Patent Description:
The present invention relates to the technical field of automotive lighting, especially to an automotive lamp optical element, an automotive lamp module and a vehicle.

A automotive lamp module refers to a device or a unit, after being used independently or in combination, capable of achieving one or more lighting functions. Generally, the automotive lamp module with a low beam or a high beam is provided with a primary optical element (e.g., a reflector, a transparent lightguide member) and a secondary optical element (e.g., a lens). The lens or the secondary optical element with equivalent function to lens serves as an optical element, for finally emitting light, of the automotive lamp module.

However, the existing automotive lamp module has disadvantages as follows. The size is relatively large. Since the distance between the primary optical element and the secondary optical element is relatively large, the size of the automotive lamp module is also large, and it is difficult to further reduce the size of the automotive lamp module on the basis of guaranteeing the performance of the automotive lamp module due to the technical needs of cooperating the secondary optical element with the primary optical element for light distribution. The installation is complicated. The position accuracy among various accessories needs to be ensured during the installation, especially, the relative position accuracy between the optical elements. The structure is complicated. In order to position and install the primary optical element and the secondary optical element, corresponding accessories such as a mounting bracket or the like are required. The optical system accuracy is difficult to be ensured. The reasons are that on one hand, the optical system accuracy is affected by the manufacture accuracy of accessories of the primary optical element and the secondary optical element themselves, and on the other hand, the optical system accuracy is affected by the relative position accuracy between the two optical elements and the light source. The dimming is difficult. In dimming, in addition to dimming the entire module relative to the lamp body, it is necessary to adjust a position of a small assembly composed of the primary optical element and the light source relative to the secondary optical element. The manufacturing cost is high.

For example, <CIT> discloses a lens body comprising a first lens unit and a second lens unit, such that light from a light source enters the first lens unit and the second lens unit, so as to form a predetermined light distribution pattern, in the case of disposing the reflection surface of the first lens unit so as to be inclined with respect to the first reference axis AX1, as a result, the stray light decreases and the lens downsized. However, a low beam shape needs to be formed through the combination of the first lens unit and the second lens unit, which will make it difficult to ensure the accuracy of optical systems.

<CIT> discloses a vehicular headlamp used in an automobile, the vehicular headlamp comprising a light source, a light transmitting member, a reflector and a lens, the reflector operable to reflect said light incident via said light transmitting member from said light source, the lens operable to deflect said light reflected by said reflector to direct said light to an outside of said vehicular headlamp, which will form a light distribution pattern. However, the light transmitting member will generate some stray light, which will have a certain impact on the light distribution pattern.

<CIT> discloses a module for emitting a light beam along an optical axis comprising a light source and an optical element for light propagation, said optical element comprising walls configured to reflect the rays collected by total internal reflection, towards a focusing zone, the optical element comprises a hole passing through said optical element and adapted to form a converging lens with a refractive index different from the refractive index of said optical element, the hole being configured to redirect part of the collected rays towards the optical axis. However, the module needs to form a converging lens by the hole, which will be complex to install and it will be difficult to ensure the accuracy of the optical system.

<CIT> discloses a headlight lens for a vehicle headlight, the headlight lens included a body of transparent material, the body comprised of: at least one light entry face, at least one optically effective light exit face, a light passage section, and a light tunnel. Light reflected totally from the light tunnel and then transferred from the light transmitting part to the light exit surface and then ejected outward, the light transmitting part is used for imaging as a bright-dark-boundary. However, the structure of the headlight lens is complicated and the manufacturing cost is high.

Based on the above problems, the present invention provides an automotive lamp optical element, an automotive lamp module and a vehicle, which are simple in structure, small in size and easy to install.

The present invention provides an automotive lamp optical element. The automotive lamp optical element includes a light-incident portion, a transmission portion and a light-emitting portion connected in sequence. The light-incident portion is provided with at least one light-incident structure configured to converge light. An area of a cross section of the transmission portion gradually increases in a light transmission direction. A light-emitting convex surface is formed on one end of the light-emitting portion facing away from the transmission portion.

A width of the transmission portion in a left-right direction is less than a width of the light-emitting portion, wherein the left-right direction is based on the position relationship indicated by the direction of a vehicle in a normal driving state after automotive lamp optical element is installed on the vehicle, the side surfaces of the transmission portion each are coated with a light absorbing layer, left and right side surfaces of the light-emitting portion are gradually converged toward the optical axis direction in the light transmission direction, so that light emitted to the left and right side surfaces of the light-emitting portion can be totally reflected, the on the side surfaces totally reflected light is transmitted to the light-emitting convex surface and then totally reflected again on the light-emitting convex surface.

