Patent Publication Number: US-9835304-B2

Title: Lamp

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority of Taiwanese Patent Application No. 104205554, filed on 14 Apr. 2015. 
     FIELD 
     The disclosure relates to a lamp, and more particularly to a vehicle lamp. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a conventional H4-type halogen lamp  1  is installed in a reflecting cover (not shown). The conventional H4-type halogen lamp  1  includes abase seat  11 , a transparent cover  12  disposed in front of the base seat  11  and defining an isolated space  121 , and a light emitting unit  13  disposed in the isolated space  121 . The light emitting unit  13  includes a low beam light module  131  formed by a tungsten filament, a light shield  133  covering a portion of the low beam light module  131 , and a high beam light module  132  formed by a tungsten filament. 
     The low beam light module  131  and the high beam light module  132  are spaced apart from each other in a front-rear direction, and each of the low beam light module  131  and the high beam light module  132  can be individually switched on. Moreover, with the reflecting cover and the light shield  133 , each of the low beam light module  131  and the high beam light module  132  can emit light that has specific shape. However, the emitting unit  13  made of tungsten filament may easily burn out due to high temperature after long term use, thereby resulting in a high power consumption and a short service life of the conventional lamp  1 . 
     SUMMARY 
     Therefore, an object of the disclosure is to provide a lamp that can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art. 
     According to the disclosure, the lamp includes a lamp base unit and a light emitting unit. The lamp base unit includes a base seat, a first seat extending forwardly from the base seat, and a second seat extending forwardly from the first seat. The light emitting unit includes an LED (light emitting diode) high beam light module disposed on one of the first seat and the second seat, and a LED low beam light module disposed on the other one of the first seat and the second seat, and that has a light irradiation direction different from that of the LED high beam light module. The lamp further includes a light shape piece disposed on one of the first seat and the second seat for refracting light that is emitted from a corresponding one of the LED high beam light module and the LED low beam light module to form a light shape having a cut-off line. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: 
         FIG. 1  is a side view illustrating a conventional H4-type halogen lamp; 
         FIG. 2  is a partly exploded perspective view illustrating an embodiment of a lamp of the disclosure; 
         FIG. 3  is a front view of the embodiment; and 
         FIG. 4  is a sectional view of the embodiment taken along line IV-IV in  FIG. 3 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 to 4 , an embodiment of a lamp according to the present disclosure is adapted to be installed in a reflecting cover (not shown), such that light emitted from the lamp is reflected by the reflecting cover to travel forwardly. The lamp includes a lamp base unit  2 , a light emitting unit  3 , a heat-dissipating unit  4 , and a light shape piece  24 . 
     The lamp base unit  2  is made of a thermal conductive material, such as aluminum, copper, ceramic, and so on, and is formed as one piece. The lamp base unit  2  includes a base seat  21 , a first seat  22  extending forwardly from the base seat  21 , a second seat  23  extending forwardly from the first seat  22 , and a heat-conducting pipe  25  extending from the base seat  21  to the second seat  23  through the first seat  22 . 
     The base seat  21  is tubular, and has a coupling portion  211  formed at a rear end thereof, and a connecting portion  212  formed at a front end thereof and interconnecting the first seat  22  and the coupling portion  211 . The coupling portion  211  has an outer diameter smaller than that of the connecting portion  212 , and is formed with an external thread  213 . 
     Each of the first seat  22  and the second seat  23  has a semi-cylindrical shape. The first seat  22  has a first mounting surface  221  facing toward a first direction (T 1 ), and a first heat-dissipating surface  222  opposite to the first mounting surface  221 . The second seat  23  has a second mounting surface  231  facing toward a second direction (T 2 ) (i.e., the second mounting surface  231  has an orientation different from that of the first mounting surface  221 ), and a second heat-dissipating surface  232  opposite to the second mounting surface  231 . The first direction (T 1 ) deviates from the second direction (T 2 ) by an angle ranging between 90 and 180 degrees. In this embodiment, the angle between the first direction (T 1 ) and the second direction (T 2 ) is 135 degrees. The first heat-dissipating surface  222  and the second heat-dissipating surface  232  are both curved surfaces for obtaining as large a heat-dissipating area as possible. 
     The light shape piece  24  is disposed on the other one of the first seat  22  and the second seat  23 . In this embodiment, the light shape piece  24  is disposed on a lateral end of the second mounting surface  231  of the second seat  23 . The shape, length, angle and position of the light shape piece  24  may vary as required in different embodiments. 
     In this embodiment, the heat-conducting pipe  25  extends through a side portion of the first seat  22  and a side portion of the second seat  23  into the connecting portion  212  of the base seat  21 . The heat-conducting pipe  25  is made of a material having a good thermal-conductivity, and receives a heat-conducting liquid therein. Since the structure of the heat-conducting pipe  25  and the way the heat-conducting pipe  25  conducts heat is known in the art, further details on the same are omitted herein for the sake of brevity. 
     In this embodiment, the lamp base unit  2  further includes a ring member  26  protruding outwardly from the connecting portion  212  of the base seat  21 , and three angularly spaced-apart engaging blocks  27  protruding outwardly from the ring member  26 . The ring member  26 , the engaging blocks  27 , and the base seat  21  are formed as one piece. It should be noted that, in other embodiments, the ring member  26  and the engaging blocks  27  may be separately made and then assembled together with the base seat  21 , and the number of the engaging blocks  27  may vary. 
