JP2014116191A - Valve fitting structure, and vehicular lighting unit with the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a valve fitting structure and a vehicular lighting unit having the valve fitting structure in which a cross direction size is small and a light utilization efficiency is high.SOLUTION: A discharge bulb 23 is fitted to a fitting hole 55 at a side of a lighting unit of a reflector 25 under an attitude that a bulb axial direction extends along a lateral direction of the lighting unit and a conductive line part 42 is positioned below and rear side of a light-emitting part 41. An outer peripheral part of a flange part 43b is provided with a position setting recess 45 at a side opposite to the conductive line part 42 as seen from a bulb axial direction in respect to a light-emitting part. The fitting hole 55 is provided with a protrusion 57 of a shape corresponding to the position setting recess 45. The discharge bulb 23 is position set in respect to the reflector 25 through fitting between the position setting recess 45 and the protrusion 57. A pressing piece 64a pushing the flange part 43b against the inner periphery of the fitting hole 55 opposite to the protrusion 57 in respect to the valve axis is arranged above and forward from the central part of the fitting hole 55.

Description

  The present invention relates to a bulb mounting structure and a vehicular lamp including the same.

  A vehicular lamp equipped with a discharge bulb as a light source is known, for example, from Patent Document 1. In such a vehicular lamp, an opening for inserting a bulb is provided on the back surface of the lamp body, and a discharge bulb is detachably provided through the opening.

  Generally, the discharge bulb includes a light emitting portion extending in one direction and a conductive wire portion extending in parallel with the light emitting portion and conducting with the light emitting portion. In the vehicle lamp disclosed in Patent Document 1, the discharge bulb is disposed such that the light emitting portion and the conducting wire portion face the front-rear direction of the vehicle.

JP 2009-238724 A

  By the way, with the recent demand for miniaturization of vehicles, miniaturization of vehicle lamps is also required. In the vehicle lamp described above, the dimension in the extending direction of the light emitting portion and the conductor portion of the discharge bulb is large. For this reason, the size of the vehicular lamp in the vehicle front-rear direction tends to increase.

  In view of this, the present inventors have considered arranging the discharge bulb so that the direction in which the light emitting portion and the conductor portion extend is directed in the lateral direction of the vehicle. Thereby, the front-back direction length of a vehicle lamp can be shortened. However, it has been found that even if the discharge bulb is arranged in this way, the shadow of the conductor portion is projected onto the reflector as it is, and it is difficult to improve the light utilization efficiency.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a bulb mounting structure having a small size in the front-rear direction and high light utilization efficiency, and a vehicular lamp provided with the same.

The valve mounting structure of the present invention capable of solving the above problems is
A bulb mounting structure for a vehicle lamp having a discharge bulb, and a reflector that reflects light from the discharge bulb toward the front of the lamp,
The discharge bulb has a light emitting part extending in a bulb axial direction, a conducting wire part extending in parallel with the light emitting part, and a support part for supporting the light emitting part and the conducting wire part,
The reflector has a front opening that is provided on the front side of the lamp and allows light from the light emitting part to pass therethrough, and a mounting hole that is provided on the side of the lamp and to which the discharge bulb is attached.
The discharge bulb is attached to the attachment hole portion in a posture in which the bulb axial direction is along the left-right direction of the lamp, and the conductor portion is positioned below and behind the light emitting portion,
On the outer peripheral portion of the support portion, a positioning notch is provided on the side opposite to the conductive wire portion with respect to the light emitting portion as seen from the bulb axial direction,
The mounting hole is provided with a protrusion having a shape corresponding to the positioning notch,
By fitting the positioning notch and the protrusion, the discharge bulb is positioned with respect to the reflector,
When viewed from the valve shaft direction, the pressing piece that presses the support portion against the inner periphery of the mounting hole portion on the opposite side of the projection portion with respect to the valve shaft is above and in front of the center portion of the mounting hole portion. Is arranged.

In the valve mounting structure of the present invention,
The pressing piece is an elastically deformable metal piece,
It is preferable that the pressing piece is integrally provided with an elastic contact piece that elastically contacts a power supply terminal to the discharge bulb.

In the valve mounting structure of the present invention,
In the vicinity of the mounting hole, a retainer spring that pushes the discharge bulb attached to the mounting hole into the reflector is provided to be rotatable around a rotation support shaft.
The elastic contact piece is preferably provided at a position that does not interfere with the rotational movement of the retainer spring.

