JP2008103273A - Vehicle lighting - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a vehicular lamp capable of improving the visibility and appearance of the lamp.
A vehicular lamp 1 includes a light source 2, a light guide 3 that guides light from the light source 2, an inner panel 4, and the light from the light guide 3 widened or diffused to the outside of the lamp. And an irradiating lens 5. Further, in this vehicular lamp 1, the light guide 3 has a main body 31 that guides light from the light source 2, and a plurality of protrusions that protrude from the main body 31 and guide the light in the main body 31 to the lens 5 side. 32. When the lamp is turned on, light from the light source 2 is guided to the plurality of protrusions 32 through the main body 31 of the light guide 3 and is emitted from the protrusions 32 to the lens 5 side. And these lights are irradiated to the exterior of a lamp through a lens.
[Selection] Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicular lamp, and more particularly to a vehicular lamp that can improve the visibility and appearance of the lamp.

  In a vehicular lamp, there is a problem that the visibility and appearance (appearance) of the lamp should be improved. The technique described in patent document 1 is known for the conventional vehicle lamp regarding this subject. A conventional vehicular lamp (a vehicular lamp) includes an LED that constitutes a light source, an optical member that converts light from the LED into parallel light, and reflects the parallel light from the optical member toward the front of the lamp. In a vehicular marker lamp comprising a reflector and a front cover that transmits light from the reflector forward of the lamp, the reflector includes a plurality of reflection surfaces formed by rhombus steps. Features.

JP 2006-73289 A

  An object of this invention is to provide the vehicle lamp which can improve the visibility and external appearance of a lamp.

  To achieve the above object, a vehicular lamp according to the present invention includes a light source, a light guide that guides light from the light source, and a lens that widens or diffuses the light from the light guide and irradiates the outside of the lamp. The light guide includes: a main body portion that guides light from the light source; and a plurality of protrusion portions that protrude from the main body portion and guide light in the main body portion toward the lens side. It is characterized by including.

  In this vehicle lamp, when the lamp is turned on, light from the light source is guided to the plurality of protrusions through the main body of the light guide, and is emitted from these protrusions to the lens side. Then, the lamp is turned on by irradiating these lights to the outside of the lamp through the lens. Therefore, since the light supplied from a single light source is branched and irradiated, the lamp is turned on (spot light) as if it has a plurality of light sources. Thereby, there exists an advantage which the visibility of a lamp improves. Further, the point light emission improves the appearance (look) of the lamp and has the advantage of improving the commercial value of the lamp.

  In the vehicular lamp according to the present invention, the end surfaces of the plurality of protruding portions are arranged along the inner surface of the lens.

  In this vehicular lamp, since the arrangement of the end faces of the protrusions is optimized, the light emitted from the protrusions properly enters the lens. Therefore, compared with the structure in which the end surfaces of the plurality of protrusions are arbitrarily arranged, the light emitting area of the lamp is increased and the viewing angle of the lamp is expanded. Thereby, there exists an advantage which the visibility of a lamp improves.

  In the vehicular lamp according to the present invention, the plurality of protrusions are arranged in the width direction and the height direction of the vehicle in the installed state of the lamp.

  In this vehicular lamp, when the lamp is turned on, the light emitted from each protrusion is visually recognized from the width direction and the height direction of the vehicle. Thereby, since the lighting state of a lamp can be easily visually recognized from various angles, there exists an advantage which the visibility of a lamp improves.

  In the vehicular lamp according to the present invention, the main body portion has an elongated shape, the light source is disposed in the longitudinal direction of the main body portion, and the longitudinal direction of the main body portion and the protruding direction of the protruding portion are Are inclined or orthogonal.

  In this vehicle lamp, an angle can be provided between the light incident direction with respect to the light guide and the light emitting direction from the protruding portion, so that it is easy to adjust the amount of point light emission (light intensity) by the protruding portion. There are advantages.

  In the vehicular lamp according to the present invention, the main body portion has an emission surface that emits light from the light source to the lens side, and the plurality of protrusions have a predetermined arrangement pattern on the emission surface. Arranged.

  In this vehicular lamp, the lamp emits light in a planar shape by light from the emission surface, and a plurality of projecting portions emit point light in a predetermined arrangement pattern in the surface. Therefore, since the light emitting area of the lamp is enlarged as compared with the lighting pattern of only point light emission by the protrusion, there is an advantage that the visibility of the lamp is further improved.

