JP4491926B2 - Reflection measuring device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a reflection measurement apparatus that detects information related to an object existing in an irradiation direction by irradiating light and receiving reflected light.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, for example, it is applied to an apparatus that issues an alarm by detecting an obstacle such as a preceding vehicle, and in order to collect information for recognizing an obstacle such as a preceding vehicle, a light beam such as a laser beam is applied around the vehicle. A reflection measuring device that irradiates over a predetermined angle range and detects the reflected light is known.
[0003]
This type of apparatus includes an optical system for emitting light generated by a light source to the outside and receiving reflected light of the emitted light. As one of the constituent parts constituting this optical system, a resin lens made of a transparent amorphous resin such as acrylic or polycarbonate is used as a predetermined structure (for example, a casing or the like constituting the outer shape of the apparatus). In some cases, it is provided in a state of being fixed to the internal structure with screws.
[0004]
FIG. 4A is a diagram showing a state where a light receiving lens 1040 as a resin lens is fixed to the inner case 1110 as an example. The inner case 110 is a structure that holds various components in the reflection measuring device such as a polygon mirror 1030 for emitting light inside the device. The inner case 110 holds the components with high positional accuracy and the time. Since it is required to suppress the change, it is made of metal. On the other hand, the light receiving lens 1040 is a lens for condensing light outside the apparatus on the light receiving element. That is, the reflected light of the light emitted from the polygon mirror 1030 is collected by the light receiving lens 1040, and functions as a reflection measuring device by detecting the collected light.
[0005]
The light receiving lens 1040 is fixed to the inner case 1110 with screws 1042. 4B is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 4A. As shown in FIG. 4B, the inner case 1110 has a bag-like shape (that is, the inner case 1110). The internal thread portion 1110a is formed in a state where the dead end is formed inside the component member. The female thread portion 1110a is for attaching the light receiving lens 1040. That is, the light receiving lens 1040 is fixed to the inner case 1110 by a male screw member (screw) 1042 that passes through the through hole 1040a of the light receiving lens 1040 and is screwed into the female screw portion 1110a.
[0006]
Cutting oil 1112 is used when forming the internal thread portion 1110a in the metal inner case 1110. If this oil remains inside the internal thread portion 1110a, the light receiving lens 1040 fixed to the inner case 1110 is cracked. Sometimes. That is, when the cutting oil 1112 remains in the female threaded portion 1110a, the screw 1042 screwed into the female threaded portion 1110a is connected and the cutting oil 1112 oozes and adheres to the light receiving lens 1040, and the stress applied to the light receiving lens 1040 by the screw 1042 In addition, the phenomenon of environmental stress cracking may occur. This phenomenon is particularly likely to occur with a resin lens made of an amorphous resin. Therefore, conventionally, sufficient cleaning (for example, ultrasonic cleaning in hot water) is performed so that the cutting oil 1112 does not remain in the female thread portion 1110a, thereby preventing environmental stress cracking of the light receiving lens 1040.
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, since the female screw portion 1110a is opened only in one direction, it is difficult for the cleaning liquid to circulate and the removal of the cutting oil 1112 is not easy.
Therefore, the inventors considered to penetrate the female screw portion 1210a formed in the inner case 1210 as shown in FIG. That is, if the female screw portion 1210a is formed so as to penetrate the inner case 1210, it is considered that the flow of the cleaning liquid in the female screw portion 1210a is promoted and the internal cleaning of the female screw portion 1210a is facilitated.
[0008]
However, this configuration may cause the following problem. That is, chips 1212 generated when a screw is screwed into the female screw portion 1210a adheres to the female screw portion 1210a, and then comes out of the female screw portion 1210a during use of the device, causing a short circuit in the circuit board inside the device. It can be a cause.
[0009]
The present invention is based on such a background, and in a reflection measuring apparatus having a configuration in which a resin lens is fixed to a structure by a male screw member screwed into a female screw part formed in a metal structure, cleaning of the female screw part is performed. An object of the present invention is to make it easy and prevent a short circuit in a circuit inside the apparatus due to chips generated when the male screw member is screwed into the female screw portion.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention]
In the reflection measuring apparatus according to the present invention (claim 1) made to solve the above-described problem, the resin lens is fixed to the metal structure by using a male screw member penetrating the resin lens as a female screw portion of the structure. The female screw portion is formed so as to penetrate the structure, and the male screw member is screwed into the female screw portion so as to penetrate the structure.
