IP Library Granted Patent US 8,289,638
Granted Patent B2
US 8,289,638 · App. 12/594,052 · Granted Oct 16, 2012

Lens driving device

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,289,638
App. No.
12/594,052
Granted
Oct 16, 2012
Kind
B2
Abstract

A lens driving device may include a movable lens body which holds a lens, and a driving mechanism for moving the movable lens body in an optical axis direction. The driving mechanism includes coils attached to the movable lens body, and a magnet opposed to the coils. When a gap between the coils and the magnet is expressed as A, and the width of the coil is expressed as B, a conditional expression of 0.3B≦A≦B is satisfied.

Claims (17)

1. A lens driving device comprising:

a movable body holding lenses;

a driving mechanism for moving said movable body in an optical axis direction;

wherein said driving mechanism has coils attached to said movable body and a magnet opposed to said coils;

in a direction intersecting with said optical axis direction, a gap A between said coils and said magnet and a width B of said coils satisfies the following conditional expression:

0.3B≦A≦B.

2. The lens driving device of claim 1 wherein a thickness of a thinnest portion of said magnet is 0.3 mm or more.

3. The lens driving device of claim 1 wherein, when said lens driving device is in operation, said coils move along the optical axis direction within a range in which magnetic force from said magnet can reach.

4. The lens driving device of claim 1 wherein a magnet fixing portion having an inside circumferential face opposed to an outside circumferential face of said magnet is provided;

said magnet fixing portion has a polygonal cross-section when taken along a direction orthogonally intersecting with the optical axis direction;

said magnet is arranged in plural at corner portions of said inside circumferential face.

5. The lens driving device of claim 4 wherein said movable body is in a cylindrical shape extending in the optical axis direction;

said magnet has an outside circumferential shape which extends along said movable body and has corner portions along four corners of said magnet fixing portion; and

a sum of a thickness of said coils opposing to said extending face of said magnet and a total moving distance of said coils while facing said magnet is smaller than a thickness of said magnet in the optical axis direction.

6. The lens driving device of claim 5 wherein said drive coils are annular coils arranged along a height of said movable body;

said magnet fixing portion is a back yoke whose cross-section orthogonally intersecting with the optical axis direction is rectangular; and a shape of said magnet has an inside circumferential shape which curves along an annular outside circumferential face of said coils and has an outside circumferential shape having corner portions, which are created by dividing said magnet into four to correspond with an inside circumferential portion of said magnet fixing portion, along the four corners of said magnet fixing portion.

7. The lens driving device of claim 4 wherein said magnet fixing portion is formed by a back yoke and held between a base supporting said driving mechanism and a support body formed by a case.

Assignments (4)
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Aug 6, 2024
From: RPX CORPORATION; RPX CLEARINGHOUSE LLC
To: BARINGS FINANCE LLC, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 068328/0674 →
RELEASE OF LIEN ON PATENTS Recorded Aug 5, 2024
From: BARINGS FINANCE LLC
To: RPX CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 068328/0278 →
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded May 1, 2023
From: RPX CORPORATION
To: BARINGS FINANCE LLC, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 063503/0742 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 9, 2010
From: WADA, AKIHITO; TSURUTA, TOSHIFUMI
To: NIDEC SANKYO CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 023917/0342 →