JP2014007098A - Lamp device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the number of components of a lamp device 4 for a vehicle thereby reducing the costs in the lamp device 4 which includes a transparent material 8 provided in a lamp housing 7 and a light source provided at a longitudinal end part of the transparent material 8.SOLUTION: A lance 18 is integrally molded with a transparent material 8, and the lance 18 is inserted into an attachment hole 19 of one attachment member 14 fixed to a lamp housing 7 to engage with the attachment hole 19. The transparent material 8 is supported on the lamp housing 7 in a fixed manner through these steps. Further, at a root part of the lance 18, a bulge part 21 covering a joining part 20 between the lance 18 and the transparent material 8 is integrally molded with the lance 18 and the transparent material 8, and light concentrating on the joining part 20 is passed through the bulge part 21 to be emitted in a dispersed manner. The structure prevents the appearance deterioration of the transparent material 8.

Description

  The present invention relates to a lamp device for a vehicle having a light guide made of a translucent material.

  BACKGROUND ART A lamp device for a vehicle using a light guide is conventionally known (see Patent Document 1). This type of lamp device has a housing body and a lamp housing having a lens fixed to the housing body and covering an opening of the housing body, and a light guide made of a translucent material is provided inside the lamp housing. A light body is provided. A light source is opposed to the longitudinal end of the light guide, and light emitted from the light source is incident on the light guide from the longitudinal end of the light guide, and the incident light is reflected by the light guide. The light is emitted from the emission surface of the light guide while being reflected by the surface, and the emitted light is emitted outside the lamp housing through the lens. The light guide of such a lamp device can be used, for example, as a vehicle width lamp or a direction indicator.

  In the conventional lamp device of this type, the light guide has two attachments: a first attachment member fixed to the housing body and a second attachment member fixedly locked to the first attachment member. The light guide is fixedly supported with respect to the housing body by being held between the members. However, if the light guide is supported on the housing body using the two mounting members in this way, the number of parts of the lamp device increases, the structure becomes complicated, and the cost of the lamp device increases.

JP 2011-258350 A

  The object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, and to install one light guide without causing a deterioration in the appearance of the light guide when the light source is turned on and the light exit surface of the light guide emits light. An object of the present invention is to provide a lamp device for a vehicle that can be fixedly supported by a member with respect to a housing body.

  To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a lamp housing having a housing body and a lens that is fixed to the housing body and covers an opening of the housing body, and is provided in the lamp housing, and is translucent. A light guide body made of a material and a light source disposed opposite to the longitudinal end portion of the light guide body, and the light from the light source is passed through the light guide body from the longitudinal end portion of the light guide body. For a vehicle that causes the incident light to be reflected from the reflecting surface of the light guide while the light is emitted from the exit surface of the light guide, and the emitted light is emitted outside the lamp housing through the lens. In the lamp device, a lance having a claw portion is formed on one of the mounting member fixed to the housing body and the light guide, and a mounting hole is formed on the other side. Above By being inserted into the biasing bore is engaged with the mounting hole, the light guide is to propose a lamp device for a vehicle, characterized in that it is fixedly supported by the housing body (claim 1).

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a housing body, a lamp housing having a lens fixed to the housing body and covering an opening of the housing body, and a lamp housing provided in the lamp housing. A light guide made of a light-sensitive material; and a light source disposed opposite to the longitudinal end of the light guide, and guides light from the light source from the longitudinal end of the light guide. A vehicle that enters a light body, reflects the incident light on a reflecting surface of the light guide, emits the light from an exit surface of the light guide, and emits the emitted light to the outside of the lamp housing through the lens. In this lamp device, the light guide is provided with a lance formed with a claw portion, and the lance is inserted into a mounting hole of a mounting member fixed to the housing body and locked to the mounting hole. To be done The light guide is fixedly supported on the housing body, and a bulge is formed at the base of the lance so as to cover at least a part of the joint between the lance and the light guide, and the outer surface of the bulge Is formed on a curved surface projecting outward, and the light guide, the lance, and the bulging portion are integrally formed of the same translucent material. Proposed (claim 2).

  Furthermore, in the lamp device according to claim 2, it is advantageous that the bulging portion is formed at least in a portion above the root portion of the lance (claim 3).

