This application claims under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2016-0046021 filed on Apr. 15, 2016, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to a bi-functional headlamp for a vehicle and more particularly, to headlamp for a vehicle that implements a high beam mode and a low beam mode by adjusting a movement of a shield of a headlamp.
Generally, a vehicle includes lighting devices which have a lighting function that allows a driver to view objects positioned in a traveling direction of the vehicle when the vehicle is driven during low light conditions. A signal function informs drivers of other vehicles or other road users of a driving state of the vehicle. Among the lighting devices for a vehicle, headlamps, (e.g., headlights) are typically mounted at two sides in front of the vehicle and illuminate a path in front of the vehicle during operation of the vehicle at low light conditions. Thus, a driver's visibility is improved in a traveling direction. The headlamp should not obstruct (e.g., cause light blindness of a driver) the view of a driver in an oncoming vehicle . Accordingly, an operation mode of the headlamp is adjusted to a low beam mode or a high beam mode the driver manipulation.
Recently, to adjust and selectively use the low and high beam modes, a bi-functional headlamp has been applied. For example, a shield driving device (or light distribution direction changing device) includes a rotary shield, that emits a high beam and a low beam using a single light source. The bi-functional headlamp emits the high beam or the low beam by adjusting light reflected by a reflector by using the shield driving device.
In particular, the shield driving device adjusts a rotational position of the shield by an actuator. The actuator directs the light downward by an operation that closes the shield (e.g., low beam mode), or directs the light both upward and downward by an operation of opening the shield (e.g., high beam mode). The bi-functional headlamp does not produce a substantial amount of noise when the shield is rotated to an open position by the actuator. However, when electric power applied to the actuator is shut off and the shield is rotated to a closed position by restoring force of a return spring, the shield collides with a damper and produces noise.
The above information disclosed in this section is merely for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.
The present invention provides a bi-functional headlamp for a vehicle that reduces the impact and noise caused by of opening and closing a rotary shield by maintaining a contact state between a shock absorber that reduces operational noise of the rotary shield and one side of the rotary shield.
In one aspect, the present invention provides a bi-functional headlamp for a vehicle that may include: a rotary shield disposed at a front side of a light source, and configured to rotate about a rotating shaft to perform a closing operation to obstruct a portion of light entering an aspherical lens from the light source or an opening operation that removes the obstruction of the light, an actuator configured to provide rotational power to the rotary shield, a position restricting cam mounted on the rotating shaft and configured to be simultaneously rotated with the rotating shaft, a shock absorber that maintains a contact state with the position restricting cam and reduces impact caused by the rotation of the rotary shield and a return spring disposed on the rotating shaft of the rotary shield and configured to generate an elastic restoring force while being deformed when the rotary shield is opened.
In an exemplary embodiment, the shock absorber may include a cam contact portion configured to move in a linear trajectory (e.g., straight line) in conjunction with the rotation of the position restricting cam and may maintain contact with the position restricting cam. A shock absorbing spring may be configured to elastically support the cam contact portion to enable the cam contact portion to move in a linear trajectory. An end portion of the cam contact portion may maintain contact with the position restricting cam and may be provided with a curved center contact portion which comes into line contact with the position restricting cam and side contact portions that may be formed at both sides of the center contact portion and may be in surface contact with the position restricting cam.
In another exemplary embodiment, a contact surface, may maintain contact with the cam contact portion and may be disposed on an exterior circumferential surface of the position restricting cam. The contact surface may include a line contact section that may be in line contact with the cam contact portion. A surface contact sections may be formed at both sides of the line contact section and may be in surface contact with the cam contact portion.
In another exemplary embodiment, a shield closing catching projection may be disposed at an end portion of a first surface contact sections disposed at both sides of the line contact section of the position restricting cam to enable the rotary shield to be stopped when the rotary shield is disposed in a closed position. In addition, a shield opening catching projection may be disposed at an end portion of the second surface contact section to enable the rotary shield to be stopped when the rotary shield is disposed in an open position.
The actuator may include a motor configured to generate rotational power for the rotary shield, a shield pulley configured to be simultaneously rotated with the rotating shaft of the rotary shield, a motor pulley configured to be rotated by power of the motor and a power transmission member coupled to the shield pulley and the motor pulley to be rotated simultaneously with the shield pulley and the motor pulley and transmits power of the motor to the rotary shield.
According to the bi-functional headlamp for a vehicle according to the present invention, when the rotary shield rotates to adjust between the closed and opened positions when the position is completely changed, the contact between the position restricting cam and the cam contact portion may be maintained. In particular, the amount of impact caused by the rotation of the rotary shield may be reduced and the operational noise caused by the operation of opening and closing the rotary shield may be reduced.
