Vehicular lamp

Abstract

To prevent spot light and improve uniformity of light emission, in a vehicular lamp using a rod-like light guide body.SOLUTION: A vehicle lamp 10 comprises: an LED; a rod-like light guide body 26 that receives light from the LED through a light input unit, guides it internally, and emits it from an emission surface 26b along an extension direction; a first lens 28 that receives light from a part of the emission surface 26b of the light guide body 26, and emits it; and a second lens 30 that receives light from the first lens 28 and emits it toward the front of the lamp. The first lens 28 contains a light diffusion material inside.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle lamp. [Background technology]

[0002] BACKGROUND ART Conventionally, a vehicle lamp is known in which a light source such as an LED is disposed at the end of a rod-shaped light guide to obtain linear light emission (see, for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2016-119273 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Generally, a rod-shaped light guide is prone to localized high brightness, that is, so-called point light, occurring near the light entrance portion or at the bent portion.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its object is to prevent spot light and improve the uniformity of light emission in a vehicle lamp using a rod-shaped light guide. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above problems, one aspect of the present invention provides a vehicle lamp including a light source, a rod-shaped light guide that receives light from the light source through a light entrance portion, guides the light internally, and emits the light from an exit surface along an extension direction, a first lens that receives the light from a portion of the exit surface of the light guide and emits the light, and a second lens that receives the light from the first lens and emits it forward of the lamp. The first lens contains a light diffusing material inside. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to the present invention, in a vehicle lamp using a rod-shaped light guide, spot light can be prevented and the uniformity of light emission can be improved. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic front view of a vehicle lamp according to an embodiment; [Figure 2] 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of the vehicle lamp shown in FIG. 1. [Figure 3] 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the vehicle lamp shown in FIG. 1 taken along line BB. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a first lens provided on a bent portion of a light guide. [Figure 5] FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of a first lens in detail. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a horizontal cross-sectional view illustrating a vehicle lamp according to another embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] The present invention will be described below based on preferred embodiments with reference to the drawings. The following configurations are for illustrative purposes only to facilitate understanding of the present disclosure, and the scope of the present disclosure is defined solely by the appended claims. Identical or equivalent components and parts shown in each drawing are designated by the same reference numerals, and redundant explanations will be omitted where appropriate. Furthermore, the dimensions of the components in each drawing are enlarged or reduced as appropriate to facilitate understanding. Furthermore, some components that are not important for explaining the embodiments in each drawing are omitted.

[0010] FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a vehicle lamp 10 according to an embodiment. The vehicle lamp 10 shown in FIG. 1 is a rear combination lamp disposed at the rear of a vehicle. As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle lamp 10 includes a lamp body 12 and a transparent outer cover 14 that covers the front opening of the lamp body 12. The lamp body 12 and the outer cover 14 form a lamp chamber 16. A lamp unit 20 is provided within the lamp chamber 16. The lamp unit 20 is fixedly supported to the lamp body 12 by a support member (not shown). The lamp unit 20 is configured to emit linear light and can be used, for example, as a tail lamp or a stop lamp. However, the use of the lamp unit 20 is not particularly limited.

[0011] Fig. 2 is a schematic AA cross-sectional view (vertical cross-sectional view) of the vehicle lamp 10 shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a schematic BB cross-sectional view (horizontal cross-sectional view) of the vehicle lamp 10 shown in Fig. 1.

[0012] The lighting unit 20 includes an LED 22 as a light source, a substrate 24 on which the LED 22 is mounted, a light guide 26, a first lens 28, a second lens 30, and a reflector 32.

[0013] Light guide 26 is a rod-shaped light guide that guides light incident from light entrance portion 26a inside and emits it from exit surface 26b along the extension direction, and is formed by extrusion molding of a transparent resin such as acrylic. The cross-sectional shape of light guide 26 is not particularly limited and may be circular or elliptical.

[0014] Light entrance portion 26a of light guide 26 is provided on one end surface of light guide 26. Light exit surface 26b of light guide 26 is provided on the upper surface of light guide 26. Steps 26c are formed on the lower surface of light guide 26 to reflect light traveling inside the light guide toward exit surface 26b.

[0015] The reflector 32 is provided along the extension direction of the light guide 26 so as to surround the periphery of the light guide 26. The reflector 32 has a reflective surface 32a that reflects light emitted from the emission surface 26b of the light guide 26 forward of the lamp, and an opening 32b through which the light reflected by the reflective surface 32a and the light emitted from the emission surface 26b of the light guide 26 can pass. Here, "forward of the lamp" means forward when the vehicle lamp 10 is viewed as a standalone unit.

