Vehicle lamp and vehicle lamp control system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10457193-B2
Application number	US-201515123537-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 23, 2015
Priority date	Mar 3, 2014
Publication date	Oct 29, 2019
Grant date	Oct 29, 2019

Abstract

A vehicle lamp includes a laser light source that is able to emit laser light and emits laser light generated by the laser light source forward from an emission end. The vehicle lamp includes a light-shielding member that shields the emission end from light from above to at least a horizontal position in front of the emission end.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle lamp, comprising:
a first light source that is configured to emit laser light and in which the laser light generated by the first light source is emitted forward from an emission end, directly to a portion of a front side of the vehicle lamp in which the laser light exits the vehicle lamp; and
a light-shielding member that shields the emission end from light from above to at least a horizontal position in front of the emission end toward the front side of the vehicle lamp, wherein
the laser light exits the vehicle lamp below the horizontal position.

2. The vehicle lamp according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a second light source that generates light distribution pattern forming light in white or yellow; and
a light-transmitting member that includes the portion of the front side of the vehicle lamp in which the laser light exits the vehicle lamp, and that transmits the light distribution pattern forming light,
wherein the emission end is disposed so as to emit the laser light obliquely downward toward a transmissive region of the light distribution pattern forming light in the light-transmitting member.

3. The vehicle lamp according to claim 2 , further comprising:
a lamp body that has an opening portion in the front and internally contains the light sources and the emission end; and
a front cover that is the light-transmitting member attached to the lamp body so as to block the opening portion.

4. The vehicle lamp according to claim 2 ,
wherein the emission end is disposed above the second light source.

5. The vehicle lamp according to claim 1 ,
wherein the light-shielding member is an extension reflector, and
wherein the emission end is disposed behind the extension reflector.

6. The vehicle lamp according to claim 1 ,
wherein the color of the laser light is red.

7. A vehicle lamp comprising:
a daytime running lamp or a clearance lamp that forms a light emission area by using multiple white LED light sources; and
a laser light source that is configured to emit laser light in color other than white,
wherein in the vehicle lamp in which the laser light is emitted forward from an emission end, the emission end is disposed so as to be superimposed within the light emission area such that the emission end is configured to emit the laser light from a position within the light emission area.

8. The vehicle lamp according to claim 7 ,
wherein the light emission area is formed to have multiple reflectors which respectively reflect rays of emission light of the white LED light sources, and
wherein the emission end is disposed so as to be superimposed within an insertion portion which is formed among the multiple reflectors.

9. The vehicle lamp according to claim 7 ,
wherein the laser light source forms an overhead sign lamp.

10. The vehicle lamp according to claim 7 ,
wherein the laser light source depicts a figure on the periphery of a vehicle.

11. The vehicle lamp according to claim 2 ,
the second light source emits the light to an outside of the vehicle lamp without reflecting the light at the emission end.

12. The vehicle lamp according to claim 2 ,
wherein the first light source emits the laser light to an outside of the vehicle lamp without reflecting the laser light at the second light source.

13. The vehicle lamp according to claim 7 ,
wherein, in a view facing a front of the vehicle lamp, the laser light source is between at least two of the multiple white LED light sources.

14. The vehicle lamp according to claim 7 ,
wherein, in a view facing a front of the vehicle lamp, the laser light source is surrounded by the multiple white LED light sources.

Assignees

• Koito Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ichikawa Tomoyuki
• Tsuda Toshiaki
• Sato Noriko
• Mizuno Masanobu
• Kuboyama Osamu
• Masuda Takeshi

Classifications

• F21S41/32

  Optical layout thereof · CPC title

• F21S41/365

  successively reflecting the light · CPC title

• F21S41/151

  arranged in one or more lines · CPC title

• F21S41/148

  the main emission direction of the LED being perpendicular to the optical axis · CPC title

• F21W2103/55

  Daytime running lights [DRL] · CPC title