Automobile signal light optical system

Abstract

The present invention provides an automotive signal light optical system, which comprises, in sequence: an LED light source, a thick-walled light guide structure, an optical solution adopting a line focus, and a solution in which the LED light source is placed obliquely and directly incident. Compared with the traditional vertical placement solution, since the placement position of the printed circuit board carrying and integrating the light source LED is inclined and at an angle to the vertical plane, the optical structure of the optical component inside the vehicle lamp also needs to be located close to the light source. However, compared with the vertical plane, the solution of the inclined plane saves the optical structure of the triangular area formed by the inclined plane and the theoretical vertical plane, which can save plastic costs and reduce product costs. In addition, the light input end is a line focus, the opening size is large, and the system efficiency is also high. It can achieve the function of sharing the same optical system for turn signals, position lights, and daytime running lights, and meet the three-in-one function requirement when the vehicle is narrow.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of automobile lamp lighting design, and in particular to an automobile signal light optical system. Background Art

[0002] With the development of the automotive industry, increasingly innovative and avant-garde vehicle styling has become a trend among OEMs. Novel, cool, unique, minimalist, and even futuristic styling are no longer just a concept; many have become research subjects and are entering the design phase, with some even becoming mass-produced products. Accompanying this automotive development trend, headlights, as a crucial and crucial component, are experiencing current and future development trends that are largely aligned with these broader automotive trends. As headlights play a significant role in both styling and functionality, they face increasingly challenging design challenges to meet styling trends, regulatory requirements, and functionality. This is particularly evident in the increasing demands placed on headlights by consumers and OEMs for space, lighting methods, uniform lighting, and cost.

[0003] Existing vehicle lights are designed with functional multiplexing, especially the three-in-one functional multiplexing of turn signals, daytime running lights, and position lights. This is a commonly used concept. However, existing optical systems used to achieve this three-in-one functional multiplexing have the following problems and defects:

[0004] The primary issue is lack of space. Combined with the current trend of increasingly narrow headlight design spaces, this problem is becoming increasingly difficult to resolve, becoming an unavoidable bottleneck in headlight design. In particular, the side-incident solution commonly used in existing technologies takes up a large amount of space and cannot meet the needs of customers with narrow design requirements. (Here, we explain the concepts of side-incident and its counterpart, direct-incident. Side-incident refers to a light source located at the side of an optical component. The light must first be reflected, collimated, or otherwise redirected by a portion of the optical structure's surface before emitting in the direction of the light-emitting surface. This is usually based on the vehicle body coordinate system. Direct-incident refers to a light source located on the light-emitting direction axis of the light-emitting surface, while side-incident refers to a light source located at a certain angle to the light-emitting direction axis of the light-emitting surface. This means that there is an angle between the light source axis and the light-emitting direction.)

[0005] Secondly, when using a direct-incident solution, existing technologies typically employ a vertical placement of LEDs (i.e., the printed circuit board (PCB) carrying and integrating the LED light source is placed within the YZ plane defined by the Y and Z axes of the vehicle body's coordinate system). This results in the optical components' structure being located close to the light source within the headlight, resulting in a high consumption of plastic or other molding materials for the optical components, leading to high costs.

[0006] Furthermore, in existing optical systems that achieve three functions in one, a single light input port ensures both yellow light for turning and white light for daytime running lights / position lights. This means that a single light input port needs to cover two LEDs of different colors. If the conventional point focus solution of the existing technology is used, in order to prioritize the uniformity of the daytime running lights / position lights and meet regulatory requirements (this is because, compared to turn signals, which only light up when the vehicle turns, daytime running lights are always on during the day, so the daytime light function must be prioritized), the light source of the daytime running lights / position lights will be prioritized at the focal point, causing the light source of the turn signal to be out of focus, resulting in very low efficiency of the turn signal and non-compliance with regulations. To address this problem of low efficiency and non-compliance with regulations for turning, the existing technology uses a large number of LED light sources to meet regulatory requirements, but this inevitably leads to cost pressure and heat dissipation problems caused by the concentration of multiple LED light sources.

