JPH08282366A - Light quantity control device for head lamp - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a circuit to automatically reduce a quantity of light of a head lamp when a turn indicator lamp is flickered in a case of an automobile effecting right turn or a left turn during a night. CONSTITUTION: A light quantity control device for a head lamp comprises a turn indicator switch 7 to output a signal when turn indicator lamps 8 and 9 are flickered; and a car speed signal generating circuit 15 to generate a signal when a car speed is reduced to a value lower than a set value. When signals from the turn indicator switch 7 and the car speed generating circuit 15 are simultaneously generated, head lamps 17 and 18 heretofore lighted on are lighted off by a control circuit 16, and head lamps 19 and 20 the quantities of light are lower than those of the head lamps 17 and 18 are lighted ON. Since the head lamp is automatically flickered, an opposite vehicle does not dazzle.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a headlamp light amount control device applied to an automobile.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Motor vehicles (including motorcycles; the same applies hereinafter)
Is equipped with headlamps for night driving. There is a considerable amount of light because the amount of light from this headlamp is set so that it can be surely confirmed that it has a certain size at a certain distance in the darkness at night. When an oncoming vehicle looks at this, it is dazzling and dazzling. Therefore, when traveling in the city, use a lower beam so that oncoming vehicles are not dazzled.

When viewed from an oncoming vehicle, even if the other party's headlamp is in a dazzling state, if the road at that time is a straight road, it is possible to prevent it from being dazzled by the attitude and habituation for it. However, if you suddenly receive a light beam with a large amount of light, you will be greatly affected. An example of this kind is an intersection. In other words, when the vehicle turns left or right, the intersection changes greatly while the optical axis of the headlamp changes from the original posture of the vehicle body to the posture in which it is aimed. The driver of the car that was not there was suddenly irradiated with light and was dazzled.

Further, at an intersection or the like, when a vehicle waiting to turn left or right when the traffic light changes and blinks the turn signal lamp with the head lamp still lit, the head lamp has a larger light amount, and thus the vehicle is opposed. It may be difficult for the vehicle or pedestrians in front to see the blinking blinkers. Of course, it is only necessary to turn off the headlights while the vehicle is stopped, but many drivers do not actually turn off the lights.

As a related prior art, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-56
There is one disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 638. This is to reduce the load on the battery by dimming the headlamp when the blinker lamp is in the operating state when the vehicle is stopped. According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain the effect of prolonging the life of the battery particularly in a motorcycle or the like having a small battery capacity, but since the operation of the blinker lamp and the dimming of the headlamp are simply related. However, it is not possible to achieve the object of the present invention to prevent drivers of oncoming vehicles from being dazzled at intersections and the like.

Another example of the prior art is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 2-11739, in which the light amount or irradiation angle of a headlamp is changed according to the vehicle speed.
According to this invention, when the vehicle is traveling at a speed equal to or higher than a certain value, the headlight illuminates the front with a sufficient light amount or the upper beam, and when the vehicle decelerates, the dimmed light amount or the lower beam is applied to the front. Will be irradiated. For this reason, it is convenient that the driver's daily operation is automatically performed, but this device does not solve the problem to be solved by the present invention.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of this point, and the headlamp is dimmed when the vehicle speed is below a certain value and the blinker lamp is in operation. An object of the present invention is to provide a device that solves the above problems.

[0008]

As a means for solving the above problems, the present invention provides a circuit for outputting a signal when a turn signal is activated, and a signal for outputting a signal when a vehicle speed falls below a set value. And a control circuit for switching the light amount of the headlamp when the output signals of these circuits are simultaneously input.

In the above structure, it is preferable to obtain a signal from a blinker switch that blinks a left or right blinker lamp as a circuit that outputs a signal when the turn signal is activated. It is desirable to provide a circuit that continuously dims the headlamp without being affected by the intermittent current generated by the turn signal relay.

Further, as a circuit for outputting a signal when the vehicle speed becomes equal to or lower than a set value, a disc mounted on a wheel and a sensor arranged in the vicinity of the disc electrically or optically determine the rotational speed of the disc. It is preferable to use a circuit that detects the number of pulse waves as an output signal, converts the number of pulse waves as an output signal into an analog signal, and compares this with a preset value.

Further, as a method of switching the light quantity of the headlamp when both of the above signals are simultaneously input, in addition to the main lamp, another lamp having a small light quantity is housed in the headlamp housing and these lamps are switched. The left and right headlamps, which are usually connected in parallel, are switched to series connection when the light intensity is reduced, or a resistor is connected in series to the lamp when the light intensity is reduced. Is good.

