JP7388833B2 - Vehicle light control device, vehicle light control method, vehicle light - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to lighting control technology for a vehicle lamp used, for example, as a turn lamp.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2017-183287 (Patent Document 1) describes a vehicle lamp that performs lighting control so that light flows in one direction (for example, in the vehicle width direction). The lighting control as described above is called sequential control. In this prior art vehicle lamp, light is incident on the light guide from each of a plurality of LED light sources, and the light from each is reflected at different locations on the light guide and sequentially emitted to the outside of the light guide. This achieves the above sequential control (see FIG. 11 of Patent Document 1, etc.).

By the way, in the above-described conventional vehicle lamp, the optical path length of the light from each LED light source differs depending on whether the light is reflected at a position close to the LED light source inside the light guide or when it is reflected at a position far from the LED light source. At this time, the shorter the optical path length, the more the spread of light is suppressed, so the size of the light emitting surface (light exit surface) when the light is emitted from the light guide becomes smaller, so the size of each of the multiple light emitting surfaces becomes smaller. The result will be different. In this case, if there are several relatively large light-emitting surfaces and if they are made to emit light one after another in a short period of time, it will be difficult for the user to perceive the difference in the timing of light emission on each light-emitting surface, and the light will flow as if it were flowing. It becomes difficult to make it visible.

JP2017-183287A

One of the objects of the specific embodiments of the present invention is to provide a technique that enables better sequential control in a vehicle lamp having light emitting surfaces of different sizes.

[1] A control device for a vehicle light according to one aspect of the present invention is a control device for a vehicle light having (a) at least three light emitting surfaces of different sizes, and (b) within a certain period of time. When the at least three light emitting surfaces are turned on sequentially starting from the relatively large light emitting surface, the time when one relatively large light emitting surface reaches a predetermined brightness and the time when the next largest light emitting surface reaches the corresponding one. This is a control device for a vehicular lamp that performs lighting control by setting a period so that the period between when the brightness reaches a predetermined level gradually becomes shorter.
[2] A method for controlling a vehicular lamp according to one aspect of the present invention is (a) a method for controlling a vehicular lamp having at least three light emitting surfaces of different sizes, and (b) within a certain period of time. When the at least three light emitting surfaces are turned on sequentially starting from the relatively large light emitting surface, the time when one relatively large light emitting surface reaches a predetermined brightness and the time when the next largest light emitting surface reaches the corresponding one. This is a control method for a vehicle lamp in which lighting control is performed by setting a period so that the period between when the brightness reaches a predetermined level gradually becomes shorter.
[3] A vehicle lamp according to one aspect of the present invention includes (a) a lamp unit having at least three light emitting surfaces of different sizes, and (b) a lamp unit that has at least three light emitting surfaces relative to each other within a certain period of time. When the relatively large light exit surface is turned on sequentially, the period between the time when one relatively large light exit surface reaches a predetermined brightness and the time when the next relatively large light exit surface reaches the predetermined brightness. A vehicular lamp includes: a control section that controls lighting of the lamp unit by setting the period so that the length thereof gradually decreases.

According to the above configuration, sequential control can be performed better in a vehicle lamp having light emitting surfaces of different sizes.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle lamp according to one embodiment. FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of the vehicle lamp. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between the optical path of light from each LED light source within the light guide and the respective light exit surface. FIG. 4(A) is a waveform diagram for explaining a lighting control method for each LED light source. FIG. 4(B) is a waveform diagram for explaining a lighting control method for each LED light source in a comparative example. FIG. 5A is a diagram schematically showing the lighting timing of light from each light emitting surface in the vehicle lamp of this embodiment. FIG. 5(B) is a diagram schematically showing the lighting timing of light from each light emitting surface in a vehicle lamp of a comparative example. FIGS. 6A and 6B are diagrams for explaining modified examples of luminance changes, respectively. 7(A) and 7(B) are diagrams for explaining the structure of a modified example of a vehicle lamp, respectively. FIG. 8(A) is a front view for explaining the structure of a vehicle lamp according to a modified example, and FIG. 8(B) is a top view (cross-sectional view) for explaining the structure of a vehicle lamp according to this modified example. FIG. 8(C) is an enlarged top view (cross-sectional view) for explaining the structure of the light source module in the vehicle lamp of this modification.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle lamp according to one embodiment. FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of the vehicle lamp. The vehicle lamp 1 of this embodiment sequentially turns on or off seven LED light sources (light sources) 15, guides the light emitted from each LED light source 15 through a light guide 20, and guides the light emitted from each LED light source 15 from a different light exit surface. Sequential control is achieved by emitting light, and for example, a pair are installed at the front and rear of a vehicle and used as turn lamps (direction indicator lights).

