Headlamp with a mechanical coupling unit coupling the low beam light unit to the high beam light unit

Abstract

A headlamp for a vehicle comprising a housing, a low beam light unit and at least one high beam light unit. Both the low and high beam light units are received in the housing, along with a headlight range adjusting unit for adjusting the range of the low beam by tilting the low beam light unit about a low beam tilting axis. The headlamp comprises a mechanical coupling unit coupling the low beam light unit to the high beam light unit such that the high beam light unit is tilted about a high beam tilting axis simultaneously with the low beam light unit being tilted about the low beam tilting axis. The mechanical coupling unit comprises a coupling element, a first coupling link and a second coupling link. The first coupling link is arranged between the low beam light unit and the coupling element and the second coupling link is arranged between the high beam light unit and the coupling element.

Claims

1. A headlamp for a vehicle comprising: a housing, a low beam light unit and a high beam light unit which are received in the housing, a headlight range adjusting unit for adjusting the range of the low beam by tilting the low beam light unit about a low beam tilting axis, and a mechanical coupling unit coupling the low beam light unit to the high beam light unit such that the high beam light unit is tilted about a high beam tilting axis simultaneously with the low beam light unit being tilted about the low beam tilting axis, wherein the mechanical coupling unit comprises a coupling element, a first coupling link and a second coupling link, wherein the first coupling link is arranged between the low beam light unit and the coupling element, and the second coupling link is arranged between the high beam light unit and the coupling element, wherein the first reflector element is tiltable about the low beam tilting axis, the second reflector element is arranged in the housing and is tiltable about a tilting axis, and both reflector elements are connected to each other by means of an interconnecting element, wherein the first reflector element comprises a lever arm extending in vertical direction and behind the high beam light unit, wherein the first coupling link is coupled to the low beam light unit by a connection to the lever arm, wherein the lever arm comprises a connection point for tiltable receiving the low beam light unit in the housing, and wherein: the first coupling link is connected to the lever arm below the connection point and the interconnecting element between the reflector element of the low beam light unit and the second reflector element is connected to the lever arm above the connection point.

2. The headlamp according to claim 1, wherein the coupling element forms a rocker element, wherein the rocker element is tiltable arranged about a rocker tilting axis.

3. The headlamp according to claim 2, wherein the first coupling link is connected to the rocker element on a first side of the rocker tilting axis and the second coupling link is connected to the rocker element on a second side of the rocker tilting axis opposite to the first side.

4. The headlamp according to claim 1, wherein the first coupling link and the second coupling link both have the same length.

5. The headlamp according to claim 1, wherein the low beam light unit is arranged in an upper position and the high beam light unit is arranged in a lower position within the housing in relation to a mounting position of the headlamp in the vehicle.

6. The headlamp according to claim 1, wherein the low beam light unit is arranged in a backward position and the high beam light unit is arranged in a forward position with respect to the light emitting direction (X).

7. The headlamp according to claim 1, wherein the headlight range adjusting unit is connected to the reflector element above the connection point and below a connection point of the interconnecting element which is arranged between the reflector element of the low beam light unit and the second reflector element.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Reference is now made more particularly to the drawings, which illustrate the best presently known mode of carrying out the invention and wherein similar reference characters indicate the same parts throughout the views.

(2) FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the low beam light unit and the high beam light unit and the mechanical coupling unit between both light units.

(3) FIG. 2 is a cross sectioned perspective view of the low beam light unit and the high beam light unit with a detailed illustration of the mechanical coupling unit.

(4) FIG. 3 is a view of the housing showing the tilting axis of the light units within the housing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(5) FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the low beam light unit 11 and the high beam light unit 12. The low beam light unit 11 is arranged above the high beam light unit 12. The high beam light unit 12 is coupled to the low beam light unit 11 by means of a mechanical coupling unit 16 which is rotatably supported within the housing of the headlamp (not shown).

(6) The low beam light unit 11 comprises a reflector element having a first reflector 22 and a second reflector element 23. The first reflector element 22 is tiltable about a low beam tilting axis 14, and the second reflector element 23 is tiltable about a tilting axis 24 located at a distance from the low beam tilting axis 14.

