Patent Application
20250016434
This application claims priority to EP 23 183 972 filed Jul. 6, 2023, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference.
The present disclosure relates to a sensor unit, particularly a camera housing for use in the automotive field, and method of implementing same.
Sensors such as cameras are now common in automotive environments. Requirements for angular accuracy during assembly of an automotive camera are very high, i.e. aligning a lens, an imager on a PCB and surface features of the housing along with connector positions. Angular errors can result from the surface mount technology (SMT) process, component tolerances (e.g. imager chip, lens holder) and PCB placement.
The background description provided here is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
The present disclosure seeks to address the above issues of conventional solutions and assembly methods or at least provide an alternative to the public and suppliers/manufacturers of sensor devices.
According to a first aspect, a sensor unit may comprise, for example, a sensor subassembly (or sensor part), a housing (or mount subassembly/mounting part) for attachment to the sensor subassembly (e.g. to enable it to subsequently be mounted to a vehicle), and a connector device/port for connection with an external connector; wherein the housing part is configured to be angularly displaceable relative to the sensor part about a longitudinal axis. In a particular form, the sensor unit is a camera unit and the subassembly comprises a barrel to house a lens, for fixing at a distance from an imager on a PCB. The mounting part is a housing that is angularly adjustable relative to the barrel.
Particularly, the disclosure relates to a sensor unit having: a sensor part; a housing, comprising one or more annular surfaces configured to engage with the sensor part at a mating surface thereof; wherein, during assembly, a rotatable position is selectable to align or coincide the sensor part (e.g. terminal connections) with a reference feature of the housing. The reference feature (as distinct from external reference features used for locating the housing for operational use) may be an opening through the housing to receive a connector or a fixed connector integral with the housing. In this way, the housing/case is fabricated to be rotatable during the assembly process relative to the sensor subassembly and/or the connection port that is to be in electrical communication therewith the sensor/PCB.
The particular problem of roll control is solved by specific design of an imager PCB with a shape that allows it to actively align to the cylindrical lens. After alignment of imager/PCB, the sub assembly is mounted into an annular bearing surface in the housing. The subassembly may be adjusted relative to positioning features of the camera required for assembly into a vehicle and finally fixed by welding or gluing. Angular positioning can be implemented/tested by use of a jig or vision system to ensure correct assembly. Ultimately, accurate angular orientation of the camera results in correct image display for operation in the vehicle.
The design may also allow for installation of a connector in different positions. A few variants are possible, such as: where a connector is mounted in the cover/housing and the PCB is fabricated in a way that allows to compensate the roll movement and allow to change the connector position; or where the connector soldered onto the PCB and the cover has a guide slot for roll and position adjustment.
The assembly process of providing the required roll tolerances can be divided into two phases. In the first phase the lens is actively aligned to the active area of the imager PCB by use of adhesive. In the second phase the subassembly of the combined lens and imager/PCB is mounted into a cylindrical nest, i.e. annular bearing/contact flange, in the housing. An external surface of the housing contains the customer reference features which ultimately guide the sensor unit for installation in a correctly oriented position in the vehicle. The customer reference features may be specific to the end use, i.e. installation is a particular vehicle type or model.
As mentioned, during insertion of the subassembly into the housing, an optical system may relatively position the roll of the subassembly compared to the customer reference feature. The assemblies are connected by welding or gluing once a correct angular/roll placement is determined.
In embodiments, the sensor unit is provided with at least one connector element for assembly through a formed opening in the housing and cooperation with the connector location on the PCB. In this way, an assembled sensor unit comprises an external connector, protruding from the housing side wall, at a position chosen according to customer requirement.
It will be apparent that a housing may be provided with multiple connector locations/connector elements to communicate with the PCB connection features if this is required for operation of the unit.
Advantages of the proposed solution include reduced development time/tooling cost by separating common parts, enabling the requirements of more customers to be met with one design. Notably, a full camera ASM achieves good accuracy of camera roll control during assembly relative to customer reference features.
A second aspect of the invention is embodied by a method for assembling a sensor unit according to claim 11, e.g. for supplying a camera unit adaptable to a range of OEM vehicle requirements.
Further areas of applicability of the present disclosure will become apparent from the detailed description, the claims, and the drawings. The detailed description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure.
The present disclosure will become more fully understood from the detailed description and the accompanying drawings.
In the drawings, reference numbers may be reused to identify similar and/or identical elements.
The following description presents example embodiments and, together with the drawings, serves to explain principles of the invention. However, the scope of the invention is not intended to be limited to the precise details of the embodiments or exact adherence with all system features and/or method steps, since variations will be apparent to a skilled person and are deemed also to be covered by the description. Terms for components used herein should be given a broad interpretation that also encompasses equivalent functions and features.
In some cases, several alternative terms (synonyms) for structural, system features have been provided but such terms are not intended to be exhaustive. For the avoidance of doubt, any terms separated by the “/” symbol generally refer to alternative “or” expressions where the terms can be used interchangeably. Descriptive terms should also be given the broadest possible interpretation; e.g. the term “comprising” as used in this specification means “consisting at least in part of” such that interpreting each statement in this specification that includes the term “comprising”, features other than that or those prefaced by the term may also be present. Related terms such as “comprise” and “comprises” are to be interpreted in the same manner. Any directional terms such as “vertical”, “horizontal”, “up”, “down”, “sideways”, “upper” and “lower” are used for convenience of explanation usually with reference to the form shown in illustrations and are not intended to be ultimately limiting if an equivalent function can be achieved with an alternative dimension and/or direction. All directional terms are relative to each other.
