JP2001146132A - Headlight for automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To continuously drive an automobile to a place for repair while securing the safe lighting in the case where disconnection is generated in a light source of the low beam of a headlight for vehicle. SOLUTION: In the case where disconnection is generated in a light source of the low beam, the reduced voltage is supplied to a light source of the high beam of the disconnected side as a replacement for the low beam in an emergency.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is intended to eliminate inconvenience and unsafety when a headlight for an automobile runs out of light.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the recent improvement in the reliability of automobiles, the service life of headlights is considerably shorter than the service life of vehicles, which is a major factor that impairs the reliability of vehicles. In addition, the use of automobiles in areas and time zones that cannot be covered by trains or on foot due to motorization causes a great deal of annoyance due to sudden turning off of the headlights. In addition, the ball breaking often depends on the inrush current at the time of lighting, so it is easy to occur at the time of cold start, so it is easy to occur when trying to return home with a car parked outdoors for a long time in the cold rainy or snowy night. It is.
In addition, recent high-intensity light bulbs have a glass that breaks when turned on even if they have fingerprints, making it virtually impossible to replace them outdoors in bad weather. Therefore, he was forced to perform one-eyed driving and high-beam driving on general roads, knowing that this was a dangerous act violating the law.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and is intended to ensure that when a low-beam light source is disconnected, safe operation can be ensured and operation can be continued to a repairable point. It is.

[0004]

According to the present invention, when a driver selects a low beam and one of the left and right low beam light sources is disconnected, a reduced voltage is applied to the high beam light source on that side as an emergency measure. By supplying the gas to substitute for the low beam, it is possible to continue the operation to a point where repair is possible while ensuring safety.

Further, even in such a state, when the driver selects the high beam, the operation of the high beam is not prevented.

Although the above emergency measures can be carried out by using a manual changeover switch provided in the driver's seat, the method is sufficiently practical, but automatic changeover may be performed in some cases.

[0007] The driver may immediately notice the broken ball on a dark road, but may not notice it on a bright city area. The headlights of cars also serve as beacon lights that indicate the presence and width of the car in the surrounding cars. In some cases, the automatic switching is performed.

[0008] The degree of dimming due to the decompression is required to maintain the same level of dazzling of the surrounding cars as the low beam, and to secure the lighting capability of the own vehicle at the same level as the low beam, and to maintain legal performance as a low beam. Therefore, the voltage is adjusted manually or automatically according to the running conditions.

In the case where the above voltage adjustment is performed automatically,
As the vehicle speed increases, the voltage is increased in accordance with a look-up table set in advance to approach the normal high beam voltage. In the case of bad weather such as heavy rain, snowstorm, fog, etc., the table may be manually corrected or automatically switched to the corresponding table. Further, the presence of a preceding vehicle or an oncoming vehicle or the distance between vehicles may be measured using a laser radar or the like, and a priority interrupt may be applied to the table to lower the voltage to a value that does not disturb the surrounding vehicles and reduce the illuminance. In addition, if the priority interrupt interrupts the need to reduce the traveling speed due to insufficient illuminance, a warning light or buzzer will be displayed on the instrument panel, the speed to be reduced will be displayed, and the cruise control or speed limiter will automatically be used. In some cases, the speed may be reduced. In the case of manual operation, an adjustment knob may be provided on the instrument panel, and a nameplate indicating each of the above-mentioned condition positions may be provided.

Means for lowering the optical axis of the high beam by mechanical means other than the means of the present invention are known. However, the weight and cost are increased more than necessary, and it takes time to switch to a normal high beam. It is difficult to make the same as the low beam up to the light distribution characteristics to the side, etc., and it is not realistic because it is difficult to provide each of the above-mentioned condition positions and to correspond to those positions at a high speed.

[0011]

The vehicle headlamp constructed as described above can continue its operation to a point where repair is possible while ensuring safe illumination when the low beam light source is broken.

[0012]

Embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the device of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes a main switch of an automobile, and the left side is connected to a battery power source (not shown). 2 is a headlight changeover switch, 2a is a light-off position, 2b is a low beam light-on position, 2c
Is a high beam lighting position. 3 is an output voltage variable type constant voltage IC, 4 is an input terminal, 5 is an output terminal, 6 is a ground terminal, 7 is a control terminal, the input voltage is divided by a variable resistor 8 and applied to 7, The corresponding voltage is output to 5. Since 3 is a chopper type, capacitors 9 and 10 are inserted on the input and output sides.

When the power switch 1 is turned on and the headlight changeover switch 2 is manually operated to the position of the low beam 2a, the low beam headlight 1 is connected via the circuit 11.
2 is energized and turned on. If the wire 12a is disconnected, the emergency switch 13 is turned on by manual operation, and the variable resistor 8 is adjusted to an appropriate position. Via the high beam line 15 via a high beam headlight 16
Is turned on under reduced pressure. At this time, the switch 2 is set to the high beam 2c.
, The high beam headlight 16 is turned on at the regular voltage.