  In the vehicular lamp according to the present invention, a reflector that is disposed on the back surface of the light guide and reflects light from the light guide toward the lens is disposed.

  In this vehicular lamp, the light leaked from the light guide (loss of internal reflection) is collected by the reflector and reflected to the lens side. Thereby, since the loss of light is reduced, there is an advantage that the brightness of the lamp is increased and the visibility of the lamp is improved.

  In the vehicular lamp according to the present invention, the vehicular lamp includes an inner panel that is disposed between the light guide and the lens and is made of a light-transmitting material, and the protruding portion attaches the inner panel to the lens. Penetrate to the side.

  In this vehicular lamp, light emitted from the main body of the light guide is transmitted through the inner panel and enters the lens, and is irradiated to the outside of the lamp through the lens. Therefore, compared with the structure which an inner panel consists of a non-light-transmissive material, there exists an advantage which the light emission area of a lamp increases and the visibility of a lamp improves.

  In the vehicular lamp according to the present invention, when the lamp is turned on, light from the light source is guided to the plurality of protrusions through the main body of the light guide, and is emitted from the protrusions to the lens side. Then, the lamp is turned on by irradiating these lights to the outside of the lamp through the lens. Therefore, since the light supplied from a single light source is branched and irradiated, the lamp is turned on (spot light) as if it has a plurality of light sources. Thereby, there exists an advantage which the visibility of a lamp improves. Further, the point light emission improves the appearance (look) of the lamp and has the advantage of improving the commercial value of the lamp.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments. The constituent elements of this embodiment include those that can be easily replaced by those skilled in the art or those that are substantially the same. In addition, a plurality of modifications described in this embodiment can be arbitrarily combined within a range obvious to those skilled in the art.

  1 to 3 are an arrangement configuration diagram (FIG. 1), an enlarged view (FIG. 2), and an AA sectional view (FIG. 3) showing a vehicular lamp according to an embodiment of the present invention. 4 to 6 are a perspective view (FIGS. 4 and 5) and an operation explanatory diagram (FIG. 6) showing a light guide body of the vehicular lamp shown in FIG.

[Vehicle lamp]
The vehicular lamp 1 is applied to a clearance lamp, a daytime running lamp, a front / rear turn signal lamp, a side marker lamp, a tail lamp, a stop lamp, a side turn signal lamp built in a door mirror, and the like. In this embodiment, the vehicular lamp 1 is a clearance lamp and is disposed on the front portion of the vehicle 10 together with the other vehicular lamps 11 to 14 (see FIG. 1).

  The vehicular lamp 1 includes a light source 2, a light guide 3, an inner panel 4, and a lens 5 (see FIG. 3). The light source 2 is configured by an LED (light emitting diode), for example, and is connected to a power source on the vehicle 10 side. The light guide (inner lens) 3 is a light guide member that guides light from the light source 2 to the lens 5, and is disposed in front of the light source 2 and on the back side of the lens 5 (inside the lamp). In this embodiment, a single light source 2 is installed for a single light guide 3. The inner panel 4 is a member that shields the internal structure of the lamp so that the internal structure of the lamp cannot be seen from the outside through the lens 5. The lens (outer lens) 5 is a member that widens or diffuses the light guided by the light guide 3 and irradiates the outside of the lamp, and is disposed on the front side of the inner panel 4.

  In the vehicular lamp 1, when the light source 2 emits light, the light from the light source 2 is guided to the front side of the inner panel 4 by the light guide 3 and is irradiated to the outside of the lamp through the lens 5 (see FIG. 3). ). Thereby, the lamp is lit in a predetermined lighting pattern (see FIG. 2).

[Projection of light guide]
Here, in this vehicular lamp 1, the light guide 3 has a main body 31 and a plurality of protrusions 32 (see FIGS. 4 and 5). The main body 31 constitutes a basic part for guiding light from the light source 2. The protruding portion 32 is formed to protrude from the main body portion 31 toward the lens 5, and its end surface is positioned in the vicinity of the lens 5. The projecting portion 32 guides the light in the main body portion 31 in the projecting direction, and emits the light from the end surface to the lens 5 side. Moreover, the some protrusion part 32 is formed with respect to the main-body part 31, and these protrusion parts 32 are arranged with a predetermined | prescribed arrangement pattern (refer FIG. 2).

