JPH0840140A - Headlamp control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a headlamp control device capable of continuously controlling to charge an illuminating angle or quantity of light of a headlamp of own vehicle in accordance with relation with a preceding vehicle travelling ahead. CONSTITUTION:This headlamp control device is devised to control to change an illuminating angle or quantity of light of a headlamp 6 by inputting a distance signal of a distance between own vehicle and a preceding vehicle travelling ahead measured by a distance sensor 5 and a car speed signal of the own vehicle measured by a car speed sensor 9 to a computing and control circuit 8 and monitoring them and outputting an illuminating angle signal from this computing and control circuit 8 to an illuminating angle variable device 7 or to a quantity of light variable circuit 10. Consequently, it is possible to prevent dazzle given to drivers of the vehicle ahead and the own vehicle by the headlamp 6 of the own vehicle in the case when car speed of the own vehicle is low and it travels close to the vehicle ahead and to reduce electric current consumption.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a headlight control device capable of controlling the light of a headlight of a vehicle which is lit and traveling at night or the like in association with a front vehicle traveling ahead. It is a thing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when traveling with a headlight of a vehicle illuminated at night, when the vehicle approaches a vehicle in front of the vehicle, the light from the vehicle's vehicle headlamp emits light. In some cases, the reflected light is reflected by various mirrors and the like and the reflected light dazzles the driver of the front vehicle or the own vehicle, which hinders safe driving of the front vehicle or the own vehicle.

FIG. 6 shows that when the vehicle is traveling with the headlight of the vehicle illuminated at night, the light from the vehicle's headlight is emitted when the vehicle approaches the vehicle in front of the vehicle. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a mode of an influence exerted on the. In the figure, 1 is an inner mirror of the front vehicle, 2 is an outer mirror of the front vehicle, 3 is a stop lamp of the front vehicle, and 4 is a headlight of the own vehicle.

As shown in FIG. 6, when the vehicle is traveling with the headlight 4 of the vehicle lit, such as at night, when the vehicle approaches the vehicle in front of the vehicle, the vehicle illuminates the vehicle. The light of the light 4 may be reflected by the inner mirror 1 of the front vehicle, the outer mirror 2 of the front vehicle, and the like, and the reflected light may cause the driver of the front vehicle to be dazzled.

Further, in the above case, the light of the headlight 4 of the own vehicle is reflected by the stop lamp 3 of the front vehicle located at the rear portion of the front vehicle, and the reflected light dazzles itself, so that the front It was sometimes difficult to check the lighting of the stop lamp 3 of the car.

[0006]

As described above, when the vehicle is traveling with the headlight 4 of the vehicle being lit, such as at night, conventionally,
The fact that the light of the headlight 4 of the own vehicle has an adverse effect of dazzling the front vehicle or the driver of the own vehicle when the vehicle approaches the front vehicle traveling in front of the own vehicle is that The irradiation angle is constant, and a means for solving this is to switch the irradiation angle of the headlight 4 of the vehicle from upward to downward.

As an example of the above-mentioned solving means, a vehicle headlamp beam switching device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-97536 has been proposed. This one is
The distance between the host vehicle and the front vehicle is detected, and when this distance is below a certain value, the changeover switch is activated and the headlight is turned from upward (high beam) to downward (low beam). It is designed to switch to. However, in this one, since the switching operation of the irradiation angle of the headlight is performed by the changeover switch when the inter-vehicle distance is equal to or less than a predetermined value, the irradiation angle of the headlight is switched from upward to downward. There is a problem in that the operation is performed stepwise, and therefore the irradiation angle of the headlight cannot be performed continuously and smoothly.

As another example, in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 62-127.
A headlight control device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 041 has been proposed. This is a detection wave transmission means for transmitting a detection wave from the front of the vehicle, a reflection wave detection means for receiving a reflection wave on an object in front of the vehicle, a speed detection means for detecting the traveling speed of the vehicle, a reflection wave Based on the output of the wave detecting means and the output of the speed detecting means, a judging means for judging a traveling vehicle existing in front of the vehicle, and a dimming means for dimming the headlight according to the judgment result of the judging means are provided. It is a thing. However, in the headlight control device as described above, since the configuration of the device is extremely complicated and expensive, it is very difficult to widely and practically use it in practice. there were.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and relates the irradiation angle or the light amount of the headlight of the vehicle that is lit and traveling at night or the like to the relationship with the vehicle traveling ahead. It is an object of the present invention to obtain a headlight control device capable of performing control that continuously changes based on.

[0010]

A headlight control apparatus according to the present invention provides an inter-vehicle distance between a vehicle traveling ahead and a vehicle traveling ahead measured by a distance sensor, and a vehicle speed measured by a vehicle speed sensor. In conjunction with the above, the control for continuously changing the irradiation angle of the headlight is performed.

Further, the headlight control device according to the present invention operates in association with the inter-vehicle distance measured by the distance sensor between the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle traveling ahead and the vehicle speed of the own vehicle measured by the vehicle speed sensor. The control for continuously changing the light quantity of the headlight is performed.

