Leveling actuator and vehicle lamp fitting

The leveling actuator for vehicle lamps addresses the complexity and accuracy issues of existing mechanisms by using a shaft with a male screw and a rotating cylinder with a female screw, supported by sliding contact surfaces, allowing for precise optical axis adjustment and simplified manufacturing.

JP2025095637APending Publication Date: 2025-06-26STANLEY ELECTRIC CO LTD
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Patent Information

Application Number
JP2023211735
Authority / Receiving Office
JP · JP
Patent Type
Applications
Current Assignee / Owner
Filing Date
2023-12-15
Publication Date
2025-06-26

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

Existing vehicle lamp leveling mechanisms face challenges with complex mold structures due to hook fixing structures, which complicate manufacturing and require precise strength and positional accuracy. Additionally, play in the hook fixing structure can hinder accurate axial sliding of shafts within rotating supports.

Method used

A leveling actuator that includes a shaft with a male screw portion, a rotating cylinder with a female screw portion, and a ring gear supported by sliding contact surfaces within a case and cover. This design allows for accurate rotational support and axial sliding of the shaft, eliminating the need for complex hook fixing structures.

Benefits of technology

The proposed leveling actuator achieves accurate optical axis adjustment in vehicle lamps by ensuring precise rotational support and axial sliding of components, simplifying the mold structure and enhancing manufacturing ease while maintaining positional accuracy.

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Abstract

To provide a leveling actuator which can accurately support a rotary support supported rotatably around an axis of a shaft.SOLUTION: A leveling actuator includes: a shaft 14 which includes a male screw part 27 provided at an outer periphery part and is supported slidably in an axial direction; a rotary support 15 provided with a rotary cylinder 30 into which the shaft 14 penetrates in the axial direction, a female screw part 31 which is located at the inner periphery part of the rotary cylinder 30 and threadedly engaged with the male screw part 27, and a ring gear 32 which protrudes in a ring shape from the outer periphery part of the rotary cylinder 30; a case 11 which houses the shaft 14 and the rotary support 15 from an opening at the back side to the inner side; and a cover 12 which covers the opening of the case 11. The rotary support 15 is supported rotatably around the axis of the shaft 14 in a manner that the ring gear 32 is sandwiched between a front slide contact part 22 provided inside the case 11 and a rear slide contact surface 24 provided inside the cover 12.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7
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Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a leveling actuator and a vehicle lamp.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, in vehicle lamps such as vehicle headlamps, a lamp unit that irradiates light toward the front of the vehicle is disposed inside a lamp body composed of a housing having an opening at the front and an outer lens that covers the opening of the housing, and there is one provided with an optical axis adjustment mechanism for adjusting the optical axis of the light irradiated from this lamp unit toward the front of the vehicle (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2 below).

[0003] In such a vehicle lamp provided with an optical axis adjustment mechanism, the optical axis of the light irradiated from the lamp unit toward the front of the vehicle is adjusted by an aiming operation for adjusting the inclination in the left-right direction and the inclination in the up-down direction of the lamp unit.

[0004] Further, after detecting the inclination of the vehicle in the front-rear direction, the fluctuation of the optical axis accompanying the change in the posture of the vehicle is also corrected by a leveling operation for automatically adjusting the optical axis of the light irradiated from the lamp unit toward the front of the vehicle in the up-down direction.

[0005] For example, Patent Document 1 below discloses a leveling device for a vehicle headlamp, which includes a case body, a motor, a worm wheel that is rotatably supported by the case body in the front-rear direction and rotated by the motor, and a shaft that is non-rotatably supported and movable in the front-rear direction and meshed with the worm wheel. An engaging support portion is provided on the worm wheel, and the engaging support portion is engaged and supported by an engaging support portion integrally provided on the case body to support the worm wheel rotatably with respect to the case body and immovably in the front-rear direction. The engaging support portion of the case body is formed on a cylindrical portion protruding outward from the case body. The cylindrical portion is formed slightly spaced inside a cylindrical protruding portion provided on the case body, and the engaging support portion protruding inward is formed at the tip of the cylindrical portion. A leveling device for a vehicle headlamp is disclosed, characterized in that the above is the case.

