JP7454400B2 - vehicle headlights - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a vehicle headlamp equipped with an optical deflector.

In vehicle headlights, the irradiation area that is irradiated with the irradiation light is not uniform in luminous intensity, but a luminous intensity pattern is generated in which, for example, the central irradiation area of the irradiation area has a brighter intensity than the peripheral irradiation area. is requested.

Patent Document 1 discloses a vehicle headlamp in which the luminous intensity can be set for each irradiation area portion of an irradiation area. The vehicle headlamp includes a plurality of light sources, a plurality of MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) optical deflectors, and a common intermediate screen portion (for example, a light beam incidence surface of a phosphor plate). A plurality of scanning areas are generated in the screen portion, each of which is a separate scanning area for each optical deflector, and at least one of which overlaps with another scanning area. As a result, the intermediate screen part has a mixture of irradiation areas where the scanning areas overlap and irradiation areas where the scanning areas do not overlap, and the area in front of the vehicle headlamp does not have a uniform luminous intensity but has multiple luminous intensity levels. An irradiation area is generated.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2015-138735

In the vehicle headlamp of Patent Document 1, a separate scanning area is generated in the intermediate screen portion for each optical deflector, and the luminous intensity level of the irradiation area of the vehicle headlamp is determined by the number of overlaps of the scanning areas in the intermediate screen portion. number is determined.

Therefore, when it is desired to increase the number of luminous intensity levels in the irradiation area of a vehicle headlamp, it is necessary to increase the number of light sources and light deflectors. This results in problems such as an increase in the cost and size of the vehicle headlamp.

An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle headlamp that can increase the number of luminous intensity levels in an irradiation area without increasing the number of light sources and light deflectors.

The vehicle headlamp of the present invention includes:
a beam light source that emits a light beam;
a rotary mirror that reflects a light beam incident from the beam light source and outputs a reflected light beam generated; an optical deflector having an actuator that emits a scanning light beam for dimensional scanning;
A projection light beam generated from the scanning light beam is irradiated onto an irradiation area in front of the vehicle, and one frame of an image generated in the irradiation area is composed of n (n is an integer of 2 or more) subfields, and a driving unit that drives the actuator so that the irradiation area portion of each subfield occupies at least one of mutually different parts or ranges of the irradiation area;
Equipped with

According to the present invention, one frame generated by the optical deflector is composed of n subfields (n is an integer of 2 or more), and the irradiation area portions of each subfield are different parts of the irradiation area. The projection light beam is emitted from the vehicle headlamp so as to occupy at least one of the ranges. As a result, by increasing the number of subfields, it is possible to increase the number of luminous intensity levels in the irradiation area without increasing the number of optical deflectors.

Preferably, in the vehicle headlamp of the present invention,
The irradiation area portions of the n subfields are arranged such that the larger irradiation area portion includes the smaller irradiation area portion.

According to this configuration, it is possible to smoothly generate an irradiation area with a luminous intensity pattern in which the center part is brighter than the peripheral part.

Preferably, in the vehicle headlamp of the present invention,
The reciprocating rotation of the rotating mirror around the first and second axes is reciprocating rotation due to resonance and non-resonance, respectively,
The driving unit drives the actuator so that the rotating mirror reciprocates around the first axis at a resonance frequency that is n times the frame rate.

According to this configuration, by utilizing resonance, it is possible to sufficiently increase the frequency of the reciprocating rotation of the rotating mirror around the first axis, and to increase n as the number of subfields assigned to one frame. I can do it.

Preferably, in the vehicle headlamp of the present invention,
The frame rate is 30 or more.

According to this configuration, since the frame rate is set sufficiently high, the image quality of the irradiation area of each subfield can be guaranteed.

Preferably, in the vehicle headlamp of the present invention,
In the n irradiation area portions, the centers in the main scanning direction are at the same position.

According to this configuration, by setting the centers of the irradiation area portions of the subfields at the same position, the position of maximum luminous intensity can be set at the center position.

Preferably, in the vehicle headlamp of the present invention,
In the irradiation area portions of the n subfields, the center of the smaller irradiation area portion is located below the center of the larger one.

According to this configuration, it is possible to ensure the brightness of the irradiation area portion close to the vehicle when viewed from the vehicle headlamp.

