Headlight assembly comprising light-conducting rods for a headlight

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9746150-B2
Application number	US-201314765445-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 10, 2013
Priority date	Feb 5, 2013
Publication date	Aug 29, 2017
Grant date	Aug 29, 2017

Abstract

The invention relates to a lamp unit ( 1 ) for a headlight, in particular a motor vehicle headlight, the lamp unit ( 1 ) comprising multiple light sources ( 2 ), a light guide unit ( 3 ), and a downstream projector lens ( 4 ), the light guide unit ( 3 ) having multiple light guides ( 30 ), each light guide ( 30 ) having one light decoupling surface ( 30 a ) and one light coupling surface ( 30 b ), and each light source ( 2 ) coupling light exactly into a light guide ( 30 ) assigned to it through a light coupling surface ( 30 b ). The invention provides that the light sources ( 2 ) and the light coupling surfaces ( 30 b ) of the light guides ( 30 ) have light conducting rods ( 10 ) arranged between them, which are joined into at least one light conducting rod bundle ( 100 ), each light source ( 2 ) coupling light essentially exclusively into the light conducting rod coupling areas ( 10 a ) of the light conducting rods ( 10 ) assigned to the respective light source ( 2 ), the light of an assigned light source ( 2 ) that exits from the light conducting rod decoupling areas ( 10 b ) being coupled essentially exclusively into the light coupling surface ( 30 b ) of the light guide ( 30 ) assigned to the respective light source ( 2 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A lamp unit for a headlight, the lamp unit comprising:
multiple light sources;
a light guide unit; and
a downstream projector lens,
wherein the light guide unit has multiple light guides, each light guide having one light decoupling surface and one light coupling surface, and each light source coupling light into exactly one light guide assigned to it through one light coupling surface,
wherein the light sources and the light coupling surfaces of the light guides have light conducting rods arranged between them, which are joined into at least one light conducting rod bundle, each light source having a plurality of light conducting rods assigned to it, and each light source coupling light essentially exclusively into the light conducting rod coupling areas of light conducting rods assigned to the respective light source, and the light of an assigned light source that exits from the light conducting rod decoupling areas being coupled essentially exclusively into the light coupling surface of the light guide assigned to the respective light source to reduce crosstalk.

2. The lamp unit of claim 1 , wherein a number of the light conducting rods are joined into a fiber rod, and the at least one light conducting rod bundle consists of a number of such fiber rods, so that each light source couples light into a number of such fiber rods.

3. The lamp unit of claim 2 , wherein the fiber rods have a square hexagonal cross section.

4. The lamp unit of claim 2 , wherein the light conducting rods of a fiber rod are surrounded by a glass covering or other covering.

5. The lamp unit of claim 2 , wherein the light conducting rods of a fiber rod are fused together or otherwise connected together.

6. The lamp unit of claim 2 , wherein the fiber rods of a fiber rod bundle are fused together or otherwise connected together.

7. The lamp unit of claim 2 , wherein the fiber rods of a fiber rod bundle run parallel to one another.

8. The lamp unit of claim 1 , wherein the light conducting rods are joined into precisely one light conducting rod bundle.

9. The lamp unit of claim 1 , wherein the light conducting rods have a square or hexagonal cross section.

10. The lamp unit of claim 1 , wherein the light conducting rods are made in the form of glass rod/tube systems, with a cladding glass as a tube and a core glass as a rod, the core glass being surrounded by the cladding glass.

11. The lamp unit of claim 10 , wherein the core glass has a refractive index that is greater than that of the cladding glass.

12. The lamp unit of claim 1 , wherein the light conducting rods of a light conducting rod bundle are fused together or otherwise connected together.

13. The lamp unit of claim 1 , wherein the light conducting rods of a light conducting rod bundle run parallel to one another.

14. The lamp unit of claim 1 , wherein the at least one light conducting rod bundle is arranged at a light source distance from the light sources.

15. The lamp unit of claim 14 , wherein the light source distance approaches zero or is zero.

16. The lamp unit of claim 1 , wherein the at least one light conducting rod bundle is arranged at a light guide unit distance from the light coupling surfaces of the light guide unit.

17. The lamp unit of claim 1 , wherein the thickness of the at least one light conducting rod bundle, which is the distance between the surface of the light conducting rod bundle facing the light sources and the surface of the light conducting rod bundle facing the light guide unit, has or exceeds a defined minimum value, which is selected so that light exiting from the side of a light conducting rod assigned to a light source at most gets into allowable light conducting rods.

18. The lamp unit of claim 17 , wherein two or more light conducting rod bundles are arranged directly adjacent to one another, one after the other in the light exit direction.

19. The lamp unit of claim 1 , wherein the at least one light conducting rod bundle is plate-shaped.

20. The lamp unit of claim 1 , wherein the light conducting rods are gradient-index rods.

21. The lamp unit of claim 1 , wherein at least one light conducting rod bundle consists of a plurality of light conducting rods.

22. The lamp unit of claim 1 , wherein each light source has 10 or more light conducting rods assigned to it.

23. The lamp unit of claim 22 , which has from 50 to 100 light conducting rods per light source.

24. The lamp unit of claim 1 , wherein each light source has 100 or more of the light conducting rods assigned to it.

25. The lamp unit of claim 24 , which has from 5,000 to 10,000 light conducting rods per light source.

26. The lamp unit of claim 1 , wherein the light sources are LEDs, each LED light source comprising at least one light-emitting diode.

27. The lamp unit of claim 26 , wherein each LED light source is separately controllable, allowing it to be turned on or off and/or dimmed separately.

28. The lamp unit of claim 27 , wherein each light-emitting diode of the LED light source is separately controllable, allowing it to be turned on or off and/or dimmed separately.

29. A vehicle headlight with at least one lamp unit of claim 1 .

30. The lamp unit of claim 1 , wherein the at least one light conducting rod bundle is the same distance to all assigned light sources.

Assignees

• Zizala Lichtsysteme Gmbh
• Zkw Group Gmbh

Inventors

• Bauer Friedrich
• Pirringer Erik
• Maier Udo

Classifications

• F21S41/255

  Lenses with a front view of circular or truncated circular outline · CPC title

• G02B6/0008

  the light being emitted at the end of the fibre · CPC title

• G02B6/06

  the relative position of the fibres being the same at both ends, e.g. for transporting images · CPC title

• F21Y2115/10

  Light-emitting diodes [LED] · CPC title

• F21S41/153

  arranged in a matrix · CPC title