Light module for a motor vehicle headlamp

• US 9,546,766 B2
• Filed: 04/29/2014
• Issued: 01/17/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marelli Automotive Lighting Reutlingen (Germany) GmbH
• Original Assignee: Automotive Lighting Reutlingen GmbH (Stellantis NV)
• Inventors: Brendle, Matthias
• Primary Examiner(s): CARTER, WILLIAM JOSEPH
• Application Number:
  US14/264,761
• Publication Number:
  US 20140321140A1
• Time in Patent Office: 994 Days
• Field of Search: 362/545
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/147 the main emission direction of the LED being angled to the optical axis of the illuminating device
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/151 arranged in one or more lines
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/155 Surface emitters, e.g. organic light emitting diodes [OLED]
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/20 characterised by refractors, transparent cover plates, light guides or filters
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/24 Light guides
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/285 Refractors, transparent cover plates, light guides or filters not provided in groups F21S41/24-F21S41/28
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/321 the reflector being a surface of revolution or a planar surface, e.g. truncated
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/336 with discontinuity at the junction between adjacent areas
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/365 successively reflecting the light
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 45/10 Protection of lighting devices cooling of lighting devices F21S45/40; waterproofing of lighting devices F21S45/50
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 45/47 Passive cooling, e.g. using fins, thermal conductive elements or openings

Abstract

The present invention is directed toward light module for a motor vehicle headlamp that has numerous light sources, a primary lens, and a secondary lens. The primary lens is configured to collect light emitted from the light sources, and to convert this light to an intermediate light distribution having the form of a closed, illuminating surface area. The secondary lens has an object-side focal length, and the primary lens and the secondary lens are disposed such that the intermediate light distribution lies, at a spacing of this focal length, in the beam path in front of the secondary lens. The light emission surfaces of the light sources are separated from one another by spacings lying between them, and the primary lens is configured to distribute the light emitted from the light sources such that the spacings in the intermediate light distribution can no longer be perceived.

Claims

1. A light module for a motor vehicle headlamp, having numerous light emitting diodes as light sources, a primary lens having a lower edge, and a secondary lens, wherein the primary lens collects light emitted from the light sources, and to convert the light into an intermediate light distribution having a shape of a closed and illuminating surface area, and wherein the secondary lens has an object-side focal length and at least one concave mirror reflector having a reflector surface that includes a plurality of reflector facets which are implemented as paraboloids of revolution which have different focal points, all of which lie on the lower edge of the light emission surface of the primary lens, wherein the primary lens and the secondary lens are disposed such that the intermediate light distribution lies in a beam path in front of the secondary lens at a spacing of the object side focal length, and the primary lens is a single-piece base body including collecting lens sub-regions, and a chip in the light emitting diode lies between a collecting lens sub-region that collects light from the light emitting diode and an object-side focal point of the light emitting diode, wherein light emission surfaces of the light sources are separated from one another by spacings therebetween, and the primary lens distributes light emitted from the light sources such that the spacings in the intermediate light distribution cannot be perceived.

2. The light module as set forth in claim 1, wherein the primary lens has a dedicated sub-region functioning as a lens for each light source, each of which has a light emission surface, and wherein the light emission surfaces border one another without gaps, and wherein at least two adjacent light emission surfaces border one another such that at least one lateral edge of a first of two adjacent light emission surfaces lies in a line flush with a lateral edge of the second of the two adjacent light emission surfaces, such that the two flush edges form a shared, straight edge.

3. The light module as set forth in claim 2, wherein each sub-region is a collecting lens.

4. The light module as set forth in claim 2, wherein each sub-region is a reflector.

5. The light module as set forth in claim 2, wherein each sub-region is an optical fiber.

6. The light module as set forth in claim 1, wherein the light module has an aperture shutter disposed in the beam path directly behind the light emission surface, such that the aperture shutter blocks a portion of the intermediate light distribution.

7. The light module as set forth in claim 1, wherein a lens surface of the secondary lens is divided into a larger sub-region and a smaller sub-region, wherein the larger sub-region has a first object-side focal point, and the two sub-regions have a common image-side focal point extending toward infinity.

8. The light module as set forth in claim 1, wherein the concave minor reflector has a reflecting surface, a larger portion of which has a parabolic form, wherein an object-side focal point of the parabolic form lies on the light emission surface of the primary lens.

9. The light module as set forth in claim 1, wherein the secondary lens includes two mirrors disposed in the beam path behind one another such that the mirrors bend the beam path of the secondary lens twice at an acute angle, and the secondary lens has an object-side focal point that lies on the light emission surface of the primary lens, and the secondary lens has an image point that lies in infinity.

10. The light module as set forth in claim 9, wherein the first mirror in the beam path in the direction of propagation of the light is a hyperboloid, and the second minor is a paraboloid, wherein the object-side focal point of the hyperboloid forms the object-side focal point of the secondary lens, and the image-side focal point of the hyperboloid coincides with the focal point of the paraboloid and marks the position and orientation of a virtual intermediate image of the intermediate light distribution.

11. The light module as set forth in claim 9, wherein the first mirror of the two-stage secondary lens is a hyperboloid, or a flat mirror, as a special case of the hyperboloid, and the second mirror is a faceted paraboloid, wherein the object-side focal point of the hyperboloid forms the object-side focal point of the secondary lens, and wherein the image-side focal point of the hyperboloid marks the position and orientation of a virtual intermediate image of the intermediate light distribution, and wherein the downstream parabolic facets are configured to focus on the edge of the virtual images of the intermediate light distribution.

12. The light module as set forth in claim 9, wherein the two mirrors have a plurality of object-side focal points which lie on the edge of the intermediate light distribution, and their image point, or image lines, respectively, lie on the light/dark border of the light distribution, extending into infinity, wherein the two mirror surfaces are shaped such that all optical paths between the object-side focal point and its respective image points, or image lines, respectively, are of the same length.

13. The light module as set forth in claim 1, wherein the secondary lens has a plurality of object-side focal points and one or more shared image-side focal points or focal lines extending into infinity.

14. The light module as set forth in claim 1, wherein the first mirror of the two-stage secondary lens is a faceted hyperboloid, or is a faceted flat mirror, as the special case thereof, and the second mirror is a paraboloid, wherein the object-side focal point of the hyperboloid forms the object-side focal point of the secondary lens, and wherein the image-side focal point of the hyperboloid marks the position and orientation of a virtual intermediate image of the intermediate light distribution, and wherein the parabolic facets disposed downstream in the beam path focus on the edge of the virtual image of the intermediate light distribution.