Motor vehicle headlamp

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11788704-B2
Application number	US-202017640459-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 3, 2020
Priority date	Sep 4, 2019
Publication date	Oct 17, 2023
Grant date	Oct 17, 2023

Abstract

The invention relates to a motor vehicle headlamp (8) comprisinga vehicle headlamp housing (9),an at least sectionally transparent cover pane (10) that closes the vehicle headlamp housing (9),a light source (11) that is accommodated in the vehicle headlamp housing (9) and serves for radiating light through the cover pane (10), andat least one motor vehicle design element (3) that is accommodated in the vehicle headlamp housing (9), wherein the at least one motor vehicle design element (3) comprises a dimensionally stable substrate (1) with at least one coated side.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A motor vehicle headlamp ( 8 ) comprising
a vehicle headlamp housing ( 9 );
an at least sectionally transparent cover pane ( 10 ) that closes the vehicle headlamp housing ( 9 );
a light source ( 11 ) that is accommodated in the vehicle headlamp housing ( 9 ) and serves for radiating light through the cover pane ( 10 ); and
at least one motor vehicle design element ( 3 ) that is accommodated in the vehicle headlamp housing ( 9 ), wherein the at least one motor vehicle design element ( 3 ) comprises a dimensionally stable substrate ( 1 ) with at least one coated side,
wherein the coated side of the substrate ( 1 ) has at least two sections that differ with respect to their surface design, namely a first section ( 3 a ) that has a rough surface and a second section ( 3 b ) that has a smooth surface,
wherein the coating of the coated side of the substrate ( 1 ) is formed by at least a first chromophoric and metallically reflective layer (L 1 ) and a second chromophoric layer (L 2 ) covering the first layer (L 1 ), wherein the second layer (L 2 ) is at least partially transparent and designed in such a way that the light incident on the at least one motor vehicle design element ( 3 ) is at least partially manipulated due to interference in that the light beams (LS 1 ) reflected by the surface of the first layer (L 1 ) are superimposed with the light beams (LS 2 ) reflected by the surface of the second layer (L 2 ), and
wherein the respective layers (L 1 , L 2 ) are applied in such a way that the surface designs of the respective sections ( 3 a , 3 b ) of the substrate ( 1 ) are transferred to the layers (L 1 , L 2 ) such that light incident on the respective layer in the region of the first section ( 3 a , 3 b ) is scattered in accordance with the surface design of the first section ( 3 a ) of the substrate ( 1 ) and light incident on the respective layer in the region of the second section ( 3 b ) is reflected in accordance with the surface design of the second section ( 3 b ) of the substrate ( 1 ).

2. The motor vehicle headlamp ( 8 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the first layer (L 1 ) and/or the second layer (L 2 ) has a constant composition and layer thickness along the entire side of the substrate ( 1 ) to be coated.

3. The motor vehicle headlamp ( 8 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the first layer (L 1 ) is designed in such a way that an opaque layer with a layer thickness of at least 20 nm is formed by the first layer (L 1 ).

4. The motor vehicle headlamp ( 8 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the first section ( 3 a ) is enclosed by the second section ( 3 b ) and designed in such a way that a graphic symbol (SYM) is depicted due to the rough surface design of the first section ( 3 a ), and wherein said graphic symbol is visible in the form of an optical contrast to the surrounding reflective area of the second section ( 3 b ).

5. The motor vehicle headlamp ( 8 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one motor vehicle design element ( 3 ) has a radiation area ( 3 ′) that is at least partially arranged in the beam path of the light source ( 11 ), and wherein the first section ( 3 a ) completely extends over the radiation area ( 3 ′) and therefore completely covers this radiation area such that light, which originates from the light source ( 11 ) and is incident into the radiation area ( 3 ′), is scattered in the radiation area ( 3 ′).

6. The motor vehicle headlamp ( 8 ) according to claim 5 , wherein the radiation area ( 3 ′) is completely arranged in the beam path of the light source ( 11 ).

7. The motor vehicle headlamp ( 8 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the coated side of the substrate ( 1 ) of the at least one motor vehicle design element ( 3 ) has an ambient light reflection area ( 3 ″) that is located outside the beam path of the light source ( 11 ), wherein the second section ( 3 b ) extends at least partially over the ambient light reflection area ( 3 b ).

8. The motor vehicle headlamp ( 8 ) according to claim 7 , wherein the ambient light reflection area ( 3 ″) covers the entire visible area of the at least one motor vehicle design element ( 3 ), which lies outside of the beam path of the light source ( 11 ), in the installed state.

9. The motor vehicle headlamp ( 8 ) according to claim 7 , wherein the second section ( 3 b ) extends completely over the ambient light reflection area ( 3 b ).

10. The motor vehicle headlamp ( 8 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the rough surface of the second section ( 3 b ) has an average roughness value Ra of at least 2.0 μm.

11. The motor vehicle headlamp ( 8 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the smooth surface of the second section ( 3 b ) has an average roughness value Ra of no more than 0.25 μm.

12. The motor vehicle headlamp ( 8 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the second layer (L 2 ) has a transmittance of at least 70%.

13. The motor vehicle headlamp ( 8 ) according to claim 1 , wherein a protective layer (CL) is applied on the second layer (L 2 ) by means of plasma polymerization.

14. The motor vehicle headlamp ( 8 ) according to claim 13 , wherein the protective layer (CL) consists of hexamethyldisiloxane.

15. The motor vehicle headlamp ( 8 ) according to claim 1 , wherein a base layer (BL) is arranged between the substrate ( 1 ) and the first layer (L 1 ).

16. The motor vehicle headlamp ( 8 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the metallic and at least partially reflective first layer (L 1 ) has a layer thickness (d 1 ) that lies between a minimum layer thickness and a maximum layer thickness, wherein the minimum layer thickness is the thickness required for ensuring a transmittance of less than 1% and the maximum layer thickness is no greater than the quadruple minimum layer thickness.

17. The motor vehicle headlamp ( 8 ) according to claim 16 , wherein the maximum layer thickness is no greater than triple the minimum layer thickness.

18. The motor vehicle headlamp ( 8 ) according to claim 16 , wherein the maximum layer thickness is no greater than double the minimum layer thickness.

19. The motor vehicle headlamp ( 8 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the second layer (L 2 ) is largely free of non-luminous colors, wherein a non-luminous color is a color that becomes discernible due to at least partial absorption of spectrums of the visible light, wherein the extent of the absorption of the color components red, green and blue is dissimilar, and wherein the second layer is designed in such a way that the light reflected by the motor vehicle design element ( 3 ) is manipulated with respect to its color composition due to interference in at least one spectral component of the light.

Assignees

• Zkw Group Gmbh

Inventors

• Sattler Jochen
• Haas Thomas
• Dienstbier Lukas

Classifications

• F21S41/50 Primary

  characterised by aesthetic components not otherwise provided for, e.g. decorative trim, partition walls or covers · CPC title

• B60Q1/04

  the devices being headlights · CPC title

• C03C17/3605

  Coatings of the type glass/metal/inorganic compound · CPC title

• C03C17/3657

  the multilayer coating having optical properties · CPC title

• C03C17/3684

  the multilayer coating being used for decoration purposes · CPC title