JP2017168335A - Lighting fixture for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a lighting fixture for a vehicle, which can irradiate a wide range with light by one inner lens.SOLUTION: In a lighting fixture 1 for a vehicle having an LED 5 being a light source, and an inner lens 6 for controlling light distribution by reflecting and refracting light which is made incident from the LED 5, an emission face (diffusion face) 6d for diffusing and emitting light within a half-value angle which is emitted from the LED 5 around an optical axis AX, a first reflection face 6c for internally reflecting light outside the half-value angle, and second reflection faces 7b, 8b and 9b for reflecting the light which is internally reflected at the first reflection face 6c, and emitting it in a direction intersecting the optical axis AX, are formed at the inner lens 6. The lighting fixture 1 for the vehicle possesses both of a lamp function by the light within the half-value angle which is emitted from the LED 5 and a lamp function by the light outside the half-value angle.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicular lamp including an inner lens that controls light distribution of light incident from an LED (light emitting diode).

  For example, LEDs are being used instead of conventional bulbs as light sources for vehicle lamps such as DRL (Day Running Lamp) and clearance lamps. While this LED has advantages such as high luminous efficiency, long life, and power saving, the light emitted from the LED has high directivity. To satisfy the light distribution characteristics required for each lamp.

  By the way, Patent Document 1 proposes an illumination optical element that can suppress nonuniform illumination caused by a light source with a small number of optical elements and an illumination apparatus including the illumination optical element shown in FIG.

  That is, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of the illumination optical element proposed in Patent Document 1 and an illumination apparatus including the illumination optical element. The illustrated illumination apparatus 101 forms a region A1 of the sample surface SP, which is an illuminated surface, in a planar shape. The apparatus includes a light source 102 that emits illumination light and an illumination optical system 103.

  The illumination optical system 103 is an optical system that irradiates the light from the light source 102 onto the area A1 of the sample surface SP in a plane, and includes a contact lens 104 and an illumination optical element 105. Here, the contact lens 104 collimates the light emitted from the light source 102 and enters the illumination optical element 105 as a parallel light beam. The illumination optical element 105 irradiates light incident as a parallel light beam in a plane on the region A1 of the sample surface SP, and the exit surface has a direction perpendicular to the optical axis AX (up and down in FIG. 4). A plurality of refracting surfaces RS that refract the light toward the region A1 of the sample surface SP are formed in each direction.

  In the illumination device 101 configured as described above, the light emitted from the light source 102 and incident on the illumination optical element 105 as a parallel light beam by the contact lens 104 is subjected to a plurality of refractions formed on the exit surface of the illumination optical element 105. Divided into a plurality by the surface RS and refracted toward the region A1 of the sample surface SP, and enters the region A1 as a parallel light flux. That is, the light divided into a plurality by the illumination optical element 105 overlaps in the region A1 of the sample surface SP. As a result, the non-uniform light amount distribution resulting from the light distribution characteristic is averaged in the region A1 of the sample surface SP.

JP, 2006-025316, A

  However, in the illumination device 101 including the illumination optical element 105 shown in FIG. 4, the light emitted from the light source 102 is divided into a plurality of parts by the refractive surface SR of the illumination optical element 105, and the plurality of divided lights are refracted to form the sample surface. Since they overlap in the SP area A1, there is a problem that only the narrow area A1 can be illuminated and a wide area cannot be illuminated.

  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 irradiate light over a wide range with one inner lens.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is a vehicle lamp comprising an LED as a light source and an inner lens that controls light distribution by reflecting and refracting light incident from the LED. Further, an emission surface for diffusing and emitting light within the half-value angle emitted from the LED around the center of the optical axis, a first reflection surface for internally reflecting light outside the half-value angle, and internal reflection by the first reflection surface The second reflecting surface is formed such that the reflected light is reflected and emitted in a direction intersecting with the optical axis inside the inner lens and / or outside the inner lens so as not to interfere with the inner lens in the light emitting direction. And

  The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that, in the invention according to claim 1, the lamp function by the light within the half-value angle emitted from the LED and the lamp function by the light outside the half-value angle are combined.

