JP2016085257A - Imaging device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an imaging device that includes a rotation support mechanism capable of securely anchoring the imaging device and adjusting a shooting direction by a fine pitch in imaging devices whose camera section is installed in the ceiling, wall and the like via a rotation support section.SOLUTION: An imaging device has: a base section that has an installation face to be attached to a ceiling or wall and a rotation shaft provided, has a taper section on an almost circumference centering around the rotation shaft, and has a first anchor tooth provided on the almost circumference centering around the rotation shaft; and a camera section that is rotatably coupled to the base section centering around the rotation shaft, has a lens barrel received, has a screw member advancing/retreating almost vertically with respect to the rotation shaft attached, and has a second anchor tooth engaging with the first anchor tooth. The imaging device is provided with a rotation support mechanism in which a tip of the screw member abuts against the taper section when the screw member is screwed.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus provided with a rotation support mechanism that is provided between an installation surface of an imaging apparatus and a camera unit in order to switch the shooting direction of the camera.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an imaging apparatus such as a surveillance camera that is installed on a ceiling or a wall surface, a camera is connected by a rotation support mechanism in order to switch an imaging direction.

  In general, pan rotation that rotates about a pan axis perpendicular to the installation surface (rotation in the P direction in FIG. 1), tilt that is orthogonal to the pan axis and rotates about a tilt axis that is orthogonal to the optical axis Rotation (rotation in the T direction in FIG. 1) and rotation around the optical axis that rotates around the optical axis (rotation in the R direction in FIG. 1) are possible, and the user points the camera to a desired area. Therefore, the camera unit is rotated around each rotation axis. In addition, in order to continue photographing a desired area with certainty, it is required that the camera is securely fixed for a long time after the direction of the camera is set.

  As a prior example relating to the rotation support mechanism, Patent Document 1 discloses a rotation support mechanism in which a photographing unit and a support shaft are supported in a rotatable state, and a rotation operation is fixed by a clamp part with a friction part interposed therebetween. Patent Document 2 discloses a ball joint system for an underwater camera, and includes a ball-like portion at an arm end, and a mechanism for sandwiching and fixing the ball-like portion with a planar pressing member made of hard rubber. It is shown.

JP 2006-10833 A JP 2009-288594 A

  In Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 described above, a means for fixing the rotational movement of the support shaft or arm part by friction is employed. For this reason, in a device that receives various external forces from the surrounding environment such as a surveillance camera, the direction of the camera is changed by receiving the external force, and there is a possibility that a desired area cannot be photographed.

  As a known technique for solving such a problem, there is a mechanism for meshing teeth arranged on the circumference and fixing the rotational operation. According to this mechanism, it can fix firmly compared with the mechanism fixed by friction, and it can avoid changing the direction of a camera by the external force which an imaging device receives from the surrounding environment.

  Such a mechanism by meshing teeth requires a means for switching between a state in which the teeth mesh with each other and the rotation impossible, and a state in which the teeth are separated and rotatable. As a mechanism for enabling such switching operation, there is a mechanism that maintains a state in which fixed teeth are engaged with each other by providing a screw hole at the center of rotation and fastening with a screw. This technique will be described with reference to the drawings.

  The conventional rotation support mechanism shown in FIG. 5 is a mechanism in which the member 201 and the member 202 rotate along the arrow indicated by T2, and a rotation fixing screw 203 is disposed at the rotation center of T2. FIG. 6 is a view showing a locked state and an unlocked state of the rotation support mechanism 200, and is a view of the rotation support mechanism 200 seen from the direction B shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, when the rotation fixing screw 203 is loosened, a gap D <b> 1 is provided between the first rotation fixing tooth 201 a provided on the member 201 and the second rotation fixing tooth 202 a provided on the member 202. Can do.

  In this state, the member 202 is rotatable with respect to the member 201. On the other hand, in the state shown in FIG. 7, since the rotation fixing screw 203 is tightened, the gap is clogged and the first rotation fixing tooth 201a and the second rotation fixing tooth 202a are engaged with each other as shown in D2. Therefore, the member 202 cannot rotate with respect to the member 201 in this state. When the rotation fixing screw 203 is arranged at the rotation center as described above, the first rotation fixing tooth and the second rotation fixing tooth can be maintained in mesh with each other, and the angle can be finely adjusted according to the tooth pitch. can do.

  However, when such a structure is applied to the pan rotation mechanism, there are the following problems. In the surveillance camera, a cable for power supply and signal transmission is inserted in the vicinity of the center axis of the pan rotation so that it is hollow, and a screw for engaging the fixed teeth cannot be arranged.

