EP1288565B1 - Lighting or signaling device for automotive vehicles with improved appearance - Google Patents

Abstract

Beam non or weak deviators (22,42) consist of facing pairs of reflecting parts. The projection (P) of rear edge (22A;R, 42A;R) from front face (22A,42A) of a reflecting part along direction parallel to optical axis (X-X) on adjacent part is situated at rear of front edge (22R;A,42R;A) of rear face (22R,42R) of adjacent part. Reflecting parts are metallized strips on two faces. Strips are thin and plane and are arranged in star formation around optical axis (X-X). The automobile lighting and signaling has a bulb and reflector (10) forming a beam along an axis (X-X), projected through a front glass (30). Non or weak deviating parts (22,42) are placed in front of the light source so as to transmit light rays into a direction perpendicular to their propagation direction. The glass (30) is smooth or weak deviating. The parts (22,42) form a mask (20,40) so that the light source cannot be seen when the glass is closed.

Description

The present invention relates to lighting or signaling devices for motor vehicles.

The lighting or signaling devices used for motor vehicles generally comprise a light source and a reflector for forming a light or signaling light beam along an optical axis. An ice is usually placed in front of the reflector to close the lighting or signaling device and protect it from the weather.

In known manner, the light beam must have characteristics, both spatial and photometric, which must meet various regulations depending on the function performed by this beam. These characteristics were until now obtained by the geometry of the reflector and by deflection elements formed on the closure glass. The current trend is to obtain the characteristics of the beam using the single reflector, the closure glass then being smooth or weakly deviating.

As a result, the entire interior of the lighting or signaling device is visible from the outside, which opens to the designers of these devices new possibilities, both in terms of optics and style . However, some elements so directly visible can not be modified. This is particularly the case of the light sources used and in particular incandescent lamps used for signaling functions, which may be amber or red. The bulb of the lamp is thus colored, or a colored mask is placed in front of a colorless bulb lamp to obtain the desired color of the signaling beam.

It also follows that in a device closed by a smooth glass and containing both lighting functions and signaling functions, the bulb or the colored mask for a signaling function constitutes a color spot in a set. otherwise consists almost exclusively of colorless reflecting surfaces, which may pose stylists with problems integrating signaling functions near lighting functions.

We have already proposed, for example in the document FR-A-2,487,041 between the light source and the closing glass of the lighting or signaling device, a deflector panel consisting of parallel blades inclined at 45 ° and reflecting on their two faces. Such a baffle board is intended to avoid cases where the light source is off and where the ambient ambient lighting, natural or artificial, is arranged in such a way or at such an intensity that it can reveal lighting or signaling as if their light source was on.

Indeed, in certain circumstances relating to the position of an external light source and to the position of an observer, for example the driver of another vehicle, the light rays coming from the external light source penetrating the device of lighting or signaling through the ice, are reflected by the reflector and may emerge from the lighting or signaling device giving the illusion that the lighting or signaling function has been activated by the driver of the vehicle including an observer sees the lighting or signaling device. This results in the drivers of the other vehicles becoming confused as to the intentions of the driver of the preceding vehicle.

In the aforementioned document, the deflector panel is intended to constitute a light trap for the external light, and avoid the disadvantages above. In this document, the light source is placed at the focus of a parabolic mirror, and the closure glass is provided with an optical network of prisms and striations to ensure the spatial distribution, both horizontally and vertically, of the emerging beam, so that the deflector panel is invisible or very little visible through the closing glass, as was the light source before the interposition of the deflector panel.

The document FR 687 984 also shows such a device.

The present invention is placed in this context and its purpose is to provide a lighting or signaling device using a smooth or weakly deviating closing glass, and wherein the light source is invisible directly from the outside whatever the position of an observer in relation to the lighting or signaling device, while ensuring the emission of a lighting or signaling beam in every respect regulations, and from which emanate only light rays emitted by the light source made invisible directly, such a lighting or signaling device in addition to adapt to the requirements of stylists, be simple to assemble, reliable operation and little expensive.

The subject of the invention is therefore a lighting or signaling device, in particular for a motor vehicle, comprising a light source and a reflector for forming a lighting or signaling light beam along an optical axis, a closing window being arranged in front of the light source, non-deflecting or weakly deflecting elements being disposed in front of the light source for transmitting the light rays forming the lighting or signaling beam by making them undergo a translation substantially perpendicular to their direction of propagation.

According to the present invention, the closure glass is smooth or weakly deviating, and the non-deflecting or weakly deflecting elements form a mask preventing the light source from being seen through the closure glass while allowing the emission of a beam of light. lighting or signaling along the optical axis of the device, the non-deflecting elements or weakly deflecting successive being non-parallel to each other.