  For example, in this embodiment, the main body 31 has a long bar shape, and the protrusion 32 has a substantially cylindrical shape (see FIGS. 4 and 5). The eight projecting portions 32 project in a branch shape with the main body portion 31 as a trunk, and the end surfaces thereof are positioned in the vicinity of the back side of the lens 5 (see FIG. 3). Further, a prism for light distribution or diffusion (not shown) is formed on the end face of each protrusion 32. Further, eight reflecting surfaces (inner surface reflecting surfaces) 311 that reflect the light in the main body portion 31 toward the protruding portion 32 are formed in the main body portion 31 corresponding to the protruding portions 32 (see FIG. 6). These reflecting surfaces 311 are arranged to efficiently guide the light in the main body portion 31 to the protruding portions 32, and are arranged stepwise on the back surface of the main body portion 31 corresponding to each protruding portion 32. In the main body 31, the light incident on these reflecting surfaces 311 is reflected toward the corresponding protrusion 32 and supplied to the lens 5 through the protrusion 32.

  In such a configuration, when the lamp is turned on, light from the light source 2 is guided to the plurality of protrusions 32 through the main body 31 of the light guide 3 and is emitted from these protrusions 32 to the lens 5 side ( (See FIG. 3 and FIG. 6). Then, these lights are irradiated to the outside of the lamp through the lens 5 so that the lamp is turned on. Therefore, since the light supplied from the single light source 2 is branched and irradiated, the lamp is turned on (light emission) as if it has a plurality of light sources. Thereby, there exists an advantage which the visibility of a lamp improves. Further, the point light emission improves the appearance (look) of the lamp and has the advantage of improving the commercial value of the lamp.

  In addition, such a configuration has an advantage that the lamp can be reduced in cost and thickness as compared with a configuration (not shown) that realizes point light emission by arranging a plurality of light sources. In addition, there is an advantage that it is easy to secure a light emission amount by each protrusion 32 as compared with a configuration (not shown) in which direct light or reflected light is incident on the cylindrical inner lens to realize point light emission.

  In the vehicular lamp 1, end surfaces (end portions from which light is emitted) of the plurality of protrusions 32 are arranged along the inner side surface of the lens 5 (a surface located on the inner side of the lamp, an inner peripheral surface). It is preferable (see FIG. 3). For example, when the lens 5 is disposed in an inclined manner or has a curved shape in accordance with the slant shape or the like of the lamp, the end surfaces of the protrusions 32 are arranged along the inner surface of the lens 5. Specifically, the protruding direction, the protruding amount, the inclination angle of the end surface, and the like of the protruding portion 32 are adjusted as appropriate.

  In such a configuration, since the arrangement of the end surfaces of the protrusions 32 is optimized, the light emitted from the protrusions 32 enters the lens 5 appropriately. Therefore, compared with the structure in which the end surfaces of the plurality of protrusions are arbitrarily arranged, the light emitting area of the lamp is increased and the viewing angle of the lamp is expanded. Thereby, there exists an advantage which the visibility of a lamp improves. Further, the end surface of the protrusion 32 extends to the vicinity of the lens 5 so that the light emission state (point light emission) of the lamp stands out, and the light is irradiated outside without being blocked by the wall surface (lamp housing) of the lamp. The Thereby, the visibility of the lamp is further improved.

  In the vehicular lamp 1, it is preferable that the plurality of projecting portions 32 be arranged in the width direction and the height direction of the vehicle 10 in the lamp installation state (see FIGS. 1 and 2). That is, in the front view of the lamp, the plurality of projecting portions 32 are arranged in the width direction of the vehicle 10 and arranged in the height direction of the vehicle. In such a configuration, when the lamp is turned on, the light emitted from each protrusion 32 is visually recognized from the width direction and the height direction of the vehicle 10. Thereby, since the lighting state of a lamp can be easily visually recognized from various angles, there exists an advantage which the visibility of a lamp improves.