The vehicle lamp 1 includes a light source unit 10 in which seven LED light sources 15 are mounted, and a light guide 20 that causes the light emitted from each LED light source 15 to be emitted from a plurality of light output surfaces. The light guide 20 has an entrance section 21 , a reflection section 26 , and a light output section 29 . Note that the light source unit 10 and the light guide 20 correspond to a "lamp unit".

As shown in FIG. 1, the light source unit 10 includes a circuit board 11, seven LED light sources 15 and a control chip (control unit) 13 mounted on the circuit board 11. In this embodiment, the direction in which the board surface of the circuit board 11 extends substantially coincides with the horizontal direction. The seven LED light sources 15 are arranged along the front-rear direction and are slightly shifted in the left-right direction.

The light emitted from the LED light source 15 enters the inside of the light guide 20 at the entrance part 21, and is converted into primary parallel light L1 parallel to the direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction. The primary parallel light L1 is internally reflected at the reflection section 26 to become a secondary parallel light L2, which is emitted from the light emitting section 29.

The incidence section 21 has seven incidence elements 22 arranged along the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. The seven incident elements 22 are arranged to face the seven LED light sources 15, respectively. The seven incident elements 22 convert the light emitted from the LED light sources 15 facing each other into primary parallel light L1 parallel to the direction (horizontal direction) orthogonal to the arrangement direction (front-back direction) of the LED light sources 15.

As shown in FIG. 2, the incident element 22 has an incident surface 23, an outer peripheral reflective surface 24, and an inner reflective portion 25. The incident surface 23 and the outer peripheral reflective surface 24 have a rotationally symmetrical shape with the optical axis J passing through the center of the LED light source 15 as the center. The entrance surface 23 allows the light emitted from the LED light source 15 to enter the inside of the light guide 20 . Further, the entrance surface 23 refracts light having a relatively small exit angle out of the light emitted from the LED light source 15 so that it becomes substantially parallel light. Furthermore, the incident surface 23 refracts light having a relatively large emission angle among the light emitted from the LED light source 15 and makes it enter the outer peripheral reflective surface 24 . The outer peripheral reflective surface 24 internally reflects the incident light so that it becomes approximately parallel light. That is, the incident surface 23 and the outer peripheral reflective surface 24 allow the light emitted from the LED light source 15 to enter the inside of the light guide 20 and convert it into parallel light.

The internal reflection section 25 is a plane that is inclined with respect to the optical axis J of the LED light source 15. The optical axis J of the LED light source 15 passes through the internal reflection section 25 . The internal reflection section 425 internally reflects the light that has been made into parallel light on the incident surface 23 and the outer circumferential reflection surface 24, and converts it into primary parallel light L1 parallel to the left-right direction. Therefore, in this embodiment, the optical axis J of the LED light source 15 and the primary parallel light L1 face different directions.

As shown in FIG. 1, the light emitting portion 29 of this embodiment is a curved surface that extends along the left-right direction of the vehicle and is convex in the light emitting direction. The light emitting section 29 emits the light reflected by the reflecting section 26 and converted from the primary parallel light L1 to the secondary parallel light L2 toward the front (or rear) of the vehicle.

The light guide 20 of this embodiment has a plurality of (seven in this embodiment) divided bodies 30 lined up along the front-rear direction of the vehicle. Each divided body 30 is provided with one input element 22 at one end thereof. Each of the divided bodies 30 is provided with a portion of the reflective section 26, and by combining the plurality of divided bodies 30, one reflective section 26 extending in the vehicle width direction is configured. Further, among the plurality of divided bodies 30, a light emitting portion 29 is provided on the outer side of the divided body 30 that is disposed closest to the vehicle front side (that is, on the light emission side).

