JPH0330188Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Field of industrial application] The present invention relates to a device for preventing dazzling caused by strong light (referred to as dazzling light) such as the headlights of oncoming vehicles in a vehicle driving at night, and in particular, it relates to a device that prevents dazzling caused by strong light (referred to as dazzling light) such as the headlights of oncoming vehicles. The present invention relates to an anti-dazzle device using an element.

[Conventional technology]

BACKGROUND ART Conventionally, as a technique relating to an anti-dazzle device using a polarizing element, there are techniques disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 52-101526 and 1982-174818. As shown in FIG. 12, if we focus on vehicle A, this means that, for example, only the polarized light component in the horizontal direction (horizontal to the plane of the paper, hereinafter referred to as this direction) is displayed on the front of the headlight 1. In addition to providing a polarizing element 2 that transmits light, another polarizing element 3 that transmits only polarized light components in a direction of 90 degrees with respect to a reference is arranged within the driver's front field of vision. In addition, in FIG. 12, vehicle B facing vehicle A also has its headlight 1.
The anti-dazzle device is equipped with an anti-dazzle device consisting of a polarizing element 12 provided on the front of the vehicle A and a polarizing element 13 placed within the front field of view of the driver.
The characteristics of the polarizing element 12 of vehicle B and the characteristics of the polarizing element 3 of vehicle A and the polarizing element 13 of vehicle B are the same.

Vehicles A and B equipped with such anti-dazzle devices
Considering this, the light Lb from the headlight 11 of vehicle B via the polarizing element 12 consists of only horizontal polarization components, so it does not pass through the polarizing element 3 of vehicle A. Dazzle caused by the light Lb from the headlight 11 is prevented (dazzle caused by the light La from the headlight 1 of the vehicle A is similarly prevented in the vehicle B). In addition, the light from headlight 1 of vehicle A
When an object 4 such as a person is irradiated by La, the light
Since La is diffusely reflected by the object and the reflected light contains various polarized light components, the driver of vehicle A can visually recognize the object even through the polarizing element 3 ( The same applies to vehicle B).

That is, the configuration of the conventional anti-dazzling device described above includes a light irradiation means that irradiates the front of the vehicle with light polarized in a predetermined direction, and operates a polarizing element having a polarization axis in a direction different from that of the polarized light. It is placed within the front field of view of the person.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

By the way, the above-described anti-dazzle device has a problem in that a sufficient anti-dazzle effect cannot be obtained unless the anti-dazzle device is installed in a considerable number of vehicles.

This is because if the oncoming vehicle is not equipped with the anti-dazzle device, the headlight light of the oncoming vehicle has various polarization components, so it reaches the driver via a polarizing element placed within the driver's forward field of vision. This is because the light cannot be sufficiently attenuated.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to attenuate the dazzling light while ensuring the driver's forward visibility even when the dazzling light is not polarized.

[Means for solving problems]

The technical means of the present invention for solving the above problems includes a polarization determining means for determining whether or not the dazzling light that reaches the driver is polarized; while providing another light irradiation means that irradiates the front of the vehicle with light in a specific wavelength band in the visible light wavelength band when it is determined that
A filter device having a transmission characteristic of a specific wavelength band including the light wavelength band from other light irradiation means is disposed within the driver's forward field of vision.

[Effect]

When the polarization determining means determines that the dazzling light such as headlight light from an oncoming vehicle is not polarized, the other light irradiating means irradiates light in a specific wavelength band based on this determination result. At this time, wavelength bands other than the transmission wavelength band of the filter device in the dazzling light are blocked by the filter device, so if the driver looks ahead through this filter device, he will be prevented from being dazzled by the dazzling light. . Since the light emitted from the other light irradiation means passes through the filter device as it is, the driver can sufficiently see the object illuminated by the other light irradiation means through the filter device. can be confirmed.

On the other hand, if the polarization means determines that the dazzling light such as headlights from an oncoming vehicle is polarized,
As in the past, the driver is prevented from being dazzled by looking ahead through the polarizing element, and objects illuminated by the light irradiation means (which irradiates polarized light) can also be seen through the polarizing element.