  For example, in this embodiment, eight projecting portions 32 are arranged vertically and horizontally in a configuration of four rows in the longitudinal direction of the main body portion 31 and two rows in the width direction (see FIGS. 4 and 5). And the light guide 3 is arrange | positioned so that these protrusion parts 32 may be located in 2 rows in the width direction of the vehicle 10, and 4 rows in a height direction in the installation state of a lamp. In such a configuration, when the lamp is turned on, point light emission by at least one row of the protrusions 32 is visually recognized from one side (right direction or left direction) of the vehicle 10 in the width direction. Thereby, the visibility of the lamp from the left-right direction of the vehicle 10 is improved.

  In addition, the number of the protrusions 32 and the arrangement pattern of the protrusions 32 can be appropriately changed depending on the type, specification, arrangement, and the like of the lamp. Further, along with this, the shape of the light guide 3 (main body portion 31), the number of reflection surfaces 311 and the arrangement can be changed as appropriate.

  In this vehicular lamp 1, the main body portion 31 of the light guide 3 has a long shape, the light source 2 is disposed in the longitudinal direction of the main body portion 31, and the longitudinal direction of the main body portion 31 and the protrusions 32. It is preferable that the protruding direction is inclined or orthogonal (see FIG. 3). That is, when the light source 2 is disposed in the longitudinal direction of the light guide 3 (main body portion 31), the projecting portion 32 projects in a direction inclined or orthogonal to the longitudinal direction.

  In such a configuration, an angle can be provided between the light incident direction with respect to the light guide 3 and the light emitting direction from the protruding portion 32, so that it is easy to adjust the amount of point light emission (light intensity) by the protruding portion 32. There is an advantage to become. Moreover, since the freedom degree concerning the positional relationship of the light source 2 and the light guide 3 is expanded, there exists an advantage that it is hard to receive the influence by arrangement | positioning and shape of a lamp, for example. For example, in a configuration in which the light source is arranged on the back side of the light guide as viewed from the lens (not shown) or a configuration in which the above point emission is realized by another inner lens (not shown), adjustment of the amount of point emission Is difficult. In addition, when surface emission is performed by an emission surface 312 described later, it is difficult to achieve both point emission by the protrusion 32 and surface emission by the emission surface 312.

[Outgoing surface of light guide]
In this vehicular lamp 1, the main body 31 of the light guide 3 has an emission surface 312 that emits light from the light source 2 toward the lens 5, and a plurality of protrusions 32 are formed on the emission surface 312 with a predetermined amount. It is preferable to arrange in an arrangement pattern (see FIG. 4). That is, light is emitted from the light guide 3 to the lens 5 side from both the emission surface 312 of the main body 31 and the plurality of protrusions 32. In such a configuration, the lamp emits light in a planar shape by light from the emission surface 312, and the plurality of protrusions 32 emit point light in a predetermined arrangement pattern within the surface. Therefore, since the light emission area of the lamp is enlarged as compared with the lighting pattern of only the point light emission by the protrusion 32, there is an advantage that the visibility of the lamp is further improved. In addition, since the viewing angle of the lamp is expanded by surface light emission from the emission surface 312, there is an advantage that the visibility of the lamp is further improved.

  Specifically, the main body portion 31 is cut out to form a planar emission surface 312 on the side surface of the main body portion 31 (see FIGS. 4 and 5). A plurality of protrusions 32 are arranged in a predetermined arrangement pattern on the emission surface 312. The light guide 3 is disposed with the exit surface 312 and the end surfaces of the plurality of protrusions 32 facing the lens 5 (see FIG. 3). In such a configuration, the light reflected by the reflecting surface 311 of the main body 31 is emitted to the lens 5 side through the corresponding protrusion 32. Further, a part (excess) of the light reflected by the reflecting surface 311 is emitted from the surrounding emitting surface 312 to the lens 5 side without passing through the projecting portion 32. Therefore, the light emitted from both the projecting portion 32 and the exit surface 312 of the main body is irradiated to the outside of the lamp through the lens 5, and the lamp is turned on by a lighting pattern composed of point emission and surface emission.

[Reflector]
Moreover, in this vehicle lamp 1, it is preferable to arrange | position the reflector 6 which reflects the light from the light guide 3 to the lens 5 side while arrange | positioning at the back surface of the light guide 3 (refer FIG. 3). In such a configuration, the light leaked from the light guide 3 (the loss of internal reflection) is collected by the reflector 6 and reflected to the lens 5 side. Thereby, since the loss of light is reduced, there is an advantage that the brightness of the lamp is increased and the visibility of the lamp is improved.