[0007] It should also be pointed out that the uniformity of the final lighting effect of the combination of the direct incidence solution and the point focus concept is often defective. Summary of the Invention

[0008] In response to the shortcomings of the existing technology, the purpose of the present invention is to provide an automotive signal light optical system, redesign the optical surface and optical structure of the optical components, adopt a line focus optical solution, and combine the LED light source with an inclined placement and direct incidence solution. Compared with the traditional LED vertical placement solution, it can save plastic costs. Compared with the traditional side incidence solution, it can save structural space and meet the layout of a small space. In addition, compared with the traditional point focus solution, the light incident end of the present invention is a line focus, the efficiency of the optical system is higher, and after sufficient light mixing on the side wall, the lighting uniformity is also very good. When realizing the three-in-one function of turn signal light, position light, and daytime running light, the number of LEDs used in the present invention is greatly reduced, which can reduce product costs and greatly increase customer competitiveness.

[0009] The present invention provides an automotive signal light optical system, which comprises in sequence: a thick-walled light guide structure and an LED light source. The thick-walled light guide structure is composed of at least one repeated thick-walled single collimating unit stacked in sequence. The LED light source corresponds to each thick-walled single collimating unit in the thick-walled light guide structure one-to-one. Each of the thick-walled single collimating units comprises an optical structure, a side wall, and a light-emitting surface. The LED light source adopts a direct incidence method. The LED light source is located on the axis of the light-emitting direction. The LED light source is tilted, that is, the placement position of the printed circuit board carrying and integrating the light source LED is at a certain angle to the YZ plane formed by the Y-axis and Z-axis of the vehicle body coordinate system, and is in an inclined state. The optical structure is located at the light-incident end of the single collimating unit of the thick-walled part. The optical structure is a single-dimensional collimating structure generated by linear stretching along the thickness direction of the thick-walled light guide structure. The focus of the optical structure is a line focus. Combined with sufficient light mixing passing through the side wall, the uniformity and optical effect of the emitted light are guaranteed.

[0010] A further improvement is that the LED light source includes n LED groups, each group of LEDs includes an LED light source with at least one function, that is, there can be only one LED light source, or two LED light sources of different colors, preferably including a turn signal LED light source and a daytime running light / position light LED light source, and each LED group of the LED light source is arranged corresponding to the optical structure of the single collimation unit of each thick-walled part, that is, when there is only one LED light source, the LED light source is located at the linear focus position of the corresponding thick-walled light guide structure, and when there are two LED light sources of different colors, the two LEDs are both located at the linear focus, and the light emitted by the LED light source is a spherical wave.

[0011] A further improvement is that the thick-walled light guide structure is composed of n repeated thick-walled single collimating units stacked in sequence, each responsible for uniform lighting of the light guide in its own area width. Finally, n repeated thick-walled single collimating units are combined into a whole to achieve uniform lighting of the entire area. The n=L Projected / l element , where L Projected l is the length of the center line of the thick-walled light guide projected onto the plane perpendicular to the direction of travel, element The width of a single unit.

[0012] A further improvement is that the light-emitting surfaces of the thick-walled light-guiding structure as a whole are the front light-emitting surface and the top light-emitting surface. The front light-emitting surface is used to meet the requirements of legal lighting distribution, and the top light-emitting surface is used to meet the requirements of uniform lighting of the vehicle lamp shape. The light-emitting surface of at least one single collimating unit of the thick-walled part is part or all of the front light-emitting surface, or part or all of the top light-emitting surface, or includes part of the front light-emitting surface and part of the top light-emitting surface at the same time according to specific shape requirements.

[0013] A further improvement is that the LED light source includes two colors of LEDs, yellow and white, to realize the three functions of turn signal, position light, and daytime running light. The length of the line focus of the optical structure of the line focus of the light incident end of a single collimating unit of the thick-walled part is equal to the thickness h of the thick-walled light guide structure, and the width range of h is 6-20mm, which can realize the simultaneous placement of yellow and white LEDs. In order to better lighting uniformity, the present invention uses large-sized yellow and white LEDs. The larger LED light-emitting surface allows the LED to cover more of the line focus. In optical principles, the more the line focus is covered by the light source, the more uniform the lighting effect will be.

