This application is a U.S. National Stage Application of International Application No. PCT/KR2018/016808, filed on Dec. 28, 2018, which claims the benefit under 35 USC 119(a) and 365(b) of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2018-0170750, filed on Dec. 27, 2018, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
The present disclosure relates to a rear lamp which has a 3D light distribution effect so as to represent a sense of depth by the infinity mirror effect and, more specifically, to a rear lamp configured to produce a movable light distribution image.
In general, vehicles are equipped with various lighting devices at the front and rear to provide vehicle safety and driving convenience. Such lighting devices include devices that directly emit light using lamps, such as headlights, taillights, and turn indicators. In addition, the vehicles are equipped with a reflectors at the front and rear to perform a function of reflecting light such that the vehicles can be easily recognized from the outside.
In recent years, various types of lighting devices have been developed within the scope of complying with the minimum legal regulations in accordance with the trend of focusing on vehicle design. In particular, light guide devices that enable an indirect lighting effect to be exerted without direct exposure of a light source for emitting light have been actively installed in vehicles in recent years.
As illustrated in
In such a conventional rear lamp, when light emitted from the bulb 24, which is a light source, is reflected by the reflector 26, the reflected light is radiated to the rear side of the vehicle through the shield 2 and the lens 30.
However, since the conventional rear lamp simply emits light and reflects using the bulb 24 and the reflector 26, the design has been inevitably standardized, and when the number of bulbs 24 installed to increase the luminous effect is increased, there is a problem in that the cost and weight are increased, lowering the marketability.
A rear lamp including a light transmission unit 14 and a reflector 13, which are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance, as illustrated in
However, the conventional rear lamp has a problem in that the LED 12 is clearly exposed in a dot shape, as illustrated in
In addition, since distributed light images are distributed as static light images without motion, there is a problem in that only a limited type of design can be expressed.
The present disclosure has been conceived in order to solve the problems described above. The present disclosure provides a rear lamp capable of smoothly distributing a clean light image such that a PCB and an LED are not visible in the light image and capable of distributing light images of various designs by making it possible to move a distributed light image.
In view of the foregoing, a rear lamp according to the present disclosure includes: a light source unit 102 configured to output light; a lens unit 110 configured to output, as parallel light, light incident thereon after output from the light source unit 101; a light transmission unit 130 installed in a path of light emitted from the lens unit 110, the light transmission unit 30 being configured to transmit some of light incident thereon and to reflect the remaining light; a reflector 120 installed in a path of light reflected from the light transmission unit 130 so as to reflect light incident thereon back to the light transmission unit 130; and a reflector driving unit configured to drive the reflector 120 so as to change an angle formed by the reflector 120 with the light transmission unit 130.
In this case, the lens unit 110 is a collimator lens including an incident unit 111 on which the light output from the light source unit 102 is incident, and an emission unit 114 through which light incident on the incident unit 111 is emitted to the light transmission unit 130.
In addition, the rear lamp further includes a diffusion unit 112 configured to scatter and diffuse the light emitted from the emission unit 114 so as to allow the light to be incident on the light transmission unit 130.
In addition, the reflector 120 has a reflective surface 121 formed as a spherical or aspherical surface having an arbitrary curvature.
In addition, the lens unit 110 further includes an auxiliary emission unit 115 configured to output some of the light incident on the incident unit 111 as a light distribution pattern, rather than emitting the some of the light to the light transmitting unit 130.
In addition, the rear lamp further includes a microlens array 150 configured to output the light emitted from the auxiliary emission unit 115 as a predetermined light distribution pattern.
In addition, the rear lamp further includes a stopper 117 configured to limit an angular displacement amount of the reflector 120 obtained using the reflector driving unit.
According to the present disclosure configured as described above, it is possible to distribute a clean light image by smoothly distributing the light image such that a PCB and an LED are not visible in the light image to be distributed.
In addition, it is possible to obtain light images of various designs since it is possible to move a distributed light image by tilting the reflector 120 by driving an actuator.
