Lighting device for a vehicle

1. A lighting device for a motor vehicle headlamp, comprising:

a light source for emitting light and

a reflector for focusing the light emitted by the light source, there being formed, at the rear end of the reflector, an opening to receive at least a part of the light source, and a reflector neck that surrounds the opening and to which the light source is fastened in a defined position relative to a reflective surface of the reflector, wherein the reflector neck is formed integrally with the reflector, whereby the reflector neck and the reflector are produced in a common die casting operation; and

wherein a plurality of locking members are formed on the reflector, which locking members, in the course of a rotary movement of the light source about the optical axis of the reflector or about an axis parallel thereto when the light source has been at least partly inserted in the reflector neck in the direction of the optical axis, engage in corresponding perforations formed in the light source, at least one of the locking members co-operating with at least one of the perforations in the course of the rotary movement in such a way, and causing forced guidance of the light source in such a way, that the light source is held in a defined position relative to the reflector in the axial direction.

2. A lighting device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the perforations and/or cut-outs are formed in that part of the light source that is received by the reflector neck.

3. A lighting device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the part of the light source that is received by the reflector neck is a lamp-base belonging to the light source.

4. A lighting device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the locking members are formed directly on the reflector neck.

5. A lighting device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the locking members that cause the forced guidance of the light source each comprise a nose portion that extends in the circumferential direction in the opposite direction to the rotary movement and that engages in the course of the rotary movement in an undercut associated with a given one of the perforations.

6. A lighting device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the locking members and the corresponding perforations are so positioned and configured that they align the light source in a given radial position relative to the optical axis in the course of the rotary movement.

7. A lighting device as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the locking members and the corresponding perforations are so positioned and so configured to correspond to one another that, at least indirectly, they cause that part of the light source that is received by the reflector neck to bear against an inner circumferential surface of the reflector neck.

8. A lighting device as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the perforations each follow a path that curves in an arc and is obliquely aligned to the circumferential direction, the distance between the perforations and the center of that part of the light source that is received by the reflector neck decreasing in the direction of the rotary movement.

9. A lighting device for a motor vehicle headlamp, comprising:

a light source for emitting light and

a reflector for focusing the light emitted by the light source, there being formed, at the rear end of the reflector, an opening to receive at least a part of the light source, and a reflector neck that surrounds the opening and to which the light source is fastened in a defined position relative to a reflective surface of the reflector, wherein the reflector neck is formed integrally with the reflector;

wherein a plurality of locking members are formed on the reflector, which locking members, in the course of a rotary movement of the light source about the optical axis of the reflector or about an axis parallel thereto when the light source has been at least partly inserted in the reflector neck in the direction of the optical axis, engage in corresponding perforations formed in the light source, at least one of the locking members co-operating with at least one of the perforations in the course of the rotary movement in such a way, and causing forced guidance of the light source in such a way, that the light source is held in a defined position relative to the reflector in the axial direction; and,

wherein there are formed on the reflector neck a plurality of axially acting supporting elements that are arranged to be distributed around the opening in the reflector and that each have a contact-making surface that faces towards the rear in the direction of the optical axis of the reflector and on which that part of the light source that is received by the reflector neck is supported when in the fitted state.

10. A lighting device as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the contact-making surfaces of the supporting elements follow an inclined path, the inclines of the contact-making surfaces being so aligned that the distance between that part of the light source that is received by the reflector neck at the rear end of the reflector increases during the rotary movement of the light source, over at least part of the angular range covered by the rotary movement, as the angle of rotation increases.

11. A lighting device as claimed in claim 9 , wherein there are formed, on that part of the light source that is received by the reflector neck, supported points that project from the surface of the received part and that face towards the contact-making surfaces of the supporting elements of the reflector during at least part of the rotary movement.

12. A lighting device as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the contact-making surfaces of the supporting elements of the reflector neck each have a latching depression to receive, towards the end of the rotary movement, an outwardly curved portion of a corresponding supported point on that part of the light source that is received by the reflector neck.

13. A lighting device as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the latching depressions take the form of latching grooves whose longitudinal extent lies substantially at right angles to the direction of the rotary movement.

14. A lighting device as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the perforations and/or cut-outs are formed in that part of the light source that is received by the reflector neck.

15. A lighting device as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the part of the light source that is received by the reflector neck is a lamp-base belonging to the light source.

16. A lighting device as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the locking members are formed directly on the reflector neck.

17. A lighting device as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the locking members that cause the forced guidance of the light source each comprise a nose portion that extends in the circumferential direction in the opposite direction to the rotary movement and that engages in the course of the rotary movement in an undercut associated with a given one of the perforations.

18. A lighting device as claimed in claim 9 , wherein there are formed, on that part of the light source that is received by the reflector neck, supported points that project from the surface of the received part and that face towards the contact-making surfaces of the supporting elements of the reflector during at least part of the rotary movement.

19. A lighting device as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the locking members and the corresponding perforations are so positioned and configured that they align the light source in a given radial position relative to the optical axis in the course of the rotary movement.

20. A lighting device as claimed in claim 19 , wherein the locking members and the corresponding perforations are so positioned and so configured to correspond to one another that, at least indirectly, they cause that part of the light source that is received by the reflector neck to bear against an inner circumferential surface of the reflector neck.

21. A light source of a lighting device for a vehicle, and in particular a motor vehicle, having a part that can be received by a reflector neck integrally formed with a reflector of the lighting device, whereby the reflector neck and the reflector are produced in a common die casting operation;

wherein the light source has at least one perforation to receive at least one correspondingly formed locking member on the reflector neck, at least one of the perforations being so matched in arrangement and/or configuration to the arrangement and/or configuration of at least one of the locking members that, on being received in the reflector neck, the light source is forcibly guided, during a rotary movement of the said light source that follows about the optical axis of the reflector or about an axis parallel thereto, in such a way that the light source is held in a defined position in the axial direction relative to the reflector.

22. A light source as claimed in claim 21 , wherein that part of the light source that is received by the reflector neck is in the form of a lamp base.

23. A light source as claimed in claim 21 , wherein at least one of the perforations is of an arcuate form.

24. A light source as claimed in claim 23 , wherein the center around which the arc of the at least one arcuate perforation is arranged at a distance from the center of that part of the light source that is received by the reflector neck.

25. A light source as claimed in claim 24 , wherein the arc of the at least one arcuate perforation extends obliquely to a circle drawn around the center of that part of the light source that is received by the reflector neck, the distance between the at least one perforation and the center of the received part of the light source decreasing in the direction of rotation.