The respective divided bodies 30 are in contact with each other via boundary surfaces, and extend along the width direction of the vehicle. The boundary surfaces between the plurality of divided bodies 30 are classified into a first boundary surface extending parallel to the primary parallel light L1 and a second boundary surface perpendicular to the primary parallel light L1. The first boundary surface functions as a slit (corresponding to the slit S of the third embodiment) that partitions the optical path of the primary parallel light L1 corresponding to the plurality of LED light sources 15. The first boundary surface totally reflects the light that is tilted with respect to the parallel component of the primary parallel light L1, and thus suppresses mixing of the primary parallel light L1 emitted from each LED light source 15. Moreover, the secondary parallel light L2 passes through the first boundary surface. Since the first boundary surface is orthogonal to the secondary parallel light L2, reflection of the secondary parallel light L2 at the first boundary surface is suppressed. The primary parallel light L1 passes through the second boundary surface. Since the second boundary surface is orthogonal to the primary parallel light L1, reflection of the primary parallel light L1 at the second boundary surface is suppressed.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between the optical path of light from each LED light source within the light guide and the respective light exit surface. FIG. 3 shows a plan view of the light guide 20 from the top side, and the optical path of light from each LED light source 15 is shown by thin lines. As shown in the figure, among the lights emitted from each LED light source 15, the light exit surface 41 that emits the light L11 having the longest optical path length has a width (area) smaller than that of the other light exit surfaces 42 to 47. It's getting bigger. Note that the boundaries of each of the light exit surfaces 41 to 47 are indicated by dotted lines in the figure.

The same applies to the light emitted from the other LED light sources 15. For example, the light emitting surface 42 that emits the light L12 having the second longest optical path length has a width (area) that is larger than that of the other light emitting surfaces 43 to 47. The light emitting surface 43 that emits the light L13 having the third longest optical path length has a larger width (area) than the other light emitting surfaces 44 to 47. The same applies to the light emitting surfaces 44, 45, 46, and 47 that emit the lights L14, L15, L16, and L17, respectively. However, since the difference in optical path length between these light exit surfaces 44 to 47 is not so large, the difference in width (area) is also small.

In the vehicle lamp of this embodiment, the LED light source 15 corresponding to the light L11 having a long optical path length is first turned on, and then the LED light sources 15 corresponding to the light L12, L13, . . . L17 are turned on in sequence. , sequential control is performed such that the lights L11 to L17 are emitted to the outside from each of the light emitting surfaces 41 to 47 in that order.

FIG. 4(A) is a waveform diagram for explaining a lighting control method for each LED light source. FIG. 4A shows how the luminance of the emitted light from each light exit surface changes over time (the same applies to FIG. 4B, which will be described later). Lighting control of each LED light source 15 is executed by a control chip 13 (see FIG. 1) mounted on the circuit board 11. Specifically, the light emitted from each LED light source 15 can be increased or decreased by, for example, PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) control or current value control. In addition, here we will exemplify a method for controlling the temporal change in the luminance when changing the luminance of the emitted light from each of the light emitting surfaces 41 to 47 from 0% to 100%. may also be set to a small value.

As shown in the figure, in this embodiment, the emitted light from each of the light emitting surfaces 41 to 47 corresponding to each LED light source 15 has different inclinations (steepness) from different times in the first period (200 ms as an example). Control the lighting so that it rises. Then, at time t8 after a second period (for example, 333 ms), which has the same starting period as the first period and is longer than the first period, has elapsed, the luminance of the light emitted from all the light emitting surfaces 41 to 47 changes. It is controlled to decrease from 100% to 0%. For example, while the direction indicator switch is in operation, such routine lighting control is repeatedly executed.

Specifically, at time t1, which coincides with the start of the first period, the LED light source 15 corresponding to the light L11 with the longest optical path length is turned on. As shown in the figure, the LED light source 15 is controlled so that the luminance of the emitted light at the light emitting surface 41 corresponding to the light L11 instantly increases from 0% to 100%. Next, at time t2 after time t1, the LED light source 15 corresponding to the light L12 with the second longest optical path length is turned on. Here, the slope of the brightness change when the emitted light brightness at the light exit surface 42 corresponding to the light L12 increases from 0% to 100% is set relatively small. Then, the time at which the luminance of the light emitted from the light emitting surface 42 rises to 100% is controlled so that the time when more than half of the first period has elapsed. That is, from the time when the output light brightness of the light output surface 41 corresponding to the light L11 becomes 100% until the time when the output light brightness of the light output surface 42 corresponding to the light L12 becomes 100%, the first It is set longer than 1/2 of the period. Note that in the illustrated example, time t2 is set to a time before 1/2 of the first period has elapsed.