[Example of idea]

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a vehicle equipped with an anti-dazzle device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the same figure, the front of the left and right headlights 21, 22 is
A polarizing plate 31 having a polarization axis of 45 degrees and a filter 32 having transmission characteristics in a specific wavelength band (for example, one or more narrow wavelength bands) in the visible wavelength band.
An irradiation light transmitting device 30 having the following is arranged. The polarizing plate 31 and filter 32 are structured to be slidable left and right, respectively. Also,
A polarizing plate 5 having a polarization axis of 135° with respect to the reference is placed at a predetermined position within the driver's front field of vision in the vehicle interior.
1 and an incident light transmitting device 50 having a filter 52 having the same transmission characteristics as the filter 32, and a housing section 23 in which a light amount detecting device 60 as described later is stored is formed on the engine hood. ing.

The specific configuration of the irradiation light transmitting device 30 is as follows.
The structure is as shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 3. In each figure, holes 31a and 31 provided at the upper end of the polarizing plate 31
The polarizing plate 31 and the wire 33 are fixed by intertwining the wire 33 with b, 31c, and 31d, and the wire 33 is stretched between the driven pulley 34 and the driving pulley 35 rotated by the motor 41. ing. On the other hand, a hole 32 provided at the lower end of the filter 32
The filter 32 and the wire 36 are fixed by intertwining the wire 36 with the wires 36a, 32b, 32c, and 32d, and the wire 36 is stretched between the driven pulley 37 and the driving pulley 38 rotated by the motor 42. are doing. In each figure, the polarizing plate 3
1 is placed in front of the headlight 21, and the entire mechanism is installed on the bumper 24. In addition, 39 in the figure is a cover. That is, this irradiation light transmission device 30 transmits the wire 3 as the motors 41 and 42 rotate in the forward and reverse directions.
By moving 3 and 36, the polarizing plate 31 and the filter 3
2 slides left and right, and a polarizing plate 31 is placed in front of the headlight 21.
Alternatively, the structure allows the filter 32 to be selectively positioned. Note that a similar irradiation light transmission device 30 is installed in front of the headlight 22, but this irradiation light transmission device 30 has a positional relationship between the driving pulleys 35, 38 (motors 41, 42) and the driven pulleys 34, 37. are reversed left and right, and the cover 39 is also attached to the polarizing plate 31 side in FIGS. 2 and 3 (of course, the headlight 2
2 will be located).

Further, the specific configuration of the incident light transmitting device 50 is as shown in FIG. In the figure, a polarizing plate 51 and a filter 52 are integrated into a frame 57 so as to be positioned vertically, one side of the frame 57 is fixed to the motor shaft of a motor 53, and the other side is provided with a polarizing plate 51 and a filter 52. A shaft (having the same axis as the motor shaft) is rotatably supported by a bearing 54. The motor 53 and the bearing 54 are supported by struts 55 and 56 fixed to the front part of the ceiling of the vehicle interior, respectively, and the polarizing plate 51 and the filter 52 are placed within the driver's front field of vision. Here, the driver's normal line of sight passes through the lower one of the polarizing plate 51 and the filter 52 (the polarizing plate 51 in FIG. 4). Furthermore, the fourth
As shown in the figure, the pillars 55 and 56 have a structure that allows them to be bent near the part where they are fixed to the ceiling.

On the other hand, the specific configuration of the light amount detection device 60 stored in the storage section 23 is as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. In each figure, a disc-shaped polarizing plate 63 is tightly fixed to a transparent reinforcing material 64 such as glass or plastic, and its center is fixed to the shaft of a stepping motor 66. This stepping motor 66 is fixed to the pedestal 65,
Furthermore, a support 68 is fixed to the pedestal 65 so that an optical sensor 67 for detecting the amount of light is located behind the polarizing plate 63.
installed on. Each of the above-mentioned components is housed in a case 61 in which a protective glass 62 is fitted in the front surface so that the protective glass 62 and the polarizing plate 63 face each other. The light amount detection device 60 is stored in the storage section 23 so that dazzling light enters the protective glass 62 from the front of the vehicle.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the configuration of the control system of the anti-dazzle device according to this embodiment. In the figure, 100 is a microprocessor that performs overall control.
This microprocessor 100 is an MPU, and basically has the function of determining the polarization of dazzling light based on various light amount data sampled via the optical sensor 67 of the light amount detection device 60. Irradiation light transmission device 30
A function to perform drive control of the incident light transmitting device 50 based on the above determination result.
It has the function of controlling the drive of

101, 102, 103, and 104 are drive circuits that amplify the drive signals output based on the above functions and apply them to the motors 41, 42, and 53 and the stepping motor 66; 105 is a ROM;
The ROM 105 stores in advance program data for the microprocessor 100, a reference value S for determining polarization of dazzling light, etc., which will be described later. Furthermore, 1
Reference numeral 10 denotes a light switch that turns on and off the headlights 21 and 22, and the microprocessor 100 controls whether the light switch 110 is on or off based on the level of the input port during the on/off operation of the light switch 110. Determining the status.

