JP6223790B2 - Vehicle signal lights - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicular signal lamp such as a tail lamp, a stop lamp, a turn signal lamp, and a back lamp.

  A vehicle signal lamp such as a tail lamp is configured by housing at least a light source in a lamp chamber defined by an outer lens that covers a housing and an opening of the housing. Recently, a power-saving and highly durable LED ( The thing using a light emitting diode has appeared (for example, refer patent document 1).

JP 2013-175327 A

  However, in the conventional vehicle signal light including the vehicle signal light disclosed in Patent Document 1, the light irradiation width and brightness are always constant regardless of the surrounding environment, and thus the visibility is poor due to, for example, dense fog. When the vehicle travels in the environment, there is a problem that the light from the vehicle signal light cannot be sufficiently visually recognized.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and the object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular signal lamp that can improve visibility by changing the irradiation width of light according to the surrounding environment. is there.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is a vehicle signal lamp configured to accommodate at least two light sources in a lamp chamber defined by a housing and an outer lens covering the opening thereof.
In the lamp chamber, a small housing having a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the housing, a first diffusion lens positioned behind the small housing and larger than an outer diameter of the small housing, and positioned in front of the small housing and the small housing. A second diffusing lens having a diameter larger than the outer diameter of the housing;
The first diffusion lens and the second diffusion lens are fixed to an inner wall of the housing,
The small housing is formed on the opening side of the housing with a wall surface having a small housing opening smaller in diameter than the opening extending in the front-rear direction.
The two light sources are a first light source arranged behind the first diffusion lens and a second light source accommodated in the small housing,
When the first light source is turned on, the light emitted from the first light source passes through the first diffusion lens and then passes through the gap between the small housing and the housing. And is configured to irradiate the outside through the diffusion lens and the outer lens,
When the second light source is turned on, it is configured to irradiate light with an irradiation width narrower than that when the first light source is turned on,
The first light source is controlled to be turned on or off while the second light source is turned on.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, at least one of the first light source and the second light source is configured by a plurality of LEDs that emit light of three primary colors. Features.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, when the first light source is turned off, control is performed to increase a supply current to the second light source .

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to third aspects, the lighting control receives a signal from a sensor that measures an ambient environment, and the first control is based on the received signal. The lighting control is performed such that the light source and the second light source are turned on simultaneously, and only the second light source is turned on.

According to the first and fourth aspects of the invention, for example, when the vehicle is traveling in a dense fog with poor visibility, if the front and rear light sources are turned on at the same time, the light irradiation width becomes wider. Therefore, the visibility of the signal lamp for the vehicle is enhanced, and the driver or pedestrian of the other vehicle can fully see the light of the signal lamp. In addition, when the vehicle is traveling in an environment where visibility is good, sufficient visibility is ensured even if only the light source in front is turned on and the light irradiation width is narrowed, thereby realizing power saving. .

According to the invention described in claim 2 , since at least one of the two light sources is composed of a plurality of LEDs that emit light of the three primary colors, the color of the light emitted from the signal lamp can be arbitrarily changed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when only the second light source is turned on with the first light source turned off, the brightness of light having a narrow width can be reduced by increasing the supply current to the light source in front. This can enhance the visibility of the light.

It is a partial side view of the vehicle front part provided with the signal lamp for vehicles which concerns on this invention. It is the sectional view on the AA line of FIG. It is a figure similar to FIG. 2 which shows the light emission state at the time of widening the irradiation width | variety of the vehicle signal lamp which concerns on this invention. It is a figure similar to FIG. 2 which shows the light emission state at the time of narrowing the irradiation width | variety of the signal lamp for vehicles which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the lighting control in the signal lamp for vehicles which concerns on this invention.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  1 is a partial side view of a front portion of a vehicle provided with a vehicle signal lamp according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a light when the irradiation width of the vehicle signal lamp is increased. FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing the light emission state, and FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG.

  In the present embodiment, the vehicular signal lamp 1 is provided in a horizontal Y shape on the front side surface of the vehicle as shown in FIG. 1, and the first housing as shown in FIG. 2 and a transparent outer lens 3 covering the front opening thereof, a plurality of LEDs 5 and 6 as light sources are arranged in two stages in the front and rear direction (front and rear with respect to the light emission direction). Has been placed. In the present embodiment, a plurality of front and rear LEDs 5 and 6 are provided along the longitudinal direction of the outer lens 3, and these are the three primary colors green (G), blue (B), and red (R). A green LED, a blue LED, and a red LED that emit light are included.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a small second housing 7 is disposed on the optical axis X of the LEDs 5 and 6 inside the first housing 2, and the front LED 5 is placed inside the housing 7. Has been placed. A first diffusing lens 8 is fixedly disposed on the inner periphery of the first housing 2 in front of the rear LED 6, and the second diffuser is disposed on the inner periphery of the second housing 7 in front of the front LED 5. A diffusion lens 9 is fixedly arranged. A transparent inner lens 10 having a convex lens shape is disposed and fixed on the inner periphery of the opening of the first housing 2 in front of the second diffusing lens 9.