• les éléments non déviateurs ou faiblement déviateurs sont constitués de paires d'éléments réfléchissants se faisant face;
• la projection du bord arrière de la face avant d'un élément réfléchissant selon une direction parallèle à l'axe optique sur l'élément réfléchissant adjacent se situe en arrière du bord avant de la face arrière l'élément réfléchissant adjacent;
• les éléments réfléchissants sont obtenus par métallisation des deux faces de lamelles;
• les lamelles sont planes et minces, et elles sont disposées en étoile autour de l'axe optique;
• les lamelles planes ont la forme de triangles ou de trapèzes isocèles:
• les lamelles sont courbes et sont disposées concentriquement par rapport à l'axe optique;
• les lamelles courbes ont la forme de troncs de cônes;
• les lamelles sont noyées dans un bloc de matériau transparent à faces parallèles et perpendiculaires à l'axe optique;
• les lamelles sont épaisses et réalisées dans un matériau transparent, leur épaisseur étant sensiblement égale à la distance séparant deux lamelles adjacentes;
• les lamelles épaisses sont noyées dans un bloc de matériau transparent à faces parallèles et perpendiculaires à l'axe optique;
• les paires d'éléments réfléchissants se faisant face sont des surfaces de prismes sur lesquelles se produit une réflexion totale des rayons lumineux incidents sur elles.

According to other features of the present invention

• non-deviating or weakly deflecting elements consist of pairs of reflecting elements facing each other;
• projecting the rear edge of the front face of a reflective element in a direction parallel to the optical axis on the adjacent reflective element is located behind the front edge of the rear face of the adjacent reflective element;
• the reflective elements are obtained by metallization of the two faces of lamellae;
• the lamellae are flat and thin, and they are arranged in a star around the optical axis;
• the flat slats have the shape of isosceles triangles or trapezoids:
• the lamellae are curved and are arranged concentrically with respect to the optical axis;
• the curved lamellae are in the form of truncated cones;
• the slats are embedded in a block of transparent material with faces parallel and perpendicular to the optical axis;
• the lamellae are thick and made of a transparent material, their thickness being substantially equal to the distance separating two adjacent lamellae;
• the thick slats are embedded in a block of transparent material with faces parallel and perpendicular to the optical axis;
• the pairs of reflective elements facing each other are surfaces of prisms on which a total reflection of the light rays incident on them occurs.

• La Figure 1 représente une vue en perspective d'un premier mode de réalisation d'un dispositif d'éclairage ou de signalisation réalisé selon la présente invention ;
• La Figure 2 représente une vue schématique de la marche des rayons lumineux dans le dispositif d'éclairage ou de signalisation de la Figure 1 ;
• La Figure 3 représente la marche des rayons lumineux dans le dispositif d'éclairage ou de signalisation de la Figure 1 ;
• La Figure 4 représente par un ensemble de courbes isocandela le faisceau obtenu sans interposition d'un écran déflecteur selon l'invention ;
• La Figure 5 représente par un ensemble de courbes isocandela le faisceau obtenu après interposition d'un écran déflecteur selon l'invention ;
• La Figure 6 représente une vue en perspective d'un deuxième mode de réalisation d'un dispositif d'éclairage ou de signalisation réalisé selon la présente invention ;
• La Figure 7 représente la marche des rayons lumineux dans le dispositif d'éclairage ou de signalisation de la Figure 6 ;
• La Figure 8 représente une première variante de réalisation applicable aux deux modes de réalisation, et
• La Figure 9 représente une deuxième variante de réalisation applicable aux deux modes de réalisation.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the description which will now be made of an embodiment given without limitation with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

• The Figure 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a lighting or signaling device constructed in accordance with the present invention;
• The Figure 2 represents a diagrammatic view of the operation of the light rays in the lighting or signaling device of the Figure 1 ;
• The Figure 3 represents the rays of light in the lighting or signaling device of the Figure 1 ;
• The Figure 4 represents by a set of curves isocandela the beam obtained without interposition of a deflector screen according to the invention;
• The Figure 5 represents by a set of curves isocandela the beam obtained after interposition of a deflector screen according to the invention;
• The Figure 6 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of a lighting or signaling device made according to the present invention;
• The Figure 7 represents the rays of light in the lighting or signaling device of the Figure 6 ;
• The Figure 8 represents a first variant embodiment applicable to the two embodiments, and
• The Figure 9 represents a second embodiment variant applicable to the two embodiments.

By convention, in the present description, the term "front" of a lighting or signaling device is the direction in which the emerging light beam is emitted, and "back" in the opposite direction.

We have shown on Figures 1 to 3 the essential components of a first embodiment of a lighting or signaling device produced according to the present invention. This figure shows a reflector mirror 10 whose surface is such that the light rays emitted by a light source 12 (not shown in FIG. Figure 1 ) and reflected by this reflector form an X'-X optical axis beam whose spatial extent and photometric distribution form a lighting or signaling beam corresponding to the regulations concerning this beam.

