JP2020128104A - Lighting fixture for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a lighting fixture for a vehicle which causes another vehicle to recognize existence of an own vehicle surely if encountering white-out at snowfall and snow cover.SOLUTION: A lighting fixture for a vehicle comprises recognition lamps 1(1R, 1L) which radiate light for recognizing an own vehicle by being equipped to a motor vehicle and comprises further a road state detection means 41 which detects snowfall or snow cover state on a road and a lighting control means 42 which lights the recognition lamps 1 on the basis of a detected road state. The recognition lamps 1 radiates the light toward at least one of an upward direction or a lateral direction of the own vehicle by an upward irradiation part 2 and/or a lateral irradiation part 3 being lighted at the snowfall or snow cover state on the road (white-out).SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

The present invention relates to a vehicular lamp capable of controlling a light emitting state according to weather conditions and road surface conditions, and more particularly to a vehicular lamp for performing suitable light emission control during snowfall or snowfall.

There is a technique for controlling the illumination state of a vehicle lamp during snowfall or snowfall. Each of Patent Documents 1 and 2 is a technique for detecting a snowfall state, preventing dazzling of another vehicle at that time, or controlling lighting of a lamp of the own vehicle in order to improve visibility in front of the own vehicle. .. Further, in Patent Document 3, a sensor is provided in a tire of an automobile, and a road surface state on which the automobile travels, such as a sherbet-like road surface, a snow-covered road surface, or a snow-covered road surface, is detected by the sensor, and the host vehicle is detected based on this detection. Controlling techniques have been proposed.

JP-A-7-186824 JP, 2013-189072, A JP, 2011-242303, A

The techniques of Patent Documents 1 and 2 are lighting controls for improving the visibility in front of the host vehicle, and are basically applied to the headlights and auxiliary lighting of automobiles. However, this lighting control is not always effective in a situation where the visibility of the surroundings of the vehicle is poor, that is, a white-out situation, such as during snowfall or when the snow is rolled up as the vehicle travels. In other words, the light from the headlights is scattered by snow, and the visibility in front of the vehicle is extremely deteriorated.In addition to other vehicles existing in front of the own vehicle, other vehicles such as tail lights, brake lights, and direction indicators are also displayed. It is also difficult to see the light. This means that if the own vehicle is replaced with another vehicle, it becomes difficult for the other vehicle to visually recognize the own vehicle, and it becomes difficult to secure the traveling safety of the vehicle.

An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular lamp that allows another vehicle to reliably recognize the presence of the host vehicle when the visibility is reduced such as during snowfall or snowfall.

The present invention is equipped with a recognition light that is installed in a vehicle and emits light for recognizing the own vehicle, and further includes road condition detection means for detecting a snowfall or snow accumulation condition on the road, and a recognition light based on the detected road condition. A lighting device for a vehicle, comprising: a lighting control means for lighting the lighting device, wherein the recognition light is lit when the road is snowing or snowing, and illuminates light toward at least one of the upper side and the side of the own vehicle. To be done.

It is preferable that the recognition light of the present invention is configured to emit light when the road condition is whiteout. Further, it is preferable that the identification lamp includes at least one of an upper irradiation unit that emits light upward and a side irradiation unit that emits light laterally of the vehicle.

According to the present invention, when the field of view is reduced due to whiteout or the like during snowfall or snowfall, light is radiated upward and sideward for recognition and the like, thereby providing a wide area above and to the side of the vehicle. In addition, it is possible to illuminate with scattered light, and it is possible to make other vehicles surely recognize the existence of the own vehicle.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an automobile equipped with the lighting device of the present invention as seen from the left rear. The rear view which looked at the vehicle of FIG. 1 from the back. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a recognition light of Embodiment 1 and a front view of a main part. The block block diagram of the control means which controls an identification light. The schematic diagram which shows the form of light irradiation by an identification lamp. FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an automobile in which identification lights are arranged in different parts. The schematic perspective view which partially decomposed|disassembled the recognition light of Embodiment 2. FIG. 6 is a rear view of the automobile showing the light irradiation of the identification lamp of the second embodiment.

