Bracket of lighting fixture for vehicle and bracket member of lighting fixture for vehicle

Abstract

The present invention provides a bracket member for a lighting fixture for a vehicle, the bracket accommodating and securing at least a portion of a lamp unit that emits light forward and having a peripheral wall surface that opens in the front-rear direction and extends in the front-rear direction to partition the housing space of the lamp unit, wherein at least a portion of the peripheral wall surface serves as a double wall, and there is a partition wall that partitions the double wall and defines a small space that is sandwiched by the double wall and extends in the front-rear direction. Since a front wall and a back wall are not provided, the weight can be reduced correspondingly, and rigidity can be secured by the double wall and the partition wall inside the double wall.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to a bracket for a vehicle lamp and a bracket member for a vehicle lamp that are lightweight and have sufficient rigidity.BACKGROUND ART

[0002] In recent years, there has been a demand for weight reduction of vehicle lamps from the viewpoint of carbon neutral. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a bracket member in which a locking portion that supports a light source and a reflector and a bearing portion of an aiming screw are connected by a pier. The bracket member is lightweight due to the pier structure. The reflector is snap-fit fixed to the locking portion by inserting a protrusion provided on a back surface thereof into a hole provided in the locking portion.

[0003] In the related art, as a bracket for fixing a lamp unit, a bracket having a surface structure based on a surface facing a front direction as a whole has been adopted. For example, a bracket illustrated in Patent Literature 2 has a surface structure facing a front direction on a rear side, and a recess for fixing the lamp unit is provided in the surface structure.CITATION LISTPATENT LITERATURE

[0004] Patent Literature 1: JP2014-165130A Patent Literature 2: JP2019-160603A SUMMARY OF INVENTIONTECHNICAL PROBLEM

[0005] However, the locking portion, the bearing portion, and the pier are on the same plane, and the bracket member as a whole is formed in a planar shape, which leads to insufficient rigidity for supporting the lamp unit.

[0006] In the bracket of Patent Literature 2, since a aiming screw mounting hole and a component fastening hole for fixing a component such as the lamp unit are formed in the surface structure, a front dimension of the bracket increases, and as a result, there is a problem that the weight increases.

[0007] The bracket having a surface structure facing the front direction has low rigidity against bending stress in the front-rear direction. Therefore, although omitted in Patent Literature 2, it is common technical knowledge to provide a reinforcing member such as a rib around the aiming screw mounting hole, the component fastening hole, or the like, and as a result, there is a problem that the weight increases. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for a bracket having a new shape with a reduced weight.

[0008] The present disclosure has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present disclosure is to provide a lightweight and high-rigidity bracket member that supports at least a part of a lamp unit.

[0009] In addition, the present disclosure has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a lightweight bracket having a new shape.SOLUTION TO PROBLEM

[0010] In order to solve the above problem, in an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a bracket member for a vehicle lamp that accommodates and fixes at least a part of a lamp unit configured to emit light forward, the bracket member including a peripheral wall surface that opens in a front-rear direction and extends in the front-rear direction to define an accommodation space for the lamp unit, in which at least a part of the peripheral wall surface is a double wall, and the bracket member further includes a partition wall that partitions the double wall and defines small spaces extending in the front-rear direction by being sandwiched by the double wall.

[0011] According to this aspect, since the bracket member does not have a front wall and a back wall, the weight can be reduced correspondingly, and the rigidity can be further ensured by the double wall and the partition wall inside the double wall.

[0012] In order to achieve the above object, a bracket for a vehicle lamp according to one aspect of the present disclosure has the following configuration.

[0013] There is provided a bracket for a vehicle lamp, including: a wall that extends in a front-rear direction to form a tubular structure opening in the front-rear direction and defines an accommodation space for accommodating and fixing at least a part of at least one lamp unit configured to emit light forward; and at least one through hole forming portion that has a through hole formed in a center thereof, has an outer shape substantially similar to the through hole, and is provided in the wall so as to protrude from the wall in a direction intersecting the front-rear direction, in which the wall extends in the front-rear direction along at least a part of an outer peripheral edge portion of the through hole forming portion.

[0014] In an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a bracket for a vehicle lamp that has an upper surface, a lower surface, both side surfaces, and a space penetrating from a front surface side to a rear surface side, and accommodates and fixes at least a part of a bracket fixing object having high rigidity in the space, the bracket including a partition peripheral wall that defines and forms an accommodation space configured to accommodate the bracket fixing object in the space, in which a fixing portion configured to fix the bracket fixing object is provided in the partition peripheral wall.

[0015] According to this aspect, since the bracket has a frame body shape having the upper surface, the lower surface, and both side surfaces, rigidity for fixing the bracket fixing object can be ensured, and since the bracket has a space penetrating from the front surface side to the rear surface side, weight reduction can be achieved. Further, by providing the partition peripheral wall that defines and forms the accommodation space for accommodating the bracket fixing object in the space, providing a fixing portion for fixing the bracket fixing object in the partition peripheral wall, and accommodating and fixing the bracket fixing object having high rigidity in the accommodation space, it is possible to further improve the rigidity of the bracket using the rigidity of the bracket fixing object.ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS OF INVENTION

[0016] As is clear from the above description, according to the configuration of the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a bracket and a bracket member for a vehicle lamp that are lightweight and have high rigidity.

[0017] Further, according to the configuration of the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a lightweight bracket having a new shape.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0018] [FIG. 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a vehicle lamp including a bracket member according to a preferred embodiment. [FIG. 2] FIG. 2 is a front view of the bracket member. [FIG. 3] FIG. 3 is a back view of the bracket member. [FIG. 4] FIG. 4 is a front perspective view of the bracket member. [FIG. 5] FIG. 5 is a back perspective view of the bracket member. [FIG. 6] FIG. 6 is a front view of the bracket member, and illustrates main double wall surface portions of the bracket member. [FIG. 7] FIG. 7 is a front view of the bracket member, and illustrates lines of cross-sectional views in FIGS. 8A, 8B, 9A, and 9B. [FIG. 8A] FIG. 8A is a cross-sectional view taken along a line A-A in FIG. 7, and mainly illustrates an AA portion in FIG. 6. [FIG. 8B] FIG. 8B is a cross-sectional view taken along a line B-B in FIG. 7, and mainly illustrates a BB portion of FIG. 6. [FIG. 9A] FIG. 9A is a cross-sectional view taken along a line C-C in FIG. 7, and mainly illustrates a CC portion of FIG. 6. [FIG. 9B] FIG. 9B is a cross-sectional view taken along a line D-D in FIG. 7, and mainly illustrates a DD portion of FIG. 6. [FIG. 10A] FIG. 10A illustrates a molding process of the bracket member. [FIG. 10B] FIG. 10B illustrates the molding process of the bracket member. [FIG. 10C] FIG. 10C illustrates the molding process of the bracket member. [FIG. 11] FIG. 11 is a schematic front view of a vehicle lamp including a bracket according to an embodiment. [FIG. 12] FIG. 12 is a front view of the bracket. [FIG. 13] FIG. 13 is a back view of the bracket. [FIG. 14] FIG. 14 is a front perspective view of the bracket. [FIG. 15] FIG. 15 is a back perspective view of the bracket. [FIG. 16] FIG. 16 is a front view illustrating a state in which a lamp unit is supported by the bracket. [FIG. 17] FIG. 17 is a front view of the bracket and is a view illustrating a portion in which a wall constituting the bracket is a double wall. [FIG. 18] FIG. 18 is a front view of the bracket and is a view illustrating lines of cross-sectional views illustrated in FIGS. 19A to 21B. [FIG. 19A] FIG. 19A is a cross-sectional view of the bracket taken along a line A-A in FIG. 18. [FIG. 19B FIG. 19B is a cross-sectional view of the bracket taken along a line B-B in FIG. 18. [FIG. 20A] FIG. 20A is a cross-sectional view of the bracket taken along line a C-C in FIG. 18. [FIG. 20B] FIG. 20B is a cross-sectional view of the bracket taken along a line D-D in FIG. 18. [FIG. 21A] FIG. 21A is a cross-sectional view of the bracket taken along a line E-E in FIG. 18. [FIG. 21B] FIG. 21B is a cross-sectional view of the bracket taken along a line F-F in FIG. 18. [FIG. 22A] FIG. 22A is a diagram illustrating a molding process of the bracket. [FIG. 22B] FIG. 22B is a diagram illustrating the molding process of the bracket. [FIG. 22C] FIG. 22C is a diagram illustrating the molding process of the bracket. [FIG. 23] FIG. 23 is a schematic front view of a vehicle lamp including a bracket according to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure. [FIG. 24] FIG. 24 is a front view of the bracket. [FIG. 25] FIG. 25 is a back view of the bracket. [FIG. 26] FIG. 26 is a front perspective view of the bracket. [FIG. 27] FIG. 27 is a back perspective view of the bracket. [FIG. 28] FIG. 28 is a front view illustrating a state in which the lamp unit is supported by the bracket. [FIG. 29] FIG. 29 is a partially enlarged back view illustrating the same state. [FIG. 30] FIG. 30 is a front view illustrating main double wall surface portions of the bracket. [FIG. 31] FIG. 31 is a front view illustrating lines of the bracket. [FIG. 32A] FIG. 32A is a cross-sectional view of the bracket taken along a line A-A in FIG. 31. [FIG. 32B] FIG. 32B is a cross-sectional view of the bracket taken along a line B-B in FIG. 31. [FIG. 33A] FIG. 33A is a cross-sectional view of the bracket taken along a line C-C in FIG. 31. [FIG. 33B] FIG. 33B is a cross-sectional view of the bracket taken along a line D-D in FIG. 31. [FIG. 34A] FIG. 34A is a diagram illustrating a molding process of the bracket. [FIG. 34B] FIG. 34B is a diagram illustrating the molding process of the bracket. [FIG. 34C] FIG. 34C is a diagram illustrating the molding process of the bracket. DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTSFirst Embodiment

[0019] Hereinafter, a first embodiment according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment is exemplary only without limiting the invention, and all or combinations of the features described in the embodiment are not necessarily essential to the invention.Vehicle Lamp

[0020] FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a vehicle lamp 1 including a bracket member 6 according to a preferred embodiment of the configuration of the present disclosure.

[0021] The vehicle lamp 1 is a headlamp and is mounted on each of left and right sides of a front portion of a vehicle. The vehicle lamp 1 includes a lamp body 2 and a front cover 4 as a lamp housing. The lamp body 2 is a housing with an opening at the front side, and a front cover 4 is attached to an opening portion to form a lamp chamber S inside. The front cover 4 is a so-called outer cover, and is a substantially transparent lens formed of a translucent resin such as polycarbonate. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and the front cover 4 may be provided with an optical step for diverging and diffusing light emitted from a light source when each lamp is turned on.

[0022] In the defined lamp chamber S, three lamp units LUs supported by the bracket member 6 are accommodated side by side in a vehicle width direction (left-right direction). The lamp unit LU is a single lamp unit LU or a plurality of lamp units LUs configured to emit light forward, and are an optical unit configured to form a predetermined light distribution such as a high beam light distribution or a low beam light distribution by single or a plurality of lamp units LUs. The light emitted from the lamp unit LU is irradiated toward the front cover 4 disposed in front, passes through the front cover 4, and forms a predetermined light distribution in front of the vehicle. The lamp unit LU have a known configuration in the related art, such as a reflector type or a projector type lamp unit, and the type thereof does not matter.

[0023] The bracket member 6 is attached to a back wall of the lamp body 2 by three aiming screws E. An optical axis of the lamp unit LU is adjusted in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction by rotating the aiming screw E.

[0024] The bracket member 6 according to the present disclosure is not limited to a headlamp, and can also be used for a vehicle lamp such as a rear combination lamp or a marker lamp. In the vehicle lamp 1, a direction in which the light of the lamp unit LU on which the front cover 4 is disposed is emitted is defined as a front direction, which is used as a reference. When the vehicle lamp is, for example, a rear lamp and is disposed on a rear surface of the vehicle, it is needless to say that the vehicle lamp is mounted on the vehicle while being rotated by 180 degrees, and the front of the vehicle lamp is the rear of the vehicle. In addition, in the bracket member 6, an extending direction of the bracket member 6 to be described later is defined as a front-rear direction, and is described as coinciding with the front-rear direction of the vehicle lamp 1.Bracket Member

[0025] A shape of the bracket member 6 will be described in detail. FIG. 2 is a front view of the bracket member 6. FIG. 3 is a back view of the bracket member 6. FIG. 4 is a front perspective view of the bracket member 6. FIG. 5 is a back perspective view of the bracket member 6. In FIGS. 2 to 5, the bracket member 6 is colored in light black.

[0026] The bracket member 6 is molded by injection molding using a hard synthetic resin material. The bracket member 6 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped outer shape, has mainly an upper wall surface 100, a right wall surface 200, a lower wall surface 300, and a left wall surface 400, does not have a back wall and a front wall, and is a large tubular body that opens forward and rearward. Hereinafter, the upper wall surface 100, the right wall surface 200, the lower wall surface 300, and the left wall surface 400 forming the outer shape of the bracket member 6 are collectively referred to as a peripheral wall surface 10.

[0027] As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, a wall surface of the bracket member 6 is mainly constituted by a wall surface having a substantially constant plate thickness and extending in one direction (front-rear direction). The wall surface is mostly a curved surface or a free-form surface whose radius of curvature is not constant. The bracket member 6 does not have the front wall and the back wall, and is lighter than a housing having a back wall. In addition, since the front wall and the back wall are not provided and the wall surface extending in the front-rear direction is mainly formed, it is suitable for injection molding in which a mold is used and a mold removal direction is an extending direction (front-rear direction) of the wall surface of the bracket member (details will be described later).

[0028] Since the extending direction of each wall surface of the bracket member 6 is the front-rear direction, when any wall surface is viewed from the front, only the end surface of each wall surface is visible (see the front view of FIG. 2 and the back view of FIG. 3). The extending direction of each wall surface of the bracket member 6 is the same direction (front-rear direction), but each wall surface is not an extruded shape obtained by extruding a predetermined cross-sectional shape by a predetermined length, a depth length (length in the front-rear direction) is different in each wall surface, and a cross-sectional shape orthogonal to a depth direction is not the same shape at any position. In addition, each wall surface does not extend with a uniform length. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the left wall surface 400 is shorter in depth length than the right wall surface 200. Further, in the left wall surface 400, the depth length (length in the front-rear direction) is very short in an upper area, and the depth length is longer in a lower area than the depth length in the upper area.

[0029] An accommodation space SP in which at least a part of the lamp unit LU is accommodated is formed on the inner side defined by the peripheral wall surface 10 that is circumferentially formed. In the present embodiment, since the bracket member 6 is relatively short in the depth direction (front-rear direction) and long in a width direction (left-right direction) compared to a height direction (upper-lower direction), the accommodation space SP inside the peripheral wall surface 10 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape long in the width direction.

[0030] The accommodation space SP is substantially equally divided into three in the left-right direction by a right inner wall surface 600 and a left inner wall surface 500 which are substantially vertical surfaces provided in the accommodation space SP. Similarly to the peripheral wall surface 10, the right inner wall surface 600 and the left inner wall surface 500 extend in the same direction (front-rear direction) as the peripheral wall surface 10. One lamp unit LU is disposed in each of the three accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3 arranged side by side in the left-right direction defined by the peripheral wall surface 10, the right inner wall surface 600, and the left inner wall surface 500.

[0031] The left wall surface 400, the right wall surface 200, the right inner wall surface 600, and the left inner wall surface 500, that is, a standing wall surface constituting the bracket member 6, are provided with bosses 7 and plate-shaped mounting portions 8 protruding toward the three accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3. Mounting holes of the boss 7 and the mounting portion 8 are provided to penetrate in the front-rear direction which is the extending direction of the bracket member 6. The lamp unit LU is attached to the bracket member 6 by a fixing member (not illustrated) and supported by the boss 7 and the mounting portion 8.

[0032] In the present embodiment, the accommodation space SP is divided into three spaces in order to support the three lamp units LUs, but the number and arrangement of the supported lamp units LUs are not limited, and a configuration in which one lamp unit is supported without providing an inner wall surface, a configuration in which four lamp units are fixed using a cross-shaped inner wall surface having vertical surfaces substantially orthogonal to each other, or the like may be adopted. The boss 7 and the mounting portion 8 may be provided on the upper wall surface 100 or the lower wall surface 300.

[0033] Aiming support portions 9 are formed at three corner portions of an upper left corner portion, an upper right corner portion, and a lower right corner portion of the bracket member 6. The aiming support portions 9 are each formed in a flat plate shape, and are provided such that plate surfaces thereof are parallel to each other. A mount (not illustrated) is mounted in a rectangular through hole 9c provided inside the aiming support portion 9, and the bracket member 6 is supported on the back wall of the lamp body 2 by the aiming screw E screwed into the mount such that the optical axis of the lamp unit LU is adjustable.

[0034] The aiming support portion 9 has a rectangular flat plate shape. The aiming support portion 9 is provided at a corner portion of the bracket member 6, corner portions of the upper wall surface 100, the right wall surface 200, the lower wall surface 300, and the left wall surface 400 are formed in a recessed shape so as to avoid the aiming support portion 9, and the aiming support portion 9 is provided on an outer surface portion of a corner portion recess of the peripheral wall surface 10.

[0035] The bracket member 6, which is a tubular body having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped outer shape, is formed such that corner portions of the peripheral wall surface 10 are each recessed in a rectangular shape, and horizontal surfaces 9a and vertical surfaces 9b are formed at the respective corner portions. The rectangular aiming support portion 9 is formed such that a horizontal side and a vertical side of a rectangular outer shape are integrated with the horizontal surface 9a and the vertical surface 9b of a recess provided at the corner portion. Therefore, the aiming support portion 9 functions as a rib that supports the horizontal surface 9a and the vertical surface 9b of the recess provided at the corner portion.Double Wall: Right Wall Surface

[0036] The bracket member 6 is configured such that the upper wall surface 100, the right wall surface 200, the lower wall surface 300, and the left wall surface 400, that is, at least a part of the peripheral wall surface 10 is a double wall. In the present embodiment, since the right inner wall surface 600 and the left inner wall surface 500 are also provided, at least a part of the wall surface of the bracket member 6 including the right inner wall surface 600 and the left inner wall surface 500 is configured as a double wall.

[0037] FIG. 6 is a front view of the bracket member 6, and illustrates a main double wall portion of the bracket member 6 in light black.

[0038] First, a structure of the double wall will be described using the right wall surface 200 (an AA portion in FIG. 6) as an example.

[0039] As illustrated in FIG. 2, the right wall surface 200 constitutes a right side surface of the bracket member 6, and is provided to extend in a substantially vertical direction from the aiming support portion 9 provided at the upper right corner portion to the aiming support portion 9 provided at the lower right corner portion.

[0040] The right wall surface 200 is configured as a double wall as a whole, and includes a right wall surface body 201 which is an outer wall surface forming the outer shape of the bracket member 6, and a right auxiliary wall surface 202 disposed on an inner side (left side) thereof. The right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 are arranged side by side in the left-right direction, are substantially vertical surfaces, have substantially the same and uniform plate thickness, and extend in the front-rear direction. Therefore, in a front view, only end surfaces of the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 are visible. The right wall surface 200 of the bracket member 6 is configured as a double wall by the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202.

[0041] The right auxiliary wall surface 202 extends downward from a lower end portion of the vertical surface 9b at the upper right corner portion so as to extend from the vertical surface 9b and is connected to the lower wall surface 300. In other words, the vertical surface 9b at the upper right corner portion constitutes a part of the right auxiliary wall surface 202.

[0042] Both the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 are substantially vertical surfaces of free-form surfaces extending in the same direction (front-rear direction) with the both wall surfaces, and are provided side by side in the left-right direction, but the right wall surface body 201 has a center curved leftward, and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 has a center curved slightly rightward. Therefore, the right wall surface 200 has a constricted shape at the center, and a distance between the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 is shortest at a central portion and slightly longer at upper and lower portions than at the central portion.

[0043] Three right partition walls 241 to 243, which are substantially horizontal surfaces, are provided between the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202, which are substantially vertical surfaces, so as to partition a space sandwiched between both wall surfaces in the upper-lower direction.

[0044] Similarly to the other wall surfaces, the right partition walls 241 to 243 are free-form surfaces having a constant plate thickness and extend in the same direction (front-rear direction). Therefore, in a front view, only front end surfaces of the right partition walls 241 to 243 are visible.

[0045] Right small spaces AR201 to AR204 are formed as four small spaces arranged side by side in the upper-lower direction inside the right wall surface 200, which are defined by the three right partition walls 241 to 243. The four small spaces defined by the substantially horizontal surfaces and the substantially vertical surfaces are spaces that open in the front-rear direction and extend in the front-rear direction.

[0046] A load bearing performance of the right wall surface 200 in a plurality of directions is improved by providing the substantially horizontal right partition walls 241 to 243, which further finely divide the space and are substantially orthogonal to the double wall, inside the double wall formed of the two substantially vertical surfaces (a space sandwiched between the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202). Since the right wall surface 200 has the wall surface having the above configuration, a deformation amount of the right wall surface 200 with respect to the load can be reduced, and the rigidity of the bracket member 6 having no front wall and back wall is improved.

[0047] In the present embodiment, right internal walls 251 to 254 are further provided in the right small spaces AR201 to AR204 extending in the front-rear direction so as to divide the right small spaces AR201 to AR204 into front and rear spaces. In the right small spaces AR201 to AR204 arranged side by side in the upper-lower direction, the right internal walls 251 to 254 of the adjacent small spaces are shifted in the front-rear direction so as to alternate in the front-rear direction. Specifically, the right internal walls 251 to 254 are provided to close either the front opening portions or the rear opening portions of the right small spaces AR201 to AR204, and the right internal walls 251 to 254 are formed to close either opening portions of the front opening portions / rear opening portions of the small spaces in different directions between adjacent small spaces.

[0048] Specifically, among the four right small spaces AR201 to AR204 arranged side by side in the upper-lower direction, the first right internal wall 251 and the third right internal wall 253 are formed in the first right small space AR201, which is the first from the top, and the third right small space AR203, which is the third from the top, so as to close the rear opening portions, respectively. The second right internal wall 252 and the fourth right internal wall 254 are formed in the second right small space AR202, which is the second from the top, and the fourth right small space AR204, which is the fourth from the top, so as to close the front opening portions, respectively.

[0049] The operation and effect of the bracket member 6 configured as described above will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 7 is a front view of the bracket member 6, and illustrates lines of cross-sectional views in FIGS. 8A, 8B, 9A, and 9B. In FIG. 7, the bracket member 6 is colored in light black. FIGS. 8A, 8B, 9A, and 9B are the cross-sectional views of the bracket member 6. FIG. 8A is a cross-sectional view taken along a line A-A in FIG. 7, and mainly illustrates a double wall portion (the AA portion in FIG. 6) of the right wall surface 200. FIG. 8B is a cross-sectional view taken along a line B-B in FIG. 7, and mainly illustrates a double wall portion (a BB portion in FIG. 6) of the lower wall surface 300. FIG. 9A is a cross-sectional view taken along a line C-C in FIG. 7, and mainly illustrates a double wall portion (a CC portion in FIG. 6) of the left inner wall surface 500. FIG. 9B is a cross-sectional view taken along a line D-D in FIG. 7, and mainly illustrates a double wall portion (a DD portion in FIG. 6) of the upper wall surface 100.

[0050] As illustrated in FIG. 8A, the right internal walls 251 to 254 are formed to alternately close the opening portions of the four right small spaces AR201 to AR204 defined by the right partition walls 241 to 243. Therefore, a cross-sectional shape of the right wall surface 200 is configured such that the right internal walls 251 to 254, which are substantially vertical surfaces, are connected to the front end surfaces or the rear end surfaces of the wall surfaces in an order of the horizontal surface 9a, the right partition walls 241 to 243, and the lower wall surface 300, which are substantially horizontal surfaces, from the top, and are formed in a zigzag shape so as to be continuous in a square S-shape.

[0051] In addition, since both left and right end surfaces of the right partition walls 241 to 243 and the right internal walls 251 to 254 are all connected to and integrated with the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202, the right wall surface 200 has a very strong shape.

[0052] The right wall surface 200 includes the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 constituting a double wall having substantially vertical surfaces, the substantially horizontal right partition walls 241 to 243 substantially orthogonal to the double wall, and the right internal walls 251 to 254 disposed substantially orthogonal to both the double wall and the right partition walls 241 to 243. Since the right wall surface 200 is formed by connecting and integrating surfaces extending in three substantially orthogonal directions to each other, a strain resistance performance and the load bearing performance in a plurality of directions are high. The improvement in the load bearing performance of the right wall surface 200 also improves the rigidity of the bracket member 6.Double Wall: Lower Wall Surface

[0053] Next, a double wall portion (the BB portion in FIG. 6) of the lower wall surface 300 will be described in detail. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the lower wall surface 300 includes a substantially horizontal lower wall surface body 301, which is an outer wall surface forming the outer shape of the bracket member 6, and a substantially horizontal lower auxiliary wall surface 302 disposed inside (above) the lower wall surface body 301.

[0054] The lower auxiliary wall surface 302 is bent toward the lower wall surface body 301 at a right end portion and connected to the lower wall surface body 301, and not the entire area of the lower wall surface 300 but only a partial area thereof is configured as a double wall. The lower wall surface 300 is a double wall surface substantially from the left accommodation space SP1 to the central accommodation space SP2.

[0055] The lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302 extend in the front-rear direction. Therefore, in a front view, only front end surfaces of the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302 are visible.

[0056] A space inside the double wall of the lower wall surface 300, that is, a space sandwiched between the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302 is a flat substantially rectangular parallelepiped long in the left-right direction, and lower partition walls 341 to 343 are provided to partition the space elongated in the left-right direction in the left-right direction. The lower partition walls 341 to 343 are connected to the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302 between the substantially horizontal lower wall surface body 301 and lower auxiliary wall surface 302, which are juxtaposed in the upper-lower direction to constitute the double wall surface, and extend in the upper-lower direction.

[0057] In the present embodiment, the lower partition walls 341 to 343 are provided to be inclined from the vertical direction, and are provided such that end portions of adjacent partition walls are in contact with each other. That is, among the three lower partition walls 341, 342, and 343 arranged in order from the left, the first lower partition wall 341, which is disposed furthest to the left, is inclined rightward from the vertical direction. An upper end portion of the second lower partition wall 342 is connected to an upper end portion of the first lower partition wall 341 and is provided to be inclined leftward from the vertical direction. A lower end portion of the third lower partition wall 343 is connected to a lower end portion of the second lower partition wall 342 and is provided to be inclined rightward from the vertical direction. Since the three lower partition walls 341 to 343 are alternately and obliquely arranged, end surfaces are formed in an N shape in a front view. That is, the three lower partition walls 341 to 343 are arranged in a truss shape.

[0058] As described above, the partition walls do not need to be substantially orthogonal to the double wall surfaces or disposed substantially parallel to each other, and only need to be connected to both constituent surfaces of the double wall surfaces between the double wall surfaces. It is preferable to arrange the three lower partition walls 341 to 343 in a truss shape because the load bearing performance is improved.

[0059] As illustrated in FIG. 2, the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302 are substantially horizontal surfaces, but are not horizontal surfaces, and are bent at portions connected to the respective partition walls as bent portions and are free-form surfaces constituted by a plurality of slightly curved surfaces. All the lower partition walls 341 to 343 and the lower wall surface 300 have substantially the same plate thickness and are provided to extend along the front-rear direction.

[0060] Here, at least a part of the left inner wall surface 500 is also configured as a double wall, and a left inner wall surface body 501 and a left inner auxiliary wall surface 502, which are substantially vertical surfaces and form the left inner wall surface 500 as a double wall, are substantially orthogonal to the lower auxiliary wall surface 302, further extend to the inside of the double wall of the lower wall surface 300, and are connected to the lower wall surface body 301. Therefore, a lower end portion of the left inner wall surface 500, specifically, portions of the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 inside the double wall of the lower wall surface 300 is also configured as a part of the partition wall of the lower wall surface 300.

[0061] In this way, there is a case where two double walls intersect with each other and one auxiliary wall surface constitutes a part of the other partition wall or a peripheral wall surface, or conversely, one partition wall constitutes a part of the other auxiliary wall surface. The double walls have higher rigidity than a single wall, and the double walls intersect each other and are integrally configured to reinforce each other, thereby further increasing the rigidity of the bracket member 6.

[0062] In an internal space of the double wall surface of the lower wall surface 300, lower small spaces AR301 to AR305, which are five small spaces defined by the lower partition walls 341, 342, and 343 and the left inner wall surface 500 extending to the inside of the lower wall surface 300 and arranged side by side in the left-right direction, are formed. Similarly to the right wall surface 200, the lower small spaces AR301 to AR305 inside the lower wall surface 300 are provided with lower internal walls 351 to 355 that alternately close opening portions in the front-rear direction.

[0063] Specifically, among the five lower small spaces AR301 to AR305 arranged side by side in the left-right direction, the first lower internal wall 351, the third lower internal wall 353, and the fifth lower internal wall 355 are formed in the first lower small space AR301, which is the first from the left, the third lower small space AR303, which is the third from the left, and the fifth lower small space AR305, which is the fifth from the left, so as to close the rear opening portions, respectively. The second lower internal wall 352 and the fourth lower internal wall 354 are formed in the second lower small space AR302, which is the second from the left, and the fourth lower small space AR304, which is the fourth from the left, so as to close the front opening portions, respectively.

[0064] As illustrated in FIG. 8B, the lower wall surface 300 is configured such that the left wall surface 400, the lower partition walls 341, 342, and 343, and the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 of the left inner wall surface 500, which are connected in the upper-lower direction, in order from the left, are continuously connected at their end portions by the lower internal walls 351, 352, 353, 354, and 355, which are connected in the left-right direction, and a cross-sectional shape of the lower wall surface 300 has a zigzag shape in which a square S-shape is continuous.

[0065] Since all the upper and lower end surfaces of the lower partition walls 341 to 343 and the lower internal walls 351 to 355 are connected to and integrated with the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302, the lower wall surface 300 has a very strong structure. Accordingly, the load bearing performance of the lower wall surface 300 is improved, and the rigidity of the bracket member 6 is also improved.

[0066] As described above, the partition wall may be provided so as to extend in the same extending direction (front-rear direction) as the double wall and partition the space inside the double wall, both end surfaces thereof may be connected to both constituent surfaces of the double wall, may not be substantially orthogonal to the double wall, and may not be provided in parallel to each other, and the form, number, and shape thereof are not limited. If the internal wall is also provided in the small space and both end surfaces thereof are connected to the partition wall forming the small space, it is not necessary to completely close the small space. In addition, the internal wall may be a curved surface, a bent surface, or a free-form surface like another wall surface.Double Wall: Left Inner Wall Surface

[0067] Next, the left inner wall surface 500 (the CC portion in FIG. 6) will be described in detail. Similarly to the right wall surface 200, the left inner wall surface 500 is also configured as a double wall. As described above, the left inner wall surface 500 is configured as a double wall, and has the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 arranged side by side in the left-right direction on a substantially vertical surface. The left inner wall surface 500 is configured as a double wall by the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left inner auxiliary wall surface.

[0068] An inner side of the double wall of the left inner wall surface 500, that is, a space sandwiched between the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 is a flat substantially rectangular parallelepiped long in the upper-lower direction, and left inner partition walls 541, 542 are provided to partition the space elongated in the upper-lower direction in the upper-lower direction. Left inner small spaces AR501, AR502, and AR503 are defined by the left inner partition walls 541, 542 and formed side by side in the upper-lower direction as three small spaces inside the double wall.

