TWM622511U - Protective device - Google Patents

Abstract

A protective device is provided. The protective device is used for a protection device. The protective device includes a strengthening element and a protective element. The strengthening element surrounds at least part of the protection device. The protective element is disposed between the protection element and the strengthening element.

Description

protective device

Some embodiments of the present disclosure relate to protection devices, particularly to protection devices for image capture systems.

With the development of technology, image capture systems are commonly used in many situations. For example, a driver can install an image capture system inside or outside the vehicle to capture images and then learn the road conditions. The use period of a vehicle is usually several years or even ten years, so the reliability of the image capture system installed in the vehicle is very important. However, the vehicle may vibrate during traveling, the vehicle may be impacted by high-pressure water jets during cleaning, and the temperature of the surrounding environment of the vehicle may change significantly, which may adversely affect the image capture system. In order to reduce the possibility of falling off, damage, and failure of the image capture system, it is necessary to improve the reliability of the image capture system.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a protection device. The protection device is used for a protected device. The protection device includes a strengthening element and a protection element. The reinforcing element is disposed around at least a portion of the protected device. The protection element is arranged between the protected device and the reinforcement element.

In some embodiments, the reinforcing element is a sleeve. In some embodiments, the protective element is a thermosetting glue. In some embodiments, at least a portion of the reinforcing element and the protected device comprise mutually corresponding shapes. In some embodiments, the protected device includes a casing, an image capturing element, and an adhesive element, and the image capturing element is disposed on the casing through the adhesive element. In some embodiments, the adhesive element is sealed within the reinforcing element and the protective element. In some embodiments, the adhesive element is a UV-curable glue. In some embodiments, the adhesive element undergoes a pre-curing process and a curing process, and the protective element undergoes a curing process, the pre-curing process of the adhesive element includes a photo-curing process, and the curing process of the adhesive element and the curing process of the protective element Including a thermal curing process. In some embodiments, the contact area between the protection element and the image capturing element is larger than the contact area between the adhesive element and the image capturing element. In some embodiments, the contact area between the protective element and the image capture element is about 2 times to about 4 times the contact area between the adhesive element and the image capture element.

In this specification, many different embodiments or examples are provided, and relative space-relative terms may be used to describe specific examples of various components and arrangements to implement various features of the present disclosure. For example, if this specification recites that a first feature is formed "on" a second feature, that may include embodiments in which the first feature and the second feature are in direct contact, as well as embodiments in which additional features are formed on the first feature and the second feature. An embodiment in which the first feature and the second feature are not in direct contact between the two features. Relative space-relative terms are used to facilitate describing the relationship of elements or features to other elements or features in the drawings. These spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation other than the orientation depicted in the figures. The device may be turned in different orientations (rotated 90 degrees or otherwise), and relative spatially relative terms used herein are to be interpreted in the same way. Otherwise, in different examples of the present disclosure, the same or similar symbols or letters may be used.

In this specification, words such as "including" and/or "having" are open-ended words, so they should be interpreted as "including but not limited to...". Accordingly, when the terms "comprising" and/or "having" are used in the description of the present disclosure, they designate the presence of corresponding features, regions, steps, operations and/or elements, but do not exclude one or more corresponding features , regions, steps, operations and/or elements.

In this specification, the terms "about" and "substantially" generally mean within 10%, or within 5%, or within 3%, or within 2%, or within 1% of a given value or range, or within 0.5%. Furthermore, the phrase "a range between a first value and a second value" means that the range includes the first value, the second value, and other values in between.

Please refer to Figure 1 to Figure 3 first. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an image capture system 10 in some embodiments. FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the image capture system 10 in some embodiments. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the image capture system 10 in some embodiments. The image capture system 10 includes a protection device 100 and a protected device 200 . In some embodiments, protective device 100 includes protective element 110 and reinforcement element 120 . In some embodiments, the protected device 200 includes an image capturing element 210 , an adhesive element 220 , a casing 230 , a circuit board 240 , a base 250 , a photosensitive element 260 , and a locking element 270 . Components can be added or deleted according to actual needs.