Preferably, in the vehicle headlamp of the present invention,
The drive unit controls the frame in which the n subfields are arranged so that the irradiation area of the subfields becomes smaller in time order, and the frame in which the n subfields are arranged so that the irradiation area of the subfields becomes larger in time order. The actuator is driven so that frames in which the n subfields are arranged are alternately repeated.

According to this configuration, it is possible to reduce the load on the actuator and the drive unit by reducing the rate of change in the size of the irradiation area portion of the subfield in each frame.

The vehicle headlamp of the present invention includes:
a plurality of individual light beam generators;
a collective projection unit that collects the individual light beams from each individual light beam generation unit and emits them as a projection light beam to an irradiation area in front of the vehicle;
A drive unit;
Equipped with
Each individual light beam generator is
a beam light source that emits a light beam;
a rotary mirror that reflects a light beam incident from the beam light source and outputs a reflected light beam generated; an optical deflector having an actuator that emits a scanning light beam for dimensional scanning;
Equipped with
The drive unit includes:
One frame of the image generated by irradiating the projected light beam portion corresponding to each individual light beam onto the irradiation area in front of the vehicle consists of n subfields (n is an integer greater than or equal to 2), and each subfield The actuator of each optical deflector is driven such that the irradiation area portions of the irradiation area occupy at least one of mutually different parts or ranges of the irradiation area.

According to the present invention, it is possible to collect individual light beams from a plurality of individual light beam generators and increase the number of luminous intensity levels in an irradiation area based on the number of overlapping individual light beams.

Preferably, in the vehicle headlamp of the present invention,
The collective projection section is
a phosphor plate on which the individual light beams from each individual light beam generation section are commonly incident and convert the wavelength of each individual beam;
a projection lens unit that projects the intermediate image generated on the phosphor plate onto the irradiation area;
Equipped with

According to this configuration, the number of luminous intensity levels in the irradiation area can be smoothly increased using the image generated on the phosphor plate of the collective projection section.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the entire vehicle headlamp. FIG. 3 is a schematic front view of an optical deflector. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a relative relationship between a scanning area and an irradiation area model for a scanning area where raster scanning is performed. It is a characteristic graph when the set luminous intensity pattern area is a four-step luminous intensity pattern area. It is a characteristic graph when the set luminous intensity pattern area is a 7-step luminous intensity pattern area. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the relationship between frames and subfields in an individual light beam generator. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing temporal changes in the horizontal driving voltage Vh and the vertical driving voltage Vv in one predetermined individual light beam generating section. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing main points of a scanning area where scanning light beams Cb from three individual light beam generating units are generated on the incident surface of a phosphor plate. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the time relationship between subfields of a plurality of individual light beam generators. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a luminous intensity pattern on an incident surface. 8 is a diagram in which the luminous intensity pattern of FIG. 9 is projected onto the entrance plane of FIG. 7; FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of improvement in luminous intensity pattern control.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below. Note that it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments. The present invention can be implemented in various ways within the scope of the technical idea disclosed in the specification. Note that for elements having similar configurations, symbols with different subscripts (eg, a, b, . . . ) are used as appropriate. Furthermore, when collectively referring to elements having different codes only with subscripts, codes with the subscripts omitted are used as appropriate.

(whole)
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the entire vehicle headlamp 10. As shown in FIG. The vehicle headlamp 10 includes a plurality of individual light beam generators 11a and 11b and a single collective projection unit 12, and is controlled by a control device 14. The individual light beam generators 11a and 11b are appropriately abbreviated as LD (laser diode) 1 and LD2, respectively (see FIG. 9, etc.).

Each individual light beam generator 11 includes an LD 16, a collimator lens 17, a light deflector 18, and a correction lens 19. The collective projection unit 12 includes a phosphor plate 23 and projection lenses 26a to 26c. The projection lens 26a to the projection lens 26c constitute a projection lens section.

The LD 16 emits blue laser light as an emitted light beam Ca. The collimator lens 17 focuses the emitted light beam Ca from the LD 16 onto the center O (FIG. 2) of the mirror 101 (appropriately referred to as a "rotating mirror") of the optical deflector 18. The optical deflector 18 converts the emitted light beam Ca into a scanning light beam Cb and emits the scanning light beam Cb. After the cross-sectional shape and scanning speed of the scanning light beam Cb are corrected by the correction lens 19, the scanning light beam Cb enters the surface side of the phosphor plate 23 of the collective projection section 12.

On (lighting up) and off (lighting out) of the LD 16 is controlled by the control device 14 . The optical deflector 18 is controlled by a drive section 28 of the control device 14.

