Auxiliary module use relaying component and auxiliary module

Details Auxiliary module use relaying component and auxiliary module Auxiliary module use relaying component and auxiliary module

2002-03-04

2004-03-23

Gray, David M. (Department: 2851)

Photography

With power supply detail

C396S427000, C396S542000, C361S785000, C174S050510

Reexamination Certificate

active

06711354

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to an auxiliary module for attachably and detachably connecting a casing, provided with an auxiliary like an onboard CCD camera and with a baseplate, with mating parts like wires by using connectors and to a relaying component used in the auxiliary module, wherein a catch of the wires is prevented when the auxiliary module is assembled.
2. Description of the Related Art
Based on FIG.
10
-
FIG. 13
, a prior art camera module Z is described.
FIG. 10
is an enlarged view of a part of a wiring harness
4
having a clamp
50
with an O-ring
51
. The wiring harness is generally formed by binding wires and attachin connectors thereto so that the wires and connectors can be easily assembled to a motor vehicle in its assembly line.
The O-ring
51
shown in
FIG. 10
is provided to the clamp
50
so as to keep airtightness in the camera casing
3
. The clamp
50
has a threaded portion
50
a
to securely fix itself to the camera casing
3
, a hexagon head portion
50
b
, and a flange portion
50
c
to push the O-ring
51
to seal.
And, a passing-through hole
50
d
to let wires or cables
4
a
,
4
a
′ pass therethrough is provided inside the clamp
50
. As shown in
FIG. 10
, terminals TL
1
are attached to the wires
4
a
,
4
a
′. Each terminal TL
1
is accommodated in a connector housing. Like this, a connector CR
1
is formed at the end of the wiring harness
4
as shown in FIG.
11
. The connector housing holds the terminals properly in accommodating chambers. The connector has the connector housing, terminals, and wires.
The clamp
50
shown in
FIG. 10
is potting-processed after the wires
4
a
,
4
a
′ are inserted therein. The potting processing PG is easily described as a processing of sealing a portion by pouring soft rubber like epoxy polymer.
By the potting processing PG, the wires
4
a
,
4
a
′ can be completely sealed up, and therefore an immersion of water and dust into the camera
1
and the camera casing
3
can be prevented.
FIGS.
11
,
12
are perspective views of a prior art camera module Y,Z with an onboard CCD camera
1
. The camera module Y mainly consists of the camera
1
, such as a onboard CCD camera
1
, and a baseplate
2
provided with the camera
1
. And, the camera module Z has the camera module Y, a camera casing
3
to which the camera module Y is attached, and the wiring harness
4
having the wires
4
a
,
4
a′.
FIG. 13
is a partial sectional view, taken along a line R—R in FIG.
11
and
FIG. 12
, of the camera casing
3
, while showing another parts to which a wiring harness
4
is connected.
CCD (Charge Coupled Device) converts signals, taken in as light of image, into electrical signals, and has a large number of pixels. CCD is adopted to the digital camera, facsimile, scanner, duplicator machine, and the like.
The prior art camera module Z shown in FIG.
11
-
FIG. 13
is described in detail. Referring to FIGS.
11
,
12
, the camera
1
mainly consists of a lens
1
a
and a lens rim portion
1
b
fixing the lens
1
a
. Next, the baseplate
2
to which the camera
1
is attached is mainly formed with a baseplate body
2
′, on which, for example, connectors to carry out electric connection are mounted.
A connector CR
2
is provided on the baseplate
2
of the camera module Y. The connector housing of the connector CR
2
is soldered, or screwed, to the baseplate body
2
′. Four attaching holes
2
b
for fixing the baseplate
2
by screws SC
1
to the camera casing
3
are provided on the baseplate body
2
′.
The camera casing
3
made by aluminum-die-casting is surrounded by four sidewalls
3
d
,
3
d
′ and a bottom wall
3
c
, thereby forming an accommodating chamber
3
e
. And, a cylindrical projection
3
h
to fix the clamp
50
is provided on the sidewall
