JP2018137200A - Vehicular illuminating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicular illuminating device that can realize illumination decoration excellent in design while restraining an influence on exterior design.SOLUTION: A vehicular illuminating device comprises a light source arranged inside a plurality of exterior members. Output light from the light source is guided along a gap between the plurality of exterior members by a light guide passage arranged inside the plurality of exterior members, and reflected toward the gap by a reflecting member. The light reflected by the reflecting member is emitted to the outside from the gap, and thereby recognized as a portion of a design surface from the outside.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicular illumination device that forms a design surface on the exterior of a vehicle by light emission.

  Various decorations are applied to the exterior of the vehicle to produce the design and individuality of the vehicle. As one form of such decoration, a vehicular illumination device that produces decoration by illumination using light emitted from a light emitting element or the like is known. In recent years, with the widespread use of power-saving and high-brightness LEDs, the number of lighting devices for vehicles using such illumination has increased.

  For example, Patent Documents 1 and 2 are examples of a vehicle lighting device that uses illumination. Patent Document 1 discloses a vehicle exterior garnish that forms a design surface in a vehicle front grill by irradiating light from a light source unit accommodated in a housing to the outside through a lens. Moreover, in patent document 2, it is a door pillar garnish provided in the door pillar part of a vehicle, Comprising: The illumination which can implement | achieve several illumination uses by guide | inducing the light from one built-in light source to several light emission parts with a light-guide plate An apparatus is disclosed.

JP 2012-111358 A JP2015-229414A

  The vehicle illumination devices of Patent Documents 1 and 2 are each configured by attaching a unit body in which a constituent member such as a light source is accommodated in a casing to a vehicle body. Therefore, it is necessary to secure a mounting area corresponding to these devices on the vehicle side, which greatly affects the design of the exterior. In order to avoid this, it is conceivable to arrange the light emitting element inside the exterior, but in this case also, it is necessary to form a gap or a hole in the exterior for irradiating light from the light emitting element to the outside. After all, there is a risk that the design will be impaired.

  At least one embodiment of the present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a vehicular lighting device capable of realizing an illumination decoration excellent in design while suppressing an influence on an exterior design. .

  In order to solve the above-described problem, a vehicle lighting device according to at least one embodiment of the present invention includes a light source disposed inside a plurality of exterior members, a light source disposed inside the plurality of exterior members, and the plurality of exteriors. A light guide path configured to guide the output light of the light source along a gap between the members, and a reflection member configured to reflect the output light guided by the light guide path toward the gap.

  In some embodiments, the plurality of exterior members may include components of a front bumper.

  In some embodiments, the plurality of exterior members may include components of a radiator grill.

  According to the above configuration, the output light from the light source arranged on the inside is emitted to the outside through a small gap formed between the plurality of exterior members, thereby suppressing the influence on the exterior design and the illumination decoration. realizable. In particular, the light from the light source is guided along the gap through the light guide and reflected by the reflecting member, so that the illumination light can be uniformly emitted along the gap, and a high-quality illumination decoration can be realized. Such a configuration is arranged inside an existing exterior member that constitutes the exterior of the vehicle, and an illumination effect is possible using a gap between these exterior members. Is easy to install.

1 is a front view of a vehicle including a vehicle lighting device according to at least one embodiment of the present invention. It is AA sectional drawing of FIG.

  Hereinafter, some embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the dimensions, materials, shapes, relative arrangements, etc. of the components described in the embodiments or shown in the drawings are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, but are merely illustrative examples. Absent.

  FIG. 1 is an enlarged view of a front surface of a vehicle including a vehicle lighting device according to at least one embodiment of the present invention. The vehicle is a truck vehicle in which a cab for an occupant to ride is arranged in front of the body frame. In FIG. 1, the vicinity of the lower part of the front bumper 1 constituting the cab front surface is shown enlarged.

  The front bumper 1 is configured by assembling resin members such as a head lamp bezel 4, a lower step 6, an upper step 8, a center grill 10, and a hook cover 12 to a bumper body 2 made of a sheet metal member.

The headlamp bezel 4 is attached to both sides of the bumper body 2 in order to accommodate headlamps corresponding to both sides of the vehicle.
The lower step 6 and the upper step 8 are spaces 14 into which the user's feet can be inserted when getting on and off while gripping the grip 13 installed on the front surface of the vehicle body so that the user can access the upper front of the cab from the outside of the vehicle. , 15 are formed. The upper step 8 is disposed above the lower step 6, and the user can use the lower step 6 and the upper step 8 in a step shape to get on and off.
In addition, the structure (unevenness | corrugation and a friction material) for anti-slip | skid may be formed in the upper surface (surface which a user's foot sole contacts) of the lower step 6 and the upper step 8. FIG.

  The center grille 10 is a radiator grille having a shape corresponding to an opening provided in the bumper body 2 and also serving as an air guide port to a water-cooled radiator (not shown) mounted on the vehicle.

  The hook cover 12 is a cover for protecting the tow portion from being exposed to the outside during normal times (when not towing) by covering the tow portion to which the tow member can be connected from the outside when towing the vehicle. is there.

