JP3331579B2 - Reflective surface structure of vehicle lighting - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure of a reflecting surface of a vehicular lamp of a type in which a light beam emitted from a light source is reflected by a reflecting mirror and projected, and in particular, a front lens has a wraparound portion. It is suitable for a vehicular lamp.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 shows a conventional example of a vehicular lamp having a wraparound portion. FIG. 5A is a horizontal sectional view of a part of a turn signal lamp constituting a rear combination lamp, and FIG. It is the perspective view which extracted and drawn the inner housing which also served as the reflector of the said turn signal lamp. In the above (A) diagram, the upper part of the figure is the traveling direction of the vehicle, the lower part of the figure is the rear of the vehicle body in the main light projecting direction, and the left side of the figure corresponds to the left side of the vehicle body. The reference numeral 1 denotes an inner housing / reflector, and a front lens 2 is mounted so as to cover the front opening. However, unless otherwise specified, the terms forward and backward refer to the direction of light projection regardless of the traveling direction of the vehicle body, and the opposite is referred to as backward. In order to reflect forward a light beam emitted from a light source located at 3 'in the drawing, a paraboloid of revolution Rp having a focal point at the light source position 3' is set, and an inner housing is formed along the paraboloid of revolution Rp. The main body 1a of the reflector 1 is formed, and its inner surface functions as a reflector. In this conventional example, a so-called Kamaboko prism-shaped reflecting element 1b is formed on the inner surface of the main body 1a in the vertical direction.
The reflecting element reflects the incident light in the horizontal direction while diffusing the incident light in the left and right directions. That is, the counter-arrow Y in FIG.
When viewed in the direction (planar projection), the reflected light is diffused, but when viewed in the arrow X direction (side projection), the reflected light is parallel to the illustrated Z axis. The reason for this configuration is that the turn signal lamp emits light in a wide angle range in the horizontal direction, that is, the lighting can be visually recognized from a wide range in the horizontal direction. The horizontal reflected light diffused by the kamaboko prism-shaped reflecting element 1b is modulated when transmitted through the front lens 2, and is emitted as a diffused light beam toward the rear of the vehicle body (downward in FIG. A). The front lens 2 of the conventional example has a wraparound portion 2a that curves toward the left side of the vehicle body in order to achieve a design harmony with the entire vehicle body. On the other hand, a dummy portion 1c facing the lens wraparound portion 2a at substantially equal intervals is continuously provided. Although this dummy unit does not function as a reflector for reflecting light from a light source, the main unit 1 is not illuminated when it receives external light when it is not lit.
A vertical columnar reflective element 1d is formed so as to have the same appearance as that of FIG. The above-mentioned straight column shape is a general term for linear prism shapes such as a right triangular prism, a right circular column, a right elliptical column and the like.

[0003]

The vehicular lamp of the prior art shown in FIG. 5 has the effect that, when it receives extraneous light when it is not lit, the wraparound portion 2a of the front lens 2 also looks bright. a) The luminous flux emitted from the light source position 3 'at the time of lighting and reflected by the inner surface of the inner housing / reflector 1 does not reach the wraparound portion 2a of the front lens, so that the light emitting area of the front lens 2 is small, and the same. Due to the reason, the luminance distribution is not uniform in the appearance of the front lens 2 at the time of lighting, and (b) the interval dimension D between the dummy portion 1c and the front lens wrap portion 2a is small, so that There is a problem that the appearance does not have a sense of depth. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described disadvantages all at once, and has a large light emission area at the time of lighting, a uniform luminance distribution, and a depth of appearance in a non-lighting vehicle. It is an object of the present invention to provide a reflecting surface structure of a lighting fixture.

