JP2014041796A - Vehicular lighting appliance - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicular lighting appliance capable of preventing the appearance thereof from being reduced by a vent hole.SOLUTION: In a head lamp (vehicular lighting appliance) 1, at least a light source is accommodated within a lamp chamber 4 defined by a housing 2 and a lens 3 covering an opening of the housing, a boss is projected in a rear wall of the housing 2, one end 6a of a vent hole 6 formed in the boss is opened within the lamp chamber 4, and the other end 6b of the vent hole 6 is opened to atmospheric air through a breathing tube 7 connected to an end portion of the boss. The one opening end 6a and the other opening end 6b of the vent hole 6 are offset in an edge direction (vertical direction) of the housing 2. For example, the opening end 6a of the vent hole 6 closer to the lamp chamber is offset upwards to the opening end 6b closer to atmospheric air just by ε.

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicular lamp in which a lamp chamber and the atmosphere are communicated with each other through a vent hole formed in a housing.

  In a vehicular lamp in which at least a light source is housed in a lamp chamber defined by a lens that covers a housing and its opening, in order to prevent water from entering from the outside, the joint between the housing and the lens is sealed. It is desirable to keep the chamber sealed.

  However, when the lamp chamber is hermetically sealed, the internal pressure of the lamp chamber changes due to temperature changes due to repeated lighting and extinction of the light source in the lamp chamber, and when the internal pressure drops, water enters the lamp chamber from the seal portion. In addition to the problem that the light source is turned off and the temperature in the lamp chamber decreases, moisture contained in the air in the lamp chamber condenses on the inner surface of the lens and the lens becomes cloudy.

  Therefore, as shown in the partial cross-sectional view of FIG. 4, a boss 102A is projected from the rear wall of the housing 102, and one end 106a of the vent hole 106 formed in the boss 102A is opened into the lamp chamber 104. The other end 106b of the air hole 106 is opened to the atmosphere via a breathing tube 107 connected to the end of the boss 102A, and the inside of the light chamber 104 is communicated to the atmosphere via the vent hole and the breathing tube 107. A configuration has been proposed in which a filter 108 is disposed therein (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). In FIG. 3, reference numeral 103 denotes a lens that covers the opening of the housing 102, and a lamp chamber 104 is defined by the lens 103 and the housing 102.

  According to the above configuration, since the interior of the lamp chamber 104 communicates with the atmosphere via the vent hole 106 and the breathing tube 107, the internal pressure of the lamp chamber 104 is maintained at atmospheric pressure, and the internal pressure is changed by the temperature change in the lamp chamber 104. Intrusion of water into the lamp chamber 104 from the outside due to a decrease in the water pressure is prevented. The filter 108 disposed in the breathing tube 107 also prevents water from entering from the outside.

  Further, since the air containing moisture in the lamp chamber 104 and the atmosphere are exchanged by the ventilation action (respiration action), the lens 103 is prevented from being clouded by condensation.

JP-A-8-235906 Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 7-036313

  By the way, in the structure shown in FIG. 4, the opening 106a of the vent hole 106 into the lamp chamber 104 is easily noticeable from the front, which causes a decrease in the appearance of the vehicular lamp. For this reason, the opening 106a of the vent hole 106 into the lamp chamber 104 is desired to be arranged as close as possible to the outer peripheral edge of the housing 102. However, the breathing tube 107 is attached to the end of the boss 102A of the housing 102. It is necessary to secure a gap δ for attaching 107 between the outer peripheral edge of the housing 102 and the boss 102A. Therefore, there is a limit to disposing the opening 106a into the lamp chamber 104 of the vent hole 106 close to the outer peripheral edge of the housing 102, and since the opening 106a is conspicuous from the front, the appearance of the vehicle lamp Could not solve the problem of falling.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular lamp that can prevent deterioration in appearance due to a vent hole.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, at least a light source is housed in the defining plate other lamp chamber by a lens that covers the housing and its opening, and a boss projects from the rear wall of the housing. In a vehicular lamp configured such that one end of a vent hole formed in a boss is opened in the lamp chamber, and the other end of the vent hole is opened to the atmosphere via a breathing tube connected to an end portion of the boss. The one end opening and the other end opening of the vent hole are offset in the direction of the edge of the housing.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the lamp chamber side opening end of the vent hole is offset upward with respect to the atmosphere side opening end.

