Vehicle light fixture

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11835191-B2
Application number	US-202017598714-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 27, 2020
Priority date	Mar 28, 2019
Publication date	Dec 5, 2023
Grant date	Dec 5, 2023

Abstract

A vehicle light fixture include a first light distribution illuminator that emits a first light distribution to the front of a vehicle, and a second light distribution illuminator that emits a second light distribution having a light-dark boundary line at least on a side of the vehicle, wherein illumination of the first light distribution illuminator and the second light distribution illuminator is controlled in response to a predetermined operation of the first light distribution illuminator by the driver of the vehicle. The second light distribution illuminator includes a light source, and a projection lens that projects light emitted from the light source to form an illumination pattern surrounded by multiple light-dark boundary lines and emit the illumination pattern to a side of the vehicle, and the projection lens focuses more of the light emitted from the light source passing outwardly from the optical axis of the projection lens.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle light fixture comprising:
a first light distribution illuminator that emits a first light distribution to the front of a vehicle; and
a second light distribution illuminator that emits a second light distribution to at least a side of the vehicle, wherein,
illumination of the first light distribution illuminator and the second light distribution illuminator is controlled in response to a predetermined operation of the first light distribution illuminator by a driver of the vehicle,
the second light distribution illuminator is illuminated in conjunction with the illumination of the first light distribution illuminator,
the second light distribution has a light-dark boundary line,
the second light distribution illuminator comprises a forward illuminator that illuminates the front of the vehicle, and
the forward illuminator illuminates inside of a visible area where the first light distribution is visible from outside the vehicle in a left-right direction while the forward illuminator is mounted in the vehicle.

2. The vehicle light fixture according to claim 1 , wherein the second light distribution illuminator emits the second light distribution outside a visible area where the first light distribution is visible from outside the vehicle in a left-right direction while the second light distribution illuminator is mounted in the vehicle.

3. The vehicle light fixture according to claim 1 , wherein the second light distribution illuminator comprises a light source and a lens that emits light from the light source as the second light distribution.

4. The vehicle light fixture according to claim 3 , wherein a maximum luminous intensity of the second light distribution is lower than a maximum luminous intensity of the first light distribution.

5. The vehicle light fixture according to claim 3 , wherein the second light distribution has a geometric shape.

6. The vehicle light fixture according to claim 1 , wherein at least the first light distribution illuminator constitutes a vehicle turn lamp.

7. A vehicle light fixture that is controlled to illuminate in conjunction with illumination of a first vehicle light fixture when the first vehicle light fixture is illuminated in response to a predetermined operation by a driver of the vehicle, the first vehicle light fixture emitting a first light distribution to the front of a vehicle, the vehicle light fixture comprising;
a light source; and
a projection lens that projects light emitted from the light source to form an illumination pattern surrounded by multiple light-dark boundary lines and emits the illumination pattern to a side of the vehicle,
wherein the projection lens focuses more of the light emitted from the light source as the light passes farther outward of an optical axis of the projection lens, and focuses the light emitted from the light source on at least a portion of the light-dark boundary lines for emphasis.

8. The vehicle light fixture according to claim 7 , wherein the projection lens focuses the light emitted from the light source, inside the light-dark boundary lines, and diffuses the light emitted from the light source in other portion of the illumination pattern.

9. The vehicle light fixture according to claim 7 , wherein,
the projection lens is formed of multiple lens sections in a top-bottom direction,
the illumination pattern is formed of multiple illumination pattern sections formed by the lens sections, and
the projection lens forms the light-dark boundary lines by overlapping the illumination pattern sections.

10. The vehicle light fixture according to claim 9 , wherein,
the lens sections are formed of an upper lens section and a lower lens section,
the upper lens section forms a far-side pattern portion illuminating an area remote from the vehicle in the illumination pattern, and the lower lens section forms a near-side pattern portion illuminating an area near the vehicle in the illumination pattern, and
the projection lens overlaps an end portion of the far-side pattern portion close to the vehicle and an end portion of the near-side pattern portion remote from the vehicle to form a line portion having a higher light intensity than a peripheral area in the illumination pattern.

11. The vehicle light fixture according to claim 7 , wherein at least a portion of the projection lens other than an incident surface and an output surface is provided with a diffusing portion.

12. The vehicle light fixture according to claim 11 , wherein the output surface of the projection lens is a convex surface and an area around a top-bottom direction line extending in a top-bottom direction through the optical axis and an area around a width direction line extending in a width direction through the optical axis are concave relative to other areas.

13. The vehicle light fixture according to claim 7 , wherein an incident surface of the projection lens is convex in a cross-section orthogonal to a width direction and concave in a cross-section orthogonal to a top-bottom direction.

14. The vehicle light fixture according to claim 7 , wherein,
the illumination pattern has a first illuminated area that extends in a traveling direction, a second illuminated area that is disposed outside the first illuminated area and is darker than the first illuminated area, and a third illuminated area that is disposed outside the second illuminated area and is brighter than the second illuminated area, and
the projection lens forms a first outer boundary line outside the first illuminated area and a third inner boundary line inside the third illuminated area.

15. The vehicle light fixture according to claim 14 , wherein the first illuminated area is brighter than the third illuminated area in the illumination pattern.

16. A vehicle light fixture comprising:
a first light distribution illuminator that emits a first light distribution to the front of a vehicle; and
a second light distribution illuminator that emits a second light distribution to at least a side of the vehicle, wherein,
illumination of the first light distribution illuminator and the second light distribution illuminator is controlled in response to a predetermined operation of the first light distribution illuminator by a driver of the vehicle,
the second light distribution illuminator is illuminated in conjunction with the illumination of the first light distribution illuminator,
the second light distribution has a light-dark boundary line,
the second light distribution illuminator comprises a light source and a lens that emits light from the light source as the second light distribution, and
a maximum luminous intensity of the second light distribution is lower than a maximum luminous intensity of the first light distribution.

Assignees

• Ichikoh Industries Ltd

Inventors

• Okubo Yasuhiro
• Suzuki Yasufumi

Classifications

• F21S43/2605

  Refractors · CPC title

• F21S41/143 Primary

  the main emission direction of the LED being parallel to the optical axis of the illuminating device · CPC title

• B60Q1/381

  with several light sources activated in sequence, e.g. to create a sweep effect · CPC title

• F21S41/25

  Projection lenses · CPC title

• F21S45/47

  Passive cooling, e.g. using fins, thermal conductive elements or openings · CPC title