This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. Section 119 of Japanese Patent Application No. 2009-197473 filed Aug. 27, 2009, entitled “BEAM IRRADIATION APPARATUS”. The disclosure of the above application is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a beam irradiation apparatus which irradiates a target region with light, particularly relates to a beam irradiation apparatus which is suitably mounted on a laser radar.
2. Related Art
In recent years, a laser radar is mounted on a household automobile or the like in order to enhance safety while driving. In general, the laser radar makes a laser beam scan within a target region and detects presence/absence of an obstacle at each scanning position based on presence/absence of reflected light from each scanning position. Further, a distance to the obstacle is detected based on a time needed from an irradiation timing of a laser beam at each scanning position to a reception timing of reflected light.
A beam irradiation apparatus for making a laser beam scan on a target region is incorporated into the laser radar. In a case where the laser radar is mounted on an automobile, detection accuracy in the horizontal direction is improved in comparison with that in the vertical direction. Therefore, the beam irradiation apparatus mounted on the laser radar of such type irradiates the target region with a beam having a shape which is longer in the vertical direction and narrower in the horizontal direction.
When a laser diode is used as a light source of the beam irradiation apparatus, a divergence angle of an output laser beam is large in the direction perpendicular to a pn junction surface (hereinafter, referred to “short side direction”) and is small in the direction parallel with the pn junction surface (hereinafter, referred to “longitudinal direction”). Therefore, when the laser diode is used as the light source of the beam irradiation apparatus, a configuration for adjusting a shape of a beam on the target region to a desired shape is needed. In this case, a beam shaping lens such as a cylindrical lens may be used in addition to a convergent lens.
However, if the beam shaping lens such as the cylindrical lens is needed in addition to the convergent lens as described above, a problem that the number of parts and cost are increased arises. Further, a problem that a shape of the beam on the target region is distorted because of an aberration caused by the cylindrical lens or the like may also arise.
A beam irradiation apparatus according to a first aspect of the invention includes a light source which outputs a laser beam, a convergent lens into which the laser beam output from the light source is entered, and a scanning portion which makes the laser beam transmitted through the convergent lens scan on a target region. In the beam irradiation apparatus, the laser light source is arranged such that a pn junction surface of a laser chip is parallel with the vertical direction. Further, length of the laser beam in the vertical direction on the target region is set by length of a light emitting portion of the laser light source in the vertical direction.
A beam irradiation apparatus according to a second aspect of the invention includes a light source in which a plurality of laser chips is arranged so as to be aligned in the vertical direction such that pn junction surfaces are parallel with the vertical direction, a convergent lens into which the laser beam output from the light source is entered, a scanning portion which makes the laser beam transmitted through the convergent lens scan on a target region and a light source controller which controls the light source. The light source controller makes all of the plurality of laser chips emit light simultaneously when the target region is irradiated with the laser light.
The above-described and other objects and novel characteristics of the invention are made obvious more perfectly by reading the following description of embodiment and the following accompanying drawings.
It is to be noted that the drawings are exclusively intended to explain the invention only and are not intended to limit a range of the invention.
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to drawings. Note that a beam irradiation apparatus according to the invention is mounted on a laser radar for an automobile.
As shown in
If a laser chip of the laser light source (laser diode) is arranged at a focal position of the convergent lens as shown in
Y0=f0·tan(θL0) (1)
θL0=tan−1(Y0/f0) (2)
In this case, the divergence angle of the laser beam in the short side direction (the direction perpendicular to a pn junction surface) after the laser beam transmits through the convergent lens is zero. That is to say, the laser beam which is output so as to be spread in the short side direction transmits through the convergent lens, and then, travels parallel with the optical axis. In this case, the laser beam enters into the lens as shown in
With the above expressions (1) and (2), if the laser chip is arranged on the focal position of the convergent lens, the laser beam has a predetermined divergence angle θL0 in the longitudinal direction. Therefore, the laser chip is desired to be arranged such that the longitudinal direction is in parallel with the vertical direction in order to make the laser beam on the target region have an elongated shape in the vertical direction as shown in
In this case, a width of the laser beam in the horizontal direction on the target region can be adjusted by moving the position of the laser chip from the position as shown in
θs0=λ/(πω) (3)
In the expression, λ indicates a wavelength of the laser beam and ω indicates a radius of beam waist at a virtual image position. Note that the expression is satisfied when the width of the laser chip in the short side direction is small and the laser chip is regarded as a point light source.