[0004]

The basic principle of the reflecting surface structure according to the present invention created to achieve the above object will be briefly described below with reference to FIG. is there. In the conventional example, the columnar reflecting element 1d in the Y-axis direction (vertical direction) is formed at a portion of the front lens 2 facing the wraparound portion 2a. The present invention improves this reflective element into a curved cylindrical surface. In the present invention, the curved cylindrical surface means a shape similar to the curved cylindrical surface, and also includes a curved elliptical cylindrical surface and its deformation. Further, in the present invention, the curved cylindrical surface reflecting elements are arranged such that the center line forms a parabola, and are arranged in the X-axis direction (right and left as viewed in the light projection direction). As a result, the boundary line facing the adjacent reflection element also becomes a parabola. Further, the present invention uses the above-mentioned center line parabola as Y
-Position on a plane parallel to the Z plane. Accordingly, the parabola, which is the boundary line, is also located on a plane parallel to the YZ plane. With respect to a large number of parabolas formed as described above, the focal length of the parabola is changed to be larger as the distance from the light source is increased, without making the shapes uniform. In the present invention, the above-mentioned tendency does not necessarily require an accurate proportional relationship, but means that even if there is a small variation, it is sufficient that the proportional relationship is seen from a macro perspective. As a basic configuration based on the above-described principle, the reflecting surface structure of the present invention has a main light projecting direction Z in a structure of a reflecting surface of a vehicle lamp for reflecting a light beam emitted from a light source and projecting the light forward of the lamp. Three orthogonal axes X, Y, and Z
Is assumed, a plurality of curved cylindrical surface reflecting elements are arranged substantially in the X-axis direction, and a boundary line in which each of the curved cylindrical surface reflecting elements faces an adjacent reflecting element is YZ. It has a shape similar to a parabola or a parabola located on a boundary surface parallel to the surface, and a parabola located on the boundary surface close to the light source has a short focal length and is located on the boundary surface far from the light source. The parabola is characterized by a tendency to have a long focal length. The above-mentioned boundary surface is a virtual plane used to explain the tendency of the focal length of the parabola to be longer or shorter in the present invention.

[0005]

According to the above-described means, each of the plurality of curved cylindrical surface reflecting elements receives a light beam emitted from the light source and reflects it with an appropriate diffusivity, so that the light emitting area can be increased. Since the plurality of curved cylindrical surfaces are arranged in the X-axis direction without being arranged at the same distance from the wraparound portion of the front lens, all of the plurality of curved cylindrical surfaces are emitted from the light source. The light is diffused and reflected.
Therefore, the brightness distribution of the front lens is uniform, and the plurality of curved cylindrical surfaces are arranged in the X-axis direction without being arranged at the same distance from the wraparound portion of the front lens. The distance between the curved cylindrical surface and the front lens wrapping portion is not restricted. Therefore, it is easy to set a large distance between the curved cylindrical surface and the front lens wrap-around portion to give a sense of depth to the appearance.

[0006]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2A and 2B show a vehicular lamp provided with an embodiment of the reflecting surface structure according to the present invention, wherein FIG. 2A is a partial horizontal sectional view in which coordinate axes are added, and FIG. 2B is a drawing in which a front lens is removed. It is the figure which added the coordinate axis to the partial front view. The front lens 2 is a member similar to or similar to that of the conventional example described with reference to FIG. 5 and has a wraparound portion 2a. Reference numeral 4 denotes an inner housing / reflector constituted by applying the present invention, and a plurality of curved cylindrical surface reflecting elements 5 are provided on the inner surface (the front surface in the light projection direction).
Are formed. FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view illustrating the inner housing and the reflector in the above embodiment. For convenience of explanation, it is assumed that orthogonal coordinate axes X, Y, and Z are used as shown in FIGS. The Z axis passes through the light source (the center point of the filament of the light source bulb 3) and is made to coincide with the main light projecting direction of the lamp. The X axis is the horizontal axis passing through the light source, and the Y axis is the vertical axis. In FIG. 3, for convenience of explanation, 5a, 5b to 5b
d and alphabetical suffixes. The detailed configuration of each of these many curved cylindrical surface reflecting elements will be described later with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 4a shown in FIG. 3 denotes a mounting hole provided in the inner housing / reflector 4 for installing a bulb socket (not shown) for mounting the light source bulb 3. The plurality of curved cylindrical surface reflective elements are named 5a, which is closest to the light source bulb 3, and are sequentially named 5b to 5d as the distance from the light source bulb 3 increases.

