Patent Application
20240003509
Proper vehicle lights, including headlights, taillights, and auxiliary lighting, improve safety, enhance cosmetic appearance and functionality and versatility to a vehicle. For example, auxiliary lights work in conjunction with stock lights to deliver added visibility in certain complex conditions. Auxiliary lights include fog lights, driving lights, off-road lights and the like. Auxiliary lighting is tailored for optimal visibility in poor weather conditions such as rain, fog, or mist, or anywhere additional lighting may be needed for safe driving. For example, unlike regular lights, which reflect light from water droplets in the air back into a drivers eyes, fog lights minimize the amount of return glare. This is accomplished by creating a wider, lower light beam that projects downward onto the road. On the other hand, road illumination lights are designed to provide visibility of objects at greater distances in front of a vehicle. When used in conjunction with regular lights, driving lights allow a driver to see further down the road. However, to prevent blinding oncoming motorists, regulatory agencies may specify configurations for such lights in terms of, e.g., height at which the lights should be mounted with respect to the ground, beam angle and other parameters. It would be desirable to have a hybrid lighting assembly that could provide all of the above functions and that could also be configured to meet applicable local regulations.
A hybrid function LED auxiliary lamp is provided. The auxiliary lamp comprises a housing and a lighting assembly disposed within the housing. The lighting assembly includes a plurality of LED light sources mounted on a printed circuit board. An optical manifold defining a plurality of reflective cavities is mounted on the printed circuit board. Each reflective cavity is formed to define a respective corresponding focal point. The LED light sources are aligned with respect to the optical manifold such that a center of each respective LED light source corresponds to a respective focal point of a reflective cavity.
A more detailed understanding can be had from the following description, given by way of example in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:
Examples of different light illumination systems and/or light emitting diode (“LED”) implementations will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. These examples are not mutually exclusive, and features found in one example may be combined with features found in one or more other examples to achieve additional implementations. Accordingly, it will be understood that the examples shown in the accompanying drawings are provided for illustrative purposes only and they are not intended to limit the disclosure in any way. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.
It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms may be used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element may be termed a second element and a second element may be termed a first element without departing from the scope of the present invention. As used herein, the term “and/or” may include any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
It will be understood that when an element such as a layer, region, or substrate is referred to as being “on” or extending “onto” another element, it may be directly on or extend directly onto the other element or intervening elements may also be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly on” or extending “directly onto” another element, there may be no intervening elements present. It will also be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it may be directly connected or coupled to the other element and/or connected or coupled to the other element via one or more intervening elements. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly connected” or “directly coupled” to another element, there are no intervening elements present between the element and the other element. It will be understood that these terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the element in addition to any orientation depicted in the figures.
Relative terms such as “below,” “above,” “upper,”, “lower,” “horizontal” or “vertical” may be used herein to describe a relationship of one element, layer, or region to another element, layer, or region as illustrated in the figures. It will be understood that these terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures.
Automobile headlights perform two basic functions. One function is to illuminate the road and objects in the direction of the vehicle's movement. Vehicle lights that perform this function include driving beam headlamps, passing beam headlamps, front fog lamps, cornering fog lamps and the like. The second function is a signaling function, i.e., to provide visible signals that convey information useful to other road users. For example, information on the presence, identification and/or the change of movement of the vehicle. Vehicle lights that perform a signaling function include position lamps, parking lamps, daytime running lamps and the like.
Automotive lamps generally comprise three different types of systems. These are electrical systems, optical systems and mechanical systems. An electrical system typically includes LED modules and electronically controlled gears to control the light sources. An optical system comprises a reflector with reflective properties and/or a lens with refractive properties. The mechanical system comprises lamp body parts and outer lens parts for heat dissipation and protection. These systems can be combined to form an automotive auxiliary lamp which can be powered by a vehicle's DC power supply.
As driving applications increase in complexity, automotive auxiliary lamps will be called upon to perform both road illumination functions and signaling functions to cope with every increasing illumination and signaling demands. However, existing automotive lamps are typically separated by function. Automotive lamps that perform road illumination functions usually comprise one or more groups of corresponding independent optical parts and LED modules. They may also use printed circuit board assemblies independent and separate from the PCBAs used by automotive signaling lamps. These assemblies may themselves be divided into multiple groups of light elements, with different groups performing different functions.
As a result of the physical and functional segregation of automotive lamps the number of optical parts, LED modules, fastener connection devices and process flows required to produce automotive lighting assemblies increases as the lighting performance demands increase. This results in high costs for Research and Development (R&D), manufacturing, and operation. At the same time, increases in complexity of the luminaire present a challenge to luminaire reliability.
In response to the above problems, attempts have been made to reduce the number of optical parts required to implement diverse lighting functions. For example, CN 215411718 U discloses a multifunctional light distribution structure of a lamp, which includes a casing, a light-transmitting cover, an illumination light source module and an indication light source module. The indication light source module includes a lens and a plurality of indicator LEDs. This has the advantages of universal applicability and a capability to emit different functional light shapes.
As another example, CN 216010708 U discloses a lens lamp, which includes a bottom case, a lamp board, several lamp LEDs with different functions, and a PC lens with non-direct total reflection. This has advantages of good versatility of choice of product materials and convenient assembly. These approaches reduce the number of optical parts that realize a given light-signaling function and affords more versatility in selection of parts. However, the light-signaling function still relies on independent optical parts for its implementation. There is more to be achieved when it comes to reducing the number of parts and the cost of vehicle lighting assemblies as well as addressing the performance reliability challenges.
As can be seen from
In some example embodiments, LED signaling modules 220 (best illustrated in
In some applications it is desirable to have a specified distance between the edges 260 of adjacent road illumination reflective cavities 246 as indicated at 9. Further, in some applications it is desirable to have a specified distance between light signaling reflective cavities 250. In some jurisdictions there are regulations that dictate the separation distance between various vehicle lights. For example, an existing regulation might require vehicle position lights to be separated by no more than 75 mm. In those such applications the optical manifold disclosed herein can be configured accordingly. In the example of
Some example implementations provide both road illumination lighting functions and light signaling functions while meeting regulatory requirements. In embodiments, the free form surface of each reflective cavity 246 defines a paraboloid comprising a plurality of paraboloid surface areas (three indicated at 247, 248 and 249). Each paraboloid surface area is defined by a curvature radius. For a given regulatory requirement the curvature radius of each paraboloid surface area is adjusted so that the structure of the reflective cavity directs light from the corresponding LED module in a manner that meets the given regulation.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN2022/103680 | Jul 2022 | WO | international |
This application claims priority to PCT/CN2022/103680, filed Jul. 4, 2022 which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth.
