JP2013026119A - Vehicle lamp - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle lamp having a high light use efficiency and capable of forming various light distribution patterns.SOLUTION: The vehicle lamp is provided with projection lenses 10, 110 arranged on an optical axis Ax extending in the back and forth direction of the lamp, a light-emitting element 20 which is arranged in the vicinity of a rear focal point of the projection lenses 10, 110 and emits at least a part of emission light directly toward the projection lenses 10, 110, and first reflection faces 30, 130 and second reflection faces 40, 140. The first reflection faces 30, 130 reflect the emission light from the light-emitting element 20 toward the second reflection faces 40, 140, and the second reflection faces 40, 140 reflect the light from the first reflection faces 30, 130 toward the front of the lamp.

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicular lamp in which a light emitting element is disposed in the vicinity of a rear focal point of a projection lens.

  As a kind of vehicular lamp, a vehicular lamp in which a light emitting element is arranged as a light source in the vicinity of a rear focal point of a projection lens is known (see Patent Document 1). This kind of vehicular lamp can be provided at low cost because it has a small number of components, and it is also a so-called PES type having an elliptical reflector in which the light source is located at the first focus and the rear focus of the projection lens is located at the second focus. Compared with the vehicular lamp, there is an advantage that the lamp has a shorter front-rear dimension and can be arranged in a narrow space.

JP-A-2005-44683

  However, in such a vehicular lamp, only a part of the hemispherical emitted light that spreads from the light emitting surface of the light emitting element is incident on the projection lens, and light that is not incident on the projection lens is not projected forward of the vehicle. There was room for improvement in light utilization efficiency.

  In addition, since this type of vehicle lamp employs a simple optical system in which light from the light source is directly incident on the projection lens, there is room for improvement in that only a limited light distribution pattern can be formed. It was.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular lamp that has a high light utilization efficiency and can form various light distribution patterns in a vehicular lamp in which a light source is disposed in the vicinity of a rear focal point of a projection lens.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention,
A projection lens disposed on the optical axis extending in the front-rear direction of the lamp;
A light emitting element that is disposed in the vicinity of the rear focal point of the projection lens and emits at least part of the emitted light directly toward the projection lens;
A first reflecting surface and a second reflecting surface;
The first reflection surface reflects light emitted from the light emitting element toward the second reflection surface,
The vehicular lamp is provided, wherein the second reflecting surface reflects light from the first reflecting surface toward the front of the lamp.

In the vehicular lamp according to the present invention, the light emitting element may be arranged such that a normal line of an emission surface thereof is inclined toward the first reflecting surface side with respect to the front of the lamp.
Furthermore, the vehicle lamp according to the present invention may include an additional lens on which light from the second reflecting surface is incident.
In the vehicle lamp according to the present invention, the projection lens and the additional lens may be integrated.
In the vehicle lamp according to the present invention, the first reflecting surface may reflect light emitted from the light emitting element in a direction intersecting with an optical axis of the projection lens.

  According to the vehicular lamp according to the present invention, the light that does not directly enter the projection lens among the emitted light from the light emitting element is also emitted to the front of the vehicular lamp by the first reflecting surface and the second reflecting surface. Can improve the efficiency of use. Moreover, since it is the structure which radiate | emits light ahead of a lamp | ramp via a 1st reflective surface and a 2nd reflective surface, various light distribution patterns are made by making a 1st reflective surface and a 2nd reflective surface into various shapes and arrangement | positioning. Can be realized. In addition, the vehicular lamp capable of forming improved light utilization efficiency and various light distribution patterns can be realized with a compact vehicular lamp in which a light emitting element is arranged in the vicinity of the rear focal point of the projection lens.

1 is a perspective view of a vehicular lamp according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a sectional side view of the vehicle lamp shown in FIG. It is a front view of the vehicle lamp shown in FIG. It is a top view of the vehicle lamp shown in FIG. It is a top view of the vehicle lamp which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. (A) is a schematic diagram which shows the light distribution pattern which the vehicle lamp which concerns on 1st Embodiment forms, (b) is a schematic diagram which shows the light distribution pattern which the vehicle lamp which concerns on 2nd Embodiment forms. is there.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, a vehicular lamp according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

(Overall structure)
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vehicular lamp according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The vehicular lamp of the first embodiment has a bilaterally symmetric shape, a convex projection lens 10 disposed in front of the lamp in a lamp chamber formed by a lamp body (not shown) and a front cover, and light emission as a light source. The element 20, a first reflector (first reflection surface) 30 provided near the light emitting element 20, a second reflector (second reflection surface) 40 provided so as to face the first reflector 30, and an additional lens 50. And.

