The present invention relates, in general, to headlights for motor vehicles.
At present, there are two large families of such headlights. The first family, those of headlights herein called “of the parabolic type” comprises headlights whose beam is mainly generated by a source of small dimensions mounted in a mirror which projects the rays onto the road in order to form the desired beam. The window of the headlight is involved, if necessary, by being fitted with prisms, striations, etc. in order to model the beam, and in particular, in order to spread it widthwise. In this case, this family includes the headlights called “free-surface” or else “Surface Complexe” (registered trademark) headlights, having the ability of directly generating a beam delimited by a desired upper cut-off line.
These headlights have the properties of being able to generate beams of excellent quality in terms of light distribution, and of being, in general, not very deep; however, in order to generate a sufficiently intense beam, it is necessary that their mirror recovers a significant proportion of the light flux emitted by the lamp.
A first approach to doing this consists in using a very small initial focal length, especially in order to obtain a mirror which is very close around the source and of small size widthwise. However, in this case, because of the large size of the images of the source generated by the mirror, the beam has in general an excessive thickness, and is in any case difficult to control.
A second approach to recovering the light flux while obtaining a thinner beam consists, on the contrary, in increasing the initial focal length, but in this case the mirror must have relatively large dimensions transversely to the optical axis, which is counter to the objective of a compact headlight.
The second family is that of headlights “of the elliptical type”. Such headlights are characterized by a lamp mounted in a mirror which generates, with the reflected rays, a concentrated spot (typically, the source is at the first focus of a mirror in the shape of an ellipsoid of revolution and the spot is formed at the second focus of the said mirror), and this spot is projected onto the road by a convergent lens, usually a plano-convex lens. If the beam has to comprise a cut-off line, the latter is produced by partly occluding the light spot where it is formed.
This second family of headlights has the advantage of being able to recover a significant proportion of the light flux emitted by the source, while having small dimensions transversely to the optical axis. On the other hand, the photometry of the beam may prove to be difficult to model, since by nature no correcting element of the prism or striated type can in general correct the light downstream of the lens; furthermore, these headlights have a large size depthwise.
Furthermore, in practice, these two families of headlights have very different external appearances.
Thus, the headlights of the parabolic type have a window with a relatively large width (while throughout the years, for reasons of style and aerodynamics, their height has gradually reduced). This window is striated or, in more recent styles, virtually smooth such that, when the headlight is extinguished, the mirror and various types of trims are observed perfectly on the inside.
In contrast, a headlight of the elliptical type, when it is extinguished, in general reveals only the outer convex face of the lens, which is often surrounded with a suitable trim, through a smooth window.
Nowadays, there are ever more demanding requests from designers relating to the appearance of illuminating headlights for vehicles.
Thus certain style “trends” favour headlights of parabolic type, or of elliptical type, or even a combination of both types.
Moreover, on a more technical level, there is a strong demand for headlights having a size which is moderate not only transversely to the optical axis, but also depthwise, that is to say along the optical axis, which, in principle, neither of the two families of headlights mentioned above is able to obtain without making concessions in terms of quality of illumination.
Of course there have been attempts to produce headlights of the parabolic family which have a height and a width comparable to those of an elliptical headlight (that is to say, each one typically less than 100 mm, or even 90 mm), while forming a suitable beam, although limited in terms of light intensity, especially along the axis of the road.
However, a sidelight of this sort placed alongside a headlight of the elliptical type (for example, one being responsible for dipped-lighting while the other is responsible for road lighting) will have—with the headlights extinguished—an aesthetic appearance which is very different from that of the said elliptical headlight, which today no longer satisfies the designers.
The present invention therefore aims to provide a headlight which, while technically belonging to the family of headlights “of the parabolic type”, has, when extinguished, an external appearance similar to that of a headlight “of the elliptical type”.
Another object of the present invention is to satisfy this objective while generating a light beam of high quality.