In the valve mounting structure of the present invention,
It is preferable that the pressing piece has a shape that sandwiches the protruding portion of the reflector.

  The vehicular lamp of the present invention includes any one of the above-described bulb mounting structures.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the dimension in the front-back direction is small, and the bulb mounting structure with high utilization efficiency of light and a vehicle lamp provided with the same are provided.

It is a side view of the vehicular lamp concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a front view of the lamp unit of the vehicle lamp shown in FIG. It is AA sectional drawing of FIG. It is a disassembled perspective view of the lamp unit of the vehicle lamp shown in FIG.

<Overall structure>
Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of a bulb mounting structure and a vehicular lamp provided with the same according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a side view of a vehicular lamp 10 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a front view of the lamp unit 18 of the vehicular lamp 10 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicular lamp 10 according to the present embodiment includes a lamp unit 18. The lamp unit 18 is accommodated in a lamp chamber S formed by the transparent transparent cover 2 and the lamp body 3.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the lamp unit 18 is a projector-type lamp unit. The lamp unit 18 includes a projection lens 11 having an optical axis Ax extending in the vehicle front-rear direction, a discharge bulb 23 (see FIG. 3) disposed behind the rear focal point F of the projection lens 11, and radiation from the discharge bulb 23. A reflector 25 that focuses the reflected light toward the optical axis Ax toward the front, a movable shade 30 (see FIG. 3) that can form a cut-off line of the light distribution pattern, and an actuator 20 that moves the movable shade 30. It is equipped with.

  The projection lens 11 is a plano-convex lens having a convex front surface and a flat rear surface. The projection lens 11 is disposed such that the rear focal point F is located in a second focal region of a main reflection surface 52 (described later) of the reflector 25. Thereby, the projection lens 11 projects the image on the focal plane including the rear focal point F as a reverse image to the front of the lamp.

  The projection lens 11 is attached to a lens holder 31. The lens holder 31 includes a lens holding portion 32 that holds the outer periphery of the projection lens 11 and a plurality of fixing portions 33 that extend rearward from the lens holding portion 32. The projection lens 11 is supported on the reflector 25 by fixing the fixing portion 33 of the lens holder 31 to the reflector 25.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the movable shade 30 is disposed between the projection lens 11 and the discharge bulb 23. This movable shade 30 shields a part of the reflected light from the reflector 25 and a part of the direct light from the discharge bulb 23 to form a cut-off line of the light distribution pattern.

  The movable shade 30 is disposed so that the upper end thereof is positioned in the vicinity of the rear focal point F of the projection lens 11. The movable shade 30 is switched by rotation between a shielding position that forms a cut-off line in the light distribution pattern (state shown in FIG. 3) and a shielding mitigation position that reduces the shielding amount with respect to the reflected light from the reflector 25 rather than the shielding position. It is possible.

  A connecting rod 20 a (see FIG. 1) extending from the actuator 20 is connected to the movable shade 30. When the actuator 20 is driven, the movable shade 30 is rotated via the connecting rod 20a, and the shielding position and the shielding relaxation position are switched. Accordingly, the lamp unit 18 can switch between a light distribution pattern having a predetermined cutoff line and a light distribution pattern with a reduced light shielding amount.

<Reflector>
As shown in FIG. 3, a front opening 51 is provided on the front side of the lamp of the reflector 25. Part of the light from the light emitting part 41 of the discharge bulb 23 passes through the front opening 51. The reflector 25 has a main reflection surface 52 and a lower reflection surface 53.

  The main reflecting surface 52 is a vertical section including the optical axis Ax, an ellipse formed in a substantially elliptical shape with the position of the light emitting unit 41 as the first focus and the rear focus F of the projection lens 11 as the second focus. It is a system reflection surface. The lower reflecting surface 53 reflects a part of the light emitted from the light emitting part 41 of the discharge bulb 23 and makes it incident on the main reflecting surface 52.

  A part of the light emitted from the light emitting part 41 of the discharge bulb 23 and a part of the light reflected by the lower reflecting surface 53 are reflected forward from the optical axis Ax by the main reflecting surface 52. A part of the light reflected by the main reflecting surface 52 is also irradiated forward from the front opening 51 to the lamp.

