Automotive lamp optical system with light diffusive projection lens

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11761602-B2
Application number	US-202218051293-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 31, 2022
Priority date	Dec 1, 2020
Publication date	Sep 19, 2023
Grant date	Sep 19, 2023

Abstract

The present invention relates to an automotive optical system; the optical system includes one or more first optical elements that reflect light rays emitted from a number of first light sources that are configured to perform a first lighting function and a second optical element; the second optical element is configured to project a light beam from the first optical elements configured to perform the first lighting function where a portion of the second optical element is made of a diffusive material. Furthermore, the optical system includes a number of secondary light sources where the second optical element is configured to receive light ray emissions from the secondary light sources and perform a second lighting function by scattering light rays received from secondary light sources.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optical system of an automotive vehicle, the optical system comprises:
a number of first optical elements that are configured to emit light from a number of first light sources, which are configured to perform a first lighting function;
a number of diffusive optical elements configured to project a light beam transmitted from said first optical elements of the first lighting function, wherein said diffusive optical elements form portions of an assembly of a second optical element, the assembly including a single projection lens partitioned by a number of zones with different levels of diffusivity; and
a number of secondary light sources, wherein the second optical element is configured to receive light emitted from said secondary light sources, which are configured to perform a second lighting function by scattering the light received from said secondary light sources.

2. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein said secondary light sources are arranged on at least one of: a number of sides of the second optical element, and a top of an optical module.

3. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein said first optical elements are shaping reflectors.

4. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein said first light sources are arranged within a focus vicinity of said first optical elements.

5. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the number of diffusive optical elements is a portion of the single projection lens.

6. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the number of diffusive optical elements is arranged at a location downstream from at least one of the number of first optical elements in a propagation direction of associated light rays.

7. The optical system of claim 5 , wherein each portion of the single projection lens has a thickness of about 2 mm to 7 mm.

8. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein said secondary light sources are arranged on a top of a respective flange of the single projection diffusive lens.

9. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein said first light sources and said secondary light sources are arranged on a same Printed Circuit Board (PCB).

10. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein said first light sources and said secondary light sources are arranged on different PCBs.

11. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein the first lighting function is one of: a low beam function, a high beam function, and a fog function.

12. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein the second lighting function is one of: a signaling function, a signature function or a park function.

13. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein light diffusive material includes at least one of Poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) types: Evonik Acrylite, PMMA 8N LD12, PMMA 8N LD24, and PMMA 8N LD 48 or some PMMA blend thereof.

14. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein at least one second optical element is adapted to produce a light beam pattern with a sharper cut off.

15. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein top and bottom portions of each second optical element is made of a non-diffusive material and a middle portion of each second optical element is made of a light diffusive material.

16. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein a complete portion of each second optical element is made of a light diffusive material.

17. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein each second optical element is produced by a multi-shot injection process.

18. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein each second optical element is adapted to increase the sharpness of the cut-off of the light beam pattern with an increased diffusivity of a light diffusive material, which is applied to produce a resultant second optical element.

19. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein the second optical element is an outer lens of the optical system made from a light diffusive material that includes a material formulation from at least one of light transmissive plastics such as: polystyrene (PS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), cyclic olefine copolymer (COC) or glass.

20. A headlamp assembly of an automotive vehicle, the headlamp assembly comprising:
a number of low beam modules configured to generate a low beam distribution;
a number of high beam modules configured to generate a high beam distribution, wherein at least one of the low beam modules and the high beam modules includes an optical system comprising:
a number of first optical elements that are configured to reflect light emitted from a number of first light sources that are configured to perform a first lighting function;
a number of diffusive optical elements arranged at a downstream location of said first optical elements that are configured to project a light beam from said first optical elements that are configured to perform the first lighting function, wherein said diffusive optical elements form an assembly of a second optical element wherein a single projection lens is made of a number of different light diffusive materials; and
a number of secondary light sources, wherein the second optical element is configured to receive light emitted from said secondary light sources, which are configured to perform a second lighting function by scattering the light received from said secondary light sources.

Assignees

• Valeo Vision

Inventors

• Potter Brant

Classifications

• F21S43/281

  Materials thereof; Structures thereof; Properties thereof; Coatings thereof · CPC title

• F21S43/2811

  Heterogeneous materials · CPC title

• F21S43/2643

  with several light entry surfaces for two or more light sources having distinct functions, at least one of them being signalling · CPC title

• F21S43/2651

  with several light entry surfaces for two or more light sources having distinct functions, at least one of them being signalling · CPC title

• F21S41/2805 Primary

  Cover glass · CPC title