KR20140148228A - Apparatus and method for assembling camera module - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device and a method for assembling a camera module. The device for assembling a camera module according to the present invention comprises a pickup unit which includes a pickup head moving downwards and a distance measuring sensor fixed regardless of the movement of the pickup head to measure the moving distance of the pickup head; a transfer rail for transferring the pickup unit; and a control unit moving the pickup unit when the pickup head picks up a lens barrel using the transfer rail and adjusts the coupling depth of the lens barrel and a housing using the moving distance measured from the distance measuring sensor when the lens barrel is coupled to the housing. When the male threads of the lens barrel are coupled to the female treads of the housing, the deviation of the coupling depths according to the coupling start angle can be removed.

Description

[0001] Apparatus and method for assembling camera module [0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for assembling a camera module, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method for assembling a camera module that minimizes tolerance in assembly of a lens barrel and a housing.

In a camera module embedded in a mobile device such as a mobile phone, an image sensor is mounted on a PCB on which a circuit pattern is printed, and a lens barrel and an infrared filter are disposed on the image sensor.

The assembly of such a camera module is accomplished by coupling the lens barrel to the housing. At this time, the engagement between the housing and the lens barrel is generally accomplished by fastening the female screw thread of the housing and the male screw thread of the lens barrel.

In this case, in order to maintain the distance between the lens barrel and the image sensor, the lens barrel is rotated at a predetermined rotation amount and assembled into the housing. However, in order to determine the fastening distance simply by the amount of rotation, there is a difference in rotation amount by a maximum of one rotation (360 degrees) depending on the angle at which the starting position of the male thread and the starting position of the female thread are engaged, The difference in distance is different by the maximum thread lead distance. Therefore, in the case of fastening the male screw thread of the lens barrel to the female thread screw of the housing, the starting position of fastening is changed according to the angle at which the first female thread screw and the male thread screw meet, Could not be controlled constantly.

The deviation of the fastening start height according to the fastening start position of the lens barrel and the housing is shown in Fig. In FIG. 9, the X-axis represents the angle, and each interval is 30 degrees. As can be seen from Fig. 9, the maximum deviation is 0.15 mm. Therefore, after the lens barrel and the housing are assembled, it takes a lot of time to focus on the inspection process.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for assembling a camera module that minimizes a tolerance in assembly of a lens barrel and a housing.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for assembling a camera module, comprising: a pick-up head movable downward; a distance measuring unit for measuring a moving distance of the pick- A pick-up unit including a measurement sensor, a transfer rail for transferring the pick-up unit, and a pick-up unit for picking up the lens barrel when the pick-up head picks up the lens barrel, And a coupling depth between the lens barrel and the housing can be adjusted by using the movement distance value measured by the distance measuring sensor.

Wherein the pick-up unit further includes a head rotation motor for providing a driving force to the pick-up head capable of fastening the lens barrel to the housing, and the control unit includes a head rotation motor for fastening the lens barrel to the housing .

The pick-up head preferably rotates by receiving the driving force of the head rotating motor through a plurality of pinions.

The distance measuring sensor may include a laser distance measuring device for measuring a distance using a laser.

The control unit controls the head rotation motor so that the pick-up head has a predetermined amount of rotation, and thereafter controls the head rotation motor to be rotated in the forward direction or the reverse direction using the travel distance value measured by the distance measurement sensor have.

Wherein the distance measuring sensor measures a combined height of the housing and the lens barrel mounted on the upper surface of the housing as a starting distance value and outputs the starting distance value as a moving distance value measured by the distance measuring sensor The coupling depth can be calculated by subtracting.

A method for assembling a camera module in a camera module assembling apparatus including a distance measuring sensor capable of measuring a moving distance of the pick-up head fixed without regard to movement of a pick-up head according to an embodiment of the present invention, A step of moving the pick-up unit when the pick-up head picks up the lens barrel, and a step of, when the lens barrel is coupled to the housing, using the movement distance value measured by the distance measuring sensor, The above-described object can be achieved by providing a step of adjusting the coupling depth of the barrel and the housing.

