DLP Headlamp

Abstract

The present invention provides a DLP (Digital Light Processing) vehicle headlamp. The DLP vehicle headlamp includes an illumination light source, a digital micromirror device (DMD), an imaging lens, and an OFF light utilization device. Among them, the illumination light source is used to emit illumination light; the digital micromirror device has an ON state and an OFF state, and the digital micromirror device is used to receive the illumination light irradiation and generate first reflected light and second reflected light in the ON state and the OFF state respectively; the imaging lens is used to receive the first reflected light in the ON state to form high beam illumination; the OFF light utilization device is used to receive the second reflected light in the OFF state to form low beam illumination. The DLP vehicle headlamp provided by the present invention uses the ON state and the OFF state of the digital micromirror device for high beam and low beam illumination, which can effectively improve the light utilization efficiency and achieve small volume and high brightness.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of automotive lighting, and particularly relates to a DLP vehicle headlamp. Background Art

[0002] The vehicle headlamp is configured to illuminate the front of the vehicle, and is one of many safety devices configured to avoid accidents by providing a wide field of view in front of the driver through such illumination. Among them, the beam pattern achieved by the headlamp can be a low beam (LB) mode, a high beam (HB) mode, or an adaptive driving beam (ADB) mode.

[0003] The ADB mode is a type of beam pattern achieved by intelligent headlamps, and is a mode in which the direction and angle of the illumination light are automatically controlled according to driving conditions. The ADB mode is a technology that detects the vehicle in front through a camera detector and automatically switches the HB mode to the LB mode and the LB mode to the HB mode. Specifically, the ADB mode is a technology designed to avoid glare to the driver in the oncoming vehicle when an oncoming vehicle appears while the HB mode is on, by switching the HB mode to the LB mode or forming a shadow area.

[0004] However, the ADB mode is large in volume, high in cost, and low in efficiency. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The present application provides a DLP vehicle headlamp to solve the technical problems of large volume, high cost, and low efficiency of the ADB mode in the prior art.

[0006] To solve the above technical problems, a technical solution adopted by the present application is: providing a DLP vehicle headlamp, the DLP vehicle headlamp comprising:

[0007] An illumination light source for emitting illumination light;

[0008] A digital micromirror device having an ON state and an OFF state, the digital micromirror device being configured to receive the illumination light and generate a first reflected light and a second reflected light in the ON state and the OFF state respectively;

[0009] An imaging lens for receiving the first reflected light in the ON state to form a high beam illumination;

[0010] An OFF light utilization device for receiving the second reflected light in the OFF state to form a low beam illumination.

[0011] According to a specific embodiment of the present invention, the OFF light utilization device is a free-form reflector, and the second reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device is emitted after being reflected by the free-form reflector.

[0012] According to a specific embodiment of the present invention, a folding mirror is provided between the optical paths of the free-form reflector and the digital micromirror device, and the folding mirror reflects the second reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device to the free-form reflector.

[0013] According to a specific embodiment of the present invention, the OFF light utilization device includes a reflector and a free-form lens, and the second reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device is emitted after being reflected by the reflector and then passing through the free-form lens.

[0014] According to a specific embodiment of the present invention, the OFF light utilization device includes a prism and a free-form lens, and the second reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device is emitted after being reflected by the prism and then passing through the free-form lens.

[0015] According to a specific embodiment of the present invention, the OFF light utilization device is an integral part having an optical plane and a free-form surface, and the second reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device enters through the optical plane and then exits through the free-form surface.

[0016] According to a specific embodiment of the present invention, the OFF light utilization device includes an optical integrating rod and a free-form lens, and the second reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device is emitted after being homogenized by the optical integrating rod and then passing through the free-form lens.

[0017] According to a specific embodiment of the present invention, the optical integrating rod and the curved lens are an integral part.

[0018] According to a specific embodiment of the present invention, when the optical integrating rod is a hollow square rod, the free-form lens is directly attached to the output end of the optical integrating rod;

[0019] When the optical integrating rod is a solid square rod, the output end of the optical integrating rod is a free-form surface.

[0020] According to a specific embodiment of the present invention, the illumination light source is a halogen lamp, a xenon lamp, an LED, a laser fluorescence or a laser, and the illumination light source directly irradiates the digital micromirror device, or the illumination light source irradiates the digital micromirror device through a TIR prism or an RTIR prism.

[0021] The beneficial effects of this application are as follows: Different from the prior art, the DLP headlight provided by the present invention has a novel structure, is stable and reliable, uses the ON state and OFF state of the Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) for high beam and low beam illumination, can effectively improve the light utilization efficiency, and realizes small volume, high brightness and low cost. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the following will briefly introduce the drawings required for the description of the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application. For those of ordinary skill in the art, without creative efforts, other drawings can also be obtained based on these drawings, where:

[0023] Figure 1A and Figure 1B is a simplified optical path schematic diagram of the DLP headlight provided by the first embodiment of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 2 is a simplified optical path schematic diagram of the DLP headlight provided by the second embodiment of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 3 is a simplified optical path schematic diagram of the DLP headlight provided by the third embodiment of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 4 is a simplified optical path schematic diagram of the DLP headlight provided by the fourth embodiment of the present invention;

[0027] Figure 5 is a simplified optical path schematic diagram of the DLP headlight provided by the fifth embodiment of the present invention;

[0028] Figure 6 is a simplified optical path schematic diagram of the DLP headlight provided by the embodiments of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0029] The following will clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts belong to the scope of protection of the present application.