  According to the present invention, since the one end opening and the other end opening of the vent hole are offset in the direction of the edge of the housing, the vent hole is provided to secure a gap for attaching the breathing tube to the end of the boss of the housing. Even if the atmosphere-side opening end of the vent hole is arranged slightly apart from the outer peripheral edge of the housing as in the conventional case, the opening of the vent hole on the lamp chamber side can be arranged close to the outer peripheral edge of the housing, which is difficult to see from the front. For this reason, the opening end on the lamp chamber side of the vent hole is not easily noticeable from the front, and the appearance of the vehicular lamp due to the vent hole is prevented from being deteriorated.

1 is a front view of a vehicular lamp according to the present invention. It is the sectional view on the AA line of FIG. It is a figure similar to FIG. 2 which shows the modification of this invention. It is a figure similar to FIG. 2 of the conventional vehicle lamp.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a front view of a vehicular lamp according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 1, and the vehicular lamp 1 shown in the figure is a headlamp of a motorcycle. A bulb 5 (see FIG. 1), which is a light source, is housed in the center of a lamp chamber 4 (see FIG. 2) defined by the housing 2 and a lens 3 covering the front opening thereof.

  The housing 2 is integrally formed of a light-impermeable resin. Although not shown, a seal groove that opens toward the front of the vehicle (front side in FIG. 1) is formed on the entire outer periphery of the housing 2. ing. The lens 3 is integrally formed of a light-transmitting resin, and a leg portion (not shown) formed integrally around the outer periphery of the lens 3 toward the rear of the vehicle is formed in the seal groove of the housing 2 in the front of the vehicle. The lens 3 is joined and integrated with the housing 2 by adhering the inserted portion with an adhesive (not shown) such as hot melt, and the joint between the two is hermetically sealed with the adhesive. Yes. In the lamp chamber 4, a reflector 9 is formed by forming a silver reflecting surface on the inner surface of the housing 2 by vapor deposition or the like. A silver film is formed by vapor deposition or the like.

  By the way, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, a boss 2A is integrally projected horizontally on the rear wall of the housing 2 toward the rear of the vehicle (to the right in FIG. 2). The boss 2A is formed with a vent hole 6 for communicating the lamp chamber 4 with the atmosphere. This vent hole 6 is bent in a crank shape, and the lamp chamber side opening 6a that opens into the lamp chamber 4 and the atmosphere side opening 6b that opens to the atmosphere are offset in the vertical direction by ε shown in the figure. The boss 2A is formed at the same position in the vertical direction as the boss 102A of the conventional vehicle lamp shown in FIG.

  Thus, one end of a rubber breathing tube 7 bent in a U-shape is attached to the end (rear end) of the boss 2 </ b> A of the housing 2, and the other end of the breathing tube 7 is connected to the housing 2. Open toward the rear wall. Inside the breathing tube 7, a sponge-like filter 8 for preventing entry of water, dust and the like into the lamp chamber 4 from the outside is disposed.

  In the present embodiment, as described above, the boss 2A of the housing 2 is formed at the same position in the vertical direction as the boss 102A of the conventional vehicle lamp shown in FIG. A predetermined gap δ as in the prior art is secured between the boss 2 and the end of the boss 2A, and one end of the breathing tube 7 can be easily attached with good workability.

  In this embodiment, since the lamp chamber side opening 6a of the vent hole 6 is offset upward by ε shown in FIG. 2 with respect to the atmosphere side opening 6b, the lamp chamber side opening 6a is illustrated in FIG. 3 can be arranged near the outer peripheral edge of the housing 2 by an offset amount ε relative to that of the conventional vehicle lamp shown in FIG.