As shown in FIG. 2 (B), the boundary between the adjacent curved cylindrical reflective elements 5 is a straight line parallel to the Y axis in the front view. That is, each of the above boundary lines is located on a plane parallel to the YZ plane. For convenience of explanation, a virtual plane on which the above-mentioned boundary line is placed is called a boundary surface. The boundary line is a curved line as shown in FIG. 3 which is a perspective view, and has a parabolic shape. The fact that these boundaries are parabolic means that the center line of the virtual curved cylinder forming the basic shape of the curved cylindrical surface reflection element is parabolically curved. ing. However, since it is extremely difficult to observe and measure a curved cylindrical surface reflecting element as a resulting product and to determine its center line, the following description of the structure mainly focuses on the boundary facing the adjacent reflecting element. Perform using a line.

FIG. 1 is a view for explaining a reflecting surface structure of a vehicular lamp according to the present invention. The perspective view of a plurality of curved cylindrical surface reflecting elements arranged in the X-axis direction shows a coordinate axis and a light source position. FIG. The curved cylindrical surface reflecting elements 5a to 5d are sequentially arranged in the X-axis direction as the distance from the light source position 3 'increases. As an example, a curved cylindrical surface reflecting element 5b
Each of these curved cylindrical surface reflecting elements has a curved cylindrical surface convex toward the light source position, as indicated by a shaded line attached to a part of. Curves P ₃₀ and P ₃₀ ′ shown by chain lines are boundaries of the curved cylindrical surface reflecting element 5a, and are Y-
A focal length f = 3, which is located on a boundary plane (illustration omitted / imaginary plane) parallel to the Z plane and has a center line parallel to the Z axis.
It is a parabola of 0 mm. Distance La between the virtual boundary surface on which the parabolas P ₃₀ and P ₃₀ ′ are placed and the light source position 3 ′
Is about 30 mm in this embodiment. That is, the distance from the light source and the focal length of the parabola are almost equal. Similarly, parabola P ₃₀ is a boundary of a song cylindrical surface like reflection element _{5b. 5, P 30. 5} ' includes a light source positioned 3' distance Lb from
It is located on a boundary surface (not shown) of ≒ 30.5 mm and has a focal length f = 30.5 mm. Similarly, the parabolas P ₃₁ and P ₃₁ ′, which are the boundaries of the curved cylindrical surface reflecting element 5 c, have a boundary (not shown) at a distance Lc ≒ 31 mm from the light source position 3 ′.
It is located above and has a focal length f = 31 mm. Similarly, a parabola P ₃₂ , which is a boundary of the curved cylindrical planar reflecting element 5d,
P ₃₂ ′ is located on a boundary surface (not shown) at a distance Ld ≒ 32 mm from the light source position 3 ′, and has a focal length f = 32 mm.

In practicing the present invention, the focal length of the parabola does not necessarily have to be equal to the distance from the light source, but the focal length is set to increase as the distance from the light source increases. Each of the eight parabolas P ₃₀ and P ₃₂ ′ shown in FIG. 1 is located on a virtual boundary surface parallel to the YZ plane, and these boundary surfaces are separated from the light source position 3 ′. are doing. Therefore, these parabolas are not parabolas focusing on the light source position. The prismatic reflective element in the reflective surface structure of the conventional example is a straight cylindrical surface, or a curved cylindrical surface reflection according to the present invention as compared with a configuration in which a parabola whose focal point is the light source position is used as a reference. The element 5a is curved in a parabolic shape not focusing on the light source position. In addition, said 8
Each of the parabolas P ₃₀ and P ₃₂ ′ does not need to be a strictly analytical parabola, and may have a shape similar to a parabola.