     In this embodiment, the emitting unit  3  includes an LED high beam light module  31  mounted on the first mounting surface  221  of the first seat  22 , an LED low beam light module  32  mounted on the second mounting surface  121  of the second seat  23 , and a power supply connector  33  disposed on the ring member  26  of the lamp base unit  2 . The LED high beam light module  31  emits light in the first direction (T 1 ), and the LED low beam light module  32  emits light in the second direction (T 2 ) (i.e., the LED low beam light module  32  has a light irradiation direction different from that of the LED high beam light module  31 ). Each of the LED high beam light module  31  and the LED low beam light module  32  has a plurality of LEDs. The power supply connector  33  is electrically connected to the LED high beam light module  31  and the LED low beam light module  32  for connecting them to an external power supply (e.g. power supply for vehicles) can be transmitted to the LED high beam light module  31  and the LED low beam light module  32 . Since the feature of the disclosure does not reside in the connection and the control circuit among the LED high and low beam light modules  31 ,  32  and the power supply connector  33 , further details of the same are omitted herein for the sake of brevity. 
     The heat-dissipating unit  4  is made of a thermal conductive material such as aluminum, copper, ceramic, and so on, is formed as one piece, and is removably connected to the base seat  21  of the lamp base unit  2 . The heat-dissipating unit  4  has a hollow coupling seat  41  disposed behind the ring member  26  and having an outer surface, and a plurality of angularly spaced-apart heat-dissipating fins  42  provided on the outer surface of the coupling seat  41 . The coupling seat  41  has an internal thread  411  threadedly connected to the external thread  213  of the coupling portion  211 . While in this embodiment, the coupling seat  41  is exemplified to be coupled removably and threadedly to the coupling portion  211  of the base seat  21 , the connection between the coupling seat  41  and the coupling portion  211  is not limited thereto. For example, in other embodiments, the external and internal threads  213 ,  411  may be omitted, and the coupling portion  211  may be inserted into the coupling seat  41  with at least one screw being used to fix threadedly the coupling portion  211  and the coupling seat  41  together. 
     When assembling the lamp, the power supply connector  33  is first connected electrically to the external power supply. Then, the ring member  26  and the engaging blocks  27  are mounted to the reflecting cover, and the coupling seat  41  is connected threadedly to the coupling portion  211  of the base seat  21 , so that the reflecting cover is clamped between the ring member  26  and the heat-dissipating unit  4 . 
     In use, since the LED high beam light module  31  is disposed closer to the reflecting cover than the LED low beam light module  32 , the light emitted from the LED high beam light module  31  can be focused and projected to a place that is farther than the light emitted from the LED low beam light module  32 . After being refracted by the light shape piece  24 , the light emitted from the LED low beam light module  32  forms a light shape that has a cut-off line, that is in conformity with the law, and that can avoid glaring at opposing cars. 
     Moreover, the light emitted from the LED high beam light module  31  and the light emitted from the LED low beam light module  32  respectively emit to different portions of the reflecting cover. The portions of the reflecting cover have different shapes to ensure required light shapes of the high-beam light and the low-beam light. Therefore, the angle between the first and second directions (T 1 , T 2 ) (i.e., the angle between the orientations of the first and second mounting surfaces  221 ,  231 ) is predetermined according to the shapes of the different portions of the reflecting cover. 
     In this embodiment, when using the lamp, the LED high beam light module  31  causes waste heat that is transmitted to the base seat  21  through the first seat  22 , and the LED low beam light module  32  causes waste heat that is transmitted to the base seat  21  through the second seat  23 . With the heat-conducting pipe  25 , the waste heat is rapidly transmitted to the base seat  21 . Then the waste heat is transmitted to the heat-dissipating fins  42  through the coupling seat  41 , and eventually to external environment, thereby resulting in a good heat-dissipating efficiency and a long service life of the LED high beam light module  31  and the LED low beam light module  32 . 
     In addition, in this embodiment, the lamp further includes an anti-reflection unit  5  so that the light reflected from the reflecting cover can avoid being reflected again by the lamp base unit  2 . The anti-reflection unit  5  has a first anti-reflection layer  51  coated on an outer surface of the lamp base unit  2 , and a second anti-reflection layer  52  coated on an outer surface of the heat-dissipating unit  4 . Since the feature of the disclosure does not reside in the material of the first anti-reflection layer  51  and the second anti-reflection layer  52 , and the second anti-reflection layer  52  may be omitted in other embodiments, further details on the same are omitted herein for the sake of brevity. 
     In sum, the lamp of the disclosure employs LEDs to replace tungsten filament for a higher brightness. In addition, the presence of the heat-conducting pipe  25  accelerates the transmission of the waste heat, reduces temperature, and improves heat-dissipating efficiency. Moreover, the heat-dissipating unit  4  can be easily connected to or removed from the base seat  21  of the lamp base unit  2 , so that the lamp can be installed in a general reflecting cover. Furthermore, the anti-reflection unit  5  further improves the quality of illumination. 
     In the description above, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details have been set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiment. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that one or more other embodiments may be practiced without some of these specific details. It should also be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” an embodiment with an indication of an ordinal number and so forth means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic may be included in the practice of the disclosure. It should be further appreciated that in the description, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of various inventive aspects. 
     While the disclosure has been described in connection with what is considered the exemplary embodiment, it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiment but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.