Vehicular headlamp having improved low-beam illumination
AssigneeKoito Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
InventorToshiyuki Kinouchi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicular headlamp for low-beam illumination with a light distribution pattern having a horizontal cutoff line and a diagonal cutoff line so as to improve long distance visibility on the road on which the vehicle is traveling. An upward deflecting reflecting element for irradiating a beam onto a space in an area above a diagonal cutoff line is formed at the outer peripheral edge of the diagonal cutoff line forming area on a reflecting surface of a reflector. As a result, a small light distribution pattern P1 exhibiting high luminous intensity is formed in a space in the area above the diagonal cutoff line.
Claims19
A vehicular headlamp having a reference axis extending in a longitudinal direction of a vehicle on which said headlamp is mounted, comprising:
- a light source;
- a reflector for reflecting light from said light source forward and providing low-beam illumination in a light distribution pattern having a horizontal cutoff line and a diagonal cutoff line that slopes upwards at an angle of about 15° from said horizontal cutoff line;
- and
- an upward deflecting reflecting element for irradiating a beam towards a space in an area adjacent to said reference axis and above said diagonal cutoff line, said upward deflecting element being disposed on an outer peripheral edge of a reflecting surface of said reflector.
A vehicular headlamp comprising:
- a light source;
- a reflector for reflecting light from said light source forward and providing low-beam illumination in a light distribution pattern having a horizontal cutoff line and a diagonal cutoff line that slopes upwards at an angle of about 15° from said horizontal cutoff line;
- an upward deflecting reflecting element for irradiating a beam towards a space in an area above said diagonal cutoff line, said upward deflecting element being disposed on an outer peripheral edge of a reflecting surface of said reflector;
- and
- a shade for shading incident light from said light source onto said upward deflecting reflecting element,
- wherein said upward deflecting reflecting element is disposed within an angular range of not more than 30° around a reference axis of said headlamp.
A vehicular headlamp comprising:
- a light source;
- a reflector for reflecting light from said light source forward and providing low-beam illumination in a light distribution pattern having a horizontal cutoff line and a diagonal cutoff line that slopes upwards at an angle of about 15° from said horizontal cutoff line;
- an upward deflecting reflecting element for irradiating a beam towards a space in an area above said diagonal cutoff line, said upward deflecting element being disposed on an outer peripheral edge of a reflecting surface of said reflector;
- and
- a shade for shading incident light from said light source onto said upward deflecting reflecting element,
- wherein the beam irradiation towards said space in said area above said diagonal line provides a luminance of at least 0.8 lux at a distance 25 meters to the front of said headlamp at 0.5° above said reference axis of said headlamp and 1° towards the road on which the vehicle is traveling.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.