  According to the first aspect of the invention, out of the light emitted from the LED and incident on the inner lens, the strong light within the half-value angle is diffused around the center of the optical axis at the exit surface of the inner lens and emitted. In addition, weak light outside the half-value angle is internally reflected in the inner lens by the first reflecting surface, and the light reflected from the inner surface is reflected again by the second reflecting surface of the inner lens to interfere with the inner lens in the light emitting direction. In order to avoid this, light is emitted in a direction that intersects the optical axis inside the inner lens and / or outside near the inner lens, so that light can be irradiated over a wide range by one inner lens.

  According to the invention described in claim 2, the vehicular lamp has a lamp function (for example, a DRL function) by strong light within a half-value angle emitted from the LED and a lamp function (for example, a clearance lamp) by weak light outside the half-value angle. Function), it can be multi-functional and compact.

It is a disassembled perspective view of the vehicle lamp which concerns on this invention. It is a plane sectional view showing composition of an optical system of one lamp unit in a vehicular lamp concerning the present invention. It is a front view which shows the light emission range of one lamp unit in the vehicle lamp which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the illumination optical element proposed in patent document 1, and an illuminating device provided with the same.

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

  1 is an exploded perspective view of a vehicular lamp according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan sectional view showing the configuration of an optical system of one lamp unit in the vehicular lamp, and FIG. 3 is one lamp unit in the vehicular lamp. It is a front view which shows the light emission range.

  A vehicular lamp 1 shown in FIG. 1 is a four-lamp type lamp that has both a DRL function and a clearance lamp function, and is configured by arranging four lamp units 3 side by side in a housing 2. And the rectangular flat board | substrate 4 is attached to four places corresponding to each lamp unit 3 of the back surface of the housing 2, and LED5 which is a light source has the light emission direction in the center part of each board | substrate 4. FIG. Each is mounted so as to be in front of the vehicle (in the diagonally lower right direction in FIG. 1). Although not shown, the vehicular lamp 1 includes a low beam lamp and a high beam lamp in a lamp chamber defined by a housing of a combination head lamp disposed on the left and right sides of the vehicle and a transparent outer lens covering the front opening. And a plurality of other lamps such as a turn signal lamp.

  Here, the configuration of the optical system of one lamp unit 3 in the four-lamp type vehicle lamp 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

  In one lamp unit 3, an inner lens 6 is disposed in front of the light emitting direction of the LED 5 mounted on the substrate 4 (upward in FIG. 2). The inner lens 6 is made of a transparent resin such as acrylic or polycarbonate. An incident surface 6a having an arc convex curved surface centered on the optical axis AX is formed at the center of the back surface facing the LED 5, and the incident surface 6a is surrounded by the incident surface 6a. A flat tapered surface 6b that opens from the outer periphery of 6a toward the rear of the vehicle (downward in FIG. 2) is formed. The first reflecting surface 6c having a convex curved surface is formed continuously from the outer peripheral edge at the tip of the incident surface 6b. The first reflecting surface 6c reflects a part of the light incident on the inner lens 6 from the LED 5 on the inner lens 6 and has a convex elliptic curved surface centered on the optical axis AX. doing.

  On the other hand, at the center of the front surface of the inner lens 6, an arc-shaped diffusing surface 6d centered on the optical axis AX is formed. The diffusion surface 6d also serves as an exit surface that diffuses and emits a part of the light incident on the inner lens 6, and the surface is subjected to diffusion processing such as embossing and steps.

  Then, around the diffusion surface 6d on the front surface of the inner lens 6, three triangular prism-shaped lens cuts 7, 8, and 9 are formed concentrically. These lens cuts 7, 8, and 9 are formed in a step shape so that their heights are sequentially increased, and the flat inner surfaces of the lens cuts 7, 8, and 9 constitute the exit surfaces 7a, 8a, and 9a, respectively. The arc-shaped curved outer surface constitutes second reflecting surfaces 7b, 8b, and 9b that reflect the light reflected internally by the first reflecting surface 6c again.

