JP3071372B2 - Vehicle lighting - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicular lamp such as a headlight or a taillight, and more particularly to a structure for giving a three-dimensional appearance to a light emitting surface of the vehicular lamp. It is related to.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional vehicle lamp of this type has a structure as shown in FIGS. 6 to 8. First, a vehicle lamp 90 according to a first example has a light source as shown in FIGS. The housing 91 includes a housing 92, a reflecting mirror 93 (shown as an integrated example) provided separately or integrally with the housing 92, and a lens 94.

At this time, the reflecting mirror 93 is formed as a paraboloid of revolution, and the light from the light source 91 is made to enter a lens 94 as a parallel ray.
For example, as shown in FIG. 7, a compound eye lens cut 94a is formed on the lens surface 4 by dividing the lens surface by parallel lines of equal pitch and providing convex or concave lenses for each of the divided sections. This is to obtain a light distribution characteristic by appropriately diffusing the parallel light rays from the light 93.

[0004] Therefore, the vehicle lamp 90 is viewed as it is, for example, in the state of the lens 94 which is shaped in conformity with the design of the vehicle body when it is lit or not. Incidentally, as the shape when partitioning the lens surface, in addition to the above-mentioned square, a rectangle, a rhombus, a regular hexagonal shape is generally used, but in each case, each of the sections has the same shape and size. Is done. In some cases, a Fresnel lens is disposed between the light source 91 and the lens 94 in place of the reflecting mirror 93 to obtain a parallel light beam.

[0005] A vehicle lamp 80 of a second example shown in FIG.
In this configuration, a light source 81, a housing 82, and a reflecting mirror 83 having the same configuration as in the first example are provided, and a light distribution control lens 84 and an outer lens 85 are replaced with one lens 94 of the conventional example. It is assumed that two sheets are provided.

The light distribution control lens 84 is divided into sections having the same shape and size as in the vehicle lamp 90 of the first example, and is provided with a compound eye lens cut 84a. Is a quadratic surface. Further, the outer lens 85 is, for example, made to conform to the vehicle body shape, and is not subjected to any lens cutting.

Therefore, if the outer lens 85 is made colorless and transparent in the vehicular lamp 80 of the second example, the shape of the light distribution control lens 84 can be visually observed both when illuminated and when not illuminated, and a three-dimensional effect can be obtained. In addition, if the outer lens 85 is set to a middle gray (neutral gray), the shape of the outer lens 85 is visually observed when not lit, and the shape of the light distribution control lens 84 is visually observed when lit, so that a three-dimensional effect is obtained. It will be.

[0008]

However, in the above-described vehicle lamp 90 of the first example, the compound eye lens cut 94a having the same shape and size is continuous when not lit, and is planar, and also when lit. Since it does not change the impression, there is a problem that it is difficult to produce a sense of quality.

Although the vehicle lamp 80 of the second example certainly provides a three-dimensional effect and is suitable for producing a high-grade appearance, it requires two light distribution control lenses 84 and an outer lens 85. And the number of parts and molds increase,
As a result, the number of assembling steps also increases, causing a problem that the cost of the vehicle lamp 80 as a whole increases.

In the vehicle lamp 80 of the second example, since the light distribution control lens 84 has a compound eye lens cut 84a formed on a curved surface, it is difficult to manufacture a mold.
In addition to the cost increase, the curved surface provided to the light distribution control lens 84 is limited to a simple curved surface such as a quadratic curved surface due to the above-mentioned difficulty, and there is a problem that the degree of freedom in design is limited. The solution of this point has been an issue.

[0011]

According to the present invention, as a specific means for solving the above-mentioned conventional problems, there is provided a virtual plane provided with a cross hatch pattern in which a plurality of lines parallel at equal pitches intersect with each other. Assuming that the virtual plane is convex,
A lens according to the cross-hatch pattern when the cross-hatch pattern is deformed by applying plastic deformation in a concave surface or an arbitrary shape in which both are combined to form a processed surface, and the processed surface is orthogonally projected onto a lens surface. An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described conventional problem by providing a vehicle lamp characterized by being cut.

[0012]

Next, the present invention will be described in detail based on an embodiment shown in the drawings. 1 is a vehicular lamp according to the present invention. The vehicular lamp 1 includes a light source 2, a housing 3, and a housing 3 as shown in a sectional view.
A reflecting mirror 4 formed integrally with or separately from the light source 2 and reflecting the light from the light source 2 as a parallel light beam; and a lens cut 5a for appropriately diffusing the parallel light beam from the reflecting mirror 4 to a rear lens surface. 13 and a single lens 5, and has a configuration similar to that described in the first example of the conventional example (see FIGS. 6 and 7).

Here, the present invention is characterized by a lens cut 5a formed on the lens surface 13 of the lens 5, and an example of means for forming the lens cut 5a will be described below with reference to FIG. First, in the present invention, it is assumed that a transparent virtual plane 10 is provided with a cross hatch pattern 11 in which a plurality of straight lines parallel at equal pitches intersect at right angles, for example.

Next, it is assumed that a part or all of the imaginary plane 10 is deformed, for example, as a substantially hemispherical surface with respect to the imaginary plane 10.
Note that, when the deformation from the virtual plane 10 to the processing surface 12 is caused, specifically, it is assumed that the virtual plane 10 is plastically deformed by press working or the like and three-dimensionalized.

As described above, from the virtual plane 10 to the processing surface 12
The cross hatch-shaped pattern 11 provided on the virtual plane 10 by performing the deformation into the virtual plane 10 expands the pitch interval in a portion where the virtual plane 10 is elongated by plastic deformation, and In a portion where the contraction occurs, a change occurs that narrows the pitch interval.