[0012]

In the headlight control device according to the present invention, the irradiation angle or the light amount of the headlight of the own vehicle is linked to the inter-vehicle distance between the own vehicle and the front vehicle traveling ahead and the vehicle speed of the own vehicle. Since the control that continuously changes is performed, not only the driver of the front vehicle but also the driver of the own vehicle is caused by the reflected light that the light of the headlight of the own vehicle reflects on various mirrors of the front vehicle. It is possible to contribute to safe driving for the drivers of the front vehicle and the own vehicle without giving dazzling to the driver.

[0013]

【Example】

Example 1. Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a headlight control device that is an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 5 is a distance sensor provided in front of the vehicle, 6 is a headlight provided in front of the vehicle, 7 is an irradiation angle varying device for the headlight 6, 8 is a calculation / control circuit, and 9 is A vehicle speed sensor 10 for measuring the vehicle speed of the vehicle is a light amount variable circuit of the headlight 6.

In the headlight control device according to the first embodiment of the present invention constructed as shown in FIG. 1, when the headlight 6 of the vehicle is turned on and the vehicle travels at night, the front of the vehicle is driven. The distance sensor 5 measures the distance between the vehicle and the vehicle in front of the vehicle, and the measured distance signal is input to the arithmetic / control circuit 8. The calculation / control circuit 8 calculates the optimum irradiation angle of the headlight 6 based on the input distance signal, and outputs the calculated irradiation angle signal to the irradiation angle varying device 7. The irradiation angle varying device 7 moves the headlight 6 by a predetermined angle based on the input irradiation angle signal, thereby performing control to change the irradiation angle of the headlight 6.

When the above-mentioned functions are operating, the vehicle speed sensor 9 calculates the vehicle speed of the host vehicle, and the calculated vehicle speed signal is input to the arithmetic / control circuit 8 for monitoring. Here, when the vehicle speed signal indicates a certain speed or more, the arithmetic / control circuit 8 cancels the irradiation angle signal output to the irradiation angle varying device 7, and returns the irradiation angle of the headlight 6 to the original standard state. A signal is output from the arithmetic / control circuit 8 to return it.

As described above, the headlight 6 of the vehicle at night, etc.
When the vehicle is turned on, when the distance between the vehicle in front of the vehicle and the vehicle in front of the vehicle decreases and the vehicle approaches, the headlight 6 of the vehicle does not need to illuminate far, but rather just before the vehicle. Since it is better to illuminate the lower part so that the safety around the vehicle can be checked, control is performed to change the irradiation angle of the headlight 6 of the vehicle downward. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the driver of the preceding vehicle and the driver of the own vehicle from being dazzled by the headlight 6 of the own vehicle, and it is possible to drive safely.

When the vehicle travels at a high speed above a certain speed, the function of changing the irradiation angle of the headlight 6 of the vehicle is canceled. As a result, it is possible to secure a safe field of view for the driver even in an emergency such as when the preceding vehicle suddenly changes lanes while traveling at high speed.

Next, a specific application example of the irradiation angle varying device 7 shown in FIG. 1 will be described. 2 is a perspective view showing a configuration of an example of the irradiation angle varying device of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a part of FIG. 2 and 3, 1
1 is a motor assembly, 12 is a connect link, 13
Is a headlamp assembly.

In the irradiation angle varying device 7 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the angle varying signal is input to the motor assembly 11 based on each irradiation signal calculated in the arithmetic / control circuit 8. The motor in the motor assembly 11 is rotated by the input current of the variable angle signal, and the connect link 12 connected to the motor assembly 11 is moved. A headlamp assembly 1 connected to the connect link 12 in accordance with the operation of the connect link 12
3 moves upward, whereby the optical axis of the headlamp assembly 13 can be changed.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the configuration of another example of the irradiation angle varying device of FIG. In FIG. 4, 11 is a motor assembly, 12 is a connect link, and 14 is a headlamp 6.
Lens assembly, 15 is gear A, 16 is gear B,
Reference numeral 17 denotes a plurality of shield plates that are installed on the front surface of the lens assembly 14 and operate in conjunction with each other.

In the irradiation angle variable device 7 shown in FIG. 4, the angle variable signal is input to the motor assembly 11 based on each irradiation signal calculated in the arithmetic / control circuit 8. The motor in the motor assembly 11 is rotated by the input current of the variable angle signal, and the gear A15 is rotated. The rotation of the gear A15 is transmitted to the gear B16 attached to the uppermost shield plate 17 to change the angle of the uppermost shield plate 17. Since the change in the angle of the shield plate 17 at the uppermost stage is transmitted to all the shield plates 17 by the connect link 12, it is necessary to change the irradiation angle of the headlight 6.
That is, the amount of light can be changed.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of another example of the irradiation angle varying device of FIG. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 18 is a headlight lens, 19 is a motor, 20 is a lamp bulb, and 21 is a movable bulb shielding cylinder arranged so as to surround the periphery of the lamp bulb 20.