[0011]
According to the reflection measuring apparatus of the present invention (Claim 1) configured as described above, since the female screw portion penetrates the structure, the flow of the cleaning liquid inside the female screw portion is promoted, and sufficient cutting oil is supplied. Removal can be performed easily. Moreover, since the male screw member is screwed so as to pass through the structure (that is, the female screw portion), even if chips are generated during screw tightening, the male screw member is discharged in advance from the female screw portion. That is, no chips remain in the female screw portion, and a short circuit of the circuit board due to the chips can be prevented during use of the apparatus. Note that the chips previously discharged out of the female screw portion in this way may be removed by, for example, air blowing.
[0012]
Moreover, in order to solve the said subject, the means of Claim 2 can also be taken. That is, in the reflection measuring apparatus according to claim 2, the resin lens is fixed to the metal structure by screwing a male screw member penetrating the resin lens into the female screw portion of the structure. The structure is formed in a bag shape, and a through-hole penetrating the structure from the female screw portion side is formed at the tip of the female screw portion. And the internal diameter of the through-hole is made smaller than the internal diameter of the internal thread part.
[0013]
That is, in the reflection measuring apparatus according to claim 2, since the through hole penetrating the structure is formed at the tip of the female screw portion, the flow of the cleaning liquid inside the female screw portion is promoted, and the cutting oil is sufficiently removed. Can be easily performed. Moreover, since the inner diameter of the through-hole formed at the tip of the female screw portion is smaller than the inner diameter of the female screw portion, even if chips are generated in the female screw portion during screw tightening, the chips come out outside the female screw portion. I can suppress coming. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the circuit in the reflection measuring device from being short-circuited by the chips. In addition, what is necessary is just to form a through-hole so that chips may not come out easily according to the position and angle in which the internal thread part was formed.
[0014]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
First, the reflection measuring apparatus described below as the first embodiment is disposed at the front of the vehicle so that the reflected light can be received by irradiating laser light in the traveling direction of the vehicle. It is.
[0015]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing components of the reflection measuring device 2.
As shown in FIG. 1, the reflection measuring apparatus 2 of the present embodiment includes the following optical system. That is, the optical system of the reflection measuring apparatus 2 includes a lens unit 10 that generates substantially parallel laser light, a reflection mirror 20 that reflects the laser light emitted from the lens unit 10 and guides the laser light in a predetermined direction, and the reflection mirror 20. A polygon mirror 30 that reflects the laser beam guided by the laser beam and continuously changes the irradiation direction thereof, and a light receiving lens 40 that collects the reflected light of the laser beam irradiated through the polygon mirror 30. . The reflected light collected by the light receiving lens 40 is received by the photodiode 50 and converted into an electrical signal. The light receiving lens 40 corresponds to a “resin lens” in the claims.
[0016]
Among these, the lens unit 10 is mounted with a laser diode (not shown) that generates laser light in a pulsed infrared region and supplies power to the light emitting circuit board 13 that generates laser light from the laser diode. A collimating lens 14 that emits laser light generated by the laser diode from the lens unit 10 in a substantially parallel manner, and a unit that holds these components 13 and 14 and guides the laser light from the laser diode to the collimating lens 14. And a housing 16.
[0017]
As shown in FIG. 1, the reflection measuring device 2 includes a plurality of electronic circuit boards in addition to the light emitting circuit board 13 as follows. That is, the reflection measuring apparatus 2 is mounted with a motor drive circuit board 60 that drives a motor to rotate the polygon mirror 30 and a photodiode 50, and amplifies and shapes the electrical signal generated by the photodiode 50. The optical system scans the laser beam by operating the light receiving circuit board 70 that outputs the received light signal and the electronic circuits respectively formed on the light emitting circuit board 13 and the motor drive circuit board 60, while receiving the light. A control circuit board 80 for performing various arithmetic processes such as obtaining the position and relative velocity of an object existing in the scanning region (that is, in the scanning region of the laser beam) based on a light reception signal from the circuit board 70, and these light emitting circuit boards 13, a power supply circuit board 9 for supplying power to each electronic circuit configured on the motor drive circuit board 60 and the control circuit board 80. It has a, and.
[0018]
And the reflection measuring apparatus 2 is equipped with the structure for hold | maintaining and protecting said component in a predetermined position. That is, the reflection measuring device 2 is configured to be inserted into the front case 100 for accommodating the above-described components and to hold the components with high positional accuracy inside the front case 100. An inner case 110 cast from aluminum and a rear case 120 for closing the rear opening of the front case 100 are provided. The inner case 110 corresponds to a “structure” in claims.