The camera module assembly method further includes a step of determining that the coupling between the lens barrel and the housing is defective if the combined depth value obtained by subtracting the starting distance value from the moving distance value measured by the distance measuring sensor is greater than a predetermined depth value .

According to the above-described construction, it is possible to eliminate the deviation in the fastening depth according to the fastening start angle in the fastening of the female screw thread of the lens barrel and the female screw thread of the housing.

In addition, the present invention can eliminate the variation due to the manufacturing tolerance of the housing by measuring the entire length of the lens barrel and the housing at the start distance.

Further, the present invention can control the correct depth by measuring the lens barrel with a distance measuring sensor after coupling the lens barrel to the housing at a predetermined rotation amount.

Also, according to the present invention, the deviation of the housing tray or the jig where the housing is located according to the flatness can be eliminated, and the lens barrel and the housing can be tightened to a uniform depth.

1 is a view for explaining a structure of a general camera module applied to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a specific camera module applied to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a schematic view illustrating a camera module assembling apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a view showing the pickup unit shown in FIG. 3 in detail.
5 is a view illustrating distance measurement before the lens barrel is coupled to the housing according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a view illustrating distance measurement in a state in which a lens barrel is coupled to a housing according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a flowchart illustrating a camera module assembling method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
8 is a view showing the deviation of the lens barrel and the housing after fastening according to the embodiment of the present invention.
9 is a graph showing a deviation according to the contact angle between the male screw and the female screw, which is measured while the housing and the lens barrel are brought into contact with each other and then rotated 360 degrees in the opposite direction to the fastening direction.

Hereinafter, an apparatus and method for assembling a camera module according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a view for explaining a structure of a general camera module applied to an embodiment of the present invention.

1, the camera module includes a housing 21 having one or a plurality of lenses 22 and an infrared cut filter 23, a PCB 260 (i.e., Chip) 11 as shown in FIG. At this time, the housing 21 and the PCB 11 may be bonded to each other with an adhesive such as an epoxy resin.

2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a specific camera module applied to an embodiment of the present invention.

2, the camera module includes a lens barrel 100, a housing 200, an infrared cut filter 250, and a PCB 260 on which an image sensor 270 is mounted.

The lens barrel 100 may have a cylindrical shape, and a plurality of lenses 122, 124, and 126 may be accommodated. The lens barrel 100 may have a receiving groove (not shown) for receiving the plurality of lenses 122, 124, 126.

The lens barrel 100 can be fastened to the housing 200 by screws. That is, the male screw thread 130 is formed on the outer circumferential surface of the lens barrel 100, and the female screw thread 210 is formed on the inner circumferential surface of the housing 200. Not only the lens barrel 100 is fastened to the housing 200 by fastening the male screw thread 130 of the lens barrel 100 to the female screw thread 210 of the housing 200 but also the plurality of lenses 122, 124 and 126 and the image sensor 270 can be adjusted together. That is, the engagement interval between the plurality of lenses 122, 124, 126 and the image sensor 270 is adjusted in accordance with the rotation of the lens barrel 100, As shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, the lens barrel 100 and the housing 200 are shown as being coupled by a screw, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

The housing 200 is fastened to the lens barrel 100 by screws. The housing 200 may have a circular cylindrical shape or a rectangular cylindrical shape.

The infrared cut-off filter 250 blocks the incident infrared rays and is housed in the lower portion of the housing 200.

The PCB 260 mounting the image sensor 270 is coupled to the lower portion of the housing 200. The image sensor 270 may be a CCD image sensor or a CMOS image sensor.

Although only a plurality of lenses 122, 124, 126 are accommodated in the lens barrel 100 in FIG. 2, the infrared cut filter 250 may be accommodated together with the plurality of lenses 122, 124, have. Therefore, in the present invention, unless otherwise specified, the lens barrel 100 may be collectively referred to as any type that can be coupled to the housing 200. [

3 is a schematic view illustrating a camera module assembling apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3, the camera module assembling apparatus includes a lens tray 310, a housing tray 320, a first pick-up unit 330, a second pick-up unit 340, a feed rail 350, A first camera 360, a second camera 370, and a control unit 380.

