JPH0281776A - Motorcycle headlight light distribution adjustment device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable luminous intensity distribution to be obtained of a road surface near in straight advancing even in cornering time while only with the necessity even for a structure very simplified by switching a low beam, high beam and an inverted low beam further rotating a shade or a reflector in accordance with a bank angle. CONSTITUTION:A signal from a speedometer 13 and a handle steering angle potentiometer 14 is input to a control unit 15, and being based on a map 16 of a car speed and a handle steering angle previously created in this control unit 15, a bank angle is estimated. In case of the small bank angle, a low beam is set with an optical axis in the bottom direction, when the bank angle increases to a certain degree, an almost horizontal high beam is set, and when the bank angle further increases, an inverted low beam in the upper direction is set. Further, in accordance with these estimated bank angles, a shade is rotated in a reverse direction to the tilt direction of a car body, lifting a light distribution cut line in the time of cornering, and in accordance with the estimated bank angle, a reflector and the shade are rotated in an opposite direction to the tilt direction of the car body, correction-controlling the reflector almost horizontally so that light distribution of a road surface is almost horizontally maintained in the time of cornering.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a device for adjusting the road surface light distribution of a headlamp when a motorcycle is cornering.

(Conventional technology) Low beam road light distribution when a motorcycle is traveling straight (
As shown in FIG. 12A, for vehicles traveling on the left, the irradiation range is short on the right side and long on the left side in the direction of travel.

On the other hand, the body of a motorcycle leans when cornering, and when the body leans, the height of the headlights from the road surface becomes lower, and the light distribution on the road becomes narrower in some areas, as shown in Figure 12B. .

For this reason, in JP-A No. 63-53137, the bank angle (inclination angle) during cornering is calculated from the vehicle speed and steering angle, and the angle of the headlight itself is changed accordingly. There is.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the above-mentioned conventional technology, since the entire headlight is rotated to adjust the optical axis direction, the motor used as the drive source must have a large capacity. This increases the size of the entire device. Also, if a cowling is installed or the headlights are square, the mechanism itself becomes complicated.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, in the first invention, low beam, high beam and inverted low beam are switched according to the bank angle, and in the second invention, the bank The shade whose center of rotation is offset from the center of the valve is rotated according to the bank angle, and furthermore, in the third invention, the reflector to which the shade is integrally attached is rotated according to the bank angle. did.

(Function) The larger the bank angle estimated based on the vehicle speed and steering angle, the more sufficient road surface light distribution can be ensured by setting the optical axis direction upward.

(Example) Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a headlamp to which a light distribution adjusting device according to the first invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the first invention.

A case 1 of the headlamp is attached to the vehicle body via a bracket 2, and a convex lens 3 is held at the front end of the case 1, and this convex lens 3 faces into a recess 5 that opens toward the front of a cowling 4. There is. Further, a reflector 6 having a spheroidal surface is attached to the rear end of the case 1, and a bulb 7 is rotatably supported at the center of the reflector 6.

A high beam filament 8, a low beam filament 9, and a hood 10 disposed on one side of the low beam filament 9 are housed inside the bulb 7. Switching between high beam and low beam is performed via a switch mechanism 11. Further, switching to an inverted low beam in which the optical axis is directed upward is carried out by rotating the bulb 7 using the chi-yu 12.

By the way, in the first aspect of the invention, switching between low beam, high beam, and inverted low beam is performed according to the bank angle of the vehicle body.

That is, as shown in FIG. 2, signals from the speedometer 13 and the steering wheel turning angle potentiometer 14 are input to the control device 15, and a map 16 of vehicle speed and steering wheel turning angle prepared in advance is input to the control device 15. Estimate the bank angle based on . In creating the map 16 for estimating the bank angle, the method of dividing the steering wheel turning angle θ is divided into smaller sections as θ becomes smaller, and as shown in FIG. 4, the above tendency becomes more pronounced as the vehicle speed increases. By doing so, the bank angle can be estimated efficiently and with high accuracy.

When the bank angle is small (nearly vertical), a low beam with the optical axis ρ pointing downward is used as shown in Figure 3A.
When the bank angle increases to a certain extent, the beam becomes a high beam with the optical axis being approximately horizontal, as shown in Figure 3B, and when the bank angle becomes even larger, it becomes an inverted low beam with the optical axis A pointing upwards, as shown in Figure 3C. .

As described above, when the switch mechanism and rotation mechanism are combined to switch from low beam to high beam during cornering, the road surface light distribution expands from 81 to a2 as shown in Fig. 5.
Furthermore, when switching from high beam to inverted low beam, the road surface light distribution becomes a.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a headlamp to which the light distribution adjusting device according to the second invention is applied, and the same members as those in the first invention are given the same numbers. In the second invention, a support plate 20 is provided in the case 1, and a ring-shaped member 22 is rotatably fitted around a light projection opening 21 formed in the support plate 20.
A fan gear 23 is attached to a part of this ring-shaped member 22, a shade 24 is fixed to this fan gear 23, and the fan gear 23 is meshed with a gear 26 rotated by a servo motor 25 to rotate the shade 24. ing. Here, the rotation center O0 of the shade 24 is the valve center 02
In contrast, it is offset downward.

Here, in the second invention, similarly to the first invention, the bank angle is estimated by the control device from the vehicle speed and the steering wheel turning angle, and the shade 24 is rotated in a direction opposite to the direction of inclination of the vehicle body according to the estimated bank angle. Raise the light distribution cut line at the time. In other words, as shown in the screen light distribution in Figure 7 (light distribution to a screen installed in front of a stationary vehicle body), when driving straight, the light distribution S1 is slightly upward to the left, but when cornering, the light distribution rotates around Ol. It becomes S2. However, since the car body is tilted in the opposite direction when driving, the light distribution S,
, S, match.

