JPH0442761B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a vehicle lamp that uses an LED as a light source and is used as a tail or stop lamp.

[Prior art] In general lamps and display devices that use LEDs as light sources, the LEDs are attached to a printed circuit board via two lead frames, and a lens is attached to obtain a predetermined light distribution from the LEDs. It is structured so that it can be used.

If an LED having such a configuration is to be used as a vehicle lamp such as a tail lamp or stop lamp, the configuration shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 will be considered. The lighting device in this case is an example of a stop lamp, and for example, has two LEDs 1 and 2 arranged inside.These LEDs are attached to a printed circuit board 5 via two lead frames 3 and 4, respectively. The printed circuit board 5 is attached to a base 6, and a lens 7, which is rectangular in front view and U-shaped in cross section, is attached to the base so as to wrap around the LEDs 1 and 2. The lens 7 is provided with a suitable lens cut 7a on the inside of the front side.

With such a configuration, the light beam a on the front side emitted from the LEDs 1 and 2 is extracted to the outside through the lens cut 7a, and the area l when viewed from the front shines. Further, the light flux b emitted from the LEDs 1 and 2 to the side faces only goes to the side faces of the lens 7, so it cannot be seen from the front at all. Therefore, simply
Even if LEDs are used in this type of lighting, the range
Since only the part of the LED shines brightly, there arises the problem that not only is visibility poor, but also the utilization rate of the luminous flux generated from the LED is extremely poor.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The present invention attempts to solve the problems of visibility and the utilization rate of luminous flux that occur when LEDs are used as light sources for vehicle lamps.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides specific means for solving the above-mentioned problems by attaching a printed circuit board on which an LED is arranged to a base, attaching a transparent reflective member to the LED, and A lens is arranged to surround the member, and the reflecting member has a rectangular shape when viewed from the front, and has a cylindrical hole approximately in the center into which the LED fits, and on the back side, from the LED to the side. It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle lamp characterized in that it is formed in a dome-shaped curved surface that reflects emitted radiation light toward the front into substantially parallel light beams, and by attaching the reflecting member to an LED. The luminous flux emitted from the side of the LED can be used as a parallel ray towards the front side, increasing the effective luminous flux and improving visibility.

[Embodiment] Next, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the illustrated embodiment. The illustrated lamp is a stop lamp using a plurality of LEDs. Reference numerals 11 and 12 indicate LEDs serving as light sources, and commonly used LEDs are used as they are. These LEDs
11 and 12 are two lead frames 13 and 1, respectively.
4 to a printed circuit board 15, and the printed circuit board is mounted to a base 16. A stop lamp lens 17 is attached to this base, but prior to attaching the lens 17, reflective members 18 of the same type are attached to each of the LEDs 11 and 12, respectively.

The shape of the lens 17 is rectangular in front view suitable as a stop lamp, and has a U-shape in cross section, and a suitable lens cut 17a is provided on the inner surface on the front side.

The reflecting member 18 is made of, for example, transparent plastic or rubber, and has a rectangular shape when viewed from the front.
In this case, the length of the long side of the rectangle is approximately half that of the lens 17 described above, and is large enough to be attached to the two LEDs 11 and 12 and fit inside. Note that the reflecting members attached to both LEDs have substantially the same shape, so one of them will be explained.

The reflecting member 18, as shown in FIG.
It has a rectangular shape when viewed from the front, and a cylindrical hole 19 that penetrates to the back side is provided in the center of the rectangle.
The LED 11 can be installed by inserting it from the back side.
Therefore, the hole 19 is formed so that its inner diameter substantially matches or is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the LED. The back side of the reflecting member 18 is formed into a dome-shaped curved surface 20 that reflects the luminous flux emitted from the attached LED 11 to the side surface toward the front side so as to become approximately parallel rays, and the dome-shaped curved surface 20 and the front surface Cut portions 21 are formed at the boundaries of each side of the visible rectangle. Note that a wall portion 22 is provided along the outer peripheral edge of the hole 19 on the back side. Moreover, the lens 17
The lens cut 17a is not limited to a convex lens, but can of course be a concave lens as shown in FIG.

The vehicular lamp of the present invention having the above configuration has a second
As shown in the figure, the light beam a emitted from the LED 11 toward the front side passes through the hole 19 as it is, reaches the lens 17, and is taken out to the outside, and the light beam b toward the side surface is reflected by the curved surface 20 of the reflecting member 18. The light is then reflected to the front side into substantially parallel light rays, and is taken out through the lens 17 to the outside. Therefore, by using the reflecting member 18, almost all of the luminous flux emitted from the side of the LED, which is not generally used, can be reflected to the front side as parallel rays, so that the entire surface of the lens on the front side shines. The overall illuminance can be increased. Although the illustrated embodiment is a stop lamp, the same applies to other lamps.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the vehicle lamp according to the present invention has a rectangular shape when viewed from the front, a dome-shaped curved surface on the back side, and a reflective member having a cylindrical hole in the center as an LED. By using the installed configuration,
In addition to the luminous flux emitted from the LED toward the front side, the luminous flux emitted from the side is also reflected by the curved surface into approximately parallel rays toward the front side and can be used as effective rays, which significantly improves the utilization rate of the restraint, This has the excellent effect of increasing overall illuminance and improving visibility.

In addition, by forming the reflective member from a soft material such as rubber, the fitting state with the LED is stable, and the front face shape of the reflective member can be formed into various shapes to match the shape of the lamp. Since the luminous flux can be extracted from the lamp, the irradiated surface of the lamp shines not in spots, but as a whole, and this also brings about various excellent effects such as improved visibility.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a partially cutaway front view of a vehicle lamp according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the - line in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a reflective member incorporated into the lamp. Figure 4 is a sectional view showing another example of the part shown in Figure 2, and Figure 5 is a front view similar to Figure 1 when a general LED is installed in the same lighting device as the present invention. , FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the - line in FIG. 5. 11, 12... LED, 13, 14... Lead frame, 15... Printed circuit board, 16... Base, 17... Lens, 17a... Lens cut,
18... Reflective member, 19... Hole, 20... Dome-shaped curved surface, 21... Cut portion.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A printed circuit board on which an LED is arranged is attached to a base, a transparent reflective member is attached to the LED,
A lens is arranged to surround the reflective member,
The reflecting member has a rectangular shape when viewed from the front, and is provided with a cylindrical hole approximately in the center into which the LED fits, and on the back side, the emitted light emitted from the LED on the side is directed toward the front into approximately parallel rays. A vehicle lamp characterized by being formed into a dome-shaped curved surface that reflects light. 2. The vehicle lamp according to item 1, wherein the reflective member is made of transparent plastic or rubber.