  Further, in the lamp device according to claim 2 or 3, it is advantageous that the lance protrudes from the light guide body portion above the central axis of the light guide body (claim 4).

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the lance projecting from one of the mounting member fixed to the housing body and the light guide is inserted into the mounting hole formed on the other side, and the mounting hole Since the light guide is fixedly supported with respect to the housing main body by being engaged with the light guide, the light guide can be fixed to the housing main body with only one mounting member. Thereby, while reducing the number of parts of a lamp device, the structure can be simplified and the cost of a lamp device can be reduced.

  In the invention according to claim 2, the lance formed integrally with the light guide is locked in the mounting hole of the mounting member fixed to the lamp housing, so that the light guide is fixed to the housing body. Since it is fixedly supported, the light guide can be fixed to the housing body with only one mounting member. Thereby, while reducing the number of parts of a lamp device, the structure can be simplified and the cost of a lamp device can be reduced.

  In addition, when a lance is provided integrally with the light guide, when the light source is turned on and light from the light source is incident on the light guide, the light gathers at the joint between the lance and the light guide. The amount of light emitted from the joint to the outside is larger than the amount of light emitted from the other light guide parts, and when the entire light guide is viewed from the outside, the root part of the lance is in the other guide. It shines stronger than the light body. Thus, since the light guide is shining locally, its appearance is deteriorated.

  However, in the invention according to claim 2, since the bulging portion that covers at least a part of the joint between the lance and the light guide is integrally formed with the light guide and the lance, The light collected at the joint is dispersed by passing through the bulge. For this reason, when the light source is turned on, only the joint between the lance and the light guide body can be prevented from shining, or the trouble can be effectively suppressed to prevent the appearance of the light guide body from being deteriorated.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 3 or 4, the appearance fall of the light guide at the time of lighting of a light source can be prevented still more reliably.

It is a perspective view which shows the front part of the vehicle by which the lamp device which concerns on this invention is mounted, Comprising: It is a figure also used for description of the conventional lamp device. It is the II-II line expanded sectional view of FIG. 1, Comprising: It is the figure which showed the principal part of the structure based on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which clarifies the relationship between a light guide and a light source, and the function of a light guide. It is the IV-IV sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is sectional drawing similar to FIG. 2 explaining the malfunction when the bulging part which covers the junction part of a lance and a light guide is not provided. It is the same sectional drawing as FIG. 2 which clarified the conventional lamp device and its fault.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, and the structure and disadvantages of the conventional lamp device described above will be clarified more specifically with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a front portion of an automobile which is an example of a vehicle. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a vehicle body, and reference numeral 2 denotes a front bumper fixed to the front portion of the vehicle body 1. An engine room (not shown) is closed by a hood panel 3 that is supported on the vehicle body 1 so as to be capable of rotating and opening.

  The lamp devices 4 and 104 according to the present invention are fixedly disposed on the left and right portions of the front portion of the vehicle body 1, respectively. Since these lamp devices 4 and 104 are configured symmetrically with respect to the center of the vehicle body 1, only the configuration and operation of one of the lamp devices 4 will be clarified in the following description.

  2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line II-II in FIG. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 1, the lamp device 4 includes a housing main body 5 formed of, for example, metal or resin, and a lens 6 fixed to the housing main body 5 and covering the opening of the housing main body. A lamp housing 7. The lens 6 is made of, for example, transparent glass or transparent resin, and the lamp housing 7 is fixedly supported by the vehicle body 1 shown in FIG.