At time t3, which is later than time t2, the LED light source 15 corresponding to the light L13 with the third longest optical path length is turned on. Here, the slope of the brightness change when the output light brightness of the light output surface 43 corresponding to the light L13 rises from 0% to 100% is set to be relatively larger than the slope of the brightness change corresponding to the light L12. . The time when the output light brightness of the light output surface 43 corresponding to the light L13 rises to 100% is later than the time when the output light brightness of the light output surface 42 corresponding to the light L12 reaches 100%. controlled as follows. As shown in the figure, most of the first period (180 ms or more in the illustrated example) has elapsed by the time the output light brightness corresponding to the light L13 reaches 100%. Note that in the illustrated example, time t3 is set to a time after 1/2 of the first period has elapsed.

At times t4, t5, t6, and t7 after time t3, the LED light sources 15 corresponding to the lights L14, L15, L16, and L17 are sequentially turned on. Here, the slope of the brightness change when the emitted light brightness increases from 0% to 100% is set to be relatively larger than the slope of the brightness change corresponding to the lights L12 and L13. Further, the slope of the luminance change is set to be larger in the order of the lights L14, L15, L16, and L17. In addition, in the illustrated example, the time when the brightness of each of the lights L14, L15, L16, and L17 reaches 100% is a common (same) time, and the time coincides with the end of the first period. .

As mentioned above, for the lights L11, L12, and L13 corresponding to the light exit surfaces 41, 42, and 43 having relatively large widths (areas), the period when each luminance reaches 100% is relatively long. The lighting control of each LED light source 15 is executed as follows. In particular, the brightness of the light emitted from the light exit surface 41 corresponding to the light L11 having the longest optical path length is controlled to have the steepest change so that it quickly rises to 100%. Furthermore, the interval from this time to the time when the brightness of the light L12 with the next longest optical path length increases to 100% is 1/2 or more of the first period (about 3/4 of the first period in the illustrated example). It has been set for a long time. For the lights L14 to L17 corresponding to the light output surfaces 44 to 47 having relatively small widths (areas), the lighting of each LED light source 15 is controlled so that the period when each brightness reaches 100% is shortened. is executed. As a whole, the length between the time when the output light brightness of the relatively large light exit surface becomes 100% and the time when the exit light brightness of the next largest light exit surface becomes 100% gradually increases. Lighting control is performed to shorten the time.

FIG. 5A is a diagram schematically showing the lighting timing of light from each light emitting surface in the vehicle lamp of this embodiment. In the same figure, each of the light emitting surfaces 41 to 47 is schematically shown, and the state in which light is emitted is shown by a pattern (the same applies to FIG. 5(B) described later). It is also assumed that time passes toward the bottom in the figure. By performing the lighting control as described above, the lights L11 to L17 from each of the light exit surfaces 41 to 47 are lit sequentially with good separation, thereby realizing sequential control in which the light flows smoothly from left to right in the figure. be able to.

FIG. 4(B) is a waveform diagram for explaining a lighting control method for each LED light source in a comparative example. Further, FIG. 5(B) is a diagram schematically showing the lighting timing of light from each light emitting surface in the vehicle lamp of this comparative example. As shown in FIG. 4(B), in the comparative example, in a vehicle lamp having a structure similar to that of the above-described embodiment, light L11 to The luminance of L17 is controlled to increase sequentially from 0% to 100%. In this case, since the lights L11, L12, and L13 corresponding to the light exit surfaces 41, 42, and 43 having relatively large widths (areas) reach 100% brightness one after another in a relatively short period, the light L11 .

