JPH07108637B2 - Vehicle lighting control device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention enhances the presence of a vehicle during twilight by dimming the headlamps of the vehicle at a low illumination level compared to 100% lighting at night. The present invention relates to a vehicle lighting control device having a dimming lighting function that can contribute to traffic safety.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, a motorcycle or the like is driven with a headlamp turned on during the daytime or during dusk, which helps to enhance the presence of the vehicle and prevent a rear-end collision or collision. And
Although there is a concept of dimming the headlamps in automobiles as well, it is possible to supply dimmed lighting by supplying a limited current to the low filament of the headlamps without changing the configuration of the conventional vehicle lighting control circuit as much as possible. desired.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

That is, the present invention does not change the configuration of the lighting control circuit of the existing vehicle as much as possible, and by adding wiring to these existing circuits, a dimming lighting circuit is added and a resistor is used to limit the current. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle lighting control device having a dimming lighting function with a simple circuit configuration without requiring a large circuit change.

[Structure of Invention]

Therefore, the present invention adds the following configuration to the existing lighting control circuit. First, one end of the resistor is connected to one end of the low filament of both headlamps, and the dimming lighting circuit is connected to the other end of the resistor. The dimming lighting circuit has at least first to fourth switch means inside. Then, the first switch means detects that the ignition switch is turned on and conducts electricity. The second switch means detects the turn-on of the tail switch and the conduction of the first switch means so that the second switch means conducts, and serves to connect the headlamp and the vehicle-mounted power source. Next, the third
The switch means detects the conduction of the first switch means and sends a current to the resistor to turn on the dimming of the headlamp. Further, the fourth switch means detects the manual operation of the lighting switch and performs the shut-off operation by itself so as to release the conduction of the third switch means, thereby performing lighting rather than the dimming lighting operation of the dimming lighting circuit. Prioritize manual switch operation.

[Action effect]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, the dimming lighting circuit is connected to an existing circuit, and this circuit is connected to an existing ignition switch, tail switch, headlamp, lighting switch, and a resistor. The existing rotation can be easily converted into a circuit having a dimming function by connecting to the headlamp. Further, when the lighting switch is manually operated by the operation of the fourth switch means, the dimming lighting is immediately released, so that there is an effect that lighting of 100% illuminance is immediately performed when the vehicle goes into a tunnel or the like. . Further, since the first switch means to the fourth switch means are integrated as a dimming lighting circuit, in the event of a failure, the dimming lighting circuit can be replaced as it is, and maintenance is easy. Further, there is an effect that the circuit can be configured easily and inexpensively by the combination of the current limitation using the resistor and the integrated dimming lighting circuit.

〔Example〕

The device of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1 showing the first embodiment, 1 to 3 are normally open contacts, respectively.
Each is a relay having 1a, 2a, 3a.

Next, 4 and 5 are normally closed contact relays having normally closed contacts 4a and 5a.

Reference numerals 6 and 7 are resistors having the same resistance value, and are connected to the low filament sides of the headlamps 8 and 9, respectively. The low filament side is hereinafter referred to as the L side, and the Hi filament side is referred to as the H side.

The part surrounded by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 1 is a DIM DIP relay circuit 10 used in the present apparatus, and has the above-mentioned relays 1 to 3 and relays 4 and 5 as main constituent parts.

The DIM DIP relay circuit 10 is provided with terminals 11 to 19. The coil of the normally closed contact relay 5 is connected between the terminals 11 and 13, and
A current flows from the terminal to the terminal 13 via the coil of the relay 5, the diode 20, and the normally closed contact 4a of the relay 4.

When the relay 3 is energized and the contact 3a is closed, a current flows from the resistors 6 and 7 through the path of the terminal 12, the contact 3a and the terminal 13. A voltage substantially equal to the voltage effect across the resistor 6 is applied between the terminals 11 and 13. The normally closed contact relay 5 operates as a relay operating at a relatively low voltage so that the coil 5 is energized to open the normally closed contact 5a even when the voltage across the resistor 6 is applied to the terminals 11 and 13. Has become.

