Patent Publication Number: US-2020285132-A1

Title: Lens module and electronic device using the lens module

Description:
FIELD 
     The subject matter herein generally relates to imaging devices. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Lens modules generally includes a lens unit, a glass filter, a carrier, a voice coil motor, a photosensitive chip, and a circuit board. The voice coil motor is adhered to the carrier usually by glue. However, a bonding strength may be weak and the voice coil motor can easily separated from the carrier, due to small amount of the glue and a small bonding area. The bonding strength can be improved if a glue having high bonding strength and high adhesion safety factor is used, however the cost of the lens module would increase. 
     Therefore, there is room for improvement. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Implementations of the present technology will now be described, by way of embodiments, with reference to the attached figures. 
         FIG. 1  is an isometric view of a lens module according to an embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the lens module of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded view of the lens module of  FIG. 1  in another orientation. 
         FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view along line IV-IV of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 5  is an isometric view of a voice coil motor, a colloid, and a carrier according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  is an isometric view of a voice coil motor, a colloid, and a carrier according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 7  is an isometric view of a voice coil motor, a colloid, and a carrier according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 8  is a cross-sectional view of the carrier of  FIG. 7 . 
         FIG. 9  is a cross-sectional view of a voice coil motor, a colloid, and a carrier according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 10  is an isometric view of a lens module according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 11  is an isometric view of a lens module according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 12  is a perspective view of an electronic device with any of the lens modules of  FIG. 1 to 11  installed thereon. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The present disclosure is made in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Specific embodiments of the present disclosure are described. 
     In the following description, when an element is described as being “fixed to” another element, the element can be fixed to the another element with or without intermediate elements. When an element is described as “connecting” another element, the element can be connected to the other element with or without intermediate elements. 
     Without a given definition otherwise, all terms used have the same meaning as commonly understood by those skilled in the art. The term “and/or” means including any and all combinations of one or more of associated listed items. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a lens module  100  including a circuit board  10 , a photosensitive chip  20 , a carrier  30 , and a filter  40 , a voice coil motor  50 , a lens unit  60 , and a colloid  70 . 
     In the embodiment, the circuit board  10  is a rigid board, and includes a first hard board portion  11 , a second hard board portion  12 , and a third hard board portion  13  between the first hard board portion  11  and the second hard board portion  12 . A connector  14  is mounted on a surface of the second hard board portion  12 . The connector  14  is used to transmit signals between the lens module  100  and other components of an electronic device  200  which carries the lens module  100 . The second hard board portion  12  is mounted with a reinforcing plate  15  on another surface. The reinforcing plate  15  is made of a metal such as stainless steel. The reinforcing plate  15  enhances a hardness of the circuit board  10  and facilitates the assembly of the lens module  100 . In another embodiment, the locations of the reinforcing plate  15  and the connector  14  are interchangeable. 
     One surface of the first hard board portion  11  carries the photosensitive chip  20 . In the embodiment, the photosensitive chip  20  and the connector  14  are located on a same side of the circuit board  10 . The photosensitive chip  20  has a substantially rectangular shape. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2-4 , the carrier  30  is disposed on the surface of the first hard board portion  11  where the photosensitive chip  20  is located. The carrier  30  and the first hard board portion  11  are connected by the colloid  70 . 
     The carrier  30  has a substantially hollow rectangular structure defining a through hole  32 . The carrier  30  defines a first recess  34  away from the circuit board  10  surrounding the through hole  32 . The filter  40  is received in the first recess  34  and spaced from the photosensitive chip  20 . In the embodiment, the filter  40  is rectangular shaped. The carrier  30  further defines a second recess  38  opposite to the first recess  34  surrounding the through hole  32  for receiving the photosensitive chip  20 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 5-8 , the voice coil motor  50  is mounted on the carrier  30  away from the circuit board  10 . The carrier  30  includes a wall  31  surrounding the through hole  32 . The wall  31  defines at least one hole  36 . The hole  36  has an opening  361  which faces the voice coil motor  50 . The hole  361  can be any shape including, but not limited to, a regular triangle, circle, ellipse, polygon, star, or the like, or an irregular polygon or the like shape. When a plurality of holes  36  are defined on the wall  31 , the holes  36  can be all of a same shape or be of different shapes. The holes  36  can be separated from each other in an embodiment (see  FIG. 7 ), or interconnected with each other in alternative embodiments (see  FIGS. 5 and 6 ). In various embodiments, each of the holes  36  includes a lower portion and an upper portion opposite to the lower portion. The lower portions of the holes  36  are in communication with each other (see  FIG. 8 ), or the upper portions of the holes  36  are interconnected with each other, or both the lower portions and the upper portions of the holes can be interconnected. 