[0069] Among the three left inner small spaces AR501, AR502, and AR503 arranged side by side in the upper-lower direction, the first left inner small space AR501 arranged above is not provided with an inner wall surface. The second left inner small space AR502 disposed at a center is provided with a first left inner internal wall 551 that closes a front opening portion. The third left inner small space AR503 disposed below is formed with a second left inner internal wall 552 that closes a rear opening portion.

[0070] The left inner wall surface body 501, the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502, and the left inner partition walls 541, 542 are provided to extend in the front-rear direction, and only front end surfaces of the wall surfaces can be seen in a front view. The front end surface has a uniform plate thickness, but has a free shape such as a curved shape or a bent shape at a plurality of positions.

[0071] For example, an upper side of the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 is considerably inclined rightward and connected to the upper wall surface 100. Therefore, the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 works like a rib of the left inner wall surface body 501 and the upper wall surface 100 in cooperation with the left inner partition wall 541. In addition, since the boss 7 is disposed in the left inner wall surface 500 in such a way that it protrudes inwards, the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 at the position where the boss 7 is provided is curved in an arc shape in accordance with an outer periphery of the boss 7 and is integrated with the boss 7. The second left inner partition wall 542 is formed so as to connect a curved portion of the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302.

[0072] As illustrated in FIG. 9A, a vertical cross-sectional shape of the left inner wall surface 500 is a form in which the boss 7 is inserted and integrated, but is basically a shape in which a square S-shape is continuous. As described above, the left inner wall surface 500 having such a configuration has high load bearing performance in a plurality of directions and high rigidity.

[0073] As illustrated in the left inner wall surface 500, it is not necessary to provide an inner wall surface in all of the small spaces formed inside the double wall surface. As illustrated in FIG. 9A, the boss 7 or a through hole may be provided on the wall surface.

[0074] In the present embodiment, a lower portion of the left inner wall surface 500 is integrated with the lower wall surface 300. Further, since an upper portion of the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 is provided to be inclined, the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 also acts as a double wall surface of the upper wall surface 100. In this way, by forming the wall surface as a free-form surface, it is also possible to form a wall surface that plays two or more roles.Double Wall: Upper Wall Surface

[0075] Next, a shape of a right area of the upper wall surface 100, specifically, a shape of the upper wall surface 100 of the right accommodation space SP3 formed on the right side will be described.

[0076] The upper wall surface 100 has a very complicated configuration, and includes an upper wall surface body 101 constituting a part of the outer shape of the bracket member 6, a first upper auxiliary wall surface 102 and a second upper auxiliary wall surface 103, which are inclined from the horizontal direction to the lower right so as to connect the upper wall surface body 101 and the right wall surface 200, and a third upper auxiliary wall surface 104, a fourth upper auxiliary wall surface 105, and a fifth upper auxiliary wall surface 106, which are inclined from the horizontal direction to the lower left so as to connect the upper wall surface body 101 and the right inner wall surface 600.

[0077] In the upper wall surface 100, a plurality of auxiliary wall surfaces are provided at different angles and intersect each other to be integrated, and the auxiliary wall surfaces are also configured as partition walls. By providing the plurality of auxiliary wall surfaces, at least a part of the upper wall surface 100 is configured as a double wall, and a part thereof is configured as a triple wall. As described above, the peripheral wall surface 10 may be provided with a plurality of auxiliary wall surfaces, and at least a part thereof may be configured as not only a double wall but also a triple wall or a quadruple wall.

[0078] Inside the upper wall surface 100, upper small spaces AR101 to AR108 are formed as eight small spaces defined by the upper auxiliary wall surfaces 102 to 106.

[0079] Some of the eight upper small spaces AR101 to AR108 are formed with an internal wall that closes the front opening portion or the rear opening portion. In the present embodiment, a second upper internal wall 152 is formed to close the front opening portion of the central fourth upper small space AR104 defined by the first upper auxiliary wall surface 102, the second upper auxiliary wall surface 103, the third upper auxiliary wall surface 104, and the fourth upper auxiliary wall surface 105. In the first upper small space AR101 and the eighth upper small space AR108 formed adjacent to upper and lower sides of the fourth upper small space AR104, a first upper internal wall 151 and a third upper internal wall 153 are formed so as to close back opening portions.

[0080] The upper wall surface 100 is provided with a plurality of auxiliary wall surfaces intersecting each other, each of the auxiliary wall surfaces also functions as a partition wall, and at least a part of the upper wall surface 100 is configured as a double wall.

[0081] As illustrated in FIG. 9B, a cross-sectional shape of portions of the left inner wall surface 500 where the internal walls are provided is a continuous rectangular S-shape. As described above, the upper wall surface 100 configured as described above has the high load bearing performance in a plurality of directions and the high rigidity.

[0082] In the small space formed in the double wall like the upper wall surface 100, a portion where the inner wall surface is provided or not provided is not particularly specified, and the inner wall surface may be provided in any small space, or the inner wall surface may not be provided at all.

[0083] Which portion of the peripheral wall surface 10 of the bracket member 6 is configured as a double wall is not specified, but it is preferable to provided the double wall to reinforce a portion to which a load is applied such as a support portion because the rigidity of the bracket member 6 is greatly improved.

[0084] For example, in the bracket member 6 according to the present embodiment, the right wall surface 200 and the lower wall surface 300 connecting the three aiming support portions 9 are configured as double walls. In addition, a portion of the upper wall surface 100 which is a double wall, particularly, a portion where the inner wall surface is provided is a small space extending toward the aiming support portion 9 on the lower left. Since the bracket member 6 is supported at three positions where the aiming support portions 9 are provided, the upper right, lower right, and lower left corner portions are particularly portions to which a load is applied, and portions connected thereto are mainly configured as double walls. By providing the double wall at the portion where the load is applied, an increase in mass due to the provision of the double wall can be prevented, and the rigidity of the bracket member 6 can be appropriately improved.

[0085] When the bracket member 6 configured as described above and a product of the related art for comparison, that is, a bracket member of the related art having a back wall and no double wall surface were simulated and calculated, the mass of the bracket member 6 was lower by 24% and the maximum displacement amount was lower by 62% than that of the product of the related art. By applying the above configuration, the weight is reduced and the rigidity is significantly improved as compared with the product of the related art.Molding Method

[0086] A molding process and a molding mold of the bracket member 6 configured as described above will be described. FIGS. 10A to 10C are schematic configuration diagrams of a molding mold for a bracket member, and are diagrams illustrating the molding process. Cross-sectional lines of the cross-sectional views of the mold illustrated in FIGS. 10A to 10C correspond to the line A-A in FIG. 7.

[0087] As illustrated in FIG. 10A, first, a fixed mold 30 and the movable mold 40 are arranged facing each other and clamped. A direction in which the mold is clamped / opened is defined as a direction DR. In a clamped state, a molding space (cavity) CAV corresponding to the shape of the bracket member 6 is defined inside the mold. The molding space CAV is provided so that an extending direction (front-rear direction) of the peripheral wall surface 10 of the bracket member 6 corresponding thereto coincides with the direction DR in which the mold is clamped.

[0088] Next, as illustrated in FIG. 10B, a resin member heated to a predetermined melting temperature is injected into the molding space CAV and filled in the molding space CAV. The resin member filled in the molding space CAV is cooled and solidified to mold the bracket member 6.

[0089] Next, as illustrated in FIG. 10C, the mold is opened, the movable mold 40 is first separated in the direction of the direction DR, and the bracket member 6 in a state of being attached to the fixed mold 30 is pushed out and removed by a pushing pin (not illustrated).

[0090] Since the bracket member 6 is configured to extend along the direction DR in which the mold is opened, the movable mold 40 can be separated along the direction DR without any problem. The bracket member 6 is also extruded from the fixed mold 30 along the direction DR and removed without any problem.

[0091] The bracket member 6 is provided to extend in the front-rear direction, the extending direction of the bracket member 6 can be aligned with the direction DR in which the mold is opened, and the bracket member 6 can be molded by injection molding using the mold.

[0092] As described above, although the bracket member 6 has a complicated shape, the productivity is high because the bracket member 6 can be mass-produced by injection molding using a mold.Second Embodiment

[0093] Hereinafter, a second embodiment according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment is exemplary only without limiting the invention, and all or combinations of the features described in the embodiment are not necessarily essential to the invention. The same members as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals.Vehicle Lamp

[0094] FIG. 11 is a schematic front view of a vehicle lamp 1001 including a bracket 6 according to the embodiment. The vehicle lamp 1001 is a headlamp and is mounted on each of left and right sides of a front portion of the vehicle. The vehicle lamp 1001 includes the lamp body 2 and the front cover 4 as a lamp housing. The lamp body 2 has a container shape with an opening at the front side, and the front cover 4 is attached to the opening portion to form the lamp chamber S inside. The front cover 4 is a so-called outer cover, and is a substantially transparent lens formed of a translucent resin such as polycarbonate. The front cover 4 may be provided with an optical step for diverging and diffusing light emitted from a light source when each lamp is turned on.

[0095] In the defined lamp chamber S, three lamp units LU1 to LU3 supported by the bracket 6 are accommodated side by side in the vehicle width direction (left-right direction). The lamp units LU1 to LU3 are a single lamp unit or a plurality of lamp units configured to emit light forward, and are optical units configured to form predetermined light distributions such as a high beam light distribution or a low beam light distribution. Light emitted from the lamp units LU1 to LU3 is irradiated toward the front cover 4 disposed in front, passes through the front cover 4, and forms a predetermined light distribution in front of the vehicle. The lamp units LU1 to LU3 have a known configuration in the related art, such as a reflector type or a projector type lamp unit, and the type thereof does not matter.

[0096] FIG. 16 is a front view of the bracket 6 illustrating a state in which the lamp unit is supported. As illustrated in FIG. 16, the lamp units LU1 to LU3 include support frames LU12, LU22, and LU32 on the front cover side, and the support frames LU12, LU22, and LU32 support projection lenses LU11, LU21, and LU31, respectively. The lamp units LU1 to LU3 include a reflector (not illustrated) that covers the light source in a semi-dome shape and metallic heat sinks LU14, LU24, and LU34, and are fixed to the boss forming portions 71 to 74 as a fixing portion of the bracket 6 and mounting members 81 to 84 by fixing members F11, F21 to F24, and F31 to F34 such as bolts, aiming screws, and mounts.

[0097] The bracket 6 is attached to a back surface of the lamp body 2 by three aiming screws E1 to E3. The optical axes of the lamp units LU1 to LU3 are adjusted in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction by rotating the aiming screws E1, E3.

[0098] The bracket 6 according to the present embodiment is not limited to a headlamp, and can also be used for a vehicle lamp such as a rear combination lamp or a marker lamp. In the vehicle lamp 1001, a direction in which the light of the lamp units LU1 to LU3 on which the front cover 4 is disposed is emitted is defined as a front direction, and a rear direction, a left-right direction, and an upper-lower direction are determined based on the front direction. When the vehicle lamp 1001 is, for example, a rear lamp and is disposed on a rear surface of the vehicle, it is needless to say that the vehicle lamp 1001 is mounted on the vehicle while being rotated by 180 degrees, and the front of the vehicle lamp 1001 is the rear of the vehicle. In addition, in the bracket 6, an extending direction of the bracket 6 to be described later is the front-rear direction, and is described as coinciding with the front-rear direction of the vehicle lamp.Bracket

[0099] Hereinafter, a shape of the bracket 6 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 12 to 15. FIG. 12 is a front view of the bracket 6. FIG. 13 is a back view of the bracket 6. FIG. 14 is a front perspective view of the bracket 6. FIG. 15 is a back perspective view of the bracket 6. In FIGS. 12 to 15, the bracket 6 is colored in light black.

[0100] The bracket 6 is molded by injection molding using a hard synthetic resin material. The bracket 6 has a tubular structure extending in the front-rear direction and opening in the front-rear direction. The bracket 6 mainly includes the upper wall surface 100, the right wall surface 200, the lower wall surface 300, and the left wall surface 400. Hereinafter, the upper wall surface 100, the right wall surface 200, the lower wall surface 300, and the left wall surface 400 forming an outer shape of the bracket 6 are collectively referred to as the peripheral wall surface 10.

[0101] As illustrated in FIGS. 12 and 13, the peripheral wall surface 10 is mainly constituted by a wall having a substantially constant plate thickness and extending in one direction (front-rear direction). Most of an outer surface and an inner surface of the peripheral wall surface 10 are curved surfaces or free-form surfaces whose radius of curvature is not constant. Since the bracket 6 has a tubular structure without a front wall and a back wall, and is therefore lighter than a housing that has a front wall, a back wall, and a necessary standing wall. Further, the bracket 6 has higher rigidity than a flat plate-shaped or arch-shaped bracket. In addition, since the bracket 6 does not have the front wall and the back wall and is mainly constituted by a wall extending in the front-rear direction, the bracket 6 has a configuration suitable for injection molding in which a mold removal direction is in the extending direction (front-rear direction) of the peripheral wall surface 10 of the bracket 6 using a mold. Details of the molding process will be described later.

[0102] The extending direction of the peripheral wall surface 10 is the front-rear direction, and only the end surface of the peripheral wall surface 10 is visible in a front view (see FIGS. 12 and 13). The extending direction of the peripheral wall surface 10 is the same direction (front-rear direction), but each wall is not an extruded shape obtained by extruding a predetermined cross-sectional shape by a predetermined length, and the depth length (length in the front-rear direction) is different in each wall. Therefore, the cross-sectional shape orthogonal to the depth direction is not the same at any position. In addition, each wall does not extend with a uniform length. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 14, the left wall surface 400 is shorter in depth length than the right wall surface 200. Further, in the left wall surface 400, the depth length (length in the front-rear direction) is short in an upper area, and the depth length is longer in a lower area than the depth length in the upper area.

[0103] The accommodation space SP in which at least a part of the lamp units LU1 to LU3 is accommodated is formed on the inner side defined by the peripheral wall surface 10 formed in the tubular shape. In the present embodiment, since the bracket 6 is relatively short in the depth direction (front-rear direction) and is longer in the width direction (left-right direction) than in the height direction (upper-lower direction), the accommodation space SP as a whole inside the peripheral wall surface 10 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape that is long in the width direction. Therefore, the lamp units LU1 to LU3 are accommodated in the accommodation space SP, particularly on the upper surface side, in a state of protruding from the accommodation space SP to the outside.

[0104] The accommodation space SP is divided into three spaces (accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3) in the left-right direction by a right intermediate wall 600 and the left inner wall surface 500 (hereinafter, both are simply referred to as intermediate walls) provided in the accommodation space SP and extending in the upper-lower direction. Therefore, the accommodation space SP refers to the entire accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3. The right intermediate wall 600 and the left inner wall surface 500 extend in the same direction (front-rear direction) as the peripheral wall surface 10. In the three accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3 defined by the peripheral wall surface 10, the right intermediate wall 600, and the left inner wall surface 500 and arranged side by side in the left-right direction, the lamp units LU1 to LU3 are respectively disposed (see FIG. 16). The walls in the claims include the peripheral wall surface 10, that is, the upper wall surface 100, the right wall surface 200, the lower wall surface 300, and the left wall surface 400, and the intermediate walls, that is, the right intermediate wall 600 and the left inner wall surface 500.

[0105] The right wall surface 200, the left wall surface 400, the right intermediate wall 600, and the left inner wall surface 500 are provided with the boss forming portions 71 to 74 and the plate-shaped mounting members 81 to 84 as through hole forming portions that protrude toward the three accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3 in a direction intersecting the front-rear direction of the lamp. The boss forming portions 71 to 74 and the mounting members 81 to 84 are respectively provided with through holes 71a to 74a and 81a to 84a penetrating in the front-rear direction, which is the extending direction of the bracket 6. As illustrated in FIG. 16, the lamp units LU1 to LU3 are accommodated in predetermined accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3, respectively, and are fixed to the corresponding boss forming portions 71 to 74 and mounting members 81 to 84 by fixing members such as screws or bolts, thereby being attached to and supported by the bracket 6. The boss forming portions 71, 72, and 74 corresponds to the through hole forming portion in the claims, which will be described later.

[0106] In the present embodiment, the accommodation space SP is divided into three spaces to support the lamp units LU1 to LU3. However, the number and arrangement of the lamp units are not limited, and one lamp unit may be supported by defining the accommodation space SP only by the peripheral wall surface 10 without providing the intermediate wall. In addition, an intermediate wall extending in the upper-lower direction and an intermediate wall extending in the left-right direction perpendicular to the intermediate wall may be provided to form an intermediate wall with a cross-shaped vertical cross section, and the cross-shaped intermediate wall and the peripheral wall surface 10 may define four accommodation spaces to fix four lamp units. In this case, the boss forming portions 71 to 74 and the mounting members 81 to 84 may be provided on the peripheral wall surface 10.

[0107] Aiming support portions 91 to 93 are formed at three corner portions of a lower left corner portion, a lower right corner portion, and an upper right corner portion of the bracket 6. The aiming support portions 91 to 93 each have a rectangular flat plate shape, and are provided to define three corners of a substantially rectangular shape in a front view formed by the peripheral wall surface 10. The aiming support portions 91 to 93 will be described later.Double Wall

[0108] A configuration of a wall constituting the bracket 6 will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition to FIGS. 12 to 16, FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a structure of the wall constituting the bracket 6. FIG. 18 is a front view of the bracket 6 illustrating lines of cross-sectional views of the bracket 6 in FIGS. 19A to 20B. Also in FIG. 18, the bracket 6 is colored with light black. FIGS. 19A, 19B, 20A, and 20B are the cross-sectional views of the bracket 6. FIG. 19A is a cross-sectional view taken along a line A-A in FIG. 18. FIG. 19A mainly illustrates a double wall portion (an AA portion in FIG. 17) of the right wall surface 200. FIG. 19B is a cross-sectional view taken along a line B-B in FIG. 18. FIG. 19B mainly illustrates a double wall portion (a BB portion in FIG. 17) of the lower wall surface 300. FIG. 20A is a cross-sectional view taken along a line C-C in FIG. 18. FIG. 20A mainly illustrates a double wall portion (a CC portion in FIG. 17) of the left inner wall surface 500. FIG. 20B is a cross-sectional view taken along a line D-D in FIG. 18. FIG. 20B mainly illustrates a double wall portion (a DD portion in FIG. 17) of the upper wall surface 100. Note that FIG. 18 also illustrates a line of the cross-sectional view of the bracket of FIG. 21, and this point will be described later.

[0109] The bracket 6 is configured such that the upper wall surface 100, the right wall surface 200, the lower wall surface 300, and the left wall surface 400, that is, the peripheral wall surface 10, and the right intermediate wall 600 and the left inner wall surface 500, that is, at least a part of the intermediate wall 60, are double walls. Both the peripheral wall surface 10 and the intermediate wall are not necessarily double walls. Only the peripheral wall surface 10 may include a double wall, or only the intermediate wall may include a double wall. A light black portion illustrated in FIG. 17 is a main double wall portion of the bracket 6. In addition, in FIG. 17, since it is intended to display a portion including a double wall, reference numerals of the respective portions are omitted.Double Wall: Right Wall Surface

[0110] First, the structure of the right wall surface 200 (the AA portion in FIG. 17) will be described with reference to FIG. 12. As illustrated in FIG. 12, the right wall surface 200 constitutes a right side surface of the bracket 6 and extends in the upper-lower direction from the aiming support portion 93 provided at the upper right corner portion to the aiming support portion 92 provided at the lower right corner portion connected to the lower wall surface 300.

[0111] The right wall surface 200 is configured as a double wall as a whole, and includes a right wall surface body 201 that defines the outer shape of the bracket 6, and a right auxiliary wall 202 disposed on the inner side (left side) thereof. The right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202 are arranged side by side in the left-right direction, have substantially the same and uniform plate thickness, and extend in the front-rear direction. Therefore, in a front view, only the end surfaces of the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202 are visible. Both of the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202 are surfaces curved in opposite directions and extend in the upper-lower direction. Further, the wall surfaces of the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202 are each a free-form surface created by extruding and extending a free-form curve in the front-rear direction. The right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202 form the right wall surface 200 of the bracket 6 as a double wall.

[0112] The right auxiliary wall 202 extends downward from a left edge wall 93b of the aiming support portion 93 at the upper right corner portion, as if extending the left edge wall 93b, and is connected to the lower wall surface 300. The right auxiliary wall 202 extends in the front-rear direction along a left side of an outer peripheral edge portion of the aiming support portion 93 and constitutes the left edge wall 93b of the aiming support portion 93. Further, the wall defining the upper end portion of the right wall surface 200 extends in the front-rear direction along the lower side of the outer peripheral edge portion of the aiming support portion 93, and constitutes a lower edge wall 93a of the aiming support portion 93.

[0113] The right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202 are provided side by side in the left-right direction, but the right wall surface body 201 has a center curved leftward, and the right auxiliary wall 202 has a center curved slightly rightward. Therefore, the right wall surface 200 has a constricted shape at the center, and a distance between the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202 is shortest at a central portion and slightly longer at upper and lower portions than at the central portion.

[0114] As illustrated in FIGS. 12 and 13, an inter-wall space extending in the front-rear direction is formed between the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202 extending in the upper-lower direction. In the inter-wall space, right partition walls 241 to 243 are provided so as to cross between the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202. The right partition walls 241 to 243 extend in the left-right direction and divide the inter-wall space into four small spaces AR201 to AR204 extending in the front-rear direction. As can be seen from FIG. 19A described later, the small spaces AR201 to AR204 are arranged side by side in the upper-lower direction.

[0115] Similarly to the other walls, the right partition walls 241 to 243 have a constant plate thickness, and wall surfaces of the walls have free-form surfaces extending in the front-rear direction and facing each other. Only the front end surfaces of the right partition walls 241 to 243 can be seen in a front view.

[0116] As described above, in the bracket 6 formed in a tubular shape, since a part of the peripheral wall surface 10 defining the outer shape is a double wall, the right partition walls 241 to 243 that further finely divide the inter-wall space formed between walls of the double wall extending in the upper-lower direction are provided, and the load bearing performance of the right wall surface 200 in a plurality of directions is improved. Since the right wall surface 200 includes the right partition walls 241 to 243, the deformation amount can be reduced with respect to the load of the right wall surface 200, and the rigidity of the bracket 6 is improved.

[0117] As illustrated in FIG. 19A, in the present embodiment, right internal walls 251 to 254 are provided to communicate between the lower edge wall 93a of the aiming support portion 93 and the right partition wall 241, between the right partition wall 241 and the right partition wall 242, between the right partition wall 242 and the right partition wall 243, and between the right partition wall 243 and the lower wall surface body 301 to be described later so as to divide the right small spaces AR201 to AR204 extending in the front-rear direction into front and rear of the bracket 6. The right internal walls 251 to 254 are shifted in the front-rear direction so as to alternate in the front-rear direction. Specifically, the right internal walls 251 to 254 are provided to close either the front opening portions or the rear opening portions of the right small spaces AR201 to AR204, and the respective right internal walls 251 to 254 are formed to close the opening portions in different directions between adjacent small spaces. Note that, here, blocking does not require blocking all of the small spaces AR201 to AR204, but includes partially blocking.

[0118] Specifically, among the four right small spaces AR201 to AR204 arranged side by side in the upper-lower direction, the first right internal wall 251 and the third right internal wall 253 are formed in the first right small space AR201, which is the first from the top, and the third right small space AR203, which is the third from the top, so as to close the rear opening portions, respectively. The second right internal wall 252 and the fourth right internal wall 254 are formed in the second right small space AR202, which is the second from the top, and the fourth right small space AR204, which is the fourth from the top, so as to close the front opening portions, respectively.

[0119] As described above, the right internal walls 251 to 254 are formed to alternately close the opening portions of the four right small spaces AR201 to AR204 defined by the right partition walls 241 to 243. Therefore, the cross-sectional shape of the right wall surface 200 is configured such that the right internal walls 251 to 254 extending in the upper-lower direction are connected to the front end surfaces or the rear end surfaces of the walls in an order of the lower edge wall 93a, the right partition walls 241 to 243, and the lower wall surface 300, which are substantially horizontal surfaces, from the top, and are formed in a zigzag shape so as to be continuous in a square S-shape. In addition, since both left and right end surfaces of the right partition walls 241 to 243 and the right internal walls 251 to 254 are all connected to and integrated with the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202, the right wall surface 200 has a very strong shape. The right internal walls 251 to 254 are not necessarily provided at the front end or the rear end of the bracket 6 in the front-rear direction so as to close the opening portions of the respective small spaces, but may be provided, for example, at an intermediate portion of the bracket 6 in the front-rear direction so as to close the opening portions of the respective small spaces.

[0120] The right wall surface 200 includes the right partition walls 241 to 243 that cross the inter-wall space between the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202 constituting a double wall extending in the upper-lower direction, and the right internal walls 251 to 254 disposed substantially orthogonal to both the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202 constituting a double wall, and the right partition walls 241 to 243. The right wall surface 200 has a bridge structure in which the right internal walls 251 to 254 support the right partition walls, and the surfaces extending in three directions substantially orthogonal to each other are connected to each other and integrally formed, so that the strain resistance performance and the load bearing performance in a plurality of directions are high. As a result, the load bearing performance of the right wall surface 200 is improved, and the rigidity of the bracket 6 is also improved. Other double walls described below also exhibit the same effect.Double Wall: Lower Wall Surface

[0121] Next, the double wall portion (the BB portion in FIG. 17) of the lower wall surface 300 will be described in detail. As illustrated in FIG. 12, the lower wall surface 300 includes the lower wall surface body 301 defining the outer shape of the bracket 6, and a lower auxiliary wall 302 disposed inside (above) the lower wall surface body 301. The lower auxiliary wall 302 is bent toward the lower wall surface body 301 at a right end portion and connected to the lower wall surface body 301, and not the entire area of the lower wall surface 300 but only a partial area thereof is configured as a double wall. The lower wall surface 300 is a double wall substantially from the accommodation space SP1 to the accommodation space SP2.

[0122] The lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall 302 extend in the front-rear direction. Therefore, in a front view, only the front end surfaces of the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall 302 can be seen.

[0123] A space inside the double wall of the lower wall surface 300, that is, an inter-wall space sandwiched between the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall 302 is a flat substantially rectangular parallelepiped long in the left-right direction. The lower partition walls 341 to 343 are provided to partition the space elongated in the left-right direction in the left-right direction. That is, the lower partition walls 341 to 343 that divide the inter-wall space between walls of the double wall of the lower wall surface 300 into a plurality of small spaces extending in the front-rear direction are provided. In addition, the lower partition walls 341 to 343 are provided so as to cross the lower wall surface 300 which is a double wall. The lower partition walls 341 to 343 are connected to the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall 302 and extend in the upper-lower direction between the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall 302.

[0124] The lower partition walls 341 to 343 are provided to be inclined from the vertical direction, and are provided such that the end portions of adjacent partition walls are in contact with each other. That is, among the three lower partition walls 341, 342, and 343 arranged in order from the left, the first lower partition wall 341, which is disposed furthest to the left, is inclined rightward from the vertical direction. The upper end portion of the second lower partition wall 342 is connected to the upper end portion of the first lower partition wall 341 and is provided to be inclined leftward from the vertical direction. The lower end portion of the third lower partition wall 343 is connected to the lower end portion of the second lower partition wall 342 and is provided to be inclined rightward from the vertical direction. Since the three lower partition walls 341 to 343 are alternately and obliquely arranged, the end surfaces are formed in an N shape in a front view. That is, the three lower partition walls 341 to 343 are arranged in a truss shape.

[0125] As described above, the partition walls do not need to be substantially orthogonal to the double wall or disposed substantially parallel to each other, and only need to be connected to two walls constituting the double wall between the walls of the double wall. It is more preferable to arrange the three lower partition walls 341 to 343 in a truss shape because the load bearing performance is improved.

[0126] As illustrated in FIG. 12, the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall 302 extend in the left-right direction but do not need to extend horizontally, and are bent at portions connected to the respective partition walls as bent portions, and the walls are free-form surfaces constituted by a plurality of slightly curved surfaces. All of the lower partition walls 341 to 343 and the lower wall surface 300 have substantially the same plate thickness and are provided to extend along the front-rear direction.

[0127] As will be described later, at least a part of the left inner wall surface 500 is also configured as a double wall. The left inner wall surface 500 is provided such that the left inner wall surface body 501 and a left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 are substantially orthogonal to the lower auxiliary wall 302, further extend to the inside of the double wall of the lower wall surface 300, and are connected to the lower wall surface body 301. Therefore, the lower end portion of the left inner wall surface 500, specifically, portions of the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 inside the double wall of the lower wall surface 300 is also configured as a part of the partition wall of the lower wall surface 300.

[0128] In this way, there is a case where two double walls intersect with each other and one auxiliary wall constitutes a part of the other partition wall or a peripheral wall, or conversely, one partition wall constitutes a part of the other auxiliary wall. The double walls have higher rigidity than the single wall, and the double walls intersect each other and are integrally configured to reinforce each other, thereby further increasing the rigidity of the bracket 6.

[0129] In the inter-wall space of the double wall of the lower wall surface 300, five small spaces, that is, lower small spaces AR301 to AR305, which are defined by the lower partition walls 341, 342, and 343 and the left inner wall surface 500 extending to the inside of the lower wall surface 300 and arranged side by side in the left-right direction, are formed. Similarly to the right wall surface 200, the lower small spaces AR301 to AR305 inside the lower wall surface 300 are provided with the lower internal walls 351 to 355 that alternately close opening portions in the front-rear direction.

[0130] Specifically, as illustrated in FIGS. 12 to 15 and FIG. 19B, among the five lower small spaces AR301 to AR305 arranged side by side in the left-right direction, the first lower internal wall 351, the third lower internal wall 353, and the fifth lower internal wall 355 are formed in the first lower small space AR301, which is the first from the left, the third lower small space AR303, which is the third from the left, and the fifth lower small space AR305, which is the fifth from the left, so as to close the rear opening portions, respectively. The second lower internal wall 352 and the fourth lower internal wall 354 are formed in the second lower small space AR302, which is the second from the left, and the fourth lower small space AR304, which is the fourth from the left, so as to close the front opening portions, respectively.

[0131] In the cross-sectional shape of the lower wall surface 300, the left wall surface 400, the lower partition walls 341, 342, and 343, the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 of the left inner wall surface 500, which are arranged in order from the left, are continuously connected at their end portions by the lower internal walls 351, 352, 353, 354, and 355 connected in the left-right direction, so that a square S-shape is continuously formed.

[0132] In addition, since upper ends of the lower partition walls 341 to 343 and the lower internal walls 351 to 355 are connected to and integrated with the lower auxiliary wall 302, and lower ends thereof are connected to and integrated with the lower wall surface body 301, the lower wall surface 300 has a very strong structure. Accordingly, the load bearing performance of the lower wall surface 300 is improved, and the rigidity of the bracket 6 is also improved.

[0133] As described above, the partition wall may be provided so as to extend in the same extending direction (front-rear direction) as the double wall and partition the space inside the double wall, both end surfaces thereof may be connected to both constituent surfaces of the double wall, may not be substantially orthogonal to the double wall, and may not be provided in parallel to each other, and the form, number, and shape thereof are not limited. If the internal wall is also provided in the small space and both end surfaces thereof are connected to the partition wall forming the small space, it is not necessary to completely close the small space. Similarly to other walls, the internal wall may be a curved surface, a bent surface, or a free-form surface.Double Wall: Left Inner Wall Surface, Right Intermediate Wall

[0134] Next, the left inner wall surface 500 (the CC portion in FIG. 17) will be described in detail. Similarly to the right wall surface 200, the left inner wall surface 500 is also configured as a double wall. As illustrated in FIG. 16, the left inner wall surface 500 extends in the upper-lower direction. The left inner wall surface 500 is configured as a double wall including the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 arranged side by side in the left-right direction.