A light-incident convex surface is formed on one end of the light-incident structure facing away from the transmission portion.

The light-incident structure includes at least one converging cup.

Each of four side surfaces of the transmission portion except two end surfaces of the transmission portion is a flared trapezoid in the light transmission direction, and every two opposite side surfaces of the four side surfaces of the transmission portion have a same shape.

A height H1 of the transmission portion is less than a height H2 of the light-emitting portion.

An area of a cross section of the light-emitting portion gradually decreases in the light transmission direction.

Multiple light-incident structures are provided and distributed in rows and columns.

The light-incident portion, the transmission portion and the light-emitting portion are integrally formed.

Provided is an automotive lamp module, including an automotive optical element as described above, and further includes at least one light source, where the at least one light source is disposed opposite to and in one-to-one correspondence with the at least one light-incident structure. Provided is a vehicle, including the automotive lamp module as described above.

The automotive lamp optical element provided by the present invention is provided with the light-incident portion, the transmission portion and the light-emitting portion connected in sequence. The light-incident portion is provided with at least one light-incident structure configured to converge light. The area of the cross section of the transmission portion gradually increases from one end of the transmission portion adjacent to the light-incident portion toward one end of the transmission portion adjacent to the light-emitting portion. In this way, the light can be better transmitted and the whole automotive lamp optical element is small in size, thereby avoiding unnecessary structures. The light-emitting convex surface is formed on one end of the light-emitting portion facing away from the transmission portion. The light is converged by the light-incident structure, transmitted to the light-emitting portion through the transmission portion, and finally refracted by the light-emitting convex surface and projected to form an automotive lamp light shape. The automotive lamp optical element provided by the present application is simple in structure, small in size, easy to install, and has high optical system accuracy, low dimming difficulty, low cost and no stray light.

The automotive lamp module provided by the present application includes the automotive lamp optical element as described above. The automotive lamp module further includes at least one light source, and the at least one light source is disposed opposite to and in one-to-one correspondence with the at least one light-incident structure. When the automotive lamp module is installed, it is only necessary to ensure the relative position accuracy between one automotive lamp optical element and the light source, and thus the dimming difficulty is low. The automotive lamp module provided by the present application is simple in structure, small in size, easy to install, and has high optical system accuracy, low dimming difficulty, low cost and no stray light. The vehicle provided by the present application includes the above automotive lamp module. The vehicle is easy to install and has high optical system accuracy, low dimming difficulty, low cost and no stray light.

<NUM>-light-incident portion; <NUM>-light-incident structure; <NUM>-transmission portion; <NUM>-light-emitting portion; <NUM>-light-emitting convex surface; <NUM>-light source.

In the description of this invention, it is to be noted that, in the case of no explanation to the contrary, the position or position relationship indicated by the orientation words such as "center", "up", "down", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "inside", "outside", "front" and "rear" is based on the position or position relationship indicated by the direction of a vehicle in a normal driving state after automotive lamp optical element of the present application is installed on the vehicle. Moreover, terms such as "first" and "second" are used only for the purpose of description and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance, and terms "first position" and "second position" are two different positions.

In the description of the present invention, it is to be noted that terms such as "mounted", "joined", and "connected" are to be understood in a broad sense unless otherwise expressly specified and limited. For example, the term "connected" may refer to "securely connected" or "detachably connected"; may refer to "mechanically connected" or "electrically connected"; or may refer to "connected directly", "connected indirectly through an intermediary", or "connected in two components". For those of ordinary skill in the art, the specific meanings of the preceding terms in the present application may be understood based on specific situations.

Technical solutions of the present invention will be described in detail in conjunction with drawings and embodiments.

This embodiment provides an automotive lamp optical element, which can be used in a matrix headlamp module. The matrix headlamp module is an automotive lamp module capable of dividing a high beam illumination area into multiple illumination areas, and can shield a target object in front of the vehicle by turning off the corresponding light source so as to avoid dazzling other road users and improve the driving safety performance.