A plurality of lens barrels 100 are accommodated in the lens tray 310 and a plurality of housings 200 can be accommodated in the housing tray 320. The lens tray 310 and the housing tray 320 may be placed on a stage (not shown).

The first pick-up unit 330 has a first pick-up head 332 and the second pick-up unit 340 has a second pick-up head 342. Both the first pick-up unit 330 and the second pick-up unit 340 are used to pick up the lens barrel 100 in the lens tray 310 and to fasten the lens barrel 100 to the housing 200, The assembling speed of the lens barrel 100 and the housing 200 can be improved. Hereinafter, the first pick-up unit 330 and the second pick-up unit 340 are collectively referred to as a pick-up unit.

The transferring rail 350 is a rail for transferring the pickup unit 330 between an area where the lens tray 310 is located and an area where the housing tray 320 is located.

The first camera 360 can photograph the lens barrel 100 housed in the lens tray 310 to obtain positional information on the lens barrel 100 and the second camera 370 can receive information on the position of the lens barrel 100 housed in the housing tray 320 The position information on the housing 200 can be obtained by photographing the housing 200. [ The first camera 360 and the second camera 370 may be installed in the first pick-up unit 330 and the second pick-up unit 340. However, the area where the lens tray 310 is located and the housing tray 320 Respectively.

The control unit 380 operates the first camera 360 and the second camera 370 and also processes the input image from the first camera 360 and the second camera 370 and outputs the processed image to the first pickup driver 382 And the second pickup driver 384, respectively.

The first pick-up drive unit 382 may include not only a drive for transferring the first pick-up unit 330 itself but also all of the electric drive components for driving the respective components of the first pick-up unit 330, And the second pick-up driving unit 384 is not only driven for transporting the second pick-up unit 340 itself but also for driving all the electrical components of the second pick-up unit 340, such as the second pick- Driving element. 3, the first pickup driver 382 and the second pickup driver 384 are shown separately from the control unit 380, but may be included in the control unit 380 unless otherwise specified in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a view showing the pickup unit shown in FIG. 3 in detail, FIG. 5 is a view showing distance measurement before coupling the lens barrel to the housing according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. In which the lens barrel is coupled to the housing according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4, the pick-up unit includes a pick-up head 332, a vacuum sensor 410, a head rotation motor 420, a plurality of pinions 430 and a distance measurement sensor 440.

The pick-up head 332 picks up the lens barrel 100 from the lens tray 310. In this case, the inside of the pickup head 332 is evacuated so that the pickup head 332 can vacuum suction the lens barrel, and the vacuum sensor 410 detects the vacuum state inside the pickup head 332. When the pick-up head 332 sucks the lens barrel 100, the control unit 380 moves the pick-up unit 330 to the position where the housing tray 320 is along the feed rail 350.

The head rotation motor 420 generates a driving force for rotating the pickup head 332 so that the rotation by the head rotation motor 420 is transmitted to the pickup head 332 through the plurality of pinions 430, This causes the pick-up head 332 to rotate.

The distance measuring sensor 440 measures the distance of the pick-up head 332. For this purpose, the distance measuring sensor 440 may be a laser range finder 510 for measuring the distance using a laser. Further, it may be a limit switch or the like capable of detecting contact with a predetermined distance.

5, the pickup head 332, which picks up the lens barrel 100, for measuring the distance before coupling the lens barrel 100 to the housing 200, moves the lens barrel 100 to the housing (not shown) 200). Therefore, in this case, the starting distance d1 measured by the laser distance measurer 510 corresponds to the entire length of the lens barrel 100 and the housing 200.

The second camera 370 photographs the housing 200 and outputs an image to the control unit 380. The control unit 380 obtains the center of the housing 200 from the input image. The control unit 380 then controls the unit driver 382 to align the pickup head 332 with the center position of the housing 200 and then lower it.

