JP2013037786A - Lamp fitting for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a lamp fitting for a vehicle enabling a reflector to be inserted and set in a direction crossing an axis of an adjusting screw, for instance, from its upper side, without being limited to insertion from the axis direction of the reflector.SOLUTION: In a lamp room 30 structured with a front lens 20 blocked in an opening of a housing 10, a light source 40, and a reflector 50 for reflecting light from the light source 40 toward a front lens 20 side are arranged. An optical axis adjusting device is equipped with the adjusting screw 65 having a screw-forming part 65A fitted to the housing 10 in free rotation in a periphery axis direction and to be screwed into a screw-in hole 50A provided at the reflector 50. The adjusting screw 65 is provided with a small-diameter part 65D with a diameter smaller than that of the screw-forming part 65A screwed into the screw-in hole 50A. The screw-in hole 50A is provided with a notched part 51 into which the small-diameter part 65D of the adjustment screw 65 can be inserted.

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicular lamp, and more particularly to a vehicular lamp provided with an optical axis adjusting device.

  For example, in a headlamp of a vehicle, a light source and a reflector that reflects light from the light source toward the front lens are arranged in a lamp chamber configured by closing a front lens at an opening of a housing. Configured. The reflector has, for example, a shape having a parabolic rotation surface, and is configured as a reflection surface on the inside thereof, and the light source is arranged at the focal point of the reflector so that the light reflected by the reflector is efficiently emitted to the front of the vehicle. It is supposed to let you.

  The reflector is attached via a housing and an optical axis adjusting device as disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1 or Patent Document 2 below, and the optical axis adjusting device allows fine movement adjustment of the reflector relative to the housing. The optical axis of the reflector and the optical axis of the front lens can be matched.

  As shown in Patent Document 1 or Patent Document 2, three optical axis adjusting devices are provided between the housing and the reflector, for example, at each vertex of a virtual triangle drawn with a light source in between. One is composed of a so-called ball joint that rotatably supports the reflector with respect to the housing, and the other two are screw holes (nut portions) that are supported by the housing so as to be rotatable in the circumferential direction and provided in the reflector. It is comprised from the adjustment screw which has a screw part screwed in.

  The optical axis adjusting device configured as described above can finely move a portion where the screw hole (nut portion) of the reflector is formed by appropriately rotating each of the adjusting screws. As a result, the inclination of the reflector with respect to the housing can be varied around the location where the ball joint is provided, and the optical axis of the reflector and the optical axis of the front lens can be made to coincide.

JP 2009-140668 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 07-230705

  However, the optical axis adjusting device described above has to insert the tip of the adjusting screw into the screw hole provided in the reflector when the reflector is attached to the housing. The configuration is limited to the axial direction of the adjusting screw. In this case, since the adjusting screw must move the reflector along the longitudinal direction of the adjusting screw, it must be configured to be relatively long, and there is a restriction on the insertion direction of the reflector corresponding to the length. It will be attached. For this reason, in the vehicular lamp, when components having various functions are arranged in a limited space, these components obstruct the arrangement of the reflector with respect to the housing.

  Further, the above-described adjustment screw functions as a so-called cantilever support shaft for supporting the reflector with respect to the housing. For this reason, in recent years when the weight of the reflector is increasing, there is a disadvantage that the reflector cannot be sufficiently supported only by the adjustment screw composed of the cantilever support shaft.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to include an optical axis adjusting device including an adjusting screw, and to insert and arrange a reflector from the axial direction of the adjusting screw. Without being limited, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicular lamp that can be inserted and arranged in a direction intersecting with an axis of an adjusting screw, for example, from an upper side of the adjusting screw.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular lamp that is provided with an optical axis adjusting device including an adjusting screw and that can be configured as a double-supported structure before the optical axis is adjusted. .

  In order to achieve such an object, the present invention improves the adjustment screw and the screw hole of the reflector so that the adjustment screw can be inserted into the screw hole of the reflector from almost the center except for both ends of the shaft. It is what gave it. Further, in the present invention, on the premise of the above improvement, the tip of the adjustment screw is supported by a support member fixed to the housing.