(Embodiment 1)
Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an automobile to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a rear view thereof. A head lamp HL is provided in the front part of the vehicle body of the automobile CAR, and a rear combination lamp RCL and a high mount stop lamp HMSL are provided in the rear part of the vehicle body. Further, the recognition lights 1 according to the present invention are arranged at the left and right positions facing the rear window RW in the passenger compartment of the automobile CAR. The recognition lamp 1 is composed of a left recognition lamp 1L and a right recognition lamp 1R here. As will be described later, the recognition lamp 1 emits light toward the left and right of the vehicle and upwards when a whiteout situation occurs. It is provided to illuminate and make another vehicle, particularly an oncoming vehicle and a following vehicle, recognize the own vehicle.

FIG. 3 shows the right recognition light 1R, (a) is a schematic perspective view, and (b) is a front view of a main part. The right identification lamp 1R has a lamp housing 10 which is open to the front of the lamp and is directed to the rear of the vehicle. The upper irradiation section 2 and the side irradiation section 3 are integrally incorporated in the lamp housing 10. There is. Inside the lamp housing 10, a light source substrate 11 having an inverted L shape when viewed from the front is installed, and a first LED (light emitting diode) 21 is mounted on the upper surface of the light source substrate 11 and is directed to the right side. The second LED 31 is mounted on the side surface.

These LEDs 21 and 31 are composed of full-color LEDs that combine LED chips that emit RGB (red, green, and blue) lights. Electric power is supplied through the light source substrate 11, and a lighting control unit 42 described later is used. With the above control, light of a desired color and a desired form are emitted.

Further, an inverted L-shaped plate lens 12 is arranged at a position facing each light emitting surface of each of the LEDs 21 and 31 in the lamp housing 10. The plate lens 12 is integrally provided with a first lens portion 22 and a second lens portion 32 that refract and transmit the light emitted from the LEDs 21 and 31 in a divergent state. For example, it is composed of a convex lens, and the LEDs 21 and 31 are arranged at positions within its focal length. The first lens portion 22 is arranged so as to face the first LED 21, and emits light emitted from the first LED 21 upward. On the other hand, the second lens portion 32 is arranged so as to face the second LED 31, and emits the light emitted from the second LED 31 to the side, that is, to the right of the vehicle in the right recognition lamp 1R. Let As a result, the first LED 21 and the first lens unit 22 are configured as the upper irradiation unit 2, and the second LED 31 and the second lens unit 32 are configured as the side irradiation unit 3.

The right recognition lamp 1R is supported in the vehicle compartment with the front opening of the lamp housing 10 being in close contact with the inner surface of the rear window RW. As a result, when the right recognition lamp 1R is turned on, the light emitted from the upper irradiation unit 2 and the side irradiation unit 3 is transmitted through the rear window RW and then, as shown in FIG. , Will be irradiated to the right side respectively.

The structure of the left recognition lamp 1L is symmetrical to that of the right recognition lamp 1R, and thus detailed description thereof will be omitted. In this left identification lamp 1L, as shown in FIG. 2, the light emitted from the upper irradiation unit is emitted to the upper side of the automobile, and the light emitted from the side emission unit is emitted to the left side of the automobile. Will be.

FIG. 4 is a block configuration diagram of a control means for turning on the identification lights 1 (1R, 1L). The control means 4 can determine a situation where the visibility is reduced, at least a whiteout situation. A detection unit 41 and a lighting control unit 42 that controls the lighting of the identification lamp 1 based on the detection by the road condition detection unit 41 are provided.

The road condition detection unit 41 includes a sensor 5. As the sensor 5, here, as shown in FIG. 1, a front camera 51 mounted on a car CAR to capture a front area and a rear camera 52 to capture a rear area are shown. And a tire sensor 53 built in the tire T of the automobile.