In front of the reflector 10 is a deflector panel, designated together by the reference 20. The deflector panel 20 consists of a plurality of lamellae 22 located between two planes perpendicular to the axis X'-X. In front of the deflector panel 20 there is arranged a closure glass 30 ( Figure 3 ), smooth or weakly deviating, so without significant influence on the formation of the lighting or signaling beam.

In the embodiment of the Figure 1 , the strips 22 are arranged in a star around the optical axis X'-X. The slats 22 have two substantially planar faces and form isosceles triangles, whose apex is located on the axis X'-X, or isosceles trapezes whose small base is located on the side of the optical axis X'-X. In addition, the lamellae 22 are metallized on their two faces, for example by aluminizing, and they are inclined by about 45 ° relative to a plane perpendicular to the axis X'-X.

We have shown on the Figure 2 the device of the Figure 1 wherein the lamellae have been shown to be transparent to explain the operation of the light rays in the lighting or signaling device according to the present invention. We see on this Figure 2 that the light rays emitted by the source 12 are reflected by the reflecting mirror 10 to form a light beam organized around the optical axis X'-X of the mirror 10. After reflection on the mirror 10, the light rays are incident on the 22. They are reflected by these rear faces and then arrive on the front faces of the adjacent lamellae, where they are still reflected, to give rise to emergent rays, substantially parallel to the incident rays before crossing the deflector panel. , but having undergone a translation perpendicular to their direction of propagation.

The size of this translation depends on the distance between the facing faces of two adjacent lamellae. Thus, the translation will be greater in the vicinity of the outer periphery of the deflector panel 20 than near its center, located on the optical axis X'-X.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, as schematized on the Figure 3 , over the entire length of the strips 22, the projection P of the rear edge 22 _{A, R} of the front face 22 _A of a strip, in a direction parallel to the optical axis X'-X on the adjacent strip, is located behind the front edge 22 _{R, A} of the rear face 22 _R of the adjacent lamella. As a result, no light ray can pass through the deflector panel 20 without having been at least once reflected by the rear faces 22 _R and before 22 _A of two adjacent strips 22.

It also results, as we see on the Figure 2 , that, considering the direction of emission of the final beam emerging from the lighting or signaling device, the light rays located generally in the upper quarter of the beam have undergone, by their reflections on the faces of the slats 22, a translation towards the left, that the light rays located globally in the left quarter of the beam have undergone, by their reflections on the faces of the slats 22, a translation downwards, that the light rays located generally in the lower quarter of the beam have undergone, by their reflections on the faces of the slats 22, a translation to the right, and that the light rays located generally in the right quarter of the beam have undergone, by their reflections on the faces of the slats 22, a translation upwards.

The whole beam formed after reflection on the reflector 10 has thus been rotated about the axis X'-X, a small value, and depending on the angle between two successive lamellae. Thus, in the example shown, the deflector panel having 36 lamellae, the angle between two adjacent lamellae is 10 ° if the lamellae are blades with flat and parallel faces. The whole beam is thus rotated about 10 ° after passing through the deflector panel 20.

This is what we observe experimentally, for example by considering Figures 4 and 5 . The Figure 4 represents by a set of curves isocandela the shape of the signaling beam provided by the light source 12 and the reflector 10, in the absence of baffle board, these elements providing a city lamp regulatory beam. We see on the Figure 4 that the resulting beam is relatively symmetrical with respect to the horizontal and the vertical.

The Figure 5 represents the beam obtained with the same light source cooperating with the same reflector as for the Figure 4 but with interposition of the deflector screen 20 in front of the light source. It can be seen that the light beam has slightly expanded, and that it has a horizontal as well as vertical dissymmetry, the whole beam having rotated about 10 ° to the left relative to that of the beam. Figure 4 . However, such a beam remains entirely in accordance with the regulations in force.

In the embodiment of the Figure 6 , the deflection panel 40 consists of lamellae 42 arranged concentrically around the axis X'-X. The lamellae 42 are in the form of truncated cones, with the same axis coinciding with the optical axis X'-X of the reflector 10, and of the same conicity, equal to approximately 45 °. As in the previous embodiment, the lamellae 42 are metallized on both their faces, for example by aluminizing.

As in the preceding embodiment, over the entire length of the slats 42, the projection P 'of the rear edge 42 _{A, R} of the front face 42 _A of a blade, in a direction parallel to the optical axis X'- X on the adjacent lamella, is situated behind the front edge 42 _{R, A} of the rear face 42 _R of the adjacent lamella. As a result, no light ray can pass through the deflector panel 40 without having been reflected at least once by the rear faces 42 _R and before 42 _A of two consecutive lamellae 42.