The description herein refers to embodiments with particular combinations of steps or features, however, it is envisaged that further combinations and cross-combinations of compatible steps or features between embodiments will be possible. Indeed, isolated features may function independently as an invention from other features and not necessarily require implementation as a complete combination.
It will be understood that the illustrated embodiments show applications only for the purposes of explanation. In practice, the invention may be applied to many different configurations, where the embodiment is straightforward for those skilled in the art to implement.
In practice, PCB/imager 15 is positioned relative to lens 15 and fixed in place by an adhesive 16 at an optimum focal distance. Part information may be provided as text or a readable code indicated by surface marking 17.
Mounting part 18 may comprise a walled housing, providing a cavity to accommodate any protruding parts from the subassembly 10 (such as electronic components of the PCB 14, on the opposite side to imager 15). Externally, housing 18 may comprise one or more surface structures 19 that serve as location reference features for use when the assembled sensor unit is installed, such as in a vehicle. There may be one or a plurality of reference features.
Housing 18 is formed as a cup-like or cylindrical enclosure for the PCB and/or other components to be accommodated therein. A closed end 20 has an upstanding peripheral side wall to form the cup-shape and create an internal cavity, further defining an edge/open end 21 adapted for engagement with an annular surface of the sensor base 13. The opening 21 may interface with base 13 of the sensor subassembly by any suitable feature, such as one or more annular surfaces or a flange/bearing surface which enables an interference or looser fit/contact to permit relatively free rotational movement during assembly.
Also shown in
As shown in
In this way, the reference/registration feature(s) 19 can be rotationally adjusted relative to the lens barrel and associated image forming components. Once in a desired orientation, i.e. determined by a monitoring system or jig, the assembly can be fixed in place by suitable means, i.e. adhesive or welding.
To enable a wider variation in allowable angular rotation of relative parts 10 and 18 during assembly, a second embodiment is shown by
In this way, greater relative rotation of housing 18 is possible than that of
Also visible is an engagement feature 31 at the side wall of connector cover 27 which, in use, interfaces with a mating part of an external connector (not shown). In the illustrated form it is a hook shape which, in use, may be captured and released by a resilient mating part.
As is the case of
It will be apparent that the configuration of
In the illustrated form of
A variation on the foregoing may be to feature an internal flex wire between connector 24 and a terminal of the PCB. That is to say, a wire with sufficient length to accommodate rotatable adjustment of housing 18 relative to fixed sensor part 10 in either direction 23. Such a solution would be functional but requires additional preinstallation (e.g. connector to connector soldering) compared to the illustrated contact solution.
As with all embodiments, angular adjustment can be set and fixed by suitable monitoring and the part labelled according to its end use.
The common concept between all embodiments is enabling the ability to make fine angular adjustments to an imager, relative to reference features, before the relative positions are fixed. As such, while in the prior art an automotive camera model is configured for one angular connector orientation only (and if another connector orientation is required then development of new components is needed), the present camera unit is prepared for many connector (e.g. German standard FAKRA, Fachkreis Automobil) orientation variants and does not require a new housing configuration for each possibility, merely customization during the assembly process
The example embodiments herein relate to a camera unit, e.g. with a lens and imager, but other sensor types may benefit from an adaptable housing (e.g. sub-assembly) that is configurable according to the entry direction of a connector that it will be required to interface when assembled into a vehicle or like assembly. As such, the present disclosure is directed to a sensor unit/housing of two parts more generally, that is to house associated electronics either with or without the sensor itself.
By way of further summary, a sensor, e.g. automotive camera, unit and method of assembling same is described herein, with relative roll adjustment between the parts. A sensor part and mounting part having reference features is engaged at respective mating annular surfaces while a connector device is aligned with and extends through the mounting part. A position of the mounting part relative to the sensor part can be chosen by rotating one or the other part about a longitudinal axis and then fixing same in place. Angular displacement may be limited by the size of the opening/slot. A connector cover may be arranged coaxially with the connector, which also covers any gap in the slot.
The term non-transitory computer-readable medium does not encompass transitory electrical or electromagnetic signals propagating through a medium (such as on a carrier wave). Non-limiting examples of a non-transitory computer-readable medium are nonvolatile memory circuits (such as a flash memory circuit, an erasable programmable read-only memory circuit, or a mask read-only memory circuit), volatile memory circuits (such as a static random access memory circuit or a dynamic random access memory circuit), magnetic storage media (such as an analog or digital magnetic tape or a hard disk drive), and optical storage media (such as a CD, a DVD, or a Blu-ray Disc).
The term “set” generally means a grouping of one or more elements. The elements of a set do not necessarily need to have any characteristics in common or otherwise belong together. The phrase “at least one of A, B, and C” should be construed to mean a logical (A OR B OR C), using a non-exclusive logical OR, and should not be construed to mean “at least one of A, at least one of B, and at least one of C.” The phrase “at least one of A, B, or C” should be construed to mean a logical (A OR B OR C), using a non-exclusive logical OR.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23183972 | Jul 2023 | EP | regional |
