Patent Application
20230202432
The present disclosure relates to an optical module and a vehicle, and more specifically, the present disclosure relates to an optical module and a vehicle that may be used to remove foreign object.
There may be foreign objects on the panel of an optical module, which resulting in poor imaging of optical components (such as lenses) in the optical module. Especially, the optical module on the vehicle is likely to have foreign object accumulated on the panel of the optical module, which makes it impossible for the user to activate the optical module quickly.
Therefore, there is a need for an optical module capable of removing foreign objects on the panel.
To solve the problems of the prior art, an optical module is provided. The optical module is for corresponding to an optical component, and the optical module includes a panel, and a foreign object removal assembly. The foreign object removal assembly removes a foreign object that is attached to the panel in a physical way.
In one of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the foreign object removal assembly includes a vibration module. The vibration module is in contact with the panel, so that the panel vibrates.
In one of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the vibration module includes a piezoelectric element.
In one of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the foreign object removal assembly includes a lever, and the lever across and in contact with the panel. The lever moves relative to the panel.
In one of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the lever moves relative to the panel along a direction that is parallel to the width of the lever.
In one of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the width of the lever is less than 1 mm, and an aperture of the optical component is greater than 5.6.
In one of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the optical module further includes an insulating adhesive. The two ends of the lever are fixed to a shape memory alloy wire via the insulating adhesive.
In one of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the extension or contraction of the shape memory alloy wire is controlled by an electric current, and then the lever is driven to move horizontally relative to the panel.
In one of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the lever includes a metal.
In one of the embodiments of the present disclosure, there are a plurality of levers.
In one of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the foreign object removal assembly includes a temperature control component. The temperature control element is in contact with the panel, and the temperature control element increases the temperature of the panel.
In one of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the optical module further includes a circuit assembly, electrically connected to the foreign object removal assembly,
wherein the temperature control component is arranged in the circuit assembly.
In one of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the optical module further includes a thermally conductive adhesive, connecting the circuit assembly to the panel. A thermal conductivity of the thermally conductive adhesive is greater than 0.5 W·m-1·K-1.
In one of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the temperature control component includes a shape memory alloy.
In one of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the temperature control component is located at an outside of the panel.
In one of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a light passing through the panel and entering the optical component. The temperature control component does not block the light.
In one of the embodiments of the present disclosure, an inner space of the optical module is isolated from an outside.
In one of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the foreign object removal assembly includes a vibration module, a lever, and a temperature control component, wherein the lever is located above the vibration module and the temperature control component, and the vibration module extends below the temperature control assembly.
To solve the problems of the prior art, a vehicle is provided, including a front windshield, and the optical module. The optical module is arranged on the front windshield and located inside the vehicle.
To solve the problems of the prior art, a vehicle is provided, including a bumper, and, and the optical module. The optical module is arranged on the bumper and located outside the vehicle.
The present invention may be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description and examples with references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The making and using of embodiments of the present disclosure are discussed in detail below. It should be appreciated, however, that the embodiments provide many applicable inventive concepts that may be embodied in a wide variety of specific contexts. The specific embodiments discussed are merely illustrative of specific ways to make and use the embodiments and do not limit the scope of the disclosure.
It should be understood that, although the terms “first”, “second” etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, layers and/or portions, and these elements, layers, and/or portions should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element, layer, or portion. Thus, a first element, layer or portion discussed below could be termed a second element, layer or portion without departing from the teachings of some embodiments of the present disclosure. In addition, for the sake of brevity, terms such as “first” and “second” may not be used in the description to distinguish different elements. As long as it does not depart from the scope defined by the appended claims, the first element and/or the second element described in the appended claims can be interpreted as any element that meets the description in the specification.
Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. It should be appreciated that each term, which is defined in a commonly used dictionary, should be interpreted as having a meaning conforming to the relative skills and the background or the context of the present disclosure, and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal manner unless defined otherwise.
The scale of the drawings in the present disclosure may be drawn according to the actual size. The scale of the same figure in the present disclosure can be used as the actual manufacturing scale of the devices, equipment, elements, etc. of the present disclosure. It should be noted that each figure may be drawn at different orientations, which may result in different size ratios among different figures. However, the size ratio shown in an individual figure is not affect by the different size ratios between different figures. People with ordinary skill in the art can understand that the size ratio of the figures in the present disclosure can be used as a distinguishing feature from the prior art.
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The outer frame 10 may be combined with the base 20 to form an inner space. The inner space may accommodate other components of the optical module 100, and an optical component (not shown) corresponds to the optical module 100.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the optical component may be a camera module, a lens, etc., for capturing and recording images.
The panel 30 may be disposed on the outer frame 10, and the outer frame 10, the base 20 and the panel 30 may jointly enclose the inner space. According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the inner space may not communicate with the outside of the optical module 100.
That is, the inner space of the optical module is isolated from the outside, and the inner space may be in a vacuum state. In this way, foreign objects such as frost, fog, and water may be avoided from the internal space of the optical module.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the panel 30 may be a light-transmitting element. For example, the panel 30 may be glass, an acrylic plate, or the like. Therefore, the light may pass through the panel 30 to the inner space, and the light may enter an optical assembly (not shown) for imaging.
