Vehicle lamp fitting

Abstract

This vehicle lamp fitting includes a lamp housing that has an internal space and a cover that covers the internal space, wherein: the lamp housing and the cover are joined by hot plate welding in a state in which the lamp housing is held by a first holding tool and the cover is held by a second holding tool; the lamp housing is provided with an outer peripheral portion having a welded protruding portion; the cover is provided with a joining protruding portion to be welded to the welded protruding portion; and the lamp housing is provided with a lift preventing portion that projects from the outer peripheral portion, is restrained by a restraining jig, and prevents the outer peripheral portion lifting up from the first holding tool.

Description

Vehicle lighting fixtures

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of a vehicle lamp in which a lamp housing and a cover are joined by hot plate welding.

[0002] A vehicle lamp generally has a lamp housing with an internal space and a cover that closes the internal space, and the necessary parts such as a lamp unit are arranged inside the lamp outer casing formed by joining the lamp housing and the cover.

[0003] In such vehicle lighting fixtures, one method of joining the lamp housing and cover is to use hot melt adhesive, but separating the lamp housing and the hot melt is difficult, and in recent years, from the perspective of resource recycling, etc., the lamp housing and cover are often joined by welding.

[0004] One welding method is hot plate welding (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Hot plate welding has advantages such as ensuring high welding strength, not requiring consumable materials such as adhesives, and being suitable for joining three-dimensional products with a wide range of resins to be used, and is therefore widely used as a method for joining lamp housings and covers.

[0005] The lamp housing and cover are joined by hot plate welding, for example, by providing welding protrusions on the outer periphery of the lamp housing and joining protrusions on the outer periphery of the cover, and then heating and welding the welding protrusions and joining protrusions.

[0006] When joining the lamp housing and cover by hot plate welding, the lamp housing and cover are held by a first jig and a second jig, respectively, and the welding protrusions and joining protrusions are heated by a hot plate to be in a meltable state.

[0007] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-201015

[0008] However, when joining the lamp housing and cover by hot plate welding, if the outer periphery of the lamp housing peels off from the first holder due to warping or other reasons, causing it to float, the positions of the welding protrusion and the joining protrusion may become misaligned during welding, and the lamp housing and cover may not be joined properly.

[0009] In particular, in recent years, vehicle lamps have often been formed in a shape that allows them to be positioned from the front or rear of the vehicle to the side, or in a horizontally elongated shape, and in vehicle lamps of this shape, both ends of the lamp housing in the longitudinal direction tend to float away from the first holder.

[0010] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the vehicle lamp of the present invention is to prevent the outer periphery of the lamp housing from floating off the first holder and to ensure a proper joining state between the lamp housing and the cover.

[0011] The vehicle lamp according to the present invention comprises a lamp housing having an internal space and a cover that covers the internal space, and the lamp housing and the cover are joined by hot plate welding while the lamp housing is held by a first holder and the cover is held by a second holder, wherein the lamp housing has an outer periphery having a welding protrusion, the cover has a joining protrusion that is welded to the welding protrusion, and the lamp housing has a lift prevention portion that protrudes from the outer periphery and is held by a holding jig to prevent the outer periphery from lifting from the first holder.

[0012] As a result, when the lamp housing is held by the first holder, the lift-preventing portion protruding from the outer periphery is held down by the holding jig.

[0013] According to the present invention, when the lamp housing is held by the first holder, the anti-floating portion protruding from the outer periphery is held down by a holding jig, thereby preventing the outer periphery of the lamp housing from floating up from the first holder and ensuring proper bonding between the lamp housing and the cover.