  In this vehicular lamp, a part of the light emitted from the light emitting element 20 is projected forward of the vehicle through the projection lens 10. Further, the light that does not enter the projection lens 10 is reflected by the first reflector 30 toward the second reflector 40, is further incident on the additional lens 50 by the second reflector 40, and is projected from the additional lens 50 to the front of the vehicle. Details of each member will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the vehicular lamp according to the present embodiment. The light emitting element 20 is a light emitting element composed of an LED, an LD, or the like, and is located on the optical axis Ax of the lamp and in the vicinity of the rear focal line f of the projection lens 10 as shown in the figure. The light emitting element 20 is mounted such that the normal line n of the light emitting surface is inclined toward the first reflector 30 with respect to the front of the lamp. More specifically, the normal line n of the light emitting element 20 is attached to the base 22 in a state in which the normal line n is inclined upward by an angle θ with respect to the optical axis Ax of the projection lens 10. Since the normal line n of the light emitting surface is thus inclined from the optical axis Ax, a part L1 of the light emitted from the light emitting element 20 is incident on the projection lens 10 disposed in front of the light emitting element 20.

  The convex projection lens 10 is arranged such that its optical axis coincides with the optical axis Ax of the lamp. Further, the projection lens 10 is a columnar convex lens whose longitudinal direction extends in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis Ax (the left-right direction in FIG. 1), and its central portion is thicker than the upper and lower ends in the cross section shown in FIG. Further, the central part is formed slightly thicker than the left and right ends. For this reason, the light that has spread from the light emitting element 20 in the vertical direction and entered the convex projection lens 10 is condensed and inverted upside down and projected forward, and the light that has spread in the left and right direction is collected slightly toward the center. It is illuminated and projected forward (see FIG. 4).

  As shown in FIG. 2, a shade 21 is disposed in front of the light emitting element 20. The shade 21 is provided below the optical axis Ax with respect to the light emitting element 20, and as shown in the front view of FIG. 3, the upper end thereof is formed in a shape corresponding to the cut-off line of the light distribution pattern. FIG. 3 is a front view of the vehicular lamp according to the present embodiment, in which the projection lens 10 is omitted. The shade 21 is fixed to the base 22 by fastening means 23 such as screws.

  For this reason, the light which is going to enter the projection lens 10 downward from the light emitting element 20 is blocked by the shade 21, and the projection lens 10 does not emit the light projected upward in the forward direction.

  A first reflector 30 that reflects light emitted from the light emitting element 20 toward the second reflector 40 is provided above the light emitting element 20 so as to cover the light emitting surface of the light emitting element 20. The reflection surface of the first reflector 30 is formed as a spheroidal surface in which the first focal point f1 is located in the vicinity of the light emitting element 20 and the second focal point f2 is located in the vicinity of the second reflector 40. Therefore, the first reflector 30 reflects the light radially spreading from the light emitting element 20 located in the vicinity of the first focal point f1 so as to collect the light toward the second focal point f2 in the direction intersecting the optical axis of the projection lens 10. Let

  As shown in FIG. 2, the end 31 of the first reflector 30 on the front side of the lamp extends to the vicinity of the projection lens 10. Therefore, the light emitted from the light emitting element 20 in the plane of FIG. 2 is made incident on either the first reflector 30 or the projection lens 10 so that the light from the light emitting element 20 can be used without omission. Yes. Therefore, the use efficiency of light is improved and the vehicle lamp which can irradiate a bright light distribution pattern is provided.

  The first reflector 30 has an end portion 32 on the side away from the optical axis Ax in order to effectively use the light spreading radially from the light emitting element 20 other than the surface including the optical axis Ax. It is desirable to extend to 2 reflectors 40 to ensure a large reflective area. With such a configuration, the light utilization efficiency can be further increased.

  As described above, the second reflector 40 is disposed in the vicinity of the second focal point f2 of the first reflector 30 and includes a planar reflecting surface. The light collected by the first reflector 30 toward the second focal point f2 is reflected by the second reflector 40 toward the front of the vehicle lamp.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the second reflector 40 is disposed on the side of the light emitting element 20 that is separated from the optical axis Ax. Therefore, the second reflector 40 does not block light incident on the projection lens 10 from the light emitting element 20, and the second reflector 40 does not interfere with the formation of the first light distribution pattern P1 by the projection lens 10.

