Illumination – Supported by vehicle structure – Plural light sources
Reexamination Certificate
2002-10-22
2004-06-22
O'Shea, Sandra (Department: 2875)
Illumination
Supported by vehicle structure
Plural light sources
C362S522000, C362S245000, C362S800000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06752523
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle lamp that uses, as a light source thereof, a special LED or a custom LED which is different from an ordinary LED.
2. Prior Art
A lamp structure that employs LEDs (light emitting diodes) is often adopted for vehicle lamps such as high-mount stop lamps and the like.
In such a vehicle lamp that uses LEDs, as shown in
FIG. 8
, the light from an LED
112
is subjected to a diffusion deflection control by a plurality of lens elements
114
s
formed on a front lens
114
provided in front of the LED
112
. However, since the LED
112
emits only a small amount of light, it is difficult to produce a sufficient amount of illumination light for a vehicle lamp.
More specifically, as seen from
FIG. 8
, in an ordinary LED
112
, of the light radiated from an LED chip
122
that is embedded in a bullet-shaped translucent body
124
, the radiation light within a predetermined range of angle with respect to the forward direction of the lamp is used by way of rendering it to be refracted toward the front with the use of a substantially semi-spherical condenser lens
126
that forms the front end portion of the translucent body
124
. However, the light radiated at a great radiation angle with respect to the forward direction becomes stray light and therefore cannot be used for illumination. Accordingly, a vehicle lamp that incorporates the LED
112
as described above cannot easily provide a sufficient amount of illumination light
The alternative is a method in which, instead of an ordinary LED, a special LED
12
as shown in
FIG. 7
is used as a light source of a vehicle lamp.
In this special LED
12
, of the light radiated from an LED chip
22
embedded in a translucent block body
24
, the radiation light within a predetermined range of angle with respect to the forward direction is used, as in an ordinary LED, by way of rendering it to be refracted toward the front with the use of a condenser lens
26
that is formed to protrude in a substantially semi-spherical shape from the front end surface
24
a
of the translucent block body
24
. As to the light radiated at a great radiation angle with respect to the forward direction, such is used also by reflecting the light by a portion of the front end surface
24
a
of the translucent block body
24
that is an area around the condenser lens
26
and then reflecting it by a reflector
28
provided inside the translucent block body
24
.
With the use of the special LED
12
, the utilization efficiency of the light radiating from the LED chip
22
increases, and as a result, the amount of light emitted increases also. It becomes thus possible to provide a sufficient illumination light intensity required for vehicle lamps.
However, a mere disposing of a front lens in front of the special LED
12
causes problems.
More specifically, in
FIG. 7
, the direct light B
1
passing through the condenser lens
26
does not form a bundle of parallel rays, and it forms a bundle of diffused rays. Accordingly, the direct light B
1
starts to intersect with the reflection light B
2
, which is from the reflector
28
, at a position Po that is some distant in front of the special LED
12
.
As a result, when the front lens is disposed at a position Pf that is greatly apart from the special LED
12
, the front lens has an overlapped incidence area where the overlapped direct light B
1
and reflection light B
2
are incident. Therefore, in the overlapped incidence area, the direct light B
1
and the reflection light B
2
are inevitably subjected to the same diffusion deflection control. However, the direct light B
1
and the reflection light B
2
have different directions of incidence on the front lens, and the direct light B
1
has a greater luminous intensity than the reflection light B
2
. Thus, the problem is that a diffusion deflection control on light from the special LED
12
by means of the front lens cannot be done appropriately.
Conversely, if the front lens is disposed at a position Pn that is closer to the special LED
12
, the direct light B
1
and the reflection light B
2
impinge on the front lens without any intersection, so that the front lens has a no-light impinging area where no light from the special LED
12
is incident. The no-light impinging area appears as a ring-shaped dark area when the lamp is on. Thus, the problem is that the appearance of the lamp is degraded.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention is to solve the problems described above.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle lamp that includes a special LED or a custom LED wherein the lamp is capable of appropriately performing diffusion deflection control on the light from the special LED by means of a front lens without degrading the appearance of the lamp.
The present invention achieves the object by contriving the layout of a front lens.
More specifically, the above object is accomplished by a unique structure of the present invention for a vehicle lamp that includes a special LED, which is a light source, and a front lens, which is provided in front of the special LED and performs a diffusion deflection control of light from the special LED by a plurality of lens elements formed on the front lens; and in the present invention,
the special LED is comprised of a translucent block body, an LED chip embedded in the translucent block body, a condenser lens protruded in a substantially semi-spherical shape on the front end surface of the translucent block body and positioned in front of the LED chip, and a reflector provided inside the translucent block body so as to forwardly reflect the light originated by the LED chip and reflected by a portion of the front end surface of the translucent block body that is a peripheral area of the condenser lens; and
the front lens is disposed near a position where the direct light from the LED chip and passing through the condenser lens and a reflection light reflected by the reflector start to intersect with each other.
The front lens can take any structure in terms of layout and shape of each lens element formed thereon as long as the front lens is designed so that the light from the special LED is subjected to a diffusion deflection control by the lens elements.
Each lens element can be a lens element that merely has a function of diffusing incident light or be a lens element that merely has a function of deflecting the incident light. Furthermore, it can be a lens element that has functions to diffuse and deflect the incident light.
In the vehicle lamp of the present invention, the special LED, which is the light source, is comprised of a translucent block body, an LED chip embedded in the translucent block body, a condenser lens protruded in a substantially semi-spherical shape on the front end surface of the translucent block body and positioned in front of the LED chip, and a reflector provided inside the translucent block body so as to forwardly reflect the light originated by the LED chip and reflected by a portion of the front end surface of the translucent block body that is an area around the condenser lens. Accordingly, the light irradiated from the LED chip in directions within a predetermined range of angle with respect to the front of the LED chip is refracted toward the front by the condenser lens and can be used for illumination, and in addition the light radiating at great radiation angles with respect to the forward direction can be also used as reflection light from the reflector. Accordingly, the use efficiency of the radiation light from the LED chip is improved, and the amount of light emitted is increased. Consequently, the lamp sufficiently provides an amount of illumination light required for a vehicle.
In the vehicle lamp of the present invention, the light from the special LED is subjected to a diffusion deflection control by a plurality of lens elements of the front lens provided in front of the special LED. Since the front lens is disposed near the position where the direct
Koda & Androlia
Koito Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
O'Shea Sandra
T B Q
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