JP2010154428A - Imaging apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Along with an increase in the amount of heat generated inside an image pickup apparatus, there is a problem in that sufficient heat radiation cannot be performed, causing failure of electronic components and performance deterioration.
A video camera includes a main body having a heat radiating port, a blower unit that blows air to exhaust heat from the heat radiating port, and a body that is openable and closable in a closed state. When the display unit 101 is in the open state, the display unit 101 and the blower unit 102 that are arranged in this way are controlled to be driven with the first drive voltage, and when the display unit 101 is in the closed state, the first unit And a control unit that controls to drive with a second drive voltage higher than the drive voltage.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an imaging device, and more particularly to heat dissipation of heat generated inside the imaging device.

  In an imaging device such as a video camera, the heat generated inside the imaging device tends to increase with the increase in the number of pixels of an imaging device such as a CCD image sensor or a CMOS image sensor and the adoption of a high compression efficiency encoding method such as H264. It is in.

As a structure for dissipating heat inside the imaging apparatus, Patent Document 1 includes a main body 100 and a member 102 that is movable between a position housed in the main body and a position where the main body is used. Disclosed is a video camera in which at least one opening 110 is provided at an opposite position of the main body to be stored, and the opening is concealed when the member is stored, and heat is dissipated through the opening when the member is opened. Has been.
JP 2000-152048 A

  However, with the increase in the amount of heat generated inside the image pickup apparatus, there is a problem that sufficient heat radiation cannot be performed only with the opening, resulting in failure of electronic components and performance deterioration.

  The imaging device of the present invention solves the above-described problem, and an object thereof is to provide an imaging device with improved heat dissipation effect.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, an imaging apparatus according to the present invention includes a main body having a heat radiating port, a blower unit that blows air to discharge heat from the heat radiating port, and is openable and closable with respect to the main body. The display part arrange | positioned so that the said thermal radiation port may be covered, and the control part which changes the ventilation volume of the said ventilation part according to the opening / closing state of the said display part.

  According to the above configuration, the present invention can improve the heat dissipation effect by controlling the air blowing unit according to the open / close state of the display unit.

Hereinafter, an embodiment in which an imaging apparatus of the present invention is applied to a video camera will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
(Embodiment 1)
(1. Configuration)
(1-1. Configuration of Imaging Device)
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the internal structure of the video camera 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The video camera 10 includes a main body 110 and an LCD display unit 101. The main body 110 includes an optical system 106 including a photographing lens, an image sensor 103 that captures a subject image formed by the optical system 106, and signal processing that performs various types of image processing on image data generated by the image sensor 103. A substrate 104.

  The optical system 106 includes an objective lens, a zoom lens, an aperture, an OIS (Optical Image Stabilizer) unit, a focus lens, and the like. The optical system 106 condenses light from the subject and forms a subject image.

  The image sensor 103 captures a subject image formed by the optical system 106 and generates image data. The image sensor 103 is a CMOS image sensor or a CCD image sensor.

  The image compression processing performed on the signal processing board 104 is, for example, H.264. The image data is compressed by a compression format compliant with H.264 or MPEG-2 standards. However, the present invention relates to MPEG-2 or H.264. The image data is not limited to H.264 format.

  The main body 110 includes a microphone unit 107. The audio data collected by the microphone unit 107 is subjected to various types of audio processing by the signal processing board 104. The audio compression processing performed by the signal processing board 104 compresses audio data in a compression format compliant with, for example, MP3, AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), or the like. However, the present invention is not limited to audio data in MP3 or AAC format.

  The signal processing board 104 performs system encoding processing on the image data subjected to the image processing and the sound data subjected to the sound processing, and stores them in a recording medium such as a memory card. The signal processing board 104 includes a controller that controls the entire video camera 10. The controller may be configured only by hardware, or may be realized by combining hardware and software. The controller can be realized by a microcomputer.

  The LCD display unit 101 is held by the video camera 10 so as to be freely opened and closed by a hinge. The hinge includes an open / close sensor that detects an open / closed state of the LCD display unit 101. The controller is notified of the open / closed state of the LCD display unit 101 detected by the open / close sensor. In the first embodiment, the open / close sensor is used to detect the open / closed state of the LCD display unit 101. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and any method can be used as long as the open / closed state of the LCD display unit 101 can be detected. There may be. The LCD display unit 101 can display image data being captured and image data stored in a memory card or the like. In addition, the LCD display unit 101 can display various setting information of the video camera 10, shooting time, and the like. The video camera 10 may include an electronic viewfinder in addition to the LCD display unit 101.