  4 is a top view of the vehicular lamp shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the light reflected forward by the second reflector 40 is incident on the additional lens 50 disposed in front of the second reflector 40. The additional lens 50 is a convex lens whose rear focal point is located in the vicinity of the second reflector 40, and diffuses and reflects the light reflected from the second reflector 40 to the front of the vehicle lamp.

  The additional lens 50 may be formed integrally with the projection lens 10 as shown. If the additional lens 50 is integrally molded with the projection lens 10, the lens disposed in front of the lamp is continuous, and a vehicular lamp with a sense of unity and excellent design can be provided.

(Function)
Hereinafter, the light path of the vehicular lamp configured as described above and the light distribution pattern formed will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 6A. FIG. 6A is a schematic diagram transparently showing a light distribution pattern formed on a virtual vertical screen located 25 m ahead by the irradiation light of the vehicular lamp according to the present embodiment. In the figure, V indicates the vertical direction and H indicates the horizontal direction.

  First, out of the light emitted from the light emitting element 20, the light L1 that is directly incident on the projection lens 10 is condensed in the up-and-down direction and inverted and emitted, and the right-and-left direction is condensed slightly toward the center and projected. 10 and the first light distribution pattern P1 is formed in front of the lamp. The first light distribution pattern P1 is a light distribution pattern having a cut-off line.

  On the other hand, the light L2 incident on the first reflector 30 from the light emitting element 20 is reflected toward the second reflector 40, is incident on the additional lens 50 by the second reflector 40, is further diffused by the additional lens 50, and is forward of the lamp. A second light distribution pattern P2 is formed. The second light distribution pattern P2 is a light distribution pattern that irradiates a wider area in the vertical and horizontal directions than the first light distribution pattern P1.

  Therefore, according to the vehicular lamp according to the present embodiment, a vehicular lamp suitable for low beam irradiation, in which the first and second light distribution patterns P1 and P2 shown in FIG. Can do.

  Here, the light that is not incident on the projection lens 10, particularly the light that is emitted to a region greatly deviating from the normal line n of the light emitting element 20 is light that has not been used conventionally. However, in the vehicular lamp according to the present embodiment, light that has not been used in the past is used for forming the second light distribution pattern P2, so that the light use efficiency is improved. Therefore, even when the same light emitting element 20 is used, the amount of light emitted from the lamp can be increased, and a bright vehicle lamp can be provided.

  In the above description, the shade 21 is fixed to the base 22. However, a rotary shade or the like is employed, and a plurality of light distribution patterns having different cut-off lines can be formed by a single vehicle lamp. Or the shade 21 may not be provided.

(Second Embodiment)
In the first embodiment described above, an example in which the first reflector 30, the second reflector 40, and the additional lens 50 are configured as separate members has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. For example, as described in detail in the second embodiment below, members corresponding to the first reflector 30, the second reflector 40, and the additional lens 50 may be integrally configured using the light guide 100.

  In the above-described embodiment, a vehicle lamp that forms a light distribution pattern having a cut-off line suitable for a low beam is taken as an example. However, in the following second embodiment, a vehicle that forms a light distribution pattern suitable for a high beam. A lamp will be described as an example. Hereinafter, the vehicular lamp according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 5 is a top view of the vehicular lamp according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In the following description, only the portions different from the above-described embodiment will be mainly described, and the same members are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

  In the vehicular lamp according to the second embodiment, members corresponding to the first reflector 30, the second reflector 40, and the additional lens 50 in the first embodiment are integrally formed as the light guide 100. The light guide 100 is a member made of a transparent resin, and includes a first reflecting surface 130 and a second reflecting surface 140. The first reflecting surface 130 and the second reflecting surface 140 of the second embodiment correspond to the first reflector 30 and the second reflector 40 of the above-described embodiment, respectively.

  Further, in the present embodiment, a convex lens (projection lens) 110 is disposed in front of the light emitting element 20 so that the rear focal point f3 substantially coincides with the light emitting element 20, and enters the convex lens 110 from the light emitting element 20. The light L3 is configured to be emitted in front of the lamp as substantially parallel light. In addition, unlike the above-mentioned 1st Embodiment, the shade 21 is not provided in the vehicle lamp which concerns on 2nd Embodiment.