  The lamp device 4 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 further includes a light guide 8 provided inside the lamp housing 7. The light guide 8 is made of a translucent material such as transparent glass or transparent resin, for example, and is formed in an elongated shape as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the lamp device 4 includes a light source 10 that is disposed in the lamp housing 7 and that is opposed to the longitudinal end 9 of the light guide 8. The light source 10 is configured by, for example, an LED and is fixedly supported on the housing body 5. In the illustrated example, the light source 10 is opposed to only one longitudinal end 9 of the light guide 8, but is also illustrated on the other longitudinal end 11 (FIG. 1) of the light guide 8. Light sources that are not present can be placed opposite each other.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the light guide 8 and the light source 10 facing the longitudinal end 9 and clarifying the function of the light guide 8. When the light source 10 shown in this figure is turned on, the light emitted from the light source 10 enters the inside of the light guide 8 from the longitudinal end portion 9 of the light guide 8. Thus, the light incident on the inside of the light guide 8 is emitted to the outside of the light guide 8 from the emission surface 13 facing the reflection surface 12 while being reflected by the reflection surface 12 of the light guide 8. In this way, the entire emission surface 13 shines uniformly. The light emitted from the light guide 8 is emitted to the outside of the lamp housing 7 through the lens 6 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, there is shown schematically the light emitted from the light guide body 8 by arrows L _1. The light guide 8 of the lamp device 4 is used as a vehicle width lamp, a direction indicator or the like together with the light guide 108 of the other lamp device 104 shown in FIG. Note that FIG. 3 is a diagram for schematically explaining the relationship between the light guide 8 and the light source 10 and the function of the light guide 8, and the shape of the light guide and the like do not match those of the other figures.

  Here, the light guide 8 described above is fixedly supported on the housing body 5 of the lamp housing 7 via one mounting member 14 shown in FIG. 2, but before the details of the configuration related thereto are described. In addition, the support structure of the light guide of the conventional lamp device will be described more specifically with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 2, showing a conventional lamp device 4A. The lamp device 4A shown here also includes a lamp housing 7A including a housing body 5A and a lens 6A fixed to the housing body 5A, and a light guide 8A provided inside the lamp housing 7A. The light from a light source (not shown) incident on the light guide 8A is emitted from the light exit surface 13A to the outside of the light guide 8A while being reflected by the reflection surface 12A. The light guide 8A is sandwiched between a first mounting member 14A fixed to the housing body 5A by, for example, screwing, and a second mounting member 15A fixed and locked to the first mounting member 14A. Thereby, the light guide 8A is fixedly supported to the housing body 5A.

  As described above, in the conventional lamp device 4A, the light guide 8A is fixed to the housing body 5A via the first and second mounting members 14A and 15A. Increases and its cost increases. Moreover, as apparent from FIG. 6, each end 16A in the width direction of the light guide 8A is sandwiched between the first and second mounting members 14A and 15A and is covered and hidden from the outside. The light emitted from the portion 16A is not emitted to the outside. For this reason, the loss of light occurs, and there is an unavoidable possibility that power is wasted.

  On the other hand, in the lamp device 4 of this example shown in FIG. 4 which is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, a tip portion is formed on the reflective surface 12 side of the light guide 8. A lance 18 having a claw portion 17 formed thereon is projected. In the illustrated example, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a plurality of lances 18 arranged at intervals along the longitudinal direction of the light guide 8 are provided. The lance 18 is formed at the same time as the light guide 8 is formed. Therefore, the lance 18 is integrally formed with the light guide 8 by the same transparent material as the light guide 8.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, one mounting member 14 made of, for example, resin is provided inside the lamp housing 7. The attachment member 14 is fixed to the housing body 5 by, for example, a screw (not shown). As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, a plurality of mounting holes 19 are formed in the mounting member 14, and the lances 18 projecting integrally with the light guide 8 are inserted into the mounting holes 19, respectively. The claw portion 17 at the tip of each lance 18 is engaged with a portion of the mounting member 14 in the vicinity of each mounting hole 19. In this manner, the lance 18 is inserted into the mounting hole 19 of the mounting member 14 fixed to the housing body 5 and is locked to the mounting hole 19. Thereby, the light guide 8 is fixedly supported with respect to the housing body 5. The claw portion 17 can also be formed in a portion other than the tip portion of the light guide 8.

  As described above, in the lamp device 4 of this example, since the light guide 8 is fixed to the housing body 5 with only one mounting member 14, the number of parts of the lamp device 4 is reduced and the structure thereof is reduced. It is possible to simplify and reduce the cost of the lamp device 4.

  Further, by simply pushing the lance 18 projecting integrally with the light guide 8 into the mounting hole 19 formed in the mounting member 14, the lance 18 and the mounting member 14 are elastically deformed, and the lance 18 is mounted in the mounting hole. Since the lance 18 can be locked into the mounting hole 19 by being inserted into the mounting hole 19, the light guide 8 can be easily assembled to the mounting member 14.