According to the embodiments described above, sequential control can be better performed in a vehicle lamp having light emitting surfaces of different sizes.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the contents of the embodiments described above, and can be implemented with various modifications within the scope of the gist of the present invention. For example, in the embodiment described above, an example in which the present invention is applied to a turn lamp has been described, but the scope of application of the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, it can be applied to various lighting equipment such as exterior lamps, welcome lamps, accessory lamps, and interior ambient lighting equipment.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4A, the time required to increase the brightness of the lights L11 to L17 from each LED light source 15 from 0% (minimum value) to 100% (maximum value) Although the change is controlled linearly, it may be controlled by a curved time change as in the modification shown in FIG. 6(A).

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, lighting control was performed according to the size of the light exit surface when guiding and emitting light from an LED light source, but light is emitted directly without using reflection. The present invention can be similarly applied to a vehicle lamp that uses a light source. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 7A, the present invention may be applied to a vehicle lamp having a structure in which direct-emitting light emitting modules 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, and 106 are arranged in one direction. In this case, the light emitting module 101 having a large number of light emitting elements (indicated by circles in the figure) such as LED elements is first raised to the maximum brightness, and then the light emitting module 102 is raised to the maximum brightness, Furthermore, the luminance of the light emitting modules 103 to 106 may be controlled to increase sequentially to the maximum value. Similarly, the present invention is applied to a vehicle lamp having a structure in which direct-emitting light emitting modules 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, and 206 of different vertical and horizontal sizes are arranged in one direction as illustrated in FIG. 7(B). You may. In this case, the light emitting module 201 with a large number of light emitting elements such as LED elements is raised to the maximum brightness first, then the light emitting module 202 is raised to the maximum brightness, and then the light emitting modules 203 to 206 are sequentially increased. Control may be performed to increase the brightness to the maximum value. In any of the modified examples, the light emitting module is not limited to a direct type, but may be a reflector type that emits light to the outside using a reflective section.

Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the lighting control was explained in the case where the light is turned on in order from the light emitting surface with a relatively large width (area). It is also possible to turn on the lights sequentially from the front.

FIG. 6(B) is a waveform diagram for explaining a lighting control method for each LED light source. FIG. 6(B) shows how the luminance of the emitted light from each light emitting surface changes over time. Further, FIG. 8(A) is a front view for explaining the structure of the vehicle lamp according to the modification, and FIG. 8(B) is a top view for explaining the structure of the vehicle lamp according to the modification. (Cross-sectional view), and FIG. 8(C) is an enlarged top view (cross-sectional view) for explaining the structure of the light source module in the vehicle lamp of this modification. Although FIG. 8C illustrates the configuration of a light source module having one LED light source, the configuration of a light source module having a plurality of LED light sources is also similar. Each illustrated light source module 301, 302, 303, 304 includes one LED light source, light source module 305 includes two LED light sources, light source module 306 includes three LED light sources, and light source module 307 includes four LED light sources. Equipped with an LED light source. In other words, the light source modules 301 to 304 have the smallest light exit surface, the light source module 305 has the next smallest light exit surface, the light source module 306 has the next smallest light exit surface, and the light source module 307 has the smallest light exit surface. big.

Lighting control of each LED light source 315 is executed by a control chip (not shown) mounted on the circuit board 311 associated with each LED light source 315. Specifically, the light emitted from each LED light source 315 can be increased or decreased by, for example, PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) control or current value control. In addition, here we will exemplify a method for controlling the temporal change in the luminance when changing the luminance of the emitted light from the light emitting surface of each of the light source modules 301 to 307 of the vehicle lamp from 0% to 100%. The maximum value of brightness may be set to a value smaller than 100%. As shown in FIG. 8A, a light source module 301 having a light output surface with a relatively small output area is disposed inside the vehicle in the vehicle width direction, and a light source module 301 having a light output surface with the largest output area 307 is arranged on the outside of the vehicle in the vehicle width direction. As shown in the figure, the vehicle lamp is turned on sequentially from the light source module 301 on the light exit surface with the smallest emission area on the inside of the vehicle to the light source module 307 on the light emission surface with the largest emission area on the outside of the vehicle. controlled by. As illustrated in FIG. 8C, each of the light emitting modules 301 to 307 of this example is of a reflector type, and the light emitted from each LED 315 is reflected by a reflector 313 housed in a box body 321, and The light is irradiated forward through an inner lens 314 placed in front of the body 312. Light distribution is controlled by a reflector 313 and/or a lens cut formed in the inner lens 314.

