JPH0155721B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] (Technical field) The present invention relates to a vehicle lamp device.

(Prior art and its problems) Vehicle lamp devices generally have a color filter disposed between a front lens and a rear light source lamp, so that when the lamp is turned on, the colored light that has passed through the color filter is emitted from the lens. It's getting old. However, during the daytime, even when the lamp is off, the outside light that enters the lamp device is reflected by the color filter and then diffused to the outside through the lens. For this reason, there is a danger that even when the lights are off, it will appear as if the lights are on.

(Object of the Invention) An object of the present invention is to provide a lamp device in which the color of the color filter is not visible from the outside when the lamp is not lit. This can reduce the risk that, for example in bright sunlight, the lamp device will appear to be lit when in fact it is not.

(Structure of the Invention) A vehicle lamp device according to the present invention includes a housing having a rear portion containing a light source and a front portion surrounded by a lens, the front portion being separated from the rear portion by a color filter, and the housing having a rear portion including a light source and a front portion surrounded by a lens. The inner surface has a stepped shape, and its surface is parallel or perpendicular to the optical axis of the lamp device.

(Functions and Effects) In the lamp device configured as described above, the external light that enters the lamp when it is turned off in the daytime is reflected on the stepped inner surface and is again diverged to the outside from the front lens. Although the color of the stepped inner surface is visible from the outside, the color of the color filter is almost invisible, and unlike conventional lamp devices, the color of the color filter creates the illusion that the light is on even though it is off. It is possible to eliminate the fear of giving to a third party.

Embodiments According to one embodiment of the invention, the light source comprises a primary light source, such as an electric filament lamp. Other embodiments of the invention include a region on which light from a remote primary light source is focused. For example, the light source in the present invention is located at one focus of an ellipsoid, and the primary light source is located at the other focus of the ellipsoid.

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

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the forward direction indicator lamp device includes a front portion 12 having a stepped side wall that gradually becomes smaller from the peripheral edge of a transparent lens 14 to the junction with the rear portion, and a cylindrical rear portion. 10. The stepped surfaces of the side walls of the front section 12 are either parallel or perpendicular to the axis of the rear section 10, which axis coincides with the optical axis of the lamp.

The rear part 10 of the housing includes a bulb holder 16 that supports a bulb 18 as a light source. A rectangular pencil Fresnel type lens 14 is arranged to collimate the light from the bulb 18.

This "rectangular pencil Fresnel type lens"
The name comes from the manufacturing method of early Fresnel lenses. In the early Fresnel lenses, many thin prismatic transparent members were bundled together to form a cylinder, and the end face of this cylinder was used as the lens surface. The lens surface was ground and polished as much as possible, and then the transparent member of the cylindrical body was shifted so that the lens surface was flat as a whole. Therefore, the term "rectangular pencil Fresnel lens" as used herein refers to a Fresnel lens in which the microlens elements on the lens surface have a rectangular shape.

As shown in the drawings, the rear part 10 of the housing
The diameter of the bulb should be kept to the minimum required for cooling the bulb.
This yellow color filter 20 with a minimum diameter divides the housing into two parts: a rear part 10 and a front part 12.

When the lamp is turned on, yellow colored light, represented by beam 22, is emitted from the lamp arrangement. When the lamp is turned off, the incident light as shown by ray 24 is totally reflected on the inner surface of lens 14. Other rays, such as ray 26, which pass through the lens, project onto the stepped side wall of the front portion of the housing, which is colored white. As a result, such light rays return through the lens 14, giving the lamp device a clear white appearance.

Another embodiment of the forward indicator lamp device of FIGS. 3 and 4 includes a housing having a forward portion 32 with stepped side walls and a cylindrical rear portion 30. Similar to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2,
The stepped surface of the side wall of the front portion 32 is the rear portion 30
parallel or perpendicular to the axis of This axis coincides with the optical axis of the lamp. As in the first embodiment, the rear part 30 is divided into two parts, a light bulb holder 34 that supports a light bulb 36 as a light source, and a housing.
0 and a yellow color filter 38 separating the front portion 32.

The front side of the front part 32 of the housing is covered by a transparent lens (light transmitting cover element) 40 with conventional pillow optics on its inner surface. The pillow-shaped optical element is composed of a large number of spherical convex portions, and has the function of diffusing light. In the front portion 32 of the housing between the color filter 38 and the lens 40,
A lens 42 consisting of a cylindrical intermediate element of transparent plastic material is located, the axis of the cylinder passing through the filament of the bulb 36. The inner surface of the lens 42,
That is, long Fresnel prisms extending in each plane perpendicular to the axis of the cylinder are formed on the surface near the color filter 38, while Fresnel prisms extending parallel to the axis are formed on the outer surface.

As best shown in FIG. 1, light rays emitted by bulb 36 when it is lit, e.g. ray 44, are deflected by a Fresnel prism on the inner surface of lens 42 in a horizontal plane parallel to the optical axis of the lamp. be done. However, as shown in FIG. 4, this light ray still travels radially in the horizontal plane. As shown in FIG. 4, this ray is deflected in this horizontal plane parallel to the optical axis of the lamp by a Fresnel prism on the outer surface of lens 42. This parallel ray is then directed onto the entire inner surface of the outer lens 40, where it is diverged by a predetermined amount by the pillow-shaped optical element.