As shown in <FIG>, the automotive lamp optical element includes a light-incident portion <NUM>, a transmission portion <NUM> and a light-emitting portion <NUM> connected in sequence. The light-incident portion <NUM> is provided with at least one light-incident structure <NUM> configured to converge light. The area of a cross section of the transmission portion <NUM> gradually increases in a light transmission direction. A light-emitting convex surface <NUM> is formed on one end of the light-emitting portion <NUM> facing away from the transmission portion <NUM>.

An optical axis is an axis extending in a front-rear direction of the automotive lamp optical element and passing through a focal point of the light-emitting portion <NUM>, and the light transmission direction is defined as a direction along the optical axis from the light-incident portion <NUM> toward the light-emitting portion <NUM>. The cross section is defined as a plane perpendicular to the optical axis.

In this embodiment, for ease of the light-converging, a light-incident convex surface is formed on one end of the light-incident structure <NUM> facing away from the transmission portion <NUM>. Of course, the light-incident structure <NUM> may be another converging structure. For example, the light-incident structure <NUM> is a converging cup. In this embodiment, five light-incident structures <NUM> are provided and arranged in a row. In other embodiments, multiple light-incident structures <NUM> are provided as needed, and the multiple light-incident structures <NUM> may be distributed in rows and columns.

The area of the cross section of the transmission portion <NUM> gradually increases in a light transmission direction, that is, the area of the cross section of the transmission portion <NUM> gradually increases from one end of the transmission portion <NUM> adjacent to the light-incident portion <NUM> toward one end of the transmission portion <NUM> adjacent to the light-emitting portion <NUM>.

Each of four side surfaces of the transmission portion <NUM> except two end surfaces is a flared trapezoid in the light transmission direction, and every two opposite side surfaces of the four side surfaces have a same shape. In this embodiment, five light-incident structures <NUM> are provided and arranged in a row. As shown in <FIG>, two opposite side surfaces of the transmission portion <NUM> are a flared trapezoid in the light transmission direction. Such structure can collect the light well and can further make the size of the whole automotive lamp optical element as less as possible, avoiding unnecessary structures. As shown in <FIG>,the other two opposite side surfaces of the transmission portion <NUM> are a flared trapezoid in the light transmission direction so as to collect the light. As shown in <FIG>, in this embodiment, the width of the transmission portion <NUM> is less than the width of the light-emitting portion <NUM>, and the height H1 of the transmission portion <NUM> is less than the height H2 of the light-emitting portion <NUM>. The width of the transmission portion <NUM> in a left-right direction is less than the width of the light-emitting portion <NUM> in the left-right direction so as to prevent part of the light emitted by a light source <NUM> from being emitted out of a side surface of the light-emitting portion <NUM>. The height of the transmission portion <NUM> in an up-down direction is less than the height of the light-emitting portion <NUM> in the up-down direction so that the light emitted by the light source <NUM> can be refracted out of only the light-emitting convex surface <NUM> of the light-emitting portion <NUM>.

Incident light emitted by the light source <NUM> is converged by the light-incident portion <NUM>, transmitted to the light-emitting portion <NUM> through the transmission portion <NUM>, and refracted out of the light-emitting portion <NUM>. In this process, generally, part of the light is emitted directly out of the side surface of the transmission portion <NUM> or reflected by the side surface of the transmission portion <NUM> and then refracted out of the light-emitting portion <NUM>, and thus a large amount of stray light is generated, which will affect the optical performance of the automotive lamp light shape. In the existing art, light is prevented from being emitted out of the side surfaces of the whole optical element by painting the side surfaces of the whole optical element black. However, if the side surfaces of the entire optical element all are painted black, since the light-emitting portion <NUM> is exposed outside the lamp body, the black paint on the side surfaces of the optical element may affect the permeability and aesthetics of the optical element. In the existing art, a skin pattern may be also arranged on the side surfaces of the optical element to eliminate the stray light, but this method cannot completely avoid the stray light. In this embodiment, the side surfaces of the transmission portion <NUM> are coated with a light absorbing layer, and the light absorbing layer is, for example, a light absorbing black paint, so as to prevent the light from being emitted out of the side surfaces of the transmission portion <NUM>. Moreover, since the side surfaces of the light-emitting portion <NUM> are not coated with the black paint, permeability and aesthetics of the part of the automotive lamp optical element exposed outside are ensured.

