PROJECTION HEADLAMP ARRANGEMENT FOR VEHICLES

• US 20130021816A1
• Filed: 03/31/2011
• Published: 01/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hella KGaA Hueck & Company
• Original Assignee: Hella KGaA Hueck & Company
• Inventors: Ehm, Matthias
• Application Number:
  US13/638,526
• Publication Number:
  US 20130021816A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 362/516
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/085 due to special conditions, e.g. adverse weather, type of road, badly illuminated road signs or potential dangers B60Q1/10, B60Q1/12, B60Q1/1423 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/054 Variable non-standard intensity, i.e. emission of various beam intensities different from standard intensities, e.g. continuous or stepped transitions of intensity
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/45 Special conditions, e.g. pedestrians, road signs or potential dangers
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/698 Shaft-shaped screens rotating along its longitudinal axis

Abstract

A projection headlamp arrangement for vehicles with each headlamp containing a reflector with two focal points, a light source in a first focal point, a lens in front of the reflector with a focal point near the second focal point, and a shutter shaft between the lens and the reflector and adjustable into several positions about a rotational axis each of which has a shutter edge of the shutter shaft for creating a cutoff line an image capture unit detects objects in front of the vehicle, an image processing unit processes image data from the image capture unit, a marker light function sector of the shutter shaft has a shutter edge with an opening wherein the adjustment unit rotates the shutter shaft and/or pivots one or both of the headlamps about a vertical axis, so the object to be marked is illuminated by means of light passing through the opening.

Claims

1. A projection headlamp arrangement for vehicles with a left-hand projection headlamp and with a right-hand projection headlamp, with each headlamp containing:

a reflector with two focal points,

a light source that is arranged in a first focal point of the reflector,

a lens that is positioned in front of the reflector in the light beam direction and whose focal point is arranged in the vicinity of the second focal point of the reflector, and

a shutter shaft which is arranged between the lens and the reflector and which can be adjusted by means of an adjustment unit to several rotational positions about a rotational axis extending horizontally and perpendicular to the optical axis, wherein one shutter edge of the shutter shaft is allocated to each of the rotational positions to create a cut-off line for a specified light distribution,

wherein

an image capture unit is provided for the detection of objects that are located in a region in front of the vehicle,

an image processing unit is provided for the processing of the image data generated by the image capture unit,

a light function sector of the shutter shaft is embodied as a marker light function sector with a shutter edge having an opening, wherein, in a marker light function, the adjustment unit, by means of a marker control signal, on one hand rotates the shutter shaft about the rotational axis of the shutter shaft and/or on the other hand pivots the left-hand projection headlamp and/or the right-hand projection headlamp about a vertical axis, so that at least a part of the object to be marked is illuminated by means of a partial light beam passing through the opening.

2. The projection headlamp arrangement according to claim 1, wherein an illumination height of the object to be marked depends on a rotational angle of the shutter shaft about the rotational axis of this shutter shaft.

3. The projection headlamp arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the left-hand projection headlamp and the right-hand projection headlamp can be pivoted identically or individually about a pivot angle with respect to the vertical axis so that a specified or variable illumination width and/or a specified or variable luminous intensity of the object to be marked can be set.

4. The projection headlamp arrangement according to one of claim 1, wherein the light source of the left-hand projection headlamp and/or the right-hand projection headlamp can be turned on and/or off according to a specified frequency in the marker light function in order to visually emphasize the object to be marked.

5. The projection headlamp arrangement according to one of claim 1, wherein, for forming the marker light function, the shutter shaft of the left-hand projection headlamp and/or the right-hand projection headlamp is located in a rotational position in which the marker light function sector of the shutter shaft is active.

6. The projection headlamp arrangement according to one of claim 1, wherein the opening is arranged in a middle region of the shutter edge.

7. The projection headlamp arrangement according to one claim 1, wherein regions of the shutter edge adjacent to the opening are shaped so that a low-beam light distribution can be generated.

8. The projection headlamp arrangement according to one of claim 1, wherein the opening in the longitudinal cross section of the shutter shaft has a rectangular or trapezoidal or triangular or curved shape.

9. The projection headlamp arrangement according to one of claim 1, wherein the shutter shaft has, a low-beam light function sector for generating an adaptive low-beam light distribution and a high-beam light function sector for generating a high-beam light distribution as additional light function sectors.

10. The projection headlamp arrangement according to one of claim 1, wherein the marker light function sector (10) includes a rotational angle range of 90°

about the rotational axis (D) of the shutter shaft (7).