JP3215227B2 - Automotive high mount stop lamp - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a high mount stop lamp (hereinafter abbreviated as HMSL) used for vehicles such as automobiles, and more particularly to an HMSL using a hologram.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An HMSL of an automobile is effective for clearly confirming a brake to a following vehicle, and in recent years, an HMSL in which a rear window glass of an automobile is displayed through a window has been proposed. However, when the HMSL is provided at the rear window position, the rear view of the driver of the own vehicle may be restricted. Therefore, recently, a hologram is proposed. For example, the applicant has previously proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-65448 a hologram in which a hologram image is recorded is provided on a rear window glass or the like of an automobile, and a reproduction light source provided to face the hologram. By irradiating reproduction light from a vehicle, the reproduced hologram image can be visually recognized from the rear of the automobile. In this HMSL, a lens step image used in the conventional HMSL is recorded on a hologram, and if red light is used as reproduction light, a red lens step image can be visually recognized from a following vehicle. Can work.

[0003] For example, FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of the rear window glass 2 of an automobile, in which a hologram 3 formed in a film shape is adhered to an inner surface of the rear window glass 2. The reproduction light source 10 is disposed. By irradiating the hologram 3 with reproduction light emitted from the reproduction light source 10, a hologram image is reproduced outside the rear window glass 2. With this configuration, the reproduction light source can be arranged without obstructing the rear view through the rear window glass of the driver, and the rear view can be widened.

[0004]

In the HMSL of this type, the hologram 3 diffracts light at an angle corresponding to the angle of the incident light to generate a hologram image. It is necessary to control the incident angle of the light to a predetermined angle. For this reason, H shown in FIG.
In the MSL, the reproduction light source 10 is configured to emit parallel light, and to irradiate light at an equal angle to any part of the hologram 3. Therefore, the reproduction light source 1
The irradiation width of the parallel light from 0, that is, the opening of the reproduction light source has a size corresponding to the width of the hologram 3. But,
In the thus configured reproduction light source 10, when a position shift occurs with respect to the hologram 3, light from the reproduction light source 10 is irradiated onto the hologram 3 with a shift, and the hologram is imaged over the entire surface due to the shift. Without reproduction, a defect occurs in the hologram image or the hologram image becomes dark.

[0005] In addition, although the width of the hologram is required to be reduced due to appearance requirements, the area of the hologram is reduced as the width of the hologram is reduced. The area is reduced, the total amount of light is reduced, and the hologram image generated is darker. As described above, if a part of the hologram image is missing or the hologram image becomes dark, there is a possibility that the statutory standard as the HMSL may not be satisfied. An object of the present invention is to provide an HMSL capable of reproducing a bright hologram image and satisfying HMSL regulatory standards and improving the appearance.

[0006]

According to the present invention, a hologram extending from a rear window glass of an automobile is provided.
The reproducing light source for irradiating the light is formed to be smaller than the width of the opening for light irradiation, and the reproducing light source is configured as a condensing light source. The hologram is configured to be irradiated with a small width dimension. Further, the hologram is constituted by a plurality of subdivided holograms, and the incident light angle characteristics of each subdivided hologram are made different in accordance with the incident light angle.

[0007]

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a first embodiment of the HMSL of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line AA. In these figures, the HMSL 1 has a hologram 3 formed as a horizontally elongated film integrally affixed to the inner surface of the rear window glass 2 attached to the opening of the body of the car along the lower edge of the central portion. ing. The hologram 3 is obtained by forming a photosensitive layer on a base made of a transparent resin, photographing a general HMSL lens step on the photosensitive layer by a holographic technique, and visualizing the image. The hologram 3 is formed in a horizontally elongated band shape, and is adhered to the inner surface of the rear window glass 2 with a transparent adhesive (not shown).

A reproduction light source is provided on the rear parcel shelf 4 at a position facing the hologram 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the reproducing light source 10 has a partially decomposed structure.
A housing is composed of a funnel-shaped body 11 formed as a whole elongated horizontally and a red filter 12 attached to an opening 11c at the front of the body 11. Here, a concave groove 11a is formed around the entire opening edge of the body 11, a peripheral portion 12a of the red filter is inserted into the concave groove 11a, and lances projecting at a plurality of locations of the red filter peripheral edge 12a are provided. 12b is fitted into a hole 11b formed on the outer surface of the concave groove 11a to integrate them. A bulb insertion hole 13 is formed on one side of the body 11, and a socket 15 supporting the bulb 14 is fitted into the bulb insertion hole 13, and the bulb 14 is arranged at a required position in the body. . A protector 16 made of a metal plate or the like is supported on the inner surface of the body 11 located above the light bulb 14 by a guide 17 extending from the inner surface of the body 11.
To prevent damage.