The phosphor plate 23 has a mirror on the back side. The mirror reflects the scanning light beam Cb that has entered the incident surface 53 (FIG. 7) of the phosphor plate 23, and outputs the reflected light beam from the incident surface 53 as a collective light beam Cc. The phosphor plate 23 includes phosphor particles that convert the wavelength of a portion of the blue scanning light beam Cb, changing the color from blue to yellow. As a result, the collective light beam Cc emitted from the entrance surface 53 of the phosphor plate 23 toward the projection lens 26a becomes white due to the mixture of yellow and blue light.

The collective light beam Cc then passes through a projection lens section consisting of projection lenses 26a, 26b, and 26c, and irradiates the irradiation area in front of the vehicle as a projection light beam from the projection lens section. The collective light beam Cc is a light beam obtained by collecting the scanning light beams Cb from the plurality of individual light beam generators 11, and the part of the collective light beam Cc where the plurality of light beams are superimposed is the part where the plurality of light beams are not superimposed. The illumination area in front of the vehicle can be illuminated with a higher luminous intensity level. Moreover, the luminous intensity becomes higher in the irradiation area portion where the number of superimposed light beams is larger.

(light deflector)
FIG. 2 is a schematic front view of the optical deflector 18. For convenience of explanation of the configuration of the optical deflector 18, a three-axis coordinate system will be defined when the optical deflector 18 is viewed from the front. When the optical deflector 18 is viewed from the front, the horizontal, vertical, and plate thickness directions are the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis directions, respectively.

The optical deflector 18 has a horizontally long rectangular shape when viewed from the front, and is manufactured from a silicon crystal wafer as a MEMS. The optical deflector 18 includes, in order from the inside to the outside, a mirror 101, torsion bars 102a, 102b, inner actuators 103a, 103b, a movable frame 104, outer actuators 105a, 105b, and a fixed frame 106.

The center O of the mirror 101 is irradiated with the emitted light beam Ca. Inner actuators 103a, 103b surround mirror 101. The movable frame 104 surrounds the inner actuators 103a and 103b. The torsion bars 102a and 102b extend in the Y-axis direction and are coupled to the mirror 101 and the movable frame 104 at both ends.

Each of the outer actuators 105a and 105b is composed of a plurality of cantilevers 107 arranged in a meandering arrangement, and is interposed between the movable frame 104 and the fixed frame 106. Inner actuator 103 and outer actuator 105 are both piezoelectric actuators.

The mirror 101 reciprocates in two axial directions: a first rotation axis Ah and a second rotation axis Av. The first rotation axis Ah and the second rotation axis Av pass through the center O of the mirror 101 and are orthogonal to each other. The first rotation axis Ah coincides with the center line of the torsion bar 102. The second rotation axis Av is parallel to the X-axis.

The reciprocating rotation of the mirror 101 around the first rotation axis Ah utilizes the resonance of the mirror 101, so the frequency Fh of the reciprocating rotation becomes the resonant frequency. On the other hand, the reciprocating rotation of the mirror 101 around the second rotation axis Av is non-resonant, and the frequency Fv of the reciprocating rotation is a non-resonant frequency. Fv<Fh.

(luminous intensity)
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the relative relationship between the scan area 30 and the irradiation area model 32 for the scan area 30 where the raster scan 31 is performed. The raster scan 31 means a scanning line of a single light beam emitted from the projection lens 26c of the vehicle headlamp 10. On the other hand, the irradiation area model 32 is an irradiation area set for convenience for comparison.

The scan area 30 by the raster scan 31 needs to completely include the irradiation area model 32 inside. Therefore, the scanning area 30 needs to be set to a larger rectangle than the circumscribed rectangle of the circumferential contour of the irradiation area model 32. As a result, irradiation of the light beam to a region outside the circumferential line of the irradiation area model 32 and inside the scanning area 30 becomes wasteful irradiation. Based on this, the following FIGS. 4A and 4B will be described.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are characteristic graphs when the set luminous intensity pattern area 35 is set to a 4-level luminous intensity pattern area 37 and a 7-level luminous intensity pattern area 39, respectively. Note that hereinafter, an image generated not at a single luminous intensity but at a plurality of luminous intensity levels will be referred to as an "image." The object on which the image is projected is not limited to the screen, but also includes the irradiation area.

