JPH089843Y2 - Automotive lighting - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention allows light from a light source to enter from a light-incident end face of an optical fiber bundle, and causes light emitted from a light-emission end face to be shaped into a light-emission end face by an emission optical system. The present invention relates to an automobile lamp that forms a light distribution pattern of a copied shape.

[Problems to be Solved by Prior Art and Invention]

As a conventional technique of this kind, there is JP-A-56-120425. As shown in the horizontal cross section of FIG. 7, the conventional vehicle illumination lamp guides the light from the light source 4 to the light incident end face 2a of the optical fiber bundle 2 in which a large number of optical fibers 3 are bundled, and The structure is such that a predetermined light distribution pattern is formed by emitting light from the light emitting end face 3a of each of the optical fiber bundles 3 which are branched and arranged. Note that reference numeral 5
Is a reflector for reflecting and condensing the light from the light source and guiding it to the end face 2a of the optical fiber converging body 2, reference numeral 6 is a heat-proof filter for blocking heat transfer to the optical fiber converging body 2, and reference numeral 7 is light emitted from the light emitting end surface 3a. Is a collimator lens for making parallel light, and reference numeral 8 is a diffusion lens for diffusing and distributing the light made parallel by the collimator lens 7.

However, in the above-mentioned conventional technique, the optical fiber bundles 3, 3 ...
The light emitting end faces of are all circular, and the center axis of the light emitting end face is
Since L ₁ and the central axis L ₂ of the collimator lens 7 are arranged coaxially, the peripheral portion of the light distribution pattern is not clear due to the aberration of the lens, and when this lamp is used as a traveling beam, There was a problem that a sharp cut line could not be formed and visibility was poor.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an automotive lamp capable of obtaining a light distribution pattern with good visibility in the peripheral portion.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, in an automotive lighting device according to the present invention, an optical fiber bundle having a light incident end face and a light emitting end face, an incident optical system for making a light source light incident on the light incident end face, and a light emitting device. A light emitting device for an automobile, comprising: an emission optical system that projects light emitted from an end face by a projection lens to form a light distribution pattern having a shape that follows the shape of the light emission end face in the front. The center of the end face and the center of the projection lens are eccentrically arranged.

[Action]

In the light distribution pattern formed by the light emitted from the light emitting end face, the portion corresponding to the edge portion of the light emitting end face that is close to the center of the projection lens becomes a clear cut line portion without being affected by aberration.

〔Example〕

 Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall construction of an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an automobile headlamp.

In this figure, reference numeral 10 is an ellipsoidal reflector incorporating a metal halide bulb 12 which is a light source, and the discharge part of the bulb 12 is a parabolic light reflecting surface 11 of the reflector.
Is located at the first focus position f ₁ . Reference numeral 20 indicates that a large number of optical fibers, which are light transmitting members, are converged and integrated at the end, and six optical fiber bundles 21 to 26 are provided from the middle.
In the optical fiber converging body branched into two, the end portion of the converging body on the light incident side and the end portions of the respective optical fiber bundles 21 to 26 are integrated by the bases 27 and 28, respectively. That is, N optical fibers are branched into n _{1 to} n ₆ optical fiber bundles 21 to 26 (N = n ₁ + n ₂ + ... + n ₆ ). The light incident end surface 20a of the optical fiber converging body integrated by the base 27 is formed into a circular shape by condensing a large number of optical fibers, and is arranged at the second focal position f ₂ of the light reflecting surface 11 of the reflector 10.
The light reflected and condensed by the light reflecting surface 11 enters the circular light incident end surface 20a. Reference numeral 14 is a heat ray absorption (or heat ray reflection) filter arranged between the light incident end surface 20a of the reflector 10 and the optical fiber focusing body 20,
By absorbing (or reflecting) heat from the light directed to the focal point f ₂ , the optical fiber is protected from the heat energy due to light collection.