(7) The first reflector element 22 and the second reflector element 23 together build a part of the low beam light in front of the vehicle. However, the reflectors 22 and 23 are tiltable about different axis 14 and 24. In order to couple both reflector elements 22 and 23, an interconnecting element 25 is arranged between both reflectors 22 and 23.

(8) The reflector element 22 comprises a lever arm 26, to which the mechanical coupling unit 16 is connected. The mechanical coupling unit 16 comprises a coupling element 17, a first coupling link 18 and a second coupling link 19. The first coupling link 18 is connected to the free end of the lever arm 26. The second coupling link 19 is coupled to the high beam light unit 12. For rotatably supporting the mechanical coupling unit 16, the coupling element 17 comprises two studs which are provided on opposite sides of the coupling element 17 and each extend in direction of axis 21 (compare FIG. 2).

(9) When the low beam light unit 11 is actuated by the headlight range adjusting unit 13, the reflector elements 22 and 23 perform a tilting movement as shown in FIG. 1 by the double-arrows. Accordingly the lever arm 26 performs an opposite tilting movement about the low beam tilting axis 14. This movement of the lever arm 26 is transmitted to the high beam light unit 12 via the first coupling link 18, the coupling element 17 and the second coupling link 19, such that the high beam light unit 12 and the low beam light unit 11 are synchronously tilted about their corresponding tilt axis 14 and 15.

(10) FIG. 2 shows a cross sectioned perspective view of the high beam light unit 11 and the low beam light unit 12. The high beam light unit 11 comprises the first reflector element 22 and the second reflector element 23. In the cross section, an interconnecting element 25 is shown between the reflector element 22 and the second reflector element 23.

(11) When the reflector element 22 is tilted by the headlight range adjusting unit 13 about the connection point 27 in clockwise direction, the upper part of the reflector element 22 and thus the second reflector element 23 are tilted backwards with respect to the light emitting direction X. This movement causes a movement of the lever arm 26 towards the light emitting direction X. Accordingly, the rocker element 20, which is coupled to the lever arm 26 via the first coupling link 18, is also tilted about the rocker tilting axis 21 in clockwise direction. I.e., the coupling element 17 forms a rocker element 20, wherein the attachment of the second coupling link 19 on the opposite side of the first coupling link 18 causes a tilting movement of the high beam light unit 12 also in a clockwise direction. In other words, the mechanical coupling unit 16 reverses the tilting direction of the lever arm 26 (which is a part of the reflector element 22). As a result, the high beam light unit 12 and the low beam light unit 11 perform (at least almost) the same tilting movement in the same direction.

(12) FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of the housing 10 of the headlamp. As shown in FIG. 3, a number of ball joints 28 is arranged in the body of the housing 10. Pairs of ball joints 28 are interconnected by imaginary lines illustrating the tilting axis of the first reflector element 22, the second reflector element 23 and the high beam light unit 12. In detail, the tilting axis 24 between the two upper left ball joints 28 represents the tilting axis of the second reflector element 23. The low beam tilting axis 14 is located at a distance from the tilting axis 24. The high beam tilting axis 15 is also arranged apart from the low beam axis 14 and the tilting axis 24. As can be seen in the perspective view, the high beam tilting axis 15 and the low beam tilting axis 14 are not parallel to each other, but they are arranged in a distance and with a slight inclination. This shows another advantage of the mechanical coupling unit 16 of the present invention, as the tilting axes may be also arranged in a non-parallel manner relative to each other.

(13) The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, which is represented as an example only and can be modified in various ways within the scope of protection defined by the pending patent claims. Thus, the invention is also applicable to different embodiments, in particular regarding the design of the upper and low beam light units.

LIST OF NUMERALS

(14) 10 housing 11 low beam light unit 12 high beam light unit 13 headlight range adjusting unit 14 low beam tilting axis 15 high beam tilting axis 16 mechanical coupling unit 17 coupling element 18 first coupling link 19 second coupling link 20 rocker element 21 rocker tilting axis 22 first reflector element 23 second reflector element 24 tilting axis 25 interconnecting element 26 lever arm 27 connection point 28 ball joint X light emitting direction