[0012]

With the above construction, when the vehicle makes a left turn or a right turn at the intersection, the speed is lowered and the headlamp is dimmed when the turn signal is actuated. If you pass the intersection and increase the speed or stop the operation of the turn signal,
The headlamp returns to the original light intensity.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a battery serving as a power source, which is mounted on the front part of an automobile 2 (see FIG. 2).
The negative side of the battery 1 is grounded to the vehicle body, and the positive side is connected to the ignition switch 4 via a fuse 3. The automobile 2 is equipped with a generator driven by an engine, and the output side of a rectifier that rectifies the output current is connected in parallel to the battery 1, but this portion is not shown. Further, the output side of the ignition switch 4 is naturally connected to an engine starting circuit, an ignition circuit, etc., but these are not related to the present invention, so the illustration thereof is omitted.

On the output side of the ignition switch 4,
The input terminal 5a of the turn signal relay 5 and one pole of the headlamp switch 6 are connected. The winker relay 5 is well known in the art, and when the current flows, the winker relay 5 is intermittently connected at a predetermined cycle. This turn signal relay 5
The output terminal 5b of the blinker switch 7 has an input terminal 7a
Is connected. Output terminal 7 of blinker switch 7
Between the b and 7c and the ground circuit, two right and left turn signal lamps 8 and 9 attached to the front and rear parts of the vehicle body are connected,
By operating the lever 10 (see FIG. 2) provided in the driver's seat, the one on either side can be switched to be energized. The turn signal relay 5 to the lever 10 constitute a turn signal indicator. The turn signal lamps are also attached to the side portion of the vehicle body and the instrument panel 11 (see FIG. 2) and are connected in parallel to the turn signal lamps 8 and 9, but their illustration is omitted.

The basic structure of the turn signal switch 7 is a changeover switch whose movable contact switches the power supply to the left and right turn signal lamps 8 and 9.
This embodiment is provided with a signal terminal 7d, which does not energize the movable contact, so that an output voltage is generated here when the movable contact is at a position other than the intermediate position. I am doing it. As a circuit for this, it is possible to consider a circuit in which a diode whose forward direction is from the right and left turn signal lamps 8 and 9 to the signal terminal 7a side is connected.

The reference numeral 12 in FIGS. 1 and 2 is a disk, which is attached to the wheel 13 (see FIG. 2). A sensor 14 is arranged in the vicinity of the disc 12, and detects the rotation of the disc 12, that is, the rotation of the wheel 13. The relationship between the disk 12 and the sensor 14 is that, for example, a large number of irregularities having a fixed shape are formed on the outer periphery of the disk 12, and the variation in the passing state of the magnetic force lines from the sensor 14 side is detected by the irregularities to obtain the rotation speed An optical type in which the number of passing light beams is counted by rotating the disc 12 by forming the sensor 14 with a photocoupler can be considered.

The sensor 14 is connected to the input side of the vehicle speed signal generation circuit 15. This vehicle speed signal generation circuit 15 converts the number of pulse waves, which is an output signal thereof, into an analog signal regardless of whether the disk 12 and the sensor 14 are of an electric type or an optical type, and is preset. And a signal corresponding to a different speed (15 km / h as an example),
It outputs an output signal when the signal from the sensor 14 becomes equal to or less than a set value.

The headlamp switch 6 includes a control circuit 16
The power supply terminal 16a of is connected. This control circuit 16
Are provided with signal input terminals 16b and 16c, and the signal input terminal 16b includes a signal terminal 7 of the turn signal switch 7.
d is connected, and the output side of the vehicle speed signal generation circuit 15 is connected to the signal input terminal 16c. 4 in the control circuit 16
The output terminals 16d to 16g are provided, and the left and right headlamps 17 to 20 are connected between these output terminals 16d to 16g and the ground circuit.

Of the four headlamps 17 to 20, the headlamp 17 is on the left side of the automobile 2 and the headlamp 18 is on the right side (see FIG. 2). These have the performance stipulated as headlamps in the vehicle safety standards, and are always installed in any vehicle. The headlamps 19 and 20 are for dimming and are used as one aspect of the present invention. The headlamp 19 is in the same housing as the headlamp 17, and the headlamp 20 is the headlamp 18. It is housed in the same housing as. The light amount of the headlamps 19 and 20 may be arbitrary up to about 20% of the headlamps 17 and 18.