The horizontal axis in FIGS. 4A and 4B indicates the exit angle γ. The emission angle γ is equal to the angle in each direction when looking at the irradiation area in front of the vehicle headlamp 10. When viewed from the vehicle headlamp 10, γ=0° straight ahead, and γ>0° and γ<0° on the right and left sides, respectively.

In FIGS. 4A and 4B, the area between the set luminous intensity pattern area 35 and the 4-level luminous intensity pattern area 37 or the 7-level luminous intensity pattern area 39 means an area where wasteful irradiation is performed. From the comparison between FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B, it can be seen that in order to bring the luminous intensity pattern closer to the desired set luminous intensity pattern area 35 and to reduce the unnecessary irradiation area, it is necessary to increase the number of luminous intensity steps.

In the prior art, the number of individual light beam generators 11 was increased in order to increase the number of luminous intensity steps. On the other hand, in this vehicle headlamp 10, the number of luminous intensity steps is increased without increasing the number of individual light beam generators 11. This will be explained in detail below.

(frame and subfield)
FIG. 5 shows the relationship between frames and subfields in the individual light beam generator 11. One frame is composed of three subfields SF1, SF2, and SF3 in time order. The irradiation area portions 44-1, 44-2, and 44-3 of the subfields SF1, SF2, and SF3 are generated as different irradiation area portions inside the irradiation area model 45.

In addition, the size is reduced so that the irradiation area portion of the subfields that are later in time order of subfields SF1, SF2, and SF3 is completely included inside the irradiation area portion of the previous subfield, that is, without protruding. There is. In other words, the irradiation area portions are arranged such that the larger one includes the smaller one.

Section 49 is defined as a section that includes inside the irradiation area portion of subfield SF1, which is the maximum irradiation area portion. In one frame, the larger the number of overlapping irradiation area portions of subfields, the greater the amount of light beam irradiation per frame, that is, the higher the luminous intensity level.

FIG. 6 shows temporal changes in the horizontal drive voltage Vh and the vertical drive voltage Vv in the individual light beam generator 11a (LD1). The numerical values on the scale of drive voltage Vh and drive voltage Vv on the vertical axis are relative values. The drive voltage Vh and the drive voltage Vv are approximately proportional to the deflection angle αh and the deflection angle αv as rotation angles of the mirror 101 around the first rotation axis Ah and the second rotation axis Av, respectively.

The amplitude of drive voltage Vh becomes narrower in the order of subfields SF1, SF2, and SF3. The position of the amplitude center of the drive voltage Vh remains unchanged. The amplitude of the drive voltage Vv becomes narrower in the irradiation area portions of the subfields SF1, SF2, and SF3 in that order. The position of the amplitude center of the drive voltage Vv moves downward in the order of subfields SF1, SF2, and SF3.

In this way, in LD1, the irradiation area is gradually reduced in the order of subfields SF1, SF2, and SF3 so as to move inward in both the horizontal and vertical directions, and the center in the vertical direction is lowered. Furthermore, the luminous intensity level in the irradiation area model 45 is from high to low, that is, from bright to dark (a) irradiation area of subfield SF3 where all the collective light beams Cc of subfields SF1 to SF3 overlap (b) an irradiation area portion outside the irradiation area portion of subfield SF1 and inside the irradiation area portion of subfield SF2; and (c) an irradiation area portion outside the irradiation area portion of subfield SF2 and irradiation of subfield SF3. The order is the irradiation area portion inside the area portion.

(luminosity pattern)
The following (Table 1) shows the values assigned to the horizontal and vertical light distribution angles and offset angles for each subfield SF of each individual light beam generator 11 of the vehicle headlamp 10. Although the individual light beam generators 11a and 11b corresponding to LD1 and LD2 are shown in FIG. 1, the individual light beam generator corresponding to LD3 is not shown. For example, if LD1 and LD2 are arranged on the left and right in the horizontal direction with respect to the common collective projection section 12 of the vehicle headlamp 10, the LD3 is an LD arranged vertically above the center line of the collective projection section 12. becomes.

In Table 1, the horizontal light distribution angles R and L correspond to the rightmost and leftmost horizontal angles of the horizontal output angle γh, respectively. The vertical light distribution angles U and D correspond to the vertical angles of the uppermost and lowermost ends of the vertical emission angle γv, respectively.

The horizontal and vertical offset angles are the center values of the deviations of the output angle γh and the output angle γv. The offset angle is controlled by controlling the offset voltage of the drive voltage that the drive unit 28 of the control device 14 supplies to the inner actuator 103 and the outer actuator 105, respectively.