The diode 20 and the diode 21 form a diode for preventing backflow.

Reference numeral 25 is a battery, 26 is an ignition switch, 27 is a tail switch, and 28 and 29 are fuses.

A lighting switch 30 is connected to the headlamps 8 and 9 via fuses 31 and 32. There are low-side filaments and high-side filaments in the headlamps 8 and 9, and the portion marked L on the right side is the low-side filaments. Reference numeral 35 is an indicator lamp, and 36 is a dimmer switch, which is mechanically linked to the lighting switch 30.

The headlamps 8 and 9 are turned on by operating the lighting switch 30 and inserting the dimmer switch 36 into either the Hi side or the L side. For example, when the lighting switch 30 is turned on and the dimmer switch is turned to the Hi side on the left side, the H side filaments of the headlamps 8 and 9, that is, the left side filaments are turned on. Then, at this time, the indicator lamp 35 is also turned on to display that the lighting switch is operated on the far side.

Further, when the tail switch 27 is turned on, a tail lamp (not shown), that is, a rear lamp behind the vehicle is turned on.

The operation of the first embodiment having the above configuration will be described. In the circuit shown in FIG. 1, the headlamp can be dimmed by adding the dimm dip relay circuit 10 and the resistors 6 and 7 without changing the existing vehicle lighting control circuit. ing. This will be described below.

The table of FIG. 2 shows the operating states of the circuit of FIG. In this figure, from the left side, the ignition switch 26 is turned on and off, the tail switch 27 is turned on,
Enter the OFF state and the closing state of the Dima switch 36 to the low side and the high side, and display the dimm dip on when the dimmed lighting of the headlamp is made according to the operating state of each lamp, and the other It is displayed as dip-off.

That is, from the table of FIG. 2, the ignition switch
By turning on 26, turning on the tail switch 27, and setting the dimmer switch 36 to the neutral state in which neither the low side nor the high side is turned on, the dim dip turns on and the headlamps 8 and 9 turn to the low side. It can be seen that the filament carries a current through resistors 6 and 7. This will be described in more detail. When the ignition switch 26 is turned on, the positive voltage of the battery 25 is applied to the terminal 17, and the terminal 17 passes through the coil of the relay 1 and the terminal.
Current flows through 13. Therefore, the relay 1 is energized and the contact 1a is closed. At this time, since the tail switch 27 is also turned on, the positive voltage of the battery 25 is also applied to the terminal 16, and the coil of the relay 2 and the terminal 16 are connected from the terminal 16 via the contact 1a.
Current also flows through 13 and the relay 2 is energized and the contact 2a
Closes. In addition, a current flows from the terminal 16 to the terminal 13 via the contact 1a, the coil of the relay 3, the diode 21 and the normally closed contact 4a, and the normally open contact relay 3 operates to activate the contact 3a.
Closes. Therefore, the terminals 12 and 13 are electrically connected to each other, and the normally open contact 2a of the relay 2 is closed at this time, so that the voltage of the battery 25 is transferred from the terminal 14 through the contact 2a and the terminal 18 to the fuse 31, Added to one end of 32. Therefore, current flows from the fuses 31 and 32 to the resistors 6 and 7 through the low filaments of the lamps 8 and 9, so that the low filaments of the head lamps are dimmed. That is, even if the lighting switch 30 is not closed, the dimming lighting is performed via the contact 2a. In the above-mentioned state, the contact 2a is closed, but the terminal 19 is not grounded, that is, since the dimmer switch 36 is in the neutral position, the normally-closed contact relay 4 remains deenergized. .
In addition, the current flowing through the resistors 6 and 7 causes a voltage drop across the resistors 6 and 7. This voltage is applied between the headlamp side of resistors 6 and 7 and terminal 13. That is, the voltage across the resistors 6 and 7 is applied between the terminals 11 and 13 while the headlamp is dimmed. As a result, current flows from the terminals 11 and 15 through the coil of the relay 5, the diode 20, the normally closed contact 4a, and the terminal 13, the normally closed contact relay 5 is energized, and the normally closed contact 5a opens. However, the normally closed contact relay 5 remains energized by the relatively small voltage between the terminals 11 and 13 even after opening, and the normally closed contact 5a continues to be in the opposite state to that shown, that is, in the open state. .