[0019]
At the front of the front case 100, there are an emission window 102 for emitting laser light reflected by the polygon mirror 30 to the outside of the front case 100, and an incident window 104 for receiving reflected light corresponding to the laser light. Is formed.
In order to prevent water droplets or the like from entering the inside of the front case 100 through the exit window 102 and the entrance window 104, the plate-shaped protection member 130 closes the exit window 102 and the entrance window 104. It is disposed inside the front part of the front case 100. Specifically, the protection member 130 is disposed between the front part of the inner case 110 housed in the front case 100 and the front part of the front case 100. The protective member 130 is made of transparent glass and does not hinder the passage of light through the exit window 102 and the entrance window 104.
[0020]
Between this protective member 130 and the inner side surface of the front portion of the front case 100, a packing 140 with an O-ring for preventing intrusion of water droplets or the like from the space is disposed. In the packing 140 with an O-ring, a rubber exit window O-ring 142 having substantially the same shape as the exit window 102 and a rubber entrance window O-ring 144 having substantially the same shape as the entrance window 104 are integrally formed of rubber. It is a thing. The inner case 110 is pressed against the inner side surface of the front portion of the front case 100 via the packing 140 with the O-ring and the protective member 130, thereby taking measures against waterproofing in the vicinity of the exit window 102 and the entrance window 104.
[0021]
Between the front case 100 and the rear case 120, an O-ring 146 that prevents intrusion of water droplets or the like through the space is disposed. A connector 150 is provided on the outer surface of the rear case 120 to input / output signals to the reflection measuring device 2 and to supply power, and the connector pin 150a is measured for reflection through the through hole 122 of the rear case 120. It is inserted inside the device 2. Between the connector 150 and the rear case 120, an O-ring 148 that prevents water droplets or the like from entering from the through hole 122 of the rear case 120 is disposed.
[0022]
The optical system components such as the lens unit 10, the reflection mirror 20, the polygon mirror 30, and the light receiving lens 40, and the circuit boards 13, 60, 70, 80, and 90 are reflected by the inner case 110 as a support. 2 is held inside.
[0023]
Among these, the lens unit 10, the reflection mirror 20, and the polygon mirror 30 are arranged in the space on the right side inside the reflection measurement device 2. A space in which the lens unit 10, the reflection mirror 20, and the polygon mirror 30 are arranged is divided vertically by a partition 112 configured as a part of the inner case 110, and the lens unit 10 is fixed to the upper surface of the partition 112. Is done. Further, the reflection mirror 20 is fixed to the inner case 110 by the reflection mirror support member 22 in front of the lens unit 10 (that is, the laser beam emission direction as viewed from the lens unit 10). On the other hand, the polygon mirror 30 is disposed in a space below the partition wall 112. Note that the partition wall 112 is formed with an opening 118 through which laser light from the reflection mirror 20 toward the polygon mirror 30 passes.
[0024]
FIG. 2A is a front view of the inner case 110 to which the reflecting mirror 20, the polygon mirror 30, the light receiving lens 40, and the like are attached. As shown in FIG. 2A, the light receiving lens 40 is attached to the front portion of the inner case 110 with a screw 42. The screw 42 corresponds to a “male screw member” in the claims.
[0025]
2B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 2A. As shown in FIG. 2B, the inner case 110 is formed with a female screw portion 110a penetrating the inner case 110. As shown in FIG. ing. The female thread portion 110a is for attaching the light receiving lens 40. That is, the light receiving lens 40 is fixed to the inner case 110 by a screw 42 that passes through the through hole 40a of the light receiving lens 40 and is screwed into the female screw portion 110a. The screw 42 is screwed into the female screw portion 110a until the screw 42 penetrates the female screw portion 110a, that is, the state penetrates the inner case 110.
[0026]
The reflection measuring apparatus 2 of the present embodiment configured as described above operates as follows. First, when the laser light emitted from the laser diode is emitted from the collimator lens 14 as a substantially parallel light beam, the laser light enters the reflection mirror 20.
The laser light reflected by the reflection mirror 20 passes through the partition opening 118 and then enters the polygon mirror 30. Then, the laser light reflected by the polygon mirror 30 passes through the protective member 130 and is emitted from the emission window 102 to the outside of the reflection measuring device 2. When the laser beam emitted in this way is irradiated onto a vehicle or an object on the road, the reflected light passes through the entrance window 104 and the protection member 130, and is further collected by the light receiving lens 40 and reaches the photodiode 50. It is converted into an electric signal by the photodiode 50. The laser light emitted from the lens unit 10 is pulsed light, and the position information (distance, direction) of the object with respect to the reflection measuring device 2 is related to the object based on the light emission timing, the time difference from light emission to light reception, and the like. Information can be obtained.