With the above expression (3), the width of the laser light in the horizontal direction on the target region can be set to a desired width by making the position of the laser chip close to the convergent lens from the focal position of the convergent lens and adjusting the divergence angle θs0 in the short side direction (horizontal direction).
In this case, the divergence angle θs0 can be set to a desired value by slightly moving the position of the laser chip from the position of the focal distance of the convergent lens. Therefore, the divergence angle θL0 of the laser beam in the longitudinal direction (vertical direction) as shown in
The shape of the laser beam on the target region can be made an elongated shape in the vertical direction by arranging the laser chip such that the longitudinal direction is in parallel with the vertical direction as described above. Further, with the above expressions (1) and (2), the length of the laser beam in the vertical direction on the target region can be set to a desired length by adjusting the half value Y0 of the length of the laser chip in the longitudinal direction (vertical direction) or the focal distance f0 of the lens.
For example, the divergence angle of a laser beam after the laser beam passes through the convergent lens can be enlarged from θL0 to θL1 by making the focal distance of the convergent lens short from f0 to f1 as shown in
Further, the divergence angle of a laser beam after the laser beam passes through the convergent lens can be enlarged from θL0 to θL2 by making the half value of length of the laser chip in the longitudinal direction (vertical direction) large from Y0 to Y2 as shown in
Problems arising with configurations as shown in
In the configuration as shown in
As described above, the laser chip is desired to be arranged such that the longitudinal direction is in parallel with the vertical direction in order to irradiate the target region with a laser beam having an elongated shape in the vertical direction. In this case, the following method is desired to be employed in order to adjust length of the laser light on the target region in the vertical direction. That is, a plurality of laser chips is arranged so as to be aligned in the longitudinal direction (vertical direction) such that pn junction surfaces are parallel with the longitudinal direction (vertical direction). With this configuration, the length of each laser chip in the longitudinal direction and the number of the laser chips arranged in the longitudinal direction are appropriately adjusted in accordance with the length of the laser beam in the vertical direction on the target region. Therefore, the target region can be irradiated with a laser beam having a desired shape while keeping the beam diameter of the laser beam when the laser beam is entered into the convergent lens to be large.
Hereinafter, a specific configuration example of the beam irradiation apparatus according to the embodiment is described.
At first, a configuration of a mirror actuator 100 for making a laser beam scan on a target region is described with reference to
In
A shaft hole 112a penetrating through in the left-right direction is provided on the bearing portion 112. The supporting shaft 111 is put through the shaft hole 112a. The bearing portion 112 is attached to a center portion of the supporting shaft 111. Further, a hole 112b is provided on an upper face of the bearing portion 112.
Flange portions projecting in the left-right direction are formed on the upper side faces of the coil supporting plates 113, 114. Holding holes 113a, 114a are provided on the respective flange portions. The holding holes 113a, 114a are provided at positions so as to be symmetric with respect to the bearing portion 112. Positions of the holding holes 113a, 114a in the up-down direction and front-rear direction are the same as each other.
Coils 115, 116 each of which is wound into a square form are attached to the coil supporting plates 113, 114, respectively. An output terminal of the coil 115 is connected to an input terminal of the coil 116 with a signal line (not shown).
A reference numeral 120 corresponds to a pan unit. The pan unit 120 includes a recess 121, a bearing portion 122, a reception portion 123, a coil 124, a supporting shaft 125, an E ring 126 and a balancer 127. The recess 121 accommodates the tilt unit 110. The bearing portion 122 is continuously connected to an upper portion of the recess 121. The reception portion 123 is continuously connected to a lower portion of the recess 121. The coil 124 is attached to a rear face of the recess 121.
