Abstract:
A headlamp system for a motor vehicle for providing increased visibility to a driver of the vehicle when the vehicle is in a moisture-laden atmosphere. The system includes at least one headlamp adapted to produce a beam of illuminating light and a shield mounted for placement adjacent to said at least one headlamp. The headlamp is selectively movable between a first position in which it is recessed into the body of the vehicle and a second position in which it projects in front of the body of the vehicle to permit the shield to deflect at least a portion of the beam of illuminating light emitted.

Description:
[0001]    This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09/764,278 filed Jan. 19, 2001. 
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0003]    This invention is related to the field of headlight systems for vehicles. More specifically, this invention is directed to a vehicle headlight system that improves visibility from the vehicle.  
           [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0005]    Conventional vehicle headlight systems include a variety of headlights that each provides similar amounts of illumination. When such a vehicle encounters reduced visibility conditions, such as in fog, the driver of a vehicle may only adjust the brightness of the entire headlight system.  
           [0006]    Some conventional vehicle headlight systems include “fog lamps” that are positioned generally lower on the vehicle than the corresponding set of headlamps. Presumably, moving the source of illumination to a lower position reduces the amount of glare that a driver experiences when faced with fog or other conditions of reduced visibility. However, all of the conventional vehicle headlight systems place the source of illumination directly in front of the driver.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    The inventor of the present invention discovered that a source of light that is offset from the line of sight a driver provides increased visibility when compared to a light that is positioned substantially directly along the line of sight of a driver in reduced visibility conditions. The present invention provides a headlamp system for a vehicle where the majority of the illumination power is shifted transversely away from the line of sight of a driver. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a dual headlamp system of a conventional motor vehicle includes the ability to reduce the illumination of a driver side headlamp to reduce the amount of light being reflected back at the driver while maintaining the degree of illumination provided by the passenger side headlamp.  
           [0008]    Another embodiment of the invention includes a retractable passenger-side headlamp for use in combination with a fixed shield that serves to increase the intensity of illumination of the headlamp system when the vehicle is operated in reduced visibility conditions. The fixed shield may be provided with a reflective surface that reflects the illumination of the light beam away from the driver-side of the vehicle and towards the roadway and the passenger-side area of the roadway. Yet and still another embodiment of the invention includes a passenger-side headlamp that is selectively reoriented so as to change the pattern of the beam of illuminating light from a horizontal geometric pattern to a vertical geometric pattern 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]    The exemplary embodiments of this invention will be described in detail, with reference to the following figures, wherein:  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 is a schematic view of light rays being scattered by drops of moisture in an atmosphere;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a simple conventional headlamp system;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of a headlamp system in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 4 shows a schematic overhead view of a vehicle incorporating an exemplary embodiment of a headlamp system in accordance with the invention;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of an motor vehicle provided with a retractable passenger-side headlamp and a fixed shield in accordance with the invention;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 6 shows a perspective view of the retractable headlamp and a fixed shield for a headlamp system in accordance with the invention;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 7 shows a side view of the retractable headlamp and fixed shield including a light distribution relationship with the passenger-side headlamp;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 8 shows a perspective view of a carrier mechanism for the retractable and the reorientable headlamp; and  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 9 shows a perspective view of a motor vehicle provided with a headlamp system including a selectively reorientable passenger-side headlamp. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0019]    [0019]FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of one possible explanation of the reaction of light rays incident upon spheres of water in a moisture-laden atmosphere. The moisture-laden atmosphere includes spheres of water  10  upon which light rays  12  impact. The light rays  12  impact the surface of the water spheres  10  and are generally reflected back in the direction of the source of the light rays  12 . The larger the number of water spheres  10  in the atmosphere, the more the light rays  12  are reflected back toward the source of the light.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 2 shows a schematic of a conventional headlamp system  20 . The headlamp system  20  includes a driver side headlamp  22  and a passenger side headlamp  24 . The system  20  also includes a power source such as a battery  26 , an on/off switch  28  and a high/low switch  30 . The headlamp system  20  is shown in a configuration where the headlamps are in the high beam configuration. Drivers typically use the high beam configuration in areas of reduced visibility to project a large amount of illumination in front of the vehicle. However, in a heavily moisture laden atmosphere, this additional degree of illumination can actually reduce the visibility of the driver because of the lack of penetration of the illumination through the moisture laden atmosphere and the degree that the illumination is reflected back into the driver&#39;s line of sight as explained in reference to FIG. 1.  
