Development of compact auto focus actuator for camera phone by applying new electromagnetic configuration

In this paper, auto focus actuator, which is used to move a lens module in the mobile phone having a camera module, is developed. Camera module containing auto focus actuator requires to minimize total size because of characteristics of the application area such as mobile phone, digital camera, and personal digital assistant. There are stepping motor, voice coil motor, and piezoelectric motor as auto focus actuator. In this paper, voice coil motor having new electromagnetic configuration is proposed. And actuator using proposed voice coil motor is developed by optimal design method using magnetic circuit analysis. The sectional area of the developed actuator is reduced to 32.4% compared with actuator using general electromagnetic configuration. From the performance test, the developed actuator has moving stroke of 0.64 mm for 2.1 volt, hysteresis of 40 μm, full stroke current of 54 mA, and unit step motion of 3 μm.