Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60Q—ARRANGEMENT OF SIGNALLING OR LIGHTING DEVICES, THE MOUNTING OR SUPPORTING THEREOF OR CIRCUITS THEREFOR, FOR VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60Q1/00—Arrangement of optical signalling or lighting devices, the mounting or supporting thereof or circuits therefor
  • B60Q1/02—Arrangement of optical signalling or lighting devices, the mounting or supporting thereof or circuits therefor the devices being primarily intended to illuminate the way ahead or to illuminate other areas of way or environments
  • B60Q1/04—Arrangement of optical signalling or lighting devices, the mounting or supporting thereof or circuits therefor the devices being primarily intended to illuminate the way ahead or to illuminate other areas of way or environments the devices being headlights
  • B60Q1/16—Arrangement of optical signalling or lighting devices, the mounting or supporting thereof or circuits therefor the devices being primarily intended to illuminate the way ahead or to illuminate other areas of way or environments the devices being headlights illuminating the way asymmetrically

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a low beam system between a first motor vehicle and at least a second motor vehicle, with a view to improving the night vision of the driver of said second motor vehicle.
• the system comprising a first lighting device on board the first vehicle and a second lighting device on board the second vehicle, each device comprising main lighting means oriented essentially along the longitudinal axis of the corresponding vehicle and emitting in the second vehicle. vision wavelength band of the driver of this vehicle and at least one of the devices comprising lateral additional lighting means.
• Lateral illumination systems are for example known from US Pat. No. 5,067,055, in which the vehicle is provided with side lamps illuminating the sides of the vehicle for persons going up or down.
• Obstacle detection systems (US 2002/0005778) and distance detectors (US 6 038 496) for a motor vehicle comprising one or more infrared emitters and the like are still known.
• infrared receivers for analysis of reflected signals.
• a second disadvantage of the systems according to the aforementioned prior art is that it only indicates a possible position of a vehicle but does not provide any Helps improve the vision of the roadway for another driver.
• the systems of the aforementioned prior art do not provide the driver of the vehicle coming in the opposite direction, indicating for the visualization of the immediately lateral roadway of the vehicle.
• An object of the present invention is therefore to overcome the disadvantages mentioned above.
• a low beam system for at least two motor vehicles comprising a first lighting device of the road to be embedded on a first vehicle and a second lighting device of the road to be embedded on a second vehicle, each of the devices comprising main illumination means of the road arranged to orient the illumination substantially along the longitudinal axis of the vehicle on which it is embarked.
• the first device further comprises additional illumination means directed laterally with respect to the longitudinal axis of said first vehicle emitting in a determined wavelength band
• the second device comprises an electronic vision equipment of the road capable of capturing and to restore an image of said road when it is illuminated in said wavelength band determined by said lateral illumination means of said first device
• the system comprises means for attenuating the glare of said second vehicle when said additional lighting means are activated and / or detected by the second device.
• the electronic vision equipment of the second or second vehicle provides the driver thereof an image representative of the pavement illuminated on the side of the first vehicle to cross.
• the first vehicle that comes in the opposite direction illuminates the side of the roadway through which the second vehicle will cross, this lighting must then be "visible” by the aforementioned electronic vision equipment.
• the attenuation means may be at least partly constituted by means enabling the driver of the first vehicle to switch from manual mode to manual or manual mode in the "code" mode simultaneously or substantially simultaneously with activation. additional lateral lighting.
• the glare attenuation means comprise alone or in combination an active anti-glare filter, so as not to be disturbed in particular by the main illumination of the first vehicle.
• Such a filter is for example of the type described in documents WO 2004/097497 and FR 2 864 740.
• a filter typically consists of a light modulator (LCD, DMD, and more generally any form of optical modulator) placed in the focal plane of an input objective and placed upstream of the electronic vision equipment, said modulator having a masking image attenuating areas of high light intensities, this image being determined by means of a sensor.
• the first and second devices are identical and / or comprise means providing the same functions, thus allowing the two vehicles that intersect to make the same service, thereby greatly improving the safety of driving. by night.
• said additional lighting emits in a band of non-visible wavelength.
• this additional lighting emits in the infrared band.
• said additional lateral lighting is only oriented towards the crossing zone, that is to say the traffic lane of the vehicles coming in the opposite direction.
• Crossing zone is understood to mean the zone of the roadway. taken by the second vehicle arriving in the opposite direction, in the vicinity of the first vehicle to cross, that is to say substantially on the left side of the first vehicle if the traffic is performed on the right.
