Vehicular camera and lens assembly and method of manufacturing same

A method of assembling a vehicular camera, said method comprising:

• providing a lens assembly comprising a base portion, a lens barrel and a plurality of optical elements in said lens barrel, wherein said base portion comprises part of a camera body portion of said vehicular camera;
• providing a circuit element comprising a circuit board and an imaging array established at said circuit board;
• dispensing at least one adhesive bead at one of (i) said base portion of said lens assembly and (ii) said circuit element;
• providing a multi-axis robotic device that is operable to (i) translationally move a grasping portion of said robotic device along an x-axis, a y-axis and a z-axis and (ii) rotationally move said grasping portion about two orthogonal axes;
• placing said circuit element at said base portion of said lens assembly via said robotic device so that said at least one adhesive bead is between said circuit element and said base portion;
• aligning said lens assembly with said imaging array and aligning said circuit element with said camera body portion via said robotic device when said circuit element is placed at said base portion and in contact with said at least one adhesive bead;
• wherein aligning said lens assembly with said imaging array comprises aligning said lens assembly with said imaging array and aligning said circuit element with said camera body portion via (i) translationally moving said circuit element relative to said lens assembly along x, y and z axes and (ii) rotationally moving said circuit element relative to said lens assembly about two orthogonal axes;
• when said imaging array and said lens assembly are aligned, at least partially curing said at least one adhesive bead;
• and
• attaching a housing portion at said base portion of said lens assembly to encase said circuit element and substantially sealing said housing portion and said base portion together.

A method of assembling a vehicular camera, said method comprising:

• providing a lens assembly comprising a base portion, a lens barrel and a plurality of optical elements in said lens barrel, wherein said base portion comprises part of a camera body portion of said vehicular camera;
• providing a circuit element comprising a circuit board and an imaging array established at said circuit board;
• dispensing at least one adhesive bead at one of (i) said base portion of said lens assembly and (ii) said circuit element;
• and wherein dispensing at least one adhesive bead comprises dispensing at least four spaced apart adhesive dots at one of (i) said base portion of said lens assembly and (ii) said circuit element;
• providing a six axis robotic device that is operable to (i) translationally move a grasping portion of said robotic device along an x-axis, a y-axis and a z-axis and (ii) rotationally move said grasping portion about said x-axis, said y-axis and said z-axis;
• placing said circuit element at said base portion of said lens assembly via said robotic device so that said at least one adhesive bead is between said circuit element and said base portion;
• aligning said lens assembly with said imaging array and aligning said circuit element with said camera body portion via said robotic device when said circuit element is placed at said base portion and in contact with said at least one adhesive bead;
• wherein aligning said lens assembly with said imaging array comprises aligning said lens assembly with said imaging array and aligning said circuit element with said camera body portion via (i) translationally moving one of said circuit element and said lens assembly relative to the other of said circuit element and said lens assembly along x, y and z axes and (ii) rotationally moving one of said circuit element and said lens assembly relative to the other of said circuit element and said lens assembly about pitch, yaw and roll axes;
• at least partially curing said at least one adhesive bead after aligning said lens assembly with said imaging array to bring said optical elements of said lens assembly in focus and optically center-aligned with said imaging array;
• attaching a housing portion at said base portion of said lens assembly to encase said circuit element and substantially sealing said housing portion and said base portion together;
• and
• wherein said housing portion comprises an electrical connector configured to electrically connect to a wiring harness of a vehicle when said camera is mounted at the vehicle, and wherein attaching said housing portion to said base portion includes electrically connecting said electrical connector to circuitry of said circuit element.