LIGHT MODULE FOR A LIGHT DEVICE OF A MOTOR VEHICLE AND ASSOCIATED METHOD

• US 20170006670A1
• Filed: 05/23/2016
• Published: 01/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Valeo Vision (Valeo SE)
• Original Assignee: Valeo Vision (Valeo SE)
• Inventors: Lasaffre, Olivier-Sebastien, Faivre, Arnaud, Cros, Christophe, Duarte, Marc, Monchy, Etienne
• Granted Patent: US 10,111,289 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/1415 Dimming circuits
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/34 for indicating change of drive direction B60Q1/22 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2400/30 Daytime running lights [DRL], e.g. circuits or arrangements therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/3725 Switched mode power supply [SMPS]
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/385 using flyback topology
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/48 having LEDs organised in strings and incorporating parallel shunting devices
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/18 via data-bus transmission
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/30 Semiconductor lamps, e.g. solid state lamps [SSL] light emitting diodes [LED] or organic LED [OLED]

Abstract

A light module for a light device of a motor vehicle. The module according to the invention comprises driving means for the electrical power supply of at least one light source mounted as a load of the driving means and further comprises switching means capable of selectively short-circuiting at least one of the light sources of the module. The invention relates also to a method allowing for the selective short-circuiting of at least one light source of a light module according to the invention.

Claims

1. A light module for a light device of a motor vehicle, said comprising at least one electrical circuit branch comprising a plurality of light sources, driving means for the electrical power supply of at least one light source of said at least one electrical circuit branch which is mounted as a load of said driving means,

wherein said light module further comprises switching means driven independently of said plurality of light sources and capable of selectively deactivating said at least one light source of said at least one electrical circuit branch.

2. The light module according to claim 1, wherein said switching means comprise reception means capable of receiving a signal over a data transmission channel and control means capable of controlling selectively, and being dependent on a signal received by said reception means, the state of at least one switching circuit linked to terminals of one or more light sources in said at least one electrical circuit branch.

3. The light module according to claim 2, wherein said control means comprise a microcontroller element.

4. The light module according to claim 2, wherein said at least one switching circuit comprise at least one field effect transistor, FET.

5. The light module according to claim 2, wherein said data transmission channel is a bus of “

controller area network”

, CAN, type, or of “

local interconnect network”

, LIN, type, of a motor vehicle, and in that said reception means are capable of receiving messages of CAN or LIN type respectively.

6. The light module according to claim 1, wherein said at least one electrical circuit branch comprises said plurality of light sources connected in series.

7. The light module according to claim 1, wherein said at least one electrical circuit branch comprises a parallel arrangement of a number of sub-branches, each of which comprises said at least one light source, said light sources of said sub-branch being mounted in series.

8. The light module according to claim 1, wherein said light sources comprise light-emitting semiconductor chips.

9. The light module according to claim 1, wherein said driving means comprise a converter capable of converting a DC input voltage into a load voltage different from said input voltage.

10. A device for a motor vehicle, wherein said light device comprises at least one light module according to claim 1.

11. A method for selectively powering one or more light sources of a light device of a motor vehicle, wherein said method comprises the following steps:

provision of said light module according to claim 1;

selective short-circuiting of said at least one of said light sources. of said light module dependent on a signal received by control means over a data transmission channel of said motor vehicle.

12. The light module according to claim 3, wherein said at least one switching circuit comprise at least one field effect transistor, FET.

13. The light module according to claim 3, wherein said data transmission channel is a bus of “

controller area network”

, CAN, type, or of “

local interconnect network”

, LIN, type, of a motor vehicle, and in that said reception means are capable of receiving messages of CAN or LIN type respectively.

14. The light module according to claim 4, wherein said data transmission channel is a bus of “

controller area network”

, CAN, type, or of “

local interconnect network”

, LIN, type, of a motor vehicle, and in that said reception means are capable of receiving messages of CAN or LIN type respectively.

15. The light module according to claim 2, wherein said at least one electrical circuit branch comprises said plurality of light sources connected in series.

16. The light module according to claim 3, wherein said at least one electrical circuit branch comprises said plurality of light sources connected in series.

17. The light module according to claim 4, wherein said at least one electrical circuit branch comprises said plurality of light sources connected in series.

18. The light module according to claim 5, wherein said at least one electrical circuit branch comprises said plurality of light sources connected in series.

19. The light module according to claim 2, wherein said at least one electrical circuit branch comprises a parallel arrangement of a number of sub-branches, each of which comprises said at least one light source, said light sources of said sub-branch being mounted in series.

20. The light module according to claim 2, wherein said light sources comprise light-emitting semiconductor chips.