The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 10, 1998
Filed:
Feb. 20, 1997
Hella KG Hueck & Co., Lippstadt, DE;
Patent-Treuhand-Gesellschaft f. elektrische Gluehlampen mbH, Munich, DE;
Abstract
To provide for improved light distribution of a vehicular headlight furning both depressed-beam and high-beam illumination, a shadow cap (9, 25) partly surrounds a main light source, typically filaments of halogen incandescent lamp, located in a reflector (2) which has two segments (14, 15) of different contours. The first one (14) of the reflector segments is optically associated with the main filament furnishing depressed-beam illumination, and this segment has a free-formed surface reflection contour. A second segment of the reflector is optically associated with an auxiliary filament (8, 18). The shadow cap (9, 25) provides a shadow angle of between 100.degree. and 140.degree. with respect to light emitted from the main filament (7) to define a shadow zone (12) and a light zone (13) on the reflector. The shadow cap is shaped and positioned with respect to the auxiliary filament (8, 18) such that the auxiliary filament is located within the shadow zone (12). The auxiliary filament is located by an offset of between 0.25 and 2 times below the optical axis (A) of the reflector, and the spatial distribution of the segments is such that the reflector is associated with a light zone and a shadow zone, respectively, as formed by the shadow cap. For high-beam illumination, with only the auxiliary filament (8, 18) energized, a concentrated beam and somewhat spread illumination based on reflection from the first reflector segment (14) is obtained; when the main filament (7) is additionally energized, concentrated beam and defined spread-out illumination results.