  Thus, the front bumper 1 is configured by attaching each member (the headlamp bezel 4, the lower step 6, the upper step 8, and the hook cover 12) on the bumper body 2, but between these members, There are a few gaps 20 (see FIG. 2). The size of the gap 20 is determined by the dimensions of these members. However, places such as the lower step 6, the upper step 8, and the hook cover 12 that can be swung by an external force during use absorb the displacement amount at the time of swinging. Therefore, it may be set larger including a margin.

  2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 1 and shows an enlarged cross-sectional structure in the vicinity of the gap 20 between the upper step 8 and the hook cover 12 among the members mounted on the bumper body 2. .

  The bumper body 2 of the front bumper 1 is disposed inside the upper step 8 and the hook cover 12, and a vehicle illumination device (illumination unit) 50 for emitting illumination light is installed. The vehicular illumination device 50 includes a light source 52 that is an LED that emits light by power supplied from a DC power supply line (not shown), a light guide path 54 that guides light from the light source 52, and light guided by the light guide path 54. And a reflecting member 56 for reflecting the light. Such a vehicular illumination device 50 is disposed along the gap 20 where the illumination light is output, emits the illumination light toward the outside in a predetermined length region along the gap 20, and is used in the front bumper 1. Make up lighting decoration.

  The light source 52 of the vehicle lighting device 50 is disposed at the end of an illumination area (a predetermined length area along the gap 20), and light from the light source 52 is guided along the light guide path 54. The light guide path 54 is made of, for example, an optical fiber, and emits illumination light over a predetermined length region along the gap 20 in which the light guide path 54 is disposed.

  The light guide path 54 is fixed on a reflection member 56 extending along the light guide path 54. A clip 58 that can be inserted into a hole 60 opened in the bumper body 2 is provided on the back side of the reflection member 56, and the reflection member 56 is detachably attached to the bumper body 2 by the clip 58. ing. The light guide path 54 is attached to the surface of the reflection member 56 with a double-sided tape or an adhesive.

  The reflection member 56 is configured such that a reflection material (for example, silver coating) is formed on the surface of a plate-shaped member made of resin, and the light from the light guide path 54 can be reflected. In addition, a clear coat for preventing contamination is applied on the upper layer side of the reflective material, and for example, the reflection performance of the reflective member 56 is prevented from being deteriorated by outside air or moisture entering from the gap 20.

  Here, the reflectance of the reflecting member 56 is finished in a semi-specular shape so as to be lower than that of a general mirror. Thereby, the light from the light source 52 or the light guide path 54 is moderately dispersed by reflection by the reflection member 56, and can be reflected as uniform illumination light over a wide range.

  The light guide 54 installed on the reflecting member 56 may be disposed at a position where it cannot be directly seen from the outside of the vehicle through the gap 20. That is, the light guide path 54 is installed so that light emitted to the vehicle exterior as illumination light is not direct light from the light guide path 54 but reflected light by the reflection member 56. Thereby, the illumination light emitted to the outside of the vehicle becomes more uniform.

  The reflecting member 56 is configured such that one end side thereof extends toward the gap 20. Particularly in the present embodiment, the reflecting member 56 includes a flat portion 56 a where the light guide path 54 is installed and an extending portion 56 b extending from the flat portion 56 a toward the gap 20. The extending part 56b is formed to extend toward the gap 20 so as to close the gap between the bumper body 2 and the hook cover 12. Thereby, since the light from the light guide path 54 is guided toward the gap 20 without leaking into the gap between the bumper body 2 and the hook cover 12, it does not leak from any gap other than the gap 20. , Can produce beautiful illumination of the intended pattern. That is, even if there is a gap other than the gap 20 between the bumper body 2 and the hook cover 12, it is blocked by the extending portion 56 b of the reflecting member 56, so that the illumination light leaks and the intended illumination is emitted. The pattern can be prevented from collapsing.

  Thus, the vehicular lighting device 50 can produce illumination by emitting the illumination light toward the outside of the vehicle through the gap 20 between the upper step 8 and the hook cover 12. In the above embodiment, the case where the vehicle lighting device 50 is arranged along the gap 20 between the upper step 8 and the hook cover 12 is illustrated, but the same configuration is adopted for the gap between other members. And you can produce illumination. For example, by applying to a gap formed between the center grill 10 which is a radiator grille and its peripheral members, illumination around the grill can be produced.

  Such a vehicular lighting device 50 is disposed inside an existing exterior member (a headlamp bezel 4, a lower step 6, an upper step 8, a center grill 10, a hook cover 12, etc.) constituting the exterior of the vehicle. Illumination can be produced using the gaps between the exterior members, so that there is little influence on the exterior design and the introduction into existing vehicles is easy.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used for a vehicle lighting device that forms a design surface on the exterior of a vehicle by light emission.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Front bumper 2 Bumper main body 4 Head lamp bezel 6 Lower step 8 Upper step 10 Center grill 12 Hook cover 13 Grip 20 Gap 50 Vehicle illumination device 52 Light source 54 Light guide 56 Reflective member 56a Flat part 56b Extension part 58 Clip 60 Hole Part

Claims (3)

A light source disposed inside a plurality of exterior members;
A light guide path disposed inside the plurality of exterior members and configured to guide output light of the light source along a gap between the plurality of exterior members;
A reflective member that reflects the output light guided by the light guide toward the gap;
A vehicle lighting device comprising:   The vehicle lighting device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of exterior members include a component member of a front bumper. The vehicle lighting device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of exterior members include a component member of a radiator grill.

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