Aiming apparatus for automotive headlamp

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10906451-B2
Application number	US-201916433589-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 6, 2019
Priority date	Jun 6, 2019
Publication date	Feb 2, 2021
Grant date	Feb 2, 2021

Abstract

The present invention relates to a headlamp's aiming apparatus, in which the headlamp's optical axis is adjustable with respect to a vehicle body, the aiming apparatus that includes a stationary member secured to a portion of the headlamp; a tiltable member attached to the stationary member via one or more adjustment shafts; and a fixed pivot shaft to allow pivotal connection with the headlamp's tiltable member. Adjustment shafts include a ball portion at a forward end portion, a drive shaft portion at a rear end portion and a flexible portion between the ball and drive shaft portions. The pivot shaft in conjunction with the adjustment shafts enable the tiltable member to tilt about a horizontal axis and a vertical axis of the headlamp to adjust the headlamp's optical axis, and the flexible portion is adapted to deflect in multiple directions to enhance accessible degrees of freedom during the headlamp's optical axis adjustments.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An aiming apparatus of an automotive headlamp, in which an optical axis of said headlamp is adjustable with respect to a vehicle body, the aiming apparatus comprising:
a stationary member secured to a portion of said headlamp;
a tiltable member of the headlamp attached to the stationary member via one or more adjustment shafts and a fixed pivot shaft to allow pivotal connection with the tiltable member;
wherein the one or more adjustment shafts comprises a ball portion at a forward end portion, a drive shaft portion at a rear end portion, and a flexible portion disposed between the ball portion and the drive shaft portion;
wherein the pivot shaft in conjunction with each respective adjustment shaft enables the tiltable member to tilt about at least one of a horizontal axis and a vertical axis of the headlamp to adjust the optical axis of said headlamp; and
wherein the flexible portion directly abuts the drive shaft portion and where the flexible portion conforms to a form that is contiguously spiral or zigzag shaped only along the flexible portion's length of each adjustment shaft; and
wherein the flexible portion is adapted to deflect in one or more directions during adjustments of the optical axis.

2. The aiming apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the zigzag shaped profile of the flexible portion allow the adjustment shafts to move vertically upwards and downwards with respect to a longitudinal axis of the adjustment shafts during the aiming operation.

3. The aiming apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the spiral shaped profile of the flexible portion allow the adjustment shafts to move vertically upwards and downwards with respect to a longitudinal axis of the adjustment shafts, and left and right along the axis parallel to the front of the vehicle, during the aiming operation.

4. The aiming apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a number of teeth of the flexible portion is in a range between 3 to 6.

5. The aiming apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the deflection of the flexible portion has a deflection value between 0.1 degrees and 15 degrees.

6. The aiming apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a length of the flexible portion is smaller than a length of the drive shaft portion.

7. The aiming apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the tiltable member is an optical module of the headlamp.

8. The aiming apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the stationary member is a headlamp support frame or a bracket.

9. The aiming apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the adjustment shafts and the pivot shaft are coupled to the headlamp by means of a ball-socket type connection.

10. The aiming apparatus of claim 1 , wherein rear ends of the adjustment shafts are coupled to one or more actuators.

11. The aiming apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the tiltable member tilts about at least one of the horizontal axis and the vertical axis in response to an operation of the one or more actuators.

12. The aiming apparatus of claim 1 , wherein rear ends of the adjustment shafts are coupled to a gear means for the movement of the adjustment shafts in response to rotation of the gear means.

13. An aiming apparatus of an automotive headlamp, in which an optical axis of said headlamp is adjustable with respect to a vehicle body, the aiming apparatus comprising: a stationary member secured to a portion of the headlamp;
a tiltable member attached to the stationary member via one or more adjustment shafts and a fixed pivot shaft to allow pivotal connection with the tiltable member of the headlamp;
wherein the one or more adjustment shafts comprise a ball portion at a forward end portion, a drive shaft portion at a rear end portion, and a flexible portion disposed between the ball portion and the drive shaft portion;
wherein the pivot shaft in conjunction with the one or more adjustment shafts enable the tiltable member to tilt about at least one of a horizontal axis and a vertical axis of the headlamp to adjust the optical axis of the headlamp;
wherein the flexible portion is contiguous with the drive shaft portion and where the flexible portion conforms to a form with spiral or zigzag shaped contiguous elements that span only along the flexible portion's length of each adjustment shaft;
wherein the flexible portion is adapted to deflect in one or more directions during the adjustment of the optical axis; and
wherein the deflection of the flexible portion has a deflection value between 0.1 degrees and 15 degrees.

14. An aiming apparatus of an automotive headlamp, in which an optical axis of said headlamp is adjustable with respect to a vehicle body, the aiming apparatus comprising:
a stationary member secured to a portion of the headlamp;
a tiltable member attached to the stationary member via one or more adjustment shafts and a fixed pivot shaft to allow pivotal connection with the tiltable member of the headlamp;
wherein the one or more adjustment shafts comprises a ball portion at a forward end portion, a drive shaft portion at a rear end portion, and a flexible portion disposed between the ball portion and the drive shaft portion;
wherein the pivot shaft in conjunction with the one or more adjustment shafts enable the tiltable member to tilt about at least one of a horizontal axis and a vertical axis of the headlamp to adjust the optical axis of the headlamp; and
wherein the flexible portion is contiguous with the drive shaft portion and where the flexible portion conforms to a form with spiral or zigzag shaped contiguous elements that span only along the flexible portion's length of each adjustment shaft,
wherein the flexible portion is adapted to deflect in one or more directions during the adjustment of the optical axis,

wherein the deflection of the flexible portion has a deflection value between 0.1 degrees and 15 degrees;
wherein the flexible portion allows said adjustment shafts to move vertically upwards and downwards with respect to a longitudinal axis of each respective adjustment shafts during aiming operations;
wherein the form of the flexible portion allows respective adjustment shafts to move vertically upwards and downwards with respect to a longitudinal axis of each respective adjustment shafts, and allows left and right movement along an axis parallel to a front of the vehicle during aiming operations.

Assignees

• Valeo North America Inc

Inventors

• King Robert

Classifications

• B60Q2200/34

  Deformable parts, i.e. the adjustment is performed by bending or stretching a part · CPC title

• B60Q1/076 Primary

  by electrical means {including means to transmit the movements, e.g. shafts or joints} · CPC title

• B60Q2200/32

  Ball-joints · CPC title

• B60Q1/0683 Primary

  Adjustable by rotation of a screw · CPC title

• B60Q1/072

  comprising a flexible element, e.g. chain · CPC title