[0006] In addition, Patent Document 2 below discloses a structure for fixing a gear used in a vehicle lamp to a housing by a hook formed thereon. A plurality of legs circumferentially divided by an axial slit are integrally formed at an end of a cylindrical boss portion of the gear, and the hook is formed at the tip of each leg. The gear is inserted into a cylindrical portion formed in the housing with the legs first. When the hook formed at the tip of each leg passes through the cylindrical boss portion of the housing, the hook is locked to a hook receiver on the end face of the cylindrical portion of the housing to fix the gear to the housing. In the gear fixing structure of a vehicle lamp, the engagement allowance of the hook on the gear side with the hook receiver on the housing side at both circumferential ends is set smaller than the engagement allowance at the center in the width direction of the hook. A gear fixing structure for a vehicle lamp is disclosed, characterized in that the above is the case.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0007]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0008] By the way, in the inventions described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 mentioned above, since both adopt a hook fixing structure, the mold structure during molding becomes complicated according to the shape of the hook. In addition, it is necessary to ensure the strength against the bending deformation of the hook and the positional accuracy when fixing the hook.

[0009] Furthermore, when play occurs in the hook fixing structure, it becomes difficult to accurately slide-support in the axial direction a shaft that penetrates the central portion of a rotating support such as the worm wheel and the cylindrical boss portion described above.

[0010] The present invention has been proposed in view of such conventional circumstances, and by accurately supporting a rotating support that is rotatably supported around the axis of a shaft, it is possible to accurately slide the shaft in the axial direction. An object of the present invention is to provide a leveling actuator and a vehicle lamp equipped with such a leveling actuator.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0011] To achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following means. 〔1〕 A leveling actuator for adjusting the optical axis of light irradiated from a lamp unit of a vehicle lamp in which the lamp unit is disposed inside a lamp body toward the front of the vehicle, a shaft provided with a male screw portion on its outer peripheral portion and slidably supported in the axial direction in a state where the tip side is connected to the lamp unit via a pivot portion; a rotating cylinder that penetrates the shaft in the axial direction, a rotating support provided with a female screw portion screwed with the male screw portion on the inner peripheral portion of the rotating cylinder, and a ring gear protruding in a ring shape from the outer peripheral portion of the rotating cylinder; a case that houses the shaft and the rotating support from the opening on the back side to the inside, and projects the tip side of the shaft forward from the hole on the front side; It includes a cover for closing the opening of the case, The rotary support body is rotatably supported around the axis of the shaft in such a way that the ring gear is sandwiched between a front sliding contact surface provided inside the case and a rear sliding contact surface provided inside the cover. The leveling actuator is characterized by this. 〔2〕 The case has a front sleeve portion protruding rearward from the inside, The front sliding contact surface is provided on the tip side of the front sleeve portion, The rotary support body is rotatably supported in a state where the front side sandwiching the ring gear of the rotary cylinder is fitted inside the front sleeve portion. The leveling actuator according to 〔1〕 above is characterized by this. 〔3〕 The cover has a rear sleeve portion protruding forward from the inside, The rear sliding contact surface is provided on the tip side of the rear sleeve portion, The rotary support body is rotatably supported in a state where the rear side sandwiching the ring gear of the rotary cylinder is fitted inside the rear sleeve portion. The leveling actuator according to 〔1〕 above is characterized by this. 〔4〕 The shaft has a wheel portion protruding in a ring shape from the outer peripheral portion on the rear end side, and is slidably supported in a state where the wheel portion is fitted inside the rear sleeve portion. The leveling actuator according to 〔3〕 above is characterized by this. 〔5〕 It has a guide projection protruding from the outer peripheral portion of the wheel portion and a guide slit axially notching a part of the rear sleeve portion, and is provided with a guide mechanism for slidably guiding the guide projection engaged with the guide slit in the axial direction. The leveling actuator according to 〔4〕 above is characterized by this. 〔6〕 It includes a rotary motor housed inside the case and a drive transmission portion, The rotary motor rotationally drives a rotary shaft provided with a drive gear, The drive transmission unit includes a transmission gear meshed between the ring gear and the drive gear, and transmits the driving force of the rotary motor to the rotary support. The leveling actuator according to [1] above, characterized in that. 〔7〕 A vehicle lamp including the leveling actuator according to any one of 〔1〕 to 〔6〕 above.

Effect of the Invention

[0012] As described above, according to the present invention, a leveling actuator capable of accurately sliding a shaft in the axial direction by accurately supporting a rotary support rotatably supported around the axis of the shaft, and a vehicle lamp provided with such a leveling actuator are provided.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0013]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

Figure 9

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0014] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings used in the following description, in order to make each component easy to view, the scale of the dimensions may be made different depending on the component, and the dimensional ratios of each component are not necessarily the same as the actual ones.

