Light module for a vehicle headlamp

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9611998-B2
Application number	US-201314651301-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 22, 2013
Priority date	Dec 13, 2012
Publication date	Apr 4, 2017
Grant date	Apr 4, 2017

Abstract

The invention relates to a light module ( 100 ) for a motor vehicle headlight, wherein the light module ( 100 ) is configured to generate a dimmed light distribution (LV) which has at least one horizontal LD line (HD) and an LD line (HD′) ascending diagonally with respect thereto, and wherein the light module ( 100 ) comprises at least two reflectors ( 1, 2, 3 ), and wherein each reflector ( 1, 2, 3 ) is associated with at least one LED light source ( 10, 20, 30 ). At least one of the reflectors ( 2 ) is of the LD front-field reflector type, and at least one further reflector ( 1 ) is of the asymmetric reflector type. The at least one LED light source ( 10 ) associated with the least one reflector ( 1 ) of the asymmetric reflector type and the at least one LED light source ( 20 ) associated with the at least one reflector ( 2 ) of the LD front-field reflector type are arranged in a manner fixed relative to one another, and all reflectors ( 1, 2 ) can be arranged in exactly one defined position with respect to the LED light sources ( 10, 20 ) associated therewith. Reflectors ( 1 ) of the asymmetric reflector type and reflectors ( 2 ) of the LD front-field reflector type are configured in such a way that, with arrangement of at least one reflector ( 1 ) of the asymmetric reflector type in the defined position thereof and at least one reflector ( 2 ) of the LD front-field reflector type in the defined position thereof, the horizontal LD line of the overall light distribution (LV) is formed by the horizontal LD line (HD 1 ) of the at least one reflector ( 1 ) of the asymmetric reflector type and/or by the horizontal LD line (HD 2 ) of the least one reflector ( 2 ) of the LD front-field reflector type.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A light module for a motor vehicle or for a motor vehicle headlight, wherein the light module is configured to generate a dimmed light distribution (LV) which has at least one horizontal LD line (HD) and an LD line (HD′) ascending diagonally with respect thereto, the light module comprising:
at least two reflectors, wherein each reflector is associated with at least one LED light source, wherein at least one of the reflectors is an LD front-field reflector type which is designed to project light of the at least one LED light source associated therewith as a front-field light distribution (LV 2 ) with an LD line (HD 2 ) running substantially horizontally in the light pattern, and wherein at least one other reflector is an asymmetric reflector type which is designed to project light of the at least one LED light source associated therewith as an asymmetric light distribution (LV 1 ), wherein the asymmetric light distribution (LV 1 ) has an LD line (HD 1 ) running substantially horizontally and an LD line (HD 1 ′) ascending diagonally,
wherein the at least one LED light source associated with the least one reflector of the asymmetric reflector type and the at least one LED light source associated with the at least one reflector of the LD front-field reflector type are arranged in a manner fixed relative to one another, the reflectors being arranged in exactly one defined position with respect to the LED light sources associated therewith,
wherein the reflectors of the asymmetric reflector type and the reflectors of the LD front-field reflector type are configured in such a way that, with arrangement of the at least one reflector of the asymmetric reflector type in the defined position thereof and with arrangement of the at least one reflector of the LD front-field reflector type in the defined position thereof, the horizontal LD line of the overall light distribution (LV) is formed by the horizontal LD line (HD 1 ) of the at least one reflector of the asymmetric reflector type and/or by the horizontal LD line (HD 2 ) of the least one reflector of the LD front-field reflector type, wherein each system consisting of the reflector of a certain type and the associated at least one LED light source is subject to a tolerance, such that horizontal LD lines in the light patterns (LV 1 , LV 2 , LV 3 ) generated by the reflectors of the same type and the associated at least one LED light source lie within a vertical tolerance field (TF 1 , TF 2 , TF 3 ),
wherein the tolerance field (TF 1 , TF 2 , TF 3 ) of each reflector type in each case has an upper tolerance field boundary (TF 1 ′, TF 2 ′, TF 3 ′) and a lower tolerance field boundary (TF 1 ″, TF 2 ″, TF 3 ″), the at least one reflector of the LD front-field reflector type and the at least one reflector of the asymmetric reflector type are configured in such a way that, in the defined positions thereof with respect to the associated LED light sources, the tolerance fields (TF 1 , TF 2 ) of the reflectors of the LD front-field reflector type and of the asymmetric reflector type overlap one another in the vertical direction in such a way that the tolerance field lower boundary (TF 1 ″) of the at least one asymmetric reflector lies below the tolerance field upper boundary (TF 2 ′) of the at least one reflector of the LD front-field reflector type, and the tolerance field upper boundary (TF 1 ′) of the at least one reflector of the asymmetric reflector type lies above the tolerance field upper boundary (TF 2 ′) of the at least one reflector of the LD front-field reflector type, and the frequency distribution of the position of the horizontal LD lines (HD 1 , HD 2 , HD 3 ) within the tolerance fields (TF 1 , TF 2 , TF 3 ) of the reflectors follow a distribution curve (K 1 , K 2 , K 3 ), for example a Gaussian distribution curve, wherein the distribution curves (K 1 , K 2 , K 3 ) each have a distribution maximum (K 1 m , K 2 m , K 3 m ), and
wherein:
the distribution maximum (K 1 m ) of the tolerance field (TF 1 ) of the at least one reflector of the asymmetric reflector type lies above the tolerance field upper boundary (TF 2 ′) of the tolerance field (TF 2 ) of the at least one reflector of the LD front-field reflector type,
and/or
the distribution maximum (K 2 m ) of the tolerance field (TF 2 ) of the at least one reflector of the LD front-field reflector type lies below the tolerance field lower boundary (TF 1 ″) of the tolerance field (TF 1 ) of the at least one reflector of the asymmetric reflector type.