Next, the operation of the microprocessor 100 will be explained according to the processing flow shown in FIGS. 8 and 9.

First, the registers A ₀ , A ₃₀ , A ₆₀ , A ₁₂₀ , and A ₁₅₀ are initialized to “O” (1), and the light amount detection device 60 is set to “O”.
The amount of dazzling light is sampled by controlling the amount of dazzling light. Specifically, the stepping motor 66
At the same time, the detection signal from the optical sensor 67 corresponding to the amount of light passing through the polarizing plate 63 is converted into data each time. Then input each light amount data to each register above.
Store in A ₀ to A ₁₅₀ (2) to (7). Next, reference data for determining the polarization of the incident dazzling light is calculated based on the light amount data sampled as described above. That is, the ratio of each data when the polarizing plate 63 has a crossed Nicols relationship is determined. Specifically, the light amount data stored in register A ₀ and the light amount data stored in register A ₉₀ are compared (8), and the value obtained by dividing the larger light amount data by the smaller light amount data is stored in register B ₁ . At the same time, (9) or (10), the light amount data stored in register A ₃₀ , the light amount data stored in register A ₁₂₀ , and the register
The same process is performed for the light amount data stored in A ₆₀ and the light amount data stored in register A ₁₅₀ .
The values obtained in each process (values obtained by dividing the larger light amount data by the smaller light amount data) are stored in registers B ₂ and B ₃ , respectively (11) to (16).

The values stored in each register B ₁ , B ₂ , B ₃ above are
If the sampled light does not have polarization, the value will be approximately constant, and the value will never exceed a certain value S. On the other hand, if the sampled light has polarization, there will be variations in each value, and at least one of the values will be the value S
Become bigger. Therefore, this value S is used as the reference value S for polarization determination described above.

Here, assume that dazzling light such as headlight light from an oncoming vehicle is not polarized.

When the basic values for determining polarization are stored in each register B ₁ , B ₂ , B ₃ as described above, after that,
As shown in FIG. 9, each numerical value in each register B ₁ , B ₂ , B ₃ is compared with a reference value S stored in advance in the RCM 105 (17) to (19). In this case, since all of the numerical values are below the reference value S, the microprocessor 100 recognizes that the current dazzling light is not polarized. When it is recognized that the dazzling light is not polarized, the irradiation light transmission device 30
The polarizing plate 31 is housed in the cover 39 by drive control of the motors 41 and 42 in the headlights 21 and 2.
The filter 32 is positioned on the front side of the device 2, and the filter 52 is positioned on the lower side by controlling the drive of the motor 53 in the incident light transmitting device 50 (20).

In such a situation, if the driver looks ahead through the filter 52, dazzling can be prevented because components of the dazzling light outside the wavelength band transmitted by the filter 52 are blocked by the filter 52. At the same time, the headlights 21 and 22 via the filter 32
Since the reflected light from the object illuminated by the light from the vehicle passes through the filter 52 as it is, the driver's forward visibility can be sufficiently secured.

On the other hand, if the oncoming vehicle is equipped with an anti-dazzling device using a polarizing plate and the headlight light of the oncoming vehicle is polarized, the microprocessor 100
In the process of steps (17) to (19) in FIG _.
It is determined that the numerical value in either B ₂ or B ₃ exceeds the reference value S, and thereby it is recognized that the dazzling light is polarized. When it is recognized that the dazzling light is polarized, the motors 41 and 42 in the irradiation light transmitting device 30 are driven and controlled to house the filter 32 in the cover 39 and direct the polarized light to the front of the headlights 21 and 22. While the plate 31 is positioned, the polarizing plate 51 is positioned on the lower side by drive control of the motor 53 of the incident light transmitting device 50 (21).

In such a situation, by looking ahead through the polarizing plate 51, the driver can prevent being dazzled by the headlights of oncoming vehicles, as in the conventional case, and can also ensure sufficient forward visibility.

Note that until the microprocessor 100 recognizes that the light switch 110 is in the off state (22), the above-mentioned polarization determination and irradiation light transmission device 3 are performed.
0 and the drive control of the incident light transmitting device 50 are repeatedly performed.

Further, when there is no oncoming vehicle or when the anti-dazzle device is not required, both the polarizing plate 31 and the filter 32 in the irradiation light transmitting device 30 are housed in the cover 39, for example, by the operation of the occupant.
In this case, the incident light transmitting device 50 is bent toward the ceiling and removed from the driver's front field of vision.