[0135] An inner side of the double wall of the left inner wall surface 500, that is, an inter-wall space sandwiched between the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 is a flat substantially rectangular parallelepiped long in the upper-lower direction, and the left inner partition walls 541, 542 are provided so as to divide the space elongated in the upper-lower direction into three left inner small spaces AR501, AR502, and AR503 arranged side by side in the upper-lower direction.

[0136] Among the left inner small spaces AR501, AR502, and AR503, the first left inner small space AR501 disposed above is not provided with the internal wall. The second left inner small space AR502 disposed at a center is provided with the first left inner internal wall 551 that closes the front opening portion. The third left inner small space AR503 disposed below is formed with the second left inner internal wall 552 that closes the rear opening portion.

[0137] The left inner wall surface body 501, the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502, and the left inner partition walls 541, 542 are provided to extend in the front-rear direction, and only front end surfaces of the walls can be seen in a front view. The front end surface has a uniform plate thickness, but has a free shape such as a curved shape or a bent shape at a plurality of positions.

[0138] For example, an upper side of the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 is considerably inclined rightward and connected to the upper wall surface 100. Therefore, the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 works like a rib of the left inner wall surface body 501 and the upper wall surface 100 in cooperation with the left inner partition wall 541. Further, since the boss forming portion 71 is disposed in the left inner wall surface 500 in such a way that it protrudes inwards, the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 at the position where the boss 7 is provided is curved in an arc shape along an outer peripheral edge of the boss forming portion 71. As a result, the boss forming portion 71 of the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 functions as a part of the boss. The second left inner partition wall 542 is formed so as to connect the curved portion of the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 and the lower auxiliary wall 302.

[0139] As illustrated in FIG. 20A, the vertical cross-sectional shape of the left inner wall surface 500 is formed with the boss forming portion 71, but is basically a shape in which a square S-shape is continuous. As described above, the left inner wall surface 500 having such a configuration has the high load bearing performance in a plurality of directions and high rigidity.

[0140] As illustrated in the left inner wall surface 500, it is not necessary to provide an intermediate wall in all of the small spaces formed inside the double wall. Further, as illustrated in FIG. 20A, the boss forming portion 71 which is the through hole forming portion may be provided on a wall constituting the double wall.

[0141] In the present embodiment, the lower portion of the left inner wall surface 500 is integrated with the lower wall surface 300. In addition, since the upper portion of the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 is provided to be inclined, the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 also acts as a double wall of the upper wall surface 100. In this way, by forming the wall as a free-form surface, it is also possible to form a wall that plays two or more roles.

[0142] In addition, it is not necessary to provide the internal wall in all the small spaces included in the inter-wall space of the double wall, and the formation of the internal wall may be omitted as long as the necessary rigidity can be ensured. The wall defining the shape of the bracket 6 is formed of the double wall, the inter-wall space is further divided into the small spaces, and it is possible to determine whether the internal wall is provided in each small space, so that it is possible to provide the minimum number of internal walls necessary to ensure necessary rigidity can be provided, thereby making it possible to reduce the weight of the bracket 6.

[0143] The right intermediate wall 600 also has a small area, but is configured as a double wall similarly to the left inner wall surface 500. As illustrated in FIG. 16, the right intermediate wall 600 extends in the upper-lower direction. The right intermediate wall 600 is configured as a double wall including a right intermediate wall body 601 and a right intermediate auxiliary wall 602 arranged side by side in the left-right direction, and has the same effect as the left inner wall surface 500 described above.Double Wall: Upper Wall Surface

[0144] Next, the shape of the right area of the upper wall surface 100, specifically, the shape of the upper wall surface 100 of the accommodation space SP3 formed on the right side will be described.

[0145] As illustrated in FIG. 12, the upper wall surface 100 includes the upper wall surface body 101 constituting a part of the outer shape of the bracket 6, a first upper auxiliary wall 102 and a second upper auxiliary wall 103 formed to be inclined from the horizontal direction to the lower right so as to connect the upper wall surface body 101 and the right wall surface 200, and three auxiliary walls, that is, a third upper auxiliary wall 104, a fourth upper auxiliary wall 105, and a fifth upper auxiliary wall 106, which are formed to be inclined from the horizontal direction to the lower left so as to connect the upper wall surface body 101 and the right intermediate wall 600.

[0146] On the upper wall surface 100, a plurality of auxiliary walls 102, 103 are provided at different angles and intersect each other to be integrated, and the auxiliary walls are also configured as partition walls. By providing the plurality of auxiliary walls, at least a part of the upper wall surface 100 is configured as a double wall, and a part thereof is configured as a triple wall. As described above, the peripheral wall surface 10 may include a plurality of auxiliary walls, and at least a part of the auxiliary walls may be configured as a triple or multi-layered wall.

[0147] Inside the upper wall surface 100, an inter-wall space constituted by the upper wall surface body 101 and the upper auxiliary walls 102 to 106 is partitioned by the upper auxiliary walls 102 to 106, and the upper small spaces AR101 to AR108 are formed as eight small spaces.

[0148] Some of the eight upper small spaces AR101 to AR108 are formed with an internal wall that closes the front opening portion or the rear opening portion. In the present embodiment, as illustrated in FIGS. 12 to 15, the second upper internal wall 152 is formed to close the front opening portion of the central fourth upper small space AR104 defined by the first upper auxiliary wall 102, the second upper auxiliary wall 103, the third upper auxiliary wall 104, and the fourth upper auxiliary wall 105. In the first upper small space AR101 and the eighth upper small space AR108 formed adjacent to the upper and lower sides of the fourth upper small space AR104, the first upper internal wall 151 and the third upper internal wall 153 are formed so as to close the back opening portions.

[0149] The upper wall surface 100 is provided with the plurality of auxiliary walls intersecting each other, each of the auxiliary walls also functions as a partition wall, and at least a part of the upper wall surface 100 is configured as a double wall.

[0150] As illustrated in FIG. 20B, a cross-sectional shape of portions of the left inner wall surface 500 where the internal walls are provided is a continuous rectangular S-shape. As described above, the upper wall surface 100 configured as described above has the high load bearing performance in a plurality of directions and the high rigidity.

[0151] In the small spaces AR101 to AR108 formed in the double wall such as the upper wall surface 100, a portion where the internal wall is provided or a portion where the internal wall is not provided is not necessarily specified. In accordance with the required rigidity and weight reduction, the internal wall may be provided in any small space, or the internal wall may not be provided at all.

[0152] Which portion of the peripheral wall surface 10 of the bracket 6 is configured as a double wall is not particularly limited, but it is preferable to provided the double wall to reinforce a portion to which a load is particularly applied, such as the periphery of the aiming support portions 91 to 93, the boss forming portions 71 to 74, and the mounting members 81 to 84, because the rigidity of the bracket 6 is greatly improved.

[0153] Hereinafter, the aiming support portions 91 to 93 and the boss forming portions 71, 72, and 74, which are main features of the bracket 6 according to the present embodiment, will be described in detail.Aiming Support Portion

[0154] Here, a structure around the aiming support portions 91 to 93 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 12 to 15 and 21B. FIG. 21B is a cross-sectional view taken along a line F-F in FIG. 18, and mainly illustrates the boss forming portion 71 and the mounting member 82. As described above, the aiming support portions 91 to 93 are formed at three corner portions of the lower left corner portion, the lower right corner portion, and the upper right corner portion of the bracket 6. The aiming support portions 91 to 93 each have a rectangular flat plate shape, and through holes 91c to 93c having shapes substantially similar to the outer shapes of the aiming support portions 91 to 93 are respectively formed substantially at the centers thereof. In addition, the aiming support portions 91 to 93 include edge walls 91a, 91b, 92a, 92b, 93a, and 93b extending forward from a plane of the aiming support portion 91 in peripheral edge portions thereof.

[0155] Specifically, the aiming support portion 91 includes the upper edge wall 91a extending in the left-right direction and the right edge wall 91b extending in the upper-lower direction. The aiming support portion 92 includes the upper edge wall 92a extending in the left-right direction and the left edge wall 92b extending in the upper-lower direction. The aiming support portion 93 includes a lower edge wall 93a extending in the left-right direction and a left edge wall 93b extending in the upper-lower direction. As illustrated in FIG. 12 and the like, the aiming support portion 93 is provided in contact with a right end of the upper wall surface 100 and an upper end of the right wall surface 200. As described above, the right end of the upper wall surface 100 and the upper end of the right wall surface 200 are configured as a double wall. Therefore, the lower edge wall 93a, which is a peripheral edge portion of the aiming support portion 93 shares a wall surface with an upper end wall of the right wall surface 200, and the left edge wall 93b shares a wall surface with a right end wall of the upper wall surface 100. The upper end wall of the right wall surface 200 and the right end wall of the upper wall surface 100 are portions configured as a double wall. In this way, the left edge wall 93b is continuous with the right auxiliary wall 202 and the lower edge wall 93a is continuous with the fifth upper auxiliary wall 106, and the right auxiliary wall 202 and the fifth upper auxiliary wall 106 intersect at the lower left corner portion of the aiming support portion 93. As a result, for the aiming support portion 93, the aiming support portion 93 is supported by the four walls at the lower left corner portion thereof.

[0156] For example, in the bracket 6 according to the present embodiment, the right wall surface 200 and the lower wall surface 300 connecting the three aiming support portions 91 to 93 each are configured as a double wall. In addition, the double wall portion of the upper wall surface 100 is a small space extending toward the aiming support portion 93 on the upper right side, and the double wall portion from the left inner wall surface 500 toward the lower wall surface 300 is a small space extending toward the aiming support portion 91 on the lower left side. Since the bracket 6 is supported at three positions where the aiming support portions 91 to 93 are provided, the upper right, the lower right, and the lower left corner portions are particularly portions to which a load is applied, and portions connected thereto are mainly configured as double walls. By providing the double wall at the portion where the load is applied, the increase in mass due to the provision of the double wall can be prevented, and the rigidity of the bracket 6 can be appropriately improved.

[0157] FIG. 21A is a cross-sectional view taken along a line E-E in FIG. 18. Although FIG. 18 is a front view of only the bracket 6, FIG. 21A illustrates the two aiming support portions 92, 93 mainly formed at right upper and lower corner portions in a state in which the aiming screws E2, E3 are attached to the bracket 6. For the sake of convenience, the aiming support portion is cut along a plane passing through the center of the aiming screw from the line E-E in FIG. 18.

[0158] The aiming support portions 92, 93 will be mainly described with reference to FIG. 21A, but the same applies to the aiming support portion 91. The aiming support portions 91 to 93 are configured such that plate surfaces thereof are parallel to each other. As illustrated in FIG. 21A, in the aiming screw E3, a mount M10 is mounted on the corresponding aiming support portion 93, and the aiming screw E3 screwed into the mount M10 is inserted into the through hole 93c and locked. A reference numeral E12 denotes an actuator of the aiming screw. The same applies to the aiming support portion 92. The bracket 6 is supported on the back surface of the lamp body 2 such that the optical axes of the lamp units LU1 to LU3 are adjustable.

[0159] Meanwhile, for example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a bracket of the related art that extends as a surface in the left-right direction in a front view and includes an aiming support portion. The bracket disclosed in Patent Literature 1 has a flat plate basic configuration in a front view. Therefore, an aiming screw mounting portions are provided at three corner portions on the plane of the bracket. Although omitted in Patent Literature 1, in the bracket having such a shape, a standing wall surrounding a through hole serving as an aiming screw mounting hole and protruding rearward is provided on a back surface side of the through hole. Such a configuration is used to impart necessary rigidity to a periphery of the aiming screw mounting hole, but the additional standing wall increases the weight.

[0160] On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the aiming support portions 91 to 93 are provided so as to share the wall surfaces with a double wall which is a part of the peripheral wall surface 10. All of the shared walls (that is, the edge walls 91a, 91b, 92a, 92b, 93a, and 93b) constitute a part of the peripheral wall surface 10 constituting the outer shape of the bracket 6, and are not added. Therefore, according to the bracket 6 of the embodiment, it is not necessary to provide an additional standing wall in the aiming support portions 91 to 93, and the weight is not increased. Further, the outer shapes of the aiming support portions 91 to 93 are substantially similar to the through holes 91c to 93c which are the aiming screw mounting holes formed substantially at the centers. This is particularly preferable because it allows the aiming support portions 91 to 93 to be configured with the smallest size possible compared to cases where this is not the case. In addition, since the shape of the aiming support portion 91 is similar to the shape of the through hole 91c, a distance from a peripheral side surface of the through hole 91c to which the load is actually applied to the end surface is substantially the same, so that the load is substantially uniformly applied to the end surface of the aiming support portion 91 without deviation of moment. Therefore, a stress applied to a base end portion of the aiming support portion 91 is substantially uniformly dispersed, and breakage due to uneven distribution of the stress can be prevented.Boss Forming Portion

[0161] Next, the boss forming portions 71, 72, and 74, which are each a through hole forming portion, will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 to 16 and the like and FIG. 21B. As illustrated in FIGS. 12 to 16, the boss forming portions 71, 72, and 74 have a substantially circular flat plate shape, and has the through holes 71a, 72a, and 74a similar to the boss forming portions 71, 72, and 74 at the centers thereof. The boss forming portions 71, 72, and 74 are configured such that the walls constituting the double wall of the peripheral wall surface 10 or the intermediate wall extends in the front-rear direction along circular outer peripheral edge portions of the boss forming portions 71, 72, and 74 and share the wall surfaces.

[0162] The boss forming portion 71 is provided at a portion of the left inner wall surface 500 configured as a double wall including the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 so as to share the wall surface of the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 as a wall surface extending in the front-rear direction along the outer peripheral edge portion of the boss forming portion 71. In other words, in the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502, a position where the boss forming portion 71 is provided is curved in an arc shape along an outer peripheral edge of the boss forming portion 71.

[0163] As a result, the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 constituting the left inner wall surface 500 illustrated in FIG. 21B functions as the boss forming portion 71, that is, a part of the boss. A general boss is formed in a flat plate-shaped member and has a circular through hole for inserting a fixing member such as a bolt and a cylindrical standing wall surrounding the through hole and protruding from the flat plate-shaped member. Such a standing wall increases strength and rigidity in a vicinity of the boss, but the weight also increases accordingly. However, according to the above configuration, the wall surface of the left inner wall surface 500 for defining the accommodation space SP2 of the lamp unit extends along the outer peripheral edge of the boss forming portion 72, and this wall surface functions like the standing wall of the boss. Therefore, it is not necessary to additionally provide the standing wall, and it is possible to increase the strength and rigidity without increasing the weight.

[0164] According to the above configuration, the boss forming portions 71, 72, and 74 do not protrude from the wall which is a plane, but the boss can be provided on the wall surface extending in the same direction as the mounting direction of the boss (the extending direction of the through hole, the front-rear direction in the present embodiment). In general, since the boss has a cylindrical shape, the plane extending in the same direction as the extending direction of the boss hole (through hole) can be in contact with only one point, and it is necessary to provide an enlarged portion so as to fill a gap between the horizontal surface and the boss. As described above, the base end portion of the mounting portion that is not similar in the shape to the through hole has a large moment and is easily broken. By providing the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 integrated with the boss forming portion 71 so as to surround the outer peripheral edge of the boss forming portion 71, the distance between the through hole 71a and the wall surface is substantially the same distance, the moment applied to the boss forming portion 71 is substantially uniform, and in addition, the wall surface is curved so as to match the peripheral wall surface, so that a contact area between the wall surface and the boss forming portion 71 can be increased and a load on the end surface can be further dispersed.

[0165] The boss forming portion 71 is in contact with the three left inner small spaces AR501 to AR503 in the left inner wall surface 500. That is, the boss forming portion 71 is disposed on the left inner wall surface 500 at a position where the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502, the first left inner partition wall 541, and the second left inner partition wall 542 are connected. As a result, the boss forming portion 71 is supported by the four walls, and the sufficient load resistance is ensured.

[0166] The boss forming portion 72 is provided at a portion of the lower wall surface 300 configured as a double wall including the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall 302, and a portion of the right intermediate wall 600 configured as a double wall including the right intermediate wall body 601 and the right intermediate auxiliary wall 602 so as to share the wall surfaces of the lower auxiliary wall 302 and the right intermediate wall body 601 as a wall surface along an outer peripheral edge portion of the boss forming portion 72. Positions of the right intermediate wall 600 and the lower auxiliary wall 302 where the boss forming portion 72 is provided are curved in an arc shape along the outer peripheral edge of the boss forming portion 72, and as a result, arc-shaped portions of the lower auxiliary wall 302 and the right intermediate wall body 601 perform the same function as the standing wall of the boss. Therefore, a structure in a vicinity of the boss forming portion 72 can achieve the same effect as the structure in a vicinity of the boss forming portion 71, which enables enhancing the strength and the rigidity without increasing the weight.

[0167] Similarly to the boss forming portion 71, the boss forming portion 72 is integrated with the outer peripheral edge portion of the boss forming portion 72, and the right intermediate wall 61 and the lower auxiliary wall 302 are provided so as to surround the outer peripheral edge portion. The boss forming portion 72 is provided at an orthogonal portion of the right intermediate wall 600 and the lower wall surface 300, and is supported by both walls which are double walls, so that the rigidity is improved. Further, the lower internal wall 355 is provided substantially orthogonal to the lower auxiliary wall 302, and the rigidity of the lower auxiliary wall 302 and the rigidity of the boss forming portion 72 are improved.

[0168] Similarly, the boss forming portion 74 is provided such that the wall surface of the right auxiliary wall 202 surrounds the outer peripheral edge portion of the boss forming portion 72 as a wall surface along the outer peripheral edge portion of the boss forming portion 74, at a portion of the right wall surface 200 configured as a double wall including the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202. As a result, the arc-shaped portion of the right auxiliary wall 202 performs the same function as the standing wall of a so-called boss. The boss forming portion 74 is also in contact with the plurality of small spaces. As a result, the boss forming portion 74 can also achieve the same effect as the boss forming portions 71, 72.

[0169] It should be noted that the boss forming portion 73 does not have the features described for the boss forming portions 71, 72, and 74. That is, the boss forming portion 73 is provided so as to protrude from the upper auxiliary wall 102 toward the accommodation space SP3, but the outer shape thereof is not substantially similar to the shape of the through hole, but include an enlarged portion 73b that extends from a shape substantially similar to the shape of the through hole along the curved surface of the wall surface of the upper auxiliary wall 102. As described above, in the bracket 6, all the boss forming portions do not need to have the above-described advantageous features, and the above-described features may be adopted only for necessary portions.Simulation

[0170] In order to confirm the effect of the bracket 6 configured as described above, the mass and the maximum displacement were simulated using the bracket 6 and a bracket of the related art having a flat plate-shaped back wall in a front view and not having a portion configured as a double wall. As a result, the mass of the bracket 6 was smaller than that of the bracket of the related art by 24%, and the maximum displacement amount when stress was applied was lower by 60%. By applying the above configuration, the bracket 6 according to the present embodiment is lighter than the bracket of the related art, and has significantly improved rigidity.Molding Method

[0171] Next, a molding process and a molding mold of the bracket 6 configured as described above will be described. FIGS. 22A to 22C are schematic configuration diagrams of the molding mold for the bracket 6, and are diagrams illustrating the molding process. Cross-sectional lines of the cross-sectional views of the mold illustrated in FIGS. 22A to 22C correspond to the line A-A in FIG. 18.

[0172] As illustrated in FIG. 22A, first, the fixed mold 30 and the movable mold 40 are arranged facing each other and clamped. The direction in which the mold is clamped / opened is defined as the direction DR. In the clamped state, the molding space (cavity) CAV corresponding to the shape of the bracket 6 is defined inside the mold. The molding space CAV is provided so that an extending direction (front-rear direction) of the peripheral wall surface 10 of the bracket 6 corresponding thereto coincides with the direction DR in which the mold is clamped.

[0173] Next, as illustrated in FIG. 22B, a resin material heated to a predetermined melting temperature is injected into the molding space CAV and filled in the molding space CAV. The resin material filled in the molding space CAV is cooled and solidified to mold the bracket 6.

[0174] Next, as illustrated in FIG. 22C, the mold is opened, the movable mold 40 is separated in the direction of the direction DR, and the bracket 6 in a state of being attached to the fixed mold 30 is pushed out and removed by a pushing pin (not illustrated).

[0175] Since the bracket 6 is configured to extend along the direction DR in which the mold is opened, the movable mold 40 can be separated along the direction DR without any problem. The bracket 6 is also extruded from the fixed mold 30 along the direction DR and removed without any problem.

[0176] The bracket 6 is configured in a shape extending in the front-rear direction, the extending direction of the bracket 6 can be aligned with the direction DR in which the mold is opened, and the bracket 6 can be molded by injection molding using the mold.

[0177] As described above, although the bracket 6 has a complicated shape, the productivity is high because the bracket 6 can be mass-produced by injection molding using a mold.Third Embodiment

[0178] Hereinafter, a third embodiment according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment is exemplary only without limiting the invention, and all or combinations of the features described in the embodiment are not necessarily essential to the invention.Vehicle Lamp

[0179] FIG. 23 is a schematic front view of a vehicle lamp 2001 including the bracket 6, and the vehicle lamp 2001 is a headlamp and is mounted on each of both left and right sides of the front portion of the vehicle. The vehicle lamp 2001 includes the lamp body 2 and the front cover 4 as the lamp housing. The lamp body 2 is a housing with an opening at the front side, and the front cover 4 is attached to an opening portion to form the lamp chamber S inside. The front cover 4 is a so-called outer cover, and is a substantially transparent lens formed of a translucent resin such as polycarbonate. The front cover 4 is not limited to this, and an optical step for diverging and diffusing light emitted from the light source when each lamp is turned on may be formed.

[0180] In the defined lamp chamber S, the lamp units LU1 to LU3, which are three bracket fixing objects fixed and supported by the bracket 6, are accommodated side by side in the vehicle width direction (left-right direction). The lamp units LU1 to LU3 are a single lamp unit or a plurality of lamp units configured to emit light forward, and are optical units configured to form a predetermined light distribution such as a high beam light distribution or a low beam light distribution. The light emitted from the lamp units LU1 to LU3 is irradiated toward the front cover 4 disposed in front, passes through the front cover 4, and forms a predetermined light distribution in front of the vehicle. The lamp units LU1 to LU3 have a known configuration in the related art, such as a reflector type or a projector type lamp unit, and the type thereof does not matter.

[0181] For example, as illustrated in FIG. 28, the lamp units LU1 to LU3 include the support frames LU12, LU22, and LU32 on the front cover 4 side, and the support frames LU12, LU22, and LU32 support the projection lenses LU11, LU21, and LU31, respectively. As illustrated in FIG. 29, the lamp units LU1 to LU3 (only the lamp unit LU1 is illustrated) include a reflector LU13 that covers a light source (not illustrated) in a semi-dome shape and a metal heat sink LU14, and are fixed to the bosses 71 to 74 and the mounting members 81 to 84, which are fixing portions of the bracket 6 to be described later, by the heat sink LU14. Since the heat sink LU14 is made of metal, the rigidity thereof is high, and thus the rigidity of the lamp units LU1 to LU3 is also high.

[0182] The bracket 6 is attached to the back surface of the lamp body 2 by the three aiming screws E. The optical axes of the lamp units LU1 to LU3 are adjusted in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction by rotating the aiming screws E.

[0183] The bracket 6 according to the present embodiment is not limited to a headlamp, and can also be used for a vehicle lamp such as a rear combination lamp or a marker lamp. In the vehicle lamp 2001, a direction in which the light of the lamp units LU1 to LU3 on which the front cover 4 is disposed is emitted is defined as the front direction, and the rear direction, the left-right direction, and the upper-lower direction are determined based on the front direction. When the vehicle lamp 2001 is, for example, a rear lamp and is disposed on a rear surface of the vehicle, it is needless to say that the vehicle lamp 2001 is mounted on the vehicle while being rotated by 180 degrees, and the front of the vehicle lamp 2001 is the rear of the vehicle. In addition, in the bracket 6, the extending direction of the bracket 6 to be described later is the front-rear direction, and is described as coinciding with the front-rear direction of the vehicle lamp 2001.Bracket

[0184] Here, the configuration of the bracket 6 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 24 to 27. FIG. 24 is a front view of the bracket 6. FIG. 25 is a back view of the bracket 6. FIG. 26 is a front perspective view of the bracket 6. FIG. 27 is a back perspective view of the bracket 6. In FIGS. 24 to 27, the bracket 6 is colored in light black.

[0185] The bracket 6 is molded by injection molding using a hard synthetic resin material. The bracket 6 has a frame body shape having a space penetrating from a front surface side to a rear surface side, and mainly includes the upper wall surface 100, the right wall surface 200, the lower wall surface 300, and the left wall surface 400, and does not have the back wall and the front wall. Hereinafter, the upper wall surface 100, the right wall surface 200, the lower wall surface 300, and the left wall surface 400 forming the outer shape of the bracket 6 are collectively referred to as the peripheral wall surface 10.

[0186] As illustrated in FIGS. 24 and 25, the peripheral wall surface 10 of the bracket 6 is mainly constituted by a wall surface having a substantially constant plate thickness and extending in one direction (front-rear direction). The peripheral wall surface 10 is mostly a curved surface or a free-form surface whose radius of curvature is not constant. Since the bracket 6 has a frame body shape without the front wall and the back wall, the bracket 6 is lighter than a housing having the front wall and the back wall. In addition, the bracket 6 has higher rigidity than a flat plate-shaped or arch-shaped bracket. In addition, since the bracket 6 does not have the front wall and the back wall and is mainly constituted by the peripheral wall surface 10 extending in the front-rear direction, the bracket 6 has a configuration suitable for injection molding in which a mold removal direction is in the extending direction (front-rear direction) of the peripheral wall surface 10 of the bracket 6 using a mold. Details of the molding process will be described later.

[0187] The extending direction of the peripheral wall surface 10 of the bracket 6 is the front-rear direction and is the same direction, but each of the wall surfaces 100, 200, 300, and 400 is not an extruded shape obtained by extruding a predetermined cross-sectional shape by a predetermined length, the depth length (length in the front-rear direction) is different in each wall surface, and the cross-sectional shape orthogonal to the depth direction is not the same shape at any position. In addition, each of the wall surfaces 100, 200, 300, and 400 does not extend with a uniform length. For example, as can be understood from FIG. 26, the left wall surface 400 is shorter in depth length than the right wall surface 200. Further, in the left wall surface 400, the depth length (length in the front-rear direction) is very short in the upper area, and the depth length is longer in the lower area than in the depth length in the upper area.

[0188] The accommodation space SP in which at least a part of the lamp units LU1 to LU3 is accommodated is formed on the inner side defined by the peripheral wall surface 10 formed in the frame body shape. In the present embodiment, since the bracket 6 is relatively short in the depth direction (front-rear direction) and long in the width direction (left-right direction) compared to the height direction (upper-lower direction), the accommodation space SP inside the peripheral wall surface 10 has a shape long in the width direction. Therefore, the lamp units LU1 to LU3 are accommodated in a state of protruding from the accommodation space SP to the outside particularly on the upper surface side of the storage space SP.

[0189] As illustrated in FIGS. 24 to 27, the accommodation space SP is divided into three spaces in the left-right direction by the right inner wall surface 600 and the left inner wall surface 500 provided in the accommodation space SP and extending in the upper-lower direction. Similarly to the peripheral wall surface 10, the right inner wall surface 600 and the left inner wall surface 500 extend in the same direction (front-rear direction) as the peripheral wall surface 10. In the three accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3 defined by the peripheral wall surface 10, the right inner wall surface 600, and the left inner wall surface 500 and arranged side by side in the left-right direction, the lamp units LU1 to LU3 are respectively disposed (see FIG. 28). That is, the peripheral wall surface 10, the right inner wall surface 600, and the left inner wall surface 500 constitute a partition peripheral wall.

[0190] The left wall surface 400, the right wall surface 200, the right inner wall surface 600, and the left inner wall surface 500, that is, a standing wall surface constituting the bracket 6, are provided with the bosses 71 to 74 and the plate-shaped mounting members 81 to 84 protruding toward the three accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3. The bosses 71 to 74 and the mounting members 81 to 84 constitute a fixing portion, and the mounting holes of the bosses 71 to 74 and the mounting members 81 to 84 are provided to penetrate in the front-rear direction which is the extending direction of the bracket 6. As illustrated in FIGS. 28 and 29, the lamp units LU1 to LU3 are accommodated in predetermined accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3, respectively, and are fixed to the corresponding bosses 71 to 74 or mounting members 81 to 84 by fixing members 91 to 96 such as screws or bolts (only LU1 is illustrated in FIG. 29), thereby being attached, fixed and supported by the bracket 6.

[0191] In the present embodiment, the accommodation space SP is divided into three spaces in order to support the three lamp units LU1 to LU3, but the number and arrangement of the supported lamp units LUs are not limited, and a configuration in which the partition peripheral wall is formed only by the peripheral wall surface 10 without providing an inner wall surface to support one lamp unit LU, a configuration in which four lamp units LUs are fixed using a cross-shaped inner wall surface having vertical surfaces substantially orthogonal to each other, or the like may be adopted. In this case, the cross-shaped inner wall surface and the peripheral wall surface 10 constitute the partition peripheral wall. The bosses 71 to 74 and the mounting members 81 to 84 may be provided on the upper wall surface 100 or the lower wall surface 300 constituting a part of the partition peripheral wall.

[0192] As illustrated in FIGS. 24 to 27, the aiming support portions 9 are formed at three corner portions of the upper left corner portion, the upper right corner portion, and the lower right corner portion of the bracket 6. The aiming support portions 9 are each formed in a flat plate shape, and are provided such that plate surfaces thereof are parallel to each other. The mount (not illustrated) is mounted in the rectangular through hole 9c provided inside the aiming support portion 9, and the bracket 6 is supported on the back surface of the lamp body 2 by the aiming screw E screwed into the mount such that the optical axes of the lamp units LU1 to LU3 are adjustable.

[0193] The aiming support portion 9 has the rectangular flat plate shape. The aiming support portion 9 is provided at the corner portion of the bracket 6, the corner portions of the upper wall surface 100, the right wall surface 200, the lower wall surface 300, and the left wall surface 400 are formed in a recessed shape so as to avoid the aiming support portion 9, and the aiming support portion 9 is provided on the outer surface portion of the corner portion recess of the peripheral wall surface 10.

[0194] The frame body-shaped bracket 6 is formed such that the corner portions of the peripheral wall surface 10 are each recessed in a rectangular shape, and the horizontal surfaces 9a and the vertical surfaces 9b are formed at the respective corner portions. The rectangular aiming support portion 9 is formed such that the horizontal side and the vertical side of the rectangular outer shape are integrated with the horizontal surface 9a and the vertical surface 9b of the recess provided at the corner portion. Therefore, the aiming support portion 9 functions as a rib that supports the horizontal surface 9a and the vertical surface 9b of the recess provided at the corner portion.Double Wall: Right Wall Surface

[0195] In the bracket 6, the upper wall surface 100, the right wall surface 200, the lower wall surface 300, and the left wall surface 400, that is, the peripheral wall surface 10, and at least a part of the right inner wall surface 600 and the left inner wall surface 500 constituting the partition peripheral wall together with the peripheral wall surface 10 are formed in a double wall shape. The light black portion illustrated in FIG. 30 is a main double wall portion.

[0196] Here, the structure of the double wall on the right wall surface 200 (an AA portion in FIG. 30) will be described.

