CN114721111B - Optical zoom camera module - Google Patents

Abstract

The application provides an optical zoom module, which comprises: a module housing; a plurality of lens groups coaxially arranged along an axis; a linear guide bar parallel to the axis and disposed on a first side of the module housing; the lens group is arranged in each carrier, at least two carriers in the plurality of carriers are movable carriers, and the linear guide rod penetrates through at least two movable carriers, so that the at least two movable carriers can move along the linear guide rod respectively; and a second rail positioned at a second side of the module housing, the second side being an opposite side of the first side, the second rail being parallel to the linear guide bar, an upper surface of the second rail being supported by balls with a lower surface of the movable carrier. The application can realize continuous optical zooming with smaller space cost, and the zooming movement of the movable lens has excellent collimation degree.

Description

Optical zoom camera module

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of camera modules, in particular to an optical zoom camera module.

Background

Along with the rise of living standard, the requirements of consumers on the camera shooting function of terminal equipment such as mobile phones, tablets and the like are higher and higher, the effects of background blurring, night shooting and the like are required to be realized, the requirements are also put forward on tele-shooting, and the consumers need the terminal equipment capable of clearly shooting far pictures. The optical zoom is an imaging module for realizing zoom shooting. The optical zoom is to change the focal length of the lens by changing the distance between the optical lenses of the lens so as to achieve the purpose of zooming, so that the object at a far distance can be photographed more clearly, and the imaging quality of the formed image is relatively high. Zoom here refers to changing the focal length so as to take scenes of different distances. Further, periscope modules are often used in terminal devices such as mobile phones at present to meet the requirement of tele, and how to enable periscope modules to have optical zoom capability in a limited space of the mobile phones is a great difficulty currently faced.

The optical zoom camera module typically comprises at least two slidable lens carriers for moving the zoom lens group and the compensation lens group, respectively. The zoom lens group moves along the optical axis, so that the focal length of the whole imaging system can be adjusted. The compensation lens group also moves along the optical axis direction of the compensation lens group, so that the focusing function of the camera module is realized, and the focus offset caused by the movement of the zoom lens group is compensated, so that the imaging quality of the module is improved. To achieve the above-mentioned movement, one idea in the prior art is to provide a guide groove on the module housing, on which two (or more) lens carriers are fitted by means of balls and corresponding bearings, so that the zoom lens group and the compensation lens group can be moved along the optical axis along the guide groove. However, for an optical zoom module, especially an optical zoom module having a length Jiao Jiaoduan, the movement stroke of the lens carrier tends to be long, and the processing accuracy (especially the processing accuracy of mass products) of the guide groove formed in the module housing (or other similar fixing portion) is limited, and the manufacturing tolerance of the guide groove itself may result in insufficient collimation of the movement stroke of the two (or more) lens carriers, thereby resulting in degradation of the imaging quality of the module.

To solve the above-mentioned problems, a solution for realizing the alignment sliding of a plurality of lens carriers based on the double guide bar guidance is proposed in the prior art. In such a solution, two parallel guide rods are usually mounted on two sides of the optical zoom module, two lens carriers are each mounted on two guide rods located on two sides, and each linear guide rod passes through the two lens carriers. Thus, during zooming, both lens carriers can slide along the guide rods. More specifically, a plurality of carriers provided with a lens structure are sequentially arranged from an object side surface to an image side surface, and in the shooting process, the carriers are driven to move so as to realize continuous zooming in the shooting process, and the imaging quality of the module is effectively improved. It should be noted that in this type of solution, more guide rods may be provided, and the above description is given by taking one guide rod on each side as an example. For example, patent application CN201980011002.1 discloses a camera module comprising: a base; a plurality of guide rods coupled to the base; a first mover disposed in the base, the first mover including at least one lens disposed therein; and a second mover disposed in the base, the second mover including at least one lens disposed therein, wherein each of the first mover and the second mover includes a plurality of guide grooves formed therein to allow the guide bars to be disposed in the guide grooves, wherein each of the plurality of guide grooves includes a protruding portion formed to contact a corresponding one of the guide bars. The first mover may correspond to the aforementioned one lens carrier (in which the sub-lens may be mounted or the lens group may be directly mounted), and the second mover may correspond to the aforementioned other lens carrier.

Because the guide rod can be made of metal materials or other rigid materials which are not easy to bend, the guide rod has better collimation degree than a straight guide groove on a shell (usually made of plastic materials). However, in such a technical solution, metal guide rods are required to be installed on two sides of the module respectively, and the guide rods often need to pass through at least two lens carriers, which results in that the lens carriers themselves also need to have a certain thickness to ensure the structural strength, so that the module occupies a larger volume on two sides thereof, which is not beneficial to miniaturization of devices.

Therefore, there is an urgent need for a solution that can reduce the volume of the optical zoom module and ensure a high degree of collimation of the moving path of the sliding member thereof.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to overcome the defects of the prior art and provide a solution which can reduce the volume of an optical zoom module and ensure the moving path of a sliding part of the optical zoom module to have higher collimation.

In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides an optical zoom module, which includes: a module housing; a plurality of lens groups coaxially arranged along an axis; a linear guide bar parallel to the axis and disposed on a first side of the module housing; the lens group is arranged in each carrier, at least two carriers in the plurality of carriers are movable carriers, and the linear guide rod penetrates through at least two movable carriers, so that the at least two movable carriers can move along the linear guide rod respectively; and a second rail positioned at a second side of the module housing, the second side being an opposite side of the first side, the second rail being parallel to the linear guide bar, an upper surface of the second rail being supported by balls with a lower surface of the movable carrier.