  In each lamp unit 3 including the optical system configured as described above, when current is supplied to the LED 5 from a power source (not shown) such as a battery through the substrate 4 and the LED 5 emits light, the light is directed forward. Exit. Of these lights, relatively strong light within the half-value angle enters the inner lens 6 from the central entrance surface 6a of the inner lens 6 as indicated by L1 in FIG. The light travels substantially in parallel to the diffusion surface 6d, and exits from the region A at the center of FIG. 3 toward the front of the vehicle (upward in FIG. 2) while slightly diffusing around the optical axis AX on the diffusion surface 6d. The lamp unit 3 exhibits the DRL function by the relatively strong light L1 emitted from the central region A.

  Further, of the light emitted from the LED 5, relatively weak light outside the half-value angle enters the inner lens 6 from the flat incident surface 6 b of the inner lens 6, as indicated by L 2, L 3 and L 4 in FIG. Incident light is reflected by the first reflecting surface 6 c of the inner lens 6 toward the lens cuts 7, 8, and 9. And the light L2, L3, L4 which goes to the lens cuts 7, 8, and 9 is reflected by the second reflection surfaces 7b, 8b, and 9b of the lens cuts 7, 8, and 9, respectively, and is emitted from the emission surfaces 7a, 8a, and 9a. In order not to interfere with the inner lens 6 in the light emission direction, the light is emitted in a direction that intersects the optical axis AX and the inside of the inner lens 6 and / or the outside in the vicinity of the inner lens 6. As a result, the lights L2, L3, and L4 are emitted from the left and right areas B of the area A shown in FIG. 3 to the left and right, and the lamp unit 3 is cleared by the comparatively weak lights L2, L3, and L4 emitted from the area B. Exhibits the lamp function. Therefore, in each lamp unit 3, when the LED 5 emits light, the vehicular lamp 1 including these lamp units 3 exhibits the DRL function and the clearance lamp function simultaneously. The inside of the inner lens 6 referred to here includes a space portion above the diffusion surface 6d of the inner lens 6 inside the lens cut 9 that protrudes most outward.

  As described above, according to the vehicular lamp 1 according to the present embodiment, out of the light emitted from the LED 5 and incident on the inner lens 6, relatively strong light within the half-value angle is diffused on the inner lens 6. 6d can be diffused and emitted around the optical axis AX, and relatively weak light outside the half-value angle is internally reflected in the inner lens 6 by the first reflecting surface 6c, and this internally reflected light is reflected by the inner lens 6 The optical axis AX and the inner lens 6 and / or the inner lens so as not to be reflected again by the second reflecting surfaces 7b, 8b and 9b of the lens cuts 7, 8 and 9 and interfere with the inner lens 6 in the light emission direction. Since light is emitted in the direction intersecting outside at around 6, light can be irradiated over a wide range by one inner lens 6.

  Moreover, since the vehicular lamp 1 according to the present embodiment has both a DRL function by a relatively strong light within the half-value angle emitted from the LED 5 and a clearance lamp function by a relatively weak light outside the half-value angle, It is also possible to achieve the multi-functionality and compactness.

  In the above, the embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a vehicular lamp having both a DRL function and a clearance function has been described. However, the present invention includes an inner lens that controls light distribution of light emitted from an LED. Of course, the present invention can be similarly applied to any vehicle lamp.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle lamp 2 Housing 3 Lamp unit 4 Board | substrate 5 LED
6 Inner lens 6a, 6b Incident surface of inner lens 6c First reflecting surface of inner lens 6d Diffusing surface (outgoing surface) of inner lens
7-9 Lens cut of inner lens 7a-7d Second reflection surface of inner lens A, B region AX Optical axis L1-L4 Light

Claims (2)

In a vehicle lamp comprising an LED that is a light source and an inner lens that reflects and refracts light incident from the LED to control light distribution,
The inner lens has an exit surface that diffuses and emits light within the half-value angle emitted from the LED around the center of the optical axis, a first reflective surface that internally reflects light outside the half-value angle, and the first reflective surface The second reflection surface is formed so that the light reflected from the inner surface is reflected and emitted in a direction intersecting the optical axis with the inner lens and / or the outer vicinity of the inner lens so as not to interfere with the inner lens in the light emitting direction. A vehicular lamp characterized by the above. 2. The vehicular lamp according to claim 1, wherein the vehicular lamp has both a lamp function by light within a half-value angle emitted from the LED and a lamp function by light outside the half-value angle.

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