JPH0525602U - Vehicle lighting - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To obtain a vehicular lamp having a simplified structure, a reduced thickness, and uniform illumination. [Structure] A plurality of optical fibers 31 each integrally provided with a light source (LED element) 33 at one end are arranged in a plane, and the back surface of each optical fiber 31 receives light transmitted through the optical fibers. The light source unit 3 (3A, 3B) is configured by providing a total reflection step for reflecting the light toward the front surface, and the light source unit 3 (3A, 3B) is housed inside the lamp body 1, and the lens 2 is attached to form a thin lamp.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a vehicular lamp, and more particularly to a vehicular lamp with a reduced thickness.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 A general vehicular lamp uses a light bulb arranged inside a lamp body as a light source. In addition, in order to obtain the required light distribution characteristics, a reflector is installed inside the lamp body as necessary, and a diffusion step is provided on the inner lens and outer lens arranged in front of the lamp body to diffuse the light. It is configured to let.

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 In such a vehicle lamp, since it is necessary to secure a volume for housing the light bulb in the lamp body, the size of the lamp in the front-rear direction is inevitably large, and when the lamp is mounted on an automobile, etc. Front and rear equipment space is required. Further, since an incandescent light bulb or the like as a light source has a large amount of heat generation, a heat countermeasure structure for dissipating the heat is required, and the structure of the lamp becomes complicated. Furthermore, the diffusion step provided on the reflecting mirror, the inner lens, and the outer lens cannot sufficiently diffuse the light, and some uneven illumination is unavoidable. An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular lamp that is thin, simplifies the structure, and enables uniform illumination.

[0004]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 The vehicular lamp of the present invention has a plurality of optical fibers, each of which is integrally provided with a light source at one end thereof, arranged in a plane, and the back surface of each optical fiber is the front surface for transmitting light transmitted through the optical fiber. The light source unit is configured by providing a total reflection step that reflects the light toward the.

[0005]

[Action]

 According to the present invention, the light source unit composed of a plurality of optical fibers is used as a surface light source by reflecting the light from the light source that is incident from one end and transmitted through the optical fiber toward the front surface. It is configured to enable thinning of the lamp and uniform illumination.

[0006]

【Example】

 Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is a partially exploded perspective view of an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a rear lamp of an automobile, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an assembled state thereof. In these drawings, reference numeral 1 denotes a lamp body, which is formed by molding resin or the like into a partially curved shallow plate shape, which can be attached along the side surface of the body of an automobile. Reference numeral 2 denotes an outer lens, which is attached to the front side edge of the lamp body 1 and defines a thin space in the front-rear direction with the lamp body 1. A required diffusion step is formed on the inner surface of the outer lens 2. For example, in this embodiment, a plurality of columnar steps 21 (see FIG. 5) oriented in the vertical direction are arranged in the horizontal direction. ..

A light source unit 3 is installed in a space defined by the lamp body 1 and the outer lens 2. As shown in a partially enlarged view of FIG. 3, the light source unit 3 includes a relatively thick optical fiber 31 of 2 to 6φ made of a transparent resin having a circular cross section, such as an acrylic resin. The optical fiber structure has a front shape corresponding to the lamp body 1 and the outer lens 2 which are stacked in the vertical direction and integrated by an adhesive or the like. One end of each optical fiber 31 constituting the optical fiber structure is arranged to face a vertically extending printed circuit board 32, and a large number of light emitting elements (LED elements) 33 mounted on the printed circuit board 32 are connected to one end of each optical fiber 31. To be buried in. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, a transparent short cylinder 34 in which an LED element 33 is integrally embedded is adhered to one end of each optical fiber 31 with a transparent adhesive. The LED element 33 has a structure in which the LED chip 33a is mounted on the lead electrode 33b, and is embedded in the transparent short cylinder 34 integrally with the lead electrode 33b. The lead electrode 33b is provided with an elliptical reflecting mirror 33c, and the light emitted from the LED chip 33a is reflected by the elliptic reflecting mirror 33c and projected toward the other end of the optical fiber 31.