The present invention can be grasped by the following configuration.
(1) In the vehicular lamp according to the present invention, a light source and a reflector that reflects light from the light source toward the front lens are disposed in a lamp chamber configured by closing a front lens at an opening of a housing. An optical axis adjusting device, comprising: an adjustment screw that is a vehicular lamp and includes a screw forming portion that is rotatably supported by the housing in a circumferential direction and is screwed into a screw hole provided in the reflector. The adjustment screw has a small diameter portion having a diameter smaller than the diameter of the screw forming portion screwed into the screw hole, and the small diameter portion of the adjustment screw is inserted into the screw hole. A notch that can be formed is formed.
(2) In the vehicular lamp of the present invention, in the configuration of (1), the adjustment screw is supported by a support member that is supported with respect to the housing on a tip side opposite to a side that is rotatably supported by the housing. It is characterized by being supported.
(3) The vehicular lamp according to the present invention is configured such that, in the configuration of (1), when the vehicular lamp is incorporated in a vehicle, the opening of the notch formed in the screw hole is directed downward. It is characterized by being provided.

  According to the vehicular lamp configured as described above, the vehicle lamp is provided with the optical axis adjustment device including the adjustment screw, and the adjustment is not limited to the insertion of the reflector from the axial direction of the adjustment screw. It becomes possible to insert the screw from the direction intersecting the axis of the screw, for example, from the upper side of the adjusting screw.

  Further, according to the vehicular lamp configured as described above, the vehicle is provided with the optical axis adjusting device including the adjusting screw, and the adjusting screw can be configured as a double-supported structure before the optical axis is adjusted.

It is the perspective view which expanded and showed the adjusting screw and the nut part in Embodiment 1 of the vehicle lamp of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows Embodiment 1 of the vehicle lamp of this invention. It is the front view which looked at the vehicle lamp of this invention from the front, and is the figure which showed arrangement | positioning of an optical axis adjustment mechanism. It is the front view and sectional drawing which showed the spherical body bearing of the rotation spindle part of an optical axis adjustment function. It is the perspective view which showed the adjustment screw of the optical axis adjustment mechanism. It is the front view which showed the nut part of the optical axis adjustment mechanism. It is sectional drawing which showed the insertion direction of this reflector at the time of arrange | positioning a reflector in a housing. It is sectional drawing which showed the case where the nut part of a reflector was inserted (fitting) in the screw non-formation part of an adjustment screw.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter referred to as embodiments) will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the same number is assigned to the same element throughout the description of the embodiment.
(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing Embodiment 1 of the vehicular lamp of the present invention. The vehicle lamp shown in FIG. 2 shows, for example, a headlamp (headlight), and the right side in the figure is the front direction of the vehicle.

  In FIG. 2, the vehicular lamp 1 forms a lamp chamber 30 with a housing 10 that is open on the front side of the vehicle and a front lens 20 that closes the opening of the housing 10. The housing 10 and the front lens 20 have a shape matching the streamline shape of the vehicle. For example, the front lens 20 is formed in a curved surface extending not only in front of the vehicle but also upward. A groove portion 11 is formed along the periphery of the opening of the housing 10, and the front lens 20 is inserted into the groove portion 11 and the hot lens 12 or the like previously applied to the groove portion 11 is inserted into the groove portion 11. Ten openings are sealed.

  In the lamp chamber 30 of the vehicular lamp 1, a light source 40 composed of a bulb and a reflector 50 for reflecting light from the light source 40 to the front of the vehicle are provided. The reflector 50 has a reflecting surface made of a paraboloid of revolution, for example, and the light source 40 is arranged at the focal point of the reflecting surface. The light source 40 and the reflector 50 are disposed, for example, on the rear side (rear side of the vehicle) of the lamp chamber 30, and the front lens 20 is disposed above the light source 40 and the reflector 50 so as to extend from the front side of the vehicle. The reflector 50 is attached to the housing 10 via the optical axis adjustment mechanism 60. FIG. 3 is a view of the vehicular lamp 1 as viewed from the front of the vehicle. The optical axis adjustment mechanism 60 includes, for example, one rotation support shaft portion 60A and two adjustment shaft portions 60B. The two adjustment shaft portions 60B have the same configuration. The rotation support shaft portion 60A is disposed, for example, on the upper left side in the figure with respect to the light source 40. Arranged on the side. Such an optical axis adjusting mechanism 60 (60A, 60B) operates the adjusting shaft portion 60B independently of each other so that the housing 10 and the reflector 50 in which the adjusting shaft portion 60B is formed (front and back in FIG. 3). Direction), and the inclination of the reflector 50 with respect to the rotation support shaft portion 60A can be adjusted. 2 is a view corresponding to the cross section taken along the line II-II in FIG. The optical axis adjusting mechanism 60 (60A, 60B) will be described in detail later.