The above and other features of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawings which are given hereinbelow by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:
Reference numerals set forth in the Drawings includes reference to the following elements as further discussed below:
10: light source
12: reflector
14: aspherical lens
16: lens holder
20: rotary shield
22: rotating shaft
24: shield wing
28: mounting bracket
30: actuator
32: motor
34: motor pulley
36: shield pulley
38: power transmission member
40: position restricting cam
41: contact surface
42: first surface contact section
43: second surface contact section
44: line contact section
45: shield closing catching projection
46: shield opening catching projection
50: shock absorber
51: cam contact portion
52: first side contact portion
53: second side contact portion
54: center contact portion
55: shock absorbing spring
60: return spring
It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarily to scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various exemplary features illustrative of the basic principles of the invention. The specific design features of the present invention as disclosed herein, including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations, and shapes will be determined in part by the particular intended application and use environment. In the figures, reference numbers refer to the same or equivalent parts of the present invention throughout the several figures of the drawing.
Hereinafter reference will now be made in detail to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described below. While the invention will be described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments, it will be understood that present description is not intended to limit the invention to those exemplary embodiments. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover not only the exemplary embodiments, but also various alternatives, modifications, equivalents and other exemplary embodiments, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. For example, in order to make the description of the present invention clear, unrelated parts are not shown and, the thicknesses of layers and regions are exaggerated for clarity. Further, when it is stated that a layer is “on” another layer or substrate, the layer may be directly on another layer or substrate or a third layer may be disposed therebetween.
It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
It is understood that the term “vehicle” or “vehicular” or other similar term as used herein is inclusive of motor vehicle in general such as passenger automobiles including sports utility vehicles (SUV), buses, trucks, various commercial vehicles, watercraft including a variety of boats, ships, aircraft, and the like and includes hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, combustion, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, hydrogen-powered vehicles and other alternative fuel vehicles (e.g. fuels derived from resources other than petroleum).
Hereinafter, an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. As illustrated in
The headlamp may include a shield driving device configured to rotate the rotary shield 20 at a predetermined angle to selectively obstruct a portion of the light of the light source 10 that enters the aspherical lens 14. The shield driving device may include an actuator 30 configured to generate rotational power to open the rotary shield 20 and a return spring 60 configured to generate an elastic restoring force to return the rotary shield 20 rotated by the actuator 30. A position restricting cam 40 may restricts) a rotational position of the rotary shield 20 when the rotary shield 20 is opened and closed. A shock absorber 50 may be configured to reduce an operational impact attributed to an operation that adjusts the rotary shield 20 to an open or closed position.
The rotary shield 20 may be disposed in front of the light source 10. For example, the rotary shield may be installed and mounted by penetration of a rear end portion of the reflector 12. The rotary shield 20 may be positioned at a rear side of the aspherical lens 14 and may be configured to rotate about a rotating shaft 22. The rotating shaft may be rotatably supported by mounting brackets 28 coupled to the rear ends of the lens holder 16 or the front ends of the reflector 12.
Based on a rotation angle of the rotary shield 20, the rotary shield 20 may be disposed in a closed position when a portion of the light that enters the aspherical lens 14 from the light source 10 is obstructed (e.g., blocked) Alternatively, the rotary shield 20 may be disposed in an opened position when the light is not blocked. Specifically, the rotary shield 20 may include a shield wing 24 positioned at a central portion in a longitudinal direction of the rotating shaft 22 that extends in a linear trajectory. The shield wing 24 may be configured to simultaneously rotate with the rotating shaft 22. Additionally, the shield wing 24 may be configured to rotate about the rotating shaft 22, to a closed position to obstruct light by the shield wing 24. When the shield wing 24 is disposed in an open position, the light may pass unobstructed.
The power of the actuator 30 may be used to rotate the rotary shield 20 from a closed position to an opened position to allow light to enter an upper portion of the aspherical lens 14. The actuator 30 may include a motor 32 configured to generate rotational power for the rotary shield 20, a motor pulley 34 coupled to a rotating shaft of the motor 32 and configured to simultaneously rotate with the rotating shaft by power from the motor, a shield pulley 36 coupled to the rotating shaft 22 of the rotary shield 20 and may be configured to simultaneously rotate with the rotating shaft 22 and a power transmission member 38 coupled to the motor pulley 34 and the shield pulley 36 and may be configured to be simultaneously rotated with the motor pulley 34 and the shield pulley 36 and may be configured to transmit rotational power of the motor 32 to the rotary shield 20.
The power transmission member 38 may be formed of a material that may generate a predetermined or higher level of surface frictional force and may have a continuous loop shape (e.g., or the like). The power transmission member 38 may be installed to simultaneously rotate with the shield pulley 36 and the motor pulley 34 through frictional contact and may be configured to transmit power of the motor 32 to the rotary shield 20. Further, to return the rotary shield 20 that has been rotated to the opened position by the actuator 30, a return spring 60 may be mounted on the rotating shaft 22 of the rotary shield 20.
