Koito Manufacturing Company, Ltd.

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Hideki Uchida

Toshihisa Hayami

Tatsuya Takagaki

Makoto Izawa

Atsushi Uesugi

Atsushi Sugimoto

Kiyotaka Mochizuki

Takuya Murakami

Atsushi Toda

Hiroyuki Ishida

Hiroki Shibata

Shoji Kobayashi

Hirohiko Ohshio

Osamu Sato

Masaaki Ishikawa

Kazuki Takahashi

Kazuo Goto

Hideki Ohashi

Tomoaki Serizawa

Toshikazu Tomono

Takatoshi Nakagawa

Manabu Sasa

Mikio Urushibata

Takayuki Unno

Masataka Ando

Yuki Tawa

Masaaki Ishikawaa

A vehicle lamp system includes a high-beam lamp unit that can form a high-beam light-distribution pattern, a leveling mechanism that vertically adjusts an optical axis of the high-beam lamp unit, and a control unit that controls on/off of the high-beam lamp unit and controls the leveling mechanism. Upon the engine being started, the control unit controls the high-beam lamp unit to turn on for a predetermined period of time in a state in which the leveling unit adjusts the optical axis of the lamp unit to aim more vertically downward than in normal operation.

Vehicle lamp system with vertically adjustable optical axis

A vehicle lamp system includes a lamp unit and a lamp control unit. The lamp unit includes a plurality of LEDs and forms a high-beam light-distribution pattern. The lamp control unit controls the on/off of each of the plurality of LEDs. The lamp control unit controls each LED in the following manner. Specifically, the luminance is gradually lowered in a first period when the luminance is lowered to a level at which the LED remains on at reduced luminance. The luminance is gradually lowered in a second period, which is shorter than the first period, when the luminance is lowered to a level at which the LED is off.

Vehicle lamp and vehicle lamp system

A vehicle lamp system includes a lamp unit, a control unit that controls a change in luminance of LEDs of the lamp unit, and a storage unit that stores information indicating a priority of an event. In a case in which a second event occurs while the luminance of the LEDs is being gradually changed to reach first luminance in a first period, the control unit gradually changes the luminance of the LEDs to reach second luminance in a second period if the priority of the second event is higher than the priority of the first event, and gradually changes the luminance of the LEDs to reach the second luminance irrespective of the second period if the priority of the second event is lower than the priority of the first event.

Vehicle lamp system

The disclosure facilitates determining the presence of an abnormality of a light source in a vehicular lamp using, as a determination condition, a number of disconnected semiconductor light-emitting elements among multiple semiconductor light-emitting elements. The vehicular lamp includes a first light source block that has light-emitting diodes LEDto LEDconnected in parallel; a second light source block that has light-emitting diodes LEDto LEDconnected in parallel; and an abnormality determination circuit that controls a supply of current from an on-board battery to the light source blocks and determines whether an abnormality is presence in the light source blocks. The abnormality determination circuit determines the presence of an abnormality if the disconnected light-emitting diodes in one of the light source blocks exceed a predetermined number and current cannot flow to the light source block. In such case, the supply of current to the light source blocks is stopped.

Vehicular lamp

An emitting direction control apparatus for a lamp is provided with: a driver for deflecting an emitting direction for a lamp; and a controller that control the driver to perform a deflection. The controller includes an initialization function, for setting, at an initial position, a stepping motor that serves as a driving source for the driver. The initialization function detects a first current positional angle for the stepping motor; when the first current positional angle is greater than a reference angle, rotates the stepping motor in a bumping direction at a high speed until the reference angle is reached; after the reference angle has been reached, rotates the stepping motor to a bumped position an initial number of steps at a low speed; and after the bumped position has been reached, rotates the stepping motor in the reverse direction a predetermined number of steps and sets the stepping motor in the initial position.

Emitting direction control apparatus for lamp

A lighting system for a vehicle includes a lamp and a deciding circuit to detect the number of abnormal light emitting elements or the abnormal elements in the lamp. The deciding circuit may be connected to a disconnection detecting circuit by one signal line to detect an abnormality of a particular one light emitting element, wherein the disconnection detecting circuit is adapted to provide to the signal line a potential corresponding to the particular light emitting element whose disconnection is detected and the deciding circuit is adapted to identify the abnormal light emitting element on the basis of the potential of the signal line.

Lighting system for vehicle

In a lighting system for a vehicle comprising lamp deflection angle control means for changing and controlling a deflection angle in the irradiating direction of a lamp corresponding to the running situation of the vehicle, lamp deflection angle control meansandinclude meansandfor setting the irradiating direction of a lampinto a preset reference position when an ignition switch Sis turned ON. When the electrical system of the vehicle is turned ON so that the illumination of the vehicle can be carried out, the irradiating direction of the lampis set into the reference position. Consequently, when the lamp is turned ON again, a car running in an opposite direction can be prevented from being dazzled by the illuminated light of the lamp.

