JP5488208B2 - Vehicle lighting - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicular lamp that is configured to suppress fogging on the inner surface of a lens by controlling the airflow in the lamp chamber.

  A vehicular lamp such as a headlamp includes a bulb as a light source, a reflector that reflects light from the bulb, a reflector that reflects light from the bulb, a lamp chamber defined by a lens that covers a housing and an opening of the housing, and the reflector and the housing. Some are configured to accommodate extensions that cover the gaps between them.

  In such vehicular lamps, when the light source is turned on, the vicinity of the light source in the lamp chamber becomes high temperature, and the vicinity of the lens away from the lamp chamber becomes low temperature, so that moisture contained in the air in the lamp chamber is cooled by the lens and condensation occurs. However, there is a problem that fogging occurs on the inner surface of the lens.

  Therefore, a breathing hole is formed in the back of the housing, the lamp chamber is connected to the outside through the breathing hole, and the inside of the lens is prevented from being fogged by ventilating the lamp chamber by air convection due to the temperature difference in the lamp chamber. It has been done conventionally.

  Further, as an anti-fogging measure for the lens, for example, in Patent Document 1, a breathing hole is formed above and below the light source of the housing, and either the inner side of the housing or the outer side of the reflector at the position between the two breathing holes is provided behind the reflector. A horizontal rib is provided to prevent the air flow in the vertical direction in the gap with the housing, and the breathing action is activated by increasing the air intake / exhaust amount through the breathing hole, thereby suppressing fogging on the inner surface of the lens. Proposals have been made.

  Furthermore, in Patent Document 2, by sealing the gap between the outer peripheral edge of the headlamp extension and the lens with a sealing agent, even if the air on the rear side of the reflector is warmed by the bulb and rises, Proposals have been made to block the inflow of the air into the gap and prevent or suppress fogging of the lens inner surface due to condensation of moisture contained in the air.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-086614 JP 2009-193806 A

  By the way, in a vehicular lamp such as a headlamp provided with an extension for improving the appearance, depending on the design, it is difficult for air to flow between the extension in the lamp chamber and the lens, and ventilation at that portion becomes insufficient. For this reason, there is a problem that the inner surface of the lens is easily clouded, and once the lens inner surface is clouded, it takes time to clear the cloudiness.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a vehicular lamp that can prevent or quickly eliminate fogging of the lens inner surface by controlling the airflow in the lamp chamber. It is in.

  In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention includes a bulb that is a light source, a reflector that reflects light from the bulb, a lamp chamber defined by a lens that covers a housing and an opening thereof, In a vehicular lamp that accommodates an extension that covers a gap between a reflector and the housing, a wall for guiding air in the lamp chamber to a space between the extension and the lens is provided on the back surface of the extension. It is characterized by that.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the lens has an extending shape portion that extends while curving toward the housing at an outer end portion in the vehicle width direction. The extension is arranged on the inner side, and the wall is protruded along the vehicle width direction on the back surface of the extension.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, a wall projecting from the back surface of the extension is projected from the outer edge in the vehicle width direction of the extension toward the housing. .

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to third aspects, the outer end edge of the extension in the vehicle width direction is inclined so as to rise obliquely upward toward the housing. .

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the wall projecting from the back surface of the extension is formed of a rib.

  According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the rising airflow flowing along the back surface of the extension can be guided to the end edge of the extension by the wall formed on the back surface of the extension, and the airflow is transmitted from the end edge to the extension and the lens. The space is well ventilated because it can flow into the space between. For this reason, the occurrence of fogging on the inner surface of the lens is prevented, or even if fogging occurs, the fogging is eliminated at an early stage.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the wall projecting from the back surface of the extension is protruded from the outer edge in the vehicle width direction of the extension to the housing side. The space can be efficiently ventilated by this air flow.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the outer edge in the vehicle width direction of the extension is inclined so as to rise obliquely upward toward the housing. It is possible to flow in the space between, and the air flow can be efficiently ventilated by this air flow.

  According to the invention described in claim 5, since the wall projecting from the back surface of the extension is constituted by the rib, the length and shape of the rib can be optimally set without affecting the external appearance shape (external appearance design) of the extension. This rib allows the air flow to be efficiently guided to the edge of the extension for ventilation of the space between the extension and the lens.

1 is a perspective view of a vehicle provided with a headlamp according to the present invention. It is a front view of the headlamp which concerns on this invention. It is the sectional view on the AA line of FIG. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line B-B in FIG. 2. It is CC sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is the perspective view which looked at the headlamp concerning the present invention from the back side. It is a fragmentary perspective view of the extension back surface which shows the flow of the air in the rib provided in the D section of FIG. It is a figure similar to FIG. 4 which shows the modification of this invention.