The return spring 60 may be configured to generate an elastic restoring force while being compressively deformed when the rotary shield 20 is rotated from the closed position to block light to the opened position to allow the light to pass. In particular, the return spring 60 may be disposed between the rotating shaft 22 of the rotary shield 20 and the mounting bracket 28. For example, when the actuator 30 terminate the power supply, the return spring 60 returns the rotary shield 20 to the closed position using elastic restoring force.
Furthermore, the return spring 60 may be installed at a first end portion of both end portions of the rotating shaft 22 of the rotary shield 20. The position restricting cam 40 may be installed at a second end portion of the rotating shaft 22. The position restricting cam 40 may be configured to restrict the opened and closed positions of the rotary shield 20 adjusted by the actuator 30 and the return spring 60. The position restricting cam 40 may be mounted at an end portion of the rotating shaft 22 and may be configured to be simultaneously rotated with the rotating shaft 22 and disposed adjacent to the shock absorber 50.
In particular, the position restricting cam 40 may include a structure with an approximate elliptical longitudinal cross section (e.g., or similar shape) and may have a contact surface 41 formed at a partial section of an exterior circumferential surface of the position restricting cam 40 and may contact the shock absorber 50 by operation of opening and closing the rotary shield 20. The contact surface 41 may include a portion that maintains contact with the shock absorber 50 (e.g., in contact with a cam contact portion that includes the shock absorber 50), and maintains contact with the cam contact portion 51 regardless of a rotational position of the rotary shield 20 to elastically support the position restricting cam 40 by the shock absorber 50.
As illustrated in
The line contact section 44 may be a section that the cam contact portion 51 contacts when an operation mode of the rotary shield 20 is adjusted. In other words, the line contact section 44 may be a section that the cam contact portion 51 line contacts when the rotary shield 20 rotates between the closed position and the opened position and may include two curved sections c and d that may have a similar curvature and the sections c and d may be symmetrical with respect to each other.
The position restricting cam 40 may include the curved sections a and f at end portions of the first and second surface contact sections 42 and 43. Further, the position restricting cam 40 may include a shield closing catching projection 45 and a shield opening catching projection 46 that may be configured to stop the rotary shield 20 that rotates to the opened position or the closed position at an exact position and may be configured to maintain the stopped state of the rotary shield 20.
The shield closing catching projection 45 may be disposed at an end portion of the first surface contact section 42 that the cam contact portion 51 may surface contact when the rotary shield 20 is in the closed state. As illustrated in
The shield opening catching projection 46 may be disposed at an end portion of the second surface contact section 43 that the cam contact portion 51 may surface contact when the rotary shield 20 is in the opened position. As illustrated in
The shock absorber 50 having the cam contact portion 51 may be provided to maintain contact with the position restricting cam 40 and may reduce impact and noise caused by the rotation of the rotary shield 20. The shock absorber 50 may include the cam contact portion 51 and a shock absorbing spring 55 that may elastically support the cam contact portion 51 to move the cam contact portion 51 in a linear trajectory. When the rotary shield 20 is rotated and stopped, the cam contact portion 51 may maintain contact with the position restricting cam 40 and may be adjusted in a linear trajectory (e.g., in a straight line) in conjunction with the rotation of the position restricting cam 40. Although not illustrated, the bi-functional headlamp according to the present invention may include a guide (not illustrated) configured to guide the straight movement of the shock absorber 50. The shock absorber 50 may be operably supported by the reflector 12 or a vehicle body via the guide.
Referring to
In particular, one side contact portion (i.e., the first side contact portion) 52 of the side contact portions 52 and 53 formed at both sides of the center contact portion 54 may be in surface contact with the first surface contact section 42 of the position restricting cam 40 when the rotary shield 20 is in the closed position. The other side contact portion (i.e., the second side contact portion) 53 may be in surface contact with the second surface contact section 43 of the position restricting cam 40 when the rotary shield 20 is in the opened position.
As illustrated in
Referring to
First, as illustrated in
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
When the rotary shield 20 rotates to adjust the state and even when the position is adjusted between the in the closed and opened positions when the state is completely changed, the contact state between the position restricting cam 40 and the cam contact portion 51 may be maintained. Namely, the amount of impact attributed to the rotation of the rotary shield 20 may be significantly reduced and thus operational noise caused by the operation of opening and closing the rotary shield 20 may be reduced by the shock absorber.
The invention has been described in detail with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these exemplary embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2016-0046021 | Apr 2016 | KR | national |