The protection element 110 is disposed between the protected device 200 and the reinforcement element 120 . For example, the protection element 110 may be disposed on the protected surface 215 of the image capture element 210 . In some embodiments, the protection element 110 is a thermal curing adhesive, that is, the protection element 110 can be cured through a thermal curing process, but is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the protection element 110 has a waterproof function to increase the waterproofness of the image capture system 10 .

The reinforcement element 120 may be disposed around at least a portion of the protected device 200 . For example, the reinforcement element 120 may be disposed around the protected surface 235 of the housing 230 . In some embodiments, the reinforcing element 120 is a sleeve. In some embodiments, the reinforcing element 120 may include metal or plastic, but is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the material of the reinforcing element 120 may be determined according to the material of the lens capturing element 210 and/or the housing 230 , but is not limited thereto. For example, the housing 230 and the reinforcing element 120 may be made of the same material, but not limited thereto.

The image capturing element 210 is disposed in the casing 230 . The image capturing element 210 may include metal material or plastic material, but is not limited thereto. The image capturing element 210 may include one or more lenses, etc. The lenses may include glass material or plastic material, but not limited thereto. The image capture element 210 can capture images. In some embodiments, the image capturing element 210 can further achieve functions such as focusing and zooming.

The adhesive element 220 is disposed between the image capturing element 210 and the casing 230 . For example, the adhesive element 220 may be disposed on the top surface 231 of the housing 230 . In other words, the image capturing element 210 is disposed on the casing 230 through the adhesive element 220 , so that the casing 230 can accommodate the image capturing element 210 . The adhesive element 220 has the functions of bearing and buffering.

In some embodiments, the adhesive element 220 is an active alignment (AA) adhesive (AA adhesive, or AA glue), but not limited thereto. Active alignment curing glue can be applied to the active alignment process. The active alignment curing adhesive can be pre-cured by irradiating ultraviolet light without solvent, and cured by baking, and has the characteristics of high structural strength and so on. In some embodiments, the adhesive element 220 is a UV curing adhesive. UV-curable adhesives can be cured by irradiating UV light without the need for solvents.

The casing 230 is connected to the base 250 . After the casing 230 is connected to the base 250 , the inner space can accommodate components such as the circuit board 240 . The casing 230 and the base 250 may include metal materials or plastic materials, but are not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the housing 230 and the base 250 may include some design to fix the image capture system 10 on the device (eg, vehicle) to be used. For example, the housing 230 may include mounting holes 232 for mounting the image capture system 10 on the device to be used. Also, for example, the base 250 may include a connector 252 to connect the image capture system 10 to the device to be used. In some embodiments, connector 252 is a FAKRA connector. FAKRA connectors meet the requirements of the surrounding environment of the vehicle.

The circuit board 240 is disposed between the casing 230 and the base 250 . The circuit board 240 may include a rigid board, a flex board, a rigid-flex board, etc., but is not limited thereto.

The photosensitive element 260 may be disposed on the circuit board 240 . In some embodiments, the photosensitive element 260 is disposed on the circuit board 240 by surface mount technology (SMT). After the light enters the image capturing system 10 , it may first pass through the image capturing element 210 , and then image the image on the photosensitive element 260 .

The locking element 270 can secure various elements. For example, the housing 230 may be fixed to the base 250 . In some embodiments, the locking element 270 is a screw or bolt or the like.

The protection device 100 is used to protect the protected device 200 . For example, the protection device 100 can protect the image capture element 210 , the adhesive element 220 between the image capture element 210 and the casing 230 , the casing 230 , etc., so as to reduce the possibility of the image capture element 210 falling off the casing 230 . In some embodiments, the reinforcing element 120 and the protected device 200 may include mutually corresponding shapes to strengthen the connection between the reinforcing element 120 and the protected device 200 . For example, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 , the inner surface 125 of the reinforcing element 120 and the protected surface 235 of the housing 230 may include corresponding threads to strengthen the connection between the reinforcing element 120 and the housing 230 . In addition, if the inner surface 125 of the reinforcement element 120 has an uneven shape, the contact area between the protection element 110 and the reinforcement element 120 can be increased, thereby strengthening the connection between the protection element 110 and the reinforcement element 120 .