• the additional lighting means are arranged to illuminate the roadway on the side of the first vehicle but also in front of this vehicle, the side lighting thus being oriented between 40 and 90 degrees with respect to the longitudinal axis.
• the lighting system of the first device further comprises an axial illumination emitting in the same wavelength band as said lateral illumination, corresponding to the wavelength band of determined sensitivity of the electronic vision equipment of said second vehicle.
• an anti-glare filter on the electronic equipment of the second vehicle is provided and then has increased importance since this axial illumination of the first vehicle can become dazzling when the two vehicles are close to each other.
• the side lighting is dedicated to illuminate mainly the side of the first vehicle, this side lighting is then oriented 80 ° ⁇ 10 ° relative to the longitudinal axis, the vehicle is also equipped with a frontal infrared headlight.
• the system comprises an axial infrared (frontal) illumination comprising a flashing light.
• the invention also relates to a lighting system for a motor vehicle comprising a main illumination oriented substantially along the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and emitting in the wavelength of vision bandwidth of the driver of said vehicle, said system comprising lateral additional illumination emitting in a band of non-visible wavelength of sensitivity of equipment electronic vision system equipping at least a second vehicle and a night vision electronic equipment whose sensitivity band corresponds to the emission band of a side illumination equipping said second vehicle, the system being equipped with means for limiting the glare.
• this electronic vision equipment contain an active anti-glare filter so as not to be disturbed by the main lighting of other vehicles.
• said nocturnal electronic vision equipment comprises an infrared camera and a means of representing the image acquired by said camera in the driver's field of vision, for example comprising a LCD-type flat screen or a video surveillance system.
• head-up vision arranged in the driver's visual field without risk of otherwise impeding in his vision of the road, and microprocessor and programming means for processing images known in themselves.
• the glare attenuation means making it possible to optimize the use of this lateral illumination comprise means for coupling the ignition of the additional means constituting the lateral and / or axial lighting, for example comprising infrared headlights. with the ignition of normal dipped beam.
• the extinction of these additional lighting means as infrared lights is coupled to the passage in "lighthouse” or “off” mode of the main illumination in visible light. Indeed, the drivers are led to switch their main lighting in low beam mode when a vehicle comes in the opposite direction.
• the invention also relates to a lighting system for a motor vehicle arranged to be used with the low beam system for at least two motor vehicles as described above.
• It also relates to a vehicle equipped with such a lighting system, and a series of at least two vehicles equipped with a low beam system as described above.
• the invention also relates to a lighting system for a motor vehicle comprising a device comprising main road illumination means arranged to orient the illumination essentially along the longitudinal axis of the vehicle on which it is embarked, means for additional illumination directed laterally with respect to the longitudinal axis of said vehicle emitting in a determined wavelength band, characterized in that said lighting system further comprises an electronic vision equipment of the road capable of capturing and restoring an image of said road when it is illuminated in said determined wavelength band, and in that the system comprises means for attenuating glare by another vehicle crossing it from the front when said lighting means additional are activated and / or detected.
• the vehicle is equipped with an additional lighting system in a non-visible spectrum, said additional lighting being oriented towards the traffic lane of the vehicles coming in the opposite direction and said additional lighting forming a beam whose axis is oriented between 40 and 90 degrees to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle towards the front of the vehicle.
• the lighting provided by this vehicle can then be used by any other vehicle equipped with night vision electronic means to improve the driver's vision.
• said axis of the beam is oriented at 80 degrees ⁇ 10 ° with respect to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle towards the front of the vehicle.
• the invention also relates to a method of lighting the road by crossing at least two motor vehicles, a first vehicle having additional means for lateral illumination of the road in a determined wavelength and a second vehicle comprising electronic vision equipment, capable of capturing and reproducing an image of said road when it is illuminated in said determined wavelength band, said method comprising: a lighting step in the field not visible by the first vehicle a part of the taxiway of the second vehicle, coming in the opposite direction, - an electronic display step, by the driver of said second vehicle, of said taxiway at the height of the first vehicle, by the detection of the lighting visible from the first vehicle, and the display in the visible spectrum of the detected image so that it results in an improvement of e the night vision of a driver of a first vehicle and simultaneously or substantially simultaneously, a step of attenuating the glare of said second vehicle when said additional lighting means are activated and / or detected by the second device.