The foreign object removal assembly 40 may remove a foreign object that is attached to the panel 30 in a physical way. According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the physical way may be vibration, scraping, contact, heating and melting, and the like. According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the foreign object may be frost, snow, fog, water, and the like.
The foreign object removal assembly 40 may cover, absorb, reflect, or refract light, so that the optical components receives poor images. Therefore, after the foreign object that is attached to the panel 30 is removed by the foreign object removal assembly 40, the image received by the optical component may be improved.
The circuit assembly 50 may be electrically connected to the foreign object removal assembly 40 to supply an external current to the foreign object removal assembly 40.
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According to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The vibration module 41 may include a piezoelectric element. For example, the vibration module 41 may include a Smooth Impact Driving mechanism Piezo (SIDM Piezo), or a Bimorph Piezo.
Therefore, the vibration module 41 may generate ultrasonic vibrations to effectively make the foreign object that is attached to the panel 30 fall from the panel 30.
It should be noted that the vibration module 41 is also electrically connected to the circuit assembly 50 to receive a current to generate vibration.
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The lever 42 may include metal, and both ends of the lever 42 may be fixed to a plurality of shape memory alloy wires 42M via insulating adhesive 70. It should be noted that although the present disclosure only shows that the two ends of the lever 42 are fixed to the shape memory alloy wires 42M, in fact, the middle section of the lever 42 may also be fixed to the shape memory alloy wire 42M via the insulating adhesive 70, so as to increase driving force.
The length of the shape memory alloy wire 42M may be controlled to extended or contracted after the current is applied, and the extension or contraction of each of the plurality of shape memory alloy wires 42M may be controlled by the current, respectively, and then the lever 42 is driven to move horizontally relative to the surface of the panel 30 such as translate or rotate. It should be noted that the lever 42 may move relative to the panel 30 along a direction that is parallel to the width 42W of the lever 42. Therefore, the lever 42 may scrape off the foreign object that is attached to the panel 30.
It should be noted that although
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, an aperture (f-number) of the optical component that is accommodated in the inner space may be greater than 5.6.
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The temperature control component 43 may be disposed in the circuit assembly 50, and the temperature control component 43 may be connected to the panel 30 via a thermally conductive adhesive 60. According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the thermal conductivity of the thermally conductive adhesive 60 may be greater than 0.5 W·m-1·K-1, so as to effectively transfer the heat by the temperature control component 43 to the panel 30.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the temperature control component 43 may include a shape memory alloy, so as to generate heat energy when receiving current from the circuit assembly 50.
In the embodiment of
However, in other embodiments of the present disclosure, the temperature control component 43 may be disposed outside the optical module 100. For example, in other embodiments of the present disclosure, the temperature control component 43 may be disposed outside the panel 30.
In this way, when the temperature control component 43 receives the electric current from the circuit assembly 50, the temperature control component 43 may also extend or contract, thereby scraping off the foreign object attached to the panel 30 at the same time.
It should be noted that although the vibration module 41, the lever 42, and the temperature control assembly 43 are described separately, the foreign object removal assembly 40 may simultaneously include one or more of the vibration module 41, the lever 42, and the temperature control assembly 43.
That is, the foreign object removal assembly 40 may include at least one of a vibration module 41, a lever 42, and a temperature control assembly 43 to improve the efficiency of removing foreign objects on the panel 30.
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The optical module 100 may be disposed on the front windshield 210, and the optical module 100 may be located in the interior of the vehicle 200. In this way, when there is a foreign object on the front windshield 210 of the vehicle, the optical module 100 may remove the foreign object in front of the optical module 100 so that the optical module 100 may receive a good light.
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The optical module 100 may be disposed on the bumper 310, and the optical module 100 may be located outside the vehicle 300. In this way, when there is a foreign object on the bumper 310 of the vehicle, the optical module 100 may remove the foreign object in front of the optical module 100, so that the optical module 100 may receive a good light.
It should be noted that vehicle 200 or vehicle 300 is only an example. In fact, the optical module 100 may be arranged in other positions of the vehicle 200 or the vehicle 300. Also, the vehicle 200 or the vehicle 300 may include a plurality of optical modules 100.
In general, the optical module 100 of the embodiment of the present disclosure may remove the foreign object that is on the panel 30 by the foreign object removal assembly 40, so that the image received by the optical component is better.
Although embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations may be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. For example, it will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that many of the features, functions, processes, and materials described herein may be varied while remaining within the scope of the present disclosure. Moreover, the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification. As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosure of the present disclosure, processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be developed, that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present disclosure. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps. In addition, the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the scope of the appended claims. In addition, each scope of the claims is constructed as a separate embodiment, and various combinations of the claims and combinations of embodiments are within the scope of the present disclosure.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/266,034, filed Dec. 27, 2021, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63266034 | Dec 2021 | US |