     Refer to  FIGS. 7 and 8 , in an embodiment, the upper portions of the holes  36  are separated from each other, and the lower portions of the holes  36  interconnected with each other through a slot  39 . 
     The holes  36  are filled with the colloid  70 , thereby increasing the contact area of the carrier  30  with the colloid  70 . The colloid  70  forms a plurality of protrusions  72  corresponding to the holes after solidification. A meshing force between the colloid  70  and the carrier  30  is enhanced because of the protrusions  72 , thereby maintaining a more than sufficient engagement of the carrier  30  with the voice coil motor  50 . 
     The voice coil motor  50  is mounted on the carrier  30  away from the circuit board  10 . The voice coil motor  50  is substantially a rectangular parallelepiped structure, and assembled to the carrier  30  by the colloid  70 . In the embodiment, a surface of the voice coil motor  50  contacting the carrier  30  is provided without protrusions. 
     Referring to  FIG. 9 , in an alternative embodiment, the surface of the voice coil motor  50  contacting the carrier  30  is provided with at least one protrusion  56 . The protrusion  56  is received in the hole  36  and engages with the hole  36 . The colloid  70  fills gaps between the protrusion  56  and the hole  36 , thereby further enhancing the meshing force between the carrier  30  and the voice coil motor  50 . The colloid  70  may be elastic to buffer against external jars and impacts applied to the lens module  100  and protect the carrier  30  and the voice coil motor  50 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2-4 , the voice coil motor  50  defines a receiving hole  52 . An inner wall of the receiving hole  52  defines a first thread  54 . The lens unit  60  is coupled to the voice coil motor  50  through the first thread  54 . 
     The lens unit  60  is partially received in the receiving hole  52  of the voice coil motor  50 . In the embodiment, the lens unit  60  includes a first lens portion  64 , a second lens portion  66 , and a third lens portion  68 . The second lens portion  66  is connected between the first lens portion  64  and the third lens portion  68 . The first lens portion  64  defines a second thread  62 . The second thread  62  engages with the first thread  54  to mount the lens unit  60  in the receiving hole  52 . The voice coil motor  50  has an autofocus function that can adjust the position of the lens unit  60  in the voice coil motor  50 . The first lens portion  64  and the second lens portion  66  are substantially columnar, and the first lens portion  64  has a diameter larger than that of the second lens portion  66 . The third lens portion  68  is substantially in shape of truncated cone. 
     The first lens portion  64 , the second lens portion  66 , and the third lens portion  68  are assembled together to form the lens unit  60 . In an alternative embodiment, the first lens portion  64 , the second lens portion  66 , and the third lens portion  68  are integrally molded to form the lens unit  60 . The first lens portion  64  can be entirely received in the receiving hole  52  and can be partially rotated out of the receiving hole  52  during use. The second lens portion  66  and the third lens portion  68  are outside of the receiving hole  52 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 10 , in an alternative embodiment, the voice coil motor  50  and a lens holder of the lens unit  60  are integrally formed or molded. The lens unit  60  and the voice coil motor are then mounted to the carrier  30  via the colloid  70 . 
     It can be understood that in an alternative embodiments, the hole  36  can be defined on the voice coil motor  50 . The protrusion  56  can be formed on the carrier  30  corresponding to the hole  36  to further increase the meshing force between the voice coil motor  50  and the carrier  30 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 11 , in an alternative embodiment, the lens module  100  is a dual-camera module and the carrier  30  carries two voice coil motors  50  and two lens units  60 . The two voice coil motors  50  are arranged side by side. In still another embodiment, the carrier  30  can carry more than two voice coil motors  50  and more than two lens units  60 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 12 , the lens module  100  can be applied to various electronic devices  200  equipped with camera modules, such as mobile phones, wearable devices, computer devices, vehicles, and monitoring devices. In this embodiment, the lens module  100  is applied in a mobile phone. 
     The lens module provided by the present disclosure provides certain improvements. Firstly, by providing at least one hole on the carrier, the colloid is infilled in the hole to increases the meshing force between the colloid and the carrier  30 , thereby enhancing the bonding strength of the carrier and the voice coil motor, and reducing the risk of the carrier being separated from the voice coil motor. The reliability and assembly yield of the lens module  100  are improved. Second, the lens module provided by the present disclosure reduces the requirement for adhesiveness of the colloid, and more types of colloid can be used in the lens module. Third, the meshing force between the colloid  70  and the carrier  30  increases the structural foundation between the carrier  30  and the voice coil motor  50  to better meet the requirements of movement. 
     The embodiments shown and described above are only examples. Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present technology have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the present disclosure, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes can be made in the detail, including in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of the parts within the principles of the present disclosure, up to and including the full extent established by the broad general meaning of the terms used in the claims.