  In order to avoid such a problem, for example, a configuration in which a rotation fixing screw is disposed away from the pan rotation center is conceivable. This structure will be described with reference to FIG. The conventional rotation support mechanism shown in FIG. 8 has a rotating portion 302 attached to a base portion 301 so as to be rotatable about a pan rotation axis P3. In this structure, the rotation fixing screw 303 is arranged away from the pan rotation axis P3. With such a configuration, the pan rotation fixing screw can be arranged without blocking the center of the base portion through which the cable is inserted.

  However, in order to adjust the direction of the camera at a somewhat fine pitch, it is necessary to provide a large number of holes 302a through which the fixing screws are inserted as shown in FIG. 8, but the holes 302a must be separated from each other by a certain distance or more. Therefore, there is a problem that the adjustment pitch becomes coarse.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an imaging apparatus including a rotation support mechanism that can be firmly fixed and that can adjust a shooting direction with a fine pitch.

  In order to achieve the above object, an imaging device of the present invention is provided with an installation surface attached to a ceiling or a wall and a rotation shaft, and has a taper portion on a substantially circumference around the rotation shaft, A base portion provided with a first fixed tooth on a substantially circumference around the rotation axis, and a base portion which is rotatably connected to the base portion around the rotation axis, and a lens barrel is housed therein. And a camera unit having a second fixed tooth that engages with the first fixed tooth and is engaged with the first fixed tooth, and the tip of the screw member is attached to the tip of the screw member. A rotation support mechanism that comes into contact with the tapered portion when tightened is provided.

  According to the imaging apparatus of the present invention, since the pan rotation operation can be fixed by meshing the fixed teeth, it can be fixed more firmly than the fixing by friction. As a result, it is possible to avoid changing the shooting direction due to an external force that the imaging apparatus receives from the surrounding environment. In addition, since it is not necessary to arrange a plurality of holes for inserting the pan rotation fixing screw, it is possible to adjust with a fine pitch.

1 is an external perspective view of an imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The exploded perspective view of the rotation support mechanism in an embodiment of the present invention Sectional drawing at the time of unlocking in the embodiment of the present invention Sectional drawing at the time of lock in the embodiment of the present invention Conventional rotation support mechanism with fixed screw at the center of rotation The figure which shows the locked state of the conventional rotation support mechanism The figure which shows the lock release state of the conventional rotation support mechanism The figure which shows the conventional rotation support mechanism

  Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of the imaging apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a rotation support mechanism. FIG. 3 shows a state in which the pan rotation lock is released, and FIG. 4 shows a pan rotation lock state.

  The imaging apparatus 100 includes a main body 104 that houses a lens barrel 105, a pan base 101, a tilt base 102, and a rotation base 103. The pan base 101 and the tilt base 102 are coupled so as to be rotatable about a pan rotation axis P perpendicular to the installation surface 101a. The tilt base 102 and the rotation base 103 are coupled so as to be rotatable about a tilt rotation axis T orthogonal to the pan rotation axis P and orthogonal to the optical axis R. The rotation base 103 and the main body 104 are coupled to be rotatable about the optical axis R.

  The installation operator can determine a horizontal angle by the pan rotation and a vertical angle by the tilt rotation. Further, the tilt of the image can be corrected by rotation about the optical axis R.

  In the present embodiment, the camera unit refers to the main body unit 104 having the lens barrel 105, the rotation base 103, and the tilt base 102, and the base unit refers to the pan base 101.

  Around the lens barrel 105, LEDs 106t and 106w are provided as illumination means for photographing a dark place. In this embodiment, LEDs having different light distribution angles are provided. An LED 106t having a narrow light distribution angle is arranged at the upper part of the lens barrel 105, and an LED 106w having a wide light distribution angle is arranged at the lower part of the lens barrel 105. . An LED having a narrow light distribution angle can irradiate a far position with strong light, and is therefore mainly used for photographing at a telephoto angle. In addition, an LED having a wide light distribution angle can illuminate a wide area, and is therefore mainly used for photographing at a wide angle of view.

  The cable 107 supplies power to the imaging apparatus and transmits control signals and video signals. An image captured from the lens barrel 105 is converted into an electronic signal by an image sensor (not shown), and is distributed as a video signal to the server through the cable 107. Further, by sending a control signal to the imaging apparatus 100 through the cable 107, it is possible to perform operations such as zooming of the lens barrel, adjustment of exposure, and other various settings. Since the cable 107 is inserted from the center of the pan base as described above, the fixing screw cannot be arranged at the center of the pan base as in the prior art described in FIG.