To this end, the present invention provides, according to a first aspect, a headlight for a motor vehicle, comprising a lightsource, a mirror and a transparent optical deflection element placed in front of the mirror, the mirror being capable of cooperating with the light source in order to generate a beam delimited by an upper cut-off line, and the deflection element being capable of providing a generally horizontal spread of the light, without substantially modifying the vertical distribution of the light, a headlight characterized in that the said deflection element has light input and output faces which are continuous over their entire span, so as to present an appearance similar to that of a lens for projecting a light spot.
Preferred, but non-limiting, aspects of the headlight according to the invention are as follows:
According to a second aspect of the present invention, a pair of headlights for a motor vehicle, the headlights being intended to be located one near the other at the front of the vehicle, characterized in that it comprises a headlight as defined above and a headlight of the elliptical type, the deflection element of the headlight as defined above being near a projection lens of the headlight of the elliptical type is provided.
The invention finally proposes a method of manufacturing a mirror and a deflection element combined with a motor vehicle headlight, the headlight comprising a light source, a mirror and a transparent optical deflection element placed in front of the mirror, the mirror being capable of cooperating with the lamp in order to generate a beam delimited by an upper cut-off line, and the deflection element being capable of providing a generally horizontal spread of the light, without substantially modifying the vertical distribution of the light, a method characterized in that it comprises the following steps:
Other aspects, aims and advantages of the present invention will become better apparent on reading the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, given by way of non-limiting example and made with reference to the appended drawings, in which:
a and 2b illustrate, respectively, two curves of behaviour illustrating a particular design example of the mirror and of the optical element of a headlight according to the invention.
By way of introduction, it will be noted that, in the following description, reference will be made to an orthonormal frame of reference where O is at the geometric centre of the source 10, x-x is the horizontal axis transverse to the optical axis of the headlight, y-y is the optical axis, and z-z is vertical.
It will also be noted that the design of the headlight will be given below for only a lateral half thereof, knowing that the other half will be constructed with the same information, whether symmetrically or not.
With reference first of all to
The structural details of this headlight, which may be completely conventional, have not been shown for the sake of simplification. In particular, the elements illustrated in
In this case, the source 10 is placed axially along the optical axis y-y of the mirror 20, the horizontal generatrix 21 of which describes a curve y=f20(x) as will be explained below.
The lens 30 is placed transversely to the OY axis and has an inner face 31 receiving the light reflected by the mirror and an outer face 32 which, in this case, is smooth, flat and perpendicular to OY. The inner face 31 of the lens has a horizontal cross section describing a curve, which is continuous and preferably derivable, y=f30(x), as will be explained below, the lens being obtained by displacement of a vertical directrix along this curve in order to form its inner face, the lens thus being cylindrical.
In the present example, the mirror 20 is capable of generating a light beam delimited overall by an upper cut-off line.
In the prior art, there are many publications describing mirrors of this sort, and in particular mirrors capable of generating a beam provided with a cut-off line of this sort, whatever the generatrix y=f20(x) which is chosen. Reference will especially be made to the document DE-A-4 200 989, which describes in detail a generic method for producing such surfaces mathematically from any horizontal generatrix.
It will be noted below that D/2 is the half-width of the mirror 20 and of the lens 30.
The mirror 20 and the inner face 31 of the lens 30 are constructed as a function of the behaviour desired thereof in terms of reflected and refracted ray propagation, respectively.
In particular, the horizontal generatrix of the mirror is first of all constructed so as to satisfy a given law which gives, as a function of x, the value χ(x) along x of the point of impact, on an imaginary transverse line of equation y=y1 in the plane of
It is understood that a law of this sort makes it possible to model various forms of horizontal generatrices.
Thus, for example, a law which gives χ(x)=01, whatever the value of x, describes an elliptical horizontal generatrix, the first focus of which is at the point 0 and the second focus of which is on the y-y axis at y=y1. According to another example, it is understood that a law which gives χ(x)=x gives a parabolic horizontal generatrix of focus 0.
From this, it is also understood that the law which is chosen makes it possible to control the way in which the mirror “closes” around the source, that is to say, to control the amount of light flux recovered by the mirror, it being understood that the focal length f0 between the point 0 and the bottom of the mirror 20 at y0 also makes it possible to vary this flux recovery.