  Thus, in the vehicular signal lamp 1 configured as described above, the light irradiation width can be changed by turning on or off the rear LED 6 while the front LED 5 is on. Here, change control of the light irradiation width in the vehicular signal lamp 1 will be described below with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing lighting control in the vehicular signal lamp 1 according to the present invention. For example, the surrounding environment is measured by a sensor (not shown) provided in the vehicle (step S1 in FIG. 5), and the vehicular signal lamp is measured. It is determined whether or not a signal for lighting 1 is received (step S2).

When the signal which lights the vehicle signal lamp 1 is received (step S2: Yes), the quality of the environment measured in step S1 is determined (step S3). As a result of this determination, for example, when the field of view is poor due to dense fog or the like (step S3: No), current is supplied to the front and rear LEDs 5, 6 to turn on these LEDs 5, 6 simultaneously (step S4). ). Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the light emitted from the front and rear LEDs 5, 6 travels forward while being diffused by the first and second diffusion lenses 8, 9, passes through the inner lens 10 and forwards from the outer lens 3. This irradiation width becomes wide as w1 .

Thus, in an environment where visibility is poor, the front and rear LEDs 5 and 6 are turned on simultaneously, and the irradiation width of the light is increased to w1 to increase the amount of light, so that the visibility of the vehicular signal lamp 1 is improved. A driver or a pedestrian of the car can fully see the light of the vehicle signal lamp 1. In this case, in this embodiment, the light emitted from the front and rear LEDs 5 and 6 is diffused by the diffusion lenses 8 and 9, so that a uniform light distribution is realized.

  On the other hand, when the surrounding environment is good and the field of view is good (step S3: Yes), a larger current is applied to the front LED 5 (the current supplied when the front and rear LEDs 5 and 6 are turned on simultaneously). When a large current is supplied and only the LED 5 is lit and the rear LED 6 is not lit, only the front LED 5 emits light, and the light is diffused by the second diffusing lens 9 as shown in FIG. While proceeding forward, the inner lens 10 and the outer lens 3 are irradiated forward. The width w2 at this time is the light irradiation width w1 when the front and rear LEDs 5 and 6 are simultaneously turned on (FIG. 3). (W2 <w1).

  In this way, when the vehicle is traveling in an environment with good visibility, sufficient visibility is ensured even if only the front LED 5 is turned on and the light irradiation width is narrowed, thereby realizing power saving. Can do. In this case, since the front LED 5 is accommodated in the small second housing 7 in this embodiment, the light width w <b> 2 when only the front LED 5 is lit is suppressed. In this embodiment, when the rear LED 6 is turned off and only the front LED 5 is turned on, the supply current to the front LED 5 is increased, so that the brightness of the light with the narrow width w1 is increased. The visibility of the light can be improved.

Further, in this embodiment, as the LED 5, 6 arranged in the front and rear for the construction of a plurality of LED for emitting light of three primary colors, it is possible to change the color of the light emitted from the vehicle signal lamp 1 optionally An effect is also obtained.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle signal light 2 1st housing 3 Outer lens 4 Light chamber 5,6 LED (light source)
7 Second housing 8 First diffusion lens 9 Second diffusion lens 10 Inner lens X Optical axis

Claims (4)

In a vehicular signal lamp configured to accommodate at least two light sources in a lamp chamber defined by an outer lens that covers a housing and its opening,
In the lamp chamber, a small housing having a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the housing, a first diffusion lens positioned behind the small housing and larger than an outer diameter of the small housing, and positioned in front of the small housing and the small housing. A second diffusing lens having a diameter larger than the outer diameter of the housing;
The first diffusion lens and the second diffusion lens are fixed to an inner wall of the housing,
The small housing is formed on the opening side of the housing with a wall surface having a small housing opening smaller in diameter than the opening extending in the front-rear direction.
The two light sources are a first light source arranged behind the first diffusion lens and a second light source accommodated in the small housing,
When the first light source is turned on, the light emitted from the first light source passes through the first diffusion lens and then passes through the gap between the small housing and the housing. And is configured to irradiate the outside through the diffusion lens and the outer lens,
When the second light source is turned on, it is configured to irradiate light with an irradiation width narrower than that when the first light source is turned on,
The vehicle signal lamp , wherein the first light source is controlled to be turned on or off while the second light source is turned on . The first light source and of said second light source, least vehicle signal light according to claim 1 Symbol mounting, characterized in that one of the light sources is constituted by a plurality of LED for emitting light of three primary colors. 3. The vehicular signal lamp according to claim 1, wherein when the first light source is turned off, control is performed to increase a current supplied to the second light source. 4. In the lighting control, a signal from a sensor that measures the surrounding environment is received, and the first light source and the second light source are simultaneously turned on based on the received signal, and only the second light source is turned on. The vehicle signal lamp according to claim 1 , wherein lighting control of the vehicle is performed.

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