As shown schematically in FIG. 4, the rear surface of the body 11 has a parabolic cross-sectional shape in the horizontal direction, an elliptical cross-sectional shape in the vertical direction, and a metal film such as aluminum on the inner surface. Is formed as a reflector 18, and reflects light from the bulb 14 toward the opening 11c as parallel light in the horizontal direction and as condensing light in the vertical direction. Here, the horizontal dimension of the opening is set equal to the horizontal dimension of the hologram 3, and the vertical dimension is set to be larger than the vertical dimension of the hologram 3. As shown in FIG. 3, a box-shaped portion 19 having a hollow inside so as to protrude in both side directions is integrally formed on both outer side surfaces of the body 11, and the outer surface of the box-shaped portion 19 has a front surface. The flange 20 is formed at a required angle with respect to the opening. This flange 20 has a body 11
The bolt insertion hole 21 for attaching the to the automobile is opened.

The reproducing light source 10 constructed as described above is housed in a rectangular hole formed in the body panel 5 of the rear parcel shelf 4, and has a tap provided on the body panel 5 as shown by a broken line in FIG. The flange 20 of the reproduction light source 10 is attached to the vehicle body panel 5 using the bolt 7 screwed into the hole, and the body 11 is attached in a state where the body 11 is inclined backward with respect to the horizontal plane of the vehicle body panel 5. At this time, the red filter 12 at the opening of the reproduction light source faces the hologram 3 provided on the rear window glass 2 and is separated from the rear window glass 2 by a certain dimension. A decorative panel 6 for decorating the rear parcel shelf 4 is provided above the vehicle body panel 5.

According to the HMSL 1 having this configuration, as shown in FIG. 2, the light emitted from the light bulb 14 is directly or reflected by the reflector 18 and becomes parallel light in the horizontal direction, and the light is collected in the vertical direction. The light passes through the red filter 12 attached to the opening 11c, and is emitted from the reproduction light source 10 as red light. Then, the red light is projected onto the hologram 3 and transmitted through the hologram 3, so that a red hologram image can be observed from the rear of the rear window glass 2, and functions as an HMSL. At this time, since the light is emitted from the reproduction light source 10 as condensing light, particularly in the vertical direction, and is applied to a narrow hologram having a small vertical dimension, the vertical width is larger than the vertical width of the hologram 3. Opening 11c
All of the light emitted from the hologram 3 can be irradiated to the hologram 3. Thereby, although the vertical width of the hologram 3 is reduced for the purpose of appearance appearance, light irradiation with a high light amount is performed, so that the reproduced hologram image is made bright and the visibility is high, H that meets the criteria
MSL is possible.

As shown in FIG. 5, the light from the reproduction light source 10 may be once collected and then radiated onto the hologram 3 while being diffused again. However, in this case, the second focal position of the reflector 18 and the position of the hologram 3 are adjusted so that the hologram is irradiated with the vertical width of the diffused light being smaller than the vertical width of the opening of the reproduction light source 10. It is required to make settings to satisfy the relationship. In this case, as shown in FIG. 6, a cylindrical condenser lens 22 having a vertical curvature is disposed at a position forward of the second focal point of the elliptical reflector 18, and the light once condensed is reproduced by the reproduction light source 10. The hologram 3 may be irradiated as parallel light having a width smaller than the opening width of the hologram 3. In particular, in this case, all of the light reflected by the reflector 18 can be irradiated to the hologram 3 as parallel light, which is compared with the case where the light in the peripheral portion is not irradiated to the hologram 3 as in the case of FIG. For example, even when the width of the hologram 3 is further reduced, the reproduced hologram image can be made brighter.

Further, as shown in FIG.
The reflector 18 'is formed so that each cross-sectional shape in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction is formed in a paraboloid, and all the light from the bulb is directed to the opening as parallel light, while the opening has a vertical curvature. Is arranged so that the light emitted from the reproduction light source is made parallel in the horizontal direction, and is once condensed in the vertical direction and then irradiates the hologram 3 in a diffused state. May be. Also in this configuration, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained. In this case, the hologram may be irradiated with the light condensed by the condenser lens 23. However, when the hologram 3 is irradiated with the same amount of light, it is more advantageous to configure the reflector with an elliptical surface as shown in FIG. 6 since the reproduction light source can be reduced in size.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the present invention. In the first embodiment, a condensing reproduction light source is used. However, when such a reproduction light source is used, the angle of light incident on the hologram is slightly shifted. That is, FIG.
As shown in (a), since the light beam separated from the optical axis O of the reproduction light source has a large angle with respect to the optical axis, the incident light angle with respect to the hologram 3 is also positive and negative with respect to the original incident light angle of the hologram. Deviation angle + θ1, -θ
1 results. As described above, since the hologram performs image reproduction at a predetermined output light angle with respect to a predetermined incident light angle, when such a shift in the incident light angle occurs, the efficiency of image reproduction is partially reduced, and in particular, There is a possibility that the brightness of the image in the direction of the predetermined emission light angle is insufficient, and the HMSL standard may not be satisfied. FIG. 9B is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the incident light angle and the image reproduction efficiency.