         [0021]    The present invention reduces the degree of illumination that is generally aligned with a driver&#39;s line of sight. One embodiment of the present invention provides a lower amount of illumination from the driver side of the vehicle to maintain the visibility of the vehicle to oncoming drivers while still maintaining the amount of illumination from the passenger side headlamp.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 3 shows a schematic of a headlamp system  40  in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The headlamp system  40  includes a driver side headlamp  42 , a passenger side headlamp  44 , a power supply or battery  46 , an on/off switch  48 , and a high/low beam switch  50  similar to the headlamp system  20  of FIG. 2. The headlamp system  40  also includes a double pole/double throw switch  52  and a resistor  54 . FIG. 3 shows a configuration of the headlamp system  40  such that the high beams of both headlamps  42  and  44  are illuminated. If a user of the headlamp system  40  switches the switch  52  to the fog position, then power is supplied to the low beam of the driver side headlamp  42  and the low beam of the passenger side headlamp  44 . However, because a resistor  54  is in line with the circuit of the low beam system of the driver side headlamp  42  a reduced amount of current is delivered to the driver side headlamp  42 . Therefore, the driver side headlamp  42  delivers a reduced amount of illumination in comparison with the passenger side headlamp  44 . The switch  52  overrides the high/low switch  50  to prevent inadvertent catastrophic use of the high beams that would disable the system  40 .  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 4 shows an overhead schematic view of a vehicle incorporating an exemplary embodiment of the headlamp system in accordance with the invention. The vehicle  60  includes a drivers side  62  and a passenger side  64 . FIG. 4 shows an example of the relative positions of the driver side headlamp  42  and the passenger side headlamp  44 . As per convention, a driver (not shown) sits closer to on the drivers side  62  of the vehicle, thus, the driver sits closer to the driver side headlamp  42  than to the passenger side headlamp  44 .  
         [0024]    Those of ordinary skill in the art understand that many variations of the present invention may be provided, as long as a reduced amount of illumination is provided near the line of sight of a driver of a vehicle in comparison to the passenger side of the vehicle. For example, the on/off switch  48  of the headlamp system  40  of FIG. 3 may be positioned immediately after the battery  46 . Also, one of ordinary skill in the art understands that a reduced amount of illumination may be obtained by many different methods such as, for example, shading the driver side headlamp  42 . It is also understood that the amount of illumination of the passenger side headlamp  44  may be increased and still form a part of the present invention.  
         [0025]    Another embodiment of the invention, not shown, may include a kit that may be retrofitted to an existing vehicle to provide the capability of reducing the illumination of the driver side headlamp  42 . For example, as shown in FIG. 3 the headlamp system may incorporate a translateral cover  66  which reduces the illumination from the driver side headlamp  42 . A retrofit kit for after-market applications may include a double throw switch as shown in FIG. 3 along with a resistor or other voltage line device that leads to the driver side headlamp. Such a system could easily be retrofitted into an existing headlamp system at a very low cost and would require a minimal amount of time for installation.  
         [0026]    FIGS.  5 - 8  show other embodiments of a headlamp system  70  for a motor vehicle  71  in accordance with the invention. The system  70  includes a driver-side headlamp  72  that emits a beam of illuminating light, a retractable passenger-side headlamp  73  that emits a beam of illuminating light, and a fixed shield  74  for use in combination with the passenger-side headlamp  72  for increasing the intensity of illumination of the headlamp system  70  when the vehicle  71  is operated in reduced visibility conditions. It should be noted that the driver-side headlamp  72  and the retractable passenger-side headlamp  73  may be of the type in the previously-described embodiments of the invention.  
