JPH0634851A - Optical distribution structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To distribute proper quantities of light to various lighting fixtures by improving the optical distribution structure. CONSTITUTION:A light source 5 is installed at the 1st focus f1 of a rotary elliptic mirror 8. The light which is emitted by the light source 5 and reflected by the rotary elliptic mirror 8 is converted on the 2nd focus f2, and diffused after crossing itself. This diffused light is converged by a convex lens 9 into parallel luminous flux (arrows d' and e'). The distribution density of this parallel luminous flux is high at the center part and low at the peripheral part. A light guide 6a which needs to guide a large quantity of light is arranged at the center part and a light guide 6a which needs to guide a small quantity of light is arranged at the peripheral part.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure for distributing light emitted from a single light source to a plurality of light guides and guiding the light to a lamp by each of the plurality of light guides.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a technique for distributing a light beam emitted from a single light source to a large number of light guides and guiding it to a lamp, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI-2 is proposed.
A centralized illumination system using a high brightness light source of No. 172102 is known. FIG. 2 shows the above known example. The special bulb 1 shown in FIG. 1A is made of hard glass, and the discharge light emitting mechanism is enclosed in the special bulb 1 and is fed by the lead wires 1a and 1b. A large number (five in this example) of light guides 1c to 1g are formed in the special tube 1, and the light generated by the discharge is distributed and led out by these light guides. As shown in FIG. 2B, a large number of light guides 1c-1c are provided.
The light guided in g is the optical fibers 2c to 2g, respectively.
Are led to the respective lamps 3c to 3g (the lamps 3d and 3e are not shown in the figure). In the above-mentioned known example, the special tube 1 is required, and this member is not versatile, which is inconvenient for practical use. By eliminating such inconvenience and making it possible to use a commercially available light source bulb, FIG.
The configuration of is also proposed. The rotating parabolic mirror 4 shown in FIG.
The light source 5 is installed at the focal point F of. As the light source 5, for example, a commercially available mercury discharge lamp can be used, and it can be attached / detached and replaced. Light incident on the paraboloidal mirror 4 from the light source 5 is reflected parallel to the optical axis Z as indicated by arrows a, b, and c.
A large number of optical fibers 6 are arranged so as to face the parallel light flux, and each of the light fluxes is incident and guided to a desired position (a lamp not shown) 7 is a glass rod for absorbing heat rays.

[0003]

In the prior art shown in FIG. 3, the parallel light flux reflected by the rotating parabolic mirror 4 is
The luminous flux distribution density is uniform. Therefore, a large number of optical fibers 6 are evenly distributed in the amount of light. Depending on the application of this light distribution mechanism, the above-mentioned uniform distribution function may be convenient, but it is not suitable for unifying the light source of a vehicle lamp, for example. Generally, a vehicle is equipped with a large number of lamps, a headlight and a stop lamp require a relatively large amount of light, and a tail lamp and a small lamp require a small amount of light. Therefore, if the conventional example of FIG. 3 is applied to the vehicular lamp and the light emission of the light source 5 is evenly distributed, the headlamps and the stop lamps will lack the light quantity supplied, and the tail lamps and the small lamps will supply the light quantity. Is too large, there is a problem that the light must be dimmed by the optical filter. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a light distribution structure capable of designing distribution of light quantity.

[0004]

It is known that when an optical fiber receives light, it is efficient when it receives light parallel to the light receiving portion of the optical fiber. Therefore, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present inventor can distribute a light flux parallel to the light-receiving ends of a large number of optical fibers, and, regarding each of a large number of optical fibers, the distribution density of the light flux varies depending on the arranged position. Differently, the light distribution structure of the present invention was created as a structure that can satisfy both conditions that each optical fiber can be arranged at an arbitrary position. The outline will be described below with reference to FIG. 1A corresponding to the first embodiment. First focus f ₁ of the spheroidal mirror 8
The light source 5 is installed in. The light flux emitted from this light source and reflected by the spheroidal mirror 8 is a second light flux as indicated by arrows e and d.
It converges on the focal point f ₂ , intersects with each other, diffuses again, and is condensed by the convex lens 9 to be parallel luminous fluxes e ′ and d ′. A light guide 6 made of an optical fiber is arranged so as to face the parallel light flux. FIG. 1B shows an arrangement of a large number (33 in this example) of light guides.