The front camera 51 and the rear camera 52 output the picked-up image signals to the road condition detection unit 41 by wire. As these cameras 51 and 52, for example, a camera for a drive sensor mounted on an automobile or a camera for a driving support device can be used. The tire sensor 53 is composed of an acceleration sensor arranged in the tire T, as in the technique of Patent Document 3, and detects strain, acceleration, pressure, temperature, etc. generated in the tire T as the vehicle travels. .. The tire sensor 53 includes a transmitter, and wirelessly transmits the detected output to the receiver 54 provided in the road condition detecting section 41.

The road condition detection unit 41 includes a means for judging the surrounding condition or road surface condition of the vehicle based on the detection output from the sensor 5, here, a whiteout judging unit 43 capable of judging the whiteout condition. ing. The whiteout determination unit 43 performs image analysis on the images output from the front camera 51 and the rear camera 52, and detects snowfall or snowfall as the surrounding condition of the automobile. In addition, the snow wall on the side of the automobile is detected from this image analysis.

Furthermore, the white-out determination unit 43 refers to the detection output from the tire sensor 53 to detect, for example, dryness, wetness, snowfall, pressure snow, freezing, or sherbet as the road surface condition on which the vehicle is traveling. Then, it is possible to determine whether or not the surroundings of the vehicle are in a whiteout condition based on the surrounding conditions and the road surface condition.

The lighting control unit 42 controls the lighting of the identification lamp 1 based on the output of the road condition detection unit 41, particularly the output of the whiteout determination unit 43. In this lighting control, not only the lighting control of the left and right recognition lights 1R and 1L, but also the control of lighting either or both of the upper irradiation unit 2 and the side irradiation unit 3 of the respective recognition lights 1R and 1L, and these irradiation units It is possible to control the lighting timing, the light color, and the light intensity of the second and third lights.

The lighting control of the identification lamp 1 having the above configuration will be described. When the vehicle is running or stopped, the road condition detection unit 41 detects the condition around the vehicle from the images captured by the front camera 51 and the rear camera 52, and at the same time, detects the road condition by the tire sensor 53. The whiteout determination unit 43 determines the whiteout condition based on these surrounding conditions and the road surface condition, and outputs the determination result to the lighting control unit 42.

This determination result is, for example, a situation in which snow on the road surface is being wound up by a car traveling, or the car is traveling on a curved road where a snow wall higher than the car height is formed on the side of the road. The situation is that the snow is falling due to the strong wind. In such a surrounding situation, the visibility in front of and behind the host vehicle deteriorates, making it difficult for the oncoming vehicle and the following vehicle to recognize the host vehicle, which may cause a collision or a rear-end collision.

The lighting control unit 42 controls the lighting of one or both of the upper irradiation unit 2 and the side irradiation unit 3 based on the output of the whiteout determination unit 43. Examples of this control form include the following forms (a) to (c).

(A) Light irradiation to the upper side The lighting control unit 42 controls the upper irradiation unit 2 of at least one of the left and right recognition lamps 1R and 1L, and causes the first LED 21 to emit light. The light emitted from the first LED 21 is emitted upward by the first lens portion 22 in a required divergent state. As shown in the schematic view of FIG. 5A, the radiated light L1 is projected on the snowfall or the rolled-up snow existing above the car CAR, is scattered by the snow, and is reflected in the space above the car. Pillars and curtains A1 are formed. The pillar of light and the curtain A1 are easily recognized by the oncoming vehicle and the following vehicle, and the presence of the own vehicle can be easily recognized by the oncoming vehicle and the following vehicle.

At this time, by controlling the emission color of the first LED 21 to be a color light other than white, for example, red, yellow, green, etc., a pillar or curtain of color light that is visually distinctive even in an all-white environment due to whiteout is formed. Therefore, the degree of recognition in other vehicles can be increased. Further, the recognition degree can be increased by controlling the light emission timing such as blinking the light emission of the first LED 21. Further, the luminous intensity of the first LED 21 may be changed with time.