  Further, since the light guide 8 is not sandwiched between the two mounting members, the end portion 16A of the light guide 8A has two mounting members 14A and 15A as in the conventional lamp device 4A shown in FIG. It will not be covered by. For this reason, according to the light guide 8 of the lamp device 4 of the present example, it is possible to suppress loss of light incident on the light guide 8 and prevent wasteful consumption of power.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 2, when the lance 18 is integrally provided on the light guide 8, the light source 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 is turned on, and the light from the light source 10 is transmitted to the light guide. when the longitudinal end 9 of 8 is incident in the light guide member 8, will gather light to the junction 20 of the lance 18 and the light guide 8, as shown in FIG. 5, an arrow L ₁ when viewed light guide 8 and the lance 18 and the outgoing direction of the indicated light in different directions of the line of sight, the amount of light L ₂ emitted from the junction 20 to the outside, to the outside from the other portions of the light guide 8 More than the amount of emitted light. For this reason, when the light guide 8 in the state shown in FIG. 5 is viewed from the outside, the root portion of the lance 18 shines stronger than the other portions of the light guide 8, and the appearance may be reduced. .

  Therefore, in the lamp device 4 of the present example, as shown in FIG. 2, a bulging portion 21 that covers the joint portion 20 between the lance 18 and the light guide 8 is provided at the root of the lance 18. And the lance 18 are integrally formed. When the light guide 8 is formed by, for example, an injection molding machine, at the same time, the lance 18 and the bulging portion 21 are integrally formed. Thus, the light guide 8, the lance 18, and the bulging portion 21 are integrally formed of the same transparent material by, for example, an injection molding machine.

The outer surface of the bulging portion 21 described above is formed as a curved surface protruding outward as shown in FIG. Since the bulging portion 21 is formed at the joint portion 20 between the lance 18 and the light guide 8, the light gathered at the joint portion 20 when the power supply 10 is turned on passes through the bulging portion 21, so that FIG. emitted to the outside dispersed as shown by arrows L _3. For this reason, it is blocked | prevented that the junction part 20 shines stronger than the other part of the light guide 8, or is suppressed effectively. For this reason, the whole light guide 8 shines uniformly, and it is prevented that the appearance of the light guide 8 falls. The lamp device 4 shown in FIG. 5 does not have the bulging portion 21, and therefore, the root portion of the lance 18 hits particularly strongly as described above, and the appearance of the light guide 8 is lowered. .

  In the example shown in FIG. 2, the bulging portion 21 is formed only in the upper portion of the root portion of the lance 18. In general, the position of the human eye 23 is located above the light guide 8 as shown in FIG. 2, so that a lot of light is emitted from the lower portion 24 of the joint portion 20. Even if it shines stronger than other parts, the light does not enter the human eye 23. For this reason, even if a larger amount of light is emitted from the lower portion 24 of the joint portion 20 than the other portions, the appearance of the light guide 8 does not deteriorate. On the other hand, if more light is emitted from the upper part of the joint portion 20 than the other parts of the light guide 8 and this upper part is particularly intensely shined, the light is directed to the human eye 23. There is a possibility that the appearance of the light guide 8 is remarkably deteriorated by being incident as it is. For this reason, the bulging part 21 is provided only in the upper part of the root part of the lance 18, the upper part of the joint part 20 is covered with the bulge part 21, and the light collected in the upper part of the joint part 20 is dispersed, This prevents the appearance of the light guide 8 from being lowered. Therefore, depending on the position where the lamp device is provided, the bulging portion 21 may be formed so as to cover the entire circumference of the bonding portion 20, or the bulging portion 21 may be provided so as to cover a portion other than the upper portion of the bonding portion 20. it can. Generally speaking, the bulging portion 21 is formed at the base portion of the lance 18 so as to cover at least a part of the joint portion 20 between the lance 18 and the light guide 8. In that case, it is usually preferable to form the bulging portion 21 at least in the upper portion of the root portion of the lance 18 as in the illustrated example.

  In addition, the lance 18 can be projected at an appropriate position of the light guide 8. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the lance 18 is a light guide above the central axis CL of the light guide 8. It is provided in the part. The reason is as follows.

