JP2016133680A - Imaging apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an imaging apparatus that prevents operating force for a rotary operation ring from changing owing to change in temperature with a configuration requiring no complicated component configuration.SOLUTION: An imaging apparatus, configured to have a rotary operation ring arranged around a lens barrel and rotated to perform an operation, comprises: a bearing member arranged inside the operation ring and formed of a different material from the operation ring; an O ring fixed to an outer periphery of the bearing member and arranged in contact with an inner periphery of the operation ring; and a base member arranged inside the operation ring to fix the bearing member. The bearing member has a plurality of projection shapes formed at its outer peripheral part to charge the O ring so as to generate rotational torque when the operation ring is rotated, and is formed of a material having a larger coefficient of linear expansion than the operation ring. The bearing member has a gap part formed in an inner wall of a projection shape part, and thereby can elastically deform in a direction in which charging force for the O ring is reduced when temperature varies.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an operation member of an electronic device such as a digital camera, and more particularly to a holding structure of a rotary operation ring.

  In recent years, digital cameras have become smaller and more sophisticated, and even compact cameras have a manual setting function for shooting, and the user can arbitrarily change settings such as shutter speed and exposure by operating the operation ring. What is possible is increasing.

  Conventionally, a rotary operation member and a stationary member are provided coaxially, an electrostrictive element is disposed on the stationary member, and a deformation is applied by applying a voltage to the electrostrictive element, so that a gap between the rotary operation member is constant. There are things that made it possible to keep. In this configuration, a means for detecting the temperature around the rotary operation member is provided, and the gap amount of the rotary operation member is kept constant even when thermal expansion is performed by controlling the voltage applied to the electrostrictive element according to the detected temperature. The structure which prevents the change of operating force by making it into is disclosed.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 07-208455

  However, in the prior art disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, an electrostrictive element is arranged with respect to a stationary member, and a configuration for applying a voltage is required. Further, a temperature for detecting a change in ambient temperature is required. It was necessary to arrange detection means. In this configuration, the configuration inside the rotating member is complicated, which causes an increase in cost. In addition, electrical control such as voltage application to the electrostrictive element and ambient temperature detection by temperature detection means is required.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an imaging apparatus that can make the operating force of a rotary operation member constant without complicating the component configuration and without requiring electrical control.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises the following arrangement.
In the configuration where the rotation operation ring is arranged around the lens barrel and operated by rotating it,
A bearing member disposed inside the rotary operation ring and formed of a material different from that of the previous rotary operation ring;
An O-ring that is fixed to the outer periphery of the bearing member in the previous period and is made of an elastic material and is arranged to contact the inner periphery of the rotation operation ring in the previous period;
The base member is arranged inside the rotary operation ring in the previous period and is formed so as to fix the bearing member in the previous period.
A plurality of convex shapes for charging the O-ring are formed on the outer periphery of the previous-stage bearing member so that rotational torque is generated during the previous-period rotation operation ring operation,
The first-stage bearing member is made of a material having a larger linear expansion coefficient than the first-stage rotation operation ring, and a gap is formed on the inner wall of the first-convex-shaped part to reduce the charging force of the O-ring when the temperature changes. It is configured to be elastically deformable.

  According to the imaging device of the present invention, it is possible to generate an appropriate rotational torque when operating the rotary operation ring by sliding the O-ring fixed to the bearing member while charging it inside the rotary operation ring. Become. In addition, since the convex portion formed on the bearing member can be elastically deformed in a direction in which the charge amount of the O-ring is reduced, the charge amount changes when the bearing member is deformed due to temperature change, and the rotational torque Can be prevented from becoming heavy.

It is the disassembled perspective view which showed the structure in the Example of the digital camera to which this invention was applied most simply. It is a perspective view inside a camera in an embodiment of a digital camera to which the present invention is applied. It is sectional drawing of the camera main body in the Example of the digital camera to which this invention is applied. It is a component diagram of a camera body in an embodiment of a digital camera to which the present invention is applied. It is a component diagram inside a camera in an embodiment of a digital camera to which the present invention is applied. It is a perspective view of the camera main body in the Example of the digital camera to which this invention is applied. It is sectional drawing inside a camera in the Example of the digital camera to which this invention is applied. It is sectional drawing inside a camera in the Example of the digital camera to which this invention is applied.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 101 is a front cap that covers the front surface of the operation unit, and 102 is an O-ring that is fixed to the front cap and formed of a rubber material. The O-ring 102 is fitted and fixed in a groove formed on the outer periphery of the front cap 101.