[0015] As an embodiment of the present invention, for example, the vehicle lamp 1 shown in FIGS. 1 to 9 will be described. Note that FIG. 1 is a front view showing the configuration of the vehicle lamp 1 including the leveling actuator 5. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the vehicle lamp 1 taken along the line segment A-A shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the leveling actuator 5 as viewed from the front side. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the leveling actuator 5 as viewed from the back side. FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the leveling actuator 5 as viewed from the front side. FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the leveling actuator 5 as viewed from the back side. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the leveling actuator 5. FIG. 8 shows the cover 12 provided in the leveling actuator 5, (A) a front view thereof, and (B) a side view thereof. FIG. 9 is a view showing the dimensions of the wheel portion 28 of the shaft 14 and the rotating cylinder 30 of the rotary support 15 provided in the leveling actuator 5.

[0016] Also, in the drawings shown below, an XYZ orthogonal coordinate system is set, and the X-axis direction is the front-rear direction (length direction) of the vehicle lamp 1, the Y-axis direction is the left-right direction (width direction) of the vehicle lamp 1, and the Z-axis direction is the up-down direction (height direction) of the vehicle lamp 1, and each is shown accordingly.

[0017] The vehicle lamp 1 of the present embodiment is an application of the present invention to, for example, a vehicle headlamp (headlamp) mounted on both corner portions on the front end side of a vehicle (not shown).

[0018] Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, this vehicle lamp 1 has a structure in which a lamp unit that irradiates light toward the front of the vehicle (+X-axis direction) is disposed inside a lamp body composed of a housing 2 with an open front surface and a transparent outer lens that covers the opening of the housing 2.

[0019] In addition, in FIG. 1, illustration of the outer lens constituting the lamp body, the lamp unit disposed inside the lamp body, and the like is omitted. Further, the shape of the lamp body is not particularly limited and can be appropriately changed according to the design of the vehicle lamp 1 and the like.

[0020] The lamp unit includes, for example, a light source composed of a light-emitting diode (LED) that emits white light (hereinafter simply referred to as light), and a reflector that reflects the light emitted from the light source, and is configured to irradiate the light reflected by the reflector toward the front of the vehicle.

[0021] As a passing beam (low beam), the lamp unit irradiates light that forms a low-beam light distribution pattern including a cut-off line at the upper end toward the front of the vehicle. Alternatively, as a driving beam (high beam), the lamp unit irradiates light that forms a high-beam light distribution pattern above the low-beam light distribution pattern toward the front of the vehicle.

[0022] Note that the lamp unit is not necessarily limited to a configuration in which the light reflected by the above-described reflector is irradiated toward the front of the vehicle, and for example, a configuration in which the light emitted from the light source is irradiated toward the front of the vehicle using a lens may be employed.

[0023] In addition to the above-described LED, for the light source, a light-emitting element such as a laser diode (LD) can be used. Further, the number of light-emitting elements is not limited to one and may be plural.

[0024] The vehicle lamp 1 of the present embodiment includes an optical axis adjustment mechanism 3 for adjusting the optical axis of the light irradiated from the lamp unit toward the front of the vehicle.

[0025] In the vehicle lamp 1 equipped with the optical axis adjustment mechanism 3, it is possible to adjust the optical axis of the light irradiated from the lamp unit toward the front of the vehicle by an aiming operation for adjusting the inclination in the vertical direction and the inclination in the horizontal direction of the lamp unit.

[0026] Also, in the vehicle lamp 1 equipped with the optical axis adjustment mechanism 3, after detecting the inclination in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, it is also possible to correct the fluctuation of the optical axis accompanying the change in the posture of the vehicle by a leveling operation for automatically adjusting the optical axis of the light irradiated from the lamp unit toward the front of the vehicle in the vertical direction.

[0027] Specifically, this optical axis adjustment mechanism 3 includes the leveling actuator 5 of the present embodiment attached to the housing 2 via a bracket 4 as shown in FIG. 2.

[0028] The leveling actuator 5 of the present embodiment has the tip side of the shaft 14 connected to the reflector via a pivot portion 7 provided on one surface of a mount ring 6 located on the back side of a reflector (not shown) constituting the above-described lamp unit.