<Discharge bulb>
FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the lamp unit of the vehicular lamp according to the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 4, the discharge bulb 23 includes a substantially cylindrical light emitting portion 41, a conducting wire portion 42, and a support portion 43. The light emitting portion 41 of the discharge bulb 23 extends in the bulb axial direction, and a support portion 43 is provided on one end side of the light emitting portion 41. The conducting wire part 42 has a conductor and an insulator covering the conductor, and is supported by the support part 43. The conducting wire portion 42 extends in parallel to the light emitting portion 41 with a space from the light emitting portion 41.

The support part 43 is integrally provided with a cylindrical part 43a and a flange part 43b.
The flange portion 43b is provided so as to project to the outer peripheral side of the cylindrical portion 43a. A positioning notch 45 is formed in a part of the outer periphery of the flange portion 43b. The positioning notch 45 is provided on the side opposite to the conductor portion 42 with respect to the light emitting portion 41 when viewed from the bulb axial direction.

  The end of the support part 43 is a connection part 47 including a connection terminal part 46, and the ballast device 40 is connected to the connection part 47. When power is supplied from the ballast device 40, the light emitting unit 41 emits light.

<Discharge bulb mounting structure>
Next, the mounting structure of the discharge bulb 23 will be described. The discharge bulb 23 is attached to an attachment hole 55 provided on the side of the reflector 25. The discharge bulb 23 is prevented from coming off from the attachment hole 55 by a retainer spring 81.

  The attachment hole 55 is provided on the side of the reflector 25 with an attachment hole 55 into which the discharge bulb 23 is inserted. The discharge bulb 23 is attached to the attachment hole 55 in such a posture that the bulb axial direction is along the lamp left-right direction, and the conducting wire portion 42 is positioned below and behind the light emitting portion 41.

  The mounting hole 55 is formed with a protrusion 57 that protrudes radially inward of the hole. The projection 57 is formed in a shape corresponding to the positioning notch 45 formed in the flange 43 b of the discharge bulb 23. The protrusion 57 is fitted into the positioning notch 45 when the discharge bulb 23 is inserted into the mounting hole 55. When the protrusion 57 is fitted in the positioning notch 45, the discharge bulb 23 can be positioned with respect to the reflector 25.

  A pressing piece mounting base 61 is formed on the outer peripheral side of the mounting hole 55. A metal member 62 is attached to the pressing piece mounting base 61.

(Metal member)
The metal member 62 is a member formed from a metal such as spring steel having elasticity and conductivity. The metal member 62 has a valve pressing portion 64 provided on one end side and an elastic contact portion 65 provided on the other end side and in elastic contact with the electrode of the ballast device 40. In the metal member 62, a recess 63a is formed at the edge on the mounting hole 55 side so as to avoid the mounting screw 70.

  Further, the metal member 62 is formed with reinforcing ribs 66 that increase the rigidity of the metal member 62 and locking claws 67. The locking claw 67 locks the side surface of the pressing piece mounting base 61 when the metal member 62 is mounted on the pressing piece mounting base 61. As a result, the metal member 62 is held in a state of being attached to the pressing piece mounting base 61.

  The valve pressing part 64 has a pair of pressing pieces 64a provided at intervals. These pressing pieces 64 a extend toward the center of the attachment hole 55. When the discharge bulb 23 is attached to the attachment hole 55, the press piece 64 a comes into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the support portion 43 of the discharge bulb 23 with the pair of press pieces 64 a sandwiching the protrusion 57. At this time, the tip of the pressing piece 64a is curved so that the pressing piece 64a is in elastic contact.

  The elastic contact portion 65 protrudes to the opposite side of the direction in which the discharge bulb 23 is inserted into the mounting hole 55. When the discharge bulb 23 is attached to the attachment hole 55 and the ballast device 40 is further attached, an electrode (not shown) of the ballast device 40 that is a power supply terminal to the discharge bulb 23 is in elastic contact with the elastic contact piece 65a. To do. Thereby, the discharge bulb 23 and the ballast device 40 are electrically connected via the metal member 62.

(Retainer spring)
A retainer spring 81 is attached in the vicinity of the attachment hole 55. The retainer spring 81 is formed from a metal wire having elasticity. The retainer spring 81 has a rotation support shaft 82, and a pair of locking arm portions 83 extend from both sides of the rotation support shaft 82. These locking arm portions 83 are formed in a shape that wraps around the outer periphery of the attachment hole portion 55 from the rotation support shaft 82. At the end of each locking arm portion 83, a gripping portion 83a bent in an annular shape is formed.

