IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,276,384
Granted Patent B2
US 12,276,384 · App. 18/568,960 · Granted Apr 15, 2025

Vehicle lighting appliance lens, vehicle lighting appliance unit, and vehicle lighting appliance device

Inventor: Kei Onoma (Isehara, JP)
Assignee: Ichikoh Industries, Ltd.
F21S41/265F21S41/147F21S41/321F21W2102/155
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,276,384
App. No.
18/568,960
Granted
Apr 15, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

A vehicle lighting appliance lens, a vehicle lighting appliance unit, and a vehicle lighting appliance device each includes an incidence part, a second reflective surface, a cutoff-line forming part, and an emission surface. The cutoff-line forming part is provided in the left-right direction of a vehicle. As a result, the flowability of resin is improved, the control of a low-beam light distribution pattern is improved, and a cutoff line without warping is formed.

Claims (50)

1. A vehicle lighting appliance lens comprising:

an incidence part on which at least a portion of light from a light source is incident;

a reflective surface that has a reflective-surface focal point and reflects incident light from the incidence part;

a cutoff-line forming part that is disposed in a left-right direction of a vehicle and forms a cutoff line by controlling a portion of reflected light from the reflective surface; and

an emission surface that emits the reflected light passing through the cutoff-line forming part in front of the vehicle as a light distribution pattern having the cutoff line, wherein,

the reflective-surface focal point is disposed in a vicinity of the cutoff-line forming part, and

the reflective surface has:

a first region in which the reflected light passes through the reflective-surface focal point; and

a second region in which the reflected light reaches a surface position of the vehicle lighting appliance lens, the surface position being away from the cutoff-line forming part toward the reflective surface, and passes right or left side of the reflective-surface focal point.

2. A vehicle lighting appliance unit comprising:

a light source; and

the vehicle lighting appliance lens according to claim 1 that receives light from the light source and emits incident light as a light distribution pattern having a cutoff line along a left-right direction of a vehicle.

3. The vehicle lighting appliance unit according to claim 2 , wherein,

the light source comprises a plurality of light sources, and

the vehicle lighting appliance lens includes a plurality of incidence parts corresponding to the plurality of light sources.

4. A vehicle lighting appliance device comprising:

a lamp lens and a lamp housing forming a lamp compartment; and

the vehicle lighting appliance unit according to claim 2 disposed in the lamp compartment.

5. The vehicle lighting appliance lens according to claim 1 , wherein,

the reflective surface is based on a paraboloid of revolution and has a reflective-surface optical axis that is a rotation axis of the paraboloid of revolution, and

the reflective-surface optical axis of the first region is parallel to an incidence-part optical axis of the incidence part, and the reflective-surface optical axes of the second region gradually tilts toward a vertical line as the reflective-surface optical axis of the second region shifts to the right or left side from a first region side, an angle formed by the reflective-surface optical axes of the second region and the vertical line being smaller than an angle formed by the incidence-part optical axis and the vertical line.

6. A vehicle lighting appliance lens comprising:

an incidence part that has an incidence-part optical axis tilting relative to a vertical line, and causes at least a portion of light from a light source to be incident as parallel light parallel or substantially parallel to the incidence-part optical axis;

a reflective surface that is based on a paraboloid of revolution, has a reflective-surface optical axis that is a rotation axis of the paraboloid of revolution, has a reflective-surface focal point that is a focal point of the paraboloid of revolution, and reflects incident light from the incidence part;

a cutoff-line forming part that is disposed in a left-right direction of a vehicle and forms a cutoff line along the left-right direction of the vehicle by controlling a portion of reflected light from the reflective surface; and

an emission surface that emits the reflected light passing through the cutoff-line forming part in front of the vehicle as a light distribution pattern having the cutoff line, wherein,

the emission surface has an emission-surface focal point in a vicinity of the reflective-surface focal point,

the reflective surface has a central reflective region and outer reflective regions, and

the reflective-surface optical axis of the central reflective region is parallel to an incidence-part optical axis, and the reflective-surface optical axes of the second region gradually tilt toward the vertical line as the reflective-surface optical axes of the outer reflective regions shift to an outer side from a central reflective region side, an angle formed by each of the reflective-surface optical axes of the outer reflective regions and the vertical line being smaller than an angle formed by the incidence-part optical axis and the vertical line.

7. The vehicle lighting appliance lens according to claim 6 , wherein,

the incidence-part optical axis tilts in a state where the direction of the incident light is directed to the emission surface side relative to the vertical line,

as the reflective-surface optical axis of a left reflective region of the outer reflective regions shifts to a left side, the reflective-surface optical axis shifts from a state of being parallel or substantially parallel to the incidence-part optical axis to a state of being parallel or substantially parallel to the vertical line, and

as the reflective-surface optical axis of a right reflective region of the outer reflective regions shifts to a right side, the reflective-surface optical axis shifts from a state of being parallel or substantially parallel to the incidence-part optical axis to a state of being parallel or substantially parallel to the vertical line.

8. The vehicle lighting appliance lens according to claim 7 , wherein,

the cutoff-line forming part includes a lower horizontal cutoff-line forming part and an upper horizontal cutoff-line forming part,

one of the left reflective region and the right reflective region controls the reflected light passing through the lower horizontal cutoff-line forming part,

the other of the left reflective region and the right reflective region controls the reflected light passing through the upper horizontal cutoff-line forming part, and

the reflective-surface optical axis of the one of the left reflective region and the right reflective region is parallel or substantially parallel to the vertical line relative to the reflective-surface optical axis of the other of the left reflective region and the right reflective region.

9. A vehicle lighting appliance lens comprising:

an incidence part that has an incidence-part optical axis tilting relative to a vertical line, and causes at least a portion of light from a light source to be incident as parallel light parallel or substantially parallel to the incidence-part optical axis;

a reflective surface that is based on a paraboloid of revolution, has a reflective-surface optical axis that is a rotation axis of the paraboloid of revolution, has a reflective-surface focal point that is a focal point of the paraboloid of revolution, and reflects incident light from the incidence part;

a cutoff-line forming part that is disposed in a left-right direction of a vehicle and forms a cutoff line along the left-right direction of the vehicle by controlling a portion of reflected light from the reflective surface; and

an emission surface that emits the reflected light passing through the cutoff-line forming part in front of the vehicle as a light distribution pattern having the cutoff line, wherein,

the emission surface has an emission-surface focal point in a vicinity of the reflective-surface focal point,

the reflective surface has a central reflective region and outer reflective regions, and

the reflective-surface optical axis of the central reflective region tilts toward the vertical line as compared with the reflective-surface optical axes of the outer reflective regions, and

wherein,

the incidence-part optical axis tilts in a state where the direction of the incident light is directed to the emission surface side relative to the vertical line,

as the reflective-surface optical axis of a left reflective region of the outer reflective regions shifts to a left side, the reflective-surface optical axis shifts from a state of being parallel or substantially parallel to the incidence-part optical axis to a state of being parallel or substantially parallel to the vertical line, and

as the reflective-surface optical axis of a right reflective region of the outer reflective regions shifts to a right side, the reflective-surface optical axis shifts from a state of being parallel or substantially parallel to the incidence-part optical axis to a state of being parallel or substantially parallel to the vertical line.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 11, 2023
From: ONOMA, KEI
To: ICHIKOH INDUSTRIES, LTD.
Reel/Frame 065826/0606 →
Priority Claims (1)
JP 2021-098331 · Jun 11, 2021 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20240280232A1 · Aug 22, 2024
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