Vehicle lamp tool and method for controlling vehicle lamp tool

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10696209-B2
Application number	US-201816485546-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 8, 2018
Priority date	Feb 20, 2017
Publication date	Jun 30, 2020
Grant date	Jun 30, 2020

Abstract

A vehicle lamp tool providing a controller which calculates the luminance distribution of light distribution pattern, an optical device which generates light distribution pattern in an illuminatable area D and a first driving circuit which drives the optical device. The controller transmits a first light distribution correction signal for correcting the inclination of a current light distribution pattern to the first driving circuit if the inclination angle of a vehicle with respect to vertical direction indicated by a detection signal received from a vehicle height sensor is equal to or less than a threshold value. The first driving circuit transmits a first correction driving signal based on the first light distribution correction signal to the optical device. The optical device drives an LD and a light deflector to correct the current light distribution pattern.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle lamp tool comprising:
a light distribution calculation unit which calculates the luminance distribution of a light distribution pattern generated in an area ahead of a vehicle;
a light distribution generation unit which has a light source, a light deflector composed of a mirror section that reflects light emitted from the light source in a predetermined direction and an actuator which rotates the mirror section about a rotation axis, a fluorescent body which lets the light reflected by the mirror section enter and emits fluorescence, and a projection optical unit which projects the light emitted from the fluorescent body, the light distribution generation unit generating the light distribution pattern in an illumination area, to which the light from the projection optical unit is irradiated, according to the luminance distribution calculated by the light distribution calculation unit, and
a first driving unit which generates a driving signal based on the luminance distribution calculated by the light distribution calculation unit and drives the light distribution generation unit according to the driving signal,
the vehicle lamp tool further comprising:
an inclination angle detection unit which is installed at a predetermined position of a vehicle and detects an inclination angle of the vehicle with respect to a vertical direction,
wherein the light distribution calculation unit transmits a first light distribution correction signal for correcting the inclination of a current light distribution pattern to the first driving unit in the case where the inclination angle of a detection signal received from the inclination angle detection unit is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value,
the first driving unit transmits a first correction driving signal based on the first light distribution correction signal to the light distribution generation unit, and
the light distribution generation unit drives the light source and the light deflector based on the first correction driving signal thereby to correct the current light distribution pattern.

2. The vehicle lamp tool according to claim 1 , further comprising:
mechanical rotation unit which is installed to the light distribution generation unit and which rotates the light distribution generation unit; and
a second driving unit which drives the mechanical rotation unit,
wherein the light distribution calculation unit transmits a second light distribution correction signal for correcting the inclination of a current light distribution pattern to the first driving unit and the second driving unit in the case where the inclination angle of the detection signal received from the inclination angle detection unit is larger than the threshold value,
the first driving unit and the second driving unit transmit a second correction driving signal based on the second light distribution correction signal to the light distribution generation unit, and
the light distribution generation unit drives the light source, the light deflector, and the mechanical rotation unit according to the second correction driving signal to correct the current light distribution pattern.

3. The vehicle lamp tool according to claim 1 ,
wherein, in the case where the vehicle is a two-wheeled vehicle, the inclination angle detection unit is composed of a pair of vehicle height sensors which are installed to footrests on which both feet of a rider are placed and which detect the distance between the installation positions of the inclination angle detection unit and a road surface.

4. The vehicle lamp tool according to claim 1 ,
wherein the inclination angle detection unit includes gyro sensors installed on the left and right central axes of the vehicle.

5. The vehicle lamp tool according to claim 2 ,
wherein, in the case where the vehicle is a two-wheeled vehicle, the inclination angle detection unit is composed of a pair of vehicle height sensors which are installed to footrests on which both feet of a rider are placed and which detect the distance between the installation positions of the inclination angle detection unit and a road surface.

6. The vehicle lamp tool according to claim 2 ,
wherein the inclination angle detection unit includes gyro sensors installed on the left and right central axes of the vehicle.

7. A method for controlling a vehicle lamp tool, the method comprising:
light distribution calculation processing for calculating the luminance distribution of a light distribution pattern generated in an area ahead of a vehicle;
light distribution generation processing for generating the light distribution pattern according to the luminance distribution calculated by the light distribution calculation processing in an illumination area to which light is irradiated;
inclination angle calculation processing for calculating an inclination angle of a vehicle with respect to the vertical direction;
threshold value determination processing for determining whether the inclination angle acquired by the inclination angle calculation processing is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value; and
first correction processing for correcting, as a first correction value for correcting the inclination of the light distribution pattern, the inclination angle acquired by the inclination angle calculation processing in the case where a determination result of the threshold value determination processing is equal to or less than the threshold value,
wherein the light distribution calculation processing and the light distribution generation processing are carried out based on the first correction value thereby to correct the light distribution pattern in the first correction processing.

8. The method for controlling a vehicle lamp tool according to claim 7 , further comprising:
rotation correction processing for correcting the inclination of the light distribution pattern by the rotation of mechanical rotation unit; and
second correction value calculation processing for calculating a second correction value for correcting the inclination of the light distribution pattern in the case where a determination result of the threshold value determination processing is larger than the threshold value,
wherein the light distribution calculation processing, the light distribution generation processing, and the rotation correction processing are carried out based on the second correction value calculated by the second correction value calculation processing so as to correct the light distribution pattern.

Assignees

• Stanley Electric Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kimura Yota

Classifications

• B62J6/057

  Automatic activation, e.g. by sensors · CPC title

• B62J45/415

  Inclination sensors · CPC title

• B62J45/4151

  for sensing lateral inclination of the cycle · CPC title

• B62J6/023

  responsive to the lean angle of the cycle, e.g. changing intensity or switching sub-lights when cornering · CPC title

• B60Q1/122 Primary

  with electrical actuating means (details of the electric drive components, e.g. motors, shafts, ball joints B60Q1/076) · CPC title