  The rotation support shaft 82 of the retainer spring 81 is accommodated in a support groove 71 provided in the reflector 25. Then, the mounting screw 70 is screwed into the screw hole 68 of the reflector 25 in a state where the rotation support shaft 82 is accommodated in the support groove 71, so that the rotation support shaft 82 is prevented from coming out of the support groove 71. Thereby, the rotation support shaft 82 is rotatably supported in the support groove 71. The mounting screw 70 supports the metal member 62 and the reflector 25 together with the retainer spring 81.

  In addition, a peripheral wall 85 is formed on the reflector 25 on the opposite side of the support groove 71 with the mounting hole 55 interposed therebetween. The peripheral wall 85 is formed with two retainer locking portions 86 made of notches.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the locking arm portion 83 of the retainer spring 81 is brought into contact with the flange portion 43 b of the discharge bulb 23 inserted into the mounting hole portion 55, so that the locking arm portion 83 of the retainer spring 81 is engaged. Is locked to the retainer locking portion 86, the discharge bulb 23 is pushed in the direction of insertion into the mounting hole 55 by the elastic force of the locking arm portion 83.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 1, the elastic contact piece 65 a of the metal member 62 is provided at a position that does not interfere with the rotational movement of the retainer spring 81. Thereby, the retainer spring 81 can be smoothly rotated without being interrupted by the elastic contact piece 65a protruding to the opposite side to the insertion direction of the discharge bulb 23.

<Discharge bulb mounting method>
Next, a procedure for attaching the discharge bulb 23 to the reflector 25 will be described.
First, the metal member 62 and the retainer spring 81 are attached to the reflector 25 using the attachment screw 70. Next, the discharge bulb 23 is inserted into the mounting hole 55 of the reflector 25 from the light emitting unit 41 side. Then, the protrusion 57 is fitted into the positioning notch 45. With the fitting between the positioning notch 45 and the protrusion 57, the discharge bulb 23 is arranged such that the bulb axial direction is arranged along the left-right direction of the lamp, and the conductor portion 42 is positioned below and behind the light emitting portion 41. It becomes.

  Further, when the discharge bulb 23 is inserted into the mounting hole 55, the pressing piece 64a comes into contact with the support portion 43 of the discharge bulb 23 and is elastically deformed. As a result, the discharge bulb 23 is pressed against the inner periphery of the mounting hole 55 on the side opposite to the protrusion 57 by the elastic force of the pressing piece 64a.

  As described above, when the discharge bulb 23 is inserted into the mounting hole 55 and attached to the reflector 25, the retainer spring 81 is rotated, and the locking arm portion 83 is locked to the retainer locking portion 86. Then, the engaging arm portion 83 of the retainer spring 81 comes into contact with the flange portion 43b of the discharge bulb 23 inserted into the attaching hole portion 55, and the discharge bulb 23 is attached to the attaching hole portion by the elastic force of these engaging arm portions 83. It is held in a state where it is pushed in the direction of insertion into 55.

  When the discharge bulb 23 is attached to the reflector 25, the ballast device 40 is attached to the support portion 43 of the discharge bulb 23. Thereby, the connection terminal portion 46 is electrically connected to the power feeding electrode of the ballast device 40, and the elastic contact piece 65 a of the metal member 62 is electrically connected to the metal cover 40 a of the ballast device 40. The metallic cover 40a is electrically connected to the vehicle body ground. Thereby, the reflector 25 is grounded through the elastic contact piece 65a and the metallic cover 40a.

  Thus, according to this embodiment, since the bulb axial direction of the discharge bulb 23 is arranged along the left-right direction of the lamp, the front-rear direction dimension of the lamp 10 for the vehicle can be shortened.

  Here, when the discharge bulb 23 is arranged so that the conducting wire portion 42 is positioned directly below the light emitting portion 41, a part of the light from the light emitting portion 41 is blocked by the conducting wire portion 42. As a result, light does not enter the lower reflection surface 53 of the reflector 25 provided below the discharge bulb 23 at a portion located directly below the discharge bulb 23. A portion of the lower reflecting surface 53 located immediately below the discharge bulb 23 is a portion that is effectively used for forming a light distribution pattern formed in front of the lamp. For this reason, the utilization efficiency of light will fall. On the other hand, a portion of the main reflection surface 52 or the lower reflection surface 53 of the reflector 25 that is located below and behind the light emitting portion 41 contributes little to the formation of the light distribution pattern.