Since there is one set of headlights 12 and 16 on the left and right, three or less circuits are also independently supported.

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment in which the emergency switch 13 shown in FIG. 1 is changed from a manual type to an automatic type. It is to prevent. In FIG. 2, when the switch 2 is selected to the position of the low beam 2b and a normal lighting current flows through the circuit 11, a minute potential is generated between 11a and 11b. The OP amplifier 17 is set so that the contact 19 of the relay 18 is closed when the above-mentioned electric potential does not exist. Therefore, only when the low beam headlight is disconnected, 19 is closed, and the indicator light 20 in the driver's seat is turned on. The high beam 16 is turned on according to the same circuit as in FIG. Reference numeral 21 denotes a level shift circuit for preventing the 0P amplifier from overflowing and malfunctioning due to noise when the electromagnetic clutch or the like of the air conditioner is turned on and off, and reference numeral 22 denotes a delay circuit for preventing chattering of the relay 18 due to the same reason.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment. The output voltage V1 of the OP amplifier 17 is input to the microcomputer 23. Therefore, when the low beam is not lit, V1 becomes H. On the other hand, when the main switch 1 is ON and 2 is OFF, the output of 1 is transmitted through the resistor 24 which is sufficiently higher than the low beam ball 12 to 11c.
, The output V2 of the inverter 25 becomes H, and the output V3 of the inverter 26 becomes H. Next, when the switch 2 is in the low beam position 2b, V3 changes from H to L, so that the microcomputer 23 determines that the low beam switch is turned on and supplies the control voltage to the input terminal 7 of the control voltage of the variable output voltage constant voltage IC3. Accordingly, the voltage applied to the low-beam sphere via the output terminal 5, the diode 14, and the contact 19a gradually increases accordingly. By doing so, the rush current during lighting is prevented, and the life of the low beam ball is extended. The rise time for this is about one second. Then, the microcomputer 23 energizes the relay coil 27 to turn on the contact 28, and directly connects the voltage of the contact 2b to the low beam ball 12. At this time, the relationship between the presence / absence of the low-beam lighting operation and the low-beam running out is as shown in FIG. 4. A warning is issued by the indicator lamp 20, a buzzer (not shown), or the like. Further, at the time of lighting, the relay 39 is energized, the contact 19 is switched to 19b, and the high beam ball 16 is turned on. At this time, a necessary control voltage is applied to the terminal 7.

Reference numeral 29 denotes a scanning laser radar for measuring the distance between the preceding vehicle and the oncoming vehicle, and reference numeral 30 denotes a pulsar for measuring the traveling speed of the own vehicle. FIG. Stored as a table or formula. The horizontal axis 31 in FIG. 5 is the speed, the left end is the stopped state, and the right end is the legal maximum speed. The vertical axis 32 is the microcomputer 2
3 is a control voltage sent to the control terminal 7 of the IC 3. The lower end minimizes the output voltage 5 of the IC 3, and the upper end 33 maximizes the output voltage. When there is no preceding vehicle or oncoming vehicle or the vehicle is far enough, the relationship between the traveling speed and the control voltage is as shown in 34, but if a vehicle is detected ahead, the line is lowered as in 35 and the inter-vehicle distance is further reduced. If it becomes, it will fall like 36 and 37. If the traveling speed rises on the line 37 and reaches 37a, the speed at that point is the upper limit of the speed at which the vehicle can travel safely at the inter-vehicle distance. Therefore, the microcomputer 23 transmits the danger zone 38 via a speed limiter or the like (not shown). To prevent or warn you from entering. In general, this danger zone is intended for the braking ability at the time of an emergency stop, but the prohibited zone shown at 38 is also assumed to take into account the lighting ability within a range that does not dazzle the front vehicle of the high beam for the emergency measures.

[0018]

As described above, the present invention is constructed as described above, so that when the low beam light source is disconnected, the operation can be continued to a repairable point while securing safe illumination.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration of another embodiment.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration of another embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing logic for detecting a broken ball of the microcomputer 23 in the embodiment of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the voltage control method of the embodiment of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Main switch of a vehicle, 2 ... Headlight changeover switch 2b ... Low beam position, 2c ... High beam position, 3 ... Variable output voltage constant voltage IC, 4
... input terminal, 5 ... output terminal, 7 ...
Control terminal, 8: Variable resistor, 12: Low beam sphere, 16: High beam sphere, 17:
OP amplifier, 20 ... pilot lamp, 2
3 ... microcomputer

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A light source comprising a high beam and a low beam having an optical axis directed downward at the left and right sides of the front of the vehicle body. When the driver selects the low beam, one of the left and right low beam light sources is disconnected. In that case, the reduced voltage is supplied to the high beam light source on that side to serve as a substitute for the low beam, and even in such a situation, if the driver selects the high beam, the operation of the high beam will not be hindered. An automotive headlamp characterized by the following.