  Reference numeral 103 denotes a focus operation ring disposed on the front side around the lens barrel, and reference numeral 104 denotes an intermediate ring disposed between the focus operation ring 103 and the zoom operation ring 105 positioned rearward, which is formed of a resin material. The focus operation ring 103 and the zoom operation ring 105 are formed of a metal material such as aluminum, and a knurled shape is formed on the external surface thereof so that the user can easily hold and rotate the operation.

Reference numeral 106 denotes a base member made of a metal material, which is fixed to the front inner 108 bonded and fixed to the front cover 107 by using a fastening screw 111.
The front cover 107 forms an external appearance surface of the front surface of the camera body, and is formed by drawing a metal material such as aluminum.

  Reference numeral 109 denotes a photo reflector for detecting the rotational position of the focus operation ring 103 and is fixed to the base member 106 by a holder member 110.

  The front cover unit is formed as described above, and the focus operation ring 103 and the zoom operation ring 105 are disposed so as to be continuously rotatable in the front-rear direction so as to sandwich the intermediate ring 104.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the front cover unit. As shown in FIG. 2, the focus operation ring 103 positioned on the front side in the optical axis direction is pivotally supported by the front cap 101 on the front end side and the intermediate ring 104 on the rear end side. The zoom operation ring 105 located on the rear side is pivotally supported by an intermediate ring 104 on the front end side and a front inner 108 which is bonded and fixed on the front cover 107 on the rear end side. The above-described base member 106 is disposed inside these two operation rings, and the intermediate ring 104 and the front cap 101 are fixed to the base member 106.

  Next, the internal structure of the front cover unit will be described with reference to FIG. 3A and 3B show the front cover unit. FIG. 3A is a front view, and FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view. As shown in FIG. 3B, the distal end side of the focus operation ring 103 is pivotally supported in contact with the O-ring 102 fixed to the outer shape of the front cap 101.

  The O-ring 102 is made of an elastically deformable material such as silicon rubber, and is sandwiched between the front cap 101 and the focus operation ring 103 and is slightly charged. By rotating the focus operation ring 103 in this state, a rotational torque corresponding to the charge amount of the O-ring 102 is generated. The charge amount at this time is adjusted so as to have an appropriate torque when the user rotates the focus operation ring 103.

  The rear end side of the focus operation ring 103 is rotatably held by the intermediate ring 104 at the inner diameter portion. The intermediate ring is fixed to the base member 106 in a state in which the rotation is restricted, whereby the focus operation ring 103 is held so as to be slidable with respect to the O-ring 102 and the intermediate ring 104.

  Next, FIG. 4 shows the shape of the front cap 101. The front cap 101 has a groove shape 101 a for fixing the O-ring 102 on the outer periphery of the fitting portion with the focus operation ring 103. In addition, an O-ring charge portion 101b is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the front cap 101 so as to partially cut out the groove-shaped portion 101a.

  A plurality of O-ring charge portions 101b are arranged in the circumferential direction, and in this embodiment, three locations are formed at equal intervals. The O-ring charge portion 101b is formed to have a convex shape with respect to the outer diameter of the groove-shaped portion 101a, thereby charging the O-ring 102 sandwiched between the focus operation ring 103. Generates rotational torque during operation. By increasing the height and width of the convex shape, it is possible to increase the charge amount with respect to the O-ring 102, and the shape is formed so that the rotational torque is appropriate. A gap 101c is formed inside each of the three O-ring charge portions 101b.

  Next, FIG. 5 shows the shape of the focus operation ring 103. A knurled shape is formed on the outer appearance of the focus operation ring 103 so that the user can easily perform the rotation operation. Further, a continuous bright / dark rotation detection pattern 103a is painted inside, and the rotation direction and the rotation position at the time of the rotation operation are detected by reading the reflected light by a photo reflector 109 described later.

  FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the inside of the front cover unit. A state in which the focus operation ring 103 is omitted is shown for the sake of explanation inside. As shown in FIG. 6, a photo reflector 109 for detecting rotation is fixed to a base member 106 disposed inside the focus operation ring 103 via a holder member 110. Two elements 109a are arranged at a predetermined interval in the photo reflector 109, and the rotation direction and the rotation position are detected by reading the reflected light from the rotation detection pattern 103 described above. The photo reflector 109 is connected to a substrate (not shown) by a flexible cable 112.