(B) Light irradiation to the side The lighting control unit 42 controls the side irradiation unit 3 of at least one of the left and right recognition lamps 1R and 1L and causes the second LED 31 to emit light. The light emitted from the second LED 31 is diverged by the second lens portion 32 toward a wide angle area and is radiated laterally. That is, as shown in the schematic view of FIG. 5B, the right recognition lamp 1R irradiates the right side, and the left recognition lamp 1L irradiates the left side. The irradiated light is projected on the snow wall SNW on the side of the road to illuminate the snow wall SNW, and the light reflected by the snow wall SNW is scattered toward the front or the rear of the road. The light curtain A2 formed by the scattered light and the illuminated snow wall SNW are easily recognized by the oncoming vehicle and the following vehicle, and the presence of the own vehicle can be easily recognized by the oncoming vehicle and the following vehicle.

At this time, recognition is performed by controlling the emission color of the second LED 32 to a color light other than white, for example, red, yellow, green, etc., and also controlling the emission timing such as blinking the emission of the second LED 32. The degree can be further increased. Further, the luminous intensity of the second LED 32 may be changed with time.

(C) Light irradiation to the upper side and the lateral side The lighting control unit 42 simultaneously controls the left and right recognitions 1R and 1L or either the upper irradiation unit 2 and the side irradiation unit 3. As a result, a pillar of light and a curtain A1 are formed in the space above the vehicle shown in FIG. 5A, and at the same time, the snow wall SNW on the side of the road shown in FIG. The light reflected by the wall SNW is scattered toward the front or the rear of the road to form a light curtain A2. As a result, the presence of the own vehicle can be more reliably recognized in the oncoming vehicle and the following vehicle.

At this time, the emission colors of the first LED 21 and the second LED 31 may be different. Further, the light emission timings of the first LED 21 and the second LE 31D, for example, the blinking timing and the blinking cycle may be different. Further, the luminous intensities of the first LED 21 and the second LED 31 may be changed. This can increase the degree of recognition of the own vehicle in the oncoming vehicle and the following vehicle.

Although the first LED 21 and the second LED 31 forming the upper irradiation unit 2 and the side irradiation unit 3 are arranged one by one in the first embodiment described above, at least one LED is plural. It may be composed of individual LEDs. When it is composed of a plurality of LEDs, the light emission colors and the light emission timings of the plurality of LEDs may be different when the light emitting parts emit light.

The identification light 1 (1R, 1L) of the first embodiment is arranged in the vehicle compartment facing the rear window RW, and the rear window RW is less likely to have snow adhered to its outer surface due to the airflow generated when the vehicle is running. Therefore, the light emitted when the recognition lamp 1 is turned on is rarely blocked or dimmed by snow, and upward irradiation and side irradiation can be reliably performed, and a highly recognizable lamp can be obtained.

The identification light 1 according to the first embodiment may be arranged in different parts of the vehicle body of an automobile as long as the basic configuration is the same. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, you may arrange|position in site|part S1 which faces the side window SW of car CAR. Alternatively, the recess S2 may be formed in a part of the rear pillar RP of the vehicle body, and the recess S2 may be disposed in the recess S2. By doing so, it is possible to effectively irradiate light to the side, as compared with the recognition lamp arranged at the position facing the rear window RW of the first embodiment.

When the recognition lamp is arranged outside the vehicle body as in the case where the rear pillar RP is arranged, it is necessary to provide a separate outer lens at the front opening of the lamp housing. In addition, it is preferable that the outer lens has no unevenness on the surface of the vehicle body of the automobile so that snow hardly adheres to the surface.

(Embodiment 2)
The identification lamp of the present invention may be integrated into an existing lamp of an automobile. In the second embodiment, the identification light 1 is integrally incorporated in the high mount stop lamp HMSL of the car CAR shown in FIG. The high mount stop lamp HMSL is integrally formed with a rear roof hood RF that extends rearward from a rear end of a roof of an automobile CAR.

As shown in the exploded perspective view of the right side portion of the high mount stop lamp HMSL in FIG. 7, the high mount stop lamp HMSL is elongated in the vehicle width direction integrally provided on the rear roof hood RF and has a front opening facing the rear of the vehicle. The lamp housing 6 has a gutter-shaped lamp body 60, and an outer lens 61 is attached to a front opening of the lamp body 60 to form the lamp housing 6.