[0014] A further improvement is that a single collimating unit of the thick-walled part includes, in sequence: an optical structure at the light input end, a sidewall area, and a light output surface. The optical structure includes, in sequence: a first optical surface, a second optical surface, and a third optical surface. The first optical surface will refract and collimate the light incident thereon forward. Since it is an optical structure with a line focus, the light refracted and collimated by the first optical surface will be reflected back and forth on the side wall to complete the light mixing, thereby ensuring the uniformity and optical effect of the outgoing light, and finally forming the outgoing light; the second optical surface and the third optical surface need to work together to achieve light collimation. The light incident on the second optical surface will continue to propagate forward. When it encounters the totally reflecting third optical surface, the light is refracted and collimated forward. Then, for the optical system with a line focus, it needs to be reflected back and forth on the side wall to complete the light mixing until it hits the light output surface, and finally forms the outgoing light. At this time, the single collimating unit of the thick-walled part is completely and evenly illuminated.

[0015] A further improvement is that there are special requirements for the design of the second optical surface and the third optical surface. The light incident on the second optical surface must be covered by the third optical surface after being refracted by the second optical surface (that is, the light propagation of the light refracted by the second optical surface in the direction of its refracted light must be included in the range of the third optical surface, ensuring that the light refracted by the second optical surface will hit the third optical surface for refracted collimation). Otherwise, the light will illuminate the upper area and form a strip-shaped bright spot. The key point to achieve the above-mentioned light refracted by the second optical surface will be covered by the third optical surface is to adjust the position of the inner edge a of the second optical surface through design so that the incident light is just totally reflected by the upper edge c of the third optical surface.

[0016] A further improvement lies in that, when the initially designed thick-walled part fails to ensure that the light after being refracted by the second optical surface is covered by the third optical surface, the optimization solution that can be adopted is also to adjust the position of the inner edge a of the second optical surface through design so that the incident light is just totally reflected by the upper edge c of the third optical surface. At this time, the strip-shaped bright spot in the upper area is just eliminated.

[0017] A further improvement is that the length of the linear focus of the optical structure is equal to the thickness h of the thick-walled light guide structure, and the width of h is in the range of 6-20 mm.

[0018] The LED light source can be a combination of different colors, allowing the optical system to simultaneously perform multiple different signal light functions. For example, if the first LED light source is a yellow LED light source, lighting it alone can function as a turn signal, while if the second LED light source is a white LED light source, lighting it alone can function as a daytime running light. Through PWM control, the white LED light source can also function as a position light, thus achieving multi-functional lighting in the same area.

[0019] The material used for the thick-walled light guide may be polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) or polycarbonate (PC).

[0020] The light distribution and scattering pattern on the light-emitting surface of the thick-walled light-guiding structure can be square, columnar, or other variable pattern shapes according to different design requirements. The pattern size can also be variable according to different design requirements to diffuse the light and make the lighting effect more uniform. The pattern area on the top light-emitting surface can be combined with leather texture to make the lighting effect of the top area more uniform.

[0021] The beneficial effects of the present invention are: adopting a line-focus optical solution, combined with an inclined placement and direct-incidence solution for the LED light source, compared with the traditional vertical placement solution, since the placement position of the printed circuit board that carries and integrates the light source LED is inclined and at an angle to the vertical plane, the optical structure of the optical component inside the car lamp also needs to be close to the light source, but compared with the vertical plane, the inclined plane solution saves the optical structure of the triangular area formed by it and the theoretical vertical plane, which can save plastic costs; compared with the traditional side-incidence solution, direct incidence can save structural space and meet the layout of a small space. In addition, compared with the traditional point-focus solution, the light incident end of the present invention is a line focus, which can ensure that the light sources for realizing multiple functions are all on the line focus. The optical system has high efficiency and can meet regulatory requirements. After sufficient light mixing on the side wall, the lighting uniformity is also very good. When realizing the three-in-one function of turn signal, position light and daytime running light, the number of LEDs used is greatly reduced, which not only reduces product costs, but also optimizes heat dissipation problems, greatly increasing customer competitiveness. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] Figure 1 It is a side view of the device structure of the present invention.