As described above, by rotating the shade 24 in the direction opposite to the direction of inclination of the vehicle body during cornering, the road surface light distribution is expanded from light distribution a4 to a when the shade 24 is not rotated, as shown in FIG. By offsetting the rotation center O1 with respect to the center 02 of the bulb 7, the road surface light distribution is expanded to a6.

In the illustrated example, the rotation center O of the shade 24 is always
1 is shown offset downward from the center 02 of the bulb 7, but for example, by making the opening 21 formed in the support plate 20 into a horizontally long elliptical shape, the center of rotation o1 of the shade 24 and the center o1 are offset when traveling straight. The center 02 of the valve 7 is aligned with the center 02 of the valve 7, and the center 0. ．． It is also possible to have 02 move away.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of a headlamp to which the light distribution adjusting device according to the third invention is applied, and the same members as those in the first invention are given the same numbers. In the third invention, the bracket 2
The case 1 is fixed to the case 1, and the reflector 6, which has an oblong elliptical shape when viewed from the front (direction A in FIG. 9), is rotatably supported.A shade 24 is attached to the front end opening of the reflector 6, and the control device 15 A motor 30 driven by a signal from
This allows the reflector 6 and the shade 24 to rotate together.

Here, in the third invention, similarly to the first and second inventions, the bank angle is estimated in the control device 15 from the vehicle speed and the steering wheel turning angle, and the reflector 6 and the shade 24 are moved in the direction of inclination of the vehicle body according to the estimated bank angle. The screen is rotated in the opposite direction to change the light distribution on the screen as shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B. That is, the reflector is corrected and controlled to be substantially horizontal so that the road surface light distribution during cornering is maintained substantially horizontal. Here, since the shape of the reflector 6 in front view is non-circular, if only the shade 24 is rotated as in the second invention, the shape of the screen light distribution will change, but the reflector 6 and the shade 24 are integrated. By rotating the light distribution center, the shape itself does not change even if the angle of the light distribution S1°S2 changes, so a stable road surface light distribution can be obtained. That is, as shown in FIG. 11, when a non-circular reflector is used, if only the shade is rotated, the road surface light distribution will be a7, but if it is rotated integrally with the reflector, it will be expanded to 88.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the present invention, the optical axis of the headlight is changed or the shade or reflector is rotated according to the bank angle when cornering, so even when cornering, it is possible to drive straight. It is possible to obtain road surface light distribution close to the time of day. Furthermore, the structure for achieving the above effects is extremely simple.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a headlamp using the light distribution adjustment device according to the first invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the first invention, and FIGS. 3A to 3C are diagrams showing the switching action of the optical axis. , FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a map for bank angle estimation, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing road surface light distribution according to the first invention, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a headlamp to which the light distribution adjustment device according to the second invention is applied. 7 is a diagram showing the screen light distribution, FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the road surface light distribution according to the second invention, and FIG. 9 is a cross section of a headlamp to which the light distribution adjustment device according to the third invention is applied. Figure 10 A and B are diagrams showing screen light distribution, Figure 1
1 is a diagram showing the road surface light distribution according to the third invention, and FIGS. 12A and 12B are diagrams showing the road surface light distribution during straight driving and conventional cornering. In the drawing, 3 is a convex lens, 6 is a reflector, 7 is a bulb, 8 is a high beam filament, 9 is a low beam filament, 10 is a hood, 11 is a switch mechanism, 1
2, 25.30 is a motor, 15 is a control device, 24 is a shade, aI. a2. as+ a4+ aS+ as is road surface light distribution. Patent applicant: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Agent
Person Patent attorney 2 1) Part time Patent attorney Oohashi Kunitachi Patent attorney Koyama Yu Fig. 4 Hand 1 Sliced bird θ Fig. 6 Fig. 7 Fig. 5 Fig. 12

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) In a device in which a control device calculates and estimates the bank angle during cornering and adjusts the road surface light distribution of the headlights based on this estimated value, this device adjusts the low beam and A switch mechanism that switches between high beam and high beam, and a rotation mechanism that turns the low beam hood upside down by rotating the entire bulb to create an inverted low beam, and corrects the light distribution during cornering by combining the switch mechanism and the rotation mechanism. A motorcycle headlamp light distribution adjustment device featuring: (2) In a device in which a control device calculates and estimates the bank angle during cornering and adjusts the road surface light distribution of the headlights based on this estimated value, this device operates the shade according to a signal from the control device. Equipped with a rotating mechanism that rotates the
The headlamp light distribution adjustment device for a motorcycle is further characterized in that the center of rotation of the shade is offset from the center of the bulb to raise a light distribution cut line during cornering. (3) In a device in which a control device calculates and estimates the bank angle during cornering and adjusts the road surface light distribution of the headlights based on this estimated value, this device controls the headlights by a signal from the control device. The vehicle is equipped with a rotation mechanism that rotates the reflector of the light, and the reflector has a non-circular shape when viewed from the front, and is attached so that the shade rotates integrally with the reflector, so that the light distribution on the road surface remains approximately horizontal during cornering. A headlamp light distribution adjustment device for a motorcycle, characterized by correcting and controlling a reflector substantially horizontally. (4) The headlight arrangement for a motorcycle is characterized in that the bank angle is estimated from a map created based on the vehicle speed and the steering wheel turning angle, and the steering wheel turning angle is divided into smaller sections as the vehicle speed increases. Light adjustment device.