  In this embodiment, the conducting wire part 42 of the discharge bulb 23 is installed so as to be located below and behind the light emitting part 41. As a result, the portion of the lower reflection surface 53 that greatly contributes to the formation of the light distribution pattern can be effectively used, and the light use efficiency can be increased.

  Further, when the discharge bulb 23 is tilted and installed around the axis, the position of the center of gravity is shifted by the amount of the conducting wire portion 42, so that the discharge bulb 23 is easily rotated around the axis by the action of gravity. However, even when the discharge bulb 23 is inclined and installed in this manner, the pressing force 64a of the metal member 62 can exert a pressing force on the discharge bulb 23 from above to below. Thereby, the discharge bulb 23 is stably held so as not to rotate the pressing piece.

  The pressing piece 64a is made of an elastically deformable metal, and integrally includes an elastic contact piece 65a that elastically contacts the discharge bulb 23. Thereby, the elastic contact piece 65a and the pressing piece 64a can be formed as an integral part, and the number of parts can be reduced.

  In addition, since the elastic contact piece 65a is provided at a position that does not interfere with the rotational movement of the retainer spring 81 that pushes the discharge bulb 23 attached to the attachment hole 55 into the reflector 25, to the reflector 25 of the discharge bulb 23. Can be carried out smoothly.

  Further, since the pressing piece 64a has a shape sandwiching the protruding portion 57 of the reflector 25, the pressing piece 64a is disposed in a stable posture above and in front of the central portion of the mounting hole portion 55, so that the discharge bulb 23 is excellent. Can be pressed.

10: Vehicle lamp, 23: Discharge bulb, 25: Reflector, 41: Light emitting part, 42: Conductor part, 43: Support part, 43a: Cylindrical part, 43b: Flange part, 45: Notch for positioning, 51: Front opening, 55: mounting hole, 57: protrusion, 64a: pressing piece, 65a: elastic contact piece, 81: retainer spring, 82: rotation support shaft

Claims (5)

A bulb mounting structure for a vehicle lamp having a discharge bulb, and a reflector that reflects light from the discharge bulb toward the front of the lamp,
The discharge bulb has a light emitting part extending in a bulb axial direction, a conducting wire part extending in parallel with the light emitting part, and a support part for supporting the light emitting part and the conducting wire part,
The reflector has a front opening that is provided on the front side of the lamp and allows light from the light emitting part to pass therethrough, and a mounting hole that is provided on the side of the lamp and to which the discharge bulb is attached.
The discharge bulb is attached to the attachment hole portion in a posture in which the bulb axial direction is along the left-right direction of the lamp, and the conductor portion is positioned below and behind the light emitting portion,
On the outer peripheral portion of the support portion, a positioning notch is provided on the side opposite to the conductive wire portion with respect to the light emitting portion as seen from the bulb axial direction,
The mounting hole is provided with a protrusion having a shape corresponding to the positioning notch,
By fitting the positioning notch and the protrusion, the discharge bulb is positioned with respect to the reflector,
When viewed from the valve shaft direction, the pressing piece that presses the support portion against the inner periphery of the mounting hole portion on the opposite side of the projection portion with respect to the valve shaft is above and in front of the center portion of the mounting hole portion. The valve mounting structure is arranged in The pressing piece is made of an elastically deformable metal,
The bulb mounting structure according to claim 1, wherein the pressing piece is integrally provided with an elastic contact piece that elastically contacts a power supply terminal to the discharge bulb. In the vicinity of the mounting hole, a retainer spring that pushes the discharge bulb attached to the mounting hole into the reflector is provided to be rotatable around a rotation support shaft.
The valve mounting structure according to claim 2, wherein the elastic contact piece is provided at a position that does not interfere with the rotational motion of the retainer spring.   4. The valve mounting structure according to claim 1, wherein the pressing piece has a shape that sandwiches the protruding portion of the reflector. 5.   The vehicle lamp provided with the valve | bulb attachment structure as described in any one of Claim 1 to 4.

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