Wherein the second rail has a flat upper surface.

Wherein the second rail is a strip-shaped metal sheet, and the upper surface of the metal sheet and the lower surface of the movable carrier are supported by the balls.

Wherein the second rail is directly formed on the upper surface of the bottom plate of the module housing.

Wherein, at the second side of module casing, the bottom surface of movable carrier sets up opening recess down, the ball hold in the recess, the ball is held in between recess and the second track.

Each movable carrier is provided with a guide rod adapting through hole at the first side of the module shell, and the guide rods sequentially penetrate through the guide rod adapting through holes of each movable carrier.

At least one annular accommodating cavity is formed between the inner side face of the guide rod adapting through hole and the guide rod, the annular accommodating cavity is provided with a plurality of second balls, and the second balls encircle the guide rod.

Wherein, the optical zoom module is a periscope type optical zoom module.

The optical zoom module further comprises a light turning element, the light turning element is suitable for reflecting incident light from an incident channel to an imaging channel, the optical center of the incident channel forms an incident optical axis, the optical center of the imaging channel forms the main optical axis, and the incident optical axis is perpendicular to the main optical axis.

The plurality of carriers comprise a fixed carrier and two movable carriers, wherein a fixed lens group is arranged in the fixed carrier, and a variable-focus lens group and a compensation lens group are respectively arranged in the two movable carriers; the zoom lens group is suitable for adjusting the focal length of the whole imaging system, and the compensation lens group is used for focusing the imaging system so as to compensate focus offset caused by movement of the zoom lens group.

Wherein the fixed lens group, the zoom lens group and the compensation lens group are sequentially arranged from an object side to an image side.

The optical zoom module further comprises a photosensitive assembly, the photosensitive assembly comprises a circuit board and a photosensitive chip arranged on the surface of the circuit board, a flexible connecting belt is arranged on the side face of the circuit board, the flexible connecting belt is bent to the first side or the second side of the module shell, a second circuit board is arranged on the first side or the second side of the module shell, and the second circuit board is electrically conducted with the circuit board through the flexible connecting belt.

Wherein the guide rod is fixed on the module shell; the module housing includes a housing floor, housing sidewalls, and a cover.

The second track is a guide groove formed in the bottom plate of the shell, the ball is arranged in the guide groove and is suitable for rolling along the guide groove, the guide direction of the guide groove is parallel to the linear guide rod, and the rolling top surface supports the bottom surface of the movable carrier.

The movable carrier comprises a first sliding mounting piece positioned on the first side, a second sliding part positioned on the second side and a carrier bottom plate connected with the first sliding mounting piece and the second sliding part, wherein the first sliding mounting piece, the second sliding part and the bottom plate form a U-shaped groove, and the mirror group is installed in the U-shaped groove.

The lens group is assembled through the lens barrel, and the outer side face of the lens barrel is fixed on the inner side face of the U-shaped groove.

Wherein, the carrier bottom plate has the interval with the casing bottom plate between.

The first side is provided with a limiting structure on the side wall of the shell, the limiting structure is arranged between the first sliding mounting pieces of two adjacent movable carriers, and the guide rod penetrates through the first sliding mounting pieces of at least two movable carriers and the limiting structure.

And the end face of the first sliding mounting piece and/or the end face of the limiting structure is/are provided with a buffer layer.

The first side is provided with a limiting structure on the side wall of the shell, the limiting structure is arranged between the first sliding mounting pieces of two adjacent movable carriers, and the guide rod penetrates through the first sliding mounting pieces and the limiting structure of at least two movable carriers; and buffer layers are arranged on end surfaces of the lens barrels in the U-shaped grooves of the two adjacent movable carriers.

Wherein the movable carrier is driven by a magnet coil.

Wherein, the magnetite set up in the medial surface of casing lateral wall, the coil set up in the lateral surface of movable carrier.

Wherein the movable carrier comprises a first sliding mounting piece, a second sliding part and a carrier bottom plate connecting the first sliding mounting piece and the second sliding part, wherein the first sliding mounting piece is positioned on the first side of the module shell, and the second sliding part is positioned on the second side of the module shell; the first sliding mounting piece, the second sliding part and the bottom plate form a U-shaped groove, and the mirror group is mounted in the U-shaped groove; the magnet is arranged on the inner side surface of the side wall of the shell at the first side, and the coil is arranged on the outer side surface of the first sliding piece of the movable carrier.

Wherein a bottom surface of each of the second sliding portions has a groove in which the ball is disposed, and the bottom surface of the second sliding portion and an upper surface of the second rail are supported by the ball.

Wherein the second track is provided with a magnetic conductive material; in the second sliding part, a second magnet is arranged above the groove, and magnetic force between the second magnet and the second track enables the groove and the second track to clamp the ball.

Compared with the prior art, the application has at least one of the following technical effects:

1. the optical zoom module can realize continuous optical zooming with smaller space cost, and the sliding part of the optical zoom module can slide along the guide rod, so the optical zoom module has excellent collimation degree.

2. The optical zoom module provided by the application is provided with the guide rod, so that the moving directions of the zoom group and the compensation group can be effectively prevented from deviating from the main optical axis, and the optical zoom module is particularly suitable for continuous optical zoom modules with a length Jiao Jiaoduan.

3. In some embodiments of the present application, the sliding component of the optical zoom module may be provided with an anti-collision material to avoid fragments generated by collision, so as to reduce the risk of stain on the image captured by the lens.

4. In some embodiments of the present application, the optical zoom module is compact and easy to assemble, which is very beneficial to mass production.