FIG. 4 shows a vehicular lamp provided with the reflecting surface structure of the above embodiment, in which (A) is a plan view showing a section cut along the XZ plane, and (B) is a bb plane. FIG. (A) As shown in the figure, since the front lens 2 in this example has a wraparound portion 2a formed to the left of the Z axis, the inner housing / reflector 4 in this example is not shown in FIG. The present invention is applied to the left side of the Z axis. (B) is a cross-sectional side view of a portion configured by applying the present invention because the drawing is a bb cross-section. As shown in FIG. 5 described above, the main body 1a of the conventional inner housing / reflector 1 has a light source position 3 'in a plan view.
The main body 4b of the inner housing / reflector 4 according to the present embodiment is formed as shown in FIG.
As shown in (A), the right side of the Z axis (the lens wraparound portion 2a)
Is formed only on the side on which is not formed, and the left side of the figure is cut away with respect to the YZ plane.
A curved cylindrical surface reflecting element 5 extending from the Z plane to the left in the figure.
a to 5e are arranged in the X-axis direction. Since the horizontal cross sections of the plurality of curved cylindrical surface reflecting elements 5a to 5e are arc-shaped, the light emitted from the light source is diffused and reflected. For example, the light incident on the curved cylindrical surface reflection element 5c as shown by the arrow a is reflected in the direction of the arrow a ', and
Light incident on an incident point different from the incident point indicated by arrow c as shown by arrow c is reflected in the direction of arrow c 'and diffused. In this way, the luminous flux emitted from the light source and reflected by the curved cylindrical reflecting element according to the present invention is given a diffusivity in a horizontal plane.

Next, the reflection state in the vertical plane will be considered with reference to FIG. This figure (B)
(A) Since it is drawn as a pair with the drawing to form a two-view drawing by the triangular projection, the Y axis is in the left-right direction of the drawing. Is the vertical axis, the arrow Y points upward with respect to the earth, the Z axis is horizontal, and the arrow Z indicates the main projection direction. In the conventional inner housing / reflector, the reference shape is a paraboloid of revolution having the light source position as the focal point.
The light exiting from and entering the reflecting surface as shown by arrows e and d is reflected parallel to the Z axis (that is, in the horizontal direction) as shown by dotted arrows e ″ and d ″, and is not diffused in the vertical plane. .
However, the curved cylindrical surface reflecting element 5 of the present invention is provided at the light source position 3 '.
Is not a paraboloid of revolution whose focal point is, the reflected light does not become a parallel light flux, but is also diffused and reflected in the vertical direction as indicated by arrows d 'and e'. As described above with reference to FIG. 4, the curved cylindrical surface reflecting element of the present embodiment imparts diffusivity to incident light and reflects it toward the front lens 2. Therefore, the front lens 2
Each of the portions, including the wraparound portion 2a, receives the reflected light flux from each of the plurality of curved cylindrical surface reflecting elements 5a to 5e. As a result, the entire front surface of the front lens 2 including the wraparound portion 2a appears to emit light uniformly, and the area of the light emitting portion is large. As shown in FIG. 5A illustrating a conventional example, the inner housing / reflector 1 of the conventional example is shown.
Column-shaped reflecting element 1d provided in the dummy portion 1c of FIG.
Is opposed to the wraparound portion 2a of the front lens 2 by a relatively short distance D, but the curved cylindrical surface reflecting element 5a of this example is
4E are arranged in the X-axis direction as shown in FIG. 4A. For example, the distance E between the curved cylindrical surface reflection element 5e and the front lens wraparound portion 2a is equal to the distance D. It is set much larger than that. Therefore, there is a sense of depth when viewed from the front of the lamp when not lit. As described above, according to the inner housing / reflector 4 of the present embodiment, the light emission area of the front lens 2 applied at the time of lighting is wide,
In addition, the luminance distribution of the light emitting section is uniform, and furthermore, the appearance when not lit has a sense of depth, and the commercial value is high. Although the curved cylindrical surface reflecting element in the above-described embodiment has a curved cylindrical surface convex toward the light source position 3 ', it can be understood from FIG. When a curved cylindrical surface (not shown) that is concave toward the light source position 3 'is formed, a light beam incident as indicated by arrows a and c is reflected as a convergent light beam indicated by dotted arrows a "and c". However, since they diffuse once after intersecting, the same effect as in the above embodiment can be obtained. The embodiment described above is an example in which the reflecting surface structure of the present invention is applied to the reflecting surface formed on the inner surface of the inner housing / reflector, but the reflecting surface structure of the present invention is formed on the inner surface of the inner housing / reflector. The present invention can be applied not only to the reflecting surface which is formed on the inner surface of the lamp housing and the reflector but also to a dedicated reflector which is not used as the lamp housing. The same action as,
The effect is obtained.