In addition, the protection device 100 can increase the fixed area of the image capture element 210 (ie, the contact area between the image capture element 210 and the protection element 110 ), and can also reduce the possibility of the image capture element 210 falling off the housing 230 . In some embodiments, the contact area between the image capturing element 210 and the protection element 110 may be larger than the contact area between the image capturing element 210 and the adhesive element 220 , so as to strengthen the fixing of the image capturing element 210 . In some embodiments, the contact area between the image capture element 210 and the protection element 110 may be about 2 times to about 4 times the contact area between the image capture element 210 and the adhesive element 220 , for example, about 3 times, but not limited to this. For example, the contact area between the image capturing element 210 and the protection element 110 may be about 360 square millimeters (mm ² ), and the contact area between the image capturing element 210 and the adhesive element 220 may be about 125 square millimeters.

In addition, the protection device 100 can reduce the contact between the adhesive element 220 between the image capture element 210 and the housing 230 and moisture, air, dust, etc. in the surrounding environment of the image capture system 10, so as to maintain the adhesive element 220 Adhesion, thereby helping to reduce the possibility of the image capturing element 210 falling off from the casing 230 . In some embodiments, the adhesive element 220 is substantially sealed within the image capture system 10 . That is, the adhesive member 220 is substantially sealed within the protection member 110 and the reinforcement member 120 .

To sum up, with the protection element 110 and the strengthening element 120, the protection device 100 has the functions of structural strengthening, increasing the fixed area, blocking, etc., which can reduce the possibility of the image capturing element 210 falling off from the housing 230, so that protection can be achieved. The effect of the protected device 200, and thus the reliability of the image capture system 10, is enhanced. In some embodiments, the image capture system 10 can pass the IP69 dustproof and waterproof rating test.

Next, please refer to FIG. 4 and FIGS. 5A to 5I together to understand how to complete the image capturing system 10 . FIG. 4 is a method 400 for implementing the image capture system 10 in some embodiments. FIGS. 5A to 5I are flowcharts for completing the image capture system 10 in some embodiments. The method 400 of FIG. 4 includes steps 401 to 409 . Steps can be added or deleted according to actual needs. In some embodiments, related steps can be performed by related automation equipment to simplify the process and reduce costs.

In step 401 (refer to FIG. 5A ), the image capturing element 210 and/or the casing 230 are preprocessed to ensure the connection between the image capturing element 210 and the casing 230 . For simplicity, the image capturing element 210 is not shown in FIG. 5A. In some embodiments, the image capturing element 210 and/or the housing 230 including the plastic material can be surface activated by oxygen ions to achieve the effect of wetting. In some embodiments, the image capturing element 210 and/or the housing 230 including metal materials can be surface activated by particle bombardment of an inert gas, so as to achieve the effect of removing oxides.

In step 402 (refer to FIG. 5B ), the adhesive element 220 is disposed on the casing 230 . For example, the adhesive element 220 is disposed on the top surface 231 of the housing 230 . In some embodiments, before disposing the adhesive element 220 , the desired amount and desired position of the adhesive element 220 can be calculated to avoid problems such as excessive or too little amount of the adhesive element 220 and/or position deviation. If the amount of the adhesive element 220 is too much or too little and/or the position is shifted, the position of the image capturing element 210 to be disposed in the casing 230 may be shifted later.

The results calculated in advance can be programmed into the automation device, so that the automation device can perform step 402 according to the programmed content. In some embodiments, automated equipment including an automated glue dispenser and/or a charge coupled device (CCD) may be employed in step 402 . In some embodiments, the automated dispenser can achieve two-axis adjustment. In some embodiments, the dispensing head of the automated dispensing machine can rotate up to three hundred and sixty degrees to position the adhesive element 220 from any initial angle. In some embodiments, the photosensitive coupling device can assist in detecting the setting situation of the adhesive element 220 , so as to correct the setting amount and the setting position of the adhesive element 220 in real time. In some embodiments, the error between the amount and the placement position of the adhesive element 220 and the desired amount and desired position of the adhesive element 220 is substantially close to zero. In some embodiments, the adhesive elements 220 can be provided continuously, so as to save the amount of the adhesive elements 220, thereby reducing the cost.