• FIG. 1 shows a top view of two vehicles traveling in opposite directions equipped with a dipped beam system according to one embodiment of the invention
• FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the embodiment of the dipped-beam system of FIG. 1.
• Figure 1 shows two motor vehicles (1, 10) traveling on a two-lane road, in opposite directions. Each of the two vehicles is traveling on "his" right lane.
• each vehicle is first equipped with means 2 for main lighting, the traditional frontal type, consisting of headlights, codes (low beam) and lanterns emitting visible light for the driver essentially in the axis of the vehicle.
• This main front illumination illuminates the pavement in front of the driver.
• this lighting also illuminates part of the second lane and part of the aisle off the road.
• these headlights are adjustable and controlled to the direction of the vehicle.
• the two vehicles are further equipped with additional lighting means 3 directed laterally with respect to the longitudinal axis of the vehicles facing to the left, for vehicles intended for countries where traffic is performed in the right lane, said lighting means emitting in a determined wavelength band, for example in an infrared wavelength, that is to say included in the electromagnetic spectrum between visible light and microwaves, and in particular advantageously close to visible light.
• the system further includes on each of the vehicles, means for detecting and displaying this additional lighting by the respective conductors, and for attenuating the front light when it is in the headlight mode, which means will now be more particularly described in Figure 2.
• this lateral illumination 3 is for example formed by an infrared headlight of high power 30, for example 200 W, oriented to form a beam whose axis is oriented between 40 and 90 degrees with respect to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, that is to say that the lighting is effective on the side of the vehicle area 31 and on the part of the lateral lane forward in the direction of the vehicle relative to the position of the vehicle ( zone 32).
• This orientation ⁇ will preferably be 80 ° ⁇ 10 ° when the vehicle is also equipped with a frontal infrared headlight 40 for an axial illumination 4.
• Piloting means 5 known per se are then provided for this purpose.
• This side illumination illuminates the road sides, that is to say the left lane for the vehicle 1 and thus the road used by the vehicle 10 and the edge of the roadway, and improves the night vision of the road. driver 11 of the vehicle 10 coming in approach on the opposite lane.
• Each vehicle is equipped with an imaging means 50 making it possible to reconstitute an image in the visible spectrum from the infrared side illumination 3, for example to using an infrared camera 51 of CCD type (charge coupled device) and a display device 52 of known type, the assembly 50 being controlled and controlled by appropriate electronic means and / or arranged and / or programmed in a known manner in itself to perform the necessary functions.
• CCD type charge coupled device
• the vehicles 1, 10 are equipped with a frontal infrared headlight 40 to produce an axial illumination 4, allowing the driver of the vehicle thus equipped to improve the night vision through its night vision equipment 50.
• these infrared headlights 30, 40 is coupled to the ignition of the normal dipped beam headlamps 20 producing the main visible light of the vehicle, the extinction of these infrared headlights 30, 40 being coupled to the passage in "lighthouse” or “extinction” mode the main illumination 2 in visible light, through the control means 5, such coupling means thus forming the means of attenuation of the glare of the driver vis-à-vis.
• these attenuation means can also be formed solely and / or include an active anti-glare filter of the type described.
• the driver of the vehicle 1 driving at night in "lighthouse” mode sees the glow of the lights of a second vehicle 10 arriving in the opposite direction. It then goes into “code” mode through means of engagement that will mitigate the glare of the vehicle opposite.
• the side lighting which projects an infrared beam on the crossing side with the second vehicle which is equipped with a device provided with an electronic vision equipment comprising an anti-glare filter such as for example described in FIGS. WO 2004/097497 and FR 2 864 740.
• the second vehicle does the same, improving this time the vision and safety of the first vehicle. Once crossing each vehicle returns to "flagship mode", side lighting is stopped.
• the 40 illuminating forwards, it can be constituted by a flasher at the appropriate frequency (18 to 24 im / sec).
• the camera 51 stores the image at the instant of illumination until the next flash.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Lighting Device Outwards From Vehicle And Optical Signal (AREA)

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• 2004
  • 2004-11-05 FR FR0452545A patent/FR2877619B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2005
  • 2005-11-07 WO PCT/FR2005/002772 patent/WO2006048559A1/fr not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2005-11-07 US US11/667,016 patent/US20080205072A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2005-11-07 EP EP05815106A patent/EP1812262A1/de not_active Withdrawn

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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