Koito Manufacturing Company, Ltd.

Manabu Sasa

Masashi Yamazaki

Hideki Uchida

Kazuo Goto

Yutaka Nakanishi

Atsushi Yamazaki

Masataka Ando

A curvature estimation unit estimates the curvature of the road on which a vehicle is driving. A swivel angle setting unit is configured to perform a first mode in which a swivel angle of a lamp unit is set such that a light distribution pattern follows the travelling direction of the vehicle based on the curvature estimated by the curvature estimation unit, and perform a second mode in which a swivel angle of the lamp unit is set such that a shielded area created in a light distribution pattern follows the position of the vehicle detected by a vehicle position detector. A pattern determination unit determines a light distribution pattern such that the position of the vehicle detected by the vehicle position detector remains in the shielded area. A swivel angle setting unit performs the first mode when it is determined that the road is a curved road based on the curvature estimated by the curvature estimation unit, and performs the second mode when it is determined that the road is a straight road.

Automotive headlamp apparatus having swivel function of lamp unit

A vehicle lamp control system includes a target irradiating direction setting unit which sets, in accordance with a running condition of a vehicle, a target irradiating direction of the lamp. An actuator controls an irradiating direction of the lamp to be directed in the target irradiating direction based on a reference direction. The actuator includes a reference setting section which executes a reference setting operation to set the irradiating direction of the lamp to be directed in the reference direction. The target irradiating direction setting unit includes a condition determining section which determines whether the reference setting section has executed the reference setting operation, and a reference setting command section which, when the condition determining section determines that the reference setting section has not yet executed the reference setting operation, instructs the reference setting section to execute the reference setting operation.

Vehicle lamp control system and control method

A lamp system is provided. The lamp system includes a deflection angle calculating section configured to calculate a deflection angle of an irradiation direction of a lamp based on a steering angle of a steering wheel of a vehicle and a speed of the vehicle, a swivel control section configured to control the irradiation direction in accordance with the calculated deflection angle, a filter section configured to change an output response of a change of the speed of the vehicle to be input to the deflection angle calculating section, and a filter control section configured to compare the calculated deflection angle with a reference value and to control the filter section to change the output response in accordance with a result of the comparison.

Lamp system and lamp deflection control method

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.

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Shizuoka, Japan

Manabu Sasa