5. The solution of the optical zoom module of the present application is particularly suitable for a periscope-type structure of a tele zoom module, in other words, the advantages of the present application will be more obvious when the moving stroke of the sliding member is longer than the non-guide-rod optical zoom solution.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the positional relationship of three sub-lenses in one embodiment of the application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of an optical zoom module according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the optical zoom module according to the embodiment of FIG. 2 at another angle;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the connection relationship between the movable carrier and the housing floor in one embodiment of the application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view of an optical zoom module of the present application with three sub-lenses removed;

FIG. 6 shows a schematic perspective view of the optical zoom module taken along the axis of the linear guide;

FIG. 7 illustrates a periscopic optical zoom module in one embodiment of the application;

FIG. 8 illustrates the positional relationship of optical elements in one embodiment of the application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic perspective view of a module housing, i.e., a linear guide, in accordance with one embodiment of the application;

fig. 10 shows a schematic perspective view of two movable carriers;

FIG. 11 shows a schematic perspective view of a third sub-lens;

FIG. 12 is a partial perspective view of a camera module according to one embodiment of the application;

fig. 13 shows a schematic optical path diagram of a periscope type optical zoom module according to a modified embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

For a better understanding of the application, various aspects of the application will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the detailed description is merely illustrative of exemplary embodiments of the application and is not intended to limit the scope of the application in any way. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the specification. The expression "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

It should be noted that in this specification, the expressions first, second, etc. are only used to distinguish one feature from another feature, and do not represent any limitation of the feature. Accordingly, a first body discussed below may also be referred to as a second body without departing from the teachings of the present application.

In the drawings, the thickness, size and shape of the object have been slightly exaggerated for convenience of explanation. The figures are merely examples and are not drawn to scale.

It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes," "including," "having," "containing," and/or "including," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. Furthermore, when a statement such as "at least one of the following" appears after a list of features that are listed, the entire listed feature is modified instead of modifying a separate element in the list. Furthermore, when describing embodiments of the present application, the use of "may" means "one or more embodiments of the present application. Also, the term "exemplary" is intended to refer to an example or illustration.

As used herein, the terms "substantially," "about," and the like are used as terms of a table approximation, not as terms of a table level, and are intended to illustrate inherent deviations in measured or calculated values that would be recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

It should be noted that, without conflict, the embodiments of the present application and features of the embodiments may be combined with each other.

The application is further described below with reference to the drawings and specific embodiments.

According to one embodiment of the present application, an optical zoom module is provided that includes three sub-lenses. One of the three sub-lenses is a fixed lens, and the other is a movable lens, which lenses are coaxially arranged along an axis (e.g., a main optical axis), and the two movable lenses are respectively movable along the axis. Further description is provided below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the positional relationship of three sub-lenses in one embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 1, in the present embodiment, three lenses are coaxially arranged along a main optical axis ax. The first sub-lens 10 may be a fixed lens, and the second sub-lens 20 and the third sub-lens 30 may be movable lenses in optical design. In this embodiment, the guide rod may be used to limit the movement of the second sub-lens 20 and the third sub-lens 30, so as to ensure that the movement directions of the two are on the same straight line, i.e. ensure the straightness of movement of the two. The sub-lens can be arranged in the carrier, and the carrier is movably connected with the guide rod, so that the sub-lens can move along the guide rod. In this embodiment, each sub-lens has a lens group composed of a single lens or a plurality of lenses, and for convenience of description, the lens group is simply referred to as a lens group in the present application. Further, fig. 2 is a schematic perspective view of an optical zoom module according to an embodiment of the present application. Fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the optical zoom module according to the embodiment of fig. 2 at another angle. Referring to fig. 2 and 3, in the present embodiment, the optical zoom module 1000 includes a module housing 100, a plurality of lens groups (corresponding to the first sub-lens 10, the second sub-lens 20, and the third sub-lens 30) coaxially arranged along a main optical axis ax, a linear guide 200, a plurality of carriers, and a second rail (blocked in fig. 2, the second rail having a flat upper surface, which will be described further below) arranged in the module housing 100. The linear guide bar 200 is parallel to the main optical axis ax (refer to fig. 1) and is disposed at one side of the module housing 100, and the second rail is disposed at the other side of the module housing 100. For convenience of description, the side having the linear guide is referred to as a first side a and the opposite side is referred to as a second side B in the present application. In fig. 2, the first side a is the rear side (i.e., the side in the negative x-axis direction in fig. 2), and the second side B is the front side (i.e., the side in the positive x-axis direction in fig. 2). In this embodiment, each of the plurality of carriers is provided with a sub-lens, and these sub-lenses may be used to implement different functions. At least two carriers of the plurality of carriers are movable carriers. In the present embodiment, the number of the movable carriers is two, and the two movable carriers are the second carrier 40 and the third carrier 50, respectively. The linear guide 200 passes through the two movable carriers (the second carrier 40 and the third carrier 50) so that the two movable carriers (e.g., the second carrier 40 and the third carrier 50) can be moved along the linear guide 200, respectively. A second rail (the second rail is hidden in fig. 2 and is not shown) is disposed on the second side B of the module housing 100, and is parallel to the linear guide bar 200, and is supported between an upper surface of the second rail and a lower surface of the movable carrier by balls, so that the movable carrier can be restrained in the z-axis direction (which will be described in more detail with reference to more embodiments). On said first side a, the movable carrier can be moved along said linear guide 200 by means of the driving element, while on said second side B, the movable carrier can also be driven by the driving element to move in the xoy plane, supported by the second track and the balls. The direction of movement of the movable carrier is also linear on the second side, due to the limiting action of the linear guide on the first side and the movable carrier itself being rigid. In summary, in this embodiment, an asymmetric guiding structure is adopted, a linear guide rod is arranged on one side of the module, and a second track is disposed on the other side of the module, and the second track is movably connected with the movable carrier through a ball. Compared with the guiding structure with straight guide rods distributed on both sides, the asymmetric guiding structure of the embodiment can reduce the space occupied by the guide rods and the adapting structure thereof, thereby reducing the width of the module (the width is the dimension in the x-axis direction in fig. 2, the y-axis direction in fig. 2 is the direction of the main optical axis, and can also be called the module length direction, and the z-axis direction is the module height direction). Meanwhile, the asymmetric guide structure of the embodiment adopts the linear guide rod, so that the two movable lens groups of the optical zoom module can move along the same straight line more accurately, and the imaging quality of the module is effectively ensured.