  The main body 110 includes a cooling fan 102 in order to dissipate heat generated by the image sensor 103 and the signal processing board 104. The cooling fan 102 rotates to take in external air, circulates the air taken into the image sensor 103 and the like, and takes heat generated in the image sensor 103 and cools it. By changing the drive voltage for driving the cooling fan 102, the video camera 10 can change the heat dissipation performance of the cooling fan 102. The cooling fan 102 increases the rotational voltage and increases the heat dissipation performance by increasing the drive voltage, while the noise generated by the rotation increases. The cooling fan 102 reduces the rotational speed and lowers the heat dissipation performance by lowering the drive voltage, while the noise generated by the rotation is reduced.

  2 and 3 show vertical sectional views of the main body 110. In FIG. 2, the main body 110 includes an optical system 106, an image sensor 103 disposed behind the optical system 106, and a signal processing board 104 disposed below the optical system 106 and the image sensor 103. In FIG. 3, by providing the cooling fan 102 on the side surface of the image sensor 103, the cooling fan 102 can cool the image sensor 103 and suppress the temperature rise of the image sensor 103. The cooling fan 102 is disposed on the signal processing board 104 and can cool the signal processing board 104.

  FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the video camera 10. The main body 110 includes a fan opening 105 at a position covered by the LCD display unit 101 when the LCD display unit 101 is closed. A cooling fan 102 is disposed inside the fan opening 105. The cooling fan 102 takes in external air from the fan opening 105.

As shown in FIG. 4, the main body 110 includes an operation unit 108. The operation unit 108 is a component that collectively refers to various operation means, and includes a button, a cross key, and the like. The user operates the operation unit 108 to turn on / off the power, a shooting mode in which image data being captured by the optical system 106 is displayed on the LCD display unit 101, and the image data recorded on the recording medium are displayed on the LCD. Switching to a playback mode to be displayed on the display unit 101 or the like is performed. The operation unit 108 receives a user instruction and transmits the instruction to the controller.
(1-2. Correspondence with Configuration of the Present Invention)
The main body 110 is an example of the main body of the present invention. The cooling fan 102 is an example of a blower unit of the present invention. The LCD display unit 101 is an example of the display unit of the present invention. The controller is an example of a control unit of the present invention. The microphone unit 107 is an example of a sound collection unit of the present invention. The operation unit 108 is an example of the operation unit of the present invention.
(2. Operation)
The operation of the heat dissipation control of the apparatus main body in the video camera 10 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 5 and the diagram showing the time change of the driving voltage of the cooling fan 102 shown in FIG.

  In the video camera 10, when the user operates the power button of the operation unit 108 to execute power-on (Yes in S 501), the controller of the video camera 10 detects the operation and activates the video camera 10.

  When the controller detects that the power is on, it drives the driving voltage of the cooling fan 102 at V4, which is the highest driving voltage for a predetermined time (S502). This is because immediately after the cooling fan 102 starts to be driven, a higher driving voltage is required to start the rotation from a stationary state. In this way, by driving the cooling fan 102 with a high driving voltage immediately after the start of driving, the rotation of the cooling fan 102 is hindered by dust or the like, and the rotation of the cooling fan 102 cannot be started. Occurrence of a situation that cannot be cooled can be prevented.

  Next, the controller detects whether the camera mode of the video camera 10 is set to the shooting mode or the playback mode (S503). The user uses the operation unit 108 to set the shooting mode or the playback mode. When the shooting mode is set, the controller detects the open / closed state of the LCD display unit 101. When the playback mode is set, the controller sets the driving voltage of the cooling fan 102 to V3, which is the lowest driving voltage. (S507).

  In the reproduction mode, the image data on the recording medium is displayed on the LCD display unit 101 or the electronic viewfinder, and the image data from the image sensor 103 is not displayed. Therefore, from the viewpoint of power consumption, control is performed so that the image sensor 103 is not operated, and heat generation from the image sensor 103 is reduced as compared with the photographing mode. Therefore, even if the driving voltage of the cooling fan 102 is low, sufficient This is because heat dissipation performance can be obtained.

  When the camera mode is the photographing mode, the controller detects the open / closed state of the LCD display unit 101 from the hinge open / close sensor of the LCD display unit 101 (S504). The controller sets the driving voltage of the cooling fan 102 to V1 when the LCD display unit 101 is open, and sets the driving voltage of the cooling fan 102 to V2 higher than V1 when the LCD display unit 101 is closed. Here, the relationship between the drive voltages to be set is such that V3 <V1 <V2 <V4 as shown in FIG.