2. The light module of claim 1 , wherein at least two reflectors are provided for the generation of the front-field light distribution, at least one reflector being of the LD front-field reflector type and at least one reflector being of the close front-field reflector type.

3. The light module of claim 2 , wherein the at least one reflector of the close front-field reflector type is configured in such a way that, in its defined position with respect to the at least one LED light source associated therewith, the tolerance field upper boundary (TF 3 ′) of the tolerance field (TF 3 ) of the at least one reflector of the close front-field reflector type lies below the tolerance field lower boundary (TF 1 ″) of the at least one reflector of the asymmetric reflector type.

4. The light module of claim 3 , wherein the at least one reflector of the close front-field reflector type is configured in such a way that the tolerance field upper boundary (TF 3 ′) of the at least one reflector of the close front-field reflector type lies below the tolerance field upper boundary (TF 2 ′) of the at least one reflector of the LD front-field reflector type and above the tolerance field lower boundary (TF 2 ″) of the at least one reflector of the LD front-field reflector type.

5. The light module of claim 1 , wherein the at least one reflector of the asymmetric reflector type is configured in such a way that the horizontal LD line (HD) of the overall light distribution (LV) lies within the tolerance field (TF 1 ) of the at least one reflector of the asymmetric reflector type.

6. The light module of claim 1 , wherein the tolerance fields (TF 1 ) of the at least one reflector of the asymmetric reflector type and the tolerance field (TF 2 ) of the at least one reflector of the LD front-field reflector type overlap one another in the vertical direction by 0.1°-0.2° .

7. The light module of claim 1 , wherein each LED light source comprises at least one light-emitting diode (LED).

8. The light module of claim 1 , wherein the LED light sources associated with the at least one reflector of the asymmetric reflector type and associated with the at least one reflector of the LD front-field reflector type are arranged on a common carrier plate.

9. The light module of claim 8 , wherein the common carrier plate comprises an LED circuit board.

10. The light module of claim 8 , wherein the at least one LED light source associated with the at least one reflector of the close front-field reflector type is likewise positioned on the common carrier plate.

11. The light module of claim 1 , wherein securing means and/or positioning means are provided, by means of which reflectors of the same type can be positioned and secured on different carrier plates in the same position with respect to the LED light sources of the carrier plate.

12. The light module of claim 1 , wherein the distribution maximum (K 1 m ) of the tolerance field (TF 1 ) of the at least one reflector of the asymmetric reflector type lies, in its defined positions with respect to the associated LED light sources, above the distribution maximum (K 2 m ) of the tolerance field (TF 2 ) of

Assignees

• Zizala Lichtsysteme Gmbh
• Zkw Group Gmbh

Inventors

• Bauer Friedrich
• Illmayr Peter

Classifications

• F21S48/115

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic

• F21S48/1747

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic

• F21S48/1317

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic

• F21S48/1388 Primary

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic

• F21S41/336

  with discontinuity at the junction between adjacent areas · CPC title