Further, fig. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a connection relationship between the movable carrier and the housing floor in one embodiment of the present application. In this embodiment, the second rail has a flat upper surface. The second rail is a strip-shaped metal sheet 111, and the upper surface of the metal sheet 111 and the lower surface of the movable carrier 41 are supported by balls 112 therebetween. Generally, the module housing 100 is manufactured by a molding process (or a plastic processing process such as injection molding), and the surface of the metal sheet 111 is smoother than the surface of the plastic part, so that a smoother surface can be manufactured, and the movement of the movable lens assembly is always kept on the same straight line. At the same time, the metal sheet 111 is used as the surface of the second rail, and the resistance to the movement of the movable carrier 41 can also be reduced, thereby reducing the driving force requirement for the driving element, contributing to the downsizing of the device. It should be noted that the use of the metal sheet 111 as the second rail is not the only implementation, and in other embodiments of the present application, the second rail may be directly disposed on the bottom board of the module housing (i.e., the housing bottom board 110). For example, when the module case is manufactured, the flatness of the corresponding area of the module base plate may be improved by selecting a highly flat mold, or the flatness of the corresponding area of the module base plate may be improved by performing polishing treatment or the like on the corresponding area of the module base plate, to form the second rail. In some embodiments of the application, the second track may be arranged in segments, each second track segment (each second track segment being a separate sheet metal) corresponding to a movable carrier. In other embodiments, the second track may be a single piece of sheet metal, with each movable carrier corresponding to a different section of the sheet metal.

Further, in a variant embodiment of the application, the second track may be a guide groove made in the bottom plate of the housing, the ball being disposed in the guide groove and adapted to roll along the guide groove, the guide direction of the guide groove being parallel to the linear guide rod, the top surface of the ball supporting the bottom surface of the movable carrier. The cross-sectional shape of the guide groove may be arcuate to provide a better fit with the ball. It should be noted that in terms of the degree of collimation, the machining precision of the bottom plate of the housing may be difficult to reach the level of the linear guide rod, so that during zooming movement, there is a possibility that the balls drift (or are called offset) in the x-axis direction, but the moving route of the movable carrier can still maintain high linearity due to the limiting effect of the linear guide rod on the other side. That is, the misalignment of the ball positions does not affect the alignment of the moving path of the movable carrier. In this embodiment, the guide groove is formed on the upper surface of the bottom plate of the housing with its opening facing upward. In one example, the guide groove may be a groove having two groove sides and a bottom, the groove sides being perpendicular to the groove bottom. In another example, the guide groove may have an arcuate surface that is adapted to the rolling surface for better adaptation to the ball. The bottom surface of the guide groove or its arcuate surface may be regarded as a part of the upper surface of the bottom plate of the housing, and in this embodiment, the bottom surface of the guide groove or its arcuate surface may be regarded as the upper surface of the second rail. The upper surface of the second rail and the lower surface of the movable carrier are supported by the balls 112 to realize the limit in the z-axis direction, that is, the movement automation of the movable carrier relative to the second rail is limited in the xoy plane, and no movement occurs in the z-axis direction. Further, the movable carrier is also limited in the x-axis direction due to the guiding action of the linear guide bar on the other side (i.e., the movable carrier does not move in the x-axis direction), so that the degree of freedom of movement of the movable carrier is limited in the y-axis direction, i.e., in agreement with the direction of the linear guide bar. In this embodiment, the guide groove and the lower surface of the corresponding movable carrier together constitute a housing structure that houses the balls. It is noted that in some embodiments of the application the guide slot may be divided into a plurality of segments (i.e. into a plurality of collinear sub-guide slots), each segment corresponding to one movable carrier, while in other embodiments the guide slot may be a continuous guide slot, the different movable carriers corresponding to different segments of the continuous guide slot, respectively. That is, the second track may be divided into a plurality of segments, or may be a continuous complete track.

