Illumination – Supported by vehicle structure – Light modifier
Patent
1998-07-13
2000-11-14
Spyrou, Cassandra
Illumination
Supported by vehicle structure
Light modifier
362520, 362521, 362525, B60Q 138
Patent
active
061460044
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a vehicle lamp of a type having a housing, a light-transmissive shield covering the housing that extends across a corner area of a vehicle, at least one lamp chamber in the housing in which light source is positioned, and a Fresnel lens having concentrically arranged prism rings located between the light source and the light-transmissive shield, that is placed adjacent to the light-transmissive shield in at least one partial area.
German patent document (DE 41 17 463 C2) discloses a vehicle lamp having a housing and a light-transmissive shield that covers the housing. The vehicle lamp has at least one lamp chamber positioned at a corner area of the vehicle so that light distribution is achieved along both a longitudinal axis of the vehicle and at a side of the vehicle. To create the light distribution, a light source and a Fresnel lens that collects the light from the light source are placed in the lamp chamber, the Fresnel lens being positioned adjacent the light-transmissive shield in at least one partial area of the light-transmissive shield and extending essentially across the entire lamp chamber. This Fresnel lens has at least one curved partial area.
In vehicle lamps of this design, a problem arises in illuminating the entire light-transmissive shield as evenly as possible while still providing a light distribution prescribed by law. The Fresnel lenses used for this purpose either have an extremely simple geometry that does not provide the desired light distribution, or have very expensive and complicated geometries that are difficult to design, the construction and manufacture of which is highly cost-intensive.
An object of this invention is to provide a vehicle lamp that employs a Fresnel lens as a light collecting device for achieving an optimized, extending-to-a-side-area-of-a-vehicle, light distribution and illumination, which at the same time can be constructed and manufactured simply and inexpensively.
SUMMARY
According to principles of this invention a lamp of the type set forth in the opening paragraph above has a Fresnel lens with a first curved partial area including a center of concentrically arranged prism rings and a second partial area extending up to a side area of the lamp chamber. The partial areas have differing surface geometries and are separated from each other by vertical separating lines. The concentric prism rings respectively extend in alignment into the other partial areas through the separating lines.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
The invention is described and explained in more detail below using an embodiment shown in the drawings. The described and drawn features, in other embodiments of the invention, can be used individually or in preferred combinations. The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating principles of the invention in a clear manner.
FIG. 1 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of a vehicle lamp of this invention;
FIG. 2 is a more-detailed horizontal cross-sectional view of a Fresnel lens of the lamp of FIG. 1; and
FIG. 3 is a front view of the Fresnel lens of FIG. 2.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
FIG. 1 shows a vehicle lamp for mounting in a corner area of a motor vehicle. This vehicle lamp can be a rear-mounted light, as in the example illustrated, or it may also be structured as a front-mounted turn-signal light, for example.
The vehicle lamp has a housing G that is covered by a light-transmissive shield L. At least one lamp chamber K is positioned in the housing G at a corner area of the vehicle. The lamp chamber K accommodates a light source Q that is inserted into a lamp holder S in the housing G. The lamp chamber K shown her
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Patent Abstracts of Japan vol. 014, No. 014 (C-674), Jan. 12, 1990 & JP 01 257142 A (Honda Motor Co Ltd; Others: 01), Oct. 13, 1989.
Patent Abstracts of Japan vol. 014, No. 013 (M-918), Jan. 11, 1990 & JP 01 258301 A (Honda Motor Co Ltd; Others: 01), Oct. 16, 1989.
Flottmeyer Hubert
Leinwand Peter
Hella KG & Hueck Co.
Sikd-er Mohammad Y.
Spyrou Cassandra
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