         [0027]    As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the shield  74  is fixedly mounted to the body of the vehicle  71  by a mounting mechanism such as a bracket  74   c  in a manner so as to maximize the desired light distribution emitted by the headlamp  73 . The shield  74  has an L-shape configuration including a generally planar horizontally-extending shield section  74   a  that redirects a light beam emitted by the headlamp  73  downwardly towards the road surface and in front of the vehicle  71  to increase the intensity of illumination projected in front of the vehicle  71 . Specifically, the beam of light emitted from the passenger-side headlamp  73  that are directed upward into an area directly in front of the passenger are instead directed downward towards the surface of the road in order to increase the driver&#39;s forward vision.  
         [0028]    A generally planar vertically-extending shield section  74   b  increases the overall intensity of illumination of the beam of illuminating light emitted by the headlamp  73  by redirecting or deflecting a portion of the beam of illuminating light away from the driver-side of the vehicle  71  and towards the side of the road surface. While each shield section  73   a ,  73   b  is shown having a generally planar shape, they may take any shape or configuration necessary to maximize the desired light distribution emitted from the headlamp  73 .  
         [0029]    Each shield section  74   a ,  74   b  may be composed of a light-weight, yet robust polymeric, metallic or composite material. It is also preferable that the outer surface of the shield sections  74   a ,  74   b  be adaptable for reflecting the beam of illuminating light produced by the headlamp  73 . In this regard, the outer surfaces of the shield  74  may be coated with an opaque-type material, or the entire shield section  74   a ,  74   b  itself can be composed of an opaque-type material.  
         [0030]    The passenger-side headlamp  73  is mounted so as to be selectively moveable, i.e., retractable, between a first position recessing into the body of the vehicle  71  and a second position projecting in front of the body of the vehicle  71 . As shown in FIG. 8, the headlamp  73  may be mounted for linear movement relative to the vehicle  71  using a carrier mechanism which includes a carrier frame  75  for supporting the headlamp  73 , the carrier frame  75  being supported for movement along a pair of linear guide rods  76 ,  77   a  which are mounted to the vehicle  71  by mounting brackets  76   a . A control device  77  is provided for selectively placing the headlamp  73  between the first and second positions by moving the carrier frame  75  along guide rods  76 ,  77   a . The control device  77  is mounted to the body of the vehicle  71  using a bracket  77   b  and may take the form of a solenoid, a vacuum cylinder, a motorized rack or a lead screw mechanism.  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 9 shows another embodiment of a multiple headlamp system  80  for a motor vehicle  81  that provides a driver of the vehicle  81  with increased visibility when driving during moisture-laden conditions. The headlamp system  80  includes a conventional driver-side headlamp  82  of the type previously described. The driver-side headlamp  82  emits a substantially horizontal geometric beam pattern. The passenger-side headlamp  83  is mounted so as to be reoriented between a first position  83   a  permitting the headlamp  83  to emit a substantially horizontal geometric beam pattern and a second position  83   b  permitting the headlamp  83  to emit a substantially vertical geometric beam pattern. In other words, the position of the passenger-side headlamp  83  may be selectively reoriented so as to change the pattern of the beam of illuminating light by changing the angular position of the headlamp  83  relative to the body of the motor vehicle  81 .  
         [0032]    Moreover, the passenger-side headlamp  83  may also be mounted so as to be selectively moveable, i.e., retractable, between a third position in which it is recessed into the body of the vehicle  81  and a fourth position in which it projects in front of the body of the vehicle  81 . The passenger-side headlamp  83  may be mounted for movement between the first and second positions and third and fourth positions by way of the carrier mechanism shown in FIG. 8. The passenger-side headlamp  83  may also be provided with a fixed shield of the type mentioned in the previous embodiment.  
         [0033]    Although this invention has been described in conjunction with the specific embodiments outlined above, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations are apparent to those who are skilled in the art. Accordingly, the embodiments of the invention set forth above are intended to be illustrative and not limiting. Various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.