[0016] The second lens 30 is provided so as to cover the opening 32b of the reflector 32. The second lens 30 receives light that has passed through the opening 32b of the reflector 32 and emits it toward the outer cover 14. The light directed toward the outer cover 14 passes through the outer cover 14 and is irradiated forward of the lamp.

[0017] 3, in this embodiment, the light guide 26 has a bent portion 26d that is bent by approximately 180 degrees. The bent portion 26d is located at an end portion of the vehicle lamp 10. The light guide 26 shown in FIG. 2 shows a vertical cross section of the bent portion 26d.

[0018] In the present embodiment, a first lens 28 is provided to cover the exit surface 26b at the bent portion 26d of the light guide 26. Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the first lens 28 provided on the bent portion of the light guide 26. The first lens 28 receives and emits light from the exit surface 26b at the bent portion 26d of the light guide 26. As will be described later, the light emitted from the first lens 28 includes light that is reflected by the reflecting surface 32a of the reflector 32 and then travels toward the second lens 30 via the opening 32b, and light that travels directly toward the second lens 30 via the opening 32b.

[0019] In this embodiment, the first lens 28 contains a light diffusing material therein. Examples of light diffusing materials include metal oxide particles, such as titanium dioxide particles. Rod-shaped light guides generally tend to emit more light at bent portions, resulting in locally increased brightness. In this embodiment, the first lens 28 containing a light diffusing material is disposed so as to cover the exit surface 26b of the bent portion 26d of the light guide 26, thereby diffusing the light emitted from the exit surface 26b of the bent portion 26d and dispersing the amount of light. This prevents so-called "point light," in which locally increased brightness occurs at the bent portion 26d of the light guide 26, and improves the uniformity of light emission. In this embodiment, the second lens 30 does not contain a light diffusing material therein. However, in another embodiment, the second lens 30 may contain a light diffusing material therein.

[0020] FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of the first lens 28 in detail. The first lens 28 has an incident surface 28a that receives light from the exit surface 26b of the light guide 26 and an exit surface 28b that emits the light. A plurality of steps are formed on the incident surface 28a of the first lens 28. Each step includes a first incident surface 28c that is inclined to face the front side of the lamp and a second incident surface 28d that is inclined to face the rear side of the lamp. As shown in FIG. 5, the first incident surfaces 28c and the second incident surfaces 28d are formed alternately.

[0021] First incident surface 28c is formed to refract light from exit surface 26b of light guide 26 toward the front of the lamp. Figure 5 shows light ray L1 (solid line) that is reflected by step 26c of light guide 26 and emitted from exit surface 26b, then refracted by first incident surface 28c of first lens 28, emitted from exit surface 28b of first lens 28, and passes through opening 32b.

[0022] Second incident surface 28d is formed to refract light from exit surface 26b of light guide 26 toward reflecting surface 32a of reflector 32. Fig. 5 shows light ray L2 (dashed line) that is reflected by step 26c of light guide 26 and emitted from exit surface 26b, then refracted by second incident surface 28d of first lens 28 and emitted from exit surface 28b of first lens 28, reflected by reflecting surface 32a of reflector 32, and passes through opening 32b.

[0023] The light that passes through the opening 32b of the reflector 32 is irradiated in front of the lamp by the second lens 30 and the outer cover 14. In this way, in addition to the light that is reflected by the reflective surface 32a of the reflector 32 and emitted in front of the lamp, light that is emitted directly in front of the lamp from the first lens 28 is produced, thereby increasing the amount of light that is irradiated in front of the lamp.

[0024] Returning to FIG. 4, a plurality of diffusion steps 28e are formed continuously in the extension direction of the first lens 28 on the exit surface 28b of the first lens 28, diffusing light from the exit surface 26b of the light guide 26 in the left-right direction of the lamp. The left-right direction of the lamp is a direction perpendicular to the front-to-rear direction of the lamp. The diffusion steps 28e may be concave cylindrical steps. In this way, by using the diffusion steps 28e to diffuse light from the exit surface 26b of the light guide 26 in the left-to-right direction of the lamp, the uniformity of the light emission can be further improved.

[0025] 6 is a horizontal cross-sectional view illustrating a vehicle lamp 60 according to another embodiment of the present invention. The vehicle lamp 60 has a lamp unit 62 disposed within a lamp chamber 16 formed by a lamp body 12 and an outer cover 14. This lamp unit 62 is also configured to emit linear light, and can be used as, for example, a tail lamp or a stop lamp.