In step 403 (refer to FIG. 5C ), the image capturing element 210 is disposed on the casing 230 through the adhesive element 220 . In some embodiments, automated equipment including automated grippers may be employed in step 403 .

In step 404 (refer to FIG. 5D ), the image capturing element 210 is positioned by an active alignment process to ensure the position of the image capturing element 210 relative to the photosensitive element 260 . In order to show the positional relationship between the image capturing element 210 and the photosensitive element 260 , the drawing angle of FIG. 5D is different from the drawing angles of FIGS. 5A to 5C . Specifically, in step 404 , the central axis of the image capturing element 210 is adjusted to be substantially coincident with the central axis of the photosensitive element 260 .

It should be noted that the relative position of the image capturing element 210 and the photosensitive element 260 will affect the quality of the image captured by the image capturing system 10 . For example, in some prior art, the image capture element is not positioned using an active alignment process, but the image capture element is directly fixed to the housing. In such a prior art, the positional relationship between the image capturing element and the photosensitive element cannot be changed during the setting of the image capturing element, so that the central axis of the image capturing element and the central axis of the photosensitive element may not coincide, resulting in the captured image The captured image is blurred, out of focus, etc.

In contrast, in the active alignment process, the setting position of the next component to be assembled can be corrected according to the actual situation of the assembly process, so as to eliminate the tolerance accumulated previously. In addition, the active alignment process can determine the relative positions between the assembled components, and can achieve three degrees of freedom, or even six degrees of freedom adjustment, so accurate positioning can be achieved. Therefore, the quality of the image captured by the image capture system 10 can be improved by positioning the image capture element 210 in the active alignment process in step 404 .

Since the positioning of the image capture element 210 has been completed in step 404 , in step 405 (refer to FIG. 5E ), the adhesive element 220 is pre-cured to temporarily fix the position of the image capture element 210 . In some embodiments, in step 405, only a portion (eg, the surface) of the adhesive element 220 is cured. In some embodiments, the pre-curing process in step 405 is a photo-curing process, and automated equipment including ultraviolet lamps may be used. In some embodiments, the UV lamp may be a high power UV lamp to accelerate pre-curing of the adhesive element 220 . In some embodiments, in order to ensure pre-curing of the adhesive element 220, the adhesive element 220 may be irradiated from different directions. The number of UV lamps may be three to six, for example, four, but not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the duration of the pre-curing process in step 405 may be within twenty seconds, for example, three to nine seconds, but not limited thereto.

In step 406 (refer to FIG. 5F ), the adhesive element 220 is cured to fix the position of the image capturing element 210 . For simplicity, in FIG. 5F , only the curing device 500 is shown, and the image capturing system 10 and the protection device 100 and the protected device 200 included therein are not shown. In some embodiments, in step 406, the entirety of the adhesive element 220 is cured. In some embodiments, the curing process in step 406 is a thermal curing process, and a drying chamber can be used as the curing device 500 . In some embodiments, the duration of the curing process in step 406 may be about two hours, but is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the temperature of the curing process in step 406 may be between about 80° C. (Celsius temperature) to about 90° C., for example, about 85° C., but not limited thereto.

In step 407 (refer to FIG. 5G ), the reinforcing element 120 is provided. In some embodiments, when the inner side surface 125 of the reinforcement element 120 and the protected surface 235 of the housing 230 include mutually corresponding shapes (eg, threads), the reinforcement element 120 can be manually or mechanically screwed into the housing 230.

In step 408 (refer to FIG. 5H ), the protection element 110 is provided. For example, the protection element 110 is disposed on the protected surface 215 of the image capture element 210 (refer to FIG. 5G ), and the adhesive element 220 between the image capture element 210 and the housing 230 is sealed in the image Capture the inside of the system 10 . In some embodiments, automated equipment including an automated glue dispenser may be employed in step 408 .