A particular example of a law of this sort is given in
As a result, it is understood that the horizontal generatrix of the mirror changes gradually, from x1 with an elliptical shape towards a shape which is somewhat parabolic.
The curve y20(x), which defines the horizontal generatrix, and therefore the whole of its three-dimensional shape according to the teachings of the documents mentioned above, may be easily defined as a function of a law such as that shown in
It is important that the majority, or even all, of the radiation reflected by the mirror properly reaches the input face of the lens. This is easily achieved by making sure, when choosing the law χ(x), that the value of χ(x) never exceeds D/2.
The shape of the inner horizontal cross section of the lens, defined by the curve y=f30(x), is itself defined from a chosen law which determines, as a function of the value x for transmission of a ray reflected by the generatrix 21 of the mirror (which itself makes it possible to determine the initial horizontal deflection of the ray from the optical axis y-y, by knowing the shape of the said generatrix), the final horizontal deflection θ(x) imparted to this ray.
It will be noted here that, by convention, deflections towards the left are allocated a negative sign.
Thus,
It will be observed here that the choice of θ(x)=0 for x=0 makes it possible to ensure that at the value x=0, the input face of the lens 30 has a cross section which can be differentiated (in this case, perpendicular to the optical axis y-y).
Here again, the horizontal cross section y=f30(x) of the inner face 31 of the lens can be easily determined by a person skilled in the art as a function of the law θ(x) which was chosen, for example using a system of differential equations in canonical form.
Thus, the combination of the laws of
From the numerical files thus obtained, a computer-assisted machining process can be implemented to produce the moulds or imprints serving to manufacture, on the one hand, the mirror, and on the other, the lens.
A headlight was produced on the basis of the curves of
The shape of the mirror and of the lens thus obtained is illustrated in
Advantageously, and as shown in
Also in
It is understood that a headlight which is compact in width and, to a certain degree, in depth, has thus been produced, capable of generating a satisfactory beam, and having an appearance close to that of an elliptical headlight. With regard to the photometric quality of the beam,
A large width, good homogeneity and, at the same time, a large point of light along the axis of the road will be noted. This is permitted by the fact that significant areas of the mirror 20 and of the lens 30 are dedicated to obtaining a zero deflection of the light (θ=0 between x3 and D/2), this with relatively small images of the source (such images being smaller the greater the value of x).
Of course, many variants of the present invention may be provided.
Firstly, different widths can be given to the mirror 20 and to the lens 30, it being possible for the width of the mirror to be equal to or less than that of the lens.
Secondly, the lens may be designed, not with a smooth and flat outer face and with an inner face designed as described above, but on the contrary with a smooth and flat inner face and with an outer face designed as described above (or else with both the inner and outer faces worked).
Thirdly, the left and right halves of the mirror and of the lens may or may not be produced symmetrically. In particular, with the present invention, it is possible to foresee generating a beam which is asymmetric and, for example, more spread out in width to the left than to the right, or conversely.
Fourthly, it is possible to produce a beam having an upper cut-off line defined by two planes offset in height, or else by two planes inclined one with respect to the other.
The first example, which typically corresponds to a dipped beam satisfying United States standards, may be obtained by designing the left and right parts of the mirror so as to generate two different cut-off line levels.
The second example, which typically corresponds to a dipped beam complying with European standards, may be obtained by designing a given area of the mirror so that it generates an inclined cut-off line plane. In this case, in order to avoid the deflection element 30 disturbing this cut-off line, it is possible to make sure that that part of the light delimited by a cut-off line of this sort traverses part of the deflection element 30 in an area thereof which is essentially non-deflecting.
Fifthly, the geometrical definition of the reflecting surface of the mirror 20 may be refined by varying, if necessary, some parameters involved in this definition, and especially the “high focus” and “low focus” parameters described, for example, in documents FR-A-2 760 067 or FR-A-2 760 068 in the name of the applicant.
Many other variants may also be provided.
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01 03906 | Mar 2001 | FR | national |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20020186570 A1 | Dec 2002 | US |