101: PCB, 102: light source unit
103: structure, 110: lens unit
111: incident unit, 112: diffusion unit
113: total reflection unit, 114: emission unit
115: auxiliary emission unit, 116: microlens array
117: stopper, 120: reflector
121: reflective surface, 130: light transmission unit
Is: stationary light image, I1: 1st light image
I2: 2nd light image, I3: 3rd light image
I4: 4th light image
Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to embodiments of the present disclosure and the accompanying drawings, but it will be described on the premise that the same reference numerals refer to the same elements.
In the detailed description of the present disclosure or in the claims, when it is described that one component “includes” another component, it shall not be limitedly construed as consisting of only the component unless otherwise stated, and shall be understood that other components may be further included.
The rear lamp according to the present disclosure includes a light source unit 102, a lens unit 110, a light transmission unit 130, a reflector 140, a reflector driving unit, and a housing (not illustrated) configured to accommodate these components.
The lens unit 110 is a component configured to convert incident light output from the light source unit 102 into parallel light and output the parallel light, and is formed of a material such as PMMA or PC. As illustrated in
The emission unit 114 forms a light path such that the light output from the light source unit 102 is capable of moving to the light transmission unit 130 and the reflector 120 in order to form a 3D light distribution pattern having a 3D sense of depth.
It is preferable to form the diffusion unit 112 on the surface of the emission unit 114 such that light emitted from the emission unit 114 is scattered from the diffusion unit 112 so as to be incident on the light transmission unit 130.
The diffusion unit 112 makes it possible to achieve uniform light emission by irregularly reflecting and scattering the parallel light output from the emission unit 114.
When the diffusion unit 112 is not present, the light output from the light source unit 102 is incident on the light transmission unit 130 as it is. Thus, the shape of the light source is exposed as it is, and it is impossible to achieve uniform light emission.
In addition, as illustrated in
That is, as illustrated in
In this case, it is preferable to configure a microlens array 116 on the surface of the auxiliary emission unit 115. The microlens array 116 causes the light emitted from the auxiliary emission unit 115 to be incident thereon so as to be output as a light image of a predetermined light distribution pattern, that is, a rectilinear pattern.
As illustrated in
As described above, the light transmission unit 130 is configured to transmit some of the incident light and reflect the remaining light, and may be installed by selecting a transmittance.
For example, the light transmission unit 130 may be configured with various transmittances so as to transmit, for example, 70% and reflect 30% or so as to transmit 50% and to reflect 50%.
The reflector 110 is formed in a plate shape, is installed on a path through which the light reflected from the light transmission unit 130 moves, and is configured to reflect the light, reflected from the light transmission unit 130, back to the light transmission unit 130.
In addition, the reflective surface 121 on the surface of the reflector 120 may be made of a spherical or aspherical surface having a predetermined curvature, and the reflective surface 121 of the reflector may be made in a convex shape having different horizontal and vertical curvatures.
That is, the convex shape of the reflective surface 121 of the reflector forms different angles with the light transmission unit 130, whereby it is possible to adjust the angles such that the widths (thicknesses) of light images I1, I2, I3, I4, . . . passing through the light transmission unit 130 are formed to be different from each other.
The multiple light images formed to have different widths in this way form a light distribution pattern that enables a 3D effect to be felt, so that a 3D sense of depth can be felt.
In addition, a reflector driving unit is configured to tilt the reflector 120.
The reflector driving unit is configured to tilt the reflector 110 so as to change the reflection angle at which the light incident on the reflector 110 is reflected to the light transmission unit 130, thereby changing the light distribution pattern formed by light passing through the light transmitting unit 130.
The reflector driving unit is configured to tilt the reflector 120 by driving an actuator 140 installed in at center of the reflector 120, as illustrated in
Alternatively, although not illustrated in the drawings, it is also possible to change the reflection angle at which light is reflected to the light transmission unit 130 by installing, at one side of the reflector 120, an actuator driven to move up and down.
An operation process of the rear lamp of the present disclosure configured as described above will be described.