[0014] 2 to 10 show an embodiment of the vehicle lamp of the present invention, and this figure is a cross-sectional view of the vehicle lamp. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a lamp housing. FIG. 4 is a view showing the procedure for joining work by hot plate welding together with FIG. 8, and shows a state in which the lamp housing and the cover are held by a first holder and a second holder, respectively, and the inserted portion of the pressing jig is inserted into the lift-up prevention portion. FIG. 5 is a view showing a state in which the welding jig has been moved and positioned between the lamp housing and the cover. FIG. 6 is a view showing a state in which the welding protrusions and the joining protrusions are heated by a first hot plate and a second hot plate, respectively. FIG. 7 is a view showing a state in which the first holder and the second holder have been moved and separated from the welding jig. FIG. 8 is a view showing a state in which the welding jig has been moved and retracted from between the lamp housing and the cover. FIG. 9 is a view showing a state in which the joining protrusions are crimped to the welding protrusions. FIG. 10 is a side view showing another example of the lift-up prevention portion. FIG. 11 is a side view showing yet another example of the lift-up prevention portion.

[0015] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A vehicle lamp according to an embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0016] A vehicle lamp has a lamp housing and a cover, which are joined by hot plate welding. In the following description, for ease of understanding, the front, rear, top, bottom, left, and right directions are indicated according to the positions where the lamp housing and cover are held when joined by hot plate welding. Therefore, the side where the cover is located is referred to as the upper side, and the side where the lamp housing is located is referred to as the lower side.

[0017] However, the directions of front, back, up, down, left and right shown below are for the convenience of explanation, and the present invention is not limited to these directions in terms of implementation.

[0018] In addition, in each of the drawings, a vehicle lamp is shown as an example having a simple rotationally symmetrical shape in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention.

[0019] <Configuration of Vehicle Lamp> First, the configuration of the vehicle lamp 1 will be described (see FIGS. 1 and 2).

[0020] As described above, the vehicle lamp 1 is formed by joining the lamp housing 2 and the cover 3 by hot plate welding, and the cover 3 is joined to the lamp housing 2 by being pressed against it during the hot plate welding.

[0021] The lamp housing 2 is formed from a resin material such as ABS resin (acrylonitrile copolymer resin) and has an internal space 2a. The lamp housing 2 has a box-shaped main body 4 that is open at the top and an annular outer periphery 5 that protrudes outward from the upper end of the main body 4. The outer periphery 5 has a flange 6 that is continuous with the main body 4 and an annular welding protrusion 7 that protrudes upward from one surface of the flange 6 in the thickness direction, and the upper surface of the welding protrusion 7 is formed as a welding surface 7a.

[0022] The lamp housing 2 is formed in a shape that extends in a predetermined direction, for example, the left-right direction, and the extending direction is the longitudinal direction L. The lamp housing 2 may also be formed in a curved shape so that it is disposed from the front or rear to the side of the vehicle.

[0023] The lamp housing 2 has an outer peripheral portion 5 formed, for example, in the shape of a substantially rectangular frame (see FIG. 2 ). The lamp housing 2 is provided with float prevention portions 8 that protrude from each of the four corners 6 a of the flange portion 6. The float prevention portions 8 protrude downward from the other surface of the flange portion 6 in the thickness direction, and are located on the opposite side of the flange portion 6 from the welding protrusions 7. The float prevention portions 8 are composed of a pair of protrusions 9 that protrude downward from the flange portion 6 and connecting portions 10 whose both end portions are respectively connected to the tip ends of the protrusions 9, and have, for example, insertion holes 8 a that pass through in the longitudinal direction L.

[0024] The lamp housing 2 is integrally formed with a main body 4, an outer periphery 5, and a plurality of float prevention portions 8. While it is sufficient to provide at least one float prevention portion 8, it is desirable to provide at least one float prevention portion 8 at each end in the longitudinal direction L.

[0025] The cover 3 is made of a transparent resin material such as acrylic, and is integrally formed with a plate-shaped decorative surface portion 11 and a joint protrusion 12 that protrudes downward from a portion of the inner surface 11a of the decorative surface portion 11 near the outer periphery. The lower surface of the joint protrusion 12 is formed as a welding surface 12a. The cover 3 is joined to the lamp housing 2 in a state where it covers the internal space 2a.