When the pick-up head 332 reaches a predetermined position, the control unit 380 drives the head rotation motor 420 and the pick-up head 332 rotates by the driving force transmitted through the plurality of pinions 430. The pick-up head 332 descends while rotating through the bearing 520.

The control unit 380 stops the head rotation motor 420 when the pickup head 332 rotates by a predetermined rotation amount, for example, one rotation or two rotations. The laser distance measurer 510 measures the moving distance d2 of the pick-up head 332 by emitting a laser and outputs it to the control unit 380. [ The control unit 380 subtracts the start distance d1 from the movement distance d2 measured by the laser distance measurer 510 to obtain the difference and rotates the head rotation motor 420 in the forward direction or the reverse direction by the difference. As a result, an error in the fastening depth can be corrected as the position (angle) at which the male thread of the lens barrel 100 meets the female thread of the housing 200 is not constant.

5, by using the entire length of the housing 200 and the lens barrel 100 located in the housing tray 320 as the starting distance, the distance from the housing tray 320 or from the housing jig (not shown) A desirable fastening depth can be obtained regardless of the flatness of the housing tray 320 or the housing jig when the housing 200 and the lens barrel 100 are combined.

7 is a flowchart illustrating a camera module assembling method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The first camera 360 photographs and outputs the lens barrel 100 to be picked up by the pick-up head 332 (S702). The control unit 380 obtains the pickup position of the lens barrel 100 from the photographed image input from the first camera 360. [ In this case, the reference angle when rotating the upper surface of the lens barrel 100 can be found.

The pickup head 332 picks up the lens barrel 100 by vacuum (S704). For this, the vacuum state of the pickup head 332 becomes vacuum, and the vacuum state can be measured by the vacuum sensor 410. In addition, the control unit 380 controls the pick- It is possible to adjust the angle of the light guide plate 332.

The second camera 370 photographs the housing 200 and outputs the image to the control unit 380 (S706). The control unit 380 obtains the center of the housing 200 from the image input from the second camera 370. [ The control unit 380 controls the center of the housing 200 to align the center of the pickup head 332 with the center of the lens barrel 100 or drives the stage to move the center of the housing 200 It can be used as a coordinate value for matching the center of the lens barrel.

When the pick-up head 332 picks up the lens barrel 100, the control unit 380 moves the pick-up unit along the conveying rail 350 to the area where the housing tray 320 is located (S708).

The distance measuring sensor 440 measures the starting distance d1 (S710). 5, the pickup head 332 positions the lens barrel 100 on one side of the housing 200, for distance measurement before coupling the lens barrel 100 to the housing 200. As shown in Fig. When the lens barrel 100 is positioned on one side of the housing 200, the laser distance measurer 510 fires a laser to measure the starting distance d1 and outputs it to the control unit 380. [ The control unit 380 stores the measured start distance d1 in an internal memory or the like.

The control unit 380 controls the pickup driving unit so that the pickup head 332 descends and controls the pickup driving unit such that the pickup head 332 stops when the pickup head 332 reaches a predetermined position. The control unit 380 drives the head rotation motor 420 so that the driving force is transmitted through the plurality of pinions 430 to rotate the pickup head 332 (S712). The pick-up head 332 descends while rotating through the bearing 520.

The control unit 380 stops the head rotation motor 420 when the pickup head 332 rotates by a predetermined amount of rotation, for example, one or two revolutions (S714). The laser distance measurer 510 measures the moving distance d2 of the pick-up head 332 by emitting a laser, and outputs it to the control unit 380 (S716).

The control unit 380 calculates the difference using the distance d1 and the movement distance d2 measured by the laser distance measurer 510 (S718). When the value obtained by subtracting the moving distance d1 from the moving distance d2 is equal to or smaller than the predetermined depth value, the control unit 380 controls the head rotating motor 420 to rotate in the forward direction, (S720). However, if the value obtained by subtracting the moving distance d1 from the moving distance d2 deviates from the upper limit value or the lower limit value of the predetermined good product, the control unit 380 determines that the screw tightening is wrong and treats it as defective (S720).