[0197] As illustrated in FIG. 24, the right wall surface 200 constitutes the right side surface of the bracket 6, and is provided to extend in a substantially vertical direction from the aiming support portion 9 provided at the upper right corner portion to the aiming support portion 9 provided at the lower right corner portion.

[0198] The right wall surface 200 is configured as a double wall as a whole, and includes the right wall surface body 201 which is an outer wall surface forming the outer shape of the bracket 6, and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 disposed on the inner side (left side) thereof. The right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 are arranged side by side in the left-right direction, are both surfaces curved in the opposite directions and extending in the upper-lower direction, have substantially the same and uniform plate thickness, and extend in the front-rear direction. Therefore, in a front view, only end surfaces of the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 are visible. The right wall surface 200 of the bracket 6 is configured as a double wall by the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202.

[0199] The right auxiliary wall surface 202 extends downward from the lower end portion of the vertical surface 9b at the upper right corner portion so as to extend from the vertical surface 9b and is connected to the lower wall surface 300. In other words, the vertical surface 9b at the upper right corner portion constitutes a part of the right auxiliary wall surface 202.

[0200] Both the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 are surfaces extending in the upper-lower direction of free-form surfaces extending in the same direction (front-rear direction) with the both wall surfaces, and are provided side by side in the left-right direction, but the right wall surface body 201 has a center curved leftward, and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 has a center curved slightly rightward. Therefore, the right wall surface 200 has the constricted shape at the center, and the distance between the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 is shortest at a central portion and slightly longer at the upper and lower portions than at the central portion.

[0201] The right partition walls 241 to 243, which are three partition walls that are substantially horizontal surfaces, are provided between the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 so as to partition the space sandwiched between both wall surfaces in the upper-lower direction.

[0202] Similarly to the other wall surfaces, the right partition walls 241 to 243 are free-form surfaces having a constant plate thickness and extend in the same direction (front-rear direction). Therefore, in a front view, only front end surfaces of the right partition walls 241 to 243 are visible.

[0203] As illustrated in FIGS. 24 and 25, the right small spaces AR201 to AR204 are formed as four small spaces arranged side by side in the upper-lower direction inside the right wall surface 200, which are defined by the three right partition walls 241 to 243. The four small spaces defined by the substantially horizontal surface and the surfaces extending in the upper-lower direction are spaces that open in the front-rear direction and extend in the front-rear direction (see FIG. 32A).

[0204] The load bearing performance of the right wall surface 200 in a plurality of directions is improved by providing the substantially horizontal right partition walls 241 to 243, which further finely divide the space and are substantially orthogonal to the double wall, inside the double wall formed of the surfaces extending in the upper-lower direction (a space sandwiched between the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202). Since the right wall surface 200 has the wall surface having the above configuration, the deformation amount of the right wall surface 200 with respect to the load can be reduced, and the rigidity of the bracket 6 having no front wall and back wall is improved.

[0205] In the present embodiment, the right internal walls 251 to 254 are further provided in the right small spaces AR201 to AR204 extending in the front-rear direction so as to divide the right small spaces AR201 to AR204 into front and rear spaces. In the right small spaces AR201 to AR204 arranged side by side in the upper-lower direction, the right internal walls 251 to 254 of the adjacent small spaces are shifted in the front-rear direction so as to alternate in the front-rear direction. Specifically, the right internal walls 251 to 254 are provided to close either the front opening portions or the rear opening portions of the right small spaces AR201 to AR204, and the right internal walls 251 to 254 are formed to close either opening portions of the front opening portions or rear opening portions of the small spaces in different directions between adjacent small spaces (see FIG. 32A).

[0206] Specifically, among the four right small spaces AR201 to AR204 arranged side by side in the upper-lower direction, the first right internal wall 251 and the third right internal wall 253 are formed in the first right small space AR201, which is the first from the top, and the third right small space AR203, which is the third from the top, so as to close the rear opening portions, respectively. The second right internal wall 252 and the fourth right internal wall 254 are formed in the second right small space AR202, which is the second from the top, and the fourth right small space AR204, which is the fourth from the top, so as to close the front opening portions, respectively.

[0207] The operation and effect of the double wall of the bracket 6 configured as described above will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 31 is a front view of the bracket 6 and illustrates lines of cross-sectional views of FIGS. 32A, 32B, 33A, and 33B. In FIG. 31, the bracket 6 is colored in light black. FIGS. 32A, 32B, 33A, and 33B are the cross-sectional views of the bracket 6. FIG. 32A is a cross-sectional view taken along a line A-A in FIG. 31. FIG. 32A mainly illustrates the double wall portion (an AA portion in FIG. 30) of the right wall surface 200. FIG. 32B is a cross-sectional view taken along a line B-B in FIG. 31. FIG. 32B mainly illustrates the double wall portion (a BB portion in FIG. 30) of the lower wall surface 300. FIG. 33A is a cross-sectional view taken along a line C-C in FIG. 31. FIG. 33A mainly illustrates the double wall portion (a CC portion in FIG. 30) of the left inner wall surface 500. FIG. 33B is a cross-sectional view taken along a line D-D in FIG. 31. FIG. 33B mainly illustrates the double wall portion (a DD portion in FIG. 30) of the upper wall surface 100.

[0208] As illustrated in FIG. 32A, the right internal walls 251 to 254 are formed to alternately close the opening portions of the four right small spaces AR201 to AR204 defined by the right partition walls 241 to 243. Therefore, the cross-sectional shape of the right wall surface 200 is configured such that the right internal walls 251 to 254, which are surfaces extending in the upper-lower direction, are connected to the front end surfaces or the rear end surfaces of the wall surfaces in the order of the horizontal surface 9a, the right partition walls 241 to 243, and the lower wall surface 300, which are substantially horizontal surfaces, from the top, and are formed in a zigzag shape so as to be continuous in a square S-shape. In other words, the cross-sectional shape of the right wall surface 200 is a shape in which the right internal walls 251 to 254 are continuously bent so as to sequentially protrude in opposite directions.

[0209] In addition, since both left and right end surfaces of the right partition walls 241 to 243 and the right internal walls 251 to 254 are all connected to and integrated with the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202, the right wall surface 200 has a very strong shape.

[0210] As described above, the right wall surface 200 includes the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 constituting the double wall having surfaces extending in the upper-lower direction, the substantially horizontal right partition walls 241 to 243 substantially orthogonal to the double wall, and the right internal walls 251 to 254 disposed substantially orthogonal to both the double wall and the right partition walls 241 to 243. Since the right wall surface 200 is formed by connecting and integrating surfaces extending in three substantially orthogonal directions to each other, the strain resistance performance and the load bearing performance in a plurality of directions are high. The improvement in the load bearing performance of the right wall surface 200 also improves the rigidity of the bracket 6.Double Wall: Lower Wall Surface

[0211] Next, the double wall portion (the BB portion in FIG. 30) of the lower wall surface 300 will be described in detail. As illustrated in FIG. 24, the lower wall surface 300 includes the substantially horizontal lower wall surface body 301, which is the outer wall surface forming the outer shape of the bracket 6, and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302 that is disposed inside (above) the lower wall surface body 301 and has a substantially horizontal central portion in the left-right direction.

[0212] The lower auxiliary wall surface 302 is bent toward the lower wall surface body 301 at the right end portion and connected to the lower wall surface body 301, and not the entire area of the lower wall surface 300 but only a partial area thereof is configured as a double wall. The lower wall surface 300 is a double wall surface substantially from the accommodation space SP1 to the accommodation space SP2.

[0213] The lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302 extend in the front-rear direction. Therefore, in a front view, only the front end surfaces of the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302 are visible.

[0214] The space inside the double wall of the lower wall surface 300, that is, a space sandwiched between the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302 has a flat shape elongated in the left-right direction, and the lower partition walls 341 to 343 are provided to partition the space elongated in the left-right direction in the left-right direction. The lower partition walls 341 to 343 are connected to the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302 between the substantially horizontal lower wall surface body 301 and lower auxiliary wall surface 302, which are juxtaposed in the upper-lower direction to constitute the double wall surface, and extend in the upper-lower direction.

[0215] In the present embodiment, the lower partition walls 341 to 343 are provided to be inclined from the vertical direction, and are provided such that end portions of adjacent partition walls are in contact with each other. That is, among the three lower partition walls 341 to 343 arranged in order from the left, the first lower partition wall 341, which is disposed furthest to the left, is inclined rightward from the vertical direction. The upper end portion of the second lower partition wall 342 is connected to the upper end portion of the first lower partition wall 341 and is provided to be inclined leftward from the vertical direction. The lower end portion of the third lower partition wall 343 is connected to the lower end portion of the second lower partition wall 342 and is provided to be inclined rightward from the vertical direction. Since the three lower partition walls 341 to 343 are alternately and obliquely arranged, the end surfaces are formed in an N shape in a front view. That is, the three lower partition walls 341 to 343 are arranged in a truss shape.

[0216] As described above, the partition walls do not need to be substantially orthogonal to the double wall surfaces or disposed substantially parallel to each other, and only need to be connected to both constituent surfaces of the double wall surfaces between the double wall surfaces. It is preferable to arrange the three lower partition walls 341 to 343 in a truss shape because the load bearing performance is improved.

[0217] As illustrated in FIG. 24, the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302 are substantially horizontal surfaces, but are not completely horizontal surfaces, and are bent at portions connected to the respective partition walls as bent portions and are free-form surfaces constituted by a plurality of slightly curved surfaces. All the lower partition walls 341 to 343 and the lower wall surface 300 have substantially the same plate thickness and are provided to extend along the front-rear direction.

[0218] As will be described in detail later, at least a part of the left inner wall surface 500 is also formed in a double wall shape. That is, as illustrated in FIGS. 24 and 25, the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502, which are surfaces extending in the upper-lower direction and constituting the left inner wall surface 500 as a double wall, are substantially orthogonal to the lower auxiliary wall surface 302, further extend to the inside of the double wall of the lower wall surface 300, and are connected to the lower wall surface body 301. Therefore, the lower end portion of the left inner wall surface 500, specifically, portions of the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 inside the double wall of the lower wall surface 300 is also configured as a part of the partition wall of the lower wall surface 300.

[0219] In this way, there is a case where two double walls intersect with each other and one auxiliary wall surface constitutes a part of the other partition wall or a peripheral wall surface, or conversely, one partition wall constitutes a part of the other auxiliary wall surface. The double walls have higher rigidity than the single wall, and the double walls intersect each other and are integrally configured to reinforce each other, thereby further increasing the rigidity of the bracket 6.

[0220] As illustrated in FIGS. 24 and 25, in the internal space of the double wall surface of the lower wall surface 300, the lower small spaces AR301 to AR305, which are five small spaces defined by the lower partition walls 341 to 343 and the left inner wall surface 500 extending to the inside of the lower wall surface 300 and arranged side by side in the left-right direction, are formed. Similarly to the right wall surface 200, the lower small spaces AR301 to AR305 inside the lower wall surface 300 are provided with the lower internal walls 351 to 355 that alternately close opening portions in the front-rear direction.

[0221] Specifically, among the five lower small spaces AR301 to AR305 arranged side by side in the left-right direction, the first lower internal wall 351, the third lower internal wall 353, and the fifth lower internal wall 355 are formed in the first lower small space AR301, which is the first from the left, the third lower small space AR303, which is the third from the left, and the fifth lower small space AR305, which is the fifth from the left, so as to close the rear opening portions, respectively. The second lower internal wall 352 and the fourth lower internal wall 354 are formed in the second lower small space AR302, which is the second from the left, and the fourth lower small space AR304, which is the fourth from the left, so as to close the front opening portions, respectively.

[0222] As illustrated in FIG. 32B, the lower wall surface 300 is configured such that the left wall surface 400, the lower partition walls 341, 342, and 343, and the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 of the left inner wall surface 500, which are connected in the upper-lower direction, in order from the left, are continuously connected at their end portions by the lower internal walls 351, 352, 353, 354, and 355, which are connected in the left-right direction, and a cross-sectional shape of the lower wall surface 300 has a zigzag shape in which a square S-shape is continuous. In other words, the cross-sectional shape of the lower wall surface 300 is a shape in which the lower internal walls 351 to 355 are continuously bent so as to sequentially protrude in opposite directions.

[0223] Since all the upper and lower end surfaces of the lower partition walls 341 to 343 and the lower internal walls 351 to 355 are connected to and integrated with the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302, the lower wall surface 300 has a very strong structure. Accordingly, the load bearing performance of the lower wall surface 300 is improved, and the rigidity of the bracket 6 is also improved.

[0224] As described above, the partition wall may be provided so as to extend in the same extending direction (front-rear direction) as the double wall and partition the space inside the double wall, both end surfaces thereof may be connected to both constituent surfaces of the double wall, may not be substantially orthogonal to the double wall, and may not be provided in parallel to each other, and the form, number, and shape thereof are not limited. If the internal wall is also provided in the small space and both end surfaces thereof are connected to the partition wall forming the small space, it is not necessary to completely close the small space. Similarly to the other wall surfaces, the internal wall may be a curved surface, a bent surface, or a free-form surface.Double Wall: Left Inner Wall Surface

[0225] Next, the left inner wall surface 500 (the CC portion in FIG. 30) will be described in detail. Similarly to the right wall surface 200, the left inner wall surface 500 is also configured as a double wall. As illustrated in FIGS. 24 and 25, the left inner wall surface 500 has the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 arranged side by side in the left-right direction on a surface extending in the upper-lower direction, and is configured as a double wall by the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502.

[0226] An inner side of the double wall of the left inner wall surface 500, that is, the space sandwiched between the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 is a flat shape elongated in the upper-lower direction, and the left inner partition walls 541, 542 are provided to partition the space elongated in the upper-lower direction in the upper-lower direction. As illustrated in FIG. 33A, the left inner small spaces AR501, AR502, and AR503 are defined by the left inner partition walls 541, 542 and formed side by side in the upper-lower direction as three small spaces inside the double wall.

[0227] Among the three left inner small spaces AR501 to AR503 arranged side by side in the upper-lower direction, the first left inner small space AR501 arranged above is not provided with the inner wall surface. The second left inner small space AR502 disposed at a center is provided with the first left inner internal wall 551 that closes the front opening portion. The third left inner small space AR503 disposed below is formed with the second left inner internal wall 552 that closes the rear opening portion.

[0228] The left inner wall surface body 501, the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502, and the left inner partition walls 541, 542 are provided to extend in the front-rear direction, and only front end surfaces of the wall surfaces can be seen in a front view. The front end surface has a uniform plate thickness, but has a free shape such as a curved shape or a bent shape at a plurality of positions.

[0229] For example, the upper side of the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 is considerably inclined rightward and connected to the upper wall surface 100. Therefore, the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 works like a rib of the left inner wall surface body 501 and the upper wall surface 100 in cooperation with the left inner partition wall 541. Further, since the boss 71 is disposed in the left inner wall surface 500 in such a way that it protrudes inwards, the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 at the position where the boss 71 is provided is curved in an arc shape in accordance with the outer periphery of the boss 71 and is integrated with the boss 71. The second left inner partition wall 542 is formed so as to connect the curved portion of the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302.

[0230] As illustrated in FIG. 33A, the vertical cross-sectional shape of the left inner wall surface 500 is a form in which the boss 71 is inserted and integrated, but is basically a shape in which a square S-shape is continuous. In other words, the cross-sectional shape of the left inner wall surface 500 is a shape in which the first left inner internal wall 551 and the second left inner internal wall 552 are bent so as to sequentially protrude in opposite directions. As described above, the left inner wall surface 500 having such a configuration has high load bearing performance in a plurality of directions and high rigidity.

[0231] As illustrated in the left inner wall surface 500, it is not necessary to provide an inner wall surface in all of the small spaces formed inside the double wall surface. As illustrated in FIG. 33A, the boss 71 or a through hole may be provided on the wall surface.

[0232] In the present embodiment, the lower portion of the left inner wall surface 500 is integrated with the lower wall surface 300. Further, since an upper portion of the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 is provided to be inclined, the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 also acts as a double wall surface of the upper wall surface 100. In this way, by forming the wall surface as a free-form surface, it is also possible to form a wall surface that plays two or more roles.Double Wall: Upper Wall Surface

[0233] Next, the shape of the right area of the upper wall surface 100, specifically, the shape of the upper wall surface 100 of the accommodation space SP3 formed on the right side will be described.

[0234] As illustrated in FIGS. 24 and 25, the upper wall surface 100 has a very complicated configuration, and includes the upper wall surface body 101 constituting a part of the outer shape of the bracket member 6, the first upper auxiliary wall surface 102 and the second upper auxiliary wall surface 103, which are inclined from the horizontal direction to the lower right so as to connect the upper wall surface body 101 and the right wall surface 200, the third upper auxiliary wall surface 104 and the fourth upper auxiliary wall surface 105, which are inclined from the horizontal direction to the lower left so as to connect the upper wall surface body 101 and the right inner wall surface 600, and the fifth upper auxiliary wall surface 106 connecting the first upper auxiliary wall surface 102 and the second upper auxiliary wall surface 103.

[0235] In the upper wall surface 100, the plurality of auxiliary wall surfaces are provided at different angles and intersect each other to be integrated, and the auxiliary wall surfaces are also configured as partition walls. By providing the plurality of auxiliary wall surfaces, at least a part of the upper wall surface 100 is configured as a double wall, and a part thereof is configured as a triple wall. As described above, the peripheral wall surface 10 may be provided with a plurality of auxiliary wall surfaces, and at least a part thereof may be configured as not only a double wall but also a triple wall or a quadruple wall.

[0236] Inside the upper wall surface 100, upper small spaces AR101 to AR108 are formed as eight small spaces defined by the upper auxiliary wall surfaces 102 to 106.

[0237] Some of the eight upper small spaces AR101 to AR108 are formed with an internal wall that closes the front opening portion or the rear opening portion. In the present embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 33B, FIG. 24, and FIG. 25, the second upper internal wall 152 is formed to close the front opening portion of the central fourth upper small space AR104 defined by the first upper auxiliary wall surface 102, the second upper auxiliary wall surface 103, the third upper auxiliary wall surface 104, and the fourth upper auxiliary wall surface 105. In the first upper small space AR101 and the eighth upper small space AR108 formed adjacent to the upper and lower sides of the fourth upper small space AR104 in the oblique direction, the first upper internal wall 151 and the third upper internal wall 153 are formed so as to close the back opening portions.

[0238] The upper wall surface 100 is provided with a plurality of auxiliary wall surfaces intersecting each other, each of the auxiliary wall surfaces also functions as a partition wall, and at least a part of the upper wall surface 100 is configured as a double wall.

[0239] As illustrated in FIG. 33B, the cross-sectional shape of portions of the upper wall surface 100 where the internal walls are provided is a continuous rectangular S-shape. In other words, the cross-sectional shape of the portions of the upper wall surface 100 where the internal walls are provided is a shape in which the first upper internal wall 151, the second upper internal wall 152, and the third upper internal wall 153 are bent so as to sequentially protrude in opposite directions. As described above, the upper wall surface 100 configured as described above has the high load bearing performance in a plurality of directions and the high rigidity.

[0240] In the small space formed in the double wall like the upper wall surface 100, a portion where the internal wall is provided or not provided is not particularly specified, and the internal wall may be provided in any small space, or the internal wall may not be provided at all.

[0241] Which portion of the peripheral wall surface 10 of the bracket 6 is configured as a double wall is not specified, but it is preferable to provided the double wall to reinforce a portion to which a load is applied such as a support portion because the rigidity of the bracket 6 is greatly improved.

[0242] For example, in the bracket 6 according to the present embodiment, the right wall surface 200 and the lower wall surface 300 connecting the three aiming support portions 9 are configured as double walls. In addition, a double wall portion of the upper wall surface 100, particularly a portion extending toward the right inner wall surface 600, extends from the upper right aiming support portion 9 toward the lower left aiming support portion 9, and has the plurality of small spaces AR101, AR104, and AR108. Since the bracket 6 is supported at three positions where the aiming support portions 9 are provided, the upper right, lower right, and lower left corner portions are particularly portions to which a load is applied, and portions connected thereto are mainly configured as double walls. By providing the double wall at the portion to which the load is applied, it is possible to prevent an increase in mass due to the double wall structure as a whole, reduce the weight of the bracket 6, and appropriately improve the rigidity.

[0243] When the bracket 6 configured as described above and a product of the related art for comparison, that is, a bracket of the related art having a back wall and no double wall surface were simulated and calculated, the mass of the bracket 6 was lower by 24% and the maximum displacement amount was lower by 62% than that of the product of the related art. By applying the above configuration, the bracket 6 according to the present embodiment is lighter than the bracket of the related art, and has significantly improved rigidity.

[0244] As is clear from the above description, the bracket 6 according to the present embodiment is lightweight and has high rigidity, but as illustrated in FIGS. 28 and 29, when the lamp units LU1 to LU3 including the metal heat sink LU14, which are the bracket fixing objects having high rigidity, are accommodated and fixed in the accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3, the rigidity is further increased. In the bracket 6, at least a part of the partition peripheral wall constituted by the peripheral wall surface 10, the right inner wall surface 600, and the left inner wall surface 500 is formed in a double wall shape, so that high rigidity is obtained, but even in a case where the bracket 6 is not formed in a double wall shape, since the bracket 6 has a frame body shape having an upper surface, a lower surface, and both side surfaces, sufficient rigidity for fixing the bracket fixing objects such as the lamp units LU1 to LU3 can be ensured. Even in a configuration in which the partition peripheral wall does not have a double wall shape, the rigidity of the bracket 6 can be further improved using the rigidity of the fixed bracket fixing objects by accommodating and fixing the bracket fixing objects having the high rigidity such as the lamp units LU1 to LU3 including the metal heat sinks LU14 in the accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3.Molding Method

[0245] Next, the molding process and the molding mold for the bracket 6 configured as described above will be described. FIGS. 34A to 34C are schematic configuration diagrams of the molding mold for the bracket 6, and are diagrams illustrating the molding process. Cross-sectional lines of the cross-sectional views of the mold illustrated in FIGS. 34A to 34C correspond to the line A-A in FIG. 31.

[0246] As illustrated in FIG. 34A, first, the fixed mold 30 and the movable mold 40 are arranged facing each other and clamped. The direction in which the mold is clamped or opened is defined as the direction DR. In the clamped state, the molding space (cavity) CAV corresponding to the shape of the bracket 6 is defined inside the mold. The molding space CAV is provided so that an extending direction (front-rear direction) of the peripheral wall surface 10 of the bracket 6 corresponding thereto coincides with the direction DR in which the mold is clamped.

[0247] Next, as illustrated in FIG. 34B, the resin member heated to a predetermined melting temperature is injected into the molding space CAV and filled in the molding space CAV. The resin member filled in the molding space CAV is cooled and solidified to mold the bracket 6.

[0248] Next, as illustrated in FIG. 34C, the mold is opened, the movable mold 40 is separated in the direction of the direction DR, and the bracket 6 in a state of being attached to the fixed mold 30 is pushed out and removed by a pushing pin (not illustrated).

[0249] Since the bracket 6 is configured to extend along the direction DR in which the mold is opened, the movable mold 40 can be separated along the direction DR without any problem. The bracket 6 is also extruded from the fixed mold 30 along the direction DR and removed without any problem.

[0250] The bracket 6 is provided to extend in the front-rear direction, the extending direction of the bracket 6 can be aligned with the direction DR in which the mold is opened, and the bracket 6 can be molded by injection molding using the mold.

[0251] As described above, although the bracket 6 has a complicated shape, the productivity is high because the bracket 6 can be mass-produced by injection molding using a mold.

[0252] Although the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above, the above embodiments are examples of the present disclosure. It is possible to combine these embodiments based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art, and such forms are also included within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0253] As described above, the following matters are disclosed in the present specification. (1) A bracket member for a vehicle lamp that accommodates and fixes at least a part of a lamp unit configured to emit light forward, the bracket member including a peripheral wall surface that opens in a front-rear direction and extends in the front-rear direction to define an accommodation space for the lamp unit, wherein at least a part of the peripheral wall surface is a double wall, and the bracket member further includes a partition wall that partitions the double wall and defines small spaces extending in the front-rear direction by being sandwiched by the double wall. (2) The bracket member for a vehicle lamp according to (1), wherein at least one of the small spaces partitioned by the partition wall is provided with an internal wall that divides the small space in the front-rear direction, and the internal walls are alternately provided in the front-rear direction in at least one pair of adjacent small spaces. (3) The bracket member for a vehicle lamp according to (2), wherein in each of at least one pair of adjacent small spaces, the internal wall is provided so as to close a front opening portion or a rear opening portion of the small space, and a cross-sectional shape in the front-rear direction including the partition wall and the internal wall is an S-shape. (4) The bracket member for a vehicle lamp according to any one of (1) to (3), wherein the double wall has a free-form surface extending in a front-rear direction. (5) A bracket for a vehicle lamp, including: a wall that extends in a front-rear direction to form a tubular structure opening in the front-rear direction and defines an accommodation space for accommodating and fixing at least a part of at least one lamp unit configured to emit light forward, and at least one through hole forming portion that has a through hole formed in a center thereof, has an outer shape substantially similar to the through hole, and is provided in the wall so as to protrude from the wall in a direction intersecting the front-rear direction, wherein the wall extends in the front-rear direction along at least a part of an outer peripheral edge portion of the through hole forming portion. (6) The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to (5), wherein the wall is a peripheral wall surface that defines the accommodation space. (7) The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to (5) or (6), wherein the wall includes at least one intermediate wall that partitions the accommodation space into two or more spaces opening in the front-rear direction and extends in the front-rear direction. (8) The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to any one of (5) to (7), wherein at least a part of the wall is configured as a double wall, and the through hole forming portion is provided on a wall surface of a portion where the wall is configured as the double wall. (9) The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to any one of (5) to (8), wherein the wall surface of the wall is a free-form surface created by extruding and extending a free-form curve in the front-rear direction. (10) The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to (8), further including at least one partition wall that partitions an inter-wall space defined between walls of the double wall and extending in the front-rear direction into a plurality of small spaces extending in the front-rear direction, wherein at least one of the partition walls is provided to cross between the walls of the double wall. (11) The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to (10), wherein the through hole forming portion is provided such that the outer peripheral edge portion is in contact with a wall defining two or more of the small spaces defined by the partition wall provided to cross between the walls of the double wall. (12) The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to (10) or (11), wherein at least one of the small spaces partitioned by the partition wall is provided with an internal wall that closes the small space in the front-rear direction, and the internal walls are provided in at least a pair of adjacent small spaces, respectively, and are alternately provided in the front-rear direction. (13) A bracket for a vehicle lamp that has an upper surface, a lower surface, both side surfaces, and a space penetrating from a front surface side to a rear surface side, and accommodates and fixes at least a part of a bracket fixing object having high rigidity in the space, the bracket including a partition peripheral wall that defines and forms an accommodation space configured to accommodate the bracket fixing object in the space, wherein a fixing portion configured to fix the bracket fixing object is provided in the partition peripheral wall. (14) The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to (13), wherein at least a part of the partition peripheral wall is formed in a double wall shape, and a partition wall that connects double wall portions at an interval in a longitudinal direction is provided, small spaces partitioned by the partition wall are each provided with an internal wall that divides the small space in the front-rear direction, and the internal walls are alternately provided in the front-rear direction in adjacent small spaces. (15) The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to (13) or (14), wherein at least a part of the partition peripheral wall has a continuous vertical cross-sectional shape bent so as to sequentially protrude in opposite directions.

[0254] The present application is based on a Japanese Patent Application No. 2023-100451, a Japanese Patent Application No. 2023-100452, and a Japanese Patent Application No. 2023-100455 filed on June 20, 2023, and the contents are incorporated herein by reference.

Examples

first embodiment

[0019]Hereinafter, a first embodiment according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment is exemplary only without limiting the invention, and all or combinations of the features described in the embodiment are not necessarily essential to the invention.

Vehicle Lamp

[0020]FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a vehicle lamp 1 including a bracket member 6 according to a preferred embodiment of the configuration of the present disclosure.

[0021]The vehicle lamp 1 is a headlamp and is mounted on each of left and right sides of a front portion of a vehicle. The vehicle lamp 1 includes a lamp body 2 and a front cover 4 as a lamp housing. The lamp body 2 is a housing with an opening at the front side, and a front cover 4 is attached to an opening portion to form a lamp chamber S inside. The front cover 4 is a so-called outer cover, and is a substantially transparent lens formed of a translucent resin such as polycarbonate. However, the present...

second embodiment

[0093]Hereinafter, a second embodiment according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment is exemplary only without limiting the invention, and all or combinations of the features described in the embodiment are not necessarily essential to the invention. The same members as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals.

Vehicle Lamp

[0094]FIG. 11 is a schematic front view of a vehicle lamp 1001 including a bracket 6 according to the embodiment. The vehicle lamp 1001 is a headlamp and is mounted on each of left and right sides of a front portion of the vehicle. The vehicle lamp 1001 includes the lamp body 2 and the front cover 4 as a lamp housing. The lamp body 2 has a container shape with an opening at the front side, and the front cover 4 is attached to the opening portion to form the lamp chamber S inside. The front cover 4 is a so-called outer cover, and is a substantially transparent lens formed of a tra...

third embodiment

[0178]Hereinafter, a third embodiment according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment is exemplary only without limiting the invention, and all or combinations of the features described in the embodiment are not necessarily essential to the invention.

Vehicle Lamp

[0179]FIG. 23 is a schematic front view of a vehicle lamp 2001 including the bracket 6, and the vehicle lamp 2001 is a headlamp and is mounted on each of both left and right sides of the front portion of the vehicle. The vehicle lamp 2001 includes the lamp body 2 and the front cover 4 as the lamp housing. The lamp body 2 is a housing with an opening at the front side, and the front cover 4 is attached to an opening portion to form the lamp chamber S inside. The front cover 4 is a so-called outer cover, and is a substantially transparent lens formed of a translucent resin such as polycarbonate. The front cover 4 is not limited to this, and an optical step for diverging and ...

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to a bracket for a vehicle lamp and a bracket member for a vehicle lamp that are lightweight and have sufficient rigidity.BACKGROUND ART

[0002] In recent years, there has been a demand for weight reduction of vehicle lamps from the viewpoint of carbon neutral. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a bracket member in which a locking portion that supports a light source and a reflector and a bearing portion of an aiming screw are connected by a pier. The bracket member is lightweight due to the pier structure. The reflector is snap-fit fixed to the locking portion by inserting a protrusion provided on a back surface thereof into a hole provided in the locking portion.

[0003] In the related art, as a bracket for fixing a lamp unit, a bracket having a surface structure based on a surface facing a front direction as a whole has been adopted. For example, a bracket illustrated in Patent Literature 2 has a surface structure facing a front direction on a rear side, and a recess for fixing the lamp unit is provided in the surface structure.CITATION LISTPATENT LITERATURE

[0004] Patent Literature 1: JP2014-165130A Patent Literature 2: JP2019-160603A SUMMARY OF INVENTIONTECHNICAL PROBLEM

[0005] However, the locking portion, the bearing portion, and the pier are on the same plane, and the bracket member as a whole is formed in a planar shape, which leads to insufficient rigidity for supporting the lamp unit.

[0006] In the bracket of Patent Literature 2, since a aiming screw mounting hole and a component fastening hole for fixing a component such as the lamp unit are formed in the surface structure, a front dimension of the bracket increases, and as a result, there is a problem that the weight increases.

[0007] The bracket having a surface structure facing the front direction has low rigidity against bending stress in the front-rear direction. Therefore, although omitted in Patent Literature 2, it is common technical knowledge to provide a reinforcing member such as a rib around the aiming screw mounting hole, the component fastening hole, or the like, and as a result, there is a problem that the weight increases. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for a bracket having a new shape with a reduced weight.

