Lighting device for a motor vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9731649-B2
Application number	US-201514735925-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 10, 2015
Priority date	Dec 11, 2012
Publication date	Aug 15, 2017
Grant date	Aug 15, 2017

Abstract

The invention relates to a lighting device for a motor vehicle, comprising a light guide for the totally reflecting guidance of light from two light sources along a light propagation axis, wherein the light from one light source can be coupled in at an in-coupling face on one end face of the light guide and the light from the other light source can be coupled in at another in-coupling face on another end face of the light guide. The light guide also has an out-coupling face arranged along the light propagation axis for coupling the light out, which light exits from the light guide at an exit face arranged along the light propagation axis where the total reflection condition is removed. The lighting device according to the invention is characterized in that the light guide is designed in such a manner that the light intensity distribution of the light from at least one light source exiting at the exit face has a gradient in the propagation direction of the light from the light source concerned, and a control device for the light sources (is provided in such a manner that, when the lighting device is switched on, the light sources are activated at a predefined switch-on time interval and thereby the brightness of at least one light source is modified on the basis of a ramped or stepped progression until a predefined brightness value is achieved.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A lighting device for a motor vehicle, comprising:
a light guide for totally reflecting guidance of light from two light sources along a light propagation axis, wherein light is coupled in from one of the two light sources at a coupling face on one end face of the light guide, and light is coupled in from the other of the two light sources at another coupling face on another end face of the light guide, wherein the light guide further comprises a decoupling face arranged along the light propagation axis for decoupling light which exits from the light guide at an exit face arranged along the light propagation axis accompanied by cancelation of the total reflection condition, wherein the light guide is configured such that the light intensity distribution of light, exiting at the exit face, of at least one of the two light sources has a gradient in the propagation direction of the light from the at least one of the two light sources; and
a control device configured to activate the two light sources in a prescribed switch-on time interval when the lighting device is switched on, and wherein the brightness of at least one of the two light sources is modified on the basis of a ramp and/or step profile until a prescribed brightness value is reached, such that a centroid of the overall light distribution resulting at the exit face from the light intensity distributions of the two light sources travels in the prescribed switch-on time interval along the light propagation axis to one of said coupling faces.

2. The lighting device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the brightness of the at least one of the two light sources increases on the basis of the ramp and/or step profile.

3. The lighting device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein, when the lighting device is switched on the brightness of one of the two light sources is modified on the basis of the ramp and/or step profile until the prescribed brightness value is reached, and the brightness of the other of the two light sources in the entire prescribed switch-on time interval is set to a constant prescribed brightness value.

4. The lighting device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the brightness of the two light sources is modified on the basis of a ramp and/or a step profile.

5. The lighting device as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the brightness of the brightness of one of the two light sources increasing and the brightness of the other of the two light sources decreasing.

6. The lighting device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the two light sources have different brightness values at the end of the switch-on time interval.

7. The lighting device as claimed in claim 6 , wherein at the end of the switch-on time interval the brightness value of one of the two light sources is 90% or less than the brightness value of the other light source.

8. The lighting device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the light guide is configured as a continuous light guide section having two end faces at which the coupling faces are located.

9. The lighting device as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the light intensity distribution of the light, exiting at the exit face, of a respective one of the two light sources decreases with increasing distance from the coupling face of the respective light source.

10. The lighting device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the light guide has two separate light guide sections adjoining one another over adjacent end faces, the coupling faces being situated at end faces of the light guide sections arranged remotely from one another.

11. The lighting device as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the light intensity distribution of the light, exiting at the exit face, of one of the two light sources decreases in the corresponding light guide section with increasing distance from the coupling face of such light source, and the light intensity distribution of the light, exiting at the exit face, of the other one of the two light sources increases in the corresponding light guide section with increasing distance from the coupling face of such other light source.

12. The lighting device as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the control device for the two light sources is configured such that, at the end of the switch-on time interval, the overall light distribution has a continuous profile over the adjacent end faces.

13. The lighting device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the two light sources each respectively comprise one or more semiconductor diodes.

14. The lighting device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the lighting device comprises at least one of a signal light, a vehicle interior light and a headlight.

15. The lighting device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the lighting device comprises a driving direction indicator.

16. The lighting device as claimed in claim 15 , wherein, when installed in the motor vehicle, the driving direction indicator is operable such that the centroid of the overall light distribution in the prescribed switch-on time interval is displaced to a coupling face which is situated closer to a lateral boundary of the motor vehicle adjacent to the driving direction indicator when the motor vehicle is viewed from the front or from the rear.

17. The lighting device as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the lighting device is provided for installation in a motor vehicle such that the light guide sections are arranged in two different areas of the motor vehicle, wherein one of the two different areas is movable relative to the other of the two different areas of the motor vehicle, and wherein the two different areas are positioned relative to one another such that the light guide sections adjoin one another over their adjacent end faces.

18. A motor vehicle having at least one lighting device, wherein each of the at least one lighting device comprises:
a light guide for totally reflecting guidance of light from two light sources along a light propagation axis, wherein light is coupled in from one of the two light sources at a coupling face on one end face of the light guide, and light is coupled in from the other of the two light sources at another coupling face on another end face of the light guide, wherein the light guide further comprises a decoupling face arranged along the light propagation axis for decoupling light which exits from the light guide at an exit face arranged along the light propagation axis accompanied by cancelation of the total reflection condition, wherein the light guide is configured such that the light intensity distribution of light, exiting at the exit face, of at least one of the two light sources has a gradient in the propagation direction of the light from the at least one of the two light sources; and
a control device configured to activate the two light sources in a prescribed switch-on time interval when the lighting device is switched on, and wherein the brightness of at least one of the two light sources is modified on the basis of a ramp and/or step profile until a prescribed brightness value is reached, such that a centroid of the overall light distribution resulting at the exit face from the light intensity distributions of the two light sources travels in the prescribed switch-on time interval along the light propagation axis to one of said coupling faces.

Assignees

• Bayerische Motoren Werke Ag
• Bayerische Motoren Weke Ag

Inventors

• Gocke Tim

Classifications

• G02B6/0078

  Side-by-side arrangements, e.g. for large area displays · CPC title

• F21S43/14

  Light emitting diodes [LED] · CPC title

• B60Q3/80

  Circuits; Control arrangements (for dashboards B60Q3/16; for mass transit vehicles B60Q3/47) · CPC title

• B60Q1/18

  being additional front lights {(bracket mounted headlights B60Q1/0483)} · CPC title

• F21S43/245

  emitting light from one or more of its major surfaces · CPC title