Inside the lamp housing 6, a light source substrate 62 which is elongated in the vehicle width direction and has a plurality of upper edges in the longitudinal direction and bending pieces 62a and 62b at both ends in the longitudinal direction are supported. A plurality of red LEDs 63 that emit red light are mounted on the front surface of the light source substrate 62 at appropriate intervals. Further, a plurality of first LEDs 21 constituting the upper irradiation section 2 are mounted on the upper surface of the bent piece 62a at the upper edge. Further, the second LEDs 31 forming the side irradiation part 3 are mounted on the side surfaces of the bent pieces 62b at both ends. The first and second LEDs 21 and 31 are full-color LEDs as in the first embodiment.

The outer lens 61 has a lens step 64 formed on the inner surface of a region facing the red LED 63 so as to diverge or diffuse the light emitted from the red LED 63 toward a desired region. Further, the outer lens 61 is integrally formed with bending portions 61a and 61b at positions corresponding to the first and second LEDs 21 and 31, and the first and second bending portions 61a and 61b are respectively formed on the inner surfaces thereof. The lens portion 22 and the second lens portion 32 are integrally formed.

The first LED 21 and the first lens unit 22 are configured as the upper irradiation unit 2, and the second LED 31 and the second lens unit 32 are configured as the side irradiation unit 3. Further, although the right recognition lamp 1R is configured by the upper irradiation unit 2 and the side irradiation unit 3 arranged on the right side of the high mount stop lamp HMSL shown in FIG. 7, the high mount stop lamp HMSL is not shown in FIG. The left illuminating lamp 1L is composed of the upper irradiation unit 2 and the side irradiation unit 3 arranged on the left side of the.

In this recognition lamp 1 (1R, 1L), as shown in FIG. 8, the upper irradiation unit 2 causes the light emitted from the first LED 21 to be directed upward by the first lens unit 22. Moreover, the side irradiation part 3 irradiates the light emitted from the second LED 31 toward the left and right sides by the second lens part 32.

Also in the identification light of the second embodiment, when the vehicle is running or stopped, the road condition detection unit 41 detects the surroundings of the vehicle from the images captured by the front camera 51 and the rear camera 52, and at the same time, the road surface is detected by the tire sensor 53. Detect the situation. The whiteout determination unit 43 determines the whiteout condition based on these surrounding conditions and the road surface condition, and outputs the determination result to the lighting control unit 42. Then, the lighting control unit 42 controls lighting of either or both of the upper irradiation unit 2 and the side irradiation unit 3 of at least one of the left and right recognition lights 1R and 1L based on the output of the whiteout determination unit 43.

Therefore, in a whiteout situation, the upper irradiation unit 2 incorporated in the high mount stop lamp HMSL is lit to perform upward light irradiation, and the side irradiation unit 3 is lit to perform lateral light irradiation. By doing so, it is possible to cause the light to be scattered above or to the side of the own vehicle, and to recognize the presence of the own vehicle in the oncoming vehicle and the following vehicle.

In the second embodiment, since the first LED 21 that constitutes the upward irradiation unit 2 is composed of a plurality of LEDs, light emitted upward can be obtained by sequentially emitting or blinking these LEDs 21. It is possible to irradiate while scanning the beam in the left-right direction, and it is possible to further increase the degree of recognition. Although not shown in the drawings, the side irradiation unit 3 can also perform the same side light irradiation by configuring the second LED 22 with a plurality of LEDs.

In the recognition lamp of the second embodiment, when the recognition lamp 1 is turned on in the white-out situation, the high mount stop lamp HMSL may be turned on at the same time. That is, the red LED 63 may emit light. In this way, when the high mount stop lamp HMSL is turned on, the irradiation light of the recognition lamp 1 and the red light of the high mount stop lamp HMSL are combined to increase the light quantity of the light irradiation to the rear or the side, and the recognition degree is increased. Can be increased. Further, when the recognition lamp 1 emits a color light different from the red light, the recognition degree can be increased by irradiating the color lights of a plurality of colors including the lights of the high mount stop lamp HMSL.