  For example, the reflector 6 is arrange | positioned along the back surface side of the light guide 3, and the reflective surface 311 (refer FIG. 3). That is, substantially the entire back surface of the reflecting surface 311 is covered by the reflector 6. In such a configuration, the light that has passed through to the back side of the light guide 3 is collected by the reflector 6, reflected forward, and irradiated to the outside of the lamp via the lens 5. This light causes the lamp to emit light in a planar shape when viewed from the front. Thereby, the surface emission of the lamp is enhanced and the visibility of the lamp is improved.

[Inner panel]
Moreover, in this vehicle lamp 1, the inner panel 4 is arrange | positioned between the light guide 3 and the lens 5 (refer FIG. 3). The inner panel 4 is made of a light transmissive material and is configured to be transparent or translucent. And the protrusion part 32 of the light guide 3 penetrates this inner panel 4 from the back side to the lens 5 side.

  In such a configuration, the light emitted from the main body 31 of the light guide 3 passes through the inner panel 4 and enters the lens 5, and is irradiated to the outside of the lamp through the lens 5. For example, the light emitted from the exit surface 312 of the light guide 3 or the light condensed by the reflector 6 is irradiated to the outside of the lamp through the inner panel 4 and the lens 5, and the lamp emits surface light. At the same time, the lamp emits point light by the light from the protruding portion 32 of the light guide 3. Therefore, compared with the structure which an inner panel consists of a non-light-transmissive material, there exists an advantage which the light emission area of a lamp increases and the visibility of a lamp improves.

  In the above configuration, the inner panel 4 may be an inner lens that widens or diffuses the incident light. In such a configuration, the light emitted from the main body 31 of the light guide 3 is widened or diffused by the inner panel 4 and enters the lens 5, and is irradiated to the outside of the lamp through the lens 5. Thereby, there exists an advantage that the light emission area of a lamp increases more and the visibility of a lamp improves. In particular, in the configuration in which the inner panel 4 is disposed along the inner surface of the lens 5, the light transmitted through the inner panel 4 is supplied to substantially the entire surface of the lens 5. There is an advantage of improving the performance.

  As described above, the vehicular lamp according to the present invention is useful in that the visibility and appearance of the lamp can be improved.

It is an arrangement block diagram which shows the vehicle lamp concerning the Example of this invention. It is an enlarged view which shows the vehicle lamp concerning the Example of this invention. 1 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA showing a vehicular lamp according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows the light guide of the vehicle lamp described in FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the light guide of the vehicle lamp described in FIG. It is effect | action explanatory drawing which shows the light guide of the vehicle lamp described in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle lamp 2 Light source 3 Light guide 4 Inner panel 5 Lens 6 Reflector 10 Vehicle 11 Vehicle lamp 31 Main-body part 32 Projection part 311 Reflecting surface 312 Output surface

Claims (7)

A vehicle lamp having a light source, a light guide that guides light from the light source, and a lens that widens or diffuses the light from the light guide and irradiates the outside of the lamp,
The vehicular lamp, wherein the light guide includes a main body that guides light from the light source, and a plurality of protrusions that protrude from the main body and guide light in the main body toward the lens.   The vehicular lamp according to claim 1, wherein end surfaces of the plurality of protrusions are arranged along an inner surface of the lens.   The vehicular lamp according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of protrusions are arranged in a width direction and a height direction of the vehicle when the lamp is installed.   The said main-body part has an elongate shape, the said light source is arrange | positioned in the longitudinal direction of the said main-body part, and the longitudinal direction of the said main-body part and the protrusion direction of the said protrusion part incline or orthogonally cross. The vehicle lamp according to any one of the above.   The said main-body part has the output surface which radiate | emits the light from the said light source to the said lens side, and several said protrusion part is arranged in the predetermined | prescribed arrangement pattern on the said output surface. The vehicle lamp as described in one.   The vehicular lamp according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a reflector that is disposed on a back surface of the light guide and reflects light from the light guide toward the lens is disposed.   6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an inner panel disposed between the light guide and the lens and made of a light-transmitting material, wherein the protruding portion penetrates the inner panel toward the lens. The vehicle lamp according to any one of the above.

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