The light-emitting convex surface <NUM> of the light-emitting portion <NUM> protrudes forward, and forms a double convex lens with the light-incident structure <NUM> for collecting, aligning and then projecting the incident light forward to form a corresponding automotive lamp light shape. As shown in <FIG>, the shape of the cross section of the light-emitting portion <NUM> perpendicular to the optical axis is a parallelogram when viewed directly in front of the automotive lamp optical element. This shape is only exemplary, and the shape of a lens having the light-emitting convex surface <NUM> may be configured as a desired shape as required in a case where there is a relatively small influence on the light-emitting convex surface <NUM>. In this embodiment, the area of the cross section of the light-emitting portion <NUM> may gradually decrease in the light transmission direction from one end of the light-emitting portion <NUM> adj acent to the transmission portion <NUM> toward one end of the light-emitting portion <NUM> facing away from the transmission portion <NUM>.

In one embodiment, the left side in <FIG> is defined as the left side surface of the light-emitting portion <NUM>. The right side in <FIG> is defined as the right side surface of the light-emitting portion <NUM>. According to the invention, the left and right side surfaces of the light-emitting portion <NUM> are gradually converged toward the optical axis direction along the light transmission direction, so that light emitted from the light source <NUM> and emitted to the left and right side surfaces of the light-emitting portion <NUM> can be totally reflected. The totally reflected light is transmitted to the light-emitting convex surface <NUM> of the light-emitting portion <NUM> and then totally reflected, thereby preventing the light emitted from the light source <NUM> from being refracted by the light-emitting convex surface <NUM> and then reflected by the light-emitting portion <NUM>. Since in such design, an incident angle of most of the light emitted from the light source to the side surfaces of the light-emitting portion is greater than a total reflection critical angle of the light-emitting portion <NUM>, there is no refraction. For example, an optical path of the light incident on the light-emitting portion <NUM> is as follows. The light incident on the right side surface of the light-emitting portion <NUM> can be firstly totally reflected to the light-emitting convex surface <NUM> of the light-emitting portion <NUM>, secondly totally reflected on the light-emitting convex surface <NUM> of the light-emitting portion <NUM> and reflected to the left side surface of the light-emitting portion <NUM>, and thirdly totally reflected again to the right side surface of the transmission portion <NUM> on the left side surface of the light-emitting portion <NUM>. The light incident on the left side surface of the light-emitting portion <NUM> can be firstly totally reflected to the light-emitting convex surface <NUM> of the light-emitting portion <NUM>, secondly totally reflected to the right side surface of the light-emitting portion <NUM> on the light-emitting convex surface <NUM> of the light-emitting portion <NUM>, and thirdly totally reflected again to the left side surface of the transmission portion <NUM> on the right side surface of the light-emitting portion <NUM>. In this case, since all side surfaces of the transmission portion <NUM> are coated with the light absorbing black paint, the light totally reflected to the left and right side surfaces of the transmission portion <NUM> is stopped from being reflected. Thus, the light is hardly emitted out of the side surfaces of the transmission portion <NUM> and the side surfaces of the light-emitting portion <NUM>, or reflected by the side surfaces of the automotive lamp optical element and then refracted out of the light-emitting convex surface <NUM> of the light-emitting portion <NUM>, so that the stray light is substantially eliminated. <FIG> is a front view of an automotive lamp optical element.

To facilitate processing and manufacturing, the light-incident portion <NUM>, the transmission portion <NUM> and the light-emitting portion3 are integrally formed. In this embodiment, the light-incident portion <NUM>, the transmission portion <NUM> and the light-emitting portion <NUM> are all made of transparent plastics, silica gel, or glass. These materials are transparent and have a good light propagation property. The commonly used plastics are polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) or polycarbonate (PC).

The automotive lamp optical element provided by this embodiment is provided with the incident portion <NUM>, the transmission portion <NUM> and the light-emitting portion <NUM> connected in sequence. The incident portion <NUM> is provided with at least one light-incident structure <NUM> configured to converge light. The area of the cross section of the transmission portion <NUM> gradually increases in the light transmission direction from one end of the transmission portion <NUM> adjacent to the light-incident portion <NUM> toward one end of the transmission portion <NUM> adjacent to the light-emitting portion <NUM>, so that the light can be better transmitted and the whole automotive lamp optical element is small in size, thereby avoiding unnecessary structures. The light-emitting convex surface <NUM> is formed on one end of the light-emitting portion <NUM> facing away from the transmission portion <NUM>, the light is converged by the light-incident structure <NUM>, transmitted to the light-emitting portion <NUM> via the transmission portion <NUM>, and finally reflected out of the light-emitting convex surface <NUM> and projected to form an automotive lamp light shape.