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

  1 is a perspective view of a vehicle equipped with a headlamp according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view of the headlamp, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 2, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. 2, FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the headlamp viewed from the back side, and FIG. 7 is a back of the extension showing the air flow in the rib provided at the D portion of FIG. FIG.

  In the present embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to the headlamps 1 arranged on the left and right of the front portion of the vehicle 100 shown in FIG. 1 will be described. Since the basic configuration of the left and right headlamps 1 is the same, only the left headlamp 1 will be described below.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the headlamp 1 according to the present embodiment has two upper and lower bulbs 5 and 6 serving as light sources in a lamp chamber 4 defined by a housing 2 and a lens 3 covering a front opening of the housing 2. And reflectors 7 and 8 that reflect the light emitted from the bulbs 5 and 6 toward the front of the vehicle, and an extension 9 that covers the gap between the reflectors 7 and 8 and the housing 2. . Here, one valve 6 is a headlight valve, and the other valve 5 is a turn signal valve. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the bulb 5 is disposed inside the extended shape portion 3 </ b> A of the lens 3, which will be described later, above and behind the bulb 6.

  The lens 3 is integrally formed of a transparent resin, and as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, an extending shape portion 3 </ b> A that extends while curving toward the housing 2 is formed at the outer end in the vehicle width direction. ing. That is, the outer end portion of the lens 3 in the vehicle width direction is extended to the rear side of the vehicle along the fender panel to form the extended shape portion 3A, and the headlamp 1 having the lens 3 that is long in the front-rear direction of the vehicle is configured. Has been. In the portion of the extended shape portion 3A, the housing 2 is disposed close to the inside of the lamp chamber 4 to be a narrow space extending rearward and upward of the vehicle. The extension 9 is disposed in the vicinity of the lens 3 inside the extended shape portion 3A of the lens 3, and a narrow space S is formed between them. Here, as shown in FIG. 4, a minute gap δ is formed between the outer edge of the extension 9 in the vehicle width direction and the lens 3. Further, in the present embodiment, air that is heated in the lamp chamber 4 and rises along the back surface of the extension 9 is allowed to flow between the extension 9 and the lens 3 on the back surface of the outer end portion of the extension 9 in the vehicle width direction. As shown in FIG. 6, linear ribs 10, 11 as walls for leading to the space S are projected in approximately the vehicle width direction along the back surface of the outer end portion in the vehicle width direction at two upper and lower positions. In particular, as shown in FIG. 7, one long rib 11 disposed below is inclined so as to rise obliquely upward toward the housing 2 (toward the rear of the vehicle), and the rib 11 is at the highest position. The extension 9 reaches the outer edge in the vehicle width direction. In the present embodiment, the ribs 10 and 11 are formed at a position higher than the valve 6 that is a heat source.

  Further, in the headlamp 1 according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, breathing holes 12 and 13 are formed in the lower part of the rear end of the housing 2 in the vehicle width direction inner end and the vehicle width direction outer end, respectively. The interior of the lamp chamber 4 communicates with the outside through the breathing holes 12 and 13.

  Thus, in the headlamp 1 configured as described above, when power is supplied to the bulbs 5 and 6 and the bulbs 5 and 6 are turned on, a part of the light emitted from the bulbs 5 and 6 is directly irradiated. As shown in FIG. 3, the light passes through the lens 3 and is irradiated to the front of the vehicle (left side in FIG. 3), and other light is reflected by the reflectors 7 and 8, respectively. Left)

  By the way, while the bulb 6 with a large amount of light is lit, the air around the bulb 6 in the lamp chamber 4 is warmed by the heat generated by the bulb 6, and the warmed and lightened air is shown in FIGS. As indicated by the arrow, it flows upward along the back surface of the extension 9 and is discharged to the outside through one breathing hole 12 formed in the upper part of the housing 2. Then, outside air having a low temperature flows into the lamp chamber 4 from the other breathing hole 13 formed in the lower portion of the housing 2. For this reason, an updraft is generated in the lamp chamber 4, and the inside of the lamp chamber 4 is ventilated by this updraft and the temperature rise in the lamp chamber 4 is suppressed. However, as described above, the space between the outer edge of the extension 9 and the lens 3 is narrowed, and only a minute gap δ (see FIG. 4) is formed between the two. As described above, there is a problem that air hardly flows in the space S between the lenses 3 and the air stays in the space S, so that moisture contained in the air is condensed and the inner surface of the lens 3 is clouded. .