[0012]

As described above with reference to the embodiments,
According to the reflecting surface structure to which the present invention is applied, each of the plurality of curved cylindrical surface reflecting elements receives a light beam emitted from the light source,
Since the light is reflected with an appropriate diffusion property, the light emitting area can be increased. Since the plurality of curved cylindrical surfaces are arranged in the X-axis direction without being arranged at the same distance from the wraparound portion of the front lens, all of the plurality of curved cylindrical surfaces are emitted from the light source. The light is diffused and reflected. For this reason, the brightness distribution of the front lens is uniform,
Moreover, since the plurality of curved cylindrical surfaces are arranged in the X-axis direction without being arranged at an equal distance to the wraparound portion of the front lens, the distance between the curved cylindrical surface and the wraparound portion of the front lens is reduced. Not restricted. Therefore, it is easy to give a sense of depth to the appearance by setting a large distance between the curved cylindrical surface and the front lens wrap-around portion, and it is possible to form a vehicle lamp having high commercial value. It has a practical effect.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view for explaining a reflecting surface structure of a vehicular lamp according to the present invention, and shows a coordinate axis and a light source position in a perspective view of a plurality of curved cylindrical surface reflecting elements arranged in an X-axis direction. FIG.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show a vehicular lamp provided with a reflecting surface structure according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 2A is a partial horizontal sectional view in which coordinate axes are added, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram in which coordinate axes are added to a partial front view.

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view illustrating an inner housing / reflector extracted in the above embodiment.

4A and 4B show a vehicle lamp provided with the reflecting surface structure of the above embodiment, in which FIG. 4A is a plan view illustrating a section taken along the XZ plane, and FIG. 4B is a section taken along the bb plane. FIG.

5A and 5B show a conventional example of a vehicular lamp having a wraparound portion, wherein FIG. 5A is a horizontal cross-sectional view of a part of a turn signal lamp constituting a rear combination lamp, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating an inner housing that also serves as a reflector.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Inner housing and reflector of conventional example, 1a ... Rotating paraboloid-shaped main body part, 1b ... Kamaboko prism type reflection element, 1c ... Dummy part, 1d ... Straight columnar reflection element, 2 ... Front lens, 2a ... Wrap-around part, 3 ... Light source bulb, 3 '...
Light source position, 4 ... Inner housing / reflector in the embodiment of the present invention, 4a ... Light source bulb socket mounting hole, 4
b: Main body of inner housing and reflector, 5, 5a
5d: curved cylindrical surface reflection element; 6: color cap.

Continuation of front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) F21V 7/09 F21S 8/10

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A structure of a reflecting surface of a vehicular lamp for reflecting a light beam emitted from a light source and projecting the light forward of the lamp, assuming three orthogonal axes X, Y, and Z having a main light projecting direction as a Z axis. A plurality of curved cylindrical surface reflecting elements are arranged substantially in the X-axis direction, and a boundary line in which each of the curved cylindrical surface reflecting elements faces an adjacent reflecting element is a YZ plane. A parabola located on a parallel interface or a shape similar to the parabola, and a parabola located on an interface close to the light source has a short focal length and is located on an interface far from the light source A reflecting surface structure of a vehicle lamp, wherein the parabola has a tendency to have a long focal length.