Further still referring to fig. 4, in one embodiment of the present application, the bottom surfaces of the movable carriers 41 (e.g., the second carrier 40 and the third carrier 50) are each provided with a groove, the openings of which are downward, and the balls 112 are accommodated in the grooves. In fig. 4, a boss 113 may be formed at the bottom of the movable carrier 41, and may be annular in shape in a bottom view so as to fit the peripheral edge of the ball. That is, the downward opening groove may be formed in the boss, and the ball 112 is disposed in the groove in the boss 113, which may play a role of limiting the ball to prevent the ball from slipping. In this embodiment, the grooves and the metal sheet 111 together constitute a receiving structure for receiving the balls 112. It should be noted that the boss 113 is not essential to the present application, and in a variant embodiment, the boss 113 may be omitted, for example, the lower surface of the movable carrier 41 may be a plane having a circular groove (the peripheral edge of the groove is circular in the bottom view), the opening of the circular groove is downward, and the ball is located between the groove and the upper surface of the second rail. Further, in the present embodiment, the balls are movable on the second rail when the movable carrier moves under the guide of the guide rod side. The balls themselves play a supporting role in the z-axis direction so that both sides (i.e., the first side a and the second side B) of the second carrier 40 and the third carrier 50 are balanced, thereby ensuring the moving accuracy. Meanwhile, since the second rails are provided at the bottoms of the second carrier 40 and the third carrier 50, the provision of the second rails does not increase the width (i.e., the dimension in the x-axis direction) of the second carrier 40 and the third carrier 50. Therefore, compared with the scheme of arranging guide bars on both sides, the image pickup module of the present embodiment can be reduced in width (i.e., in size in the x-axis direction), thereby contributing to miniaturization of the module. In this embodiment, the second rail may be a strip-shaped metal sheet disposed on the upper surface of the bottom plate of the housing, but the present application is not limited thereto. In another embodiment of the present application, the second rail may be a guide groove formed on a surface of the bottom plate of the housing, and in this embodiment, the guide groove and a groove of a lower surface of the movable carrier, which is opened downward, together form a receiving structure for receiving the balls.

Further, in an embodiment of the present application, in the optical zoom module, the number of the linear guide rods is one. Compared with the structure of a plurality of guide rods, the small number of the guide rods can help to reduce the occupied volume of the guide rods and the adapting structure thereof, thereby reducing the volume of the optical zoom module. It should be noted that in other embodiments of the present application, the number of linear guides may be two or more. For example, two linear guides may be arranged at different heights on the first side, each linear guide extending through the second and third carriers. Since all the linear guides are arranged on the same side of the module housing and the other side is supported by the second rail and the balls to the second carrier 40 and the third carrier 50, these modified embodiments having a plurality of linear guides can still reduce the width (i.e., the dimension in the x-axis direction) of the optical zoom module, thereby contributing to miniaturization of the module.

Further, fig. 5 is a schematic perspective view of an optical zoom module according to the present application with three sub-lenses removed. Fig. 6 shows a schematic perspective view of the optical zoom module, taken along the axis of the linear guide. For simplicity of the drawing, only the movable carrier (i.e., the second carrier 40 and the third carrier 50) and the housing floor 110 are output in fig. 6. Referring to fig. 5 and 6, in one embodiment of the present application, each of the movable carriers (e.g., the second carrier 40 and the third carrier 50) has a guide bar fitting through hole at the first side a, and the linear guide bar passes through the guide bar fitting through hole of each of the movable carriers in turn. At least one annular accommodating cavity 210 is formed between the inner side surface of the guide rod adapting through hole and the linear guide rod 200, the annular accommodating cavity 210 is provided with a plurality of second balls 211, and the second balls 211 encircle the linear guide rod 200 so as to reduce friction force when the movable carrier slides along the linear guide rod.

Further, in an embodiment of the present application, the optical zoom module is a periscope type optical zoom module. FIG. 7 illustrates a periscopic optical zoom module in one embodiment of the application. Referring to fig. 7, in the present embodiment, the periscopic optical zoom module 2000 includes a module housing 100, a light turning element 70, a first carrier, a second carrier 40, and a third carrier 50 mounted in the module housing 100, and a first sub-lens 10, a second sub-lens 20, and a third sub-lens 30 mounted in the first carrier, the second carrier 40, and the third carrier 50, respectively. Wherein the second carrier 40 and the third carrier 50 are movable carriers. The first carrier is a fixed carrier. The first carrier may be directly formed at the module housing. In fig. 7, the first carrier may be a fixed lens support 150 formed at the module case 100. One side (e.g., first side a) of each movable carrier has a guide bar mating hole from which at least one linear guide bar 200 extends through all of the movable carriers (in this embodiment, second carrier 40 and third carrier 50). The bottom surface of the other side (e.g., the second side B) of each movable carrier is provided with balls (specifically, the balls may be disposed in grooves in the bottom surface of the movable carrier), and the upper surface of the bottom plate of the module case 100 may be provided with second rails whose upper surfaces are flat to support the balls and allow the balls to move (including roll and slide) in the xoy plane. In this embodiment, the light turning element 70 is adapted to reflect incident light from an incident channel, whose optical center forms an incident optical axis, to an imaging channel, whose optical center forms the main optical axis ax, which is perpendicular to the main optical axis ax. In this embodiment, the light turning element 70 can rotate the incident light by 90 degrees, so as to reduce the size occupied by the module in the thickness direction of the mobile phone (or other electronic devices).

Further, fig. 8 shows the positional relationship of the optical elements in one embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 7 and 8 in combination, in the periscopic optical zoom module 2000, the first carrier is a fixed carrier, and a fixed sub-lens (i.e., the first sub-lens 10) is installed in the fixed carrier. The second carrier 40 has mounted therein a zoom sub-lens (i.e., the second sub-lens 20) having a zoom lens group, and in this embodiment, the focal length of the entire imaging system (i.e., the focal length of the entire optical zoom module) can be adjusted by moving the zoom lens group along the optical axis. The third carrier 50 is provided with a compensating sub-lens (i.e., the third sub-lens 30) in which a compensating lens group is mounted. In this embodiment, the compensation lens group is used to implement focusing of the imaging system, so as to compensate for focus offset caused by movement of the zoom lens group. In this embodiment, the fixed sub-lens, the zoom sub-lens, and the compensation sub-lens are sequentially arranged from the object side to the image side along the main optical axis ax (fig. 1 may be combined). The light turning element 70 may be disposed at a position closest to the object, and the stator lens is disposed at an exit end of the light turning element 70.