A shaft hole 122a penetrating through in the up-down direction is provided on the bearing portion 122. As described later, the supporting shaft 125 is put through the shaft hole 122a in the up-down direction when the tilt unit 110 and the pan unit 120 are assembled. As shown in
Holding holes 123a, 123b are provided on the reception portion 123. The holding holes 123a, 123b are provided at positions so as to be symmetric with respect to the supporting shaft 125. Positions of the holding holes 123a, 123b in the up-down direction and the front-rear direction are the same as each other. A recess 123c is formed on a lower edge of the reception portion 123. A gap of the recess 123c in the front-rear direction has substantially the same dimension as the thickness of a transparent body 200. An upper portion of the transparent body 200 is attached to the recess 123c.
A coil attachment portion (not shown) is formed on a rear face of the pan unit 120. A coil 124 which is wound into a square form is attached to the coil attachment portion.
A reference numeral 130 corresponds to a magnet unit. The magnet unit 130 includes a recess 131, grooves 132, 133, eight magnets 134 and two magnets 135. The recess 131 accommodates the pan unit 120. The grooves 132, 133 engage with both edges of the supporting shaft 111. The eight magnets 134 apply magnetic fields to the coils 115, 116. The two magnets 135 apply a magnetic field to the coil 124.
The eight magnets 134 are attached to left and right inner side faces of the recess 131 so as to be divided into two stages of the upper side and the lower side. Further, the two magnets 135 are attached to the inner side faces of the recess 131 so as to be inclined in the front-rear direction as shown in
When the mirror actuator 100 is assembled, the tilt unit 110 is assembled, at first. That is to say, the supporting shaft 111 is attached to the shaft hole 112a and the coils 115, 116 are attached to the coil supporting plates 113, 114, respectively.
Thereafter, the assembled tilt unit 110 is accommodated in the recess 121 of the pan unit 120. Then, the supporting shaft 125 is inserted from the upper side in a state where the hole 112b of the tilt unit 110 and the shaft hole 122a of the pan unit 120 are matched with each other in the up-down direction. A lower edge of the supporting shaft 125 is fixed to the hole 112b. Then, the E ring 126 is fastened to the groove 125a so that the supporting shaft 125 does not move downwardly from a position at which the E ring 126 is fastened with respect to the pan unit 120. Thus, the pan unit 120 is rotatably supported with respect to the tilt unit 110 by the supporting shaft 125.
Thereafter, the balancer 127 is fastened to the thread groove 125b of the supporting shaft 125. Further, the transparent body 200 is attached to the recess 123c. A mirror 140 is attached to a front face of the pan unit 120. Thus, the tilt unit 110, the pan unit 120 and the mirror 140 are completely assembled as shown in
Note that the balancer 127 is a portion for adjusting the constituent components of the mirror actuator 100 which rotates about the supporting shaft 111 so as to rotate in a balanced manner when the constituent components of the mirror actuator 100 rotates about the supporting shaft 111. The balance of such rotation is adjusted by weight of the balancer 127. In addition, a position of the balancer 127 in the up-down direction is fine-adjusted by the thread groove 125b of the supporting shaft 125 so that the balance of the rotation is adjusted.
Thereafter, a configured body as shown in
Returning to
Subsequently, the power supply springs 151a, 151b, 152a, 152b are put through the holes 136, 137 from the rear face side of the recess 131. In this case, distal edges of the power supply springs 151a, 151b are locked by the holding holes 113a, 114a of the tilt unit 110. Further, the distal edges of the locked power supply springs 151a, 151b are electrically connected to the input terminal of the coil 115 and the output terminal of the coil 116, respectively, with solders or the like. Rear edges of the power supply springs 151a, 151b are locked by the holding holes provided on the rear face side of the magnet unit 130.
On the other hand, distal edges of the power supply springs 152a, 152b are locked by the holding holes 123a, 123b of the pan unit 120, respectively. Further, the distal edges of the locked power supply springs 152a, 152b are electrically connected to an input terminal and an output terminal of the coil 124, respectively, with solders or the like. Rear edges of the power supply springs 152a, 152b are locked by the holding holes provided on the rear face side of the magnet unit 130.