[0008] The present disclosure has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present disclosure is to provide a lightweight and high-rigidity bracket member that supports at least a part of a lamp unit.

[0009] In addition, the present disclosure has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a lightweight bracket having a new shape.SOLUTION TO PROBLEM

[0010] In order to solve the above problem, in an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a bracket member for a vehicle lamp that accommodates and fixes at least a part of a lamp unit configured to emit light forward, the bracket member including a peripheral wall surface that opens in a front-rear direction and extends in the front-rear direction to define an accommodation space for the lamp unit, in which at least a part of the peripheral wall surface is a double wall, and the bracket member further includes a partition wall that partitions the double wall and defines small spaces extending in the front-rear direction by being sandwiched by the double wall.

[0011] According to this aspect, since the bracket member does not have a front wall and a back wall, the weight can be reduced correspondingly, and the rigidity can be further ensured by the double wall and the partition wall inside the double wall.

[0012] In order to achieve the above object, a bracket for a vehicle lamp according to one aspect of the present disclosure has the following configuration.

[0013] There is provided a bracket for a vehicle lamp, including: a wall that extends in a front-rear direction to form a tubular structure opening in the front-rear direction and defines an accommodation space for accommodating and fixing at least a part of at least one lamp unit configured to emit light forward; and at least one through hole forming portion that has a through hole formed in a center thereof, has an outer shape substantially similar to the through hole, and is provided in the wall so as to protrude from the wall in a direction intersecting the front-rear direction, in which the wall extends in the front-rear direction along at least a part of an outer peripheral edge portion of the through hole forming portion.

[0014] In an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a bracket for a vehicle lamp that has an upper surface, a lower surface, both side surfaces, and a space penetrating from a front surface side to a rear surface side, and accommodates and fixes at least a part of a bracket fixing object having high rigidity in the space, the bracket including a partition peripheral wall that defines and forms an accommodation space configured to accommodate the bracket fixing object in the space, in which a fixing portion configured to fix the bracket fixing object is provided in the partition peripheral wall.

[0015] According to this aspect, since the bracket has a frame body shape having the upper surface, the lower surface, and both side surfaces, rigidity for fixing the bracket fixing object can be ensured, and since the bracket has a space penetrating from the front surface side to the rear surface side, weight reduction can be achieved. Further, by providing the partition peripheral wall that defines and forms the accommodation space for accommodating the bracket fixing object in the space, providing a fixing portion for fixing the bracket fixing object in the partition peripheral wall, and accommodating and fixing the bracket fixing object having high rigidity in the accommodation space, it is possible to further improve the rigidity of the bracket using the rigidity of the bracket fixing object.ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS OF INVENTION

[0016] As is clear from the above description, according to the configuration of the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a bracket and a bracket member for a vehicle lamp that are lightweight and have high rigidity.

[0017] Further, according to the configuration of the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a lightweight bracket having a new shape.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0018] [FIG. 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a vehicle lamp including a bracket member according to a preferred embodiment. [FIG. 2] FIG. 2 is a front view of the bracket member. [FIG. 3] FIG. 3 is a back view of the bracket member. [FIG. 4] FIG. 4 is a front perspective view of the bracket member. [FIG. 5] FIG. 5 is a back perspective view of the bracket member. [FIG. 6] FIG. 6 is a front view of the bracket member, and illustrates main double wall surface portions of the bracket member. [FIG. 7] FIG. 7 is a front view of the bracket member, and illustrates lines of cross-sectional views in FIGS. 8A, 8B, 9A, and 9B. [FIG. 8A] FIG. 8A is a cross-sectional view taken along a line A-A in FIG. 7, and mainly illustrates an AA portion in FIG. 6. [FIG. 8B] FIG. 8B is a cross-sectional view taken along a line B-B in FIG. 7, and mainly illustrates a BB portion of FIG. 6. [FIG. 9A] FIG. 9A is a cross-sectional view taken along a line C-C in FIG. 7, and mainly illustrates a CC portion of FIG. 6. [FIG. 9B] FIG. 9B is a cross-sectional view taken along a line D-D in FIG. 7, and mainly illustrates a DD portion of FIG. 6. [FIG. 10A] FIG. 10A illustrates a molding process of the bracket member. [FIG. 10B] FIG. 10B illustrates the molding process of the bracket member. [FIG. 10C] FIG. 10C illustrates the molding process of the bracket member. [FIG. 11] FIG. 11 is a schematic front view of a vehicle lamp including a bracket according to an embodiment. [FIG. 12] FIG. 12 is a front view of the bracket. [FIG. 13] FIG. 13 is a back view of the bracket. [FIG. 14] FIG. 14 is a front perspective view of the bracket. [FIG. 15] FIG. 15 is a back perspective view of the bracket. [FIG. 16] FIG. 16 is a front view illustrating a state in which a lamp unit is supported by the bracket. [FIG. 17] FIG. 17 is a front view of the bracket and is a view illustrating a portion in which a wall constituting the bracket is a double wall. [FIG. 18] FIG. 18 is a front view of the bracket and is a view illustrating lines of cross-sectional views illustrated in FIGS. 19A to 21B. [FIG. 19A] FIG. 19A is a cross-sectional view of the bracket taken along a line A-A in FIG. 18. [FIG. 19B FIG. 19B is a cross-sectional view of the bracket taken along a line B-B in FIG. 18. [FIG. 20A] FIG. 20A is a cross-sectional view of the bracket taken along line a C-C in FIG. 18. [FIG. 20B] FIG. 20B is a cross-sectional view of the bracket taken along a line D-D in FIG. 18. [FIG. 21A] FIG. 21A is a cross-sectional view of the bracket taken along a line E-E in FIG. 18. [FIG. 21B] FIG. 21B is a cross-sectional view of the bracket taken along a line F-F in FIG. 18. [FIG. 22A] FIG. 22A is a diagram illustrating a molding process of the bracket. [FIG. 22B] FIG. 22B is a diagram illustrating the molding process of the bracket. [FIG. 22C] FIG. 22C is a diagram illustrating the molding process of the bracket. [FIG. 23] FIG. 23 is a schematic front view of a vehicle lamp including a bracket according to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure. [FIG. 24] FIG. 24 is a front view of the bracket. [FIG. 25] FIG. 25 is a back view of the bracket. [FIG. 26] FIG. 26 is a front perspective view of the bracket. [FIG. 27] FIG. 27 is a back perspective view of the bracket. [FIG. 28] FIG. 28 is a front view illustrating a state in which the lamp unit is supported by the bracket. [FIG. 29] FIG. 29 is a partially enlarged back view illustrating the same state. [FIG. 30] FIG. 30 is a front view illustrating main double wall surface portions of the bracket. [FIG. 31] FIG. 31 is a front view illustrating lines of the bracket. [FIG. 32A] FIG. 32A is a cross-sectional view of the bracket taken along a line A-A in FIG. 31. [FIG. 32B] FIG. 32B is a cross-sectional view of the bracket taken along a line B-B in FIG. 31. [FIG. 33A] FIG. 33A is a cross-sectional view of the bracket taken along a line C-C in FIG. 31. [FIG. 33B] FIG. 33B is a cross-sectional view of the bracket taken along a line D-D in FIG. 31. [FIG. 34A] FIG. 34A is a diagram illustrating a molding process of the bracket. [FIG. 34B] FIG. 34B is a diagram illustrating the molding process of the bracket. [FIG. 34C] FIG. 34C is a diagram illustrating the molding process of the bracket. DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTSFirst Embodiment

[0019] Hereinafter, a first embodiment according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment is exemplary only without limiting the invention, and all or combinations of the features described in the embodiment are not necessarily essential to the invention.Vehicle Lamp

[0020] FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a vehicle lamp 1 including a bracket member 6 according to a preferred embodiment of the configuration of the present disclosure.

[0021] The vehicle lamp 1 is a headlamp and is mounted on each of left and right sides of a front portion of a vehicle. The vehicle lamp 1 includes a lamp body 2 and a front cover 4 as a lamp housing. The lamp body 2 is a housing with an opening at the front side, and a front cover 4 is attached to an opening portion to form a lamp chamber S inside. The front cover 4 is a so-called outer cover, and is a substantially transparent lens formed of a translucent resin such as polycarbonate. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and the front cover 4 may be provided with an optical step for diverging and diffusing light emitted from a light source when each lamp is turned on.

[0022] In the defined lamp chamber S, three lamp units LUs supported by the bracket member 6 are accommodated side by side in a vehicle width direction (left-right direction). The lamp unit LU is a single lamp unit LU or a plurality of lamp units LUs configured to emit light forward, and are an optical unit configured to form a predetermined light distribution such as a high beam light distribution or a low beam light distribution by single or a plurality of lamp units LUs. The light emitted from the lamp unit LU is irradiated toward the front cover 4 disposed in front, passes through the front cover 4, and forms a predetermined light distribution in front of the vehicle. The lamp unit LU have a known configuration in the related art, such as a reflector type or a projector type lamp unit, and the type thereof does not matter.

[0023] The bracket member 6 is attached to a back wall of the lamp body 2 by three aiming screws E. An optical axis of the lamp unit LU is adjusted in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction by rotating the aiming screw E.

[0024] The bracket member 6 according to the present disclosure is not limited to a headlamp, and can also be used for a vehicle lamp such as a rear combination lamp or a marker lamp. In the vehicle lamp 1, a direction in which the light of the lamp unit LU on which the front cover 4 is disposed is emitted is defined as a front direction, which is used as a reference. When the vehicle lamp is, for example, a rear lamp and is disposed on a rear surface of the vehicle, it is needless to say that the vehicle lamp is mounted on the vehicle while being rotated by 180 degrees, and the front of the vehicle lamp is the rear of the vehicle. In addition, in the bracket member 6, an extending direction of the bracket member 6 to be described later is defined as a front-rear direction, and is described as coinciding with the front-rear direction of the vehicle lamp 1.Bracket Member

[0025] A shape of the bracket member 6 will be described in detail. FIG. 2 is a front view of the bracket member 6. FIG. 3 is a back view of the bracket member 6. FIG. 4 is a front perspective view of the bracket member 6. FIG. 5 is a back perspective view of the bracket member 6. In FIGS. 2 to 5, the bracket member 6 is colored in light black.

[0026] The bracket member 6 is molded by injection molding using a hard synthetic resin material. The bracket member 6 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped outer shape, has mainly an upper wall surface 100, a right wall surface 200, a lower wall surface 300, and a left wall surface 400, does not have a back wall and a front wall, and is a large tubular body that opens forward and rearward. Hereinafter, the upper wall surface 100, the right wall surface 200, the lower wall surface 300, and the left wall surface 400 forming the outer shape of the bracket member 6 are collectively referred to as a peripheral wall surface 10.

[0027] As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, a wall surface of the bracket member 6 is mainly constituted by a wall surface having a substantially constant plate thickness and extending in one direction (front-rear direction). The wall surface is mostly a curved surface or a free-form surface whose radius of curvature is not constant. The bracket member 6 does not have the front wall and the back wall, and is lighter than a housing having a back wall. In addition, since the front wall and the back wall are not provided and the wall surface extending in the front-rear direction is mainly formed, it is suitable for injection molding in which a mold is used and a mold removal direction is an extending direction (front-rear direction) of the wall surface of the bracket member (details will be described later).

[0028] Since the extending direction of each wall surface of the bracket member 6 is the front-rear direction, when any wall surface is viewed from the front, only the end surface of each wall surface is visible (see the front view of FIG. 2 and the back view of FIG. 3). The extending direction of each wall surface of the bracket member 6 is the same direction (front-rear direction), but each wall surface is not an extruded shape obtained by extruding a predetermined cross-sectional shape by a predetermined length, a depth length (length in the front-rear direction) is different in each wall surface, and a cross-sectional shape orthogonal to a depth direction is not the same shape at any position. In addition, each wall surface does not extend with a uniform length. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the left wall surface 400 is shorter in depth length than the right wall surface 200. Further, in the left wall surface 400, the depth length (length in the front-rear direction) is very short in an upper area, and the depth length is longer in a lower area than the depth length in the upper area.

[0029] An accommodation space SP in which at least a part of the lamp unit LU is accommodated is formed on the inner side defined by the peripheral wall surface 10 that is circumferentially formed. In the present embodiment, since the bracket member 6 is relatively short in the depth direction (front-rear direction) and long in a width direction (left-right direction) compared to a height direction (upper-lower direction), the accommodation space SP inside the peripheral wall surface 10 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape long in the width direction.

[0030] The accommodation space SP is substantially equally divided into three in the left-right direction by a right inner wall surface 600 and a left inner wall surface 500 which are substantially vertical surfaces provided in the accommodation space SP. Similarly to the peripheral wall surface 10, the right inner wall surface 600 and the left inner wall surface 500 extend in the same direction (front-rear direction) as the peripheral wall surface 10. One lamp unit LU is disposed in each of the three accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3 arranged side by side in the left-right direction defined by the peripheral wall surface 10, the right inner wall surface 600, and the left inner wall surface 500.

[0031] The left wall surface 400, the right wall surface 200, the right inner wall surface 600, and the left inner wall surface 500, that is, a standing wall surface constituting the bracket member 6, are provided with bosses 7 and plate-shaped mounting portions 8 protruding toward the three accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3. Mounting holes of the boss 7 and the mounting portion 8 are provided to penetrate in the front-rear direction which is the extending direction of the bracket member 6. The lamp unit LU is attached to the bracket member 6 by a fixing member (not illustrated) and supported by the boss 7 and the mounting portion 8.

[0032] In the present embodiment, the accommodation space SP is divided into three spaces in order to support the three lamp units LUs, but the number and arrangement of the supported lamp units LUs are not limited, and a configuration in which one lamp unit is supported without providing an inner wall surface, a configuration in which four lamp units are fixed using a cross-shaped inner wall surface having vertical surfaces substantially orthogonal to each other, or the like may be adopted. The boss 7 and the mounting portion 8 may be provided on the upper wall surface 100 or the lower wall surface 300.

[0033] Aiming support portions 9 are formed at three corner portions of an upper left corner portion, an upper right corner portion, and a lower right corner portion of the bracket member 6. The aiming support portions 9 are each formed in a flat plate shape, and are provided such that plate surfaces thereof are parallel to each other. A mount (not illustrated) is mounted in a rectangular through hole 9c provided inside the aiming support portion 9, and the bracket member 6 is supported on the back wall of the lamp body 2 by the aiming screw E screwed into the mount such that the optical axis of the lamp unit LU is adjustable.

[0034] The aiming support portion 9 has a rectangular flat plate shape. The aiming support portion 9 is provided at a corner portion of the bracket member 6, corner portions of the upper wall surface 100, the right wall surface 200, the lower wall surface 300, and the left wall surface 400 are formed in a recessed shape so as to avoid the aiming support portion 9, and the aiming support portion 9 is provided on an outer surface portion of a corner portion recess of the peripheral wall surface 10.

[0035] The bracket member 6, which is a tubular body having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped outer shape, is formed such that corner portions of the peripheral wall surface 10 are each recessed in a rectangular shape, and horizontal surfaces 9a and vertical surfaces 9b are formed at the respective corner portions. The rectangular aiming support portion 9 is formed such that a horizontal side and a vertical side of a rectangular outer shape are integrated with the horizontal surface 9a and the vertical surface 9b of a recess provided at the corner portion. Therefore, the aiming support portion 9 functions as a rib that supports the horizontal surface 9a and the vertical surface 9b of the recess provided at the corner portion.Double Wall: Right Wall Surface

[0036] The bracket member 6 is configured such that the upper wall surface 100, the right wall surface 200, the lower wall surface 300, and the left wall surface 400, that is, at least a part of the peripheral wall surface 10 is a double wall. In the present embodiment, since the right inner wall surface 600 and the left inner wall surface 500 are also provided, at least a part of the wall surface of the bracket member 6 including the right inner wall surface 600 and the left inner wall surface 500 is configured as a double wall.

[0037] FIG. 6 is a front view of the bracket member 6, and illustrates a main double wall portion of the bracket member 6 in light black.

[0038] First, a structure of the double wall will be described using the right wall surface 200 (an AA portion in FIG. 6) as an example.

[0039] As illustrated in FIG. 2, the right wall surface 200 constitutes a right side surface of the bracket member 6, and is provided to extend in a substantially vertical direction from the aiming support portion 9 provided at the upper right corner portion to the aiming support portion 9 provided at the lower right corner portion.

[0040] The right wall surface 200 is configured as a double wall as a whole, and includes a right wall surface body 201 which is an outer wall surface forming the outer shape of the bracket member 6, and a right auxiliary wall surface 202 disposed on an inner side (left side) thereof. The right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 are arranged side by side in the left-right direction, are substantially vertical surfaces, have substantially the same and uniform plate thickness, and extend in the front-rear direction. Therefore, in a front view, only end surfaces of the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 are visible. The right wall surface 200 of the bracket member 6 is configured as a double wall by the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202.

[0041] The right auxiliary wall surface 202 extends downward from a lower end portion of the vertical surface 9b at the upper right corner portion so as to extend from the vertical surface 9b and is connected to the lower wall surface 300. In other words, the vertical surface 9b at the upper right corner portion constitutes a part of the right auxiliary wall surface 202.

[0042] Both the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 are substantially vertical surfaces of free-form surfaces extending in the same direction (front-rear direction) with the both wall surfaces, and are provided side by side in the left-right direction, but the right wall surface body 201 has a center curved leftward, and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 has a center curved slightly rightward. Therefore, the right wall surface 200 has a constricted shape at the center, and a distance between the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 is shortest at a central portion and slightly longer at upper and lower portions than at the central portion.

[0043] Three right partition walls 241 to 243, which are substantially horizontal surfaces, are provided between the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202, which are substantially vertical surfaces, so as to partition a space sandwiched between both wall surfaces in the upper-lower direction.

[0044] Similarly to the other wall surfaces, the right partition walls 241 to 243 are free-form surfaces having a constant plate thickness and extend in the same direction (front-rear direction). Therefore, in a front view, only front end surfaces of the right partition walls 241 to 243 are visible.

[0045] Right small spaces AR201 to AR204 are formed as four small spaces arranged side by side in the upper-lower direction inside the right wall surface 200, which are defined by the three right partition walls 241 to 243. The four small spaces defined by the substantially horizontal surfaces and the substantially vertical surfaces are spaces that open in the front-rear direction and extend in the front-rear direction.

[0046] A load bearing performance of the right wall surface 200 in a plurality of directions is improved by providing the substantially horizontal right partition walls 241 to 243, which further finely divide the space and are substantially orthogonal to the double wall, inside the double wall formed of the two substantially vertical surfaces (a space sandwiched between the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202). Since the right wall surface 200 has the wall surface having the above configuration, a deformation amount of the right wall surface 200 with respect to the load can be reduced, and the rigidity of the bracket member 6 having no front wall and back wall is improved.

[0047] In the present embodiment, right internal walls 251 to 254 are further provided in the right small spaces AR201 to AR204 extending in the front-rear direction so as to divide the right small spaces AR201 to AR204 into front and rear spaces. In the right small spaces AR201 to AR204 arranged side by side in the upper-lower direction, the right internal walls 251 to 254 of the adjacent small spaces are shifted in the front-rear direction so as to alternate in the front-rear direction. Specifically, the right internal walls 251 to 254 are provided to close either the front opening portions or the rear opening portions of the right small spaces AR201 to AR204, and the right internal walls 251 to 254 are formed to close either opening portions of the front opening portions / rear opening portions of the small spaces in different directions between adjacent small spaces.

[0048] Specifically, among the four right small spaces AR201 to AR204 arranged side by side in the upper-lower direction, the first right internal wall 251 and the third right internal wall 253 are formed in the first right small space AR201, which is the first from the top, and the third right small space AR203, which is the third from the top, so as to close the rear opening portions, respectively. The second right internal wall 252 and the fourth right internal wall 254 are formed in the second right small space AR202, which is the second from the top, and the fourth right small space AR204, which is the fourth from the top, so as to close the front opening portions, respectively.

[0049] The operation and effect of the bracket member 6 configured as described above will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 7 is a front view of the bracket member 6, and illustrates lines of cross-sectional views in FIGS. 8A, 8B, 9A, and 9B. In FIG. 7, the bracket member 6 is colored in light black. FIGS. 8A, 8B, 9A, and 9B are the cross-sectional views of the bracket member 6. FIG. 8A is a cross-sectional view taken along a line A-A in FIG. 7, and mainly illustrates a double wall portion (the AA portion in FIG. 6) of the right wall surface 200. FIG. 8B is a cross-sectional view taken along a line B-B in FIG. 7, and mainly illustrates a double wall portion (a BB portion in FIG. 6) of the lower wall surface 300. FIG. 9A is a cross-sectional view taken along a line C-C in FIG. 7, and mainly illustrates a double wall portion (a CC portion in FIG. 6) of the left inner wall surface 500. FIG. 9B is a cross-sectional view taken along a line D-D in FIG. 7, and mainly illustrates a double wall portion (a DD portion in FIG. 6) of the upper wall surface 100.

[0050] As illustrated in FIG. 8A, the right internal walls 251 to 254 are formed to alternately close the opening portions of the four right small spaces AR201 to AR204 defined by the right partition walls 241 to 243. Therefore, a cross-sectional shape of the right wall surface 200 is configured such that the right internal walls 251 to 254, which are substantially vertical surfaces, are connected to the front end surfaces or the rear end surfaces of the wall surfaces in an order of the horizontal surface 9a, the right partition walls 241 to 243, and the lower wall surface 300, which are substantially horizontal surfaces, from the top, and are formed in a zigzag shape so as to be continuous in a square S-shape.

[0051] In addition, since both left and right end surfaces of the right partition walls 241 to 243 and the right internal walls 251 to 254 are all connected to and integrated with the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202, the right wall surface 200 has a very strong shape.

[0052] The right wall surface 200 includes the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 constituting a double wall having substantially vertical surfaces, the substantially horizontal right partition walls 241 to 243 substantially orthogonal to the double wall, and the right internal walls 251 to 254 disposed substantially orthogonal to both the double wall and the right partition walls 241 to 243. Since the right wall surface 200 is formed by connecting and integrating surfaces extending in three substantially orthogonal directions to each other, a strain resistance performance and the load bearing performance in a plurality of directions are high. The improvement in the load bearing performance of the right wall surface 200 also improves the rigidity of the bracket member 6.Double Wall: Lower Wall Surface

[0053] Next, a double wall portion (the BB portion in FIG. 6) of the lower wall surface 300 will be described in detail. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the lower wall surface 300 includes a substantially horizontal lower wall surface body 301, which is an outer wall surface forming the outer shape of the bracket member 6, and a substantially horizontal lower auxiliary wall surface 302 disposed inside (above) the lower wall surface body 301.

[0054] The lower auxiliary wall surface 302 is bent toward the lower wall surface body 301 at a right end portion and connected to the lower wall surface body 301, and not the entire area of the lower wall surface 300 but only a partial area thereof is configured as a double wall. The lower wall surface 300 is a double wall surface substantially from the left accommodation space SP1 to the central accommodation space SP2.

[0055] The lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302 extend in the front-rear direction. Therefore, in a front view, only front end surfaces of the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302 are visible.

[0056] A space inside the double wall of the lower wall surface 300, that is, a space sandwiched between the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302 is a flat substantially rectangular parallelepiped long in the left-right direction, and lower partition walls 341 to 343 are provided to partition the space elongated in the left-right direction in the left-right direction. The lower partition walls 341 to 343 are connected to the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302 between the substantially horizontal lower wall surface body 301 and lower auxiliary wall surface 302, which are juxtaposed in the upper-lower direction to constitute the double wall surface, and extend in the upper-lower direction.

[0057] In the present embodiment, the lower partition walls 341 to 343 are provided to be inclined from the vertical direction, and are provided such that end portions of adjacent partition walls are in contact with each other. That is, among the three lower partition walls 341, 342, and 343 arranged in order from the left, the first lower partition wall 341, which is disposed furthest to the left, is inclined rightward from the vertical direction. An upper end portion of the second lower partition wall 342 is connected to an upper end portion of the first lower partition wall 341 and is provided to be inclined leftward from the vertical direction. A lower end portion of the third lower partition wall 343 is connected to a lower end portion of the second lower partition wall 342 and is provided to be inclined rightward from the vertical direction. Since the three lower partition walls 341 to 343 are alternately and obliquely arranged, end surfaces are formed in an N shape in a front view. That is, the three lower partition walls 341 to 343 are arranged in a truss shape.

[0058] As described above, the partition walls do not need to be substantially orthogonal to the double wall surfaces or disposed substantially parallel to each other, and only need to be connected to both constituent surfaces of the double wall surfaces between the double wall surfaces. It is preferable to arrange the three lower partition walls 341 to 343 in a truss shape because the load bearing performance is improved.

[0059] As illustrated in FIG. 2, the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302 are substantially horizontal surfaces, but are not horizontal surfaces, and are bent at portions connected to the respective partition walls as bent portions and are free-form surfaces constituted by a plurality of slightly curved surfaces. All the lower partition walls 341 to 343 and the lower wall surface 300 have substantially the same plate thickness and are provided to extend along the front-rear direction.

[0060] Here, at least a part of the left inner wall surface 500 is also configured as a double wall, and a left inner wall surface body 501 and a left inner auxiliary wall surface 502, which are substantially vertical surfaces and form the left inner wall surface 500 as a double wall, are substantially orthogonal to the lower auxiliary wall surface 302, further extend to the inside of the double wall of the lower wall surface 300, and are connected to the lower wall surface body 301. Therefore, a lower end portion of the left inner wall surface 500, specifically, portions of the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 inside the double wall of the lower wall surface 300 is also configured as a part of the partition wall of the lower wall surface 300.

[0061] In this way, there is a case where two double walls intersect with each other and one auxiliary wall surface constitutes a part of the other partition wall or a peripheral wall surface, or conversely, one partition wall constitutes a part of the other auxiliary wall surface. The double walls have higher rigidity than a single wall, and the double walls intersect each other and are integrally configured to reinforce each other, thereby further increasing the rigidity of the bracket member 6.

[0062] In an internal space of the double wall surface of the lower wall surface 300, lower small spaces AR301 to AR305, which are five small spaces defined by the lower partition walls 341, 342, and 343 and the left inner wall surface 500 extending to the inside of the lower wall surface 300 and arranged side by side in the left-right direction, are formed. Similarly to the right wall surface 200, the lower small spaces AR301 to AR305 inside the lower wall surface 300 are provided with lower internal walls 351 to 355 that alternately close opening portions in the front-rear direction.

[0063] Specifically, among the five lower small spaces AR301 to AR305 arranged side by side in the left-right direction, the first lower internal wall 351, the third lower internal wall 353, and the fifth lower internal wall 355 are formed in the first lower small space AR301, which is the first from the left, the third lower small space AR303, which is the third from the left, and the fifth lower small space AR305, which is the fifth from the left, so as to close the rear opening portions, respectively. The second lower internal wall 352 and the fourth lower internal wall 354 are formed in the second lower small space AR302, which is the second from the left, and the fourth lower small space AR304, which is the fourth from the left, so as to close the front opening portions, respectively.

[0064] As illustrated in FIG. 8B, the lower wall surface 300 is configured such that the left wall surface 400, the lower partition walls 341, 342, and 343, and the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 of the left inner wall surface 500, which are connected in the upper-lower direction, in order from the left, are continuously connected at their end portions by the lower internal walls 351, 352, 353, 354, and 355, which are connected in the left-right direction, and a cross-sectional shape of the lower wall surface 300 has a zigzag shape in which a square S-shape is continuous.

[0065] Since all the upper and lower end surfaces of the lower partition walls 341 to 343 and the lower internal walls 351 to 355 are connected to and integrated with the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302, the lower wall surface 300 has a very strong structure. Accordingly, the load bearing performance of the lower wall surface 300 is improved, and the rigidity of the bracket member 6 is also improved.

[0066] As described above, the partition wall may be provided so as to extend in the same extending direction (front-rear direction) as the double wall and partition the space inside the double wall, both end surfaces thereof may be connected to both constituent surfaces of the double wall, may not be substantially orthogonal to the double wall, and may not be provided in parallel to each other, and the form, number, and shape thereof are not limited. If the internal wall is also provided in the small space and both end surfaces thereof are connected to the partition wall forming the small space, it is not necessary to completely close the small space. In addition, the internal wall may be a curved surface, a bent surface, or a free-form surface like another wall surface.Double Wall: Left Inner Wall Surface

[0067] Next, the left inner wall surface 500 (the CC portion in FIG. 6) will be described in detail. Similarly to the right wall surface 200, the left inner wall surface 500 is also configured as a double wall. As described above, the left inner wall surface 500 is configured as a double wall, and has the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 arranged side by side in the left-right direction on a substantially vertical surface. The left inner wall surface 500 is configured as a double wall by the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left inner auxiliary wall surface.

[0068] An inner side of the double wall of the left inner wall surface 500, that is, a space sandwiched between the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 is a flat substantially rectangular parallelepiped long in the upper-lower direction, and left inner partition walls 541, 542 are provided to partition the space elongated in the upper-lower direction in the upper-lower direction. Left inner small spaces AR501, AR502, and AR503 are defined by the left inner partition walls 541, 542 and formed side by side in the upper-lower direction as three small spaces inside the double wall.

[0069] Among the three left inner small spaces AR501, AR502, and AR503 arranged side by side in the upper-lower direction, the first left inner small space AR501 arranged above is not provided with an inner wall surface. The second left inner small space AR502 disposed at a center is provided with a first left inner internal wall 551 that closes a front opening portion. The third left inner small space AR503 disposed below is formed with a second left inner internal wall 552 that closes a rear opening portion.

[0070] The left inner wall surface body 501, the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502, and the left inner partition walls 541, 542 are provided to extend in the front-rear direction, and only front end surfaces of the wall surfaces can be seen in a front view. The front end surface has a uniform plate thickness, but has a free shape such as a curved shape or a bent shape at a plurality of positions.

[0071] For example, an upper side of the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 is considerably inclined rightward and connected to the upper wall surface 100. Therefore, the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 works like a rib of the left inner wall surface body 501 and the upper wall surface 100 in cooperation with the left inner partition wall 541. In addition, since the boss 7 is disposed in the left inner wall surface 500 in such a way that it protrudes inwards, the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 at the position where the boss 7 is provided is curved in an arc shape in accordance with an outer periphery of the boss 7 and is integrated with the boss 7. The second left inner partition wall 542 is formed so as to connect a curved portion of the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302.

[0072] As illustrated in FIG. 9A, a vertical cross-sectional shape of the left inner wall surface 500 is a form in which the boss 7 is inserted and integrated, but is basically a shape in which a square S-shape is continuous. As described above, the left inner wall surface 500 having such a configuration has high load bearing performance in a plurality of directions and high rigidity.

[0073] As illustrated in the left inner wall surface 500, it is not necessary to provide an inner wall surface in all of the small spaces formed inside the double wall surface. As illustrated in FIG. 9A, the boss 7 or a through hole may be provided on the wall surface.

[0074] In the present embodiment, a lower portion of the left inner wall surface 500 is integrated with the lower wall surface 300. Further, since an upper portion of the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 is provided to be inclined, the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 also acts as a double wall surface of the upper wall surface 100. In this way, by forming the wall surface as a free-form surface, it is also possible to form a wall surface that plays two or more roles.Double Wall: Upper Wall Surface

[0075] Next, a shape of a right area of the upper wall surface 100, specifically, a shape of the upper wall surface 100 of the right accommodation space SP3 formed on the right side will be described.

