Koito Manufacturing Company, Ltd.

Kazutoshi Sakurai

Hidetada Tanaka

Hironori Tsukamoto

Akinori Matsumoto

Kenichi Takada

Hiroki Kawai

Takahiko Honda

Shinji Kagiyama

Akira Hanada

Yoshiaki Aiso

Shuhei Nozue

An optical unit includes a cylindrical rotatable lens and a light source provided in the rotatable lens. The rotatable lens is configured such that a light output from the light source is incident via an inner circumferential surface and is output via an outer circumferential surface as an irradiating beam, and a predetermined irradiated area is formed by scanning a space in front with the irradiating beam according to a periodical movement of the rotatable lens.

Optical unit

An optical unit includes a first light source, a second light source, a rotary reflector that rotates about an axis of rotation while reflecting first light emitted from the first light source, and a projection lens that projects the first light reflected by the rotary reflector into a light illuminating direction of the optical unit to form a first light distribution pattern. The second light source is disposed such that second light emitted from the second light source enters the projection lens without being reflected by the rotary reflector. The projection lens is configured to project the second light into the light illuminating direction of the optical unit to form a second light distribution pattern such that the second light distribution pattern overlaps an end portion of the first light distribution pattern in a right-left direction.

An optical unit includes: a light source; a rotating reflector configured to be rotated in a single direction with the rotational axis as the center of rotation while reflecting light emitted from the light source; and a projector lens configured to project light reflected by the rotating reflector in the light irradiation direction. The projector lens has a first lens region LRthat defines the first focal plane and a second lens region that defines the second focal plane that differs from the first focal plane. The light source is arranged such that, when the rotating reflector is set to the first rotational position, its virtual position is in the vicinity of the focal plane, and such that, when the rotating reflector is set to the second rotational position, its virtual position is in the vicinity of the focal plane.

Optical unit and method for determining reflection plane

A headlight for a vehicle includes a light source. The light source includes: a substrate; a light emitting diode chip; and a phosphor. The phosphor through which light exiting from a light emitting surface penetrates. The phosphor includes an exiting surface through which the light from the light emitting surface penetrates and exits. A first direction of the exiting surface corresponds to a height direction of a light distribution pattern by the light exiting from the exiting surface, and a second direction of the exiting surface corresponds to a spread in a lateral direction of the light distribution pattern. A dimension in the first direction of the exiting surface is smaller than a dimension in the second direction of the exiting surface.

Headlight for vehicle

A vehicular lamp includes a first light source that emits light for forming a first distribution pattern, a second light source that emits light for forming a second distribution pattern that is added to the first distribution pattern, and a light guide member disposed in front of the first light source. The light guide member includes a first incidence surface on which the light emitted from the first light source is incident, a total reflection surface by which a part of the light incident from the first incidence surface is totally reflected, and a first emission surface from which the light totally reflected by the total reflection surface is emitted toward the lamp front. A part of the light emitted from the second light source passes through the total reflection surface and the light guide member and is emitted from the first emission surface toward the lamp front.

Vehicular lamp

An optical unit includes a light source and a rotary reflector configured to reflect a light emitted from the light source and rotate around a rotation axis in one direction. The rotary reflector is provided with a reflective surface such that a desired light distribution pattern is formed by scanning a light of a light source reflected by the rotary reflector while the rotary reflector is rotated. The light source includes a first light-emitting portion configured to be turned on when forming a first light distribution pattern that mainly illuminates a range lower than a horizontal line, and a second light-emitting portion configured to be turned on when forming a second light distribution pattern that illuminates a range at least higher than the horizontal line.

Vehicle lamp including rotary reflector

When forming a first light distribution pattern, the controller is configured to control the magnitudes of the drive currents of first light emitting element and the second light emitting element. When forming a second light distribution pattern, the controller is configured to control so that the magnitude of the drive current of the second light emitting element is smaller than when forming the first light distribution pattern and/or so that a time period in which the drive current is to be supplied to the second light emitting element is shorter than when forming the first light distribution pattern.

Growing community of inventors

Shizuoka, Japan

Kazutoshi Sakurai