In the above circuit, the resistors 6 and 7 are provided, and further, the relay contact 5a is provided.
However, even if the wire is broken while the current is flowing, in this case, the voltage drop across the resistor 6, that is, no pressure between the terminals 11 and 13, disappears, so that the relay 5 is deenergized and the contact 5a is shown in the figure. Closed, the current of the low filament on the headlamp 8 side flows from the terminal 11 to the terminal 15 via the contact 5a,
Further, it flows to the terminal 13 side through the resistor 7. Therefore,
Even if a disconnection failure occurs in the resistor 6 while the headlamps 8 and 9 are being dimmed by using the resistors 6 and 7, the current of the low filament of the headlamp 8 continues to be applied to the contact 5a. Through the resistor 7 side, thereby enabling the dimming lighting to be continued. On the other hand, when the resistor 7 breaks down while the current is flowing through the resistor 7, the low-side filament of the headlamp 9 is connected to the terminal 15 and the contact 5
A current flows through a, terminal 11, resistor 6, terminal 12, contact 3a, and terminal 13. In this case, the current suppression by the resistor 6 alone causes the low-side filaments of the headlamps 8 and 9 to dimly light up. Will be done.

That is, the DIM DIP relay circuit 10 of FIG. 1 has a relay 1 for detecting the closing state of the ignition switch 26 and a relay 2 for detecting the introduction state of the tail switch 727. An electric current flows through the low filament of the headlamp via the normally open contact 2a of the relay 2. Further, the relay 3 uses a contact 3a which is closed after confirming that the relay 1 for detecting the closed state of the tail switch is closed and the relay 4 is not operated, and each low filament is connected through this contact 3a. The current is flowing. The relay 4 receives the voltage at the terminal 18, that is, the lighting switch 30.
When the switch is turned on, the contact 4a is opened, the dim dip operation is canceled, and the lighting switch 30
Control is prioritized.

Further, the relay 5 keeps the contact 5a in the open state by detecting the voltage effect across the resistors 6 and 7, and under normal conditions, the low filaments of the headlamps 8 and 9 respectively have the resistance of the resistor 6 and that of the resistor 6, respectively. Although the resistor 7 and the resistor 7 are constituted by separate circuits, when the resistors 6 and 7 are disconnected, they function to switch the non-disconnected resistor to the low filament of the lamp.