The control circuit 16 includes signal input terminals 16b, 1
When two signals are simultaneously input to 6c, the headlamps 17 and 18 are switched to the headlamps 19 and 20. However, since the signal from the turn signal switch 7 is an intermittent current by the turn signal relay 5, a delay circuit or the like is provided in the control circuit 16 and this is converted into a continuous current for use. The delay circuit and the like may be provided outside the control circuit 16.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart for explaining the operation. From the start of step S1 to step S2
And the ignition switch 4 is turned on, and step S
When the headlamp switch 6 is turned on in step 3, it is determined in step S4 whether the winker switch 7 is operated. As a result, when operated, the process proceeds to the vehicle speed determination process of the next step S5. When it is determined in step S4 that the winker switch 7 is not operated, the process returns to step S3.

In step S5, the vehicle speed is 1
It is judged whether or not it is 5 km / h or less, 15 km
/ H or less, the next step S6
Go to and switch the headlamps. This switch is
In the circuit shown in FIG. 1, the headlamps 17 and 18 that have been lit until then are turned off, and instead the headlamps 19 and 20 with a small light amount are lit, and the process ends in step S7.
When it is determined in step S5 that the vehicle speed exceeds 15 km / h, the process returns to step S4.

In the above operation, the turn signal switch 7
Is operated and the vehicle speed is recognized to be 15 km / h or less, it is determined that the automobile 2 is going to turn left or right at the intersection, and the headlamp 1
The large light quantity of 7, 18 is switched to the small light quantity of the headlamps 19, 20. As a result, an oncoming vehicle or a pedestrian in front of the automobile 2 will not be dazzled by the light intensity of the headlamp. When the vehicle 2 passes the intersection and returns the turn signal switch 7 to the original state (state when traveling straight ahead), the signal input to the signal input terminal 16b of the control circuit 16 is lost, so the headlamps 19 and 20 are turned off. The headlamps 17 and 18 are turned on.

When one of the turn signal lamps 8 and 9 is blinked, such as when changing the driving lane on a road other than the intersection, the signal from the turn signal switch 7 to the signal input terminal 16b of the control circuit 16 is changed. Although there is an input, there is no signal input to the signal input terminal 16c because the vehicle speed is 15 km / h or more, and therefore, in this case, the headlamps are not switched.

In the embodiment described above, the rotation of the disk 12 mounted on the wheel 13 is detected by the sensor 14 in order to detect the vehicle speed. However, this is not the case but the rotation speed is read from the speedometer. Further, it is conceivable that both of them are provided so that even if one of them fails, the function does not immediately stop. Further, in a vehicle equipped with a so-called manual transmission, the headlamp may be dimmed only when the gear position is shifted to the first speed (low gear).

In addition to the headlamps 17 and 18 having a normal light amount, the headlamp 1 having a small light amount is used for switching the light amount.
Although 9 and 20 are provided separately and these are switched,
Without providing the headlamps 19 and 20, the left and right headlamps 17 and 18, which are normally connected in parallel, are switched to series connection when the light intensity is reduced, or a resistor is attached to the lamp when the light intensity is reduced. It may be a means such as connecting in series.

[0027]

Since the present invention is a headlamp light amount control device constructed as described above, the light amount of the headlamp decreases when the vehicle turns left or right. The pedestrians are not dazzled and the blinkers of blinkers are not overlooked. Further, at an intersection or the like on an uphill, it is not necessary to turn off the headlamp, which has been conventionally performed, and no operation is required, so that the user can concentrate on the steering wheel operation. Since the speed of the vehicle can be roughly known from the outside by dimming the headlamps, the intersection can be smoothly passed. Generally, the power consumption of the headlamp is reduced at low speeds when the engine speed is low,
The battery can be protected.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an automobile showing a location of a vehicle speed sensor, headlamps and the like.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the one shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Battery 2 Car 4 Ignition switch 5 Turn signal relay 6 Head lamp switch 7 Turn signal switch 8 Turn signal lamp 9 Turn signal lamp 12 Disk 13 Wheel 14 Sensor 15 Vehicle speed signal generation circuit 16 Control circuit 17 Head lamp 18 Head lamp 19 Head lamp 20 Head lamp

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A circuit for outputting a signal when a turn signal is activated and a circuit for outputting a signal when a vehicle speed falls below a set value are provided, and output signals of both circuits are simultaneously input. A headlamp light amount control device, comprising a control circuit for switching the light amount of the headlamp when the headlight is turned on.