[0023] Figure 2 It is a front view of the device structure of the present invention.

[0024] Figure 3It is a rear view of the device structure of the present invention.

[0025] Figure 4 This is a two-dimensional optical path principle diagram of the present invention.

[0026] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the three-dimensional optical path of the present invention.

[0027] Figure 6 Schematic diagram of the bright stripe above.

[0028] Among them: 1-thick-walled light guide structure, 2-LED light source, 3-single collimating unit of thick-walled part, 41-front light emitting surface, 42-top light emitting surface, 5-optical structure, 6-side wall, 7-outgoing light, 8-thickness direction of thick-walled light guide structure, 9-strip bright spot, 10-line focus, 21-yellow light LED, 22-white light LED, 51-first optical surface, 52-second optical surface, 53-third optical surface. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] In order to deepen the understanding of the present invention, the present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the examples. The examples are only used to explain the present invention and do not constitute a limitation on the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0030] In order to make the above-mentioned objects, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and easy to understand, the specific embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0031] Figure 1 The optical system of an automobile signal light provided in this embodiment includes: a thick-walled light guide structure 1, an LED light source 2, wherein the LED light source 2 includes n LED groups, each LED group includes a turn signal LED light source and a daytime running light / position light LED light source, and the emitted light is a spherical wave. The LED light source 2 adopts a direct incidence method, such as Figure 1 The LED light source 2 is located on the light emitting direction axis and on the right side of the single collimating unit 3 of the thick-walled part. The LED light source is placed obliquely, that is, the placement position of the printed circuit board carrying and integrating the light source LED (the plane connected by the multiple LEDs shown in the figure) is aligned with the YZ plane formed by the Y axis and Z axis of the vehicle body coordinate system ( Figure 1 The thick-walled light guide structure 1 is formed by stacking n repeated thick-walled single collimating units 3 in sequence, each responsible for uniform lighting of the light guide in its own area width. Finally, the n repeated thick-walled single collimating units are combined into a whole to achieve uniform lighting of the entire area. Projected / l element , where L Projected l is the length of the center line of the thick-walled light guide projected onto the plane perpendicular to the direction of travel, elementThe width of a single unit.

[0032] Figure 2 This is a front view of the optical system of a vehicle signal light provided in this embodiment, which achieves uniform lighting of areas 41 and 42. The area 41 is used to meet the lighting requirements of the regulations, and the area 42 is used to meet the uniform lighting requirements of the vehicle lamp shape.

[0033] Figure 3 This is a front view and a rear view of the optical system of an automotive signal light provided in this embodiment. The LED light source 2 includes two colors of LEDs, yellow light 21 and white light 22, to realize the three functions of turn signal, position light, and daytime running light. The light input end of the single collimating unit 3 of the thick-walled member is composed of an optical structure 5. The optical structure 5 is a single-dimensional collimating structure that is generated by linear stretching along the thickness direction 8 of the thick-walled light guide structure. Therefore, the focus of the optical structure 5 in this embodiment is a line focus, as shown in FIG. Figure 3 The dashed box in the example shown represents the linear focus 10 of an optical structure 5. The length of the linear focus is equal to the thickness h of the thick-walled light guide structure 1, and the width h ranges from 6 to 20 mm. This allows for the simultaneous placement of yellow and white LEDs. To achieve better lighting uniformity, this embodiment utilizes large-sized yellow and white LEDs. This is because the larger LED light source provides greater coverage of the linear focus 10 due to its larger luminous surface. Based on optical principles, greater coverage of the linear focus by the light source results in better lighting uniformity.