[0029] In the optical axis adjustment mechanism 3, the mount ring 6 is supported so as to be tiltable via the pivot portion 7. Thereby, by slidingly driving the shaft 14 of the leveling actuator 5 in the front-rear direction, it is possible to adjust the optical axis of the light irradiated from the lamp unit toward the front of the vehicle while changing the inclination of the reflector connected via the mount ring 6.

[0030] Note that the optical axis adjustment mechanism 3 is not necessarily limited to the configuration in which the above-described mount ring 6 is supported so as to be tiltable via the pivot portion 7. For example, a configuration in which a holder that holds the lamp unit is supported so as to be tiltable via the pivot portion 7 may be used.

[0031] As shown in FIGS. 3 to 7, the leveling actuator 5 of the present embodiment has a structure in which components such as a shaft 14, a rotation support 15, a rotation motor 16, a drive transmission unit 17, and a circuit board 18 are accommodated inside a housing 13 composed of a case 11 with an open back side and a cover 12 that closes the back side of the case 11.

[0032] Both the case 11 and the cover 12 that constitute the housing 13 are made of resin molded bodies made of synthetic resin molded by a mold. The case 11 has a front wall 11a, an outer peripheral wall 11b that rises rearward from around the front wall 11a, and an opening 11c that opens on the back side of the outer peripheral wall 11b, and is formed in a substantially square box shape. On the other hand, the cover 12 has a back wall 12a, an outer peripheral wall 12b that rises forward from around the back wall 12a, and an opening 12c that opens on the front side of the outer peripheral wall 12b, and is formed in a substantially square box shape.

[0033] The housing 13 forms an accommodation space for accommodating the above-described components inside by closing the opening 11c of the case 11 with the cover 12 in a state where the outer peripheral wall 11b of the case 11 and the outer peripheral wall 12b of the cover 12 are abutted against each other.

[0034] Also, the structure for attaching the cover 12 to the case 11 is not particularly limited, such as screwing or hooking. In the present embodiment, the cover 12 is attached to the case 11 by locking the locking claws 19c provided at the tips of the plurality of hook pieces 19b protruding forward from the outer peripheral wall 12b of the cover 12 to the plurality of locking holes 19a provided in the outer peripheral wall 11b of the housing 2, respectively.

[0035] The case 11 has a front sleeve portion 20 protruding cylindrically forward and backward from the upper portion on the front side and the upper portion on the back side of the front wall 11a, a circular hole portion 21 penetrating the front side of the front sleeve portion 20, and a circular ring-shaped front sliding contact surface 22 formed by the rear end surface of the front sleeve portion 20.

[0036] Further, a plurality of claw portions 20a are provided side by side in the circumferential direction on the outer peripheral surface of the front sleeve portion 20. In the leveling actuator 5 of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, after inserting the front sleeve portion 20 from the back side into the mounting hole 4a provided in the bracket 4, by rotating the case 11 around the central axis of the mounting hole 4a, a plurality of claw portions 14a inserted from a notch portion (not shown) provided around the mounting hole 4a are locked around the mounting hole 4a. Thus, the leveling actuator 5 can be detachably attached around the mounting hole 4a.

[0037] As shown in FIGS. 3 to 7 and FIGS. 8(A) and (B), the cover 12 has a rear sleeve portion 23 protruding forward from the upper portion on the front side of the rear wall 12a, a circular ring-shaped rear sliding contact surface 24 formed by the front end surface in front of the rear sleeve portion 23, and a guide slit 25 that axially notches a part of the rear sleeve portion 23.

[0038] As shown in FIGS. 3 to 7, the shaft 14 is made of a resin molded body of synthetic resin having excellent wear resistance and is formed in an elongated shape as a whole. The shaft 14 has a spherical pivot ball 26 at its tip side, a male screw portion 27 on its outer peripheral portion, a wheel portion 28 protruding in a circular ring shape from the outer peripheral portion on the rear end side thereof, and a guide protrusion 29 protruding from the outer peripheral portion of the wheel portion 28.

[0039] The shaft 14 is projected forward from the hole portion 21 of the case 11 with its tip side facing forward, and is slidably supported in the axial direction (front-rear direction) in a state where the wheel portion 28 is fitted inside the rear sleeve portion 23.

[0040] Further, the leveling actuator 5 of the present embodiment is provided with a guide mechanism that slidably guides the guide protrusion 29 engaged with the guide slit 25 in the axial direction. Thereby, the rotation (so-called following rotation) of the shaft 14 accompanying the rotation of the rotation support body 15 described later around its axis is restricted.