Therefore, in the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the hologram 3A is divided into a plurality of regions in the vertical direction. That is, as shown in a detailed view in FIG. 10, here, five holograms 31 extremely thin in the horizontal direction are used.
To 35 are arranged in a vertical direction, and these are integrated to form one hologram 3. Each of the subdivided holograms 31 to 35 has an incident light angle set based on its characteristic corresponding to the inclination of the light beam of the condensing reproduction light source. The angle θ0 is set, and the incident light angles of the subdivided holograms 32, 34, 31, and 35 arranged above and below the center are -θ1, + θ1,
The values are sequentially increased like -θ2, + θ2. In order to form such a hologram, there is a method in which a plurality of holograms previously formed at different incident light angles are subdivided, a pair of subdivided holograms are extracted from each hologram, and these are bonded together to be integrated.
Alternatively, there is a method in which, when a single hologram is created, a thin slit-shaped mask is used, and the mask is sequentially exposed while moving the mask and gradually changing the incident light angle.

In any case, when the hologram 3A is used, the optical axis O is applied to each of the plurality of subdivided holograms 31 to 35 constituting the hologram 3A when the light from the reproduction light source 10 is irradiated with the condensing light. As a result, light is emitted at different incident angles with respect to the center, and as a result, each of the subdivided holograms 31 to 35 has the best image reproduction efficiency at the same output angle, and as a result, the entire hologram has a predetermined angle with respect to a predetermined angle. Highly efficient image reproduction is realized.
For this reason, the brightness of the reproduced hologram image increases, and the HMSL standard can be satisfied. Although the first and second embodiments show an example in which a hologram having a small vertical width is used, in the case of a vertically long hologram having a small horizontal width, the reproducing light source is not condensed in the horizontal direction. What should be done. In this case, in the second embodiment, the subdivided holograms may be arranged in the horizontal direction.
Further, the hologram may be irradiated with condensing light in any of the vertical and horizontal directions.
In this embodiment, minute rectangular subdivision holograms may be arranged in a grid pattern.

Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 12, in an HMSL in which the reproduction light source emits parallel light, for example,
As shown in FIG. 11 (a), the hologram 3B is
Of the reproduction light source 1
Even if there is a slight relative displacement between the hologram 3B and the hologram 3B, the hologram 3B is reliably irradiated with light from the reproduction light source 10, so that the brightness of the reproduced image is somewhat reduced. The problem that the hologram is not partially reconstructed can be solved. Conversely, as shown in FIG. 11B, if the hologram 3C is made larger than the size of the opening 11c of the reproduction light source 10, all of the light from the reproduction light source 10 is irradiated on the hologram 3C. Although the reproduction of the image is not performed in a part of the image, the problem that the brightness of the reproduced image is reduced can be solved because all the light amount from the reproduction light source is used. In each of the above embodiments, a light bulb is used as the light source of the reproduction light source, and red light is emitted by the red filter. However, a red light bulb or a red light emitting diode is used as the light source, and a white transparent plate is used for the filter or the condenser lens. May be used.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, the width of the hologram is made smaller than the width of the light irradiating opening of the reproduction light source, and the light from the reproduction light source configured as a condensing light source is obtained. The hologram is illuminated with a width smaller than the width of the opening, so it is possible to reduce the width of the hologram for the purpose of appearance and to irradiate light with a high light amount. The hologram image to be reproduced is bright, has high visibility, and satisfies the standard.
MSL can be obtained. In addition, the hologram is composed of a plurality of subdivided holograms, and the incident light angle characteristics of each subdivided hologram are made different according to the light angle of the condensing light incident on each hologram. Can be reproduced in a predetermined angle direction even when the hologram is irradiated with the above light, and HMSL with high visibility can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially broken perspective view of a first embodiment of an HMSL of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a partially exploded perspective view of a reproduction light source.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view schematically showing a reflector of a reproduction light source.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a modification of the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing another modification of the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing still another modification.

FIG. 8 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a hologram for explaining a problem that may occur in the first embodiment, and a diagram illustrating characteristics of an incident light angle and image reproduction efficiency thereof.

FIG. 10 is a schematic sectional view showing a configuration of a hologram of a second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a sectional view showing a different example of the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing the concept of HMSL to which the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 HMSL (high mount stop lamp) 2 Rear window glass 3, 3A-3C hologram 4 Rear parcel shelf 10 Reproduction light source 11 Body 11c Opening 12 Red filter 14 Light bulb

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B60Q 1/00-1/56 F21S 8/10-8/12 G02B 5/32

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A high mount stop lamp for an automobile, comprising: a hologram extending on a rear window glass surface of the automobile; and a reproduction light source for irradiating the hologram with light to reproduce an image toward the rear of the automobile. The hologram is formed smaller than the width of the opening for light irradiation of the reproduction light source, and the reproduction light source is configured as a condensing light source, and the light from the reproduction light source is smaller than the width of the opening. A high mount stop lamp for a vehicle, wherein the hologram is irradiated in a state of a width dimension. 2. The hologram is constituted by a plurality of subdivided holograms, and the incident light angle of each subdivided hologram is made different according to the incident angle of the condensing or diffusing light incident on each hologram. 2. The high mount stop lamp for an automobile according to claim 1, wherein