Vehicle headlamp
AssigneeKoito Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
InventorMasahiro Kusagaya
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle headlamp has a unit pivot control mechanism for laterally moving the luminous intensity distribution of a lamp unit by laterally pivoting the lamp unit according to the travel conditions of the vehicle, and a luminous intensity variable control mechanism for varying the luminous intensity distribution by moving a shade of the lamp unit according to the travel conditions of the vehicle. Beam emission can be carried out at emission angles with the luminous intensity distribution conforming to the travel conditions of the vehicle by properly combining beam emission control performed by the unit pivot control mechanism and the luminous intensity variable control mechanism. The result is improved visibility of a road surface ahead of the vehicle.
Claims13
A vehicle headlamp having a lamp body for emitting beams forward with a predetermined luminous intensity distribution, comprising:
- a lamp unit housed in the lamp body and including a light source disposed in a manner substantially coaxial with an optical axis extending in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle, a reflector for reflecting light from said light source forward closer to said optical axis, a condenser lens provided in front of said reflector, and a provided between said condenser lens and said reflector;
- a luminous intensity variable control mechanism for varying said luminous intensity distribution by moving the component element of said lamp unit according to the travel conditions of a vehicle;
- and
- a pivot control mechanism including a motor connected to a support frame within the headlamp body, a single link mechanism coupling the motor to the lamp unit, a driving circuit connected to the motor, and a control unit connected to the driving circuit, the pivot control mechanism for laterally pivoting said lamp unit according to the travel conditions of the vehicle.
A vehicle headlamp comprising:
- a head lamp body including a lamp unit with a light source disposed in a manner substantially coaxial with an optical axis extending in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle, a reflector for reflecting light from said light source forward closer to said optical axis, a condenser lens provided in front of said reflector, and a component which is provided between said condenser lens and said reflector;
- a luminous intensity variable control mechanism for varying a luminous intensity distribution according to travel conditions;
- and
- a pivot control mechanism including a motor connected to a support frame within the headlamp body, a single link mechanism coupling the motor to the lamp unit, a driving circuit connected to the motor, and a control unit connected to the driving circuit, the pivot control mechanism for laterally pivoting the lamp unit according to travel conditions.
A method for controlling the beam emitted from a vehicle headlamp comprising:
- moving a component of a lamp unit according to vehicle travel conditions to vary a luminous distribution of the beam;
- and
- pivoting the lamp unit laterally according to vehicle traveling conditions, wherein a shade is moved to an intermediate position if a low-beam is being emitted and if a vehicle-to-vehicle distance is at least a predetermined value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.