[0076] The upper wall surface 100 has a very complicated configuration, and includes an upper wall surface body 101 constituting a part of the outer shape of the bracket member 6, a first upper auxiliary wall surface 102 and a second upper auxiliary wall surface 103, which are inclined from the horizontal direction to the lower right so as to connect the upper wall surface body 101 and the right wall surface 200, and a third upper auxiliary wall surface 104, a fourth upper auxiliary wall surface 105, and a fifth upper auxiliary wall surface 106, which are inclined from the horizontal direction to the lower left so as to connect the upper wall surface body 101 and the right inner wall surface 600.

[0077] In the upper wall surface 100, a plurality of auxiliary wall surfaces are provided at different angles and intersect each other to be integrated, and the auxiliary wall surfaces are also configured as partition walls. By providing the plurality of auxiliary wall surfaces, at least a part of the upper wall surface 100 is configured as a double wall, and a part thereof is configured as a triple wall. As described above, the peripheral wall surface 10 may be provided with a plurality of auxiliary wall surfaces, and at least a part thereof may be configured as not only a double wall but also a triple wall or a quadruple wall.

[0078] Inside the upper wall surface 100, upper small spaces AR101 to AR108 are formed as eight small spaces defined by the upper auxiliary wall surfaces 102 to 106.

[0079] Some of the eight upper small spaces AR101 to AR108 are formed with an internal wall that closes the front opening portion or the rear opening portion. In the present embodiment, a second upper internal wall 152 is formed to close the front opening portion of the central fourth upper small space AR104 defined by the first upper auxiliary wall surface 102, the second upper auxiliary wall surface 103, the third upper auxiliary wall surface 104, and the fourth upper auxiliary wall surface 105. In the first upper small space AR101 and the eighth upper small space AR108 formed adjacent to upper and lower sides of the fourth upper small space AR104, a first upper internal wall 151 and a third upper internal wall 153 are formed so as to close back opening portions.

[0080] The upper wall surface 100 is provided with a plurality of auxiliary wall surfaces intersecting each other, each of the auxiliary wall surfaces also functions as a partition wall, and at least a part of the upper wall surface 100 is configured as a double wall.

[0081] As illustrated in FIG. 9B, a cross-sectional shape of portions of the left inner wall surface 500 where the internal walls are provided is a continuous rectangular S-shape. As described above, the upper wall surface 100 configured as described above has the high load bearing performance in a plurality of directions and the high rigidity.

[0082] In the small space formed in the double wall like the upper wall surface 100, a portion where the inner wall surface is provided or not provided is not particularly specified, and the inner wall surface may be provided in any small space, or the inner wall surface may not be provided at all.

[0083] Which portion of the peripheral wall surface 10 of the bracket member 6 is configured as a double wall is not specified, but it is preferable to provided the double wall to reinforce a portion to which a load is applied such as a support portion because the rigidity of the bracket member 6 is greatly improved.

[0084] For example, in the bracket member 6 according to the present embodiment, the right wall surface 200 and the lower wall surface 300 connecting the three aiming support portions 9 are configured as double walls. In addition, a portion of the upper wall surface 100 which is a double wall, particularly, a portion where the inner wall surface is provided is a small space extending toward the aiming support portion 9 on the lower left. Since the bracket member 6 is supported at three positions where the aiming support portions 9 are provided, the upper right, lower right, and lower left corner portions are particularly portions to which a load is applied, and portions connected thereto are mainly configured as double walls. By providing the double wall at the portion where the load is applied, an increase in mass due to the provision of the double wall can be prevented, and the rigidity of the bracket member 6 can be appropriately improved.

[0085] When the bracket member 6 configured as described above and a product of the related art for comparison, that is, a bracket member of the related art having a back wall and no double wall surface were simulated and calculated, the mass of the bracket member 6 was lower by 24% and the maximum displacement amount was lower by 62% than that of the product of the related art. By applying the above configuration, the weight is reduced and the rigidity is significantly improved as compared with the product of the related art.Molding Method

[0086] A molding process and a molding mold of the bracket member 6 configured as described above will be described. FIGS. 10A to 10C are schematic configuration diagrams of a molding mold for a bracket member, and are diagrams illustrating the molding process. Cross-sectional lines of the cross-sectional views of the mold illustrated in FIGS. 10A to 10C correspond to the line A-A in FIG. 7.

[0087] As illustrated in FIG. 10A, first, a fixed mold 30 and the movable mold 40 are arranged facing each other and clamped. A direction in which the mold is clamped / opened is defined as a direction DR. In a clamped state, a molding space (cavity) CAV corresponding to the shape of the bracket member 6 is defined inside the mold. The molding space CAV is provided so that an extending direction (front-rear direction) of the peripheral wall surface 10 of the bracket member 6 corresponding thereto coincides with the direction DR in which the mold is clamped.

[0088] Next, as illustrated in FIG. 10B, a resin member heated to a predetermined melting temperature is injected into the molding space CAV and filled in the molding space CAV. The resin member filled in the molding space CAV is cooled and solidified to mold the bracket member 6.

[0089] Next, as illustrated in FIG. 10C, the mold is opened, the movable mold 40 is first separated in the direction of the direction DR, and the bracket member 6 in a state of being attached to the fixed mold 30 is pushed out and removed by a pushing pin (not illustrated).

[0090] Since the bracket member 6 is configured to extend along the direction DR in which the mold is opened, the movable mold 40 can be separated along the direction DR without any problem. The bracket member 6 is also extruded from the fixed mold 30 along the direction DR and removed without any problem.

[0091] The bracket member 6 is provided to extend in the front-rear direction, the extending direction of the bracket member 6 can be aligned with the direction DR in which the mold is opened, and the bracket member 6 can be molded by injection molding using the mold.

[0092] As described above, although the bracket member 6 has a complicated shape, the productivity is high because the bracket member 6 can be mass-produced by injection molding using a mold.Second Embodiment

[0093] Hereinafter, a second embodiment according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment is exemplary only without limiting the invention, and all or combinations of the features described in the embodiment are not necessarily essential to the invention. The same members as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals.Vehicle Lamp

[0094] FIG. 11 is a schematic front view of a vehicle lamp 1001 including a bracket 6 according to the embodiment. The vehicle lamp 1001 is a headlamp and is mounted on each of left and right sides of a front portion of the vehicle. The vehicle lamp 1001 includes the lamp body 2 and the front cover 4 as a lamp housing. The lamp body 2 has a container shape with an opening at the front side, and the front cover 4 is attached to the opening portion to form the lamp chamber S inside. The front cover 4 is a so-called outer cover, and is a substantially transparent lens formed of a translucent resin such as polycarbonate. The front cover 4 may be provided with an optical step for diverging and diffusing light emitted from a light source when each lamp is turned on.

[0095] In the defined lamp chamber S, three lamp units LU1 to LU3 supported by the bracket 6 are accommodated side by side in the vehicle width direction (left-right direction). The lamp units LU1 to LU3 are a single lamp unit or a plurality of lamp units configured to emit light forward, and are optical units configured to form predetermined light distributions such as a high beam light distribution or a low beam light distribution. Light emitted from the lamp units LU1 to LU3 is irradiated toward the front cover 4 disposed in front, passes through the front cover 4, and forms a predetermined light distribution in front of the vehicle. The lamp units LU1 to LU3 have a known configuration in the related art, such as a reflector type or a projector type lamp unit, and the type thereof does not matter.

[0096] FIG. 16 is a front view of the bracket 6 illustrating a state in which the lamp unit is supported. As illustrated in FIG. 16, the lamp units LU1 to LU3 include support frames LU12, LU22, and LU32 on the front cover side, and the support frames LU12, LU22, and LU32 support projection lenses LU11, LU21, and LU31, respectively. The lamp units LU1 to LU3 include a reflector (not illustrated) that covers the light source in a semi-dome shape and metallic heat sinks LU14, LU24, and LU34, and are fixed to the boss forming portions 71 to 74 as a fixing portion of the bracket 6 and mounting members 81 to 84 by fixing members F11, F21 to F24, and F31 to F34 such as bolts, aiming screws, and mounts.

[0097] The bracket 6 is attached to a back surface of the lamp body 2 by three aiming screws E1 to E3. The optical axes of the lamp units LU1 to LU3 are adjusted in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction by rotating the aiming screws E1, E3.

[0098] The bracket 6 according to the present embodiment is not limited to a headlamp, and can also be used for a vehicle lamp such as a rear combination lamp or a marker lamp. In the vehicle lamp 1001, a direction in which the light of the lamp units LU1 to LU3 on which the front cover 4 is disposed is emitted is defined as a front direction, and a rear direction, a left-right direction, and an upper-lower direction are determined based on the front direction. When the vehicle lamp 1001 is, for example, a rear lamp and is disposed on a rear surface of the vehicle, it is needless to say that the vehicle lamp 1001 is mounted on the vehicle while being rotated by 180 degrees, and the front of the vehicle lamp 1001 is the rear of the vehicle. In addition, in the bracket 6, an extending direction of the bracket 6 to be described later is the front-rear direction, and is described as coinciding with the front-rear direction of the vehicle lamp.Bracket

[0099] Hereinafter, a shape of the bracket 6 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 12 to 15. FIG. 12 is a front view of the bracket 6. FIG. 13 is a back view of the bracket 6. FIG. 14 is a front perspective view of the bracket 6. FIG. 15 is a back perspective view of the bracket 6. In FIGS. 12 to 15, the bracket 6 is colored in light black.

[0100] The bracket 6 is molded by injection molding using a hard synthetic resin material. The bracket 6 has a tubular structure extending in the front-rear direction and opening in the front-rear direction. The bracket 6 mainly includes the upper wall surface 100, the right wall surface 200, the lower wall surface 300, and the left wall surface 400. Hereinafter, the upper wall surface 100, the right wall surface 200, the lower wall surface 300, and the left wall surface 400 forming an outer shape of the bracket 6 are collectively referred to as the peripheral wall surface 10.

[0101] As illustrated in FIGS. 12 and 13, the peripheral wall surface 10 is mainly constituted by a wall having a substantially constant plate thickness and extending in one direction (front-rear direction). Most of an outer surface and an inner surface of the peripheral wall surface 10 are curved surfaces or free-form surfaces whose radius of curvature is not constant. Since the bracket 6 has a tubular structure without a front wall and a back wall, and is therefore lighter than a housing that has a front wall, a back wall, and a necessary standing wall. Further, the bracket 6 has higher rigidity than a flat plate-shaped or arch-shaped bracket. In addition, since the bracket 6 does not have the front wall and the back wall and is mainly constituted by a wall extending in the front-rear direction, the bracket 6 has a configuration suitable for injection molding in which a mold removal direction is in the extending direction (front-rear direction) of the peripheral wall surface 10 of the bracket 6 using a mold. Details of the molding process will be described later.

[0102] The extending direction of the peripheral wall surface 10 is the front-rear direction, and only the end surface of the peripheral wall surface 10 is visible in a front view (see FIGS. 12 and 13). The extending direction of the peripheral wall surface 10 is the same direction (front-rear direction), but each wall is not an extruded shape obtained by extruding a predetermined cross-sectional shape by a predetermined length, and the depth length (length in the front-rear direction) is different in each wall. Therefore, the cross-sectional shape orthogonal to the depth direction is not the same at any position. In addition, each wall does not extend with a uniform length. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 14, the left wall surface 400 is shorter in depth length than the right wall surface 200. Further, in the left wall surface 400, the depth length (length in the front-rear direction) is short in an upper area, and the depth length is longer in a lower area than the depth length in the upper area.

[0103] The accommodation space SP in which at least a part of the lamp units LU1 to LU3 is accommodated is formed on the inner side defined by the peripheral wall surface 10 formed in the tubular shape. In the present embodiment, since the bracket 6 is relatively short in the depth direction (front-rear direction) and is longer in the width direction (left-right direction) than in the height direction (upper-lower direction), the accommodation space SP as a whole inside the peripheral wall surface 10 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape that is long in the width direction. Therefore, the lamp units LU1 to LU3 are accommodated in the accommodation space SP, particularly on the upper surface side, in a state of protruding from the accommodation space SP to the outside.

[0104] The accommodation space SP is divided into three spaces (accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3) in the left-right direction by a right intermediate wall 600 and the left inner wall surface 500 (hereinafter, both are simply referred to as intermediate walls) provided in the accommodation space SP and extending in the upper-lower direction. Therefore, the accommodation space SP refers to the entire accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3. The right intermediate wall 600 and the left inner wall surface 500 extend in the same direction (front-rear direction) as the peripheral wall surface 10. In the three accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3 defined by the peripheral wall surface 10, the right intermediate wall 600, and the left inner wall surface 500 and arranged side by side in the left-right direction, the lamp units LU1 to LU3 are respectively disposed (see FIG. 16). The walls in the claims include the peripheral wall surface 10, that is, the upper wall surface 100, the right wall surface 200, the lower wall surface 300, and the left wall surface 400, and the intermediate walls, that is, the right intermediate wall 600 and the left inner wall surface 500.

[0105] The right wall surface 200, the left wall surface 400, the right intermediate wall 600, and the left inner wall surface 500 are provided with the boss forming portions 71 to 74 and the plate-shaped mounting members 81 to 84 as through hole forming portions that protrude toward the three accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3 in a direction intersecting the front-rear direction of the lamp. The boss forming portions 71 to 74 and the mounting members 81 to 84 are respectively provided with through holes 71a to 74a and 81a to 84a penetrating in the front-rear direction, which is the extending direction of the bracket 6. As illustrated in FIG. 16, the lamp units LU1 to LU3 are accommodated in predetermined accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3, respectively, and are fixed to the corresponding boss forming portions 71 to 74 and mounting members 81 to 84 by fixing members such as screws or bolts, thereby being attached to and supported by the bracket 6. The boss forming portions 71, 72, and 74 corresponds to the through hole forming portion in the claims, which will be described later.

[0106] In the present embodiment, the accommodation space SP is divided into three spaces to support the lamp units LU1 to LU3. However, the number and arrangement of the lamp units are not limited, and one lamp unit may be supported by defining the accommodation space SP only by the peripheral wall surface 10 without providing the intermediate wall. In addition, an intermediate wall extending in the upper-lower direction and an intermediate wall extending in the left-right direction perpendicular to the intermediate wall may be provided to form an intermediate wall with a cross-shaped vertical cross section, and the cross-shaped intermediate wall and the peripheral wall surface 10 may define four accommodation spaces to fix four lamp units. In this case, the boss forming portions 71 to 74 and the mounting members 81 to 84 may be provided on the peripheral wall surface 10.

[0107] Aiming support portions 91 to 93 are formed at three corner portions of a lower left corner portion, a lower right corner portion, and an upper right corner portion of the bracket 6. The aiming support portions 91 to 93 each have a rectangular flat plate shape, and are provided to define three corners of a substantially rectangular shape in a front view formed by the peripheral wall surface 10. The aiming support portions 91 to 93 will be described later.Double Wall

[0108] A configuration of a wall constituting the bracket 6 will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition to FIGS. 12 to 16, FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a structure of the wall constituting the bracket 6. FIG. 18 is a front view of the bracket 6 illustrating lines of cross-sectional views of the bracket 6 in FIGS. 19A to 20B. Also in FIG. 18, the bracket 6 is colored with light black. FIGS. 19A, 19B, 20A, and 20B are the cross-sectional views of the bracket 6. FIG. 19A is a cross-sectional view taken along a line A-A in FIG. 18. FIG. 19A mainly illustrates a double wall portion (an AA portion in FIG. 17) of the right wall surface 200. FIG. 19B is a cross-sectional view taken along a line B-B in FIG. 18. FIG. 19B mainly illustrates a double wall portion (a BB portion in FIG. 17) of the lower wall surface 300. FIG. 20A is a cross-sectional view taken along a line C-C in FIG. 18. FIG. 20A mainly illustrates a double wall portion (a CC portion in FIG. 17) of the left inner wall surface 500. FIG. 20B is a cross-sectional view taken along a line D-D in FIG. 18. FIG. 20B mainly illustrates a double wall portion (a DD portion in FIG. 17) of the upper wall surface 100. Note that FIG. 18 also illustrates a line of the cross-sectional view of the bracket of FIG. 21, and this point will be described later.

[0109] The bracket 6 is configured such that the upper wall surface 100, the right wall surface 200, the lower wall surface 300, and the left wall surface 400, that is, the peripheral wall surface 10, and the right intermediate wall 600 and the left inner wall surface 500, that is, at least a part of the intermediate wall 60, are double walls. Both the peripheral wall surface 10 and the intermediate wall are not necessarily double walls. Only the peripheral wall surface 10 may include a double wall, or only the intermediate wall may include a double wall. A light black portion illustrated in FIG. 17 is a main double wall portion of the bracket 6. In addition, in FIG. 17, since it is intended to display a portion including a double wall, reference numerals of the respective portions are omitted.Double Wall: Right Wall Surface

[0110] First, the structure of the right wall surface 200 (the AA portion in FIG. 17) will be described with reference to FIG. 12. As illustrated in FIG. 12, the right wall surface 200 constitutes a right side surface of the bracket 6 and extends in the upper-lower direction from the aiming support portion 93 provided at the upper right corner portion to the aiming support portion 92 provided at the lower right corner portion connected to the lower wall surface 300.

[0111] The right wall surface 200 is configured as a double wall as a whole, and includes a right wall surface body 201 that defines the outer shape of the bracket 6, and a right auxiliary wall 202 disposed on the inner side (left side) thereof. The right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202 are arranged side by side in the left-right direction, have substantially the same and uniform plate thickness, and extend in the front-rear direction. Therefore, in a front view, only the end surfaces of the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202 are visible. Both of the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202 are surfaces curved in opposite directions and extend in the upper-lower direction. Further, the wall surfaces of the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202 are each a free-form surface created by extruding and extending a free-form curve in the front-rear direction. The right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202 form the right wall surface 200 of the bracket 6 as a double wall.

[0112] The right auxiliary wall 202 extends downward from a left edge wall 93b of the aiming support portion 93 at the upper right corner portion, as if extending the left edge wall 93b, and is connected to the lower wall surface 300. The right auxiliary wall 202 extends in the front-rear direction along a left side of an outer peripheral edge portion of the aiming support portion 93 and constitutes the left edge wall 93b of the aiming support portion 93. Further, the wall defining the upper end portion of the right wall surface 200 extends in the front-rear direction along the lower side of the outer peripheral edge portion of the aiming support portion 93, and constitutes a lower edge wall 93a of the aiming support portion 93.

[0113] The right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202 are provided side by side in the left-right direction, but the right wall surface body 201 has a center curved leftward, and the right auxiliary wall 202 has a center curved slightly rightward. Therefore, the right wall surface 200 has a constricted shape at the center, and a distance between the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202 is shortest at a central portion and slightly longer at upper and lower portions than at the central portion.

[0114] As illustrated in FIGS. 12 and 13, an inter-wall space extending in the front-rear direction is formed between the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202 extending in the upper-lower direction. In the inter-wall space, right partition walls 241 to 243 are provided so as to cross between the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202. The right partition walls 241 to 243 extend in the left-right direction and divide the inter-wall space into four small spaces AR201 to AR204 extending in the front-rear direction. As can be seen from FIG. 19A described later, the small spaces AR201 to AR204 are arranged side by side in the upper-lower direction.

[0115] Similarly to the other walls, the right partition walls 241 to 243 have a constant plate thickness, and wall surfaces of the walls have free-form surfaces extending in the front-rear direction and facing each other. Only the front end surfaces of the right partition walls 241 to 243 can be seen in a front view.

[0116] As described above, in the bracket 6 formed in a tubular shape, since a part of the peripheral wall surface 10 defining the outer shape is a double wall, the right partition walls 241 to 243 that further finely divide the inter-wall space formed between walls of the double wall extending in the upper-lower direction are provided, and the load bearing performance of the right wall surface 200 in a plurality of directions is improved. Since the right wall surface 200 includes the right partition walls 241 to 243, the deformation amount can be reduced with respect to the load of the right wall surface 200, and the rigidity of the bracket 6 is improved.

[0117] As illustrated in FIG. 19A, in the present embodiment, right internal walls 251 to 254 are provided to communicate between the lower edge wall 93a of the aiming support portion 93 and the right partition wall 241, between the right partition wall 241 and the right partition wall 242, between the right partition wall 242 and the right partition wall 243, and between the right partition wall 243 and the lower wall surface body 301 to be described later so as to divide the right small spaces AR201 to AR204 extending in the front-rear direction into front and rear of the bracket 6. The right internal walls 251 to 254 are shifted in the front-rear direction so as to alternate in the front-rear direction. Specifically, the right internal walls 251 to 254 are provided to close either the front opening portions or the rear opening portions of the right small spaces AR201 to AR204, and the respective right internal walls 251 to 254 are formed to close the opening portions in different directions between adjacent small spaces. Note that, here, blocking does not require blocking all of the small spaces AR201 to AR204, but includes partially blocking.

[0118] Specifically, among the four right small spaces AR201 to AR204 arranged side by side in the upper-lower direction, the first right internal wall 251 and the third right internal wall 253 are formed in the first right small space AR201, which is the first from the top, and the third right small space AR203, which is the third from the top, so as to close the rear opening portions, respectively. The second right internal wall 252 and the fourth right internal wall 254 are formed in the second right small space AR202, which is the second from the top, and the fourth right small space AR204, which is the fourth from the top, so as to close the front opening portions, respectively.

[0119] As described above, the right internal walls 251 to 254 are formed to alternately close the opening portions of the four right small spaces AR201 to AR204 defined by the right partition walls 241 to 243. Therefore, the cross-sectional shape of the right wall surface 200 is configured such that the right internal walls 251 to 254 extending in the upper-lower direction are connected to the front end surfaces or the rear end surfaces of the walls in an order of the lower edge wall 93a, the right partition walls 241 to 243, and the lower wall surface 300, which are substantially horizontal surfaces, from the top, and are formed in a zigzag shape so as to be continuous in a square S-shape. In addition, since both left and right end surfaces of the right partition walls 241 to 243 and the right internal walls 251 to 254 are all connected to and integrated with the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202, the right wall surface 200 has a very strong shape. The right internal walls 251 to 254 are not necessarily provided at the front end or the rear end of the bracket 6 in the front-rear direction so as to close the opening portions of the respective small spaces, but may be provided, for example, at an intermediate portion of the bracket 6 in the front-rear direction so as to close the opening portions of the respective small spaces.

[0120] The right wall surface 200 includes the right partition walls 241 to 243 that cross the inter-wall space between the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202 constituting a double wall extending in the upper-lower direction, and the right internal walls 251 to 254 disposed substantially orthogonal to both the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202 constituting a double wall, and the right partition walls 241 to 243. The right wall surface 200 has a bridge structure in which the right internal walls 251 to 254 support the right partition walls, and the surfaces extending in three directions substantially orthogonal to each other are connected to each other and integrally formed, so that the strain resistance performance and the load bearing performance in a plurality of directions are high. As a result, the load bearing performance of the right wall surface 200 is improved, and the rigidity of the bracket 6 is also improved. Other double walls described below also exhibit the same effect.Double Wall: Lower Wall Surface

[0121] Next, the double wall portion (the BB portion in FIG. 17) of the lower wall surface 300 will be described in detail. As illustrated in FIG. 12, the lower wall surface 300 includes the lower wall surface body 301 defining the outer shape of the bracket 6, and a lower auxiliary wall 302 disposed inside (above) the lower wall surface body 301. The lower auxiliary wall 302 is bent toward the lower wall surface body 301 at a right end portion and connected to the lower wall surface body 301, and not the entire area of the lower wall surface 300 but only a partial area thereof is configured as a double wall. The lower wall surface 300 is a double wall substantially from the accommodation space SP1 to the accommodation space SP2.

[0122] The lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall 302 extend in the front-rear direction. Therefore, in a front view, only the front end surfaces of the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall 302 can be seen.

[0123] A space inside the double wall of the lower wall surface 300, that is, an inter-wall space sandwiched between the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall 302 is a flat substantially rectangular parallelepiped long in the left-right direction. The lower partition walls 341 to 343 are provided to partition the space elongated in the left-right direction in the left-right direction. That is, the lower partition walls 341 to 343 that divide the inter-wall space between walls of the double wall of the lower wall surface 300 into a plurality of small spaces extending in the front-rear direction are provided. In addition, the lower partition walls 341 to 343 are provided so as to cross the lower wall surface 300 which is a double wall. The lower partition walls 341 to 343 are connected to the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall 302 and extend in the upper-lower direction between the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall 302.

[0124] The lower partition walls 341 to 343 are provided to be inclined from the vertical direction, and are provided such that the end portions of adjacent partition walls are in contact with each other. That is, among the three lower partition walls 341, 342, and 343 arranged in order from the left, the first lower partition wall 341, which is disposed furthest to the left, is inclined rightward from the vertical direction. The upper end portion of the second lower partition wall 342 is connected to the upper end portion of the first lower partition wall 341 and is provided to be inclined leftward from the vertical direction. The lower end portion of the third lower partition wall 343 is connected to the lower end portion of the second lower partition wall 342 and is provided to be inclined rightward from the vertical direction. Since the three lower partition walls 341 to 343 are alternately and obliquely arranged, the end surfaces are formed in an N shape in a front view. That is, the three lower partition walls 341 to 343 are arranged in a truss shape.

[0125] As described above, the partition walls do not need to be substantially orthogonal to the double wall or disposed substantially parallel to each other, and only need to be connected to two walls constituting the double wall between the walls of the double wall. It is more preferable to arrange the three lower partition walls 341 to 343 in a truss shape because the load bearing performance is improved.

[0126] As illustrated in FIG. 12, the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall 302 extend in the left-right direction but do not need to extend horizontally, and are bent at portions connected to the respective partition walls as bent portions, and the walls are free-form surfaces constituted by a plurality of slightly curved surfaces. All of the lower partition walls 341 to 343 and the lower wall surface 300 have substantially the same plate thickness and are provided to extend along the front-rear direction.

[0127] As will be described later, at least a part of the left inner wall surface 500 is also configured as a double wall. The left inner wall surface 500 is provided such that the left inner wall surface body 501 and a left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 are substantially orthogonal to the lower auxiliary wall 302, further extend to the inside of the double wall of the lower wall surface 300, and are connected to the lower wall surface body 301. Therefore, the lower end portion of the left inner wall surface 500, specifically, portions of the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 inside the double wall of the lower wall surface 300 is also configured as a part of the partition wall of the lower wall surface 300.

[0128] In this way, there is a case where two double walls intersect with each other and one auxiliary wall constitutes a part of the other partition wall or a peripheral wall, or conversely, one partition wall constitutes a part of the other auxiliary wall. The double walls have higher rigidity than the single wall, and the double walls intersect each other and are integrally configured to reinforce each other, thereby further increasing the rigidity of the bracket 6.

[0129] In the inter-wall space of the double wall of the lower wall surface 300, five small spaces, that is, lower small spaces AR301 to AR305, which are defined by the lower partition walls 341, 342, and 343 and the left inner wall surface 500 extending to the inside of the lower wall surface 300 and arranged side by side in the left-right direction, are formed. Similarly to the right wall surface 200, the lower small spaces AR301 to AR305 inside the lower wall surface 300 are provided with the lower internal walls 351 to 355 that alternately close opening portions in the front-rear direction.

[0130] Specifically, as illustrated in FIGS. 12 to 15 and FIG. 19B, among the five lower small spaces AR301 to AR305 arranged side by side in the left-right direction, the first lower internal wall 351, the third lower internal wall 353, and the fifth lower internal wall 355 are formed in the first lower small space AR301, which is the first from the left, the third lower small space AR303, which is the third from the left, and the fifth lower small space AR305, which is the fifth from the left, so as to close the rear opening portions, respectively. The second lower internal wall 352 and the fourth lower internal wall 354 are formed in the second lower small space AR302, which is the second from the left, and the fourth lower small space AR304, which is the fourth from the left, so as to close the front opening portions, respectively.

[0131] In the cross-sectional shape of the lower wall surface 300, the left wall surface 400, the lower partition walls 341, 342, and 343, the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 of the left inner wall surface 500, which are arranged in order from the left, are continuously connected at their end portions by the lower internal walls 351, 352, 353, 354, and 355 connected in the left-right direction, so that a square S-shape is continuously formed.

[0132] In addition, since upper ends of the lower partition walls 341 to 343 and the lower internal walls 351 to 355 are connected to and integrated with the lower auxiliary wall 302, and lower ends thereof are connected to and integrated with the lower wall surface body 301, the lower wall surface 300 has a very strong structure. Accordingly, the load bearing performance of the lower wall surface 300 is improved, and the rigidity of the bracket 6 is also improved.

[0133] As described above, the partition wall may be provided so as to extend in the same extending direction (front-rear direction) as the double wall and partition the space inside the double wall, both end surfaces thereof may be connected to both constituent surfaces of the double wall, may not be substantially orthogonal to the double wall, and may not be provided in parallel to each other, and the form, number, and shape thereof are not limited. If the internal wall is also provided in the small space and both end surfaces thereof are connected to the partition wall forming the small space, it is not necessary to completely close the small space. Similarly to other walls, the internal wall may be a curved surface, a bent surface, or a free-form surface.Double Wall: Left Inner Wall Surface, Right Intermediate Wall

[0134] Next, the left inner wall surface 500 (the CC portion in FIG. 17) will be described in detail. Similarly to the right wall surface 200, the left inner wall surface 500 is also configured as a double wall. As illustrated in FIG. 16, the left inner wall surface 500 extends in the upper-lower direction. The left inner wall surface 500 is configured as a double wall including the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 arranged side by side in the left-right direction.

[0135] An inner side of the double wall of the left inner wall surface 500, that is, an inter-wall space sandwiched between the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 is a flat substantially rectangular parallelepiped long in the upper-lower direction, and the left inner partition walls 541, 542 are provided so as to divide the space elongated in the upper-lower direction into three left inner small spaces AR501, AR502, and AR503 arranged side by side in the upper-lower direction.

[0136] Among the left inner small spaces AR501, AR502, and AR503, the first left inner small space AR501 disposed above is not provided with the internal wall. The second left inner small space AR502 disposed at a center is provided with the first left inner internal wall 551 that closes the front opening portion. The third left inner small space AR503 disposed below is formed with the second left inner internal wall 552 that closes the rear opening portion.

[0137] The left inner wall surface body 501, the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502, and the left inner partition walls 541, 542 are provided to extend in the front-rear direction, and only front end surfaces of the walls can be seen in a front view. The front end surface has a uniform plate thickness, but has a free shape such as a curved shape or a bent shape at a plurality of positions.

[0138] For example, an upper side of the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 is considerably inclined rightward and connected to the upper wall surface 100. Therefore, the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 works like a rib of the left inner wall surface body 501 and the upper wall surface 100 in cooperation with the left inner partition wall 541. Further, since the boss forming portion 71 is disposed in the left inner wall surface 500 in such a way that it protrudes inwards, the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 at the position where the boss 7 is provided is curved in an arc shape along an outer peripheral edge of the boss forming portion 71. As a result, the boss forming portion 71 of the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 functions as a part of the boss. The second left inner partition wall 542 is formed so as to connect the curved portion of the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 and the lower auxiliary wall 302.

[0139] As illustrated in FIG. 20A, the vertical cross-sectional shape of the left inner wall surface 500 is formed with the boss forming portion 71, but is basically a shape in which a square S-shape is continuous. As described above, the left inner wall surface 500 having such a configuration has the high load bearing performance in a plurality of directions and high rigidity.

[0140] As illustrated in the left inner wall surface 500, it is not necessary to provide an intermediate wall in all of the small spaces formed inside the double wall. Further, as illustrated in FIG. 20A, the boss forming portion 71 which is the through hole forming portion may be provided on a wall constituting the double wall.

