Lighting Device

• US 20080137357A1
• Filed: 02/13/2006
• Published: 06/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OSRAM GmbH (Ams-Osram AG)
• Original Assignee: Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH (Ams-Osram AG)
• Inventors: Haushalter, Martin, Friedrichs, Rainer, Reill, Joachim, Reiners, Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 7,862,216 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 362/507
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/13 Ultraviolet light; Infrared light
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/143 the main emission direction of the LED being parallel to the optical axis of the illuminating device
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/148 the main emission direction of the LED being perpendicular to the optical axis
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/151 arranged in one or more lines
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/153 arranged in a matrix
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/24 Light guides
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2115/10 Light-emitting diodes [LED]

Abstract

A lighting device is disclosed, which is provided for the front region of a motor vehicle, for example in a motor vehicle headlight, and which emits electromagnetic radiation during operation. The lighting device comprises at least one first primary radiation source which emits infrared radiation, and at least one second primary radiation source which emits visible light, wherein the first primary radiation source and the second primary radiation source are arranged in such a way that the second primary radiation source outshines the first primary radiation source and thus generates a color impression of the lighting device which deviates from the color impression stemming from the infrared radiation source alone.

Claims

1. A lighting device, in particular provided for the front region of a motor vehicle, which lighting device emits electromagnetic radiation during operation, comprising:

at least one first radiation source which emits infrared radiation, and

at least one second radiation source which emits visible light, wherein the first radiation source and the second radiation source are arranged in such a way that the second radiation source outshines the first radiation source.

2. The lighting device as claimed in claim 1, in which the second radiation source emits visible light having a color locus in the white region of the CIE standard chromaticity diagram.

3. The lighting device as claimed in claim 1, which generates a white color impression for a human observer.

4. The lighting device as claimed in claim 1, in which the first and/or the second radiation source comprises a light-emitting diode chip.

5. The lighting device as claimed in claim 4, in which the light-emitting diode chip is a thin-film light-emitting diode chip.

6. The lighting device as claimed in claim 1, in which precisely one primary optical unit is disposed downstream of each radiation source in the emission direction of the lighting device.

7. The lighting device as claimed in claim 1, in which a common primary optical unit is disposed downstream of a plurality of radiation sources in the emission direction of the lighting device.

8. The lighting device as claimed in claim 6, in which the primary optical unit is formed to reduce the divergence of the radiation emitted by the radiation source.

9. The lighting device as claimed in claim 6, in which the primary optical unit is formed at least partly in CPC-like, CEC-like, CHC-like, truncated pyramid-shaped and/or truncated cone-shaped fashion.

10. The lighting device as claimed in claim 6, in which the primary optical unit is a reflector.

11. The lighting device as claimed in claim 1, in which the first and the second radiation source are arranged on a common carrier.

12. The lighting device as claimed in claim 11, in which the carrier is a printed circuit board.

13. The lighting device as claimed in claim 1, in which the first and the second radiation source are arranged on a common component housing.

14. The lighting device as claimed in claim 1, in which a plurality of first radiation sources are arranged as an array or matrix and at least one second radiation source is integrated or attached to the array or the matrix.

15. The lighting device as claimed in claim 1, in which at least one further optical element is disposed downstream of the first and the second primary radiation source or, if appropriate, a primary optical unit(s) in the emission direction.

16. The lighting device as claimed in claim 15, in which a further optical element comprises a fiber-optic unit and/or a projection lens.

17. The lighting device as claimed in claim 1, comprising at least one primary optical unit which is disposed downstream of the first radiation source in the emission direction, wherein at least one optical waveguide into which at least one second radiation source couples is arranged, at least partly, circumferentially around the light exit surface of the primary optical unit.

18. The lighting device as claimed in claim 1, in which the peak wavelength of the first radiation source is 850 nm.

19. A motor vehicle headlight comprising at least one lighting device as claimed in claim 1.

20. The motor vehicle headlight as claimed in claim 19, in which the radiation from the first primary radiation source has a high-beam-like emission characteristic.

21. The motor vehicle headlight as claimed in claim 20, in which the radiation from the second primary radiation source has a position-light-like emission characteristic.