Lighting or indicating light unit for a vehicle and lighting or indicating system equipped with at least one such light unit

• US 20030067220A1
• Filed: 09/24/2002
• Published: 04/10/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Valeo Vision (Valeo SE)
• Original Assignee: Valeo Vision (Valeo SE)
• Inventors: Cros, Christophe, Lacombe, Patrick, Dubrovin, Alexis
• Granted Patent: US 6,982,648 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 307/9.1
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 11/00 Arrangement of monitoring devices for devices provided for in groups B60Q1/00 - B60Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/112 Vehicle speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/114 Vehicle acceleration or deceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/146 Abnormalities, e.g. fail-safe
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2300/32 Road surface or travel path
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0315 using multiplexing techniques multiplexing for transmission of signals G08C15/00; multiplexing for electrical communication in general H04J

Abstract

The present invention relates to a lighting or indicating light unit for a vehicle. It also relates to a lighting or indicating system equipped with at least one such light unit. It extends directly to indicating devices, such as vehicle lights but also to other similar products such as reversing radars and other systems.

The light unit of the invention includes lighting means and ancillary facility means as known. According to the invention, the light unit incorporates an electronics card, which is connected, on the one hand, to a controller for a multiplexed bus by a harness and, on the other hand, to a source of electrical supply by a harness. It includes an integrated controller, which performs all the functions associated with controlling the lighting means and the ancillary facility means, whatever the type of light unit involved.

Among the advantages of the invention is the reduction in the length of the cabling harness of the onboard network and the reduction in the electromagnetic emissions.

Claims

1. Lighting or indicating light unit for a vehicle, of the type comprising a shell containing lighting or indicating means and possibly ancillary facility means for implementing ancillary facilities such as light beam adaptation or automatic adjustment of the orientation of the light beam, wherein, mechanically associated with its shell, it includes an electronics card including:

a supply connector to an electrical power supply device;

a standard connector, whatever ancillary facilities are activated on the light unit, the said standard connector being intended to be linked to the multiplexed bus of an on-board network;

control means for controlling the lighting or indicating means and possibly the ancillary facility means, the said control means being connected to the said supply connector and to the said standard connector in such a way as to allow commands and information on the status of the light unit to be exchanged over the multiplexed bus;

an internal bus connected, on the one hand, to the control means and, on the other hand, to the lighting or indicating means and to the ancillary facility means for exchange between them of commands generated by the control means and of information on the status of the light unit.

2. Light unit according to claim 1, wherein the control means include an integrated controller connected, within the light unit, to the multiplexed bus and to the electrical loads of the light unit that are subject to its control.

3. Light unit according to claim 2, wherein the controller is connected to a bus controller by a harness and to a vehicle electrical supply device by a harness, and in that the totality of the lighting or indicating functions and the ancillary facilities can be controlled entirely by the same integrated controller, which includes means for activating only the lighting or indicating functions and ancillary facilities reserved to a platform level (A to D).

4. Light unit according to claim 2, the light unit including a system for lighting on bends, wherein, when the light unit is fixed in an angular position, a sensor indicates to the integrated controller that the orientation motor is locked in an angular position, the controller issuing at that moment an additional command to an orientation motor for setting the optical system to an anti-dazzle position, without the need for the reception of a command coming from outside the light unit, and in particular without overloading either the network or the computer partly on board the vehicle.

5. Light unit according to claim 2, wherein, the diagnostic line having been eliminated from the network, the bus also exchanges diagnostic data, and in that the controller for the bus of the on-board network manages both the exchange of data linked to the use of the integrated controller and the exchange of diagnostic data.

6. Light unit according to claim 2, wherein the control of lighting or indicating is anticipated by using information available on the network, such as the speed of the vehicle, the acceleration of the vehicle or navigation instructions entered in an anticipation controller, which produces an anticipated lighting or indicating control value, such as the switching on or off of a lamp, the increasing or reduction of the luminous flux produced by one of the lamps, and/or a command for a function of the AFS or intelligent lighting type, and/or a command to change the orientation of the light beam.