The light emitting end faces 21a to 26a of the optical fiber bundles 21 to 26 branched from the middle are formed in various shapes, the light emitting end faces 21a to 23a are trapezoids having different sizes, and the light emitting end faces 24a to 26a are. Each of the light emission end faces 21a to 26a is formed in a laterally oblong shape having different dimensions, and the total area A _{1 to} A ₆ of the light emission end faces 21a to 26a is equal to the area A of the light incidence end face. The light is emitted as it is distributed from the light emitting end face. Reference numeral 29 is a retainer made of synthetic resin, and the end portion of the optical fiber is molded into each shape by the retainer 29 and integrated with the bases 27 and 28. Further, a collimator lens 32 is arranged in front of each of the light emitting end faces 21a to 26a, and further diffusion lenses 34a to 34f in which diffusion steps are formed are arranged in front of them.
In the figure, in order to make the structure of the output optical system easier to understand,
The collimator lens 32 and the diffusing lens 34 arranged in front of the light emitting end faces 22a and 23a are omitted. The light emitted from the light emitting end face is collimated by the collimator lens 32, diffused and distributed by the diffusion lenses 34a to 34f, and a predetermined light distribution pattern P (see FIG. 2) is formed at a predetermined front position. It has become. That is, the light emitted from each of the light emitting end faces 21a to 26a is formed on the screen opposite to the predetermined front position by the respective emission optical systems including the collimator lens 32 and the diffusion lenses 34a to 34f. Each divided light distribution pattern P ₁ ~ shown in (f)
Form P ₆ . The light emitting end face 21a mainly forms the light distribution of the main spot in the vicinity of the irradiation axis of the lamp (see FIG. 3 (a)), and the light emitting end face 22a forms the light distribution slightly spread to the left including the main spot. (See FIG. 3 (b)), the end face 23a forms a light distribution that further spreads to the left (see FIG. 3 (c)), and the light exit end faces 21a to 23a distribute the light in the oblique clear cut portion. Form a pattern. Further, the light emitting end face 24a forms a light distribution of a slightly small central small diffusion area that spreads substantially evenly from the vertical position to the left and right (Fig. 3 (d)).
The light emitting end surface 25a forms a light distribution in a middle diffusion area that greatly spreads to the left and right (see FIG. 3 (e)).
26a forms a light distribution in a large diffusion area that further spreads to the left and right (see FIG. 3 (f)). Then, all the divided light distribution patterns P _{1 to} P ₆ are combined to form a light distribution pattern P.

In FIG. 1, reference numerals l _{11 to} l ₁₆ indicate the central axes of the light emitting end faces 21a to 26a of the optical fibers 21 to ₂₆ , reference numerals l _{21 to} l ₂₆ indicate the central axes of the collimator lenses 32, and both axes l _{11 to} l ₁₆ and l ₂₁ to l ₂₆ are arranged vertically offset from each other. The light emitting end face
22a, 23a Center axis of collimator lens arranged in front
l ₂₂ and l ₂₃ are omitted for convenience of explanation. Figure 4 (a),
FIG. 4B is an explanatory view for explaining the arrangement of the light emitting end face and the collimator lens, FIG. 4A is a view of the light emitting end face 26a from the front of the collimator lens, and FIG. FIG. 4B is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV shown in FIG. As shown in these drawings, the central axis l ₂₆ of the central axis l ₁₆ of the light emitting end face 26a and the collimator lens 32 is arranged eccentrically by d ₁ in the vertical direction, the light emitting end face 26a of the horizontally long oval A lower edge e ₁ extending horizontally is located near the central axis l ₂₆ of the lens 32. The same applies to the eccentric state between the central axes l ₁₄ and l _{15 of the} light emitting end faces 24a and 25a and the central axes l ₂₄ and l ₂₅ of the lens 32. Therefore, the light distribution patterns P _{4 to} P ₆ respectively formed by the lights emitted from the light emitting end faces 24a to 26a (see FIGS. 3D to 3F).
Of these, the horizontal cut portions C _{24 to} C ₂₆ near the horizontal axis H are sharp cut portions that are not affected by aberration, and therefore the horizontal cut line S ₂ of the light distribution pattern P is sharp. Also, the central axis l ₁₁ of the light emitting end face 21a and the central axis of the lens 32
As shown in FIG. 5, l ₂₁ means that the lower edge e _{2 of the} trapezoidal light emitting end face 21a is located eccentrically in the vertical direction by d ₂ and is located near the central axis l _{21 of the} lens. There is. Light emitting end face 22
a, 23a center axes l ₁₂ , l ₁₃ and lenses 32, 32 center axes l ₂₂ , l
_The same applies to an eccentric state with ₂₃ (not shown). Therefore, in the light distribution patterns P _{1 to} P ₃ (see FIGS. 3A to 3C) formed by the lights emitted from the light emitting end faces 21a to 23a, respectively, the oblique cut portion C near the horizontal axis H is formed. _{11 to} C ₁₃ are sharp cut portions that are not affected by aberration, and therefore the oblique cut line S ₁ of the light distribution pattern P is the horizontal cut line S ₂
It is as clear as.

