no need, the horizontal width of the apparatus main body 1 in the left-right direction can be made smaller than that of the related art, whereby the outer shape of the apparatus main body 1 can be made smaller, and the size of the entire camera can be reduced.

In this digital camera, the lower end 23 of the coupling plate 20 mounted on the apparatus main body 1 is inserted into a slit-shaped mounting hole 25 provided on the element mounting plate 12 of the imaging unit 4 to mount the element. The protruding lower end 23 and the solder mounting portion 27 provided on the element mounting plate 12 are fixed by solder 26 so that the element mounting plate 12 is fixed to the lower end 23 of the coupling plate 20. Since the mounting is performed, deformation such as twisting does not occur in the element mounting plate 12 or the apparatus main body 1 due to the tightening force of the screw 4 as in the related art, and the imaging unit 4 can be satisfactorily mounted on the apparatus main body 1. At the same time, the connection between the coupling plate 20 and the element mounting plate 12 by the solder 26 can be released only by melting the solder 26, so that the imaging unit 4 can be easily separated from the apparatus main body 1. It can be removed, thereby to facilitate maintenance work such as repair and inspection.

In the above embodiment, the mounting recess 24 is provided only on the side surface 1a of the apparatus main body 1, and only the main body 21 of the coupling plate 20 is mounted on the mounting recess 24. However, the present invention is not limited to this. A mounting recess is provided from the side surface 1a to the upper surface 1b of the device main body 1, and the device main body 1 in the mounting recess is provided.
The main body 21 of the coupling plate 20 is press-fitted to a portion corresponding to the side surface 1a of the device 1 and a contact portion 2 of the coupling portion 20 is mounted to a portion corresponding to the upper surface 1b of the apparatus main body 1 in the mounting recess.
2 may be mounted by press fitting. Alternatively, the contact portion 22 of the coupling plate 20 may be fixed to the upper surface 1b of the apparatus main body 1 with a small screw. In this case, it is not necessary to provide the mounting recess 24 on the side surface 1a of the apparatus main body 1;
In the state where the main body portion 21 is arranged, only the contact portion 22 of the coupling plate 20 may be fixed to the upper surface 1b of the device main body 1 with small screws, and the coupling plate 20 may be attached to the device main body 1.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment and its modifications. For example, as shown in FIG.
An elongated engagement groove 31 into which the locking projection 30 of the apparatus main body 1 is engaged by press-fitting is inserted from a substantially middle portion of the main body 21 to the lower end 2.
3 and the main body 21 of the coupling plate 20 is relatively slid downward from above along the side surface 1a of the apparatus main body 1 so that the locking projection 30 of the apparatus main body 1 is
Of the coupling plate 2 by press-fitting.
0 may be fixed to the side surface 1 a of the apparatus main body 1. Further, the present invention is not limited to this.
The locking hook of the device main body 1 is provided with an engaging hole in which the locking hook of the apparatus main body 1 is engaged. You may make it engage with a hole so that it can be disengaged. If you do this,
The coupling plate 20 can be easily and easily attached to the side surface 1a of the apparatus main body 1. In addition, in the above-described embodiment and its modified example, the case where the present invention is applied to a digital camera has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention can be applied to other imaging devices such as a video camera.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, the connecting member is mounted on the side of the apparatus main body to which the lens unit is mounted at one end, and the element mounting member is mounted on the connecting member, whereby the apparatus main body is mounted. Since the imaging unit is fixed to the other end of the imaging unit, the imaging unit can be securely attached to the apparatus main body without screwing the imaging unit to the apparatus main body as in the related art. Since the coupling member is mounted on the side of the main body, there is no need to provide a screw hole that requires a sufficient wall thickness in the device main body as in the past, and it is necessary to provide a wide space for installing the screw hole. Therefore, the outer shape of the apparatus main body can be reduced, and the size of the entire apparatus can be reduced.

In this case, by forming the mounting concave portion into which the connecting member is press-fitted and fixed on the side surface of the apparatus main body, the connecting member can be easily fixed to the mounting concave portion of the apparatus main body by press-fitting. In addition, a locking portion is provided on a side surface of the device main body, and an engaging portion that engages with the locking portion of the device main body is provided on the coupling member, so that the engaging portion of the coupling member is engaged with the locking portion of the device main body. The coupling member can be easily attached to the side surface of the apparatus main body only by combining them. Furthermore, by attaching the element mounting member of the imaging unit to the connecting member by soldering, the element mounting member and the apparatus main body are not deformed by twisting or the like due to the tightening force of the screw unlike the conventional case, and the imaging unit is attached to the apparatus main body. The image pickup unit can be easily removed from the apparatus main body only by melting the solder, and maintenance work such as repair and inspection can be easily performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment in which an imaging device of the present invention is applied to a digital camera.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view showing a main part of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of a main part showing a modification of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional digital camera.

FIG. 6 is a bottom view of FIG. 5;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Device main body 2 Lens unit 4 Imaging unit 11 Image sensor 12 Element mounting plate 20 Coupling plate 24 Mounting recess 26 Solder 30 Locking projection 31 Engaging groove

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus body, a lens unit attached to one end of the apparatus body, an image pickup unit having an image sensor attached to an element attachment member, and an element attachment member attached to a side surface of the apparatus body. The image pickup apparatus further comprising: a coupling member for fixing the image pickup unit to the other end of the apparatus main body by attaching the image pickup unit. 2. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a mounting recess for press-fitting and fixing said coupling member is formed on a side surface of said apparatus main body. 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a locking portion is provided on a side surface of the device main body, and an engaging portion for engaging with the locking portion of the device main body is provided on the coupling member. Item 1
An imaging device according to claim 1. 4. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said element mounting member of said image pickup unit is attached to said coupling member by soldering.