[0141] In the present embodiment, the lower portion of the left inner wall surface 500 is integrated with the lower wall surface 300. In addition, since the upper portion of the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 is provided to be inclined, the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 also acts as a double wall of the upper wall surface 100. In this way, by forming the wall as a free-form surface, it is also possible to form a wall that plays two or more roles.

[0142] In addition, it is not necessary to provide the internal wall in all the small spaces included in the inter-wall space of the double wall, and the formation of the internal wall may be omitted as long as the necessary rigidity can be ensured. The wall defining the shape of the bracket 6 is formed of the double wall, the inter-wall space is further divided into the small spaces, and it is possible to determine whether the internal wall is provided in each small space, so that it is possible to provide the minimum number of internal walls necessary to ensure necessary rigidity can be provided, thereby making it possible to reduce the weight of the bracket 6.

[0143] The right intermediate wall 600 also has a small area, but is configured as a double wall similarly to the left inner wall surface 500. As illustrated in FIG. 16, the right intermediate wall 600 extends in the upper-lower direction. The right intermediate wall 600 is configured as a double wall including a right intermediate wall body 601 and a right intermediate auxiliary wall 602 arranged side by side in the left-right direction, and has the same effect as the left inner wall surface 500 described above.Double Wall: Upper Wall Surface

[0144] Next, the shape of the right area of the upper wall surface 100, specifically, the shape of the upper wall surface 100 of the accommodation space SP3 formed on the right side will be described.

[0145] As illustrated in FIG. 12, the upper wall surface 100 includes the upper wall surface body 101 constituting a part of the outer shape of the bracket 6, a first upper auxiliary wall 102 and a second upper auxiliary wall 103 formed to be inclined from the horizontal direction to the lower right so as to connect the upper wall surface body 101 and the right wall surface 200, and three auxiliary walls, that is, a third upper auxiliary wall 104, a fourth upper auxiliary wall 105, and a fifth upper auxiliary wall 106, which are formed to be inclined from the horizontal direction to the lower left so as to connect the upper wall surface body 101 and the right intermediate wall 600.

[0146] On the upper wall surface 100, a plurality of auxiliary walls 102, 103 are provided at different angles and intersect each other to be integrated, and the auxiliary walls are also configured as partition walls. By providing the plurality of auxiliary walls, at least a part of the upper wall surface 100 is configured as a double wall, and a part thereof is configured as a triple wall. As described above, the peripheral wall surface 10 may include a plurality of auxiliary walls, and at least a part of the auxiliary walls may be configured as a triple or multi-layered wall.

[0147] Inside the upper wall surface 100, an inter-wall space constituted by the upper wall surface body 101 and the upper auxiliary walls 102 to 106 is partitioned by the upper auxiliary walls 102 to 106, and the upper small spaces AR101 to AR108 are formed as eight small spaces.

[0148] Some of the eight upper small spaces AR101 to AR108 are formed with an internal wall that closes the front opening portion or the rear opening portion. In the present embodiment, as illustrated in FIGS. 12 to 15, the second upper internal wall 152 is formed to close the front opening portion of the central fourth upper small space AR104 defined by the first upper auxiliary wall 102, the second upper auxiliary wall 103, the third upper auxiliary wall 104, and the fourth upper auxiliary wall 105. In the first upper small space AR101 and the eighth upper small space AR108 formed adjacent to the upper and lower sides of the fourth upper small space AR104, the first upper internal wall 151 and the third upper internal wall 153 are formed so as to close the back opening portions.

[0149] The upper wall surface 100 is provided with the plurality of auxiliary walls intersecting each other, each of the auxiliary walls also functions as a partition wall, and at least a part of the upper wall surface 100 is configured as a double wall.

[0150] As illustrated in FIG. 20B, a cross-sectional shape of portions of the left inner wall surface 500 where the internal walls are provided is a continuous rectangular S-shape. As described above, the upper wall surface 100 configured as described above has the high load bearing performance in a plurality of directions and the high rigidity.

[0151] In the small spaces AR101 to AR108 formed in the double wall such as the upper wall surface 100, a portion where the internal wall is provided or a portion where the internal wall is not provided is not necessarily specified. In accordance with the required rigidity and weight reduction, the internal wall may be provided in any small space, or the internal wall may not be provided at all.

[0152] Which portion of the peripheral wall surface 10 of the bracket 6 is configured as a double wall is not particularly limited, but it is preferable to provided the double wall to reinforce a portion to which a load is particularly applied, such as the periphery of the aiming support portions 91 to 93, the boss forming portions 71 to 74, and the mounting members 81 to 84, because the rigidity of the bracket 6 is greatly improved.

[0153] Hereinafter, the aiming support portions 91 to 93 and the boss forming portions 71, 72, and 74, which are main features of the bracket 6 according to the present embodiment, will be described in detail.Aiming Support Portion

[0154] Here, a structure around the aiming support portions 91 to 93 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 12 to 15 and 21B. FIG. 21B is a cross-sectional view taken along a line F-F in FIG. 18, and mainly illustrates the boss forming portion 71 and the mounting member 82. As described above, the aiming support portions 91 to 93 are formed at three corner portions of the lower left corner portion, the lower right corner portion, and the upper right corner portion of the bracket 6. The aiming support portions 91 to 93 each have a rectangular flat plate shape, and through holes 91c to 93c having shapes substantially similar to the outer shapes of the aiming support portions 91 to 93 are respectively formed substantially at the centers thereof. In addition, the aiming support portions 91 to 93 include edge walls 91a, 91b, 92a, 92b, 93a, and 93b extending forward from a plane of the aiming support portion 91 in peripheral edge portions thereof.

[0155] Specifically, the aiming support portion 91 includes the upper edge wall 91a extending in the left-right direction and the right edge wall 91b extending in the upper-lower direction. The aiming support portion 92 includes the upper edge wall 92a extending in the left-right direction and the left edge wall 92b extending in the upper-lower direction. The aiming support portion 93 includes a lower edge wall 93a extending in the left-right direction and a left edge wall 93b extending in the upper-lower direction. As illustrated in FIG. 12 and the like, the aiming support portion 93 is provided in contact with a right end of the upper wall surface 100 and an upper end of the right wall surface 200. As described above, the right end of the upper wall surface 100 and the upper end of the right wall surface 200 are configured as a double wall. Therefore, the lower edge wall 93a, which is a peripheral edge portion of the aiming support portion 93 shares a wall surface with an upper end wall of the right wall surface 200, and the left edge wall 93b shares a wall surface with a right end wall of the upper wall surface 100. The upper end wall of the right wall surface 200 and the right end wall of the upper wall surface 100 are portions configured as a double wall. In this way, the left edge wall 93b is continuous with the right auxiliary wall 202 and the lower edge wall 93a is continuous with the fifth upper auxiliary wall 106, and the right auxiliary wall 202 and the fifth upper auxiliary wall 106 intersect at the lower left corner portion of the aiming support portion 93. As a result, for the aiming support portion 93, the aiming support portion 93 is supported by the four walls at the lower left corner portion thereof.

[0156] For example, in the bracket 6 according to the present embodiment, the right wall surface 200 and the lower wall surface 300 connecting the three aiming support portions 91 to 93 each are configured as a double wall. In addition, the double wall portion of the upper wall surface 100 is a small space extending toward the aiming support portion 93 on the upper right side, and the double wall portion from the left inner wall surface 500 toward the lower wall surface 300 is a small space extending toward the aiming support portion 91 on the lower left side. Since the bracket 6 is supported at three positions where the aiming support portions 91 to 93 are provided, the upper right, the lower right, and the lower left corner portions are particularly portions to which a load is applied, and portions connected thereto are mainly configured as double walls. By providing the double wall at the portion where the load is applied, the increase in mass due to the provision of the double wall can be prevented, and the rigidity of the bracket 6 can be appropriately improved.

[0157] FIG. 21A is a cross-sectional view taken along a line E-E in FIG. 18. Although FIG. 18 is a front view of only the bracket 6, FIG. 21A illustrates the two aiming support portions 92, 93 mainly formed at right upper and lower corner portions in a state in which the aiming screws E2, E3 are attached to the bracket 6. For the sake of convenience, the aiming support portion is cut along a plane passing through the center of the aiming screw from the line E-E in FIG. 18.

[0158] The aiming support portions 92, 93 will be mainly described with reference to FIG. 21A, but the same applies to the aiming support portion 91. The aiming support portions 91 to 93 are configured such that plate surfaces thereof are parallel to each other. As illustrated in FIG. 21A, in the aiming screw E3, a mount M10 is mounted on the corresponding aiming support portion 93, and the aiming screw E3 screwed into the mount M10 is inserted into the through hole 93c and locked. A reference numeral E12 denotes an actuator of the aiming screw. The same applies to the aiming support portion 92. The bracket 6 is supported on the back surface of the lamp body 2 such that the optical axes of the lamp units LU1 to LU3 are adjustable.

[0159] Meanwhile, for example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a bracket of the related art that extends as a surface in the left-right direction in a front view and includes an aiming support portion. The bracket disclosed in Patent Literature 1 has a flat plate basic configuration in a front view. Therefore, an aiming screw mounting portions are provided at three corner portions on the plane of the bracket. Although omitted in Patent Literature 1, in the bracket having such a shape, a standing wall surrounding a through hole serving as an aiming screw mounting hole and protruding rearward is provided on a back surface side of the through hole. Such a configuration is used to impart necessary rigidity to a periphery of the aiming screw mounting hole, but the additional standing wall increases the weight.

[0160] On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the aiming support portions 91 to 93 are provided so as to share the wall surfaces with a double wall which is a part of the peripheral wall surface 10. All of the shared walls (that is, the edge walls 91a, 91b, 92a, 92b, 93a, and 93b) constitute a part of the peripheral wall surface 10 constituting the outer shape of the bracket 6, and are not added. Therefore, according to the bracket 6 of the embodiment, it is not necessary to provide an additional standing wall in the aiming support portions 91 to 93, and the weight is not increased. Further, the outer shapes of the aiming support portions 91 to 93 are substantially similar to the through holes 91c to 93c which are the aiming screw mounting holes formed substantially at the centers. This is particularly preferable because it allows the aiming support portions 91 to 93 to be configured with the smallest size possible compared to cases where this is not the case. In addition, since the shape of the aiming support portion 91 is similar to the shape of the through hole 91c, a distance from a peripheral side surface of the through hole 91c to which the load is actually applied to the end surface is substantially the same, so that the load is substantially uniformly applied to the end surface of the aiming support portion 91 without deviation of moment. Therefore, a stress applied to a base end portion of the aiming support portion 91 is substantially uniformly dispersed, and breakage due to uneven distribution of the stress can be prevented.Boss Forming Portion

[0161] Next, the boss forming portions 71, 72, and 74, which are each a through hole forming portion, will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 to 16 and the like and FIG. 21B. As illustrated in FIGS. 12 to 16, the boss forming portions 71, 72, and 74 have a substantially circular flat plate shape, and has the through holes 71a, 72a, and 74a similar to the boss forming portions 71, 72, and 74 at the centers thereof. The boss forming portions 71, 72, and 74 are configured such that the walls constituting the double wall of the peripheral wall surface 10 or the intermediate wall extends in the front-rear direction along circular outer peripheral edge portions of the boss forming portions 71, 72, and 74 and share the wall surfaces.

[0162] The boss forming portion 71 is provided at a portion of the left inner wall surface 500 configured as a double wall including the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 so as to share the wall surface of the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 as a wall surface extending in the front-rear direction along the outer peripheral edge portion of the boss forming portion 71. In other words, in the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502, a position where the boss forming portion 71 is provided is curved in an arc shape along an outer peripheral edge of the boss forming portion 71.

[0163] As a result, the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 constituting the left inner wall surface 500 illustrated in FIG. 21B functions as the boss forming portion 71, that is, a part of the boss. A general boss is formed in a flat plate-shaped member and has a circular through hole for inserting a fixing member such as a bolt and a cylindrical standing wall surrounding the through hole and protruding from the flat plate-shaped member. Such a standing wall increases strength and rigidity in a vicinity of the boss, but the weight also increases accordingly. However, according to the above configuration, the wall surface of the left inner wall surface 500 for defining the accommodation space SP2 of the lamp unit extends along the outer peripheral edge of the boss forming portion 72, and this wall surface functions like the standing wall of the boss. Therefore, it is not necessary to additionally provide the standing wall, and it is possible to increase the strength and rigidity without increasing the weight.

[0164] According to the above configuration, the boss forming portions 71, 72, and 74 do not protrude from the wall which is a plane, but the boss can be provided on the wall surface extending in the same direction as the mounting direction of the boss (the extending direction of the through hole, the front-rear direction in the present embodiment). In general, since the boss has a cylindrical shape, the plane extending in the same direction as the extending direction of the boss hole (through hole) can be in contact with only one point, and it is necessary to provide an enlarged portion so as to fill a gap between the horizontal surface and the boss. As described above, the base end portion of the mounting portion that is not similar in the shape to the through hole has a large moment and is easily broken. By providing the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502 integrated with the boss forming portion 71 so as to surround the outer peripheral edge of the boss forming portion 71, the distance between the through hole 71a and the wall surface is substantially the same distance, the moment applied to the boss forming portion 71 is substantially uniform, and in addition, the wall surface is curved so as to match the peripheral wall surface, so that a contact area between the wall surface and the boss forming portion 71 can be increased and a load on the end surface can be further dispersed.

[0165] The boss forming portion 71 is in contact with the three left inner small spaces AR501 to AR503 in the left inner wall surface 500. That is, the boss forming portion 71 is disposed on the left inner wall surface 500 at a position where the left intermediate auxiliary wall 502, the first left inner partition wall 541, and the second left inner partition wall 542 are connected. As a result, the boss forming portion 71 is supported by the four walls, and the sufficient load resistance is ensured.

[0166] The boss forming portion 72 is provided at a portion of the lower wall surface 300 configured as a double wall including the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall 302, and a portion of the right intermediate wall 600 configured as a double wall including the right intermediate wall body 601 and the right intermediate auxiliary wall 602 so as to share the wall surfaces of the lower auxiliary wall 302 and the right intermediate wall body 601 as a wall surface along an outer peripheral edge portion of the boss forming portion 72. Positions of the right intermediate wall 600 and the lower auxiliary wall 302 where the boss forming portion 72 is provided are curved in an arc shape along the outer peripheral edge of the boss forming portion 72, and as a result, arc-shaped portions of the lower auxiliary wall 302 and the right intermediate wall body 601 perform the same function as the standing wall of the boss. Therefore, a structure in a vicinity of the boss forming portion 72 can achieve the same effect as the structure in a vicinity of the boss forming portion 71, which enables enhancing the strength and the rigidity without increasing the weight.

[0167] Similarly to the boss forming portion 71, the boss forming portion 72 is integrated with the outer peripheral edge portion of the boss forming portion 72, and the right intermediate wall 61 and the lower auxiliary wall 302 are provided so as to surround the outer peripheral edge portion. The boss forming portion 72 is provided at an orthogonal portion of the right intermediate wall 600 and the lower wall surface 300, and is supported by both walls which are double walls, so that the rigidity is improved. Further, the lower internal wall 355 is provided substantially orthogonal to the lower auxiliary wall 302, and the rigidity of the lower auxiliary wall 302 and the rigidity of the boss forming portion 72 are improved.

[0168] Similarly, the boss forming portion 74 is provided such that the wall surface of the right auxiliary wall 202 surrounds the outer peripheral edge portion of the boss forming portion 72 as a wall surface along the outer peripheral edge portion of the boss forming portion 74, at a portion of the right wall surface 200 configured as a double wall including the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall 202. As a result, the arc-shaped portion of the right auxiliary wall 202 performs the same function as the standing wall of a so-called boss. The boss forming portion 74 is also in contact with the plurality of small spaces. As a result, the boss forming portion 74 can also achieve the same effect as the boss forming portions 71, 72.

[0169] It should be noted that the boss forming portion 73 does not have the features described for the boss forming portions 71, 72, and 74. That is, the boss forming portion 73 is provided so as to protrude from the upper auxiliary wall 102 toward the accommodation space SP3, but the outer shape thereof is not substantially similar to the shape of the through hole, but include an enlarged portion 73b that extends from a shape substantially similar to the shape of the through hole along the curved surface of the wall surface of the upper auxiliary wall 102. As described above, in the bracket 6, all the boss forming portions do not need to have the above-described advantageous features, and the above-described features may be adopted only for necessary portions.Simulation

[0170] In order to confirm the effect of the bracket 6 configured as described above, the mass and the maximum displacement were simulated using the bracket 6 and a bracket of the related art having a flat plate-shaped back wall in a front view and not having a portion configured as a double wall. As a result, the mass of the bracket 6 was smaller than that of the bracket of the related art by 24%, and the maximum displacement amount when stress was applied was lower by 60%. By applying the above configuration, the bracket 6 according to the present embodiment is lighter than the bracket of the related art, and has significantly improved rigidity.Molding Method

[0171] Next, a molding process and a molding mold of the bracket 6 configured as described above will be described. FIGS. 22A to 22C are schematic configuration diagrams of the molding mold for the bracket 6, and are diagrams illustrating the molding process. Cross-sectional lines of the cross-sectional views of the mold illustrated in FIGS. 22A to 22C correspond to the line A-A in FIG. 18.

[0172] As illustrated in FIG. 22A, first, the fixed mold 30 and the movable mold 40 are arranged facing each other and clamped. The direction in which the mold is clamped / opened is defined as the direction DR. In the clamped state, the molding space (cavity) CAV corresponding to the shape of the bracket 6 is defined inside the mold. The molding space CAV is provided so that an extending direction (front-rear direction) of the peripheral wall surface 10 of the bracket 6 corresponding thereto coincides with the direction DR in which the mold is clamped.

[0173] Next, as illustrated in FIG. 22B, a resin material heated to a predetermined melting temperature is injected into the molding space CAV and filled in the molding space CAV. The resin material filled in the molding space CAV is cooled and solidified to mold the bracket 6.

[0174] Next, as illustrated in FIG. 22C, the mold is opened, the movable mold 40 is separated in the direction of the direction DR, and the bracket 6 in a state of being attached to the fixed mold 30 is pushed out and removed by a pushing pin (not illustrated).

[0175] Since the bracket 6 is configured to extend along the direction DR in which the mold is opened, the movable mold 40 can be separated along the direction DR without any problem. The bracket 6 is also extruded from the fixed mold 30 along the direction DR and removed without any problem.

[0176] The bracket 6 is configured in a shape extending in the front-rear direction, the extending direction of the bracket 6 can be aligned with the direction DR in which the mold is opened, and the bracket 6 can be molded by injection molding using the mold.

[0177] As described above, although the bracket 6 has a complicated shape, the productivity is high because the bracket 6 can be mass-produced by injection molding using a mold.Third Embodiment

[0178] Hereinafter, a third embodiment according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment is exemplary only without limiting the invention, and all or combinations of the features described in the embodiment are not necessarily essential to the invention.Vehicle Lamp

[0179] FIG. 23 is a schematic front view of a vehicle lamp 2001 including the bracket 6, and the vehicle lamp 2001 is a headlamp and is mounted on each of both left and right sides of the front portion of the vehicle. The vehicle lamp 2001 includes the lamp body 2 and the front cover 4 as the lamp housing. The lamp body 2 is a housing with an opening at the front side, and the front cover 4 is attached to an opening portion to form the lamp chamber S inside. The front cover 4 is a so-called outer cover, and is a substantially transparent lens formed of a translucent resin such as polycarbonate. The front cover 4 is not limited to this, and an optical step for diverging and diffusing light emitted from the light source when each lamp is turned on may be formed.

[0180] In the defined lamp chamber S, the lamp units LU1 to LU3, which are three bracket fixing objects fixed and supported by the bracket 6, are accommodated side by side in the vehicle width direction (left-right direction). The lamp units LU1 to LU3 are a single lamp unit or a plurality of lamp units configured to emit light forward, and are optical units configured to form a predetermined light distribution such as a high beam light distribution or a low beam light distribution. The light emitted from the lamp units LU1 to LU3 is irradiated toward the front cover 4 disposed in front, passes through the front cover 4, and forms a predetermined light distribution in front of the vehicle. The lamp units LU1 to LU3 have a known configuration in the related art, such as a reflector type or a projector type lamp unit, and the type thereof does not matter.

[0181] For example, as illustrated in FIG. 28, the lamp units LU1 to LU3 include the support frames LU12, LU22, and LU32 on the front cover 4 side, and the support frames LU12, LU22, and LU32 support the projection lenses LU11, LU21, and LU31, respectively. As illustrated in FIG. 29, the lamp units LU1 to LU3 (only the lamp unit LU1 is illustrated) include a reflector LU13 that covers a light source (not illustrated) in a semi-dome shape and a metal heat sink LU14, and are fixed to the bosses 71 to 74 and the mounting members 81 to 84, which are fixing portions of the bracket 6 to be described later, by the heat sink LU14. Since the heat sink LU14 is made of metal, the rigidity thereof is high, and thus the rigidity of the lamp units LU1 to LU3 is also high.

[0182] The bracket 6 is attached to the back surface of the lamp body 2 by the three aiming screws E. The optical axes of the lamp units LU1 to LU3 are adjusted in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction by rotating the aiming screws E.

[0183] The bracket 6 according to the present embodiment is not limited to a headlamp, and can also be used for a vehicle lamp such as a rear combination lamp or a marker lamp. In the vehicle lamp 2001, a direction in which the light of the lamp units LU1 to LU3 on which the front cover 4 is disposed is emitted is defined as the front direction, and the rear direction, the left-right direction, and the upper-lower direction are determined based on the front direction. When the vehicle lamp 2001 is, for example, a rear lamp and is disposed on a rear surface of the vehicle, it is needless to say that the vehicle lamp 2001 is mounted on the vehicle while being rotated by 180 degrees, and the front of the vehicle lamp 2001 is the rear of the vehicle. In addition, in the bracket 6, the extending direction of the bracket 6 to be described later is the front-rear direction, and is described as coinciding with the front-rear direction of the vehicle lamp 2001.Bracket

[0184] Here, the configuration of the bracket 6 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 24 to 27. FIG. 24 is a front view of the bracket 6. FIG. 25 is a back view of the bracket 6. FIG. 26 is a front perspective view of the bracket 6. FIG. 27 is a back perspective view of the bracket 6. In FIGS. 24 to 27, the bracket 6 is colored in light black.

[0185] The bracket 6 is molded by injection molding using a hard synthetic resin material. The bracket 6 has a frame body shape having a space penetrating from a front surface side to a rear surface side, and mainly includes the upper wall surface 100, the right wall surface 200, the lower wall surface 300, and the left wall surface 400, and does not have the back wall and the front wall. Hereinafter, the upper wall surface 100, the right wall surface 200, the lower wall surface 300, and the left wall surface 400 forming the outer shape of the bracket 6 are collectively referred to as the peripheral wall surface 10.

[0186] As illustrated in FIGS. 24 and 25, the peripheral wall surface 10 of the bracket 6 is mainly constituted by a wall surface having a substantially constant plate thickness and extending in one direction (front-rear direction). The peripheral wall surface 10 is mostly a curved surface or a free-form surface whose radius of curvature is not constant. Since the bracket 6 has a frame body shape without the front wall and the back wall, the bracket 6 is lighter than a housing having the front wall and the back wall. In addition, the bracket 6 has higher rigidity than a flat plate-shaped or arch-shaped bracket. In addition, since the bracket 6 does not have the front wall and the back wall and is mainly constituted by the peripheral wall surface 10 extending in the front-rear direction, the bracket 6 has a configuration suitable for injection molding in which a mold removal direction is in the extending direction (front-rear direction) of the peripheral wall surface 10 of the bracket 6 using a mold. Details of the molding process will be described later.

[0187] The extending direction of the peripheral wall surface 10 of the bracket 6 is the front-rear direction and is the same direction, but each of the wall surfaces 100, 200, 300, and 400 is not an extruded shape obtained by extruding a predetermined cross-sectional shape by a predetermined length, the depth length (length in the front-rear direction) is different in each wall surface, and the cross-sectional shape orthogonal to the depth direction is not the same shape at any position. In addition, each of the wall surfaces 100, 200, 300, and 400 does not extend with a uniform length. For example, as can be understood from FIG. 26, the left wall surface 400 is shorter in depth length than the right wall surface 200. Further, in the left wall surface 400, the depth length (length in the front-rear direction) is very short in the upper area, and the depth length is longer in the lower area than in the depth length in the upper area.

[0188] The accommodation space SP in which at least a part of the lamp units LU1 to LU3 is accommodated is formed on the inner side defined by the peripheral wall surface 10 formed in the frame body shape. In the present embodiment, since the bracket 6 is relatively short in the depth direction (front-rear direction) and long in the width direction (left-right direction) compared to the height direction (upper-lower direction), the accommodation space SP inside the peripheral wall surface 10 has a shape long in the width direction. Therefore, the lamp units LU1 to LU3 are accommodated in a state of protruding from the accommodation space SP to the outside particularly on the upper surface side of the storage space SP.

[0189] As illustrated in FIGS. 24 to 27, the accommodation space SP is divided into three spaces in the left-right direction by the right inner wall surface 600 and the left inner wall surface 500 provided in the accommodation space SP and extending in the upper-lower direction. Similarly to the peripheral wall surface 10, the right inner wall surface 600 and the left inner wall surface 500 extend in the same direction (front-rear direction) as the peripheral wall surface 10. In the three accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3 defined by the peripheral wall surface 10, the right inner wall surface 600, and the left inner wall surface 500 and arranged side by side in the left-right direction, the lamp units LU1 to LU3 are respectively disposed (see FIG. 28). That is, the peripheral wall surface 10, the right inner wall surface 600, and the left inner wall surface 500 constitute a partition peripheral wall.

[0190] The left wall surface 400, the right wall surface 200, the right inner wall surface 600, and the left inner wall surface 500, that is, a standing wall surface constituting the bracket 6, are provided with the bosses 71 to 74 and the plate-shaped mounting members 81 to 84 protruding toward the three accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3. The bosses 71 to 74 and the mounting members 81 to 84 constitute a fixing portion, and the mounting holes of the bosses 71 to 74 and the mounting members 81 to 84 are provided to penetrate in the front-rear direction which is the extending direction of the bracket 6. As illustrated in FIGS. 28 and 29, the lamp units LU1 to LU3 are accommodated in predetermined accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3, respectively, and are fixed to the corresponding bosses 71 to 74 or mounting members 81 to 84 by fixing members 91 to 96 such as screws or bolts (only LU1 is illustrated in FIG. 29), thereby being attached, fixed and supported by the bracket 6.

[0191] In the present embodiment, the accommodation space SP is divided into three spaces in order to support the three lamp units LU1 to LU3, but the number and arrangement of the supported lamp units LUs are not limited, and a configuration in which the partition peripheral wall is formed only by the peripheral wall surface 10 without providing an inner wall surface to support one lamp unit LU, a configuration in which four lamp units LUs are fixed using a cross-shaped inner wall surface having vertical surfaces substantially orthogonal to each other, or the like may be adopted. In this case, the cross-shaped inner wall surface and the peripheral wall surface 10 constitute the partition peripheral wall. The bosses 71 to 74 and the mounting members 81 to 84 may be provided on the upper wall surface 100 or the lower wall surface 300 constituting a part of the partition peripheral wall.

[0192] As illustrated in FIGS. 24 to 27, the aiming support portions 9 are formed at three corner portions of the upper left corner portion, the upper right corner portion, and the lower right corner portion of the bracket 6. The aiming support portions 9 are each formed in a flat plate shape, and are provided such that plate surfaces thereof are parallel to each other. The mount (not illustrated) is mounted in the rectangular through hole 9c provided inside the aiming support portion 9, and the bracket 6 is supported on the back surface of the lamp body 2 by the aiming screw E screwed into the mount such that the optical axes of the lamp units LU1 to LU3 are adjustable.

[0193] The aiming support portion 9 has the rectangular flat plate shape. The aiming support portion 9 is provided at the corner portion of the bracket 6, the corner portions of the upper wall surface 100, the right wall surface 200, the lower wall surface 300, and the left wall surface 400 are formed in a recessed shape so as to avoid the aiming support portion 9, and the aiming support portion 9 is provided on the outer surface portion of the corner portion recess of the peripheral wall surface 10.

[0194] The frame body-shaped bracket 6 is formed such that the corner portions of the peripheral wall surface 10 are each recessed in a rectangular shape, and the horizontal surfaces 9a and the vertical surfaces 9b are formed at the respective corner portions. The rectangular aiming support portion 9 is formed such that the horizontal side and the vertical side of the rectangular outer shape are integrated with the horizontal surface 9a and the vertical surface 9b of the recess provided at the corner portion. Therefore, the aiming support portion 9 functions as a rib that supports the horizontal surface 9a and the vertical surface 9b of the recess provided at the corner portion.Double Wall: Right Wall Surface

[0195] In the bracket 6, the upper wall surface 100, the right wall surface 200, the lower wall surface 300, and the left wall surface 400, that is, the peripheral wall surface 10, and at least a part of the right inner wall surface 600 and the left inner wall surface 500 constituting the partition peripheral wall together with the peripheral wall surface 10 are formed in a double wall shape. The light black portion illustrated in FIG. 30 is a main double wall portion.

[0196] Here, the structure of the double wall on the right wall surface 200 (an AA portion in FIG. 30) will be described.

[0197] As illustrated in FIG. 24, the right wall surface 200 constitutes the right side surface of the bracket 6, and is provided to extend in a substantially vertical direction from the aiming support portion 9 provided at the upper right corner portion to the aiming support portion 9 provided at the lower right corner portion.

[0198] The right wall surface 200 is configured as a double wall as a whole, and includes the right wall surface body 201 which is an outer wall surface forming the outer shape of the bracket 6, and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 disposed on the inner side (left side) thereof. The right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 are arranged side by side in the left-right direction, are both surfaces curved in the opposite directions and extending in the upper-lower direction, have substantially the same and uniform plate thickness, and extend in the front-rear direction. Therefore, in a front view, only end surfaces of the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 are visible. The right wall surface 200 of the bracket 6 is configured as a double wall by the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202.

[0199] The right auxiliary wall surface 202 extends downward from the lower end portion of the vertical surface 9b at the upper right corner portion so as to extend from the vertical surface 9b and is connected to the lower wall surface 300. In other words, the vertical surface 9b at the upper right corner portion constitutes a part of the right auxiliary wall surface 202.

[0200] Both the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 are surfaces extending in the upper-lower direction of free-form surfaces extending in the same direction (front-rear direction) with the both wall surfaces, and are provided side by side in the left-right direction, but the right wall surface body 201 has a center curved leftward, and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 has a center curved slightly rightward. Therefore, the right wall surface 200 has the constricted shape at the center, and the distance between the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 is shortest at a central portion and slightly longer at the upper and lower portions than at the central portion.

[0201] The right partition walls 241 to 243, which are three partition walls that are substantially horizontal surfaces, are provided between the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 so as to partition the space sandwiched between both wall surfaces in the upper-lower direction.

[0202] Similarly to the other wall surfaces, the right partition walls 241 to 243 are free-form surfaces having a constant plate thickness and extend in the same direction (front-rear direction). Therefore, in a front view, only front end surfaces of the right partition walls 241 to 243 are visible.

[0203] As illustrated in FIGS. 24 and 25, the right small spaces AR201 to AR204 are formed as four small spaces arranged side by side in the upper-lower direction inside the right wall surface 200, which are defined by the three right partition walls 241 to 243. The four small spaces defined by the substantially horizontal surface and the surfaces extending in the upper-lower direction are spaces that open in the front-rear direction and extend in the front-rear direction (see FIG. 32A).