In step 409 (refer to FIG. 5I ), the protection element 110 is cured to cure the protection element 110 , thereby completing the image capture system 10 . For simplicity, in FIG. 5F , only the curing apparatus 600 is shown, and the image capturing system 10 and the protection device 100 and the protected device 200 included therein are not shown. In some embodiments, the curing process in step 409 is a thermal curing process, and an oven can be used as the curing device 600 . In some embodiments, the curing apparatus 600 in step 409 is substantially the same as the curing apparatus 500 in step 406 . In some embodiments, the duration of the curing process in step 409 may be about two hours, but is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the temperature of the curing process in step 409 may be between about 80° C. (Celsius temperature) to about 90° C., for example, about 85° C., but not limited thereto.

As mentioned above, some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a protection device and a protection method for the device. The protection device and the protected device are included in an image capture system. The protective device strengthens the structure of the protected device. The protective device can increase the fixed area of one or more components in the protected device. The protective device may reduce the exposure of one or more components in the protected device to moisture, air, dust, etc. in the surrounding environment.

By strengthening the structure of the protective device, increasing the fixed area, blocking and other functions, the protective device can reduce the possibility of one or more components in the protected device falling off, so the effect of protecting the protected device can be achieved, and thus the image capture can be improved. Take the overall reliability of the system. In addition, the image capture system can be completed through related automation equipment to simplify the process and reduce the cost. Furthermore, using an active alignment process in the process can eliminate previously accumulated tolerances and improve the quality of images captured by the image capture system.

The foregoing outlines the features of several embodiments to enable those of ordinary skill in the art to better understand various aspects of the present disclosure. Those of ordinary skill in the art should appreciate that the present disclosure may be readily utilized as a basis for designing or modifying other processes and structures for carrying out the same purposes or achieving the same advantages of the embodiments described herein. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that such equivalent configurations do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, and without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, various changes, substitutions and alterations may be made to the present disclosure. Change. In addition, the features among the various embodiments can be arbitrarily mixed and matched as long as they do not violate the spirit of the present disclosure or conflict with the spirit of the present disclosure.

10: Image capture system 100: Protective device 110: Protection components 120: Reinforcing elements 125: The inner surface of the reinforcement element 200: Protected device 210: Image Capture Components 215: Protected surface of image capture element 220: Adhesive Components 230: Shell 231: Top surface of shell 232: Mounting holes 235: Protected surface of the shell 240: circuit board 250: base 252: Connector 260: photosensitive element 270: Locking element 400: Method 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408, 409: Steps 500,600: Curing Equipment

In order to make the features or advantages of the present disclosure more obvious and easy to understand, some embodiments are given and described in detail as follows in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the various features are not necessarily drawn to scale. In fact, the various features may be arbitrarily enlarged or reduced in size and may be drawn schematically. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an image capture system in some embodiments. FIG. 2 is an exploded view of an image capture system in some embodiments. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an image capture system in some embodiments. FIG. 4 is a method for implementing an image capture system in some embodiments. FIGS. 5A to 5I are flowcharts for completing the image capture system in some embodiments.

10: Image capture system

100: Protective device

110: Protection components

120: Reinforcing elements

200: Protected device

Claims (10)

A protective device for a protected device, comprising: a reinforcement element disposed around at least a portion of the protected device; and A protection element is arranged between the protected device and the strengthening element. The protective device of claim 1, wherein the reinforcing element is a sleeve. The protection device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the protection element is a heat-curable adhesive. The protective device of claim 1, wherein at least the portion of the reinforcing element and the protected device comprise mutually corresponding shapes. The protection device of claim 1, wherein the protected device comprises a casing, an image capturing element, and an adhesive element, and the image capturing element is disposed on the casing through the adhesive element. The protective device of claim 5, wherein the adhesive element is sealed within the reinforcing element and the protective element. The protection device according to claim 5, wherein the adhesive element is an ultraviolet curing adhesive. The protection device of claim 5, wherein the adhesive element undergoes a pre-curing process and a curing process, and the protective element undergoes a curing process, the pre-curing process of the adhesive element includes a photo-curing process, and the adhesive The curing process of the device and the curing process of the protection device include a thermal curing process. The protection device of claim 5, wherein a contact area between the protection element and the image capturing element is larger than a contact area between the adhesive element and the image capturing element. The protection device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the contact area between the protection element and the image capturing element is 2 to 4 times the contact area between the adhesive element and the image capturing element.

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