  The first reflecting surface 130 is formed as a rotating paraboloid in which the light emitting element 20 is located in the vicinity of the focal point f4, and a flat second reflecting surface 140 is formed on the axis of the paraboloid. Further, the additional lens 150 is formed as a cylindrical lens whose longitudinal direction extends in the vertical direction of the vehicular lamp (the vertical direction in FIG. 5).

  A light distribution pattern formed by the vehicular lamp according to the second embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6B is a view similar to FIG. 6A showing a light distribution pattern formed by the vehicular lamp according to the second embodiment.

  Of the light emitted radially from the light emitting element 20, the light L3 incident on the convex lens 110 is emitted in front of the lamp as substantially parallel light, and a third light distribution pattern P3 that illuminates a relatively narrow region is formed.

  On the other hand, among the light emitted from the light emitting element 20 and not incident on the convex lens 110, at least a part of the light L4 is reflected toward the second reflecting surface 140 as parallel light by the first reflecting surface 140 of the paraboloid. Is done. The parallel light incident on the additional lens 150 by the second reflecting surface 140 is projected as it is without changing the emission direction in the vertical direction by the additional lens 150, which is a cylindrical lens, and is diffused in the horizontal direction, resulting in the fourth light distribution. A pattern P4 is formed in front of the lamp.

  Thus, in the vehicular lamp according to the second embodiment, light that has not been used conventionally and does not directly enter the convex lens 110 is secondly transmitted by the first reflecting surface 130, the second reflecting surface 140, and the additional lens 150. The light distribution pattern P4 can be formed in front of the lamp. Therefore, the use efficiency of light can be improved and a bright vehicle lamp can be obtained.

  In addition, according to the vehicular lamp according to the second embodiment, since the first reflecting surface 130, the second reflecting surface 140, and the additional lens 150 are integrally molded, the positioning accuracy between these members is improved. Further, the relative position between the members does not shift due to vibration when the vehicle travels, and a desired light distribution pattern can be stably formed.

  According to the vehicular lamp according to the first embodiment and the second embodiment of the present invention described above, the light that has not been used in the prior art is reflected by the first reflector 30 (first reflecting surface 130) and the second reflector 40 (first Since the light is emitted in front of the vehicular lamp by the two reflecting surfaces 140), the light use efficiency can be improved and a bright vehicular lamp can be provided. Furthermore, the light distribution pattern of various characteristics can be provided by devising the shape and arrangement | positioning of the 1st reflector 30 (1st reflective surface 130) and the 2nd reflector 40 (2nd reflective surface 140). In addition, the vehicular lamp having the above features can be realized by a vehicular lamp having a compact structure in which the light emitting element 20 is disposed in the vicinity of the rear focal point of the projection lenses 10 and 110.

  Although the present invention has been described by taking the first embodiment and the second embodiment as examples, the present invention is not limited to the above-described first embodiment and second embodiment.

  First, in order to obtain light distribution patterns having various characteristics, the following modifications can be considered.

  For example, the shapes of the first reflector 30, the first reflecting surface 130, the second reflector 40, and the second reflecting surface 140 are not limited to the first and second embodiments described above. These reflection surfaces may be formed as a spheroid, a paraboloid, a rotation hyperboloid, a plane, or a free-form surface.

  Moreover, the number of these reflective surfaces is not specifically limited. In the first and second embodiments described above, the first reflector 30 and the first reflecting surface 130 are provided so as to cover the top of the light emitting element 20, but the light emitting element 20 is sandwiched from above and below by the pair of first reflectors 30. It may be arranged so that the reflected light from the pair of first reflectors 30 is incident on a single or plural second reflectors 40. Further, the second reflector 40 or the second reflecting surface 140 may include a plurality of reflecting surfaces so that a plurality of locations in front of the lamp can be irradiated.

  Further, various light distribution patterns can be realized by changing the shapes of the projection lenses 10 and 110 and the additional lenses 50 and 150 to lenses having various shapes such as a cylindrical lens, a convex lens, and a concave lens.

  Furthermore, the light distribution pattern can also be changed by changing the inclination angle θ with respect to the optical axis Ax of the light emitting element 20. Of the light emitted from the light emitting element 20, the intensity of the light traveling in the normal n direction of the light emitting element 20 is the highest. Therefore, by appropriately adjusting the inclination angle θ of the light emitting element 20 from the optical axis Ax, the projection lenses 10 and 110 provided in front of the light emitting element 20 or the first reflector 30 (or the first reflection) are provided. It is possible to set which of the surfaces 130) is preferentially irradiated to form various light distribution patterns. For example, in the first embodiment, in order to increase the illuminance of the first light distribution pattern P1, the inclination angle θ may be set small.

