Vehicle lamp with scanning light reflector and wavelength conversion means
AssigneeStanley Electric Co., Ltd.
InventorsYasushi Yatsuda, Hiroshi Hirasawa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle lamp includes a laser light source, a wavelength converter, a light reflector for two-dimensionally scanning light from the laser light source to form a light intensity distribution on the wavelength converter, a control unit for controlling first and second actuators driving the light reflector, and an optical system for projecting the light intensity distribution formed on the wavelength converter as an output light distribution pattern. The first actuator might be a resonant or non-resonant drive, while the second actuator is a non-resonant drive.
Claims10
A vehicle lamp configured to form a predetermined light distribution pattern, the vehicle lamp comprising:
- an excitation light source;
- a light reflector that two-dimensionally scans excitation light, the light reflector including:
- a mirror unit that reflects excitation light incident from the excitation light source;
- a first actuator that oscillates the mirror unit around a first axis by using a resonant drive;
- and
- a second actuator that oscillates the mirror unit around a second axis orthogonal to the first axis by using a nonresonant drive,
- the light reflector arranged such that the first axis is included in a vertical plane, and the second axis is included in a horizontal plane,
- a wavelength converter having a scan region in which a light intensity distribution is formed by drawing a two-dimensional image with the excitation light that is two-dimensionally scanned by the light reflector;
- a control unit that controls the first actuator by using the resonance drive as well as the second actuator by using the nonresonant drive so that the two-dimensional image is formed in the scan region with the excitation light that is two-dimensionally scanned by the light reflector;
- and
- an optical system that projects the light intensity distribution formed in the scan region to form the prescribed light distribution pattern,
- wherein the control unit controls the second actuator to reduce an oscillation rate around the second axis of the mirror unit while the two-dimensional image is drawn in a partial region of the scan region, to form the light intensity distribution with higher light intensity in the partial region of the scan region.
A vehicle lamp configured to form a predetermined light distribution pattern, the vehicle lamp comprising:
- an excitation light source;
- a light reflector that two-dimensionally scans the excitation light, the light reflector including:
- a mirror unit that reflects excitation light incident from the excitation light source;
- a first actuator that oscillates the mirror unit around a first axis by using a nonresonant drive;
- and
- a second actuator that oscillates the mirror unit around a second axis orthogonal to the first axis by using the nonresonant drive,
- the light reflector arranged such that the first axis is included in a vertical plane, and the second axis is included in a horizontal plane;
- a wavelength converter having a scan region in which a light intensity distribution is formed by drawing a two-dimensional image with the excitation light that is two-dimensionally scanned by the light reflector;
- a control unit that controls the first and second actuators by using the nonresonant drive so that the two-dimensional image is formed in the scan region with the excitation light that is two-dimensionally scanned by the light reflector;
- and
- an optical system that projects the light intensity distribution formed in the scan region to form the prescribed light distribution pattern,
- wherein the control unit controls the first and second actuators to reduce oscillation rates around the first and second axes of the mirror unit, while the two-dimensional image is drawn in a partial region of the scan region to form the light intensity distribution with high light intensity in the partial region of the scan region.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.