Subsequently, in the present invention, the processing surface 12 processed as described above is orthographically projected onto the lens surface 13, and at this time, the virtual plane 10 is plastically deformed onto the processing surface 12. Information is projected as a change in pitch interval, and where the processing surface 12 is inclined with respect to the lens surface 13, a three-dimensional object such as a reduced pitch interval is substantially flattened again. The resulting information is also projected.

FIG. 3 is a partial front view of the lens surface 13. The cross hatch pattern 11, which has been formed on the imaginary plane 10 by the above-described process and is entirely composed of straight lines, is shown in FIG. , A modified cross hatch pattern 14 including the curved lines. It should be noted that the process for obtaining the modified cross hatch pattern 14 does not need to actually perform press working on the virtual plane 11 as described above.
It may be processed and formed in a computer by means such as D.

In the vehicular lamp 1 of the present invention, the above-described modified cross hatch pattern 14 is employed for the lens cut 5a, and the lens 5 is one unit of the modified cross hatch pattern 14 shown in FIG. A plurality of units are combined to form a lens cut 5a.

At this time, the modified cross hatch pattern 14 is a modified cross hatch pattern 11 which originally forms a section 14a in which straight lines intersect with each other. When the lens cut 5a is adopted, the section 14 is formed.
Each of a is, for example, formed in a convex lens shape and appropriately diffuses parallel light rays from the reflecting mirror 4 to generate light distribution characteristics.

Note that, in the above embodiment, the section 1
4a is cut into a convex lens shape to be suitable as a vehicle lamp for a signal such as a taillight. However, by replacing the convex lens shape with a prism shape, a vehicle lamp for illumination such as a headlight is used. It can also be applied as

Next, the operation and effects of the vehicular lamp 1 of the present invention having the above configuration will be described. Since the lens cut 5a is a modified cross hatch pattern 14, the lens cut 5a includes information on the three-dimensional shape of the processing surface 12 which is the basis when the modified cross hatch pattern 14 is formed. ing.

Therefore, when the lens 5 of the vehicular lamp 1 is viewed, an optical illusion (optical illusion) occurs even though the lens 5 is formed substantially in a plane.
, And have the perception that it is formed as a three-dimensional object. Therefore, the vehicle lamp 1 can obtain a three-dimensional effect despite the extremely simple configuration of the single lens 5.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the present invention. In the previous embodiment, the modified cross hatch pattern 14 is formed by forming a processing surface 12 having a substantially hemispherical convex portion (the same applies to a concave portion) to a lens surface 13. However, in this embodiment, a deformed cross hatch pattern 24 as shown in the figure is obtained by projecting a machined surface on which a substantially donut-shaped convex portion is formed.

That is, in the present invention, the three-dimensional shape applied to the processing surface is not limited, and may be a quadrangle, a triangle, a hexagon, or the like, as well as a circular shape as in each of the above embodiments. The basic one may be used.
The shape may be appropriately selected according to the shape of the vehicle lamp 1 or the shape of the vehicle to which the vehicle lamp 1 is attached.

FIG. 5 shows still another embodiment of the present invention. In each of the preceding embodiments, a three-dimensionally shaped (so-called three-dimensionally curved) machined surface in which two orthogonal directions are curved is projected onto a lens surface. To obtain the modified cross hatch patterns 14 and 24, whereas the modified cross hatch pattern 3
Reference numeral 4 denotes an example in which the present invention is applied to a three-dimensional shape (a so-called two-dimensional curved surface) in which one of two orthogonal directions such as a cylindrical surface is a straight line.

In this case, since one of the parallel lines intersecting the cross-hatch pattern may not change due to the three-dimensional structure, in such a case, the projection may be appropriately performed between the processing surface and the lens surface. By providing the inclination in the direction, a curve change is generated while maintaining the same pitch as shown in the figure, and the three-dimensional effect can be enhanced. It becomes possible.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention, a plastic deformation is applied to the virtual plane provided with the cross hatch pattern in a convex surface, a concave surface, or an arbitrary shape in which both are combined to give the cross hatch pattern. By giving a change, by making the vehicle lamp having a lens cut in accordance with the cross hatch pattern when this virtual plane is projected on the lens surface, a three-dimensional shape is formed in a substantially flat and one lens. It is assumed that information is included, and that an illusion is caused to the viewer to create a three-dimensional effect, thereby enabling a high-grade effect to be produced without complicating the configuration of the vehicular lamp. It has an extremely excellent effect.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of a vehicular lamp according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a lens cut forming unit of the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing the same lens cut.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing another embodiment of the vehicular lamp according to the present invention in a main part.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing still another embodiment of the vehicular lamp according to the present invention in a main part.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a conventional example.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing a main part of a conventional example.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing another conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vehicle lamp 2 ... Light source 3 ... Housing 4 ... Reflection mirror 5 ... Lens 5a ... Lens cut 10 ... Virtual plane 11 ... Cross hatch pattern 12 ... Processing surface 13 ... Lens surface 14, 24, 34: Cross-hatched pattern

Continuation of front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) F21S 8/10 F21V 5/00

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. Assuming a virtual plane provided with a cross hatch pattern in which a plurality of lines parallel to each other at equal pitches intersect, a plastic deformation is performed on the virtual plane with a convex surface, a concave surface, or an arbitrary shape in which both are combined. The cross hatched pattern is deformed to give a processed surface, and a lens cut according to the cross hatched pattern when the processed surface is orthogonally projected on a lens surface is provided. Lights.