  In addition, according to the conventional vehicle lamp having a structure in which the light emitting element is disposed in the vicinity of the rear focal point of the projection lens, a light distribution pattern having similar characteristics has been formed. According to the vehicular lamp, the first and second reflectors 30 and 40 (first and second reflection surfaces 130 and 140) are provided as described above, and various shapes of light distribution can be achieved by changing the shape and arrangement of the lamps. A vehicular lamp that irradiates a pattern can be realized.

  Further, according to the conventional vehicular lamp having a structure in which the light emitting element is arranged in the vicinity of the rear focal point of the projection lens, all of them tend to have a similar appearance design. In the vehicular lamp according to the present invention, According to this, for example, it is possible to provide a vehicular lamp having various excellent appearance designs.

  For example, in the first embodiment and the second embodiment described above, the vehicular lamp has been described as having a bilaterally symmetric shape, but may have a bilaterally asymmetric shape. For example, as a vehicle headlamp, the first reflector 30 (or the first reflecting surface 130), the second reflector 40 (or the second reflecting surface 140), and the additional lens 50 are arranged at the vehicle center side portion and the end portion side portion. , 150 can be configured to have different shapes, and a vehicular lamp that is excellent in design can be provided.

  In particular, since the vehicular lamp according to the present embodiment is an optical system in which the distance between the projection lenses 10 and 110 and the light emitting element 20 is short, the vehicular lamp can be disposed in a narrow and bent space such as a corner portion of the vehicle. it can. At this time, the first reflector 30 (first reflective surface 130) is disposed rearward from the side of the vehicle lamp, and the second reflector 40 (second reflective surface 140) is disposed on the first reflector 30 (first reflective surface 130). It can be set as the vehicle lamp excellent in the designability of the shape along the corner part of a vehicle by arrange | positioning from back.

  Further, by devising the shape of the first reflector 30 (the first reflecting surface 130), for example, by setting the position of the second focal point f2 of the first reflector 30 to a position away from the light emitting element 20, the second reflector 40 ( The separation distance between the second reflecting surface 140) and the light emitting element 20 can be freely set. For this reason, since the vehicular lamp can be formed in a shape that is long in the vehicle width direction, it is possible to provide a vehicular lamp that has a long and slender design in the vehicle width direction, which has been increasing in demand in recent years.

  In addition to the above modifications, the first embodiment includes a vehicle lamp that forms a light distribution pattern suitable for a low beam, and the second embodiment includes a vehicle lamp that forms a light distribution pattern suitable for a high beam. Although described, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, in the vehicular lamp according to the second embodiment, if the member that allows the additional lens 150 to pass through without refracting light or the additional lens 150 is not provided, parallel light is directly projected forward from the second reflecting surface 140. Therefore, a vehicular lamp suitable for a fog lamp can be obtained.

  Further, the vehicular lamp according to the present embodiment can be applied to a four-wheeled vehicle, and can also be applied to a three-wheeled or two-wheeled vehicle.

10: projection lens, 20: light emitting element, 21: light shielding member, 22: base, 30: first reflector, 40: second reflector, 50: additional lens, 100: light guide, 110: convex lens (projection lens), 130: first reflecting surface, 140: second reflecting surface, 150: additional lens, P1: first light distribution pattern, P2: second light distribution pattern, P3: third light distribution pattern, P4: fourth light distribution pattern , F: focal line, f1, f2, f3, f4: focus

Claims (5)

A projection lens disposed on the optical axis extending in the front-rear direction of the lamp;
A light emitting element that is disposed in the vicinity of the rear focal point of the projection lens and emits at least part of the emitted light directly toward the projection lens;
A first reflecting surface and a second reflecting surface;
The first reflection surface reflects light emitted from the light emitting element toward the second reflection surface,
The vehicular lamp, wherein the second reflecting surface reflects light from the first reflecting surface toward the front of the lamp.   2. The vehicular lamp according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting element is disposed such that a normal line of an emission surface of the light emitting element is inclined toward the first reflecting surface with respect to a front side of the lamp.   The vehicular lamp according to claim 1, further comprising an additional lens on which light from the second reflecting surface is incident.   4. The vehicular lamp according to claim 3, wherein the projection lens and the additional lens are integrated.   5. The vehicular lamp according to claim 1, wherein the first reflecting surface reflects light emitted from the light emitting element in a direction intersecting an optical axis of the projection lens. 6.