In the irradiation angle variable device 7 shown in FIG. 5, an angle variable signal based on the irradiation angle signal calculated in the arithmetic / control circuit 8 is input to the motor 19. The motor 19 is rotated by the input current of the angle variable signal, and the valve shield cylinder 21 connected to the motor 19 moves in the front-rear direction. By moving the bulb shielding cylinder 21 in the front-rear direction, the irradiation angle of the light generated from the lamp bulb 20 can be changed, that is, the light amount can be changed.

Embodiment 2 FIG. The configuration of the headlamp control device according to the second embodiment of the present invention is the same as the headlamp control device according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, except that the light amount varying circuit 10 is used instead of the irradiation angle varying device 7. 6 is different from the arithmetic / control circuit 8 in that it is provided and the other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment, and therefore detailed description of the configuration is omitted.

In the headlight control apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle is measured by the vehicle speed sensor 9 when the vehicle is traveling with the headlight 6 of the vehicle being lit at night. The vehicle speed signal and the distance signal based on the vehicle-to-vehicle distance measured by the distance sensor 5 are input to the arithmetic / control circuit 8. The arithmetic / control circuit 8 constantly monitors the input vehicle speed signal and distance signal.

When the monitoring function of the arithmetic / control circuit 8 as described above is in an operating state, the vehicle speed monitored by the arithmetic / control circuit 8 becomes a low speed below a certain level due to traffic congestion of the vehicle or signal waiting. Further, when the inter-vehicle distance between the own vehicle and the front vehicle is shortened to a certain level or less, a light amount reduction signal for reducing the light amount of the headlight 6 is output to the light amount variable circuit 10 to the arithmetic / control circuit 8. The light amount variable circuit 10 that has received this light amount reduction signal can reduce the current flowing through the headlight 6 and thereby reduce the light amount of the headlight 6.

As means for changing the light quantity of the headlight 6 by the light quantity variable circuit 10, (1) means for changing the light quantity by changing the base current of the transistor by using a transistor in the output stage of the circuit, 2) FET in the circuit
(Field effect transistor), various means such as means for changing the gate voltage to change the light quantity, and (3) means for changing the lighting duty ratio of the headlamp 6 in the circuit to change the light quantity. Although it can be used, its detailed description is omitted.

[0028]

As described above, according to the headlight control device of the present invention, the vehicle-interval distance between the own vehicle and the front vehicle traveling ahead and the vehicle speed of the own vehicle are linked to each other. Since it is configured to continuously change the irradiation angle or the amount of light of the headlight, the light of the headlight of the own vehicle is reflected by various mirrors of the front vehicle, and the reflected light causes the front vehicle and It can prevent dazzling given to the driver of the own vehicle and contribute to safe driving.In addition, the function of changing the irradiation angle of the headlight can be canceled at high speed to cancel sudden lane changes such as lane change. To be able to fully respond to emergencies, and to reduce the light intensity of the headlight when the vehicle speed is low and the distance from the preceding vehicle is shortened, such as when the vehicle is driving in urban areas or in traffic jams. Has an excellent effect that the current consumption can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a headlight control device that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a configuration of an example of the irradiation angle varying device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a part of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the configuration of another example of the irradiation angle varying device in FIG.

5 is a perspective view showing the configuration of another example of the irradiation angle varying device of FIG. 1. FIG.

[FIG. 6] Conventionally, when traveling with the headlight of the own vehicle turned on at night, when the vehicle approaches the front vehicle traveling in front of the own vehicle, the light of the headlight of the own vehicle gives to the front vehicle. It is a figure for explaining the mode of influence.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Inner mirror of the front vehicle 2 Outer mirror of the front vehicle 3 Stop lamp of the front vehicle 4 Headlight of the vehicle 5 Distance sensor 6 Headlight 7 Irradiation angle changing device 8 Calculation / control circuit 9 Vehicle speed sensor 10 Light intensity variable circuit 11 Motor Assembly 12 Connect link 13 Headlamp assembly 14 Lens assembly 15 Gear A 16 Gear B 17 Shielding plate 18 Headlight lens 19 Motor 20 Lamp bulb 21 Shielding cylinder

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A headlight control device for controlling the light of a headlight for a vehicle, wherein an inter-vehicle distance measured by a distance sensor and a front vehicle traveling ahead, and an own vehicle measured by a vehicle speed sensor. A headlight control device comprising a control means for continuously changing the irradiation angle of the headlight in association with the vehicle speed of the headlight. 2. A headlight control device for controlling the light of a headlight for a vehicle, wherein an inter-vehicle distance measured by a distance sensor and a front vehicle traveling ahead and a own vehicle measured by a vehicle speed sensor. A headlamp control device comprising a control means for continuously changing the light amount of the headlamp in association with the vehicle speed of the vehicle.