When an interconnect substrate is arranged on the rear face of the magnet unit 130, the rear edges of the power supply springs 151a, 151b, 152a, 152b are locked to holding holes formed on the interconnect substrate.
A beryllium copper or the like having small resistance value and excellent durability is used as materials of the power supply springs 151a, 151b, 152a, 152b. In the embodiment, a coil spring obtained by winding a wire rod having excellent conductivity into a coil form is used as each of the power supply springs 151a, 151b, 152a, 152b.
In such a manner, the mirror actuator 100 is completely assembled as shown in
Lengths, spring coefficients, and the like of the power supply springs 151a, 151b, 152a, 152b are set such that the mirror 140 of the mirror actuator 100 after assembled faces to the front side. Further, the power supply springs 151a, 151b, 152a, 152b are set so as to have expanding and contracting allowances in a allowable range where the mirror 140 rotates after the mirror actuator 100 is assembled.
Referring to
In the assembled state as shown in
Further, in the assembled state as shown in
Next, the optical system of the beam irradiation apparatus is described with reference to
A scanning optical system is described with reference to
A laser light source 410 and a convergent lens 430 are arranged on the upper face of the base 500. The laser light source 410 is attached to a substrate 420 for the laser light source. The substrate 420 is arranged on the upper face of the base 500. The laser light source 410 outputs a laser beam having a predetermined wavelength. The convergent lens 430 is a convex lens having a predetermined focal distance. A lens surface of the convergent lens 430 has a rotationally symmetric shape about an optical axis.
As schematically showing in
Note that although the two laser chips 411, 412 are arranged in the CAN of the laser light source 410 here, three or more laser chips may be arranged in the CAN of the laser light source 410. In this case, the entire length L of the light emitting portion composed of these laser chips in the vertical direction is also adjusted such that the laser beam on the target region has a desired shape. As the other configuration, only one laser chip may be arranged in the CAN of the laser light source 410. In such a case, the length L of the laser chip (light emitting portion) in the vertical direction is adjusted such that the laser beam on the target region has a desired shape.
The laser beam (hereinafter, referred to as “scanning laser beam”) output from the laser light source 410 enters onto the convergent lens 430 not through a beam shaping lens or an aperture. The laser beam transmitted through the convergent lens 430 travels to the target region in a state where the laser beam is slightly diverged in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction such that the size of the laser beam becomes a predetermined size (for example, about 2 m long and about 1 m wide) on the target region. In this case, the target region is set to a position about 100 m ahead of the beam emitting port of the beam irradiation apparatus, for example.
The scanning laser beam transmitted through the convergent lens 430 enters into the mirror 140 of the mirror actuator 100 and is reflected by the mirror 140 toward the target region. The mirror 140 is biaxially driven by the mirror actuator 100 so that the scanning laser beam is scanned on the target region.
When the mirror 140 is at a neutral position, the mirror actuator 100 is arranged such that the scanning laser beam from the convergent lens 430 enters into a mirror surface of the mirror 140 at an incident angle of 45 degree in the horizontal direction. The expression “neutral position” indicates a position of the mirror 140 at which the mirror surface is parallel with the vertical direction and the scanning laser beam enters into the mirror surface at the incident angle of 45 degree with respect to the horizontal direction. The mirror 140 is positioned at the neutral position in a state where currents are not applied to the coils 115, 116, 124.
A circuit substrate 300 is arranged on a lower face of the base 500. Further, circuit substrates 301, 302 are arranged on a back face and a side face of the base 500, respectively.
As shown in
A condensing lens 304, an aperture 305, and a neutral density (ND) filter 306 are attached to the flat face 503 at the backside of the base 500 with an attachment 307. Further, the above opening 503a is formed on the flat face 503. The transparent body 200 attached to the mirror actuator 100 projects to the back side of the base 500 through the opening 503a. Here, when the mirror 140 of the mirror actuator 100 is at the neutral position, the transparent body 200 is positioned such that two flat faces are parallel with the vertical direction and are inclined at 45 degree with respect to the output light axis of the laser diode 303.