As shown in FIG. 6(B), in this modification, the emitted light from each light emitting surface corresponding to each LED light source 315 of each light source module 301 to 307 is separately transmitted during the first period (200 ms as an example). The lighting is controlled to rise at different slopes (steepness) from the time of . Then, at time t8 after a second period (for example, 333 ms), which has the same starting period as the first period and is longer than the first period, has elapsed, the luminance of the light emitted from all the light source modules 301 to 307 is reduced to 100. It is controlled so that it decreases from % to 0%. For example, while the direction indicator switch is in operation, such routine lighting control is repeatedly executed.

Specifically, for the lights L21 to L24 corresponding to the light source modules 301 to 304 having light exit surfaces with relatively small widths (areas), each LED is Lighting control of the light source 315 is executed. At times t1, t2, t3, and t4, the LED light sources 315 corresponding to the lights L21, L22, L23, and L24 are sequentially turned on. Here, the slope of the brightness change when the emitted light brightness increases from 0% to 100% is set to be relatively larger than the slope of the brightness change corresponding to light L25, which will be described later. Further, the slope of the luminance change is set to be larger in the order of the lights L21, L22, L23, and L24. Further, in the illustrated example, the time when the brightness of each of the lights L21, L22, L23, and L24 reaches 100% is a common (same) time.

At time t5, which is later than time t4, the LED light source 315 corresponding to the light source module 305 having the second longest light emitting surface in the vehicle width direction (larger light emitting area) is turned on, and light L25 is emitted. do. Here, the slope of the brightness change when the output light brightness of the light output surface of the light source module 305 corresponding to the light L25 rises from 0% to 100% is relatively smaller than the slope of the brightness change corresponding to the light L24. It is set. The time when the output light brightness of the light output surface of the light source module 305 corresponding to the light L25 increases to 100% is when the output light brightness of the light output surface of the light source module 304 corresponding to the light L24 reaches 100%. It is controlled so that it is slower than the current time. As shown in the figure, more than half of the first period has elapsed when the output light brightness corresponding to the light L25 reaches 100%. That is, from the time when the output light brightness of the light output surface of the light source module 304 corresponding to the light L24 reaches 100% until the time when the output light brightness of the light output surface of the light source module 305 corresponding to the light L25 reaches 100%. The period is set to be longer than 1/2 of the first period. Note that in the illustrated example, time t5 is set to a time before 1/2 of the first period has elapsed.

At time t6, which is later than time t5, the LED light source 315 corresponding to the optical module 306 whose light emitting surface is the third longest in the vehicle width direction (larger light emitting area) is turned on, and light L26 is emitted. do. Here, the slope of the brightness change when the output light brightness of the light output surface of the light source module 306 corresponding to the light L26 rises from 0% to 100% is relatively larger than the slope of the brightness change corresponding to the light L25. It is set. The time when the output light brightness of the light output surface of the light source module 306 corresponding to the light L26 increases to 100% is when the output light brightness of the light output surface of the light source module 305 corresponding to the light L24 reaches 100%. It is controlled so that it is slower than the current time. As shown in the figure, most of the first period (180 ms or more in the illustrated example) has elapsed by the time the output light brightness corresponding to the light L26 reaches 100%. Note that in the illustrated example, time t6 is set to a time after 1/2 of the first period has elapsed.

At time t7, which coincides with the end of the first period, the LED light source 15 corresponding to the optical module 307 whose light emitting surface is long (large light emitting area) in the vehicle width direction is turned on, and light L27 is emitted. . As shown in the figure, the LED light source 315 is controlled so that the luminance of the emitted light on the light emitting surface of the light source module 307 corresponding to the light L27 instantly increases from 0% to 100%. Naturally, the slope of the brightness change when the output light brightness of the light output surface of the light source module 307 corresponding to the light L27 rises from 0% to 100% is relatively higher than the slope of the brightness change corresponding to the light L26. is set to a large value.