Returning to FIG. 2, the light source 40 is fixed to the reflector 50 via the socket 41, and a part of the socket 41 on the power supply side is arranged outside the housing 10 through the opening 14 formed in the housing 10. It has become. A gap between the opening 14 of the housing 10 and the socket 41 is closed by an annular rubber cap 70. The rubber cap 70 has an inner peripheral portion that is in close contact with the socket 41 and an outer peripheral portion that is in close contact with the housing 10 to ensure waterproofness and the like. The rubber cap 70 can be deformed when the optical axis of the reflector 50 is adjusted by the optical axis adjusting mechanism 60 (60A, 60B). Thereby, the reflector 50 can be displaced with respect to the housing 10.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the rotation support portion 60A includes a sphere support shaft 61 that is fixed to the housing 10 and has a sphere portion 61A at the tip, and a sphere bearing 62 that is attached to the reflector 50 and encloses the sphere portion 61A. ing. The rotation support portion 60 </ b> A configured as described above is configured such that the sphere portion 61 </ b> A of the sphere support shaft 61 included in the sphere bearing 62 can rotate within a certain range. As a result, the reflector 50 can rotate within a certain range with respect to the housing 10 around the rotation support portion 60A. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4A, which is a front view of the spherical bearing 62, and FIG. 4B, which is a cross-sectional view taken along line bb in FIG. 4A, the spherical bearing 62 has an inner wall surface 62A. A part of the cylinder has a cylindrical shape having a spherical portion 62B. The spherical portion 62B is formed so that its diameter is slightly larger than the diameter of the spherical portion 61A of the spherical support shaft 61 so that the spherical portion 61A can be included. Further, for example, three notches 62D along the axial direction are formed at substantially equal intervals in the circumferential direction at the tip of the spherical bearing 62. Thereby, the tip of the spherical bearing 62 can be easily displaced outward, and the spherical bearing 62 and the spherical support shaft 61 can be easily connected by press-fitting the spherical portion 61A into the spherical bearing 62. It can be done.

  Returning to FIG. 2, the adjustment shaft portion 60 </ b> B is screwed into an adjustment screw 65 that is pivotally supported by the housing 10 and can be rotated from the outside of the housing 10, and a screw forming portion 65 </ b> A of the adjustment screw 65 attached to the reflector 50. 50A (which may be referred to as a screw hole in this specification). The adjustment shaft portion 60 </ b> B configured as described above can move the portion of the reflector 50 attached with the nut portion 50 </ b> A in the front-rear direction along the axial direction of the adjustment screw 65 by rotating the adjustment screw 65. it can. Thereby, the reflector 50 can be tilted around the rotation support portion 60A. The tip of the adjustment screw 65 opposite to the side pivotally supported by the housing 10 is supported by a support member 80 fixed to the housing 10.

The support member 80 can sufficiently support the reflector 50, which tends to increase in weight in recent years, by making the adjustment screw 65 have a double-sided structure with respect to the housing 10. For example, a groove (indicated by reference numeral 81 in FIG. 1) is formed on the upper surface of the support member 80, and the tip of the adjustment screw 65 is placed in the groove 81, so that the adjuster screw 65 has a tip thereof. It is configured to be able to rotate freely around the axis while being fixed at a fixed position. From this point of view, a similar effect may be obtained by forming a hole in the support member 80 and inserting the tip of the adjustment screw 65 into the hole. As shown in FIG. 5, the adjustment screw 65 has, for example, a hexagonal column head 65B at an end portion on which rotation is performed, and sequentially supports the shaft support portion 65C with the housing 10 from the head portion 65B to the tip portion. A screw forming portion 65A and a screw non-forming portion 65D are formed. When the adjustment screw 65 is pivotally supported by the housing 10, the head 65B protrudes outside the housing 10, and a tool (not shown) is engaged with the head 65B so that the adjustment screw 65 can be rotated. The shaft support 65C is provided with a flange 65F for restricting the adjustment screw 65 from moving in the axial direction with respect to the housing 10 when the adjustment screw 65 is supported on the housing 10. .