[0041] The shaft 14 has its tip end attached to the mounting ring 6 via the pivot portion 7 described above. The pivot portion 7 connects the tip end side of the shaft 14 and the mounting ring 6 by fitting the pivot ball 26 of the shaft 14 into a pivot bearing (not shown) provided on the mounting ring 6.

[0042] The rotary support 15 is made of a resin molded body of synthetic resin with excellent wear resistance and is formed in a substantially cylindrical shape as a whole. The rotary support 15 has a cylindrical rotary cylinder 30 that penetrates the shaft 14 in the axial direction, a female screw portion 31 that is screwed with a male screw portion 27 on the inner peripheral portion of the rotary cylinder 30, and a ring gear 32 that protrudes in a ring shape from the outer peripheral portion of the rotary cylinder 30.

[0043] The rotary support 15 is rotatably supported about the axis of the shaft 14 in a state where the front side with the ring gear 32 of the rotary cylinder 30 sandwiched inside the front sleeve portion 20 and the rear side with the ring gear 32 of the rotary cylinder 30 sandwiched inside the rear sleeve portion 23 are fitted.

[0044] Also, the rotary support 15 is rotatably supported about the axis of the shaft 14 by sandwiching the ring gear 32 in the axial direction between the front sliding contact surface 22 provided at the tip end (rear end) of the front sleeve portion 20 and the rear sliding contact surface 24 provided at the tip end (front end) of the rear sleeve portion 23.

[0045] As shown in FIGS. 3 to 7, the rotary motor 16 has a rotary shaft 16a and a drive gear 33 provided at the tip end of the rotary shaft 16a, and rotationally drives the rotary shaft 16a.

[0046] The drive transmission unit 17 has speed-changing gears 34 and 35 that are meshed between the ring gear 32 of the rotary support 15 and the drive gear 33 of the rotary motor 16. Specifically, this drive transmission unit 17 has a first speed-changing gear 34 meshed with the ring gear 32 and a second speed-changing gear 35 meshed with the drive gear 33, and these speed-changing gears 34 and 35 are arranged coaxially and integrated. Among these, the ring gear 32 serving as a worm wheel and the first speed-changing gear serving as a worm constitute a worm gear that meshes with each other, and the drive gear 33 serving as a worm and the second speed-changing gear serving as a worm wheel constitute a worm gear that meshes with each other.

[0047] In the leveling actuator 5 of this embodiment, the driving force of the rotary motor 16 can be transmitted to the rotary support 15 through such a drive transmission unit 17.

[0048] Note that the drive transmission unit 17 is not necessarily limited to such a configuration, and it is also possible to change the number and arrangement of the speed-changing gears. Further, the drive transmission unit 17 may be omitted, and the driving force of the rotary motor 16 may be directly transmitted to the rotary support 15 by meshing the drive gear 33 of the rotary motor 16 with the ring gear 32 of the rotary support 15.

[0049] The circuit board 18 is electrically connected to the rotary motor 16. Further, the circuit board 18 has a connector portion 36. The connector portion 36 is provided on the circuit board 18 in a state of facing the outside through a window portion 12d provided in the outer peripheral wall 12b of the cover 12.

[0050] Thereby, in the leveling actuator 5 of this embodiment, it is possible to supply power to the rotary motor 16 or control the drive of the rotary motor 16 through a harness connected to the connector portion 36.

[0051] In the leveling actuator 5 of the present embodiment having the above-described configuration, the driving force of the rotary motor 16 is transmitted to the rotary support 15 via the drive transmission unit 17, so that the rotary support 15 rotates around the axis of the shaft 14. Further, when the rotary support 15 rotates, the shaft 14 slides in the axial direction due to the screwing of the male screw portion 27 and the female screw portion 31. Further, depending on the rotation direction of the rotary motor 16, the shaft 14 can be advanced or the shaft 14 can be retracted.

[0052] In the leveling actuator 5 of the present embodiment, the rotary support 15 is rotatably supported around the axis of the shaft 14 by sandwiching the ring gear 32 between the front sliding contact surface 22 provided inside the above-described case 11 and the rear sliding contact surface 24 provided inside the cover 12.