  As described above, when the LCD display unit 101 is opened as shown in FIG. 4, the fan opening 105 is in direct contact with the outside air, the air inflow from the fan opening 105 is increased, and the video camera 10 is The amount of heat dissipation through the fan opening 105 can be increased by the rotation of the cooling fan 102, and sufficient heat dissipation performance can be obtained without increasing the driving voltage of the cooling fan 102. When the LCD display unit 101 is closed, the fan opening 105 is blocked by the LCD display unit 101, and the air inflow from the fan opening 105 is reduced. Therefore, the video camera 10 drives the cooling fan 102. If the voltage is not increased, sufficient heat dissipation performance cannot be obtained. Therefore, the video camera 10 obtains necessary heat dissipation performance by increasing the drive voltage.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a change in the driving voltage of the cooling fan 102 in accordance with a user operation. When the user turns on the power, the controller controls the driving voltage of the cooling fan 102 so as to be the highest V4 for a predetermined time. Thereafter, in a state where the user closes the LCD display unit 101 and takes an image using the electronic viewfinder, the controller controls the driving voltage of the cooling fan 102 to be V2. When the LCD display unit 101 is opened while the user is photographing, the controller controls the driving voltage of the cooling fan 102 to be V1. When the user closes the LCD display unit 101 again and takes an image using the electronic viewfinder, the controller controls the driving voltage of the cooling fan 102 to be V2. In order for the user to stop shooting and check the recorded image data, the controller controls the driving voltage of the cooling fan 102 to be the lowest V3 by switching from the shooting mode to the playback mode using the operation unit 108. To do. When the user turns off the power, the controller sets the driving voltage of the cooling fan 102 to zero.

  When photographing and recording using the video camera 10, the video camera 10 simultaneously records ambient sounds with the microphone unit 107. The sound that the user wants to record is the sound emitted by the subject to be photographed, and the sound emitted by the video camera 10 main body is noise and must be excluded from the sound to be recorded as much as possible.

  In the video camera 10, when the LCD display unit 101 is closed, noise caused by the cooling fan 102 leaking from the fan opening 105 is blocked by the LCD display unit 101. Even if the noise level by the fan 102 increases, the noise of the cooling fan 102 recorded by the microphone unit 107 can be suppressed. On the other hand, in the video camera 10, when the LCD display unit 101 is open, the noise of the cooling fan 102 is likely to leak out from the fan opening 105, but by setting the driving voltage of the cooling fan 102 lower, It can be avoided that the noise level itself due to 102 decreases and noise leaks.

  As described above, by controlling the driving voltage of the cooling fan 102 in accordance with the open / closed state of the LCD display unit 101, noise caused by the cooling fan 102 recorded in the microphone can be suppressed.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can improve heat dissipation performance in an imaging apparatus and can be applied to imaging of a video camera, a still camera, etc., and is useful.

The perspective view which shows the internal structure of the imaging device in one embodiment of this invention 1 is a vertical sectional view of an imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Another vertical sectional view of an imaging device in one embodiment of the present invention The perspective view which shows the external appearance of the imaging device in one embodiment of this invention The flowchart showing the thermal radiation control of the imaging device in one embodiment of this invention The figure showing the time change of the fan drive voltage in one embodiment of this invention

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Video camera 101 LCD display part 102 Cooling fan 103 Image pick-up element 104 Signal processing board 105 Fan opening part 106 Optical system 107 Microphone part 108 Operation part 110 Main body

Claims (5)

A main body having a heat radiation port;
An air blower for blowing air to discharge heat from the heat radiation port;
The display unit is openable and closable with respect to the main body, and is arranged so as to cover the heat radiation port in the closed state,
A control unit that changes the air volume of the air blowing unit according to the open / closed state of the display unit;
An imaging apparatus comprising: The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a sound collection unit that collects ambient sounds. The controller is
The blower unit is controlled to be driven with a first drive voltage when the display unit is in an open state, and a second drive voltage that is higher than the first drive voltage when the display unit is in a closed state. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the imaging apparatus is controlled so as to be driven. An operation unit for receiving an operation including switching to a reproduction mode for reproducing image data on a recording medium;
The controller is
4. The air blower is controlled to be driven with a third drive voltage lower than the first drive voltage when the operation unit is switched to the reproduction mode. 5. Imaging device. The controller is
5. The control unit according to claim 1, wherein when the operation unit receives a power-on operation, the blower unit is controlled to be driven at a fourth drive voltage higher than the second drive voltage for a predetermined time. Imaging device.

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