Light output from the light source unit 102 is totally reflected through the incidence unit 111 to be converted into parallel light, and the parallel light is emitted through the emission unit 114 and scattered through the diffusion unit 112 on the surface of the emission unit 114. Thus, uniform light is emitted.
The emitted light is incident on the light transmission unit 130 so that some of the light is transmitted so as to form a 1st light image I1, and the remaining light is reflected to the reflector 120.
The light incident on the reflector 120 is reflected back to the light transmission unit 130. Some of the light incident on the light transmission unit 130 passes through the light transmission unit 130 so as to form a 2 light image 12, and the remaining light is reflected back to the reflector 120.
The light incident on the reflector 120 is reflected back to the light transmission unit 130. Some of the light incident on the light transmission unit 130 passes through the light transmission unit 130 so as to form a 3rd light image I3, and the remaining light is reflected back to the reflector 120.
In this way, a 4th light image I4 is formed, and light images are successively formed.
Some of the light output from the light source unit 102 is incident on the total reflection unit 113 and reflected as shown in
The microlens array 116 causes the light incident thereon after emitted from the auxiliary emission unit 115 to be output as a light image of a predetermined light distribution pattern, that is, a rectilinear pattern.
In
When the actuator 140 is driven and the reflector 120 is tilted clockwise as illustrated in
When the actuator 140 is driven and the reflector 120 is tilted counterclockwise as illustrated in
That is, when the actuator is driven in the state in which the rear lamp is turned on, the 1st to 4th light images I1, to I4 of the light distribution patterns move in the direction in which the reflector 120 is inclined, and thus form a dynamic light distribution pattern.
In addition, it is preferable to limit the rotational angular displacement so that the reflector 120 does not rotate excessively by configuring a stopper 117 under the reflector 120 as illustrated in
At this time, the stationary light image Is located at the outermost side of the light distribution pattern does not move even when the actuator 140 is driven.
The stationary light image Is is not a light image formed by the light transmitting part 130, but a light image formed through the auxiliary emission unit 115 of the lens part 110 without passing through the light transmitting part 130. The stationary light image Is does not move.
In the above-described embodiments, it has been described that the actuator 140 is installed in the center of the reflector 120 such that the actuator tilts the reflector 120 in a roll or pitch direction from the center, but the actuator 140 may be configured in a different form.
As illustrated in
According to the present disclosure configured as described above, it is possible to distribute a clean light image by smoothly distributing the light image such that a PCB and an LED are not visible in the light image to be distributed.
In addition, it is possible to obtain light images of various designs since it is possible to move a distributed light image by tilting the reflector 120 by driving an actuator.
The technical idea of the present disclosure has been discussed based on the embodiments described above.
It is apparent that a person ordinarily skilled in the art to which the present disclosure belongs can variously modify or change the above-described embodiments based on the description of the present disclosure.
In addition, it is evident that, even if not explicitly shown or described, a person ordinarily skilled in art the to which the present disclosure belongs can make various modifications including the technical idea according to the present disclosure based on the description of the present disclosure, and the modifications still fall into the scope of the present disclosure.
The embodiments described above with reference to the accompanying drawings have been described for the purpose of describing the present disclosure, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to these embodiments.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2018-0170750 | Dec 2018 | KR | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/KR2018/016808 | 12/28/2018 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2020/138555 | 7/2/2020 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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20060284788 | Robinson et al. | Dec 2006 | A1 |
20090154184 | King et al. | Jun 2009 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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202403140 | Aug 2012 | CN |
113310024 | Aug 2021 | CN |
2011-28961 | Feb 2011 | JP |
10-0822548 | Apr 2008 | KR |
10-2016-0091867 | Aug 2016 | KR |
Entry |
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International Search Report dated Sep. 24, 2019 in counterpart International Patent Application No. PCT/KR2018/016808 (2 pages in Korean and 2 pages in English). |
Written Opinion dated Sep. 24, 2019 in counterpart International Patent Application No. PCT/KR2018/016808 (4 pages in Korean). |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20220003382 A1 | Jan 2022 | US |