[0030] It should be noted that if there are directional indications (such as up, down, left, right, front, back...) involved in the embodiments of the present invention, the directional indications are only used to explain the relative positional relationship, movement conditions, etc. between components in a specific posture (as shown in the attached drawings). If the specific posture changes, the directional indications will also change accordingly.

[0031] In addition, if there are descriptions such as "first", "second", etc. involved in the embodiments of the present invention, the descriptions of "first", "second", etc. are only for descriptive purposes and cannot be understood as indicating or implying their relative importance or implicitly specifying the quantity of the indicated technical features. Thus, the features defined with "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one such feature. In addition, the technical solutions between various embodiments can be combined with each other, but it must be based on the ability of those of ordinary skill in the art to implement. When the combination of technical solutions results in contradictions or cannot be implemented, it should be considered that such a combination of technical solutions does not exist and is not within the protection scope required by the present invention.

[0032] Please refer to Figure 6 , an embodiment of the present invention provides a DLP (Digital Light Processing) vehicle lamp. The DLP vehicle lamp includes a lighting light source 301, a digital micromirror device (DMD) 302, an imaging lens 303, and an OFF light utilization device 304.

[0033] Among them, the lighting light source 301 is used to emit lighting light. The lighting light source 301 can be a halogen lamp, a xenon lamp, an LED, a laser fluorescence, or a laser. The lighting light source 301 can directly irradiate the digital micromirror device 302, or the lighting light source 301 irradiates the digital micromirror device 302 through a TIR prism or an RTIR prism.

[0034] The digital micromirror device 302 has an ON state and an OFF state. The digital micromirror device 302 is used to receive the irradiation of lighting light and generate first reflected light and second reflected light in the ON state and the OFF state respectively.

[0035] The digital micromirror device 302 has hundreds of thousands of micromirrors arranged in a checkerboard shape. Among them, the micromirrors are multi-layer metals carrying electrical signals, having the function of reflecting incident light, and performing independent tilting operations at an extremely high speed in response to digital input signals obtained by the pulse width modulation (PWM) method. The digital micromirror device 302 can perform tilting operations: it rotates +12 degrees or -12 degrees in response to the ON state or OFF state of the digital input signal, and can adjust the brightness of the light to be illuminated by using the ratio of the time staying in the ON state and the time staying in the OFF state.

[0036] The imaging lens 303 is used to receive the first reflected light in the ON state to form a high beam illumination.

[0037] The OFF light utilization device 304 is used to receive the second reflected light in the OFF state to form a low beam illumination.

[0038] Specifically, please refer to Figure 1A , in the first embodiment of the present invention, the OFF light utilization device is a free-form surface reflector 404. The second reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device 402 is reflected by the free-form surface reflector 404 and then emitted to form a low beam illumination. When the digital micromirror device 402 is in the ON state, the first reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device 402 is emitted through the imaging lens 403 to form a high beam illumination.

[0039] Furthermore, as Figure 1B shown, a fold mirror 405 can be provided between the optical paths of the free-form surface reflector 404 and the digital micromirror device 402. The fold mirror 405 reflects the second reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device 402 to the free-form surface reflector 404 to reduce the volume of the free-form surface reflector 404.

[0040] Please refer to Figure 2 , in the second embodiment of the present invention, the OFF light utilization device includes a reflector 504 and a free-form surface lens 505. The second reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device 502 is reflected by the reflector 504 and then emitted through the free-form surface lens 505 to form a low beam illumination. When the digital micromirror device 502 is in the ON state, the first reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device 502 is emitted through the imaging lens 503 to form a high beam illumination.

[0041] Please refer to Figure 3 , in the third embodiment of the present invention, the OFF light utilization device includes a prism 604 and a free-form surface lens 605. The second reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device 602 is totally reflected by the prism 604 and then emitted through the free-form surface lens 605 to form a low beam illumination. When the digital micromirror device 602 is in the ON state, the first reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device 602 is emitted through the imaging lens 603 to form a high beam illumination.

[0042] Please refer to Figure 4, in the fourth embodiment of the present invention, the OFF-light utilization device is an integrated part 704, which has an optical plane and a free-form surface. The second reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device 702 enters through the optical plane and then exits through the free-form surface to form low-beam illumination. When the digital micromirror device 702 is in the ON state, the first reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device 702 is emitted through the imaging lens 703 to form high-beam illumination. Compared with the third embodiment, one optical element is reduced in this embodiment, which can improve the efficiency and brightness.

[0043] Please refer to Figure 5 , in the fifth embodiment of the present invention, the OFF-light utilization device includes an optical integrating rod 804 and a free-form surface lens 805. The second reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device 802 is homogenized by the optical integrating rod 804 and then emitted through the free-form surface lens 805 to form low-beam illumination. When the digital micromirror device 802 is in the ON state, the first reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device 802 is emitted through the imaging lens 803 to form high-beam illumination.