Still further, referring to fig. 8, in one embodiment of the present application, the optical zoom module may further include a photosensitive element 80, where a photosensitive surface of the photosensitive element 80 is substantially perpendicular to the main optical axis ax (refer to fig. 1 in combination), that is, the photosensitive surface is substantially perpendicular to the axis of the linear guide rod.

Further, in an embodiment of the optical zoom module, the linear guide rod is fixed to the module housing, and at the first side a, the movable carrier is supported by the guide rod and has a gap between a bottom surface of the movable carrier and a bottom plate of the module housing, that is, at the first side a, the movable carrier may be suspended.

Further, fig. 9 shows a schematic perspective view of the module housing, i.e. the linear guide in an embodiment of the application. Referring to fig. 9, in the present embodiment, the module housing includes a housing bottom plate 110, housing side walls 120, 130, and a cover. Wherein, referring to fig. 3 in combination, the housing side walls 120, 130 are located on a first side a and a second side B of the module housing, respectively, and covers, not shown in fig. 9, are typically covered on the housing floor or housing side walls such that the module housing forms a closed structure to protect the various components within. Further, fig. 10 shows a schematic perspective view of two movable carriers. Referring to fig. 10, in the present embodiment, the movable carrier includes a first slide mount 61, a second slide 62, and a carrier base 63 connecting the first slide mount 61 and the second slide 62. Wherein the first slide mount 61 is located at a first side a of the module housing. The second slide 62 is located on the second side B of the module housing. The first slide mount 61, the second slide 62 and the carrier base 63 form a U-shaped groove in which each of the sub lenses is mounted. The sub-lens may include a lens barrel and a lens group (i.e., a lens group) mounted in the lens barrel. For example, fig. 11 shows a schematic perspective view of a third sub-lens. Referring to fig. 11, the third sub-lens 30 may include a lens barrel 31 and a lens group (typically a lens group composed of a plurality of lenses) mounted therein. The lens group is assembled through a lens barrel. The outer side surface of the lens barrel is fixed (e.g., adhered) to the inner side surface of the U-shaped groove. The carrier base 63 of the movable carrier has a gap with the housing base 110.

Further still referring to fig. 9 and 10, in one embodiment of the application, the module housing includes a housing floor 110, housing side walls 120, 130, and a cover. The housing sidewall 120 has a limiting structure 140, and the limiting structure 140 may be disposed between the first sliding mounts 61 of two adjacent movable carriers (e.g., the second carrier 40 and the third carrier 50), and the linear guide 200 passes through the first sliding mounts 61 of at least two movable carriers and the limiting structure 140. The limiting structure 140 in this embodiment can limit the movement travel of the second carrier 40 and the third carrier 50 within their respective preset ranges. Further, in this embodiment, the end surface of the first sliding mount 61 and/or the end surface of the limit structure 140 may be provided with a buffer layer 300. Here, the end surface is a surface perpendicular to the axis of the linear guide bar 200, and for the first sliding mount 61, a surface 61a thereof facing the stopper mechanism is one end surface thereof, and for the stopper mechanism 140, a surface 140a thereof facing the first sliding mount 61 is one end surface thereof, and the buffer material 300 is provided on the end surface of the first sliding mount 61 and/or the stopper mechanism 140, so that the movable carrier can be prevented from colliding with the stopper mechanism when moving. Specifically, the inventors of the present application found that a movable carrier is required to be moved rapidly in order to achieve a rapid zoom function. This results in the drive element being required to provide a greater drive force to the movable carrier, which may cause the movable carrier to move too far beyond the position required for zooming. Although the position of the movable carrier can be recalled by changing the direction of the driving force in actual use, the actual experience of the user is still affected by the situation. For example, in some cases, the movement of the movable carrier due to the excessive instantaneous driving force may cause the movable carrier to collide with the limit structure, and such collision may make a sound to adversely affect the use experience of the user (consumer). In addition, for the optical zoom module based on the linear guide rod, the moving resistance of the movable carrier is greatly reduced, when a user does not zoom and shoot, if the terminal equipment (such as a mobile phone) carrying the optical zoom module is subjected to large external impact/collision force, the movable carrier and the limiting structure can possibly collide, abnormal sound is generated in the mobile phone, so that the user is not fast, and the use experience is influenced. In this embodiment, the buffer material (the buffer material forms the buffer layer 300) is disposed on the end surface of the first sliding mount and/or the limiting structure, so that abnormal sounds caused by collision between the movable carrier and the limiting structure can be effectively avoided.

Further, in another embodiment of the present application, in the optical zoom camera module, at the first side a (i.e., the side having the linear guide rod), the side wall of the housing has a limit structure, the limit structure is disposed between the first sliding mounts of the adjacent two movable carriers, and the guide rod passes through the first sliding mounts and the limit structure of at least two movable carriers. Wherein, the U-shaped grooves of two adjacent movable carriers are internally provided with corresponding lenses. The lens may include a barrel whose end face may be provided with a buffer layer (referring to fig. 11, the buffer layer 300 may be provided at the end face of the barrel 31) and a lens group installed inside the barrel. The buffer layer is arranged on the end face of the lens barrel, so that the movable carrier and the limiting structure can be prevented from collision in the zooming process.