Next, a third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The second embodiment shown in FIG. 3 uses only one resistor 67, and both headlamps 8 and 9 are operated in a dimmed lighting mode when the resistor has a disconnection failure, that is, a dimming operation. Although it has a drawback that it does not perform dip operation, it has a feature that the system configuration is simple. In FIG. 3, when the ignition switch 26 is turned on, the terminal 17
The coil of the relay 1 is energized via and the contact 1a is turned on. Therefore, the coil of the relay 3 is connected to the terminal 16 via the contact 1a.
Connected with. Next, when the tail switch 27 is turned on, the positive voltage of the battery 25 is applied to the terminal 16, the coil of the relay 3 is energized, and the contact 3a is turned on. Also,
When the tail switch 27 is turned on and a voltage is applied to the terminal 16, the coil of the relay 2 is energized via the contact 1a, whereby the contact 2a is turned on. That is,
When both the ignition switch and the tail switch are closed, the relay contacts 1a, 2a, 3a are closed respectively. By turning on 2a, terminal 14 is connected to terminal 18 via contact 2a.
The voltage is applied to the resistor 67, the resistor 67, the terminal 12, the contact 3a, and the terminal 13 on the low filament L of the headlamps 8 and 9.
A current flows through and. That is, both headlamps 8
And 9 are lighted in a state where the current is limited by the resistor 67. Further, when the lighting switch is turned on during such dimming lighting, the contact of the lighting switch 30 is closed and the dimmer switch 36 which is interlocked with this is introduced from the neutral state to either the low side or the high side. For example, each headlamp 8 when it is thrown to the low side
The currents of the low filaments of 9 and 9 do not flow through the resistor 67 anymore, and are grounded through the right side terminal of the dimmer switch 36, that is, the low side terminal 36a, so that the low filament does not dimly light and normally lights up. To do. That is,
The operation of the lighting switch or dimmer switch has priority. Also, during dimm dip operation, that is, while the filament of the headlamp is dimmed by the current through the resistor 67, the lighting switch and dimmer switch are operated, and the contact of the dimmer switch goes to the high side, that is, 36b When it is pushed down, since the terminal 19 is grounded, a current flows from the lighting switch 30 that is turned on to the terminal 18, and further, from the terminal 19 to the ground through the coil of the relay 4, and the relay 4 is energized. , The contact 4a is opened and the dimm dip operation is canceled. That is, the irregularity of the relay 3 is released,
The contact 3a is opened so that the current does not flow through the resistor 67, and the current flows to the contact 36b of the dimmer switch via the high side filament of the headlamps 8 and 9, that is, the H side filament in the drawing. As a result, the manual operation of the lighting switch has priority over the dim dip operation.

As described above, in both embodiments, when the lighting switch is operated during the dimming dip operation and 100% lighting by the high filament of the headlamp or 100% lighting by the low filament is instructed, the dimming dip operation is immediately canceled. However, priority is given to lighting by the lighting switch. Further, by connecting the dim dip relay circuit 10 to an existing circuit and additionally mounting a resistor, it is possible to change the conventional circuit and enable dimming lighting by a low filament. In each of the above-described embodiments, the headlamp is divided into left and right parts in front of the vehicle as shown in FIG. In addition, the tail lamp is provided at the rear of the vehicle and is shown in FIG.
It is indicated by 0,31. Note that FIG. 4 is a plan view of the vehicle seen from above, in which 32 is a window glass in front of the vehicle, 33 is an engine hood, and 34 is a trunk. The dimming lighting referred to in the present invention illuminates the people around the vehicle by dimming the headlamps 8 and 9.

Further, in each of the above embodiments, the switches called lighting switch and dimmer switch are existing ones, and are provided in the steering portion of the vehicle driver's seat,
When turned, the tail switch 27 of FIG. 3 is first turned on, and when further turned, the lighting switch 30 of FIG. 3 is turned on.
Is thrown in. Also, this lever-shaped switch is in front,
Alternatively, it is a well-known one in which the operation state of the dimmer switch 36 is switched by pushing it to the other side.

The ignition switch is usually provided as a key switch in the driver's seat of the vehicle. Further, the dimming lighting circuit referred to in the present invention is described as a dim dip relay circuit in the above-mentioned embodiments.

Next, in FIG. 3, the relay 1 constitutes the first switch means for detecting the closing of the ignition switch 29 and bringing it into conduction. Also, turn on the tail switch 27 and relay 1
The relay 2 constitutes the second switch means for detecting the continuity of the head lamp 8 and conducting the electric connection, and connecting the headlamps 8 and 9 and the battery 25 serving as the vehicle-mounted power source. Further, the relay 3 is constituted by the third switch means which detects the conduction of the relay 1 and supplies a current to the resistor 67. Further, the fourth switch means for detecting the operation of the lighting switch 30 and cutting it off to release the conduction of the relay 3 is constituted by the relay 4.