In the screw forming portion 65A, the screw forming length L along the axial direction of the adjusting screw 65 is a length that substantially corresponds to the length of the maximum movable range that is the adjustment range of the reflector 50 by the rotation of the adjusting screw 65, for example. ing. The screw non-forming portion 65D is a portion where no screw is formed extending from the screw forming portion 65A to the tip of the adjusting screw 65, and the diameter 2r of the adjusting screw 65 in the screw non-forming portion 65D is a screw forming portion. The diameter of the adjusting screw 65 in the portion 65A is smaller than 2R (R> r). The adjustment screw 65 configured as described above is supported by the support member 80 in a part of the screw non-forming portion 65D in a state where the tip portion is supported by the support member 80, and in the remaining most part, the adjustment screw 65 The portion is not supported by the support member 80. The portion of the screw non-forming portion 65D that is not supported by the support member 80 functions as a reflector fitting portion into which the nut portion 50A of the reflector 50 is fitted, as will be apparent from the following description. Yes.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 7, it is assumed that the reflector 50 is inserted into the housing 10 from which the front lens 20 is removed from above the housing 10 (in the direction of the arrow α). In FIG. 7, the light source 40 (socket 41) and the rubber cap 70 are not yet attached. In this case, the nut portion 50A of the reflector 50 is formed with a notch 51 that is open toward the lower side in the drawing, as shown in FIG. That is, the notch 51 of the nut portion 50 </ b> A of the reflector 50 is formed so that the direction in which the notch 51 is opened substantially coincides with the direction in which the reflector 50 is inserted into the housing 10. Specifically, the opening of the notch 51 formed in the nut portion 50A is provided to be directed downward (downward when the vehicle lamp 1 is incorporated in a vehicle). FIG. 6 is a view of the nut portion 50A viewed from the axial direction. As shown in FIG. 6, the notch 51 of the nut portion 50A has an opening angle of about 45 ° from the central axis of the nut portion 50A, so that the notch width increases as the diameter increases. It is configured. In this case, the minimum notch width w of the notch 51 is set to be slightly smaller than the diameter 2r of the screw non-forming portion 65D of the adjusting screw 65. That is, when the reflector 50 is inserted into the housing 10 from the direction shown in FIG. 7, as shown in FIG. 1, which is a perspective view of the vicinity of the adjusting screw 65 and the nut portion 50 </ b> A, The screw non-forming portion 65D of the adjustment screw 65 previously attached to the housing 10 can be arranged, and the reflector 50 is applied with a slight force downward in the drawing, so that the adjustment screw 65 is inserted into the nut portion 50A. The screw non-forming portion 65D can be press-fitted.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view corresponding to FIG. 7, and shows a state where the nut portion 50 </ b> A of the reflector 50 is inserted (fitted) to the adjustment screw 65 through the screw non-forming portion 65 </ b> D of the adjustment screw 65. FIG. Thereby, the nut portion 50 </ b> A of the reflector 50 is fitted into the adjustment screw 65 through the notch 51. Thereafter, the reflector 50 is moved so that the nut portion 50A is close to the screw forming portion 65A side of the adjusting screw 65, and the adjusting screw 65 is rotated so that the nut portion 50A is turned into the screw forming portion of the adjusting screw 65. It is easily screwed to 65A. In this case, the reflector 50 is attached to the housing 10 via the optical axis adjustment mechanism 60 (60A, 60B) by also connecting the spherical support shaft 61 and the spherical bearing 62 in the rotary support shaft portion 60A. become.

  The vehicular lamp 1 configured as described above is configured such that the reflector 50 is housed in the housing 10 not in the axial direction of the adjusting screw 65 but in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction, thereby allowing the nut portion 50A of the reflector 50 to be accommodated. Can be fitted (inserted) into the adjusting screw 65. For this reason, even when the reflector 50 cannot be accommodated from the axial direction of the adjusting screw 65 due to the space limitation of the housing 10, the reflector 50 can be accommodated in the housing 10. It becomes like this. In the case of the above-described embodiment, the front lens 20 that closes the opening of the housing 10 has a streamline shape that extends not only in the front direction of the vehicle but also to the upper side. With the front lens 20 removed, the housing 10 Since the opening is formed to have a large area on the upper side, the reflector 50 can be easily accommodated from the upper side of the housing 10 and at the same time, the nut portion 50A of the reflector 50 is attached to the adjustment screw 65 previously attached to the housing 10. Can be fitted (inserted).