Further, in one embodiment of the present application, the movable carrier is driven by a magnet coil. In particular, the driving elements may be arranged on both sides of the optical zoom module (i.e. the first side a and the second side B). Specifically, the magnet may be provided on the inner side 121 of the case side wall 120 (see fig. 9), and the coil may be provided on the outer side 61b of the movable carrier (see fig. 10). The inner side 121 is a side surface of the housing sidewall 120 on a side close to the lens group (i.e., close to the optical axis), and the outer side 61b is a side surface of the movable carrier on a side away from the lens group (i.e., away from the optical axis). Fig. 9 and 10 show only the inner side surface of the side wall of the housing and the outer side surface of the movable carrier on the first side a, and note that magnets and coils may be provided on the inner side surface of the side wall of the housing and the outer side surface of the movable carrier on the second side B. In a further embodiment, the drive element may also be arranged on only one side (for example, on only one side with a linear guide).

Further still referring to fig. 10, in one embodiment of the present application, the movable carrier includes a first slide mount 61 at the first side a, a second slide 62 at the second side B, and a carrier base 63 connecting the first slide mount 61 and the second slide 62, the first slide mount 61, the second slide 62, and the carrier base 63 forming a U-shaped groove in which the sub-lens is mounted. The magnet is disposed on the inner side surface of the side wall of the housing on the first side a (i.e., the side having the linear guide bar) of the module, and the coil is disposed on the outer side surface of the first sliding mounting member 61 of the movable carrier.

Further, still referring to fig. 10, in one embodiment of the present application, each of the second sliding portions 62 (i.e., the second sliding portion 62 of each movable carrier) has a recess (the recess may be provided in the annular boss 113 in this embodiment, and fig. 4 may be combined with reference thereto) opened downward, the balls are provided in the recess, and the bottom surface of the second sliding portion 62 (i.e., the bottom surface of the recess, which substantially corresponds to the top surface of the balls due to the recess opening downward in this embodiment) and the upper surface of the second rail are supported by the balls. In this embodiment, the second rail may be a separate metal sheet 111 (e.g., a steel sheet), and the metal sheet 111 may be disposed on an upper surface of a housing bottom plate 110 (refer to fig. 9 in combination) of the module housing. The second track has magnetically permeable material (e.g., the second track is made of or attached with magnetically permeable material). In this embodiment, a second magnet 114 may be disposed above the groove for accommodating the ball (that is, the second magnet 114 may be located directly above the ball), and a magnetic force may be formed between the second magnet 114 and the second rail (metal sheet 111) to clamp the ball between the bottom surface of the groove (the bottom surface of the groove corresponds to the top surface of the ball in practice because the groove is opened downward) and the upper surface of the second rail, so as to prevent the movable carrier from uncontrolled sliding along the linear guide rod when the driving element thereof is not energized. When the driving element is electrified, the driving force along the direction of the linear guide rod (namely, the y-axis direction) can overcome the friction force of the balls under the action of the driving element, so as to push the movable carrier to move in the y-axis direction. In addition, the magnetic force formed between the second magnet 114 and the second rail (metal sheet 111) also helps to confine the balls in the grooves and prevent the balls from slipping.

Further, in the present application, the buffer layer may be disposed on an end surface of the limiting structure or on an end surface of the movable carrier. In general, the buffer layer may be disposed between the end surface of the stopper structure and the end surface of the movable carrier. Further, the limiting structure may be disposed not only between adjacent movable carriers but also between the photosensitive assembly support and the movable carrier or between the fixed carrier support (or the fixed lens support) and the movable carrier. For example, fig. 12 shows a partial perspective view of an imaging module in an embodiment of the application. Referring to fig. 12, in this embodiment, a buffer layer 300 may be disposed between the end face of the movable carrier (second carrier 40) and the end face of the fixed lens support 150, and a buffer layer 300 may also be disposed between the end face of the photosensitive assembly support (not shown in fig. 12) and the end face of the movable carrier (e.g., third carrier 50), which may further prevent the movable carrier from rattling or vibrating due to collision during use of the terminal device (e.g., mobile phone), thereby improving user experience. The fixed lens support 150 and the photosensitive assembly support may be part of the module housing 100 and integrally formed with the module housing 100. The fixed lens support may limit the moving travel of the movable carrier at the front end (i.e. one end of the object side), and the photosensitive assembly support may limit the moving travel of the movable carrier at the rear end (i.e. one end of the image side), so that both the fixed lens support and the photosensitive assembly support may be regarded as a limiting structure.

Further, in the present application, the sub-lens combination of the periscopic optical zoom module is not limited to a combination of one fixed lens and two movable lenses. For example, fig. 13 shows a schematic view of the optical path of a periscope type optical zoom module according to a variant embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 13, in this modified embodiment, one light turning element and three movable lenses, which are respectively mounted to three movable carriers 41, may be included. Also, in this variant embodiment, the module may have two linear guides 201, respectively at different heights, each extending through three of the movable carriers 41. In this embodiment, the two linear guide rods 201 are located on the same side of the module, and the second track and the corresponding ball structure may be disposed on the other side of the module, so as to support the movable carrier in the z-axis direction, so that both sides of the movable carrier may be balanced.

Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only for illustrating the technical solution of the present application and are not limiting. Although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the embodiments, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that modifications and equivalents may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application, which is intended to be covered by the appended claims.

Claims (25)

1. An optical zoom module, comprising:

a module housing;

a plurality of lens groups coaxially arranged along an axis;

a linear guide bar parallel to the axis and all of the linear guide bars being disposed on a first side of the module housing;

the lens group is arranged in each carrier, at least two carriers in the plurality of carriers are movable carriers, and the linear guide rod penetrates through at least two movable carriers, so that the at least two movable carriers can move along the linear guide rod respectively; and

and the second rail is positioned on a second side of the module shell, the second side is opposite to the first side, the second rail is parallel to the linear guide rod, and the upper surface of the second rail is supported by balls with the lower surface of the movable carrier.