[0044] Among them, the optical integrating rod 804 and the curved surface lens can be separate parts or an integrated part. When the optical integrating rod 804 is a hollow square rod, the free-form surface lens 805 can be directly attached to the output end of the optical integrating rod 804; when the optical integrating rod 804 is a solid square rod, the output end of the optical integrating rod 804 is a free-form surface.

[0045] In summary, those skilled in the art can easily understand that the DLP headlight structure provided by the present invention is novel, stable and reliable. By using the ON state and OFF state of the digital micromirror device 802 (Digital Micromirror Device, DMD) for high-beam and low-beam illumination, it can effectively improve the light utilization efficiency and achieve small volume, high brightness and low cost.

[0046] The above are only the embodiments of the present invention, and do not limit the patent scope of the present invention. Any equivalent structure or equivalent process transformation made by using the content of the specification and drawings of the present invention, or directly or indirectly applied in other related technical fields, shall be equally included in the patent protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A DLP vehicle headlamp, characterized in that, The DLP vehicle lamp includes: A lighting light source for emitting lighting light rays; A digital micromirror device having an ON state and an OFF state, the digital micromirror device being configured to receive the illumination of the lighting light rays and generate first reflected light and second reflected light in the ON state and the OFF state, respectively; An imaging lens for receiving the first reflected light in the ON state to form a high beam illumination; An OFF light utilization device for receiving the second reflected light in the OFF state to form a low beam illumination; The OFF light utilization device is a free-form reflector, and the second reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device is emitted after being reflected by the free-form reflector.

2. The DLP vehicle headlamp according to claim 1, wherein: A folding mirror is provided between the optical paths of the free-form reflector and the digital micromirror device, and the folding mirror reflects the second reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device to the free-form reflector.

3. A DLP vehicle headlight, characterized in that, The DLP vehicle lamp includes: A lighting light source for emitting lighting light rays; A digital micromirror device having an ON state and an OFF state, the digital micromirror device being configured to receive the illumination of the lighting light rays and generate first reflected light and second reflected light in the ON state and the OFF state, respectively; An imaging lens for receiving the first reflected light in the ON state to form a high beam illumination; An OFF light utilization device for receiving the second reflected light in the OFF state to form a low beam illumination; The OFF light utilization device includes a reflecting mirror and a free-form lens, and the second reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device is emitted after being reflected by the reflecting mirror and then passing through the free-form lens.

4. A DLP vehicle headlamp, characterized in that, The DLP vehicle lamp includes: A lighting light source for emitting lighting light rays; A digital micromirror device having an ON state and an OFF state, the digital micromirror device being configured to receive the illumination of the lighting light rays and generate first reflected light and second reflected light in the ON state and the OFF state, respectively; An imaging lens for receiving the first reflected light in the ON state to form a high beam illumination; An OFF light utilization device for receiving the second reflected light in the OFF state to form a low beam illumination; The OFF light utilization device includes a prism and a free-form lens, and the second reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device is emitted after being reflected by the prism and then passing through the free-form lens.

5. A DLP vehicle headlamp, characterized in that, The DLP vehicle lamp includes: A lighting light source for emitting lighting light rays; A digital micromirror device having an ON state and an OFF state, the digital micromirror device being configured to receive the illumination of the lighting light rays and generate first reflected light and second reflected light in the ON state and the OFF state, respectively; An imaging lens for receiving the first reflected light in the ON state to form a high beam illumination; An OFF light utilization device for receiving the second reflected light in the OFF state to form a low beam illumination; The OFF light utilization device is a one-piece body having an optical plane and a free-form surface, and the second reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device enters through the optical plane and then is emitted through the free-form surface.

6. A DLP vehicle headlight, characterized in that, The DLP vehicle lamp includes: A lighting light source for emitting lighting light rays; A digital micromirror device, having an ON state and an OFF state, is configured to receive the illumination light and generate first reflected light and second reflected light in the ON state and the OFF state respectively; An imaging lens, configured to receive the first reflected light in the ON state to form a high beam illumination; An OFF light utilization device, configured to receive the second reflected light in the OFF state to form a low beam illumination; The OFF light utilization device includes an optical integrating rod and a freeform lens. The second reflected light generated by the digital micromirror device is homogenized by the optical integrating rod and then emitted through the freeform lens.

7. The DLP vehicle headlamp according to claim 6, wherein: The optical integrating rod and the freeform lens are an integral part.

8. The DLP vehicle headlamp according to claim 7, wherein: When the optical integrating rod is a hollow square rod, the freeform lens is directly attached to the output end of the optical integrating rod; When the optical integrating rod is a solid square rod, the output end of the optical integrating rod is a freeform surface.

9. The DLP vehicle headlamp according to claim 1, wherein, The illumination light source is a halogen lamp, a xenon lamp, an LED, a laser fluorescence or a laser. The illumination light source directly irradiates the digital micromirror device, or the illumination light source irradiates the digital micromirror device through a TIR prism or an RTIR prism.

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