[0053] As a result, in the leveling actuator 5 of the present embodiment, it is possible to accurately and rotatably support the rotary support 15 that is rotatably supported around the axis of the shaft 14 described above without causing play inside the housing 13.

[0054] Further, in the leveling actuator 5 of the present embodiment, by accurately supporting the rotary support 15, it is possible to accurately slide the shaft 14 in the axial direction.

[0055] In particular, in the leveling actuator 5 of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, by making the outer diameter a of the wheel portion 28 of the shaft 14 and the outer diameter b of the rotary cylinder 30 of the rotary support 15 the same as each other, it is possible to improve the rotational accuracy of the rotary support 15 around the axis between the front sleeve portion 20 and the rear sleeve portion 23.

[0056] Therefore, in the vehicle lamp 1 provided with the leveling actuator 5 of the present embodiment as described above, it is possible to accurately perform the optical axis adjustment by the optical axis adjustment mechanism 3 described above.

[0057] In addition, in the leveling actuator 5 of the present embodiment, it is not necessary to adopt a hook fixing structure as in the prior art, and the mold structure does not become complicated when the case 11 and the cover 12 are molded. As a result, it becomes easy to control the dimensions between the front sliding contact surface 22 and the rear sliding contact surface 24 that sandwich the ring gear 32.

Description of Reference Numerals

[0058] 1... vehicle lamp 5... leveling actuator 11... case 12... cover 13... housing 14... shaft 15... rotary support 16... rotary motor 17... drive transmission unit 18... circuit board 20... front sleeve portion 21... hole portion 22... front sliding contact surface 23... rear sleeve portion 24... rear sliding contact surface 25... guide slit 26... pivot ball 27... male screw portion 28... wheel portion 29... guide projection 30... rotary cylinder 31... female screw portion 32... ring gear 33... drive gear 34... first transmission gear 35... second transmission gear

Claims

1. A leveling actuator for adjusting the optical axis of light irradiated from a lamp unit of a vehicle lamp in which the lamp unit is disposed inside a lamp body toward the front of the vehicle, comprising: a shaft provided with a male screw portion on an outer peripheral portion and slidably supported in an axial direction in a state where a tip side is connected to the lamp unit via a pivot portion; a rotary cylinder penetrating the shaft in the axial direction, a rotary support body provided with a female screw portion screwed with the male screw portion on an inner peripheral portion of the rotary cylinder, and a ring gear protruding in a ring shape from an outer peripheral portion of the rotary cylinder; a case for housing the shaft and the rotary support body inward from an opening on a back side and protruding a tip side of the shaft forward through a hole on a front side; a cover for closing the opening of the case; The rotary support body is rotatably supported around the axis of the shaft by sandwiching the ring gear between a front sliding contact surface provided inside the case and a rear sliding contact surface provided inside the cover. The leveling actuator is characterized by this.

2. The case has a front sleeve portion protruding rearward from the inside; The front sliding contact surface is provided at a tip side of the front sleeve portion; The rotary support body is rotatably supported in a state where a front side sandwiching the ring gear of the rotary cylinder is fitted inside the front sleeve portion. The leveling actuator according to claim 1 is characterized by this.

3. The cover has a rear sleeve portion protruding forward from the inside; The rear sliding contact surface is provided at a tip side of the rear sleeve portion; The rotary support body is rotatably supported in a state where a rear side sandwiching the ring gear of the rotary cylinder is fitted inside the rear sleeve portion. The leveling actuator according to claim 1 is characterized by this.

4. The shaft has a wheel portion protruding in a ring shape from an outer peripheral portion on a rear end side and is slidably supported in a state where the wheel portion is fitted inside the rear sleeve portion. The leveling actuator according to claim 3 is characterized by this.

5. A leveling actuator according to claim 4, comprising a guide projection protruding from an outer peripheral portion of the wheel portion and a guide slit axially notching a part of the rear sleeve portion, and guiding the guide projection engaged with the guide slit slidably in the axial direction.

6. Comprising a rotary motor housed inside the case and a drive transmission portion, The rotary motor rotationally drives a rotary shaft provided with a drive gear, The drive transmission portion includes a transmission gear meshed between the ring gear and the drive gear, and transmits the driving force of the rotary motor to the rotary support. The leveling actuator according to claim 1.

7. A vehicle lamp comprising the leveling actuator according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

Citation Information

Patent Citations

  • Curved line reading equipment

    JP1977040928A

  • Vehicle headlight leveling device

    JP3928687B2