When the lamp is turned off, a portion of the incident light is totally reflected on the inner surface of the lens 40 or 42, as described in FIG. The light rays passing through the lens 40 or 42 are also projected onto the stepped side wall of the front portion 32 of the housing, which is colored white. As a result, such light rays return through the lens 40, giving the lamp device a clear white appearance.

This invention is covered by British patent specification GB-A-1016301.
It can also be used with the lamps listed in this issue.

The lamp housing (rear portion) 50 shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 includes lenses 40 and 42, which correspond to the correspondingly numbered components shown in FIGS. Not mentioned.

One focal point of the ellipsoidal reflecting mirror 54 is located on the axis of the lens 42 (the central axis of the cylinder) forming a part of a cylinder, and the filament of a light bulb (primary ray) 56 is located at the other focal point. A color filter 58, which is colored so that the light emitted from the lamp device when the lamp is lit, has a desired color, is attached to the first focal point of the opaque holder 60. is the substantial light source 52
It is said that The outer surface of the holder 60 is colored so that the appearance of the lamp device takes on a predetermined color when the lamp is off, and for forward direction indicators this color is usually white.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, when the light bulb 56 is turned on, the light emitted from the light bulb 56 is reflected by the ellipsoidal reflecting mirror 54, passes through the color filter 58, and becomes a predetermined colored light beam. The rays are deflected parallel to the optical axis by the lens 42 as in FIGS. 3 and 4, and this parallel ray is deflected by the outer lens 40.
The light is directed all around the inner surface, where it is diverged by a predetermined amount by the pillow-like optical element. Further, when the lights are turned off during the daytime, part of the external light is totally reflected by the inner surface of the lens 40 or 42, similar to FIGS. 1 to 4. The light beam passing through the lens 40 or 42 is projected onto the stepped side wall of the front portion of the housing, which is colored white. As a result, such light rays return through the lens 40, giving the lamp device a clear white appearance.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and can be modified in various ways. For example, the color of the color filter can be changed to a desired color by combining it with the lens when the lamp is turned on. It is not limited to yellow, but other colors may be used depending on the location and purpose of the lamp device in the vehicle, and the color of the stepped side walls can be selected to achieve the desired appearance when the lamp is turned off. Although the color is normally white, other colors may be used that do not cause erroneous recognition of lighting.

Also, a rectangular pencil Fresnel type lens is preferred, but other types can also be used.

Alternatively, if the desired shape of the external lens and housing is incompatible with a rotationally symmetrical collimating lens, the light-transmitting cover element may be placed outside the collimating lens, and the collimating lens may have a common axis passing through the light source. A long Fresnel prism is formed on one of the cylindrical surfaces and has the same cross section extending in each plane parallel to the common axis. An elongated Fresnel prism having the same cross section extending in each plane perpendicular to the common axis is formed on the other of the shaped surfaces.

It is also preferred that the prisms on the outer surface be formed parallel to the common axis, while the prisms on the inner surface be formed perpendicular to the common axis.

A conventional pillow optical element may also be disposed on one side of the light transmitting cover element, preferably on the inner side.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view taken from line 1-1 in FIG. 2 showing a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken from line 2-2 in FIG. 1; The figure is a vertical sectional view taken from line 3-3 in Figure 4 showing the second embodiment.
The figure is a cross-sectional view taken from line 4-4 in FIG. 3, FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken from line 5-5 in FIG. FIG. 10,30...Cylindrical rear part, 18,3
6, 52... Light source, 12, 32... Front part, 2
0,38,58...Color filter, 18,3
6, 56... Light bulb, 16, 34, 60... Holder.

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. A housing comprising a rear part 10, 30, 50 containing a light source and a front part 12, 32 surrounded by a lens, said rear part being connected to said front part by a color filter 20, 38, 58. A vehicle lamp arrangement separated from the front part, wherein the inner wall of the front part is stepped and these planes are substantially parallel or perpendicular to the optical axis of the arrangement. 2. The vehicle lamp device according to claim 1, wherein the lens is a rectangular pencil Fresnel type lens. 3. The lens has coaxial cylindrical inner and outer surfaces, the light source is located on a common axis thereof, and one of the cylindrical surfaces has an identical cylindrical inner surface and an outer surface extending parallel to the common axis. a lens 42 in which an elongated Fresnel prism having a cross section is formed, and the other is formed with an elongated Fresnel prism having the same cross section located in each plane perpendicular to the common axis;
2. A vehicle lamp arrangement according to claim 1, comprising a light transmitting cover element (40) outside the lens (42) thereof. 4. The vehicle lamp device of claim 3, wherein prism formations on the outer surface of the lens are parallel to the common axis and prism formations on the inner surface are perpendicular to the common axis. 5. A vehicle lamp device according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the light transmitting cover element 40 has a pillow-like optical element on one side. 6. The light source is in a position on which light from a remote primary light source 56 is focused.
6. The vehicle lamp device according to any one of items 5 to 5. 7. The vehicle lamp device according to claim 6, wherein the light source is located at one focus of an ellipsoidal reflecting mirror 54, and the primary light source is located at the other focus.