In Fig. 7, the pickup head 332 measures the moving distance d2 to the laser distance measurer 510 after a predetermined amount of rotation, but this is only one specific example. For example, when the limit switch is used, the control unit 380 can stop the head rotation motor 420 at the time when the limit switch is turned on or off.

8 is a view showing a deviation of the lens barrel and the housing 200 after fastening according to the embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 8, the X-axis represents the number of samples measured. As can be seen from Fig. 8, the maximum deviation is only 0.03 mm. It can be seen that this is a significantly improved deviation from the maximum deviation of 0.15 mm according to the fastening start position shown in FIG.

The foregoing description is merely illustrative of the technical idea of the present invention, and various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the essential characteristics of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are intended to illustrate rather than limit the scope of the present invention, and the scope of the technical idea of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments. The scope of protection of the present invention should be construed according to the following claims, and all technical ideas within the scope of equivalents should be construed as falling within the scope of the present invention.

100: lens barrel 200: housing
250: Infrared cut filter 260: PCB
270: image sensor 310: lens tray
320: housing tray 330: first pick-up unit
340: second pick-up unit 350: feed rail
360: first camera 370: second camera
380: control unit 382: first pickup driver
384: Second Pickup Driver 410: Vacuum Sensor
420; Head rotating motor 430: plural pinion
440: Distance sensor

Claims (10)

A pick-up head movable downward; and a distance measuring sensor fixed to the pick-up head and measuring a moving distance of the pick-up head irrespective of the movement of the pick-up head,
A feed rail for feeding the pick-up unit,
Wherein when the pick-up head picks up the lens barrel, the pick-up unit is moved using the feed rail, and when the lens barrel is coupled to the housing, the distance between the lens barrel and the housing And a control unit for adjusting a coupling depth of the camera module. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the pick-up unit further comprises a head rotation motor for providing a drive force to the pick-up head capable of fastening the lens barrel to the housing,
Wherein the control unit drives the head rotation motor for engagement of the lens barrel and the housing. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the pick-up head rotates by receiving driving force from the head rotating motor through a plurality of pinions. 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Wherein the distance measuring sensor includes a laser distance measuring unit for measuring a distance using a laser. 5. The method of claim 4,
The control unit controls the head rotation motor so that the pick-up head has a predetermined rotation amount, and thereafter controls the head rotation motor to rotate in the forward direction or the reverse direction using the movement distance value measured by the distance measurement sensor Wherein the camera module assembly device comprises: 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the distance measuring sensor measures the combined height of the housing and the lens barrel mounted on the upper surface of the housing as a starting distance value,
Wherein the control unit calculates a coupling depth by subtracting a starting distance value from a moving distance value measured by the distance measuring sensor. A camera module assembling method of a camera module assembling apparatus including a distance measuring sensor which is capable of measuring a moving distance of the pick-up head while being fixed regardless of a movement of a pick-
Wherein the pick-up head of the pick-up unit picks up the lens barrel,
Moving the pick-up unit when the pick-up head picks up the lens barrel,
And adjusting a coupling depth of the lens barrel and the housing by using a moving distance value measured by the distance measuring sensor when the lens barrel and the housing are coupled with each other. 8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the adjusting step comprises the steps of rotating the pickup head by a predetermined amount of rotation and then rotating the pickup head in a forward or reverse direction by using a movement distance value measured by the distance measuring sensor to detect a combination of the lens barrel and the housing And adjusting the depth of the camera module. 9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the adjusting step comprises the steps of: measuring a sum of the height of the housing and the lens barrel mounted on the housing with the distance measuring sensor as a starting distance value, and calculating a starting distance value from a moving distance value measured by the distance measuring sensor And calculating a coupling depth by subtracting the coupling depth from the coupling depth. 10. The method of claim 9,
And determining that the coupling between the lens barrel and the housing is defective if the combined depth value obtained by subtracting the starting distance value from the moving distance value measured by the distance measuring sensor is greater than a predetermined depth value, Wherein said camera module comprises:

Images