[0005]

The parallel light flux (arrow e ',
The light distribution of d ') is dense in the central part and sparse in the peripheral part.
Therefore, for example, a light guide that guides light to a lamp that requires a large amount of light, such as a headlight, is arranged in the center as shown by 6a in FIG. 6B, and is used for a lamp that does not require a large amount of light, such as a tail lamp. The light guide that guides the light is also 6b
It may be arranged in the peripheral part like. In this way, it is possible to distribute the light to various types of lamps without excess or deficiency.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1A is a schematic side view showing an embodiment of a light distribution structure according to the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 8 is a spheroidal mirror, f ₁ is its first focal point, f ₂ is also its second focal point, and Z is also its optical axis. The light source 5 is arranged near the first focal point. In this embodiment, the light source is composed of a mercury discharge tube.

The spheroidal mirror 8 is emitted from the light source 5 described above.
The light flux reflected at is focused on the second focal point f ₂ as shown by arrows d and e, intersects, and then diffuses. A convex lens 9 is provided at a position for receiving the diffused light, and the light is condensed to form a parallel light flux as indicated by arrows d'and e '. A convex lens having such a function is widely used as an aspherical convex lens for a projector-type headlight, for example. Since FIG. 1 (A) is vertically symmetrical with respect to the optical axis Z, the arrow mark is attached to only one side. A large number of light guides 6 are arranged so as to face the parallel light beams d'and e '. The BB arrow view is as shown in FIG. The distribution density of the parallel light flux is dense in the central portion and sparse in the peripheral portion. Using this, for example, a light guide that guides light to a high-luminance lamp such as a headlight or a stop lamp is arranged at the center as shown in 6a of FIG. The light guide for guiding the light to the lamp is arranged at the peripheral portion as shown in 6b of FIG. Thereby, it is possible to distribute light to each of the lamps without excess or deficiency. Further, in the prior art shown in FIG. 3, when the number of optical fibers 6 to be arranged is increased, the rotary parabolic mirror 4 is replaced with a large-diameter one and parallel light beams (arrows a, b, c) are generated. Although the diameter had to be increased, in the present embodiment shown in FIG. 1 (A), the convex lens 9 is replaced with a large diameter without replacing the spheroidal mirror 8, and the large diameter is changed. By appropriately moving the convex lens of (1) to the front of the lamp, the diameter of the parallel light flux (arrows d ', e') increases, so that the number of light guides 6 can be increased.

[0008]

As described above with reference to the embodiments,
According to the light distribution structure of the present invention, the distribution of the amount of light can be determined by design, and the light can be guided to various types of lamps without excess or deficiency.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a schematic side view showing an embodiment of a light distribution structure according to the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a BB arrow for explaining the arrangement of a light guide in the embodiment. It is a perspective view.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a known example of a light distribution structure.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view showing a known example different from the above.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Special tube, 2 ... Optical fiber, 3 ... Lamp, 4 ... Rotating parabolic mirror, 5 ... Light source, 6 ... Optical fiber, 7 ... Glass rod, 8 ... Spherical mirror, 9 ... Convex lens.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A spheroidal mirror, a light source arranged near a first focal point of the spheroidal mirror, and a light beam emitted from the light source and reflected by the spheroidal mirror is converged at a second focal point. After that, a convex lens positioned at a place that becomes diffused light,
A light distribution structure, wherein the diffused light is composed of a plurality of light guides arranged to face the parallel light flux condensed by the convex lens.