[0027]
According to the reflection measuring apparatus 2 of the first embodiment configured as described above, since the female thread portion 110a penetrates the inner case 110, the flow of the cleaning liquid inside the female thread portion 110a is promoted, and the cutting oil Sufficient removal can be easily performed. Moreover, since the screw 42 is screwed so as to pass through the inner case 110 (that is, so as to pass through the female screw part 110a), even if chips are generated during screw tightening, the screw 42 can be discharged in advance from the female screw part 110a. . That is, no chips remain inside the female screw portion 110a, and a short circuit of the circuit board due to chips during use of the apparatus can be prevented.
[0028]
Next, a second embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, also in the reflection measuring apparatus of the second embodiment, the light receiving lens 240 is fixed to the metal inner case 210 by using a screw 242 that penetrates the through hole 240 a of the light receiving lens 240. This is done by screwing into the female screw part 210a. However, unlike the first embodiment, the female screw portion 210a is formed in a bag shape in the inner case 210, and a through-hole penetrating the inner case 210 from the female screw portion 210a side is formed at the tip of the female screw portion 210a. The female screw portion 210a and the central axis are formed so as to substantially coincide with each other. And the internal diameter of the through-hole is made smaller than the internal diameter of the internal thread part 210a.
[0029]
Therefore, in the reflection measuring apparatus of the second embodiment, since the through hole penetrating the inner case 210 is formed at the tip of the female screw portion 210a, the flow of the cleaning liquid inside the female screw portion 210a is promoted, and the cutting oil Can be easily removed. Moreover, since the inner diameter of the through hole formed at the tip of the female threaded portion 210a is smaller than the inner diameter of the female threaded portion 210a, even if chips are generated in the female threaded portion 210a during screw tightening, the inner diameter of the through hole is formed outside the female threaded portion 210a. Chips can be prevented from coming out. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a short circuit from occurring on the circuit board in the reflection measuring device due to chips.
[0030]
Since the points other than the above are the same as those in the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.
As mentioned above, although one Example of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to the said Example, It can take a various aspect.
[0031]
For example, in the above embodiment, the light receiving lenses 40 and 240 are described as examples of the resin lens, but the present invention is not limited to this. Moreover, although the inner cases 110 and 210 have been described as metal structures, the present invention is not limited to this. In the case where other resin lenses are fixed to a metal casing with screws, the present invention can be similarly applied.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an overall configuration of a reflection measuring apparatus according to an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which a light receiving lens is fixed to an inner case in the reflection measuring apparatus according to the first embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state in which a light receiving lens is fixed to an inner case in a reflection measuring apparatus according to a second embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a comparative example.
[Explanation of symbols]
2 ... reflection measuring device 40, 240 ... light receiving lens 42, 242 ... screw (male screw member)
110, 210 ... Inner case (structure)
110a, 210a ... female screw portion 210b ... through hole

Claims (2)

An optical system for emitting light generated by a light source to the outside and receiving reflected light of the emitted light;
A metal structure holding a resin lens which is one of the components of the optical system;
A reflection measuring device that detects information about an object existing in the irradiation direction of the light by irradiating the outside with the optical system and receiving the reflected light of the light from the outside,
The resin lens is fixed to the structure by a male screw member that penetrates the resin lens and is screwed into the female screw portion of the structure.
The female screw portion is formed so as to penetrate the structure,
The reflection measuring apparatus, wherein the male screw member is screwed into the female screw portion so as to penetrate the structure. An optical system for emitting light generated by a light source to the outside and receiving reflected light of the emitted light;
A metal structure holding a resin lens which is one of the components of the optical system;
A reflection measuring device that detects information about an object existing in the irradiation direction of the light by irradiating the outside with the optical system and receiving the reflected light of the light from the outside,
The resin lens is fixed to the structure by a male screw member that penetrates the resin lens and is screwed into the female screw portion of the structure.
The female screw part is formed in a bag shape in the structure, and a through-hole penetrating the structure from the female screw part side is formed at the tip of the female screw part.
An internal diameter of the through hole is smaller than an internal diameter of the female screw portion.

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