On the other hand, if the oncoming vehicle is equipped with the same anti-dazzling device as your own vehicle, and assuming that the dazzling light from the oncoming vehicle is originally light in a specific wavelength band, then the dazzling light is in a specific wavelength band. Unique control is required based on the result of determining whether light is generated or not.
FIGS. 10 and 11 are diagrams showing an example of a wavelength band detection device used to determine whether dazzling light is light in a specific wavelength band. This wavelength band detection device 70 includes filters 7 with different transmission wavelength bands.
3a, 73b are provided, each filter 73a, 7
The optical sensor 74 detects the amount of incident light that has passed through each of the
a and 74b are designed to detect the signal. In the figure,
71 is a case, 72 is a protective glass, and 75 is a support supporting the optical sensors 74a and 74b. For example, if there is a difference of more than a predetermined value between the amounts of light detected by the optical sensors 74a and 74b, it is determined that the incident light is in a specific wavelength band.

Here, if the oncoming vehicle is equipped with a dazzling prevention device similar to the own vehicle, and the dazzling light from this oncoming vehicle is light in a specific wavelength band, the detection signal from the wavelength band detection device 70 When it is determined that the dazzling light is light in a specific wavelength band based on this, the polarizing plate 31 in the irradiation light transmitting device 30 is positioned in front of the headlamps 21 and 22, and the polarizing plate 51 in the incident light transmitting device 50 is lowered. position it on the side. In this way, the anti-dazzling device in the oncoming vehicle performs the same control as described above using the headlight light from the own vehicle, and the dazzling light from the oncoming vehicle is changed into polarized light. In such a situation, the relationship between the driver's own vehicle and an oncoming vehicle will be the same as in the past, preventing dazzling and ensuring forward visibility.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the polarization axis of each polarizing plate was assumed to be the same 45° or 135° for each vehicle, but if the polarization characteristics are different for each vehicle, the polarization of the light incident on the own vehicle may vary. What is necessary is to detect the angle and change the polarization axis of a polarizing plate placed within the field of view of the driver based on the detected value. Specifically, a rotation mechanism is added to the polarizing plate.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the light irradiation means and light irradiation conditions, which are the constituent elements of the present invention, are changed to the headlights 21 and 2.
Although the polarizing plate 31 and the filter 32 are used in common, the filters 32 and 32 may be configured independently. In this case, the other light irradiation means may be configured with a metal halide lamp, a fluorescent mercury lamp, or the like that irradiates light in a specific wavelength band.

[Effect of the invention] As explained above, according to the invention, not only when the dazzling light from an oncoming vehicle is polarized, but also when the dazzling light is not polarized,
In addition to ensuring sufficient forward visibility in your vehicle,
Dazzle caused by the dazzling light can be prevented.
Therefore, even in a situation where there are vehicles equipped with an anti-dazzle device using a polarizing element and vehicles not equipped with the anti-dazzle device, a sufficient anti-dazzle effect can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a front view of a vehicle equipped with an anti-dazzle device according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a front view of an irradiation light transmission device, Fig. 3 is a side view of the same, and Fig. 4 is an incident light transmission device. 5 is a schematic side view of the light amount detection device, FIG. 6 is a front view of the same, FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control system, and FIGS. 8 and 9 are microprocessor Flowchart showing the processing flow of FIG. 10 is a side schematic diagram of the wavelength band detection device,
FIG. 11 is a front view of the same, and FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional anti-dazzle device. 21, 22... Headlight, 30... Irradiation light transmission device,
31, 51...Polarizing plate, 32, 52...Filter, 5
0... Incident light transmission device, 60... Light amount detection device, 70
...Wavelength band detection device, 100...Microprocessor.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] An anti-dazzle device including a light irradiation means for irradiating light polarized in a predetermined direction to the front of the vehicle, and a polarizing element having a polarization axis in a direction different from that of the polarized light is disposed within the driver's forward visual field, Furthermore, there is a polarization determining means for determining whether the dazzling light reaching the driver is polarized or not, and when the polarization determining means determines that the dazzling light is not polarized, the polarization determining means determines whether the dazzling light reaching the driver is polarized or not. While providing other light irradiation means for irradiating light to the front of the vehicle,
A dazzling prevention device characterized in that a filter device having a transmission characteristic of a specific wavelength band including the wavelength band of light from other light irradiation means is disposed within a driver's forward visual field.