Some of the light gathered in the junction 20 between the light guide body 8 and the lance 18, as indicated by an arrow L ₄ in FIG. 2, proceed obliquely downward, and is emitted to the outside from the output surface of the light guide 8 . At this time, since the human eye 23 is located above the light guide 8 as described above, the light L ₄ does not enter the human eye 23, and therefore is guided by the light L ₄ . The appearance of the body 8 is not reduced.

On the other hand, if the lance is provided at a position below the central axis CL of the light guide 8 as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 2, the light corresponding to the light L ₄ is indicated by the two-dot chain arrow L _5. As shown by, the light guide 8 exits obliquely upward and enters the human eye 23. Therefore, by the light _{L 5,} appearance of the light guide 8 is impaired. For this reason, it is preferable to project the lance 18 on the light guide portion above the central axis CL of the light guide 8 as shown by the solid line in FIG.

  In the specific examples shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the light guide 8 is provided with a lance 18, and the mounting member 14 is formed with a mounting hole 19 into which the lance 18 is inserted and locked. Conversely, a lance can be provided on the attachment member 14 and an attachment hole in which the lance is inserted and locked can be formed in the light guide 8. Alternatively, a lance protrudes from the light guide 8 and an attachment hole is formed in the attachment member 14 to be inserted and locked. The attachment member 14 is also provided with a lance, and the lance is inserted. The mounting hole to be locked can also be formed in the light guide 8.

  In short, one of the mounting member 14 and the light guide 8 fixed to the housing body 5 is provided with a lance 18 formed with a claw portion 17 and a mounting hole 19 is formed on the other side. The light guide 8 can be configured to be fixedly supported by the housing body 5 by inserting the lance 18 into the mounting hole 19 and being locked in the mounting hole 19. With such a configuration, the light guide 8 can be fixed to the housing body 5 with only one mounting member 14, so that the number of parts of the lamp device 4 can be reduced, the structure thereof can be simplified, and the cost can be reduced.

  The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, but the present invention is not limited to this configuration, and various modifications can be made. The present invention can also be widely applied to parts other than the front part of the vehicle body, for example, a lamp device provided at the rear part of the vehicle body.

4,104 Lamp device 5 Housing body 6 Lens 7 Lamp housing 8, 108 Light guide 9 Longitudinal end 10 Light source 12 Reflecting surface 13 Outgoing surface 14 Mounting member 17 Claw portion 18 Lance 19 Mounting hole 20 Joint portion 21 Bump portion CL Center axis

Claims (4)

A lamp housing having a housing body and a lens fixed to the housing body and covering an opening of the housing body; a light guide body provided in the lamp housing and made of a translucent material; A light source opposed to the longitudinal end of the light guide, and makes light from the light source enter the light guide from the longitudinal end of the light guide and guide the incident light. In a vehicular lamp device that emits the light from the exit surface of the light guide while reflecting off the reflecting surface of the body and emits the emitted light out of the lamp housing through the lens,
One of the mounting member fixed to the housing body and the light guide is provided with a lance formed with a claw, and the other is provided with a mounting hole, and the lance is formed in the mounting hole. A lamp device for a vehicle, wherein the light guide is fixedly supported on a housing body by being inserted and locked in the mounting hole. A lamp housing having a housing body and a lens fixed to the housing body and covering an opening of the housing body; a light guide body provided in the lamp housing and made of a translucent material; A light source opposed to the longitudinal end of the light guide, and makes light from the light source enter the light guide from the longitudinal end of the light guide and guide the incident light. In a vehicular lamp device that emits the light from the exit surface of the light guide while reflecting off the reflecting surface of the body and emits the emitted light out of the lamp housing through the lens,
The light guide is provided with a lance formed with a claw portion, and the lance is inserted into an attachment hole of an attachment member fixed to the housing main body and locked in the attachment hole. A light guide is fixedly supported on the housing body, and a bulge is formed at the base of the lance so as to cover at least a part of the joint between the lance and the light guide, and the outer surface of the bulge is external. A lamp device for a vehicle, wherein the light guide, the lance, and the bulging portion are integrally formed of the same light-transmitting material. The lamp device for a vehicle according to claim 2, wherein the bulging portion is formed at least in an upper portion of a base portion of the lance. 4. The vehicle lamp device according to claim 2, wherein the lance protrudes from a light guide portion above the central axis of the light guide. 5.

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