[0026] The design surface portion 11 is formed in a curved shape, for example, so as to be convex on the opposite side of the lamp housing 2 in accordance with the shape of the vehicle body.

[0027] When the lamp housing 2 and the cover 3 are joined together, the necessary components such as a lamp unit are disposed in the internal space 2a. The lamp unit is composed of various components such as a light source, a reflector, an inner lens, etc.

[0028] <Joining Procedure> The procedure for joining the lamp housing 2 and the cover 3 by hot plate welding will now be briefly described (see FIGS. 3 to 8).

[0029] In joining the lamp housing 2 and the cover 3 by hot plate welding, a first holder 50, a second holder 60, a welding jig 70, and a pressing jig 80 are used.

[0030] The first holder 50 has a flat first base portion 51 facing up and down and a first holding portion 52 fixed to the upper surface of the first base portion 51. The second holder 60 has a flat second base portion 61 facing up and down and a second holding portion 62 fixed to the lower surface of the second base portion 61. The welding jig 70 has a flat base plate 71 facing up and down, a first heating plate 72 fixed to the lower surface of the base plate 71, and a second heating plate 73 fixed to the upper surface of the base plate 71. The holding jig 80 is disposed on the upper surface of the first base portion 51, for example, and four holding jigs 80 are provided, for example, depending on the number of lift prevention portions 8 provided on the lamp housing 2.

[0031] The holding jig 80 has a drive unit 81, a support plate 82, and a holding member 83, and an air cylinder, for example, is used as the drive unit 81. The holding jig 80 has the holding member 83 attached to the support plate 82, and the support plate 82 and the holding member 83 are movable in a substantially horizontal direction by the driving force of the drive unit 81. The holding member 83 is provided with an inserted portion 84, and a guided portion 84a that is inclined relative to the horizontal direction is formed on the lower edge of the inserted portion 84.

[0032] First, when joining the lamp housing 2 and the cover 3 by hot plate welding, the lamp housing 2 and the cover 3 are held by the first holding portion 52 of the first holder 50 and the second holding portion 62 of the second holder 60, respectively, and the cover 3 is positioned above the lamp housing 2 at a distance (see FIG. 3 ). At this time, the driving portion 81 of the holding jig 80 operates the support plate 82 and the holding member 83, and the guided portion 84a is guided by the connecting portion 10, and the inserted portion 84 is inserted into the insertion hole 8a of the lift-preventing portion 8 provided on the lamp housing 2.

[0033] The inserted portions 84 are inserted into the insertion holes 8a of the four float prevention portions 8 of the lamp housing 2, and the connecting portions 10 of the four float prevention portions 8 are pressed down by the inserted portions 84. Therefore, the outer periphery 5 is prevented from floating from the first holder 50, and the lamp housing 2 is held in a stable state by the first holder 50.

[0034] In the vehicle lamp 1, a lift-up prevention portion may also be provided on the cover 3, and the lift-up prevention portion may be held down by a holding member of the holding jig. In this case, the holding jig is disposed on the underside of the second base portion 61 of the second holder 60, for example.

[0035] Next, with the lamp housing 2 and the cover 3 held by the first holding portion 52 and the second holding portion 62, respectively, the welding jig 70 is moved and positioned between the lamp housing 2 and the cover 3 (see Figure 4).

[0036] Next, the first holder 50 is moved upward, and the second holder 60 is moved downward (see FIG. 5 ). As the first holder 50 is moved upward, the welding protrusion 7 of the lamp housing 2 is pressed against the first hot plate 72 of the welding jig 70. As the second holder 60 is moved downward, the joining protrusion 12 of the cover 3 is pressed against the second hot plate 73 of the welding jig 70, and the welding protrusion 7 and the joining protrusion 12 are heated by the first hot plate 72 and the second hot plate 73, respectively. The heating by the first hot plate 72 and the second hot plate 73 makes the upper end of the welding protrusion 7, including the welding surface 7 a, and the lower end of the joining protrusion 12, including the welding surface 12 a, meltable.