[0204] The load bearing performance of the right wall surface 200 in a plurality of directions is improved by providing the substantially horizontal right partition walls 241 to 243, which further finely divide the space and are substantially orthogonal to the double wall, inside the double wall formed of the surfaces extending in the upper-lower direction (a space sandwiched between the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202). Since the right wall surface 200 has the wall surface having the above configuration, the deformation amount of the right wall surface 200 with respect to the load can be reduced, and the rigidity of the bracket 6 having no front wall and back wall is improved.

[0205] In the present embodiment, the right internal walls 251 to 254 are further provided in the right small spaces AR201 to AR204 extending in the front-rear direction so as to divide the right small spaces AR201 to AR204 into front and rear spaces. In the right small spaces AR201 to AR204 arranged side by side in the upper-lower direction, the right internal walls 251 to 254 of the adjacent small spaces are shifted in the front-rear direction so as to alternate in the front-rear direction. Specifically, the right internal walls 251 to 254 are provided to close either the front opening portions or the rear opening portions of the right small spaces AR201 to AR204, and the right internal walls 251 to 254 are formed to close either opening portions of the front opening portions or rear opening portions of the small spaces in different directions between adjacent small spaces (see FIG. 32A).

[0206] Specifically, among the four right small spaces AR201 to AR204 arranged side by side in the upper-lower direction, the first right internal wall 251 and the third right internal wall 253 are formed in the first right small space AR201, which is the first from the top, and the third right small space AR203, which is the third from the top, so as to close the rear opening portions, respectively. The second right internal wall 252 and the fourth right internal wall 254 are formed in the second right small space AR202, which is the second from the top, and the fourth right small space AR204, which is the fourth from the top, so as to close the front opening portions, respectively.

[0207] The operation and effect of the double wall of the bracket 6 configured as described above will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 31 is a front view of the bracket 6 and illustrates lines of cross-sectional views of FIGS. 32A, 32B, 33A, and 33B. In FIG. 31, the bracket 6 is colored in light black. FIGS. 32A, 32B, 33A, and 33B are the cross-sectional views of the bracket 6. FIG. 32A is a cross-sectional view taken along a line A-A in FIG. 31. FIG. 32A mainly illustrates the double wall portion (an AA portion in FIG. 30) of the right wall surface 200. FIG. 32B is a cross-sectional view taken along a line B-B in FIG. 31. FIG. 32B mainly illustrates the double wall portion (a BB portion in FIG. 30) of the lower wall surface 300. FIG. 33A is a cross-sectional view taken along a line C-C in FIG. 31. FIG. 33A mainly illustrates the double wall portion (a CC portion in FIG. 30) of the left inner wall surface 500. FIG. 33B is a cross-sectional view taken along a line D-D in FIG. 31. FIG. 33B mainly illustrates the double wall portion (a DD portion in FIG. 30) of the upper wall surface 100.

[0208] As illustrated in FIG. 32A, the right internal walls 251 to 254 are formed to alternately close the opening portions of the four right small spaces AR201 to AR204 defined by the right partition walls 241 to 243. Therefore, the cross-sectional shape of the right wall surface 200 is configured such that the right internal walls 251 to 254, which are surfaces extending in the upper-lower direction, are connected to the front end surfaces or the rear end surfaces of the wall surfaces in the order of the horizontal surface 9a, the right partition walls 241 to 243, and the lower wall surface 300, which are substantially horizontal surfaces, from the top, and are formed in a zigzag shape so as to be continuous in a square S-shape. In other words, the cross-sectional shape of the right wall surface 200 is a shape in which the right internal walls 251 to 254 are continuously bent so as to sequentially protrude in opposite directions.

[0209] In addition, since both left and right end surfaces of the right partition walls 241 to 243 and the right internal walls 251 to 254 are all connected to and integrated with the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202, the right wall surface 200 has a very strong shape.

[0210] As described above, the right wall surface 200 includes the right wall surface body 201 and the right auxiliary wall surface 202 constituting the double wall having surfaces extending in the upper-lower direction, the substantially horizontal right partition walls 241 to 243 substantially orthogonal to the double wall, and the right internal walls 251 to 254 disposed substantially orthogonal to both the double wall and the right partition walls 241 to 243. Since the right wall surface 200 is formed by connecting and integrating surfaces extending in three substantially orthogonal directions to each other, the strain resistance performance and the load bearing performance in a plurality of directions are high. The improvement in the load bearing performance of the right wall surface 200 also improves the rigidity of the bracket 6.Double Wall: Lower Wall Surface

[0211] Next, the double wall portion (the BB portion in FIG. 30) of the lower wall surface 300 will be described in detail. As illustrated in FIG. 24, the lower wall surface 300 includes the substantially horizontal lower wall surface body 301, which is the outer wall surface forming the outer shape of the bracket 6, and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302 that is disposed inside (above) the lower wall surface body 301 and has a substantially horizontal central portion in the left-right direction.

[0212] The lower auxiliary wall surface 302 is bent toward the lower wall surface body 301 at the right end portion and connected to the lower wall surface body 301, and not the entire area of the lower wall surface 300 but only a partial area thereof is configured as a double wall. The lower wall surface 300 is a double wall surface substantially from the accommodation space SP1 to the accommodation space SP2.

[0213] The lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302 extend in the front-rear direction. Therefore, in a front view, only the front end surfaces of the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302 are visible.

[0214] The space inside the double wall of the lower wall surface 300, that is, a space sandwiched between the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302 has a flat shape elongated in the left-right direction, and the lower partition walls 341 to 343 are provided to partition the space elongated in the left-right direction in the left-right direction. The lower partition walls 341 to 343 are connected to the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302 between the substantially horizontal lower wall surface body 301 and lower auxiliary wall surface 302, which are juxtaposed in the upper-lower direction to constitute the double wall surface, and extend in the upper-lower direction.

[0215] In the present embodiment, the lower partition walls 341 to 343 are provided to be inclined from the vertical direction, and are provided such that end portions of adjacent partition walls are in contact with each other. That is, among the three lower partition walls 341 to 343 arranged in order from the left, the first lower partition wall 341, which is disposed furthest to the left, is inclined rightward from the vertical direction. The upper end portion of the second lower partition wall 342 is connected to the upper end portion of the first lower partition wall 341 and is provided to be inclined leftward from the vertical direction. The lower end portion of the third lower partition wall 343 is connected to the lower end portion of the second lower partition wall 342 and is provided to be inclined rightward from the vertical direction. Since the three lower partition walls 341 to 343 are alternately and obliquely arranged, the end surfaces are formed in an N shape in a front view. That is, the three lower partition walls 341 to 343 are arranged in a truss shape.

[0216] As described above, the partition walls do not need to be substantially orthogonal to the double wall surfaces or disposed substantially parallel to each other, and only need to be connected to both constituent surfaces of the double wall surfaces between the double wall surfaces. It is preferable to arrange the three lower partition walls 341 to 343 in a truss shape because the load bearing performance is improved.

[0217] As illustrated in FIG. 24, the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302 are substantially horizontal surfaces, but are not completely horizontal surfaces, and are bent at portions connected to the respective partition walls as bent portions and are free-form surfaces constituted by a plurality of slightly curved surfaces. All the lower partition walls 341 to 343 and the lower wall surface 300 have substantially the same plate thickness and are provided to extend along the front-rear direction.

[0218] As will be described in detail later, at least a part of the left inner wall surface 500 is also formed in a double wall shape. That is, as illustrated in FIGS. 24 and 25, the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502, which are surfaces extending in the upper-lower direction and constituting the left inner wall surface 500 as a double wall, are substantially orthogonal to the lower auxiliary wall surface 302, further extend to the inside of the double wall of the lower wall surface 300, and are connected to the lower wall surface body 301. Therefore, the lower end portion of the left inner wall surface 500, specifically, portions of the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 inside the double wall of the lower wall surface 300 is also configured as a part of the partition wall of the lower wall surface 300.

[0219] In this way, there is a case where two double walls intersect with each other and one auxiliary wall surface constitutes a part of the other partition wall or a peripheral wall surface, or conversely, one partition wall constitutes a part of the other auxiliary wall surface. The double walls have higher rigidity than the single wall, and the double walls intersect each other and are integrally configured to reinforce each other, thereby further increasing the rigidity of the bracket 6.

[0220] As illustrated in FIGS. 24 and 25, in the internal space of the double wall surface of the lower wall surface 300, the lower small spaces AR301 to AR305, which are five small spaces defined by the lower partition walls 341 to 343 and the left inner wall surface 500 extending to the inside of the lower wall surface 300 and arranged side by side in the left-right direction, are formed. Similarly to the right wall surface 200, the lower small spaces AR301 to AR305 inside the lower wall surface 300 are provided with the lower internal walls 351 to 355 that alternately close opening portions in the front-rear direction.

[0221] Specifically, among the five lower small spaces AR301 to AR305 arranged side by side in the left-right direction, the first lower internal wall 351, the third lower internal wall 353, and the fifth lower internal wall 355 are formed in the first lower small space AR301, which is the first from the left, the third lower small space AR303, which is the third from the left, and the fifth lower small space AR305, which is the fifth from the left, so as to close the rear opening portions, respectively. The second lower internal wall 352 and the fourth lower internal wall 354 are formed in the second lower small space AR302, which is the second from the left, and the fourth lower small space AR304, which is the fourth from the left, so as to close the front opening portions, respectively.

[0222] As illustrated in FIG. 32B, the lower wall surface 300 is configured such that the left wall surface 400, the lower partition walls 341, 342, and 343, and the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 of the left inner wall surface 500, which are connected in the upper-lower direction, in order from the left, are continuously connected at their end portions by the lower internal walls 351, 352, 353, 354, and 355, which are connected in the left-right direction, and a cross-sectional shape of the lower wall surface 300 has a zigzag shape in which a square S-shape is continuous. In other words, the cross-sectional shape of the lower wall surface 300 is a shape in which the lower internal walls 351 to 355 are continuously bent so as to sequentially protrude in opposite directions.

[0223] Since all the upper and lower end surfaces of the lower partition walls 341 to 343 and the lower internal walls 351 to 355 are connected to and integrated with the lower wall surface body 301 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302, the lower wall surface 300 has a very strong structure. Accordingly, the load bearing performance of the lower wall surface 300 is improved, and the rigidity of the bracket 6 is also improved.

[0224] As described above, the partition wall may be provided so as to extend in the same extending direction (front-rear direction) as the double wall and partition the space inside the double wall, both end surfaces thereof may be connected to both constituent surfaces of the double wall, may not be substantially orthogonal to the double wall, and may not be provided in parallel to each other, and the form, number, and shape thereof are not limited. If the internal wall is also provided in the small space and both end surfaces thereof are connected to the partition wall forming the small space, it is not necessary to completely close the small space. Similarly to the other wall surfaces, the internal wall may be a curved surface, a bent surface, or a free-form surface.Double Wall: Left Inner Wall Surface

[0225] Next, the left inner wall surface 500 (the CC portion in FIG. 30) will be described in detail. Similarly to the right wall surface 200, the left inner wall surface 500 is also configured as a double wall. As illustrated in FIGS. 24 and 25, the left inner wall surface 500 has the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 arranged side by side in the left-right direction on a surface extending in the upper-lower direction, and is configured as a double wall by the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502.

[0226] An inner side of the double wall of the left inner wall surface 500, that is, the space sandwiched between the left inner wall surface body 501 and the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 is a flat shape elongated in the upper-lower direction, and the left inner partition walls 541, 542 are provided to partition the space elongated in the upper-lower direction in the upper-lower direction. As illustrated in FIG. 33A, the left inner small spaces AR501, AR502, and AR503 are defined by the left inner partition walls 541, 542 and formed side by side in the upper-lower direction as three small spaces inside the double wall.

[0227] Among the three left inner small spaces AR501 to AR503 arranged side by side in the upper-lower direction, the first left inner small space AR501 arranged above is not provided with the inner wall surface. The second left inner small space AR502 disposed at a center is provided with the first left inner internal wall 551 that closes the front opening portion. The third left inner small space AR503 disposed below is formed with the second left inner internal wall 552 that closes the rear opening portion.

[0228] The left inner wall surface body 501, the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502, and the left inner partition walls 541, 542 are provided to extend in the front-rear direction, and only front end surfaces of the wall surfaces can be seen in a front view. The front end surface has a uniform plate thickness, but has a free shape such as a curved shape or a bent shape at a plurality of positions.

[0229] For example, the upper side of the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 is considerably inclined rightward and connected to the upper wall surface 100. Therefore, the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 works like a rib of the left inner wall surface body 501 and the upper wall surface 100 in cooperation with the left inner partition wall 541. Further, since the boss 71 is disposed in the left inner wall surface 500 in such a way that it protrudes inwards, the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 at the position where the boss 71 is provided is curved in an arc shape in accordance with the outer periphery of the boss 71 and is integrated with the boss 71. The second left inner partition wall 542 is formed so as to connect the curved portion of the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 and the lower auxiliary wall surface 302.

[0230] As illustrated in FIG. 33A, the vertical cross-sectional shape of the left inner wall surface 500 is a form in which the boss 71 is inserted and integrated, but is basically a shape in which a square S-shape is continuous. In other words, the cross-sectional shape of the left inner wall surface 500 is a shape in which the first left inner internal wall 551 and the second left inner internal wall 552 are bent so as to sequentially protrude in opposite directions. As described above, the left inner wall surface 500 having such a configuration has high load bearing performance in a plurality of directions and high rigidity.

[0231] As illustrated in the left inner wall surface 500, it is not necessary to provide an inner wall surface in all of the small spaces formed inside the double wall surface. As illustrated in FIG. 33A, the boss 71 or a through hole may be provided on the wall surface.

[0232] In the present embodiment, the lower portion of the left inner wall surface 500 is integrated with the lower wall surface 300. Further, since an upper portion of the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 is provided to be inclined, the left inner auxiliary wall surface 502 also acts as a double wall surface of the upper wall surface 100. In this way, by forming the wall surface as a free-form surface, it is also possible to form a wall surface that plays two or more roles.Double Wall: Upper Wall Surface

[0233] Next, the shape of the right area of the upper wall surface 100, specifically, the shape of the upper wall surface 100 of the accommodation space SP3 formed on the right side will be described.

[0234] As illustrated in FIGS. 24 and 25, the upper wall surface 100 has a very complicated configuration, and includes the upper wall surface body 101 constituting a part of the outer shape of the bracket member 6, the first upper auxiliary wall surface 102 and the second upper auxiliary wall surface 103, which are inclined from the horizontal direction to the lower right so as to connect the upper wall surface body 101 and the right wall surface 200, the third upper auxiliary wall surface 104 and the fourth upper auxiliary wall surface 105, which are inclined from the horizontal direction to the lower left so as to connect the upper wall surface body 101 and the right inner wall surface 600, and the fifth upper auxiliary wall surface 106 connecting the first upper auxiliary wall surface 102 and the second upper auxiliary wall surface 103.

[0235] In the upper wall surface 100, the plurality of auxiliary wall surfaces are provided at different angles and intersect each other to be integrated, and the auxiliary wall surfaces are also configured as partition walls. By providing the plurality of auxiliary wall surfaces, at least a part of the upper wall surface 100 is configured as a double wall, and a part thereof is configured as a triple wall. As described above, the peripheral wall surface 10 may be provided with a plurality of auxiliary wall surfaces, and at least a part thereof may be configured as not only a double wall but also a triple wall or a quadruple wall.

[0236] Inside the upper wall surface 100, upper small spaces AR101 to AR108 are formed as eight small spaces defined by the upper auxiliary wall surfaces 102 to 106.

[0237] Some of the eight upper small spaces AR101 to AR108 are formed with an internal wall that closes the front opening portion or the rear opening portion. In the present embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 33B, FIG. 24, and FIG. 25, the second upper internal wall 152 is formed to close the front opening portion of the central fourth upper small space AR104 defined by the first upper auxiliary wall surface 102, the second upper auxiliary wall surface 103, the third upper auxiliary wall surface 104, and the fourth upper auxiliary wall surface 105. In the first upper small space AR101 and the eighth upper small space AR108 formed adjacent to the upper and lower sides of the fourth upper small space AR104 in the oblique direction, the first upper internal wall 151 and the third upper internal wall 153 are formed so as to close the back opening portions.

[0238] The upper wall surface 100 is provided with a plurality of auxiliary wall surfaces intersecting each other, each of the auxiliary wall surfaces also functions as a partition wall, and at least a part of the upper wall surface 100 is configured as a double wall.

[0239] As illustrated in FIG. 33B, the cross-sectional shape of portions of the upper wall surface 100 where the internal walls are provided is a continuous rectangular S-shape. In other words, the cross-sectional shape of the portions of the upper wall surface 100 where the internal walls are provided is a shape in which the first upper internal wall 151, the second upper internal wall 152, and the third upper internal wall 153 are bent so as to sequentially protrude in opposite directions. As described above, the upper wall surface 100 configured as described above has the high load bearing performance in a plurality of directions and the high rigidity.

[0240] In the small space formed in the double wall like the upper wall surface 100, a portion where the internal wall is provided or not provided is not particularly specified, and the internal wall may be provided in any small space, or the internal wall may not be provided at all.

[0241] Which portion of the peripheral wall surface 10 of the bracket 6 is configured as a double wall is not specified, but it is preferable to provided the double wall to reinforce a portion to which a load is applied such as a support portion because the rigidity of the bracket 6 is greatly improved.

[0242] For example, in the bracket 6 according to the present embodiment, the right wall surface 200 and the lower wall surface 300 connecting the three aiming support portions 9 are configured as double walls. In addition, a double wall portion of the upper wall surface 100, particularly a portion extending toward the right inner wall surface 600, extends from the upper right aiming support portion 9 toward the lower left aiming support portion 9, and has the plurality of small spaces AR101, AR104, and AR108. Since the bracket 6 is supported at three positions where the aiming support portions 9 are provided, the upper right, lower right, and lower left corner portions are particularly portions to which a load is applied, and portions connected thereto are mainly configured as double walls. By providing the double wall at the portion to which the load is applied, it is possible to prevent an increase in mass due to the double wall structure as a whole, reduce the weight of the bracket 6, and appropriately improve the rigidity.

[0243] When the bracket 6 configured as described above and a product of the related art for comparison, that is, a bracket of the related art having a back wall and no double wall surface were simulated and calculated, the mass of the bracket 6 was lower by 24% and the maximum displacement amount was lower by 62% than that of the product of the related art. By applying the above configuration, the bracket 6 according to the present embodiment is lighter than the bracket of the related art, and has significantly improved rigidity.

[0244] As is clear from the above description, the bracket 6 according to the present embodiment is lightweight and has high rigidity, but as illustrated in FIGS. 28 and 29, when the lamp units LU1 to LU3 including the metal heat sink LU14, which are the bracket fixing objects having high rigidity, are accommodated and fixed in the accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3, the rigidity is further increased. In the bracket 6, at least a part of the partition peripheral wall constituted by the peripheral wall surface 10, the right inner wall surface 600, and the left inner wall surface 500 is formed in a double wall shape, so that high rigidity is obtained, but even in a case where the bracket 6 is not formed in a double wall shape, since the bracket 6 has a frame body shape having an upper surface, a lower surface, and both side surfaces, sufficient rigidity for fixing the bracket fixing objects such as the lamp units LU1 to LU3 can be ensured. Even in a configuration in which the partition peripheral wall does not have a double wall shape, the rigidity of the bracket 6 can be further improved using the rigidity of the fixed bracket fixing objects by accommodating and fixing the bracket fixing objects having the high rigidity such as the lamp units LU1 to LU3 including the metal heat sinks LU14 in the accommodation spaces SP1 to SP3.Molding Method

[0245] Next, the molding process and the molding mold for the bracket 6 configured as described above will be described. FIGS. 34A to 34C are schematic configuration diagrams of the molding mold for the bracket 6, and are diagrams illustrating the molding process. Cross-sectional lines of the cross-sectional views of the mold illustrated in FIGS. 34A to 34C correspond to the line A-A in FIG. 31.

[0246] As illustrated in FIG. 34A, first, the fixed mold 30 and the movable mold 40 are arranged facing each other and clamped. The direction in which the mold is clamped or opened is defined as the direction DR. In the clamped state, the molding space (cavity) CAV corresponding to the shape of the bracket 6 is defined inside the mold. The molding space CAV is provided so that an extending direction (front-rear direction) of the peripheral wall surface 10 of the bracket 6 corresponding thereto coincides with the direction DR in which the mold is clamped.

[0247] Next, as illustrated in FIG. 34B, the resin member heated to a predetermined melting temperature is injected into the molding space CAV and filled in the molding space CAV. The resin member filled in the molding space CAV is cooled and solidified to mold the bracket 6.

[0248] Next, as illustrated in FIG. 34C, the mold is opened, the movable mold 40 is separated in the direction of the direction DR, and the bracket 6 in a state of being attached to the fixed mold 30 is pushed out and removed by a pushing pin (not illustrated).

[0249] Since the bracket 6 is configured to extend along the direction DR in which the mold is opened, the movable mold 40 can be separated along the direction DR without any problem. The bracket 6 is also extruded from the fixed mold 30 along the direction DR and removed without any problem.

[0250] The bracket 6 is provided to extend in the front-rear direction, the extending direction of the bracket 6 can be aligned with the direction DR in which the mold is opened, and the bracket 6 can be molded by injection molding using the mold.

[0251] As described above, although the bracket 6 has a complicated shape, the productivity is high because the bracket 6 can be mass-produced by injection molding using a mold.

[0252] Although the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above, the above embodiments are examples of the present disclosure. It is possible to combine these embodiments based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art, and such forms are also included within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0253] As described above, the following matters are disclosed in the present specification. (1) A bracket member for a vehicle lamp that accommodates and fixes at least a part of a lamp unit configured to emit light forward, the bracket member including a peripheral wall surface that opens in a front-rear direction and extends in the front-rear direction to define an accommodation space for the lamp unit, wherein at least a part of the peripheral wall surface is a double wall, and the bracket member further includes a partition wall that partitions the double wall and defines small spaces extending in the front-rear direction by being sandwiched by the double wall. (2) The bracket member for a vehicle lamp according to (1), wherein at least one of the small spaces partitioned by the partition wall is provided with an internal wall that divides the small space in the front-rear direction, and the internal walls are alternately provided in the front-rear direction in at least one pair of adjacent small spaces. (3) The bracket member for a vehicle lamp according to (2), wherein in each of at least one pair of adjacent small spaces, the internal wall is provided so as to close a front opening portion or a rear opening portion of the small space, and a cross-sectional shape in the front-rear direction including the partition wall and the internal wall is an S-shape. (4) The bracket member for a vehicle lamp according to any one of (1) to (3), wherein the double wall has a free-form surface extending in a front-rear direction. (5) A bracket for a vehicle lamp, including: a wall that extends in a front-rear direction to form a tubular structure opening in the front-rear direction and defines an accommodation space for accommodating and fixing at least a part of at least one lamp unit configured to emit light forward, and at least one through hole forming portion that has a through hole formed in a center thereof, has an outer shape substantially similar to the through hole, and is provided in the wall so as to protrude from the wall in a direction intersecting the front-rear direction, wherein the wall extends in the front-rear direction along at least a part of an outer peripheral edge portion of the through hole forming portion. (6) The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to (5), wherein the wall is a peripheral wall surface that defines the accommodation space. (7) The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to (5) or (6), wherein the wall includes at least one intermediate wall that partitions the accommodation space into two or more spaces opening in the front-rear direction and extends in the front-rear direction. (8) The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to any one of (5) to (7), wherein at least a part of the wall is configured as a double wall, and the through hole forming portion is provided on a wall surface of a portion where the wall is configured as the double wall. (9) The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to any one of (5) to (8), wherein the wall surface of the wall is a free-form surface created by extruding and extending a free-form curve in the front-rear direction. (10) The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to (8), further including at least one partition wall that partitions an inter-wall space defined between walls of the double wall and extending in the front-rear direction into a plurality of small spaces extending in the front-rear direction, wherein at least one of the partition walls is provided to cross between the walls of the double wall. (11) The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to (10), wherein the through hole forming portion is provided such that the outer peripheral edge portion is in contact with a wall defining two or more of the small spaces defined by the partition wall provided to cross between the walls of the double wall. (12) The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to (10) or (11), wherein at least one of the small spaces partitioned by the partition wall is provided with an internal wall that closes the small space in the front-rear direction, and the internal walls are provided in at least a pair of adjacent small spaces, respectively, and are alternately provided in the front-rear direction. (13) A bracket for a vehicle lamp that has an upper surface, a lower surface, both side surfaces, and a space penetrating from a front surface side to a rear surface side, and accommodates and fixes at least a part of a bracket fixing object having high rigidity in the space, the bracket including a partition peripheral wall that defines and forms an accommodation space configured to accommodate the bracket fixing object in the space, wherein a fixing portion configured to fix the bracket fixing object is provided in the partition peripheral wall. (14) The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to (13), wherein at least a part of the partition peripheral wall is formed in a double wall shape, and a partition wall that connects double wall portions at an interval in a longitudinal direction is provided, small spaces partitioned by the partition wall are each provided with an internal wall that divides the small space in the front-rear direction, and the internal walls are alternately provided in the front-rear direction in adjacent small spaces. (15) The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to (13) or (14), wherein at least a part of the partition peripheral wall has a continuous vertical cross-sectional shape bent so as to sequentially protrude in opposite directions.

[0254] The present application is based on a Japanese Patent Application No. 2023-100451, a Japanese Patent Application No. 2023-100452, and a Japanese Patent Application No. 2023-100455 filed on June 20, 2023, and the contents are incorporated herein by reference.

Examples

first embodiment

[0019]Hereinafter, a first embodiment according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment is exemplary only without limiting the invention, and all or combinations of the features described in the embodiment are not necessarily essential to the invention.

Vehicle Lamp

[0020]FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a vehicle lamp 1 including a bracket member 6 according to a preferred embodiment of the configuration of the present disclosure.

[0021]The vehicle lamp 1 is a headlamp and is mounted on each of left and right sides of a front portion of a vehicle. The vehicle lamp 1 includes a lamp body 2 and a front cover 4 as a lamp housing. The lamp body 2 is a housing with an opening at the front side, and a front cover 4 is attached to an opening portion to form a lamp chamber S inside. The front cover 4 is a so-called outer cover, and is a substantially transparent lens formed of a translucent resin such as polycarbonate. However, the present...

second embodiment

[0093]Hereinafter, a second embodiment according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment is exemplary only without limiting the invention, and all or combinations of the features described in the embodiment are not necessarily essential to the invention. The same members as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals.

Vehicle Lamp

[0094]FIG. 11 is a schematic front view of a vehicle lamp 1001 including a bracket 6 according to the embodiment. The vehicle lamp 1001 is a headlamp and is mounted on each of left and right sides of a front portion of the vehicle. The vehicle lamp 1001 includes the lamp body 2 and the front cover 4 as a lamp housing. The lamp body 2 has a container shape with an opening at the front side, and the front cover 4 is attached to the opening portion to form the lamp chamber S inside. The front cover 4 is a so-called outer cover, and is a substantially transparent lens formed of a tra...

third embodiment

[0178]Hereinafter, a third embodiment according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment is exemplary only without limiting the invention, and all or combinations of the features described in the embodiment are not necessarily essential to the invention.

Vehicle Lamp

[0179]FIG. 23 is a schematic front view of a vehicle lamp 2001 including the bracket 6, and the vehicle lamp 2001 is a headlamp and is mounted on each of both left and right sides of the front portion of the vehicle. The vehicle lamp 2001 includes the lamp body 2 and the front cover 4 as the lamp housing. The lamp body 2 is a housing with an opening at the front side, and the front cover 4 is attached to an opening portion to form the lamp chamber S inside. The front cover 4 is a so-called outer cover, and is a substantially transparent lens formed of a translucent resin such as polycarbonate. The front cover 4 is not limited to this, and an optical step for diverging and ...

Claims

1. A bracket member for a vehicle lamp configured to accommodate and fix at least a part of a lamp unit, the lamp unit configured to emit light forward, the bracket member comprising a peripheral wall surface that opens in a front-rear direction and extends in the front-rear direction to define an accommodation space for the lamp unit, wherein at least a part of the peripheral wall surface is a double wall, and the bracket member further comprises a partition wall that partitions the double wall and defines small spaces extending in the front-rear direction by being sandwiched by the double wall.

2. The bracket member for a vehicle lamp according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the small spaces partitioned by the partition wall is provided with an internal wall that divides the small space in the front-rear direction, and wherein the internal walls are alternately provided in the front-rear direction in at least one pair of adjacent small spaces.

3. The bracket member for a vehicle lamp according to claim 2, wherein in each of at least one pair of adjacent small spaces, the internal wall is provided so as to close a front opening portion or a rear opening portion of the small space, and a cross-sectional shape in the front-rear direction including the partition wall and the internal wall is an S-shape.

4. The bracket member for a vehicle lamp according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the double wall has a free-form surface extending in a front-rear direction.

5. A bracket for a vehicle lamp, comprising: a wall that extends in a front-rear direction to form a tubular structure opening in the front-rear direction and defines an accommodation space for accommodating and fixing at least a part of at least one lamp unit configured to emit light forward, and at least one through hole forming portion that has a through hole formed in a center thereof, has an outer shape substantially similar to the through hole, and is provided in the wall so as to protrude from the wall in a direction intersecting the front-rear direction, wherein the wall extends in the front-rear direction along at least a part of an outer peripheral edge portion of the through hole forming portion.

6. The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to claim 5, wherein the wall is a peripheral wall surface that defines the accommodation space.

7. The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to claim 5, wherein the wall includes at least one intermediate wall that partitions the accommodation space into two or more spaces opening in the front-rear direction and extends in the front-rear direction.

8. The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to claim 6 or 7, wherein at least a part of the wall is configured as a double wall, and wherein the through hole forming portion is provided on a wall surface of a portion where the wall is configured as the double wall.

9. The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to claim 8, wherein the wall surface of the wall is a free-form surface created by extruding and extending a free-form curve in the front-rear direction.

10. The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to claim 8, further comprising at least one partition wall that partitions an inter-wall space defined between walls of the double wall and extending in the front-rear direction into a plurality of small spaces extending in the front-rear direction, wherein at least one of the partition walls is provided to cross between the walls of the double wall.

11. The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to claim 10, wherein the through hole forming portion is provided such that the outer peripheral edge portion is in contact with a wall defining two or more of the small spaces defined by the partition wall provided to cross between the walls of the double wall.

12. The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to claim 10, wherein at least one of the small spaces partitioned by the partition wall is provided with an internal wall that closes the small space in the front-rear direction, and wherein the internal walls are provided in at least a pair of adjacent small spaces, respectively, and are alternately provided in the front-rear direction.

13. A bracket for a vehicle lamp including an upper surface, a lower surface, both side surfaces, and a space penetrating from a front surface side to a rear surface side, the bracket configured to accommodate and fix at least a part of a bracket fixing object having high rigidity in the space, the bracket comprising a partition peripheral wall that defines and forms an accommodation space configured to accommodate the bracket fixing object in the space, wherein a fixing portion configured to fix the bracket fixing object is provided in the partition peripheral wall.

14. The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to claim 13, wherein at least a part of the partition peripheral wall is formed in a double wall shape, and a partition wall that connects double wall portions at an interval in a longitudinal direction is provided, wherein small spaces partitioned by the partition wall are each provided with an internal wall that divides the small space in the front-rear direction, and wherein the internal walls are alternately provided in the front-rear direction in adjacent small spaces.

15. The bracket for a vehicle lamp according to claim 13, wherein at least a part of the partition peripheral wall has a continuous vertical cross-sectional shape bent so as to sequentially protrude in opposite directions.

Images