  In the headlamp 1 configured as described above, since the interior of the lamp chamber 4 communicates with the atmosphere via the vent hole 6 and the breathing tube 7, the internal pressure of the lamp chamber 4 is maintained at atmospheric pressure, and the lamp chamber Intrusion of water into the lamp chamber 4 from the outside due to a decrease in internal pressure due to a temperature change in the lamp 4 is prevented. The filter 8 provided in the breathing tube 7 also prevents water and dust from entering from the outside.

  Further, since the air containing moisture in the lamp chamber 4 is exchanged with the atmosphere by the ventilation action (respiration action), the lens 3 is prevented from being fogged due to condensation.

  Thus, according to the present embodiment, the vent hole 6 is formed to be bent in a crank shape, and the lamp chamber side opening 6a is offset upward by ε shown in FIG. 2 with respect to the atmosphere side opening 6b. Therefore, the air-side opening end 6b of the vent hole 6 is arranged slightly apart downward from the outer peripheral edge of the housing 2 as usual in order to secure a gap δ for attaching the breathing tube 7 to the end of the boss 2A of the housing 2. Even so, the lamp chamber side opening 6a of the vent hole 6 can be arranged close to the outer peripheral edge of the housing 2 which is difficult to see from the front. For this reason, the lamp chamber side opening 6a of the vent hole 6 is not easily noticeable from the front, and the effect of preventing the appearance of the headlamp 1 from being deteriorated due to the vent hole 6 can be prevented.

  In addition, when vapor deposition or the like is performed when the reflective surface is formed on the reflector 9 of the housing 2, vapor deposition or the like is performed at the same time as the reflective surface is formed on the lamp chamber side opening 6 a side of the vent 6. As a result, it is desirable to form a silver film on the inner surface of the lamp chamber side opening 6a, particularly on the bottom surface on the front side in the form of a crank. In that case, the lamp chamber side opening 6a of the vent hole 6 becomes more difficult to see from the front.

  Further, the lamp chamber side opening 6a of the vent hole 6 can be brought close to the periphery of the headlamp 1, as shown in FIG. For this reason, the edge of the reflector 9 of the headlamp 1 can also be formed near the periphery of the headlamp 1. As a result, even when the reflector 9 having the same size as that in the case where the offset is not offset by ε is provided, there is an effect that the size of the entire headlamp 1 can be reduced.

  In the above, the embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a motorcycle headlamp has been described. However, the present invention is also applicable to any other vehicular lamp having the same configuration. Of course.

  Of course, the present invention can be similarly applied to any other vehicular lamp having the same configuration. Further, the vent hole 6 bent on the crank has a shape in which the passage in the direction perpendicular to the mold opening direction (left-right direction in FIG. 3) of the mold is made shorter than the passage in the mold opening direction, as shown in FIG. It is good also as a structure easy to manufacture by injection molding, and the direction to offset is not restricted up and down.

1 Headlamp (vehicle lamp)
2 Housing 2A Housing boss 3 Lens 4 Lamp chamber 5 Valve 6 Ventilation hole 6a Vent hole opening on the chamber side 6b Vent aperture opening on the atmosphere side 7 Breathing tube 8 Filter ε Vent opening on the chamber side and atmosphere side Offset of opening δ Clearance between housing boss and outer periphery

Claims (2)

A light source is accommodated at least in a lamp chamber defined by a housing and a lens covering the opening, a boss projecting from the rear wall of the housing, and one end of a vent hole formed in the boss is opened in the lamp chamber In the vehicle lamp configured to open the other end of the vent hole to the atmosphere through a breathing tube connected to the end of the boss,
A vehicular lamp characterized in that one end opening and the other end opening of the vent hole are offset toward the edge of the housing. The vehicular lamp according to claim 1, wherein a lamp chamber side opening end of the vent hole is offset upward with respect to an atmosphere side opening end.

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