[0034] Figure 4 and Figure 5 This is the optical path principle diagram of a single collimating unit 3 of a thick-walled part in this embodiment. The optical principle is to convert the angular spectrum distribution of LED light into spatial distribution. Figure 4 is the two-dimensional optical path principle diagram, Figure 5 The schematic diagram of the three-dimensional optical path shows that a single collimating unit 3 of a thick-walled part includes: an optical structure 5 at the light input end, a sidewall area 6, and a light-emitting surface (the light-emitting surface in each single collimating unit 3 of the thick-walled part is determined to be the front light-emitting surface 41 or the top light-emitting surface 42 according to the specific modeling requirements, as shown in FIG. Figure 4 As shown, the light emitting surfaces of the six thick-walled single collimating units 3 from bottom to top are the front light emitting surface 41, the light emitting surfaces of the seventh thick-walled single collimating unit 3 from bottom to top are the front light emitting surface 41 and the top light emitting surface 42, and the light emitting surface of the top thick-walled single collimating unit 3 is the top light emitting surface 42). The optical structure 5 includes: a first optical surface 51, a second optical surface 52 and a third optical surface 53. The first optical surface 51 will refract and collimate the light incident thereon. Since it is a line-focus optical structure, the light refracted and collimated by the first optical surface 51 will be reflected back and forth by the side wall 6 to complete the light mixing (it should be noted that Figure 4Can see from Figure 4 The dotted line represents the path of the light observed from the observation angle after being refracted through the first optical surface 51 and propagating toward the light-emitting surface. However, in fact, the light does not directly propagate toward the light-emitting surface after being collimated by a conventional point focus. For the optical system with a line focus, the light of this embodiment will be reflected back and forth between the side walls 6 on both sides to mix the light after being refracted and collimated through the first optical surface 51, thereby ensuring the uniformity and optical effect of the emitted light), until it hits the light-emitting surface, and finally forms an emitted light 7. The second optical surface 52 and the third optical surface 53 need to work together to achieve light collimation. The light incident on the second optical surface 52 will continue to be refracted along the direction of the light and continue to propagate forward. After encountering the total reflection third optical surface 53, the light is refracted forward and collimated. Then, for the optical system with a line focus, it needs to be reflected back and forth on the side walls 6 to complete the mixing until it hits the light-emitting surface, and finally forms an emitted light 7. At this time, the single collimation unit 3 of the thick-walled part is completely and evenly illuminated, combined with Figure 6 As shown in the figure, there are special requirements for the design of the second optical surface 52 and the third optical surface 53. The light incident on the second optical surface 52 must be covered by the third optical surface 53 after being refracted by the second optical surface 52 (that is, the light propagation of the light refracted by the second optical surface 52 in the direction of its refracted light must be included in the range of the third optical surface 53, ensuring that the light refracted by the second optical surface 52 will hit the third optical surface 53 for refraction and collimation). Otherwise, the light will occur as follows Figure 6 As shown in the figure, the upper area is illuminated to form a stripe-shaped bright spot 9 (as shown in Figure 6 It can be seen that there will be striped bright spots where the light refracted by the second optical surface 52 is not covered by the third optical surface 53). The key point to achieve the above-mentioned coverage of the light refracted by the second optical surface 52 by the third optical surface 53 is to adjust the position of the inner edge a of the second optical surface 52 by design so that the incident light is just totally reflected by the upper edge c of the third optical surface 53. When the initially designed thick-walled part does not ensure that the light refracted by the second optical surface 52 is covered by the third optical surface 53, the optimization solution that can be adopted is also to adjust the position of the inner edge a of the second optical surface 52 by design so that the incident light is just totally reflected by the upper edge c of the third optical surface 53. At this time, the striped bright spots in the upper area are just eliminated.

[0035] This embodiment adopts a line-focus optical solution, combined with an inclined placement and direct incidence solution for the LED light source. Compared with the traditional vertical placement solution, since the placement position of the printed circuit board that carries and integrates the light source LED is inclined and at an angle to the vertical plane, the optical structure of the optical component inside the car lamp also needs to be close to the light source. However, compared with the vertical plane, the inclined plane solution saves the optical structure of the triangular area formed by it and the theoretical vertical plane, which can save plastic costs; compared with the traditional side-incident solution, direct incidence can save structural space and meet the layout of a small space. In addition, compared with the traditional point-focus solution, the light incident end of this embodiment is a line focus, which can ensure that the light sources for multiple functions are all on the line focus. The optical system has high efficiency and can meet regulatory requirements. After sufficient light mixing on the side wall, the lighting uniformity is also very good. When realizing the three-in-one function of turn signal, position light and daytime running light, the number of LEDs used in this embodiment is greatly reduced, which not only reduces product costs, but also optimizes heat dissipation problems, greatly increasing customer competitiveness.