As can be seen from (Table 1), for LD1 and LD2, the horizontal offset angle is the same between subfields SF1-SF3, whereas the vertical offset angle is different between subfields SF1-SF3. ing. On the other hand, regarding LD3, the horizontal offset angle is different between subfields SF1-SF3, whereas the vertical offset angle is the same between subfields SF1-SF3. What this means is that the optical deflectors 18 of LD1 and LD2 align the vertical and horizontal scanning directions with the vertical and horizontal directions of the vehicle headlamp 10, respectively, whereas the optical deflector 18 of LD3 means that the vertical and horizontal scanning directions are aligned with the horizontal and vertical directions of the vehicle headlamp 10, respectively.

(luminosity pattern)
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the main points of the scanning area generated on the incident surface 53 of the phosphor plate 23 by the scanning light beam Cb from LD1 to LD3. The incident surface 53 is also the surface of the phosphor plate 23. Since there is a mirror surface on the back side of the incident surface 53 that reflects the scanning light beam Cb to generate the collective light beam Cc, the phosphor plate 23 is the incident surface of the scanning light beam Cb and also generates the collective light beam Cc. is the exit surface of

The entrance surface 53 has a function as an intermediate video screen. That is, if the irradiation area in front of the vehicle headlamp 10 is the final image screen, an intermediate image is displayed on the entrance surface 53 by scanning with the scanning light beam Cb, and the final image is displayed in the irradiation area in front of the vehicle. Ru.

Note that the reason why it is called an image here is that it is not an image of uniform luminous intensity, but an image that includes luminous intensities at multiple levels, that is, a luminous intensity pattern image. The vehicle headlamp 10 is also used as a video device that generates an image on a screen on which a person views the image.

The definition of each symbol in FIG. 7 is as follows.
Op: Center of the entrance surface 53 M1-M3: Position of the center of the scanning area where the scanning light beam Cb of LD1-LD3 is generated on the entrance surface 53 Wp: Width of the entrance surface 53 in the horizontal direction (lateral direction) Hp: Width in the vertical direction (longitudinal direction) of the incident surface 53 D1: Horizontal distance between M1-M3 or M2-M3 D2: Vertical distance between Op-M1 or Op-M2 D3: M1- Vertical distance between M3 or M2-M3

Examples of dimensions are: The unit is mm.
Wp=17.64
D1=1.36
D2=0.4
D3=0.96

FIG. 8 shows the time relationship between each subfield of LD1-LD3. Note that the numerical values are just examples.

Subfields with the same number between LD1 and LD3 are synchronized by the control device 14. One frame is 80Hz. Therefore, the frame rate is 80 FPS. The frequency of each subfield is n times the frame frequency (n is an integer of 2 or more). In FIG. 8, the frequency of each subfield is 240Hz. As a result, n=3.

FIG. 9 shows the luminous intensity pattern at the entrance plane 53 as a mountain mass 58. Massif 58 indicates the luminosity pattern of the target. This means that the higher the position in the mountain mass 58, the higher the luminous intensity.

Since three subfields are assigned to each of LD1 to LD3, nine levels of luminous intensity can be assigned to the vehicle headlamp 10 as a whole. In FIG. 9, each luminous intensity level is illustrated in a different gray scale.

FIG. 10 is a diagram in which the luminous intensity pattern of FIG. 9 is projected onto the entrance surface 53 of FIG. The luminous intensity pattern in FIG. 9 is equivalent to the mountain mass 58 in FIG. 7 projected onto the entrance plane 53 from above.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of improvement of luminous intensity pattern control. In FIG. 11, two types of frames 61a and 61b are set. In frame 61a, the subfields are arranged in time order as SF1→SF2→SF3, similar to the frame of FIG. In frame 61b, the subfields are arranged in chronological order as SF3→SF2→SF1, contrary to frame 61a.

Then, the drive unit 28 (FIG. 1) controls the drive voltage Vh of the inner actuator 103 and the drive voltage Vv of the outer actuator 105 of the optical deflector 18 so that the frames 61a and 61b are alternately repeated.