Also, in FIG. 1, the resistors are two resistors 6 and 7.
The dimming lighting relay circuit is provided with the relay 5 that constitutes the fifth switch means. The relay 5 detects the disconnection of the resistor 6 when the voltage across the resistor 6 disappears, and connects one end of both the resistors 6 and 7, that is, the headlamp side, with a normally closed contact 5a. As a result, even if one of the resistors has a disconnection failure, the dimming lighting can be performed via the other resistor that remains. Each switch means is composed of a normal relay, that is, a relay having a mechanical structure having an electromagnetic coil and an armature core driven by the electromagnetic force of the electromagnetic coil, an armature spring, and an electric contact. However, it is also possible to configure these switching means with other switching elements such as transistors.

As described above, in the present invention, the dependent vehicle lighting control circuit is provided with at least one resistor and the dimming lighting relay circuit, and the dimming lighting relay circuit is provided with the first to fourth switch means. When the ignition switch and the tail switch are turned on, the low filament of the headlamp is lit by the current through the resistor even when the lighting switch is not operated, so the headlamp is in a slightly dark state. Since it can be lit by, by running while continuing such a lighting state even in a bright daytime,
It is useful for traffic safety because it attracts the attention of people around the vehicle.

Further, since such dimming lighting is performed with an illuminance smaller than 100% lighting at night, that is, with an illuminance of about 10%, the power of the battery and the vehicle-mounted power source is rarely wasted. The greatest feature of the present invention is that the existing circuit is not changed,
Furthermore, a circuit can be easily made by adding a resistor and a dimming lighting relay circuit. Therefore,
There is an effect that an existing vehicle can be made into a device having a dimming lighting function without being significantly changed.

The embodiments have the following advantages, respectively. First, by dividing the resistor into two parts and providing the fifth switch means, even if a disconnection failure occurs in one resistor and a current cannot flow through the other resistor, another resistor is A dimming lighting current is passed instead of this resistor,
Although the illuminance changes slightly, it is possible to continue the dimming lighting. Further, by configuring the dimming lighting relay circuit with a mechanical relay, the circuit can be further simplified. That is, by configuring the dimming lighting relay circuit with a mechanical relay circuit rather than with elements such as transistors, it is possible to configure a relay circuit that is resistant to noise and stable in operation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an electrical connection diagram showing the first embodiment of the device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a chart showing the operation of the first embodiment, and FIG. 3 is an electrical connection diagram showing the second embodiment of the device of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a plan view of a general automobile to which the above embodiments can be applied. 1 ... First switch means, 2 ... Second switch means, 3 ...
Third switch means, 4 ... Fourth switch means, 5 ... Fifth switch means, 6,7,67 ... Resistor, 8,9 ... Headlamp, 1
0 …… Dimming lighting circuit, 25 …… Vehicle power supply, 26 …… Ignition switch, 27 …… Tail switch, 30,36 …… Lighting switch and Dimmer switch, 30,31 …… Tail lamp, L …… Low filament .

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle-mounted power source, at least two headlamps provided in front of a vehicle, having a low filament and a high filament, a lighting switch and a dimmer switch for controlling the lighting state of the headlamps, a tail lamp provided at the rear of the vehicle, A tail switch provided inside the vehicle for operating the tail lamp In a vehicle lighting control device including an ignition switch that is operated to enable driving of the vehicle and is connected to the vehicle-mounted power source, One end of the low filament of the headlamp is connected to one end of a resistor, the other end of the resistor is connected to a dimming lighting circuit, and the dimming lighting circuit detects that the ignition switch is turned on. First switch means for conducting, turning on of the tail switch and the first switch Second switch means for connecting the headlamp and the vehicle-mounted power source by detecting conduction of the means, and third switch means for detecting conduction of the first switch means and supplying a current to the resistor. And a fourth switch means for detecting an operation of the lighting switch to release the conduction of the third switch means. 2. The resistor comprises two resistors separately connected to the respective low filaments of the two headlamps, the dimming lighting circuit is provided with a fifth switch means, and the fifth switch is provided. The vehicle lighting control device according to claim 1, wherein the means detects a disconnection of at least one of the resistors and connects one ends of the resistors to each other. 3. The vehicle lighting control according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first switch means to the fifth switch means are mechanical relay contacts. apparatus.