[0037] Next, the first holder 50 is moved downward and the second holder 60 is moved upward (see Figure 6), and the welding jig 70 is moved and retreated from between the lamp housing 2 and the cover 3 (see Figure 7).

[0038] Next, the second holder 60 is moved downward to press the cover 3 against the lamp housing 2, and the welding surfaces 12a of the joining protrusions 12 are pressed from above against the welding surfaces 7a of the welding protrusions 7 (see FIG. 8 ). At this time, the lift-prevention portions 8 are pressed by the pressing members 83 of the pressing jig 80, so that the outer periphery 5 does not lift from the first holder 50, and the welding surfaces 7a of the welding protrusions 7 are butted against the welding surfaces 12a of the joining protrusions 12.

[0039] On the other hand, if the lift-prevention portion 8 is not held down by the holding member 83, the outer peripheral portion 5 may lift off from the first holder 50. If this occurs, the welding protrusion 7 may be displaced from its proper position relative to the joining protrusion 12, and the welding surface 7a may not abut the welding surface 12a (see the diagram inside the circle in Figure 8). Note that the lift-off of the outer peripheral portion 5 from the first holder 50 may occur, for example, when the first holder 50 warps, or when the welding protrusion 7 sticks to the first hot plate 72 when the first holder 50 is moved downward relative to the welding jig 70.

[0040] When the welding surface 12a of the joining protrusion 12 is pressed against the welding surface 7a of the welding protrusion 7 from above, the upper end including the welding surface 7a of the welding protrusion 7 and the lower end including the welding surface 12a of the joining protrusion 12 are made in a meltable state, so that the upper end of the welding protrusion 7 and the lower end of the joining protrusion 12 melt and join the lamp housing 2 and the cover 3.

[0041] Finally, the second holder 60 is moved upward and separated from the cover 3, and the support plate 82 and the holding member 83 are operated by the drive unit 81 of the holding jig 80, so that the inserted portions 84 are pulled out of the insertion holes 8a of the float prevention portions 8. At this time, the inserted portions 84 are pulled out of the insertion holes 8a of the four float prevention portions 8 of the lamp housing 2. The lamp housing 2 and the cover 3 are removed from the first holder 50, and the joining operation of the lamp housing 2 and the cover 3 by hot plate welding is completed.

[0042] <Summary> As described above, in the vehicle lamp 1 , the lamp housing 2 is provided with the lift-preventing portion 8 that protrudes from the outer periphery 5 and is held down by the holding jig 80 .

[0043] Therefore, when the lamp housing 2 is held by the first holder 50, the anti-floating portion 8 protruding from the outer periphery 5 is held down by the holding jig 80, preventing the outer periphery 5 from floating up from the first holder 50 and ensuring proper bonding between the lamp housing 2 and the cover 3.

[0044] Furthermore, since the anti-floating portions 8 are provided at both longitudinal ends of the lamp housing 2, the anti-floating portions 8 provided in the parts of the outer periphery 5 that are prone to floating from the first holder 50 are held down by the holding jig 80, thereby effectively preventing the outer periphery 5 from floating from the first holder 50.

[0045] Furthermore, since the anti-floating portions 8 protrude from each of the four corners 6a of the outer periphery 5, the anti-floating portions 8 protruding from each of the four corners 6a of the outer periphery 5 are held down by the holding jig 80, thereby more effectively preventing the outer periphery 5 from floating from the first holder 50.

[0046] Furthermore, the anti-floating portion 8 is composed of a pair of protrusions 9 protruding in the same direction from the outer periphery 5 and a connecting portion 10 whose both ends are respectively connected to the tip ends of the pair of protrusions 9.

[0047] Therefore, since the anti-floating portion 8 is formed in a shape in which a pair of protrusions 9 are connected to the outer periphery 5 and both ends of the connecting portion 10 are each connected to a pair of protrusions 9, the strength of the anti-floating portion 8 is increased and a stable holding state of the anti-floating portion 8 by the holding jig 80 can be ensured.