  Next, a configuration for preventing a change in rotational operation torque during thermal expansion will be described with reference to FIGS. 7A is a side view of the front cover unit, FIG. 7B is a cross-sectional view of the contact portion between the O-ring 102 and the focus operation ring 103, and FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the O-ring charge portion 101b.

  In FIG. 8, the O-ring 102 is in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the focus operation ring 103 and is charged by the convex shape of the O-ring charging portion 101 b of the front cap 101. Since the shape of the O-ring 102 is set smaller than the outer diameter of the groove-shaped portion 101a of the front cap 101, the O-ring 102 is fitted while being deformed when the O-ring 102 is fixed. Therefore, the O-ring 102 is in a state of being restricted in rotation with respect to the front cap 101, and slides between the inner peripheral surface of the focus operation ring 103 and the outer peripheral surface of the O-ring 102 when the focus operation ring 103 rotates.

  Here, a configuration for preventing the rotational torque from changing when the charge amount changes due to thermal expansion will be described. When a temperature change occurs, the amount of deformation due to thermal expansion differs because the linear expansion coefficient of the material differs between the focus operation ring 103 and the front cap 101. In this case, the front cap 101 is made of a resin material, and deformation due to thermal expansion is large. Therefore, the amount of expansion of the focus operation ring 103 is smaller than the amount of expansion of the outer shape of the O-ring charge portion 101a. As a result, the amount of charge with respect to the O-ring 102 is larger during thermal expansion than during normal operation. At this time, since the gap 101c is formed in the inner wall of the O-ring charge portion 101b of the front cap 101, the elastic deformation is performed in the direction of the arrow in the figure. Due to the deformation of the O-ring charge unit 101b, the charge amount to the O-ring 102 acts so as to decrease, and it is possible to prevent the rotational torque from increasing rapidly.

  As shown in FIG. 8, in a range other than the O-ring charge portion 101b, a gap is provided between the O-ring 102 and the outer periphery of the groove-shaped portion 101a of the front cap 101. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the O-ring 102 from being charged in a range other than the O-ring charge portion 101b during thermal expansion. This gap amount is set so as to be larger than the amount at the time of thermal expansion in the operating temperature range of the product.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the gap portion 101c is provided on the inner wall of the O-ring charge portion 101b of the front cap 101 so that the O-ring 102 can be elastically deformed in the direction in which the charge amount decreases during thermal expansion. Is done. As a result, it is possible to prevent the rotational torque of the focus operation ring 103 from rapidly increasing during thermal expansion without complicating the component configuration or using electrical control.

  Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the function of the rotary operation ring is not limited to the focus and zoom operations, and may be arbitrarily changed by the user, and various modifications and changes can be made within the scope of the gist. It is.

101 Front cap (bearing member), 102 O-ring,
103 Focus operation ring, 104 Intermediate ring, 105 Zoom operation ring,
106 Base member, 107 Front cover, 108 Front inner,
109 Photo reflector, 110 Holder member, 111 Fastening screw

Claims (3)

In the configuration in which the rotation operation ring (103) is arranged around the lens barrel and operated by rotating it,
A bearing member (101) disposed inside the rotation operation ring (103) and formed of a different material from the previous rotation operation ring (103);
An O-ring (102) that is fixed to the outer periphery of the previous-stage bearing member (101) and is made of an elastic material that is arranged to contact the inner periphery of the previous-period rotation operation ring (103);
A base member (106) disposed inside the previous rotation operation ring (103) and formed to fix the previous bearing member (101);
A plurality of convex shapes (101b) for charging the O-ring (102) are formed on the outer periphery of the previous-stage bearing member (101) so that rotational torque is generated when the previous-period rotation operation ring (103) is operated.
The first-stage bearing member (101) is formed of a material having a linear expansion coefficient larger than that of the first-stage rotation operation ring (103), and a void (101c) is formed on the inner wall of the first-half convex portion (101b). An image pickup apparatus configured to be elastically deformable in a direction in which a charging force of an O-ring (102) is reduced at the time of change. The rotary operation ring (103) is formed of a metal material, and the bearing member (101) is formed of a resin material, and a gap is formed on the inner wall of the convex portion (101b) formed on the bearing member (101). The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein (101c) is formed and is configured to be elastically deformable in a direction in which the charging force of the O-ring (102) is reduced when the temperature changes. The first-stage O-ring (102) is made of a conductive rubber material, and the first-stage bearing member (101) is made of a conductive resin material, so that the first-stage rotation operation ring (103) and the first-stage base member (106) are electrically connected. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the imaging apparatus is configured to ensure general conduction.