  Since the feature of the present invention is the method of fixing the camera unit to the base unit, the mechanism will be described below with reference to FIGS. The sliding part 101b formed integrally with the pan base 101 is sandwiched between sliding parts (not shown) formed on the tilt base first member 102a and the tilt base second member 102b. 102 are connected in a rotatable state.

  The pan base 101 has first fixed teeth 101d, and the tilt base 102 has second fixed teeth 102c that can mesh with the first fixed teeth 101d. The pan rotation fixing screw 108 is screwed into a screw hole 102d provided on the side surface of the tilt base, and is tightened in a direction substantially perpendicular to the pan axis P.

  Locking and releasing the pan rotation of the tilt base 102 with respect to the pan base 101 is performed by operating the pan rotation fixing screw 108. The installation operator of the imaging apparatus adjusts the shooting direction so that a desired shooting area can be shot after fixing the installation surface 101a provided on the pan base 101 in contact with the installation target surface such as the ceiling. First, with the pan rotation fixing screw 108 loosened, the tilt base 102 is separated from the pan base 101 (FIG. 3). In this state, since a gap d is formed between the first fixed tooth 101d and the second fixed tooth 102c, the teeth do not mesh with each other, and the operator can move the tilt base 102 integrally with the camera unit 104 to an arbitrary position. Can be rotated with respect to the pan base 101.

  When the pan rotation fixing screw is tightened from the unlocked state of FIG. 3, the tip end portion 108 a of the pan rotation fixing screw 108 comes into contact with the tapered portion 101 c formed on the pan base 101. As the pan rotation fixing screw is further tightened, the taper portion 101c is inclined toward the direction of the first fixed tooth 101d, so that a force in the direction in which the tilt base 102 approaches the pan base 101 is applied. As shown in FIG. 4, the first fixed tooth 101d and the second fixed tooth 102c are engaged with each other, and the tilt base 102 is fixed without rotating with respect to the pan base 101 even if a moment is applied about the pan rotation axis P. Maintained position.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the pan rotation operation can be fixed not by friction but by meshing teeth. As a result, it is possible to avoid changing the shooting direction due to the load that the imaging apparatus receives from the surrounding environment, and it is possible to maintain the set shooting direction for a long period of time.

  In addition, since the pan rotation fixing screw is fixed by tightening in a direction substantially perpendicular to the pan rotation axis, there is no need to provide many holes for inserting screws, as in the case of tightening in parallel with the pan rotation axis. Since it can adjust with the pitch of a fixed tooth, it becomes possible to adjust with a finer pitch.

  The structure as described above can be realized without changing the structure for inserting the cable in the center of the pan base.

  In the present embodiment, the pan rotation fixing screws are provided at four locations, but the present invention is not limited to this, and includes cases where the pan rotation fixing screws are provided at one location or a plurality of locations.

  Although the present invention has been described based on the preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to these specific embodiments, and various forms within the scope of the present invention are also included in the present invention. . Moreover, you may combine suitably a part of embodiment mentioned above.

100 imaging device, 101 pan base, 101a installation surface, 101b sliding part,
101c taper part, 101d first fixed tooth, 102 tilt base,
102a Tilt base first member, 102b Tilt base second member,
102c second fixed tooth, 102d screw hole, 103 rotation base,
104 body, 105 lens barrel, 106t LED with a narrow light distribution angle,
106w LED with wide light distribution angle, 107 cable, 108 pan rotation fixing screw,
108a Tip

Claims (2)

An installation surface to be attached to the ceiling or wall and a rotation shaft are provided, a taper portion is provided on the circumference around the rotation axis, and a first fixed tooth is provided on the circumference around the rotation axis. The base part,
It is connected to the base portion so as to be rotatable around the rotation axis, and a lens barrel is housed.
A camera unit having a second fixed tooth that is attached to a screw member that advances and retreats perpendicularly to the rotation axis and meshes with the first fixed tooth;
An imaging apparatus provided with a rotation support mechanism that abuts the tapered portion at a tip of the screw member when the screw member is tightened. The rotation axis of the base unit and the camera unit is a pan rotation axis perpendicular to the installation surface, and the camera unit is a tilt axis parallel to the installation surface and perpendicular to the optical axis of the lens barrel. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a tilt rotation mechanism that rotates about the axis.