Vehicle headlight

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016159273-A1
Application number	US-201514959540-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 4, 2015
Priority date	Dec 8, 2014
Publication date	Jun 9, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A vehicle headlight can ensure a driver's visibility even when the headlight projects low-beam, and at the same time, can promote awareness of pedestrians and the like in front of and around the vehicle. A vehicle headlight installed in a vehicle can include a plurality of lamp modules each configured to project light in front of the vehicle, and a control unit configured to control the plurality of lamp modules to be turned on and off so that a lighting pattern constituted by the lamp module or lamp modules being turned on is varied and at least one lamp module out of the plurality of lamp modules is configured to form a predetermined light distribution for ensuring a driver's visibility when being turned on.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A vehicle headlight installed in a vehicle, comprising:
a plurality of lamp modules each configured to project light in front of the vehicle; and a control unit configured to control the plurality of lamp modules to be turned on and off so that a lighting pattern constituted by the lamp module or lamp modules being turned on is varied, wherein at least one lamp module out of the plurality of lamp modules is configured to form a predetermined light distribution for ensuring a driver's visibility when being turned on.

2 . The vehicle headlight according to claim 1 , wherein the lighting pattern is varied in accordance with a running speed of the vehicle.

3 . The vehicle headlight according to claim 1 , wherein the lamp module includes a light source, an optical member configured to control a light distribution of the light from the light source, and a light guiding member configured to guide the light from the light source to the optical member so that the light source and the optical member are separately disposed from each other.

4 . The vehicle headlight according to claim 2 , wherein the lamp module includes a light source, an optical member configured to control a light distribution of the light from the light source, and a light guiding member configured to guide the light from the light source to the optical member so that the light source and the optical member are separately disposed from each other.

5 . The vehicle headlight according to claim 1 , wherein
the control unit performs control to provide a first lighting pattern configured by turning on all the plurality of lamp modules as the lighting pattern when the running speed of the vehicle is less than a predetermined speed threshold, and to provide a second lighting pattern or a third lighting pattern as the lighting pattern when the running speed of the vehicle is equal to or higher than the predetermined speed threshold, the second lighting pattern being configured by varying the number of the lamp modules to be turned on in accordance with an elapsed time since the vehicle headlight was turned on, and the third lighting pattern being configured by selecting the lamp modules to be turned on to thereby vary the position(s) of the lamp module(s) to be turned on.

6 . The vehicle headlight according to claim 2 , wherein
the control unit performs control to provide a first lighting pattern configured by turning on all the plurality of lamp modules as the lighting pattern when the running speed of the vehicle is less than a predetermined speed threshold, and to provide a second lighting pattern or a third lighting pattern as the lighting pattern when the running speed of the vehicle is equal to or higher than the predetermined speed threshold, the second lighting pattern being configured by varying the number of the lamp modules to be turned on in accordance with an elapsed time since the vehicle headlight was turned on, and the third lighting pattern being configured by selecting the lamp modules to be turned on to thereby vary the position(s) of the lamp module(s) to be turned on.

7 . The vehicle headlight according to claim 3 , wherein
the control unit performs control to provide a first lighting pattern configured by turning on all the plurality of lamp modules as the lighting pattern when the running speed of the vehicle is less than a predetermined speed threshold, and to provide a second lighting pattern or a third lighting pattern as the lighting pattern when the running speed of the vehicle is equal to or higher than the predetermined speed threshold, the second lighting pattern being configured by varying the number of the lamp modules to be turned on in accordance with an elapsed time since the vehicle headlight was turned on, and the third lighting pattern being configured by selecting the lamp modules to be turned on to thereby vary the position(s) of the lamp module(s) to be turned on.

8 . The vehicle headlight according to claim 4 , wherein
the control unit performs control to provide a first lighting pattern configured by turning on all the plurality of lamp modules as the lighting pattern when the running speed of the vehicle is less than a predetermined speed threshold, and to provide a second lighting pattern or a third lighting pattern as the lighting pattern when the running speed of the vehicle is equal to or higher than the predetermined speed threshold, the second lighting pattern being configured by varying the number of the lamp modules to be turned on in accordance with an elapsed time since the vehicle headlight was turned on, and the third lighting pattern being configured by selecting the lamp modules to be turned on to thereby vary the position(s) of the lamp module(s) to be turned on.

9 . The vehicle headlight according to claim 3 , wherein the light source is configured by a semiconductor laser light source.

10 . The vehicle headlight according to claim 4 , wherein the light source is configured by a semiconductor laser light source.

11 . The vehicle headlight according to claim 7 , wherein the light source is configured by a semiconductor laser light source.

12 . The vehicle headlight according to claim 8 , wherein the light source is configured by a semiconductor laser light source.

13 . The vehicle headlight according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of lamp modules are configured to include a lamp module configured to project a low beam and a lamp module configured to project a high beam.

14 . The vehicle headlight according to claim 2 , wherein the plurality of lamp modules are configured to include a lamp module configured to project a low beam and a lamp module configured to project a high beam.

15 . The vehicle headlight according to claim 3 , wherein the plurality of lamp modules are configured to include a lamp module configured to project a low beam and a lamp module configured to project a high beam.

16 . The vehicle headlight according to claim 4 , wherein the plurality of lamp modules are configured to include a lamp module configured to project a low beam and a lamp module configured to project a high beam.

17 . The vehicle headlight according to claim 5 , wherein the plurality of lamp modules are configured to include a lamp module configured to project a low beam and a lamp module configured to project a high beam.

18 . The vehicle headlight according to claim 6 , wherein the plurality of lamp modules are configured to include a lamp module configured to project a low beam and a lamp module configured to project a high beam.

19 . The vehicle headlight according to claim 7 , wherein the plurality of lamp modules are configured to include a lamp module configured to project a low beam and a lamp module configured to project a high beam.

20 . The vehicle headlight according to claim 8 , wherein the plurality of lamp modules are configured to include a lamp module configured to project a low beam and a lamp module configured to project a high beam.

21 . The vehicle headlight according to claim 9 , wherein the plurality of lamp modules are configured to include a lamp module configured to project a low beam and a lamp module configured to project a high beam.

22 . The vehicle headlight according to claim 10 , wherein the plurality of lamp modules are configured to include a lamp module configured to project a low beam and a lamp module configured to project a high beam.

23 . Th

Assignees

• Stanley Electric Co Ltd

Inventors

• Nakazato Yoshiaki

Classifications

• F21S41/151

  arranged in one or more lines · CPC title

• F21S41/176

  Light sources where the light is generated by photoluminescent material spaced from a primary light generating element · CPC title

• B60Q1/1423 Primary

  Automatic dimming circuits, i.e. switching between high beam and low beam due to change of ambient light or light level in road traffic · CPC title

• F21Y2115/30

  Semiconductor lasers · CPC title

• F21S41/285

  Refractors, transparent cover plates, light guides or filters not provided in groups F21S41/24 - F21S41/2805 · CPC title