(Modified example)
In the embodiments of FIGS. 6 and 10, the driving section (FIG. 1) drives the optical deflector 18 so that the centers of the irradiation areas of subfields SF1, SF2, and SF3 are arranged downward in that order. ing. In that case, the irradiation area portions of subfields SF1, SF2, and SF3 are made smaller in both the horizontal and vertical directions. However, in the present invention, when the smaller center of the irradiation area portion of n subfields is arranged below the larger center, only the vertical size is reduced and the horizontal direction is The size may be kept the same.

The phosphor plate 23 of the embodiment is of a reflective type with a mirror on the back side. In the present invention, the phosphor plate may be a transmissive phosphor plate, that is, a phosphor plate whose both surfaces serve as an incident surface and an exit surface, and in which phosphor particles are filled between the two surfaces. can.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Vehicle headlamp, 11... Individual light beam generation part, 12... Collective projection part, 16... LD (light source),... Light deflector,... Phosphor plate , 26a-26c... Projection lens (projection lens section), 28... Drive section, 30... Scanning area, 101... Mirror (rotating mirror).

Claims (9)

a beam light source that emits a light beam;
a rotary mirror that reflects a light beam incident from the beam light source and outputs a reflected light beam generated; an optical deflector having an actuator that emits a scanning light beam for dimensional scanning;
A projection light beam generated from the scanning light beam is irradiated onto an irradiation area in front of the vehicle, and one frame of an image generated in the irradiation area consists of n (n is an integer of 2 or more) subfields in time order. and a drive unit that drives the actuator so that the irradiation area portion of each subfield occupies at least one of mutually different parts or ranges of the irradiation area;
A vehicle headlamp comprising: The vehicle headlamp according to claim 1,
The vehicular headlamp is characterized in that the irradiation area portions of the n subfields are arranged such that a larger irradiation area portion includes a smaller irradiation area portion. The vehicle headlamp according to claim 1 or 2,
The reciprocating rotation of the rotating mirror around the first and second axes is reciprocating rotation due to resonance and non-resonance, respectively,
The vehicle headlamp is characterized in that the drive unit drives the actuator so that the rotating mirror rotates back and forth around the first axis at a resonance frequency that is n times the frame rate. The vehicle headlamp according to claim 3,
A vehicle headlamp characterized in that the frame rate is 30 or more. The vehicle headlamp according to claim 3 or 4,
A vehicle headlamp, wherein the centers of the n irradiation areas in the horizontal scanning direction are at the same position. The vehicle headlamp according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
A vehicle headlamp characterized in that, in the irradiation area portions of the n subfields, the center of the smaller one of the n subfields is arranged below the center of the larger one. a beam light source that emits a light beam;
a rotary mirror that reflects a light beam incident from the beam light source and outputs a reflected light beam generated; an optical deflector having an actuator that emits a scanning light beam for dimensional scanning;
A projection light beam generated from the scanning light beam is irradiated onto an irradiation area in front of the vehicle, and one frame of an image generated in the irradiation area is composed of n (n is an integer of 2 or more) subfields, and a driving unit that drives the actuator so that the irradiation area portion of each subfield occupies at least one of mutually different parts or ranges of the irradiation area;
Equipped with
The drive unit controls the frame in which the n subfields are arranged so that the irradiation area of the subfields becomes smaller in time order, and the frame in which the n subfields are arranged so that the irradiation area of the subfields becomes larger in time order. The vehicle headlamp is characterized in that the actuator is driven so that frames in which the n subfields are arranged are alternately repeated.
a plurality of individual light beam generators;
a collective projection unit that collects the individual light beams from each individual light beam generation unit and emits them as a projection light beam to an irradiation area in front of the vehicle;
A drive unit;
Equipped with
Each individual light beam generator is
a beam light source that emits a light beam;
a rotary mirror that reflects a light beam incident from the beam light source and outputs a reflected light beam generated; an optical deflector having an actuator that emits a scanning light beam for dimensional scanning;
Equipped with
The drive unit includes:
One frame of the image generated by irradiating the projected light beam portion corresponding to each individual light beam onto the irradiation area in front of the vehicle consists of n subfields (n is an integer greater than or equal to 2), and each subfield A vehicle headlamp characterized in that the actuator of each optical deflector is driven such that the irradiation area portions occupy at least one of mutually different parts or ranges of the irradiation area. The vehicle headlamp according to claim 8,
The collective projection section is
a phosphor plate on which the individual light beams from each individual light beam generation section are commonly incident and convert the wavelength of each individual beam;
a projection lens unit that projects the intermediate image generated on the phosphor plate onto the irradiation area;
A vehicle headlamp characterized by comprising: