CAMERA WITH HEATING ELEMENT

• US 20150160536A1
• Filed: 12/10/2014
• Published: 06/11/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mekra Lang GmbH & Company KG
• Original Assignee: Manuel Kunz, Michael Hornung, Michael Witzke, Peter Geissendorfer, Stefan Centmayer, Werner Lang
• Inventors: LANG, Werner, WITZKE, Michael, CENTMAYER, Stefan, HORNUNG, Michael, GEISSENDRFER, Peter, KUNZ, Manuel
• Granted Patent: US 9,618,828 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 17/55 with provision for heating or cooling, e.g. in aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/51 Housings
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/52 Elements optimising image sensor operation, e.g. for electromagnetic interference [EMI] protection or temperature control by heat transfer or cooling elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/55 Optical parts specially adapted for electronic image sensors; Mounting thereof

Abstract

A camera for use on vehicles, in particular commercial vehicles. The camera has a housing, at least one optical element disposed within the housing, a group of circuit boards disposed within the housing and including at least one circuit board. The group of circuit boards has at least one active circuit for executing a direct camera function. The camera further comprises at least one heating element adapted for heating the group of circuit boards, the optical elements, and/or the housing, wherein the at least one heating element is directly attached to one of the circuit boards of the group of circuit boards.

Claims

1. A camera for use on vehicles, comprising:

a housing;

at least one optical element disposed within or at the housing;

at least one group of circuit boards disposed within the housing and including at least one circuit board, the at least one group of circuit boards having at least one active circuit for executing a direct camera function;

at least one heating element arranged and adapted to heat the group of circuit boards, the optical element and/or the housing, the at least one heating element being directly attached to one of the circuit boards of the group of circuit boards; and

at least one heat conducting element disposed between the at least one heating element and the housing and adapted to transfer the heat of the heating element and/or the group of circuit boards to the housing.

2. The camera according to claim 1, wherein at least one active circuit is a digital image capturing unit.

3. The camera according to claim 2, wherein the digital image capturing unit and the at least one heating element are provided together on one of the circuit boards of the group of circuit boards.

4. The camera according to claim 1, wherein at least one active circuit is adapted to transfer video data to a display unit.

5. The camera according to claim 1, wherein at least one active circuit is adapted to process video data.

6. The camera according to claim 1, wherein at least one active circuit is an electrical power source.

7. The camera according to claim 1, wherein at least one heating element is mounted to a side of a circuit board of the group of circuit boards, which side is facing away from the optical element.

8. The camera according to claim 1, wherein at least one heating element is mounted to a side of a circuit board of the group of circuit boards, which side is facing the optical element.

9. The camera according to claim 1, wherein at least one heat conducting element is directly disposed between a circuit board of the group of circuit boards and the housing.

10. The camera according to claim 1, wherein at least one heat conducting element is directly disposed between at least one heating element and the housing.

11. The camera according to claim 1, wherein the at least one heat conducting element is a heat conductive adhesive, a thermal paste and/or a heat conducting pad.

12. The camera according to claim 1, wherein at least one heating element is directly attached to a circuit board of the group of circuit boards by means of a resistor layer.

13. The camera according to claim 1, further comprising:

a temperature sensor disposed within the housing and configured to detect a temperature within the housing; and

a control unit for controlling the at least one heating element in relation to the temperature detected by the temperature sensor.

14. The camera according to claim 1, wherein the at least one heating element is a heating element dependent on the temperature within the housing, whose heating performance is dependent on the temperature within the housing.