The operation of the deflector panel is easily deduced from that of the first embodiment. Considering the direction of emission of the final beam emerging from the lighting or signaling device, the light rays all undergo a translation in a radial direction relative to the optical axis X'-X. The whole beam formed after reflection on the reflector 10 has therefore undergone an expansion of a low value, and depending on the distance between two successive lamellae. The slats are advantageously chosen so that they have increasing diameters, from the smallest to the outermost, in arithmetic progression. This will result in an emerging beam wider and higher than the one is formed by the sole action of the light source and the reflector, but which is still in accordance with regulatory photometry.

A lighting or signaling device has thus been made in accordance with the present invention in which the light source is invisible directly from the outside whatever the position of an observer relative to the lighting or signaling device, then no light beam from the source can pass through the deflector panel without having been translated. The presence of the source can sometimes be guessed, for example if its bulb is colored, through multiple reflections. The photometry of the beam emerging from the deflector panel is affected only to a very small extent, however insufficient to make it non-compliant with the regulations.

In order to improve the strength of the deflector panel, it will be possible to provide, as shown in FIG. Figure 8 , walnut the strips 22 or 42 in a block 50 of transparent material, for example by overmolding, the final block having faces 52 and 54 parallel to each other and perpendicular to the optical axis X'-X.

In addition, the slats, they are flat as in the first embodiment, or curves as in the second, intervene only through their reflective faces. It can therefore be expected that these strips are thick, are spaced a length equal to or close to their thickness, and are made of a transparent material, as shown on the Figure 9 . Thus, the metallization of a face of such a thick lamella will make this reflecting face for the rays incident on it as well from outside the lamella as from inside the lamella. These thick slats may in turn be embedded, by overmoulding, in a block of transparent material. This amounts to making reflecting slats on both sides, these slats having an infinitely small thickness.

It may also be provided that the reflecting faces, instead of being metallized, are obtained as the result of total reflections on the inside of lamellae 22 or 42 made of transparent material, embedded in a transparent material, the two materials having refraction chosen to achieve such a result. Such strips will then have the form of prisms, rectilinear or curvilinear.

Of course, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments that have been described, but the skilled person may instead make many changes that fall within its scope. For example, the slats may have a shape other than star or truncated cones, depending on the desired effect. They may for example be in the form of squares of the same centers, truncated cones oval base, or any closed geometric shapes, nested one inside the other, the slats each having a slope, with respect to the axis X'-X optical, about 45 °.

Claims (7)

1. Lighting or signalling device, in particular for a motor vehicle, comprising a source of light (12) and a reflector (10) in order to form a light beam for lighting or signalling according to an optical axis (X'-X), closure glass (30) being disposed to the front of the source of light (12), elements (22, 42) which are non-deflective or slightly deflective being disposed to the front of the source of light (12), in order to transmit the rays of light which form the lighting or signalling beam, by subjecting them to translation substantially perpendicular to their direction of propagation, the closure glass (30) being smooth or slightly deflective, characterised in that the elements (22, 42) which are non-deflective or slightly deflective form a shield (20, 40) which prevents the source of light (12) from being seen through the closure glass (30), whilst permitting the emission of a lighting or signalling beam according to the optical axis (X'-X) of the device, the successive elements (22, 42) which are non-deflective or slightly deflective being non-parallel to one another, and in that the elements (22, 42) which are non-deflective or slightly deflective consist of pairs of reflective elements which face one another, these reflective elements being obtained by metallisation of the two surfaces of thin flat plates, the said plates being arranged in the form of a star around the optical axis (X'-X).
2. Device according to claim 1, characterised in that the projection (P) of the rear edge (22_A,R, 42_{A, R}) of the front surface (22_A, 42_A) of a reflective element according to a direction which is parallel to the optical axis (X'-X), onto the adjacent reflective element, is situated to the rear of the front edge (22_R,A, 42_R,A) of the rear surface (22_R, 42_R) of the adjacent reflective element.
3. Device according to claim 2, characterised in that the flat plates are in the form of triangles or isosceles trapeziums.
4. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the plates (22, 42) are embedded in a block (50) of transparent material with surfaces (52, 54) which are parallel and perpendicular to the optical axis (X'-X).
5. Device according to claim 2, characterised in that the plates (22, 42) are thick, and are made of a transparent material, their thickness being substantially equal to the distance which separates two adjacent plates.
6. Device according to claim 5, characterised in that the thick plates (22, 24) are embedded in a block (50) of transparent material with surfaces (52, 54) which are parallel and perpendicular to the optical axis (X'-X).
7. Device according to claim 1, characterised in that the pairs of reflective elements which face one another are surfaces of prisms, onto which total reflection of the rays of light which are incident on them is produced.

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