The automotive lamp optical element provided by this embodiment is simple in structure, small in size, easy to install, and has high optical system accuracy, low dimming difficulty, low cost, and no stray light.

This embodiment also provides an automotive lamp module that functions to illuminate a front area of the vehicle so as to improve the driver's visibility. As shown in <FIG>, the automotive lamp module includes the above automotive lamp optical element, and further includes at least one light source <NUM>. The at least one light source <NUM> is disposed opposite to and in one-to-one correspondence with the at least one light-incident structure <NUM>. Taking a leftmost light source <NUM> as an example, a first part of the light emitted by the leftmost light source <NUM> is directly emitted to the light-emitting convex surface <NUM> of the light-emitting portion <NUM>, and is projected by the light-emitting convex surface <NUM> of the light-emitting portion <NUM> to form an automotive lamp light shape. A second part of the light emitted by the leftmost light source <NUM> is emitted to the side surfaces of the transmission portion <NUM> and is cut off by the side surfaces of the transmission portion <NUM> coated with the light absorbing black paint, and cannot be emitted out of or reflected by the side surfaces of the transmission portion <NUM>. A third part of the light emitted by the leftmost light source <NUM> is emitted to the right side surface of the light-emitting portion <NUM>, totally reflected to the light-emitting convex surface <NUM> of the light-emitting portion <NUM>, totally reflected from the light-emitting convex surface <NUM> of the light-emitting portion <NUM> to the left side surface of the light-emitting portion <NUM>, and then totally reflected from the left side surface of the light-emitting portion <NUM> to the right side surface of the transmission portion <NUM> and cut off.

In this embodiment, a single automotive lamp module is provided with five light sources <NUM>, the automotive lamp provided with three of the above automotive lamp modules can form <NUM> illumination areas, that is, a matrix headlamp of the automotive has <NUM> pixels, which can realize the subdivision illumination of <NUM> areas. When a target object such as another vehicle or pedestrian appears in front of the vehicle, the light source <NUM> corresponding to the area is turned off, so that this area darkens, preventing other road users from dazzling. It is to be noted that the size of the above automotive lamp optical element is related to the number of light sources <NUM> of a single automotive lamp module. The less the number of light sources <NUM> is, the smaller the size of the automotive lamp optical element is. In this embodiment, an opening size of the light-emitting convex surface <NUM> of the light-emitting portion <NUM> is about <NUM> high and about <NUM> wide, which is much less than an opening size of a lens of the existing matrix headlamp module, so that the automotive lamp optical element can adapt to much richer and more diverse automotive lamp shapes. The light-incident structures <NUM> may also be arranged in multiple rows, and a single automotive lamp module can realize a matrix light shape with multiple rows. In this embodiment, only five light-incident structures <NUM> in a single row are schematically illustrated.

This embodiment also provides a vehicle. The vehicle includes the above automotive lamp module, which is easy to install and has high optical system accuracy, low dimming difficulty, low cost and no stray light.

Claim 1:
An automotive lamp optical element, comprising a light-incident portion (<NUM>), a transmission portion (<NUM>) and a light-emitting portion (<NUM>) connected in sequence, wherein:
the light-incident portion (<NUM>) is provided with at least one light-incident structure (<NUM>) configured to converge light;
an area of a cross section of the transmission portion (<NUM>) gradually increases in a light transmission direction, wherein the cross section of the transmission portion (<NUM>) is a cross section perpendicular to an optical axis direction;
a light-emitting convex surface (<NUM>) is formed on one end of the light-emitting portion (<NUM>) facing away from the transmission portion (<NUM>); and
a width W1 of the transmission portion (<NUM>) in a left-right direction is less than a width W2 of the light-emitting portion (<NUM>), wherein the left-right direction is based on the position relationship indicated by the direction of a vehicle in a normal driving state after automotive lamp optical element is installed on the vehicle, the side surfaces of the transmission portion (<NUM>) each are coated with a light absorbing layer, left and right side surfaces of the light-emitting portion (<NUM>) are gradually converged toward the optical axis direction in the light transmission direction, so that light emitted to the left and right side surfaces of the light-emitting portion (<NUM>) can be totally reflected, the on the side surfaces totally reflected light is transmitted to the light-emitting convex surface (<NUM>) and then totally reflected again on the light-emitting convex surface <NUM>.