  However, in the present embodiment, since the ribs 10 and 11 project from the rear surface of the outer end portion of the extension 9 in the vehicle width direction, the rising airflow flowing upward along the rear surface of the extension 9 is received by the ribs 10 and 11. The received rising airflow can be made to flow along the ribs 10 and 11 and guided to the outer edge of the extension 9, and the airflow can be made to flow in the space S between the extension 9 and the lens 3. For this reason, the space S between the extension 9 and the lens 3 is sufficiently ventilated by the airflow, air does not stay in the space S, and the occurrence of fogging on the inner surface of the lens 3 is prevented or the fogging occurs. However, the cloudiness is eliminated at an early stage.

  In the headlamp 1 according to the present embodiment, the outer end edge of the extension 9 in the vehicle width direction is inclined so as to rise obliquely upward toward the housing 2. That is, the vehicle width direction outer end edge of the extension 9 extends obliquely so as to become higher as it goes to the rear side of the vehicle, like the vehicle width direction outer end portion of the lens 3. For this reason, the rising airflow that flows along the ribs 10 and 11 and reaches the outer edge of the extension 9 passes under the edge. Then, the rising airflow can be received at the oblique end edge of the extension 9 positioned above the rib 10 or the rib 11 and can flow into the space S between the extension 9 and the lens 3. Can be ventilated efficiently. In particular, when the high temperature air heated by the lower valve 6 and rising in the lamp chamber 4 along the back surface of the extension 9 is received by the ribs 10 and 11 as shown by arrows in FIGS. Since the heat of the air is conducted from the ribs 10 and 11 to the extension 9 and the extension 9 is warmed, even if fogging occurs on the inner surface of the lens 3, the fogging is eliminated earlier. As shown by arrows in FIG. 7, the air rising along the extension 9 is received by, for example, the illustrated rib 11, and a part of the air climbs over the rib 11 and continues to rise along the back surface of the extension 9. Other air is guided to the outer edge in the vehicle width direction of the extension 9 by an oblique arrangement in which the outer edge in the vehicle width direction of the extension 9 of the rib 11 is at a high position. , And flows into the space S between the extension 9 and the lens 3 to be used for ventilation of the space S.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, since the wall protruding from the back surface of the extension 9 is composed of the ribs 10 and 11, the length and shape of the ribs 10 and 11 are not affected without affecting the external shape (appearance design) of the extension 9. These ribs 10 and 11 can efficiently guide the airflow toward the outer edge in the vehicle width direction of the extension 9 and can be used for ventilation of the space S between the extension 9 and the lens 3. .

  Here, another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 8, but if the rib 11 protruding from the rear surface of the extension 9 as shown in the drawing protrudes from the outer edge in the vehicle width direction of the extension 9 to the housing 2 side, The rib 11 can flow the airflow more reliably and effectively into the space S between the extension 9 and the lens 3, and the airflow can be further efficiently ventilated by the airflow.

  In the above, the embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a headlamp has been described. However, the present invention is naturally applicable to any other vehicular lamp other than the headlamp. Further, if the protruding direction of the ribs 10 and 11 is formed so as to be lower as it goes to the tips of the ribs 10 and 11, it becomes easier to receive the rising air flow, and the amount of flow along the ribs 10 and 11 can be increased. .

1 Headlamp (vehicle lamp)
2 Housing 3 Lens 3A Lens Extension Shape 4 Lamp Chamber 5, 6 Bulb (Light Source)
7,8 Reflector 10,11 Rib (wall)
12,13 Breathing hole S Space between extension and lens

Claims (5)

A lamp chamber defined by a housing and a lens covering the opening accommodates a bulb that is a light source, a reflector that reflects light from the bulb, and an extension that covers a gap between the reflector and the housing. Vehicular lamp comprising:
A vehicular lamp characterized in that a wall for guiding air in a lamp chamber to a space between the extension and the lens is provided on the back surface of the extension.   The lens has an extended shape portion that extends while curving toward the housing at an outer end portion in the vehicle width direction, the extension is disposed inside the extended shape portion, and the wall is disposed on the back surface of the extension. The vehicular lamp according to claim 1, wherein the vehicular lamp is provided so as to protrude substantially along the vehicle width direction.   3. The vehicular lamp according to claim 1, wherein a wall projecting from the back surface of the extension is protruded from the outer end edge in the vehicle width direction of the extension toward the housing.   The vehicular lamp according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein an outer end edge of the extension in the vehicle width direction is inclined so as to rise obliquely upward toward the housing. The vehicular lamp according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a wall projecting from the back surface of the extension is formed of a rib.

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