Vehicle lamp

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9964278-B2
Application number	US-201615178766-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 10, 2016
Priority date	Jun 24, 2015
Publication date	May 8, 2018
Grant date	May 8, 2018

Abstract

A reflecting surface of a reflector has a structure where a plurality of reflecting elements are arranged in rows in an up-and-down direction, and the reflecting elements are arranged as a plurality of sets in a left-and-right direction. The surface of each reflecting element is composed of a curved surface having a horizontal section curvature larger than a vertical section curvature. Thus, a horizontally long light distribution pattern may be easily formed by light reflecting from each reflecting element. Each reflecting element is connected to each of four reflecting elements which are adjacent thereto in the left-and-right direction and are shifted therefrom in the up-and-down direction, through a boundary line extending from a vertical plane in an inclined direction in the left-and-right direction. Thus, the horizontally long light distribution pattern formed by the light reflecting from each reflecting element becomes a bright light distribution pattern having four chipped corners.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle lamp comprising:
a plurality of lamp units each being displaced backward of a vehicle as it goes in an outside in a width direction of the vehicle, each of the plurality of lamp units comprising:
a light emitting element; and
a reflector configured to reflect light from the light emitting element forward,
wherein a reflecting surface of the reflector has a structure in which a plurality of reflecting elements are arranged in rows in an up-and-down direction, and the plurality of reflecting elements arranged in rows are arranged as a plurality of sets in a left-and-right direction,
the plurality of reflecting elements are arranged to be shifted from each other in the up-and-down direction in adjacent respective sets,
each of the reflecting elements is connected to at least one reflecting element which is adjacent thereto in the left-and-right direction and is shifted therefrom in the up-and-down direction, through a boundary line extending from a vertical plane in an inclined direction in the left-and-right direction,
a surface of each of the reflecting elements is composed of a curved surface which has a curvature of a horizontal section larger than a curvature of a vertical section, and
a plurality of diffusion reflecting elements extending in a front-and-rear direction of the vehicle are provided to be aligned in an up-and-down direction on a surface of a right wall of the reflector that is formed with a step when view from a rear side of the vehicle.

2. The vehicle lamp of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of reflecting elements are arranged to be shifted from each other by a half pitch in one of the up-and-down direction and the left-and-right direction, or both directions in the respective sets.

3. The vehicle lamp of claim 1 , wherein each of the reflecting elements has an outer shape having a greater up-and-down width than a left-and-right width.

4. The vehicle lamp of claim 1 , wherein the reflector is disposed below the light emitting element, and
the light emitting element is disposed such that a light emitting surface of the light emitting element faces downwards.

5. The vehicle lamp of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of sets of light emitting elements and reflectors are arranged.

6. The vehicle lamp of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of reflecting elements are arranged to be shifted from each other by a half pitch in the left-and-right direction while overlapping with each other by about ⅓ in the up-and-down direction.

7. The vehicle lamp of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of reflecting elements are arranged to overlap with each other by about ¼ in the left-and-right direction while overlapping with each other by about ⅓ in the up-and-down direction.

8. The vehicle lamp of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of reflecting elements are shifted from each other by a half pitch in the up-and-down direction while overlapping with each other about ¼ to ⅓ in the left-and-right direction.

9. The vehicle lamp of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of reflecting elements are shifted from each other by a half pitch in the left-and-right direction while overlapping with each other about ¼ in the up-and-down direction.

10. The vehicle lamp of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of lamp units is configured as a reflector unit including the light emitting element and the reflector, and is supported by a common support member.

Assignees

• Koito Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Matsumoto Masakazu
• Suzuki Takayuki

Classifications

• F21S41/335 Primary

  with continuity at the junction between adjacent areas · CPC title

• F21S43/14

  Light emitting diodes [LED] · CPC title

• F21V7/09

  with a combination of different curvatures · CPC title

• F21V7/048

  with facets structure · CPC title

• F21S43/19

  Attachment of light sources or lamp holders · CPC title