In the above-described embodiment, the diffusing lens 34 is arranged in front of the collimator lens 32. However, as a diffusing lens structure in which a diffusing step corresponding to each emission optical system is formed in one lens. Good.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the central axis of the collimator lens
decentered light emitting end face 21a~26a to l ₂ is the central axis l ₁
As shown in FIG. 6, the lower optical fiber F is projected forward so that the tip of the fiber is inclined by θ and the light emitting end face 21a ... The front end face of the optical fiber near the lower edge of 26a is arranged at the focal point f position of the collimator lens 32. With such a configuration, the cut line of the light distribution pattern P shown in FIG. 2 is made clear.

Although the above embodiment has described the illumination lamp according to the present invention with the headlamp as the side, the present invention is not limited to the headlamp, and can be widely applied to side lamps and other lamps for automobiles.

[Effect of device]

As is clear from the above description, according to the automotive lighting device of the present invention, the edge of the light emitting end face that is close to the center of the projection lens in the light distribution pattern formed by the light emitted from the light emitting end face. Since the part corresponding to the part becomes a clear cut line part that is not affected by aberration, a light distribution with good visibility can be obtained, and it is particularly suitable for a traveling beam.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall schematic view of an automobile headlamp which is an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a view showing a light distribution pattern produced by the headlamp, and FIGS. 3 (a) to 3 (f) are respective lights. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a divided light distribution pattern created by light emitted from the light emitting end face;
5 (a) and 5 are front views of the light emitting end face as seen from the front of the projection lens, FIG. 4 (b) is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV shown in FIG. 4 (a), and FIG. FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional view around the light emitting end face of an optical fiber bundle, which is an essential part of another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a horizontal sectional view of a conventional example. 10 …… Reflector which is an incident optical system, 11 …… Light reflecting surface, 12 …… Light source bulb, 20 …… Optical fiber concentrator, 20a …… Light incident end face, 21 to 26 …… Optical fiber bundle, 2
1a to 21f …… The light emitting end face of the optical fiber, 32 …… The collimator lens which is a projection lens, 34 …… The diffusion lens, P ・ ・ ・
… Combined light distribution pattern, P _{1 to} P ₆ …… Divided light distribution pattern formed by light emitted from the light emitting end face of each optical fiber, l _{11 to} l ₁₆ …… Central axis of the light emitting end face of the optical fiber bundle , L _{21 to} l ₂₆ …… Central axis of the collimator lens, d ₁ , d
₂ ...... Decentering amount between the center of the light emitting end face and the center of the collimator lens.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI technical display location G02B 6/42

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An optical fiber bundle having a light incident end face and a light emitting end face, an incident optical system for making light source light incident on the light incident end face, and light emitted from the light emitting end face projected by a projection lens. In an automotive illuminating lamp including an emission optical system that forms a light distribution pattern of a shape that follows the shape of the end face in the front, the center of the light emission end face of the optical fiber bundle and the center of the projection lens are eccentrically arranged. What is unique about this is the lighting for automobiles.