3
d
′. Four screw fixing bodies each having an internal-thread hole
3
b
to fix the baseplate
2
having the camera
1
are provided in the accommodating chamber
3
e
of the camera casing
3
.
Referring to
FIG. 13
, a through-hole
3
f
to put the wiring harness
4
therethrough is provided on the sidewall
3
d
′ of the camera casing
3
. And, an internal-thread to be screwed with the threaded portion
50
a
of the clamp
50
is provided on an inner surface of the through-hole
3
f
. The clamp
50
shown in
FIG. 10
is attached to the through-hole
3
f
provided on the sidewall
3
d
′ of the camera casing
3
.
As shown in
FIG. 13
, a non-waterproof connector CR
3
equipped in a vehicle V is electrically connected to the camera casing
3
by the wiring harness
4
. And, a drain wire
4
a
′ of the wiring harness
4
is provided with a terminal TL
2
, which terminal TL
2
is attached to a frame of a vehicle body B by a screw SC
2
, thereby functioning as the ground line.
And, referring to FIG.
11
and
FIG. 12
, the connector CR
1
connected to the wires
4
a
,
4
a
′ is coupled to the connector CR
2
equipped on the baseplate
2
, thereby making an electric connection therebetween. A grommet (not shown) is provided on some portions of the wiring harness
4
for the purpose of the waterproofing or dustproofing.
An assembly method of the camera module Z having the onboard CCD camera
1
of the prior art is described hereinafter. First, the clamp
50
with the O-ring
51
is attached to the wiring harness
4
shown in FIG.
13
. Next, the wiring harness
4
with the wires
4
a
,
4
a
′ is inserted in the passing-through hole
50
d
of the clamp
50
. And, the clamp
50
is fixed to the wiring harness
4
provisionally.
A tube
4
d
of the wiring harness
4
inside the camera casing
3
has been cut off, and the terminal TL
1
is attached to each end of the wires
4
a
,
4
a
′. The connector CR
1
shown in
FIG. 11
is formed by accommodating terminals TL
1
in its housing.
In order to improve the sealability between the wiring harness
4
and the clamp
50
, resin or rubber is filled into the passing-through hole
50
d
of the clamp
50
shown in
FIG. 10
, that is, the potting processing PG is carried out.
Next, as shown in
FIG. 13
, the above clamp
50
with the wires
4
a
,
4
a
′ is attached to the through-hole
3
f
of the camera casing
3
. And, the threaded portion
50
a
of the clamp
50
is screwed to the through-hole
3
f
of the camera casing
3
, and the clamp
50
is fixed to the camera casing
3
. By the O-ring
51
and the potting processing PG, sealability or airtightness of the camera casing
3
is attained.
And, the baseplate
2
with the camera
1
, i.e. the camera module Y, is attached to the camera casing
3
as follows. Referring to FIG.
11
and
FIG. 12
, the connector CR
1
of the wiring harness
4
is connected to the connector CR
2
provided on the baseplate body
2
′.
The camera module Y is put on the camera casing
3
, and the screws SC
1
are screwed in the internal-thread holes
3
b
provided on the four corners of the camera casing
3
. Thus, the camera module Z is assembled.
Rlated arts are disclosed in Utility Model Registration Application Laid-open No. 47-33986 and Utility Model Registration Application Laid-open No. 64-29790.
With respect to the above prior art camera module Z shown in FIG.
11
and
FIG. 12
, however, the work to put the wires
4
a
,
4
a
′ through the through-hole
3
f
of the camera casing
3
(
FIG. 13
) is required.
And, in order to enhance the sealability of the through-hole
3
f
of the camera casing
3
, the clamp
50
attached to the wiring harness
4
has to be tightened to the threaded portion provided indise the through-hole of the camera casing
3
.
Further, the connector CR
1
has to be coupled to the connector CR
2
. Therefore, the above work has to be carried out by hand, which requires much time and costs and therefore deteriorates the productivity.
And also, the wires
4
a
,
4
a
′ are likely to be caught between the camera module Y and the camera casing
3
as shown in FIG.
12
. Accordingly, the wire
4
a
and the drain wire

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