[0026] The lighting unit 62 includes an LED 22 , a substrate 24 on which the LED 22 is mounted, a light guide 26 , a first lens 28 , and a second lens 30 .

[0027] The light guide 26 is a rod-shaped light guide that guides light incident through a light entrance portion 26a inside and emits the light from an exit surface 26b along the extension direction. The cross-sectional shape of the light guide 26 is not particularly limited and may be circular or elliptical. The light entrance portion 26a of the light guide 26 is provided on one end surface of the light guide 26. The exit surface 26b of the light guide 26 is provided on the front surface of the light guide 26. A step 26c is formed on the rear surface of the light guide 26 to reflect light traveling inside the light guide toward the exit surface 26b.

[0028] 6, in this embodiment, the light guide 26 has a bent portion 26d. The bent portion 26d is located near the light entrance portion 26a of the vehicle lamp 10. The vicinity of the light entrance portion 26a may be within a distance of about 100 mm from the light entrance portion 26a, for example.

[0029] The first lens 28 is provided to cover the exit surface 26b at the bent portion 26d of the light guide 26. The first lens 28 receives light from the exit surface 26b at the bent portion 26d of the light guide 26 and emits the light toward the second lens 30. The first lens 28 contains a light diffusing material therein. Examples of the light diffusing material include metal oxide particles, such as titanium dioxide particles.

[0030] Furthermore, in this embodiment, second lens 30 also contains a light diffusing material therein. The light diffusing material contained in second lens 30 may be the same as or different from that contained in first lens 28. Examples of the light diffusing material include metal oxide particles, such as titanium dioxide particles.

[0031] Figure 6 shows light ray L3, which is emitted from the exit surface 26b at the bent portion 26d of the light guide 26, and then passes through the first lens 28 and the second lens 30 to be emitted in front of the lamp, and light ray L4, which is emitted from the exit surface 26b at the straight portion away from the light entrance portion 26a of the light guide 26, and then passes through the second lens 30 to be emitted in front of the lamp without passing through the first lens 28.

[0032] Generally, a rod-shaped light guide emits a larger amount of light near the light entrance portion. Therefore, when a bent portion 26d is formed near the light entrance portion 26a, as in this embodiment, the amount of light emitted from the bent portion 26d is even larger, and point light tends to become more pronounced. In this embodiment, in addition to the first lens 28 containing a light diffusing material, a second lens 30 containing a light diffusing material is disposed to diffuse the light emitted from the bent portion 26d near the light entrance portion and disperse the light from being biased in a specific direction. This prevents point light near the light entrance portion of the light guide 26 and improves the uniformity of light emission.

[0033] The present invention has been described above based on the embodiments. These embodiments are merely examples, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications are possible in the combination of each component and each treatment process, and that such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0034] 10, 60 Vehicle lamp, 12 Lamp body, 14 Outer cover, 16 Lamp chamber, 20, 62 Lamp unit, 22 LED, 24 Board, 26 Light guide, 28 First lens, 30 Second lens, 32 Reflector.

Claims

1. A light source and a rod-shaped light guide that receives light from the light source through a light entrance portion, guides the light inside, and emits the light from an exit surface along an extension direction; a first lens that receives light from a portion of the exit surface of the light guide and outputs the light; a second lens that receives light from the first lens and emits it forward of the lamp; Equipped with The first lens contains a light diffusing material therein.

2. The light guide has a bent portion, The vehicle lamp according to claim 1 , wherein the first lens is disposed so as to cover the light exit surface of the bent portion of the light guide.

3. 3. The vehicle lamp according to claim 1, wherein the entrance surface of the first lens includes a first entrance surface that directs light from the exit surface of the light guide toward the front of the lamp.

4. The lamp further includes a reflector that reflects light from the first lens toward the front of the lamp.

3. The vehicle lamp according to claim 1, wherein the entrance surface of the first lens includes a second entrance surface that directs light from the exit surface of the light guide toward the reflector.

5. 3. The vehicle lamp according to claim 1, wherein a diffusion step is formed on the light exit surface of the first lens to diffuse the light from the light exit surface of the light guide in the left-right direction of the lamp.

6. 3. The vehicle lamp according to claim 1, wherein the second lens contains a light diffusing material therein.

7. 7. The vehicle lamp according to claim 6, wherein the first lens is disposed so as to receive light from an exit surface of the light guide in the vicinity of the light entrance portion.

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