[0048] Additionally, in the vehicle lamp 1, the welding protrusion 7 protrudes from one surface of the flange portion 6 in the thickness direction, and the lift-up prevention portion 8 protrudes from the other surface of the flange portion 6 in the thickness direction.

[0049] Therefore, since the anti-floating portion 8 protrudes from the flange portion 6 necessary for providing the welding protrusion 7, there is no need to form a dedicated part in the lamp housing 2 for providing the anti-floating portion 8, and it is possible to prevent the outer peripheral portion 5 from floating from the first holder 50 without increasing the size of the lamp housing 2.

[0050] <Others> The float prevention portion 8 provided on the lamp housing 2 has the function of preventing the outer periphery 5 from floating from the first holder 50, and is a portion that is used when hot plate welding the lamp housing 2 and the cover 3. Therefore, the float prevention portion 8 can be used for other purposes after hot plate welding of the lamp housing 2 and the cover 3 has been completed. For example, the float prevention portion 8 can be used as a portion for temporarily fastening the lamp housing 2 to the vehicle body, or as a portion through which various cables can be inserted and used to hold the cables.

[0051] Although the above example shows that the floating prevention portion 8 is formed in a U-shape by a pair of protrusions 9 and a connecting portion 10, the floating prevention portion 8 may have other shapes (see Figures 9 and 10). For example, the floating prevention portion 8 may be formed in an L-shape by one protrusion 9 and one connecting portion 10.

[0052] In this case, connecting portion 10 may be formed into a shape that widens as it moves away from protruding portion 9 (see FIG. 10). By forming floating prevention portion 8 into a shape that widens as connecting portion 10 moves away from protruding portion 9, floating prevention portion 8 becomes shaped to easily hold cable 100, and floating prevention portion 8 can hold cable 100 in a stable state.

[0053] Although the above example shows the floating prevention portions 8 protruding from each of the four corners 6 a of the outer periphery 5, the positions at which the floating prevention portions 8 are provided are not limited to the corners 6 a. The floating prevention portions 8 may be provided at positions where floating of the outer periphery 5 from the first holder 50 is likely to occur, depending on the shape, size, etc. of the lamp housing 2.

[0054] REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Vehicle lamp 2 Lamp housing 2a Internal space 3 Cover 5 Outer periphery 6 Flange portion 6a Corner portion 7 Welding protrusion 8 Floating prevention portion 8a Insertion hole 9 Protrusion 10 Connecting portion 12 Joining protrusion 50 First holder 80 Pressing jig

Claims

1. A vehicle lighting fixture comprising a lamp housing having an internal space and a cover that covers the internal space, wherein the lamp housing is held by a first holder and the cover is held by a second holder, and the lamp housing and the cover are joined by hot plate welding, wherein the lamp housing is provided with an outer periphery having welding protrusions, the cover is provided with joining protrusions that are welded to the welding protrusions, and the lamp housing is provided with lift-up prevention parts that protrude from the outer periphery and are held down by a holding jig to prevent the outer periphery from lifting up from the first holder.

2. A vehicle lamp according to claim 1, wherein the cover and the lamp housing are formed into a shape having a longitudinal direction, and the lift-up prevention portion is provided at both longitudinal ends of the lamp housing.

3. A vehicle lamp according to claim 1, wherein the outer periphery is formed into a shape having four corners, and the lift prevention portion protrudes from each of the four corners.

4. A vehicle lamp as claimed in claim 1, claim 2 or claim 3, wherein the anti-floating portion is constituted by a pair of protrusions protruding in the same direction from the outer periphery and a connecting portion whose both ends are respectively connected to the tip ends of the pair of protrusions.

5. A vehicle lamp as set forth in claim 1, claim 2 or claim 3, wherein the outer peripheral portion has a flange portion that protrudes outward and the welding protrusion protrudes from one surface of the flange portion in the thickness direction, and the lift prevention portion protrudes from the other surface of the flange portion in the thickness direction.

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