The laser beam (hereinafter, referred to as “servo beam”) output from the laser diode 303 is transmitted through the condensing lens 304. Then, a beam diameter thereof is restricted by the aperture 305. Further, the laser beam is extinguished by the ND filter 306. Then, the servo beam is entered into the transparent body 200 so as to be subjected to a refraction action by the transparent body 200. Thereafter, the servo beam transmitted through the transparent body 200 is received by the PSD 308 and a position detection signal in accordance with the light reception position is output from the PSD 308.
The servo beam is refracted by the transparent body 200 arranged so as to be inclined with respect to the laser beam axis and received by the PSD 308. When the transparent body 200 is rotated as shown by a dashed line arrow, an optical path of the servo beam changes to a path as shown by a solid line from a path shown by the dotted line in
As the configurations in the beam irradiation apparatus 1, only the laser light source 410, the mirror actuator 100, the laser diode 303, and the PSD 308 are illustrated in
The PSD signal processing circuit 3 generates a position detection signal from an output signal from the PSD 308 and outputs the generated signal to the DSP 8.
The servo LD driving circuit 4 supplies a driving signal to the laser diode 303 based on a signal from the DSP 8. To be more specific, when the beam irradiation apparatus 1 is operated, the servo beam having a constant output is output from the laser diode 303.
The actuator driving circuit 5 drives the mirror actuator 100 based on a signal from the DSP 8. To be more specific, a driving signal for making the scanning laser beam scan on the target region along a predetermined trajectory is supplied to the mirror actuator 100.
The scan LD driving circuit 6 supplies a driving signal to the laser light source 410 based on a signal from the DSP 8. To be more specific, the laser diode 303 pulse-emits at a timing where the scanning position of the scanning laser beam is at a predetermined position on the target region. That is to say, the laser beams are emitted from the two laser chips 411, 412 arranged in the laser light source 410 simultaneously at a timing where the scanning position reaches to the irradiation position as shown in
The PD signal processing circuit 7 amplifies and digitalizes a signal from the PD 450 to supply the obtained signal to the DSP 8.
The DSP 8 detects a scanning position of the scanning laser beam on the target region based on the position detection signal input from the PSD signal processing circuit 3 so as to control driving of the mirror actuator 100, driving of the laser light source 410, and the like. Further, the DSP 8 judges whether an obstacle is present on the irradiation position with the scanning laser on the target region based on the signal input from the PD signal processing circuit 7. At the same time, the DSP 8 measures a distance to the obstacle based on a time difference between an irradiation timing of the scanning laser beam output from the laser light source 410 and a light reception timing of the reflected light from the target region, which is received on the PD 450.
According to the embodiment, the laser light source is arranged such that the pn junction surface of the laser chip is parallel with the vertical direction so that the divergence angle of the laser beam in the vertical direction can be easily adjusted. Additionally, the following effects can be obtained by aligning two laser chips 411, 412 in the vertical direction to adjust the entire length L of the light emitting portion as in the specific configuration example. That is, the beam diameter of the laser beam when the laser beam is entered into the convergence lens 430 is made smaller as described above with reference to
Although the embodiment of the invention has been described above, the invention is not limited to the above embodiment. Further, the embodiment of the invention can variously modified into modes other than the above embodiment.
For example, in the above embodiment and specific configuration example, the divergence angle of the laser beam in the horizontal direction is adjusting by making the position of the laser chip close to the convergent lens from the position of the focal distance of the convergent lens. However, the divergence angle of the laser beam in the horizontal direction may be adjusted by adjusting length of the light emitting portion in the short side direction as in the longitudinal direction. In this case, the length of the light emitting portion in the short side direction can be adjusted by stacking the laser chips in the short side direction.
Further, all or a part of the PSD signal processing circuit 3, the servo LD driving circuit 4, an actuator driving circuit 5 and the scan LD driving circuit 6 in the configuration shown in
In addition, the embodiment of the invention can be appropriately modified in a range of claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2009-197473 | Aug 2009 | JP | national |