Illumination – Supported by vehicle structure – Plural light sources
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-21
2001-01-09
Cariaso, Alan (Department: 2875)
Illumination
Supported by vehicle structure
Plural light sources
C362S240000, C362S244000, C362S331000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06170971
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to indicating light displays for motor vehicles, applicable especially to light displays of the stop lamp type, that is to say brake lights which can be mounted inside the cabin of the vehicle and against the rear window of the vehicle, or else be integrated into thin components which are situated at the rear of the vehicle, such as fins or other aerodynamic elements.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The first indicating light displays of the above type had the disadvantage that they did not provide a homogeneous light, despite various spreading arrangements for spreading the light which were used and which consisted generally of billets or toroids incorporated in the cover lens of the display, or in an optical plate of the display. Although this disadvantage is in general tolerable from the point of view of the statutory regulations, it is ugly from the aesthetic point of view, especially since, nowadays, increasing importance is being attached to the homogeneity of the light emitted by indicating lights of vehicles.
French patent specification No. 2 614 969 discloses an indicating light display with a single light source, giving homogeneous illumination. That particular display comprises, within a housing, a transparent or translucent optical screen which is referred to as a “supplementary lens”, and which is interposed between a single light source and an optical plate. This plate is essentially flat and extends in the direction at right angles to the optical axis of the light display. The particular geometrical configuration of the supplementary lens ensures that the surface density of light flux arriving on the optical plate is essentially constant over the whole surface of this plate. Finally, the surface of the plate is formed with striations which redistribute, or redirect, the light rays emitted from the supplementary lens, so as to transmit to the outside of the vehicle a beam within the solid angle provided for in the regulations.
However, vehicle manufacturers have in practice designed stop lights with dimensions which are sometimes very large, and which make use of a plurality of light sources. It is clearly possible to conceive the use of a device that consists of optical sub-assemblies of the kind described in the above mentioned French patent specification, juxtaposed together and giving homogeneous illumination within each sub-assembly. However, in such an arrangement there would then be irregularities in the illumination at the junctions, or transition zones, between adjacent sub-assemblies.
DISCUSSION OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to overcome the above mentioned drawback, and to provide an indicating light display which may be made in a large size and which uses a plurality of light sources, while at the same time presenting a homogeneous illumination to the observer, which is of particular advantage from the aesthetic point of view.
Another object of the invention is to enable the number of light sources in such an indicating light display to be limited, for a given size, without in any way compromising the homogeneity of the light field of the display when the latter is lit.
According to the invention in a first aspect, an indicating light display for a motor vehicle, comprising a plurality of light sources together with optical processing means which are adapted to redirect the light emitted by the light sources so that the light is propagated in a direction which is essentially parallel to a general emission direction, is characterised in that the optical processing means include, in association with each light source, a first element adapted to spread the light, in a plane which is essentially at right angles to the general direction of emission and in an essentially homogeneous manner, on a corresponding one of a plurality of second elements having the general form of a plate and adapted to redirect the incident light towards the said general emission direction, and in that there is provided at the transition between two adjacent ones of the said second elements at least one transition striation projecting towards the interior of the indicating light display and adapted to redirect into the said general emission direction the light emitted from the two homologous light sources associated with the said second elements.
Preferably there is only one said transition striation at the or each said transition.
According to a preferred feature of the invention, each said second element has redirecting striations on the surface of that element which faces towards the interior of the light display, and each said transition striation projects further towards the interior of the said display than the said redirecting striations of the said second elements.
Preferably, each said transition striation has two oblique faces.
The light sources are preferably essentially aligned with each other.
According to another preferred feature of the invention the or each said transition striation comprises two oblique faces which are opposed in relation to a plane containing the said general emission direction.
According to the invention in a second aspect, an optical plate including optical processing means which are adapted to redirect in a general emission direction the light emitted from a light source and arriving on the plate with a given first angle of incidence which is substantially constant, is characterised in that at least one portion of the said optical processing means is also exposed to the light from a second light source arriving with a substantially constant second angle of incidence, and is adapted to redirect the light from the two light sources towards the said general emission direction.
In this second aspect of the invention, the said portion of the optical processing means preferably comprises at least one projecting striation having two faces; and preferably also, there is a single said projecting striation in the or each said portion of the plate.
According to a preferred feature of this said second aspect of the invention, redirection striations, projecting from the surface of the said plate are provided, and in that the said at least one projecting striation at the said transitions projects by a greater extent away from the optical plate than do the redirection striations.
In some embodiments of this second aspect, there are, in each said portion of the plate, a plurality of the said projecting striations.
The value of the said second angle of incidence is preferably equal and opposite to the value of the said first angle of incidence.
Preferably, the or each said projecting striation has two oblique faces which are opposed with respect to a plane at right angles to a line joining the two associated light sources.
Further features and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly on a reading of the following detailed description of some preferred embodiments of the invention, which is given by way of non-limiting example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4862330 (1989-08-01), Machida et al.
patent: 5093768 (1992-03-01), Ohe
patent: 5580156 (1996-12-01), Suzuki et al.
patent: 39 16875 (1990-12-01), None
patent: 0 648 969 (1995-04-01), None
patent: 0 762 049 (1997-03-01), None
patent: 2 707 222 (1995-01-01), None
French Search Report dated Dec. 23, 1998.
Cariaso Alan
Morgan & Finnegan , LLP
Valeo Vision
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