  And since it is not necessary to insert the nut part 50A of the reflector 50 from the front end side of the adjustment screw 65, the front end of the adjustment screw 65 is supported in advance by a support member 80 fixed to the housing 10 and attached. By doing so, the reflector 50 whose weight increases can be sufficiently supported. In this case, as compared with the configuration in which the nut portion 50A of the reflector 50 is inserted from the front end side of the adjustment screw 65, the support member 80 must be attached only after the nut portion 50A of the reflector 50 is inserted into the adjustment screw 65. The effect which can avoid complexity can be show | played.

  Further, since the portion of the adjusting screw 65 into which the nut portion 50A of the reflector 50 is fitted (inserted) is a portion having a diameter smaller than the diameter of the screw forming portion 65A, the adjusting screw 65 of the nut portion 50A. After the fitting (insertion) into the nut portion, the nut portion 50A and the screw forming portion 65A of the adjusting screw 65 can be screwed together with high reliability. This is because, for example, when the screw forming portion 65A having the same diameter extends to the tip of the adjusting screw 65, the nut portion 50A and the screw forming portion when the nut portion 50A is fitted to the adjusting screw 65 are used. The inconvenience that cannot be smoothly engaged with 65A cannot be denied.

In the first embodiment described above, the configuration in which one light source 40 and the reflector 50 are arranged in the lamp chamber 30 including the housing 10 and the front lens 20 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it goes without saying that a plurality of light sources and reflectors may be arranged in the lamp chamber 30.
In Embodiment 1 described above, the lamp disposed in the lamp chamber 30 is a so-called reflector type lamp unit including the light source 40 and the reflector 50. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to a so-called projector-type lamp unit having a mechanism unit for causing the lamp itself to perform a swivel operation or a leveling operation. In this case, the nut portion 50A shown in the first embodiment is provided on, for example, a bracket attached to the lamp unit, and the nut portion 50A is fitted (inserted) into the adjustment screw 65 shown in the first embodiment. Configured as follows.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated using embodiment, it cannot be overemphasized that the technical scope of this invention is not limited to the range as described in the said embodiment. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications or improvements can be added to the above-described embodiments. Further, it is apparent from the scope of the claims that the embodiments added with such changes or improvements can be included in the technical scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vehicle lamp, 10 ... Housing, 11 ... Groove part, 12 ... Hot melt, 14 ... Opening, 20 ... Front lens, 30 ... Light room, 40 ... Light source, 41 ... Socket, 50... Reflector, 50 A... Nut portion, 51... Notch, 60... Optical axis adjustment mechanism, 60 A... Rotation support shaft portion, 60 B. Spherical part, 62 ... Spherical bearing, 62A ... Inner wall surface, 62B ... Spherical part, 65 ... Adjust screw, 65A ... Screw forming part, 65B ... Head, 65C ... Shaft support part, 65D ... Screw Non-formation part, 65F ... flange, 70 ... rubber cap, 80 ... support member, 81 ... groove.

Claims (3)

A vehicular lamp in which a light source and a reflector that reflects light from the light source toward the front lens are disposed in a lamp chamber configured by closing a front lens at an opening of a housing,
An optical axis adjustment device comprising an adjustment screw having a screw forming portion that is supported at least in the circumferential direction by the housing and is screwed into a screw hole provided in the reflector;
The adjustment screw has a small diameter part having a diameter smaller than the diameter of the screw forming part screwed into the screw hole,
A vehicular lamp characterized in that a notch portion into which the small diameter portion of the adjustment screw can be inserted is formed in the screw hole.   2. The vehicular lamp according to claim 1, wherein the adjustment screw is supported by a support member that is supported by the housing at a tip side opposite to a side that is rotatably supported by the housing. . 2. When the vehicular lamp is incorporated in a vehicle, the notch formed in the screw hole is provided so that the opening is directed downward. Vehicle lamps.

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