A headlamp device for a vehicle includes a first light distribution controlling portion moving light irradiated forward from a light source in a lateral direction of the vehicle, and a second light distribution controlling portion moving the light irradiated forward from the light source in a vertical direction of the vehicle. A light distribution is controlled in response to a signal sent from the first light distribution controlling portion to the second light distribution controlling portion.

Headlamp device for vehicle

In a headlamp comprising low beam irradiating, there are provided main beam irradiating means, light distribution switching means for switching a low beam and a main beam, abnormality detecting means for detecting an abnormal situation in which a proper low beam cannot be formed, and optical axis tilting means for vertically tilting an optical axis of at least a main beam, and the abnormality detecting means detects an abnormality, a light distribution is switched into a main beam by the light distribution switching and the optical axis of the main beam is turned downward by the optical axis tilting means. When a proper low beam cannot be formed, a main beam having a larger light amount is generally turned on to maintain a visibility in of a vehicle and the optical axis of the main beam is turned downward such that glare light is not generated.

Vehicle headlamp

A vehicle lighting apparatus includes means for controlling a deflection angle of a lamp which controls the deflection angle based on an output from a steering angle sensor for detecting the steering direction. The maximum deflection angle is controlled based on a vehicle speed detected by a vehicle speed sensor. When the vehicle is almost in a state of coming to stop, the maximum deflection angle is set to 0&deg;, and the direction of radiation of the lamp is fixed in the straight ahead direction of the vehicle. When the vehicle is in the state of cruising almost at a high speed, the maximum deflection angle is suppressed with increase in vehicle speed, and thus the deflection angle of the lamp is controlled within the angle range around the straight ahead direction, thereby preventing lateral fluctuation of the deflecting direction of the lamp.

Vehicle lighting apparatus

A lighting system for vehicles including a plurality of dimmer lamps, a steering sensor, and an electronic control unit (ECU). The dimmer lamps are provided at the front of a vehicle in its moving direction, and their radiated ranges differ from each other and their quantity of light also varies, according to the steering angle as sensed by the steering sensor. The ECU changes the combination of radiated ranges of the lamps to realize light distribution control ahead and sideways of a vehicle by turning-on/off the lamps, as well as changes the quantity of light of each lamp according to the wheel steering angle. The ECU sequentially turns on the lamps according to the steering angle and increases the corresponding quantity of radiation in proportion to the magnitude of the steering angle. Thus, the radiated range gradually expands in the vehicle's turning direction and its brightness gradually increases.

Lighting system for vehicles

The lighting device for a vehicle includes running direction detect means,for detecting the vehicle running direction or the vehicle steering angle and vehicle speed detect means,for detecting the vehicle speed. An illumination control means,specifies the turn-on and turn-off of a plurality of lamps in accordance with detect signals output from the means,and,, thereby changing the combinations of the illumination ranges of the lamps.

Lighting device for vehicles

A control circuit for automobile headlamps which emit light in variable color. The control circuit prevents left and right headlamps from emitting beams of light in different colors. Each headlamp includes a white light bulb, and a yellow globe is moved from a first position to a second position to cover the bulb when yellow light is selected, and the yellow globe is moved back to the first position when white light is selected. If the movement of the globe stops between the first and second positions, the control circuit generates a fault signal for turning off the headlamp associated with the fault, thus preventing the headlamps from emitting light of different colors. Alternatively, the control circuit can adjust the position of the globe for the headlamp without the fault to be in agreement with the position with the headlamp having the fault, such that both headlamps emit light of the same color.

Control circuit for automobile headlamps emitting light in variable color

In a color changing lamp equipped with a bulb 4 emitting a color of light, a glove with a different color from the color is selectively located on the covering position and exposure position of the bulb 4 in order to emit the different color of light. The current supply for the bulb 4 is stopped while the glove is selectively moved, thereby preventing different colors of light in a mixed state from being emitted on the way of exchange.

Color-changing lamp for vehicle

In the rear of a collimator lens there is disposed a reflector having a bulb serving as a light source, and a shade is interposed between the collimator lens and bulb. The reflector is mounted by means of a guide engagement mechanism, which is arranged such that guide pins provided in the front edge portion of the reflector are pivotally and slidably engaged with a plurality of guide grooves formed in a guide plate fixed on the side of the collimator to thereby be able to deflect an optical axis. The guide engagement mechanism controls or displaces the reflector by use of a control motor. The shade is fixedly secured on the side of the collimator lens.

Growing community of inventors

Shizuoka, Japan

Hideki Uchida