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US 8,042,980 B2Granted
Vehicle headlamp
AssigneeIchikoh Industries, Ltd.
InventorsYasuhiro Ookubo, Toshiya Abe
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle headlamp is provided with semiconductor-type light sources, lenses, a reflector, light shading members, prism members, and a switching device. When the light shading members are positioned in a first location by means of the switching device, a light distribution pattern LP for low beam, having one or more cutoff lines, is illuminated. In addition, when the prism members are positioned in the first location by means of the switching device, a light distribution pattern HP for high beam is illuminated. As a result, the vehicle headlamp can achieve downsizing, weight reduction, power saving, and cost reduction.
Claims11
A vehicle headlamp, comprising:
- (i) a semiconductor-type light source having a light emitting chip shaped like a planar rectangle;
- (ii) a lens for illuminating a part of light is emitted from the light emitting chip of the semiconductor-type light source toward a forward direction of a vehicle, as a light distribution pattern having one or more cutoff lines;
- (iii) a reflector having a reflecting surface for forwardly reflecting the light emitted from the light emitting chip of the semiconductor-type light source, excepting light incident to the lens, as a spot light distribution including a main optical axis of a light distribution pattern for high beam;
- (iv) a light shading member which is disposed to be movable between a first location and a second location, for disallowing a part of the light emitted from the light emitting chip of the semiconductor-type light source, to be hindered from being incident to the lens and for shading light that is out of incidence to the lens from the light emitting chip of the semiconductor-type light source, the light being incident to the reflecting surface, when the light shading member is positioned in the first location;
- (v) a prism member which is integrally structured together with the light shading member and is disposed to be movable between the first and second locations replaceably with the light shading member, for disallowing the light that is out of incidence to the lens and is emitted from the light emitting chip of the semiconductor-type light source, to be hindered from being incident to the reflecting surface, when the prism member is positioned in the first location, and for allowing a part of the light emitted from the light emitting chip of the semiconductor-type light source, to be incident to the lens in a state in which a reference focal point of the lens is virtually moved;
- and
- (vi) a switching device for replaceably switching the light shading member and the prism member that are integrally structured with each other, between the first location and the second location, thereby switching a current light distribution pattern to a respective one of a light distribution pattern having one or more cutoff lines and a light distribution pattern for high beam.
4 more elements
A vehicle headlamp, comprising:
- (i) a light source;
- (ii) a lens for illuminating a part of light emitted from the light source toward a forward direction of a vehicle, as a light distribution pattern having one or more cutoff lines;
- (iii) a reflector for reflecting the light emitted from the light source, the light being out of incidence to the lens, to the forward direction of the vehicle, as a light distribution of a light distribution pattern for high beam;
- (iv) a light shading member which is constituted to be movable between a first location in which the light shading member is disposed between the light source and the lens and a second location in which the light shading member is not disposed therebetween;
- and
- (v) a prism member which is disposed to be movable between the first location and the second location replaceably with the light shading member, wherein:
- when the light shading member is positioned in the first location,
- the light shading member allows a part of the light emitted from the light source to be incident to the lens, and shades light that is out of incidence to the lens from the light source, the light being incident to the reflector, whereby the light incident to the lens is illuminated to the forward direction of the vehicle, as the light distribution pattern having the cutoff lines;
- and
- when the prism member is positioned in the first location, the prism member is adapted to illuminate toward the forward direction of the vehicle:
- the light obtained by allowing the part of the light emitted from the light source to be incident to the lens in a state in which a reference focal point of the lens is virtually moved by means of the prism member;
- and
- the light obtained by allowing the light that is out of incidence to the lens from the light source to be reflected by means of reflector, as a light distribution of the light distribution pattern for high beam.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.