2. The optical zoom module of claim 1, wherein the second rail has a flat upper surface.

3. An optical zoom module according to claim 2, wherein the second rail is an elongated metal sheet, and the upper surface of the metal sheet and the lower surface of the movable carrier are supported by the balls therebetween.

4. The optical zoom module of claim 2, wherein the second rail is formed directly on an upper surface of the bottom plate of the module housing.

5. An optical zoom module according to claim 2, wherein on the second side of the module housing, a recess is provided in the bottom surface of the movable carrier, the ball being received in the recess, the ball being clamped between the recess and the second rail.

6. An optical zoom module according to claim 1, wherein each of the movable carriers has a guide rod fitting through hole at a first side of the module housing, the linear guide rod passing through the guide rod fitting through hole of each of the movable carriers in turn.

7. The optical zoom module of claim 6, wherein at least one annular receiving cavity is formed between an inner side surface of the guide rod fitting through hole and the linear guide rod, the annular receiving cavity having a plurality of second balls, the second balls encircling the linear guide rod.

8. The optical zoom module of claim 1, wherein the optical zoom module is a periscope type optical zoom module.

9. The optical zoom module of claim 1, further comprising a light turning element adapted to reflect incident light from an incident channel to an imaging channel, an optical center of the incident channel forming an incident optical axis, an optical center of the imaging channel forming a primary optical axis, the incident optical axis being perpendicular to the primary optical axis.

10. The optical zoom module according to claim 9, wherein the plurality of carriers comprises a fixed carrier and two movable carriers, wherein the fixed carrier is internally provided with a fixed lens group, and the two movable carriers are internally provided with a zoom lens group and a compensation lens group respectively; the zoom lens group is suitable for adjusting the focal length of the whole imaging system, and the compensation lens group is used for focusing the imaging system so as to compensate focus offset caused by movement of the zoom lens group.

11. The optical zoom module of claim 10, wherein the fixed lens group, the zoom lens group, and the compensation lens group are arranged in order from an object side to an image side.

12. The optical zoom module of claim 11, further comprising a photosensitive assembly, the photosensitive assembly comprising a circuit board and a photosensitive chip mounted on a surface of the circuit board, the circuit board having a flexible connecting strap on a side surface thereof, the flexible connecting strap being bent to a first side or a second side of the module housing, the first side or the second side of the module housing having a second circuit board in electrical communication with the circuit board through the flexible connecting strap.

13. The optical zoom module of claim 2, wherein the linear guide is fixed to the module housing; the module housing includes a housing floor, housing sidewalls, and a cover.

14. The optical zoom module according to claim 13, wherein the second rail is a guide groove formed in the bottom plate of the housing, the ball is disposed in the guide groove and adapted to roll along the guide groove, a guide direction of the guide groove is parallel to the linear guide rod, and the rolling top surface supports a bottom surface of the movable carrier.

15. The optical zoom module of claim 14, wherein the movable carrier comprises a first slide mount on the first side, a second slide on the second side, and a carrier base plate connecting the first slide mount and the second slide, the first slide mount, second slide, and base plate forming a U-shaped channel, the mirror assembly being mounted in the U-shaped channel.

16. The optical zoom module of claim 15, wherein the lens group is assembled by a lens barrel, an outer side of the lens barrel being fixed to an inner side of the U-shaped groove.

17. The optical zoom module of claim 15, wherein the carrier base plate and the housing base plate have a spacing therebetween.

18. The optical zoom module of claim 15, wherein at the first side, the housing sidewall has a limiting structure disposed between the first slide mounts of two adjacent movable carriers, the linear guide passing through the first slide mounts and the limiting structure of at least two movable carriers.

19. An optical zoom module according to claim 18, wherein the end face of the first slide mount and/or the end face of the limit structure is provided with a buffer layer.

20. The optical zoom module of claim 16, wherein at the first side, the housing sidewall has a limiting structure disposed between the first slide mounts of two adjacent movable carriers, the linear guide passing through the first slide mounts and the limiting structure of at least two movable carriers;

and buffer layers are arranged on end surfaces of the lens barrels in the U-shaped grooves of the two adjacent movable carriers.

21. The optical zoom module of claim 14, wherein the movable carrier is driven by a magnet coil.

22. The optical zoom module according to claim 21, wherein the magnet is disposed on an inner side surface of the side wall of the housing, and the coil is disposed on an outer side surface of the movable carrier.

23. The optical zoom module of claim 21, wherein the movable carrier comprises a first slide mount, a second slide, and a carrier floor connecting the first slide mount and the second slide, wherein the first slide mount is located on the first side of the module housing, and the second slide is located on the second side of the module housing; the first sliding mounting piece, the second sliding part and the bottom plate form a U-shaped groove, and the mirror group is mounted in the U-shaped groove;

the magnet is arranged on the inner side surface of the side wall of the shell at the first side, and the coil is arranged on the outer side surface of the first sliding mounting piece of the movable carrier.

24. The optical zoom module of claim 15, wherein a bottom surface of each of the second sliding portions has a groove, the balls are disposed in the grooves, and the bottom surface of the second sliding portion and an upper surface of the second rail are supported by the balls.

25. The optical zoom module of claim 24, wherein the second rail comprises magnetically permeable material; in the second sliding part, a second magnet is arranged above the groove, and magnetic force between the second magnet and the second track enables the groove and the second track to clamp the ball.