Patent ID: 6481876
Filing Date: 2002-11-19
Classification: B60Q,F21S

Abstract:
A lighting system, for vehicles, comprising:headlamps mainly radiating the area ahead of a vehicle; a plurality of dimmer lamps provided at the front of the vehicle in its moving direction, said lamps being disposed on the vehicle so that the radiated range of each of said lamps is adjacent to that of another in one of right and left directions, wherein the quantity of radiation of each lamp is variable; a steering sensor for detecting a steering angle of the vehicle; a vehicle speed sensor that detects the speed of the vehicle; and radiation control means for changing the combination of radiated ranges of said lamps to achieve light distribution ahead and sideways of a vehicle by specifying turning-on and turning-off of said plurality of lamps, and also by specifying the quantity of light of each lamp, according to the steering angle as detected by said steering sensor, wherein said radiation control means is adapted to sequentially turn on lamps having respective predetermined radiated ranges ahead, and to the side, of a vehicle according to the steering angle as detected by said steering sensor, further wherein said radiation control means is adapted to increase and decrease the quantity of radiation of each lamp according to the steering angle, and wherein said radiation control means is adapted to control the quantity of radiation of said plurality of dimmer lamps according to the vehicle speed by controlling the quantity of radiation of said plurality of dimmer lamps so that the quantity of radiation of the radiated area sideways of the vehicle becomes larger as the vehicle speed becomes lower, and by controlling the quantity of radiation of said plurality of dimmer lamps so that the quantity of radiation of the radiated area sideways of the vehicle becomes smaller as the vehicle speed becomes higher.