Claims

1. An automotive signal light optical system, comprising a thick-walled light guide structure (1) and an LED light source (2), wherein the thick-walled light guide structure (1) is composed of at least one repeated thick-walled single collimating unit (3) stacked in sequence, wherein the LED light source (2) corresponds to each thick-walled single collimating unit (3) in the thick-walled light guide structure (1), and each thick-walled single collimating unit (3) comprises an optical structure (5), a side wall (6), and a light emitting surface, and is characterized in that: The LED light source (2) adopts a direct incidence mode, and the LED light source (2) is located on the axis of the light emitting direction; the LED light source (2) is placed at an angle, and the placement position of the printed circuit board carrying and integrating the light source LED is at a certain angle to the YZ plane formed by the Y axis and the Z axis of the vehicle body coordinate system, and is in an inclined state; the optical structure (5) is located at the light incident end of a single collimating unit (3) of the thick-walled member, and the optical structure (5) is a single-dimensional collimating structure generated by linear stretching along the thickness direction (8) of the thick-walled light guide structure, and the focus of the optical structure (5) is a line focus, combined with sufficient light mixing through the side wall (6), to ensure the uniformity and optical effect of the emitted light; The optical structure (5) comprises in sequence: a first optical surface (51), a second optical surface (52) and a third optical surface (53); the first optical surface (51) refracts and collimates the light incident thereon forward; since it is a line-focus optical structure, the light refracted and collimated by the first optical surface (51) is reflected back and forth by the side walls (6) on both sides to complete light mixing, thereby ensuring the uniformity and optical effect of the outgoing light, until it hits the light-emitting surface to form an outgoing light (7); the second optical surface (52) and the third optical surface (53) work together to achieve light collimation; the light incident on the second optical surface (52) continues to refract along the direction of the light and continues to propagate forward; after encountering the third optical surface (53) of total reflection, the light is refracted and collimated forward; for the line-focus optical system, the light is reflected back and forth by the side walls (6) on both sides to complete light mixing, until it hits the light-emitting surface to form an outgoing light (7), thereby achieving complete and uniform lighting of a single collimating unit (3) of the thick-walled component; The overall light-emitting surface of the thick-walled light-guiding structure (1) comprises a front light-emitting surface (41) and a top light-emitting surface (42), wherein the front light-emitting surface (41) is arranged in front of the thick-walled light-guiding structure (1), and the top light-emitting surface (42) is arranged on the top of the thick-walled light-guiding structure (1), wherein the front light-emitting surface (41) is used to meet the requirements of the light distribution of the regulations, and the top light-emitting surface (42) is used to meet the requirements of uniform lighting of the vehicle lamp shape.

2. The automotive signal light optical system according to claim 1, wherein: The light incident on the second optical surface (52) must be covered by the third optical surface (53) and contained within the range of the third optical surface (53) after being refracted by the second optical surface (52), so as to ensure that the light refracted by the second optical surface (52) hits the third optical surface (53) for refraction and collimation, and prevents the light from irradiating the upper area to form a strip-shaped bright spot (9). By designing and adjusting the position of the inner edge a of the second optical surface (52), the incident light is just totally reflected by the upper edge c of the third optical surface (53), so that the light refracted by the second optical surface (52) is covered by the third optical surface (53).

3. The automotive signal light optical system according to claim 1, wherein: The LED light source (2) comprises at least one LED group, each LED group comprises at least one functional LED lamp, and each LED group of the LED light source (2) is arranged correspondingly to the optical structure (5) of a single collimating unit (3) of each thick-walled part.

4. The automotive signal light optical system according to claim 1, wherein: The length of the linear focus of the optical structure (5) is equal to the thickness h of the thick-walled light-guiding structure (1), and the width of h is in the range of 6-20 mm.

5. The automotive signal light optical system according to claim 1, wherein: The patterned area of ​​the top light-emitting surface (42) is provided with leather grain, so that the top area is more evenly lit.

6. The automotive signal light optical system according to claim 1, wherein: The material used for the thick-walled light guide structure (1) is polymethyl methacrylate or polycarbonate.

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