As mentioned above, for the lights L25, L26, and L27 corresponding to the light source modules 305, 306, and 307 having light exit surfaces with relatively large widths (areas), the brightness of each light reaches 100% during the period when the brightness reaches 100%. The lighting control of each LED light source 315 is executed so that the time period becomes relatively long. In particular, the luminance of the emitted light of the light source module 307 having the light emitting surface corresponding to the light L27 having the longest emitting surface in the vehicle width direction (largest emitting area) is set such that the luminance quickly increases to 100%. The change is the steepest and controlled. In addition, the interval from this period to the period when the brightness of L26, which has a long light emitting surface (large light emitting area) in the vehicle width direction, increases to 100% is more than 1/2 of the first period (as shown in the figure). In the example, the period is set to be as long as 3/4 of the first period). Regarding the lights L21 to L24 corresponding to the light source modules 301 to 304 having light output surfaces with relatively small widths (areas), each LED is Lighting control of the light source 15 is executed. Overall, the length between the time when the output light brightness of the relatively large light exit surface reaches 100% and the time before that when the output light brightness of the large light exit surface reaches 100% gradually increases. Lighting control is performed to shorten the time.

1: Vehicle lamp, 10: Light source unit, 11: Circuit board, 13: Control chip (control unit), 15: LED light source, 20: Light guide, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47: light exit surface

Claims (11)

A control device for a vehicle lamp having at least three light emitting surfaces of different sizes,
When the at least three light emitting surfaces are sequentially turned on from the relatively large light emitting surface within a certain period of time, the time when one relatively large light emitting surface reaches a predetermined brightness and the next largest light emitting surface. performing lighting control by setting the period so that the period between when the emission surface reaches the predetermined brightness is gradually shortened;
Control device for vehicle lights. The at least three light exit surfaces are arranged in one direction in order of size,
The control device for a vehicle lamp according to claim 1. The difference in size of the at least three light exit surfaces includes a difference in width at least in the same direction.
The control device for a vehicle lamp according to claim 1 or 2. performing lighting control by making the brightness change steepest until the largest light exit surface reaches the predetermined brightness;
A control device for a vehicle lamp according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The length of time from when the largest light emitting surface reaches the predetermined brightness until the next largest light emitting surface reaches the predetermined brightness is 1/2 or more of the certain period,
A control device for a vehicle lamp according to any one of claims 1 to 4. A method for controlling a vehicle lamp having at least three light emitting surfaces of different sizes, the method comprising:
When the at least three light emitting surfaces are sequentially turned on from the relatively large light emitting surface within a certain period of time, the time when one relatively large light emitting surface reaches a predetermined brightness and the next largest light emitting surface. performing lighting control by setting the period so that the period between when the emission surface reaches the predetermined brightness is gradually shortened;
A method of controlling vehicle lights. a lamp unit having at least three light exit surfaces of different sizes;
When the at least three light emitting surfaces are sequentially turned on from the relatively large light emitting surface within a certain period of time, the time when one relatively large light emitting surface reaches a predetermined brightness and the next largest light emitting surface. a control unit that controls lighting of the lamp unit by setting the period so that the period between when the emission surface reaches the predetermined brightness is gradually shortened;
Vehicle lighting equipment, including: A control device for a vehicle lamp having at least three light emitting surfaces of different sizes,
When the at least three light emitting surfaces are sequentially turned on starting from the relatively smaller light emitting surface within a certain period of time, the time when one relatively small light emitting surface reaches a predetermined brightness and the next smaller light emitting surface are determined. performing lighting control by setting the period so that the period between when the emission surface reaches the predetermined brightness and the period gradually increases;
Control device for vehicle lights. The at least three light exit surfaces are arranged in one direction in order of size,
The control device for a vehicle lamp according to claim 8 . A method for controlling a vehicle lamp having at least three light emitting surfaces of different sizes, the method comprising:
When the at least three light emitting surfaces are sequentially turned on starting from the relatively smaller light emitting surface within a certain period of time, the time when one relatively small light emitting surface reaches a predetermined brightness and the next smaller light emitting surface. performing lighting control by setting the period so that the period between when the emission surface reaches the predetermined brightness and the period gradually increases;
A method of controlling vehicle lights. a lamp unit having at least three light exit surfaces of different sizes;
When the at least three light emitting surfaces are sequentially turned on starting from the relatively smaller light emitting surface within a certain period of time, the time when one relatively small light emitting surface reaches a predetermined brightness and the next smaller light emitting surface. a control unit that controls lighting of the lamp unit by setting the period so that the period between when the emission surface reaches the predetermined brightness is gradually lengthened;
Vehicle lighting equipment, including:

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