On the back surface of each optical fiber 31, as shown in FIG. 4, a wedge-shaped total reflection step 35 having an inclined surface inclined by 45 degrees with respect to the optical axis is provided in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber 31. Form in parallel with. In the total reflection step 35, a part of the light transmitted through the optical fiber 31 can be totally reflected by the inclined surface thereof and reflected toward the front side of the optical fiber, that is, the front side of the optical fiber structure. In this embodiment, the light source unit 3 is configured as two light source units 3A and 3B as shown in FIG. 1, one light source unit 3A is configured as a stop & tail lamp, and the other light source unit 3B is configured as a turn signal lamp. It is configured. Therefore, in the LED element 33, one corresponding to a stop & tail lamp is composed of a red LED, and one corresponding to a turn signal lamp is composed of a yellow LED.

According to this configuration, as shown in a partially broken view in FIG. 5, the light emitted by the LED element 33 is transmitted through the optical fiber 31 and is sequentially transmitted by the total reflection step 35 in the optical fiber 31. It is reflected toward the front and emitted from the front of the optical fiber structure. This total reflection is performed at each of the optical fibers at a large number of points along the length thereof, and only at each optical fiber, so that light is emitted from substantially the entire front surface of the optical fiber structure.

Therefore, in this vehicular lamp, since the light source unit 3 is composed of an optical fiber, the dimension of the lamp in the front-rear direction may be about the diameter of the optical fiber. It can be configured as a thin lamp. Moreover, since this light source uses the light emitted by the LED element, it generates little heat, and there is almost no need to consider heat dissipation, and therefore the structure does not become complicated. Furthermore, since the light source unit uses the reflected light of the total reflection step provided on the optical fiber, uniform illumination is possible. Further, in this embodiment, since the cylindrical steps 21 are arranged in the lateral direction on the outer lens 2, the light from the light source unit 3 can be diffused in the lateral direction in the outer lens 2.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing a second embodiment of the present invention, in which parts equivalent to those of the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals. In this embodiment, similarly to the first embodiment, the light source units 3A and 3B in which optical fibers are vertically stacked constitute a tail & stop lamp and a tail lamp, respectively. Red LEDs are used for these light source units 3A and 3B. Further, on the front side of the light source unit 3B as a tail lamp, a light source unit 3C having a plurality of vertically oriented optical fibers arranged in a horizontal direction is arranged in an overlapping manner, and the light source unit 3C is arranged as a turn signal lamp. Configure as. A yellow LED is used for the light source unit 3C.

With this configuration, particularly in the tail lamp and turn signal lamp portions, the red LED is turned on to turn on the light source units 3A and 3B to turn on the tail lamp, and the yellow LED is turned on to turn on the light source unit 3C. Can be turned on to turn on the turn signal lamp. Here, the two light source units 3B and 3C are overlapped in the front-rear direction at the tail lamp and turn signal lamp parts, but since each light source unit is made thin, even if both light source units are overlapped. It can be made thinner than the conventional configuration.

[0013]

[Effect of the device]

 As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of optical fibers each integrally provided with a light source at one end are arrayed in a plane, and the back surface of each optical fiber is the light transmitted through the optical fiber. Since the light source unit is configured with a total reflection step that reflects the light toward the front, the light source unit can be configured as a surface light source by reflecting the light from the light source transmitted through the optical fiber toward the front surface, This has the effect of achieving a thinner device and providing uniform illumination.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially exploded perspective view of a first embodiment of a vehicular lamp according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of the vehicle lamp of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a main part of the light source unit of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view near one end of an optical fiber.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a part of the lamp of FIG. 1 in a cutaway manner.

FIG. 6 is a partially exploded perspective view of a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Lamp Body 2 Outer Lens 3 (3A to 3C) Light Source Unit 31 Optical Fiber 33 Light Emitting Element (Light Source) 35 Total Reflection Step

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location H01L 33/00 M 8934-4M

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A plurality of optical fibers integrally provided with a light source at one end thereof are arranged in a plane, and the back surface of each optical fiber reflects the light transmitted through the optical fiber toward the front surface. A vehicle lamp characterized in that a light source unit is configured by providing a total reflection step, the light source unit is internally housed in a lamp body, and a lens is arranged at a front position.