JPH084646Y2 - Vehicle lighting - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle lamp, and more particularly to a lamp for displaying a tail lamp and a stop lamp.

Vehicle lamps include signal lights such as turn signals and illumination lights such as headlights. For example, the left and right rear parts of a vehicle are provided with combination lamps that combine various lamps as shown in FIG. In FIG. 1, a bulb 1 as a light source is provided in each housing 2 partitioned for each signal lamp, and a single lens 3 common to each signal lamp is provided on a light emitting surface of the housing 2. 4 is a rear panel finisher. Here, the lens 3 is added with a pigment or the like to its material so as to have a color tone matched with that of the rear panel finisher 4,
When the bulb 1 is not lit, it is necessary that the lens 3 and the rear panel finisher 4 appear as one body.

In this type of conventional lamp, since the lens 3 contains an additive such as a pigment, the light transmittance of the lens 3 when the bulb 1 is turned on is poor, and the surface of the lens 3 required for light distribution. It was necessary to increase the amount of light emitted from the bulb 1 in order to obtain the luminous intensity above a predetermined value.

According to the present invention, by inserting a liquid crystal panel in the optical path of the tail lamp and the stop lamp and changing the display area of the liquid crystal panel according to the lighting of the light source for the stop lamp, it is possible to improve the display efficiency and the visibility. An object is to provide a vehicle lamp.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the present invention, showing a display lamp for a tail lamp and a stop lamp. The bulb 1 for the tail lamp and the bulb for the stop lamp are separately provided in the housing 2. On the light emitting surface of the housing 2, a liquid crystal panel 5 for color display, in which the liquid crystal element itself is colored with a dye, is provided on the outside of the flat lens 3A. The liquid crystal panel 5 has the same surface structure as the rear panel finisher 4 and the same surface position. Are aligned with.

In this structure, the display color of the liquid crystal panel 5 is set to be the same as that of the rear panel finisher 4 when the tail lamp and the stop lamp which are the bulbs 1 are not lit.
As shown in FIG. 3 (A), the lamp display surface can be seen as an extension of the rear panel finisher 4. Then, when the tail lamp and the stop lamp are turned on, the liquid crystal panel 5 is made transparent or in an operating state close to that as shown in FIG. 3 (B) to increase the light transmittance, and the light from the tail lamp and the stop lamp is passed through the lens 3A. It is possible to display by the color of the lens 3A. In this display state, since it is not necessary to add the additive of the lens 3A to the rear panel finisher 4, it is possible to enhance the display brightness with a desired display color due to the low luminous intensity of the tail lamp and the stop lamp.

Here, in the display control of the liquid crystal panel 5, as shown in FIG. 4, the display area is switched depending on whether the tail lamp and the stop lamp are turned on or off. That is, when only the tail lamp is turned on, the light transmission area of the liquid crystal panel 5 is reduced to obtain a small area tail lamp display as shown in FIG. 4 (A), and when the tail lamp and the stop lamp are turned on, as shown in FIG. 4 (B). With the same brightness, the light transmission area of the liquid crystal panel 5 is increased to obtain a large area stop lamp display.

By such a display, the display area changes between the display state of the tail lamp only and the display state of the stop lamp,
Compared with the conventional display in which only the display brightness is switched in the same display area, the driver of the following vehicle can visually recognize the change in the size of the tail lamp display and the stop lamp display. Moreover, since the stop lamp display has the same brightness as the display part of the tail lamp display, a large area stop lamp display that also uses the display part of the tail lamp while having two lamp display functions on one liquid crystal panel can be performed. Excellent in visibility.

In the embodiment, the light transmittance of the liquid crystal panel 5 when the tail lamp and the stop lamp are turned on can be changed between daytime and night, and the light transmittance of the liquid crystal panel 5 can be changed between the tail lamp display state and the stop lamp display state. Therefore, the visibility can be further improved. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the liquid crystal panel 5A has a structure in which a plurality of large and small frame display surfaces are concentrically arranged, and when the stop lamp is lit, the respective frame display surfaces are sequentially driven to display so that the light emitting surfaces are the same. The display area is sequentially enlarged from the state shown in FIG. 7A to the state shown in FIG. The control circuit in this case is realized by the configuration shown in FIG. The lighting drive of the stop lamp 9 is detected from the lamp voltage, and this detection signal is introduced into the drive circuit 10 of the liquid crystal panel 5A to sequentially change the transmittance of each frame display surface of the panel 5A. In addition, the control circuit for the display shown in FIG. 4 is similarly performed.

As described above, according to the present invention, a liquid crystal panel is provided on the projection surface of the tail lamp and the stop lamp display lamp in addition to the lens, and the display area of the liquid crystal panel is changed to improve the display efficiency and to display one liquid crystal panel. Can have two lamp display functions, and the large area display of the stop lamp is excellent in visibility.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conventional vehicle signal light configuration diagram, FIG. 2 is a signal light configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display mode in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 and FIG. FIG. 6 is a display mode diagram in the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram of the control device in FIG. 1 ... Bulb, 2 ... Housing, 3A ... Lens, 4 ...
… Rear panel finisher, 5,5A …… LCD panel, 10…
… Drive circuit.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Bibliography SHO 50-91469 (JP, U) ACTUAL OPEN 50-54977 (JP, U) ACT 52-50693 (JP, Y2)

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A light source disposed in a housing and a colored diffusion plate for diffusing light from the light source are disposed outside the diffusion plate, and when the liquid crystal is not driven, a color of the same system as the vehicle body is displayed. The liquid crystal panel that irradiates the light diffused by the diffusion plate to the outside of the housing when driving the liquid crystal and the display area of the liquid crystal panel when the tail lamp is lit and the display area of the liquid crystal panel is large when the stop lamp is lit. A vehicle lamp comprising: a display control unit.