7. Light unit according to claim 2, wherein it includes means that allow the lighting or indicating performance and the technical signature of the light unit to be specified, depending on the style of the vehicle that a motor-vehicle manufacturer wants to design, the operating parameters of the lighting or indicating system and of the various ancillary facilities associated with them being determined in registers read during at least one parameterisation stage of the functioning of the lighting control system so as to give a consistency of behaviour between the various components of the vehicle, this consistency determining the desired character of the vehicle and/or of the manufacturer'"'"'s mark, the lighting control system including a means which selects a class of performance for the light unit and its ancillary facilities, such as the lighting range, the speed of response of the dynamic orientation of the light unit, etc as a function of a signature which is loaded when the vehicle is started.

8. Light unit according to claim 2, wherein it includes a means for implementing the connection of the light unit to the multiplexed bus of the vehicle in such a way as to ensure periodic communication between the light unit and the vehicle, in particular the introduction of commands coming from the computer and reaching the light unit, and of information on the status of the light unit, in particular of the lamps and of the various ancillary facility means mentioned above, such that the on-board computer continuously indicates the status of the lighting system, the commands notified to it and such that diagnostics are carried out automatically and that appropriate measures adapted as a function of critical situations are taken, particularly when situations involving failure are detected, in which it is possible to put a light unit, a lamp of a light unit or an ancillary facility means of the light unit in a downgraded operating mode.

9. Light unit according to claim 2, that includes a module for regulating the supply energy, the electrical supply cable being connected to the output of a supply regulator so as to reduce the variations in the direct supply voltage within a range of variation that protects the filament lamps arranged in the light units, thereby optimising their life.

10. Light unit according to claim 2, wherein the 20 general electrical energy supply system of the vehicle no longer receives significant surges in current demand from the light unit, the integrated controller of the light unit including a module for sequencing the switching on of the various loads included in a light unit, in such a way that the different loads are supplied according to schemes that make it possible to optimise the smoothing of the inrush currents.

11. Light unit according to claim 1, wherein the integrated controller includes at least one of the following components:

a module for managing the electrical supply, which is connected directly to a supply connector so as to perform, in particular, the functions of regulation and sequencing of switching on;

an input module, which is connected to the network via a standard connector on the multiplexed bus of a vehicle;

a module for driving electric motors, which are employed for the various functions, such as automatic adjustment of orientation;

a module for controlling the network, which makes it possible to exploit the information output from the bus via the connector;

a central unit, which communicates with memories and the various modules;

a switching module, which makes it possible to set different loads to the supply voltage controlled by the module via an output port which is connected to a plurality of conductors allocated to the light unit, the said plurality of connectors being connected to all of the lamps, which are subjected to controlled switching, connected to the various electronic power-control circuits, such as the electronic control circuits or ballast, by a plurality of conductors, and connected by a plurality of conductors to all the lamps, which are controlled directly by the switching module;

an internal bus driver module, which features an access port to an internal bus for the exchange of the commands and status information with the various ancillary facilities and ancillary facility modules of the lighting control system, to a module for command and control of the ballast, to an opto-electronic sensor, to an actuator, functions for adapting the orientation of the light beams to control the light beam on bends, and to an actuator for adapting the bottom of the light beam produced by the light unit in accordance with the AFS or intelligent lighting functionalities, and, if additional lamps are added to the light unit, the internal bus is also connected to a module for command and control of status, which manages the functionalities at the front of the vehicle;

a module for processing status information of the light unit, which is connected to a plurality of sensors for the status of the light unit and, in particular, sensors for the failure of the actuators of the light unit, in particular for the purpose of producing information on the status of the light unit sent to the multiplexed bus or commands to put lighting or indicating functions and ancillary facilities of the light unit in a downgraded mode.

12. Lighting or indicating system for a vehicle, that includes at least one lighting or indicating light unit according to claim 1, each light unit incorporating a controller, which is connected by a standard connector to the harness of the multiplexed bus of an onboard control and indicating network.