In the second embodiment, the identification lamp 1 is integrally incorporated in the high mount stop lamp HMSL, but it may be incorporated in another existing lamp, for example, a part S3 of the rear combination lamp RCL as shown in FIG. Good. Alternatively, although not shown, it may be incorporated into a tail lamp, a stop lamp, a turn signal lamp or the like having an independent structure. In the case of a large vehicle, it may be incorporated into an existing vehicle height lamp.

The specific configuration of the identification light in the present invention is not limited to the configurations described in the first and second embodiments, and appropriate modifications can be made. For example, it may be configured to include only one of the upper irradiation unit and the side irradiation unit. Further, a light emitting element such as an LED or a laser diode which emits a predetermined monochromatic light may be used as the light source.

In the present invention, as a sensor of the road condition detection unit 41, in addition to the cameras 51 and 52 and the tire sensor 53, a road surface temperature sensor for detecting a road surface temperature and a traveling speed of a vehicle are indicated as indicated by a chain line in FIG. A vehicle speed sensor for detecting, a distance sensor for detecting a distance to a snow wall on the side of the road, a microphone for detecting a surface condition of the road, a raindrop sensor for directly detecting snowfall, or the like 5m to 5n may be provided. The whiteout determination unit 43 can more reliably determine the whiteout by using the outputs of these sensors 5m to 5n.

In the present invention, the whiteout determination unit 43 of the road condition detection unit 41 outputs the whiteout determination result when the occurrence of whiteout is predicted even if the whiteout does not actually occur, and the lighting control is performed. The lighting control may be performed in the section 42.

In the present invention, the lighting control unit may be configured to control the light emission of the recognition lamp by a manual operation according to the judgment of the driver or passenger of the vehicle.

1 Recognition Lamp 1R Right Recognition Lamp 1L Left Recognition Lamp 2 Upper Irradiation Unit 3 Side Irradiation Unit 4 Control Unit 5 Sensor 6 Lamp Housing 10 Lamp Body 11 Light Source Substrate 12 Plate Lens 21 First LED
22 1st lens part 31 2nd LED
32 second lens section 41 road condition detection section 42 lighting control section 43 whiteout determination section 51 front camera 52 rear camera 53 tire sensor 60 lamp body 61 outer lens 62 light source board 63 red LED
CAR Automobile RW Rear window HMSL High mount stop lamp HL Headlamp RCL Rear combination lamp T Tire

Claims (9)

The vehicle is equipped with a recognition light that emits light for recognizing the own vehicle, and further, road condition detection means for detecting a snowfall or snow accumulation condition on the road, and the recognition light is turned on based on the detected road condition. A lighting device for a vehicle, comprising: a lighting control means, wherein the recognition light is turned on when the road is in a snowfall state or a snowfall state, and emits light toward at least one of an upper side and a side of the own vehicle. A vehicle lamp that does. The vehicular lamp according to claim 1, wherein the identification lamp is configured to emit light when the road condition is whiteout. The vehicle lamp according to claim 1, wherein the identification lamp includes at least one of an upper irradiation unit that emits light upward and a side irradiation unit that emits light laterally of the vehicle. The vehicular lamp according to claim 3, wherein the side irradiation unit irradiates light in at least one of the left and right directions. The vehicular lamp according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the identification light is arranged in a portion of the vehicle where snow is unlikely to adhere. The vehicular lamp according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the identification lamp is incorporated in another lamp mounted on the vehicle. The vehicular lamp according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the identification lamp includes a light source that emits colored light other than white light. The vehicular lamp according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the lighting control means can control at least one of a light color of irradiation light of the recognition lamp, irradiation timing of irradiation light, and brightness of irradiation light. .. 9. The vehicular lamp according to claim 1, wherein the road condition detecting means includes a tire sensor installed in a tire of the vehicle.

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