Reflector for dimmed or dimmable motor vehicle headlights

• US 4,945,454 A
• Filed: 03/09/1989
• Issued: 07/31/1990
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/1988
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: HELLA KG Hueck & Co.
• Original Assignee: HELLA KG Hueck & Co.
• Inventors: Droste, Heinz, Bunse, Wolfgang, Ernst, Hans-Otto, Kalze, Franz-Josef, Peitz, Wolfgang
• Primary Examiner(s): Husar, Stephen F.
• Application Number:
  US07/321,826
• Time in Patent Office: 509 Days
• Field of Search: 362/61, 362/80, 362/297, 362/304, 362/307, 362/310, 362/346, 362/347
• US Class Current: 362/518
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/336 with discontinuity at the junction between adjacent areas
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 7/09 with a combination of different curvatures

Abstract

A reflector for a dimmed or dimmable motor vehicle headlight is divided into an asymmetrical wedge-shaped sector, an upper sector, and a lower sector which are stepped axially from on another. The reflection surface is thereby formed such that a desirable light distribution is achieved without a correcting lens in horizontal and vertical areas perpendicular to a middle axis of the headlight. The desired light distribution of the asymmetrical wedge-shape sector is such that a corresponding point of every reflected light-filament image of each arbitrary point of the asymmetrical wedge-shaped reflection surface is positioned immediately near a prescribed borderline, such as a legislatively mandated borderline.

Claims

1. A reflector for a dimmed or dimmable motor vehicle headlight, said reflector comprising a reflection surface for producing a beam of light in front of said headlight including an asymmetrical wedge-shaped sector, an upper sector, and a lower sector, the reflection surface being formed such that a desired reflected light distribution is created without a correcting lens, the asymmetrical wedge-shaped sector not having a parabolic shape but being arranged such that a corresponding point of every reflected light-filament image of each arbitrary point of the asymmetrical wedge-shaped sector lies immediately near a light-dark borderline for a prescribed light distribution produced by said reflective surface in front of said headlight, such as a legislatively mandated borderline.

2. A reflector according to claim 1, wherein said corresponding point of every reflected filament image of each arbitrary point of the asymmetrical wedge-shaped sector reflection surface is approximately at a preselected point immediately near said borderline.

3. A reflector as in claim 2, wherein the preselected point is immediately near said legislatively mandated point at R 75, which is 75 meters in front of said reflective surface tending toward the right.

4. A reflector as in claim 1, wherein said corresponding point of every reflected filament image of each arbitrary point of the asymmetrical wedge-shaped sector lies along a stretch running substantially parallel to a vertical plane passing through a middle axis near said borderline.

5. A reflector as in claim 4, wherein the prescribed stretch is immediately near said legislatively mandated point at R 75, which is 75 meters in front of said reflective surface, tending toward the right.

6. A reflector according to claim 1, wherein said corresponding point of every reflected filament image of each arbitrary point of the asymmetrical wedge-shaped sector lies in a preselected zone immediately near said borderline.

7. A reflector as in claim 6, wherein the preselected zone is immediately near said legislatively mandated point at R75, which is 75 meters in front of said reflective surface, tending toward the right.

8. A reflector as in claim 1, wherein the reflection surface includes a transition sector between the upper sector and the lower sector and wherein the transition sector is arranged such that every reflected filament image of each arbitrary point of the transition sector overlaps greatly with other filament images and is immediately near said borderline.

9. A reflector according to claim 8, wherein the transition sector is stepped away from the upper and lower sectors.

10. A reflector as in claim 8, wherein the transition sector has a parabolic shape.

11. A reflector as in claim 8, wherein the arrangements of the transition and the asymmetrical wedge-shape sectors are such that every reflected light-filament image of each arbitrary point of such sectors is immediately near the borderline such that angles of axes of elongations of the filament images thereof deviate very little from the horizontal.

12. A reflector according to claim 1, wherein a transition sector of the upper sector and the lower sector is arranged such that every reflected filament image of each arbitrary point thereof overlaps very little with other reflected filament images and is immediately near said borderline.

13. A reflector according to claim 12, wherein the transition sector is stepped away from the upper and lower sectors.

14. A reflector as in claim 12, wherein the arrangements of the sectors other than the transition and the asymmetrical wedge-shaped sectors are such that every reflected light-filament image of each arbitrary point of such sectors is immediately near the borderline and that an angle of an axis of elongation of a filament image deviates very little from the horizontal.

15. A reflector according to claim 1 wherein at least one of the sectors is stepped away in a direction of beam axis from an adjacent sector.

16. A reflector according to claim 1 wherein all of the sectors are stepped away in a direction of beam axis from all adjacent sectors.

17. A reflector according to claim 1 wherein the asymmetrical wedge shaped sector is stepped away in a direction of beam axis from one of adjacent sectors.

18. A reflector according to claim 17 wherein the asymmetrical wedge shaped sector is stepped away in a direction of beam axis from both adjacent sectors.

19. A reflector according to claim 1 wherein the asymmetrical wedge shaped sector does not have a mathematically regular shape.