US-12624816-B2 - Light source unit for vehicular lighting fixture, and vehicular lighting fixture

US12624816B2US 12624816 B2US12624816 B2US 12624816B2US-12624816-B2

Abstract

A light source unit for a vehicular lighting fixture includes a plurality of light sources, a plurality of lens bodies disposed in front of the plurality of light sources, respectively, a circuit board on which the plurality of light source are mounted, a heatsink configured to radiate heat emitted from the plurality of light sources to outside via a board attachment part to which the circuit board is attached, and a socket body configured integrally with the heatsink and having a connector part electrically connected to the circuit board, and drawing patterns formed by emission of the plurality of light sources are projected toward a road surface by the plurality of lens bodies.

Inventors

Koichiro Ano

Assignees

STANLEY ELECTRIC CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20230307
Priority Date: 20220314

Claims (8)

1 . A light source unit for a vehicular lighting fixture comprising: a plurality of light sources; a plurality of lens bodies disposed in front of the plurality of light sources, respectively; a circuit board on which the plurality of light sources are mounted; a heatsink configured to radiate heat emitted from the plurality of light sources to outside via a board attachment part to which the circuit board is attached; and a socket body configured integrally with the heatsink and having a connector part electrically connected to the circuit board, wherein the plurality of light sources are arranged in one direction in a surface of the circuit board, the plurality of lens bodies are disposed for each of the light sources aligned in the one direction, respectively, in a state distances between the light sources and the lens bodies are different from each other for each of the light sources, and wherein drawing patterns formed by emission of the plurality of light sources are projected toward a road surface in a forward/rearward direction by the plurality of lens bodies.
2 . The light source unit for a vehicular lighting fixture according to claim 1 , wherein the drawing patterns obtained by reflecting shapes formed by emission of the light sources are projected toward a road surface.
3 . The light source unit for a vehicular lighting fixture according to claim 1 , wherein light gathering power of the plurality of lens bodies becomes relatively higher as the distance between the lens bodies and the light source becomes larger.
4 . The light source unit for a vehicular lighting fixture according to claim 1 , comprising a lens holding part configured to hold the lens body in front of the light source while surrounding the light source.
5 . A vehicular lighting fixture comprising: the light source unit according to claim 1 , a housing in which one side has an opening, and a transparent lens cover covering the opening of the housing, wherein the light source unit is detachably attached in a state in which one side of the light source unit is inserted inside of the vehicular lighting fixture from an attachment hole provided in another side of the housing, as an exchangeable coupler socket.
6 . The vehicular lighting fixture according claim 5 , wherein, as a part of back lamps, the light source unit projects the drawing patterns toward the road surface when the vehicle moves rearward.
7 . The vehicular lighting fixture according claim 5 , wherein, as a part of turn lamps, the light source unit projects the drawing patterns.
8 . A road surface projecting light source unit comprising: a plurality of light sources; a plurality of lens bodies disposed in front of the plurality of light sources, respectively; a circuit board on which the plurality of light sources are mounted; a heatsink configured to radiate heat emitted from the plurality of light sources to outside via a board attachment part to which the circuit board is attached; a socket body configured integrally with the heatsink and having a connector part electrically connected to the circuit board; and a filter that is disposed between at least one of the light sources and the lens bodies and that has a transmissive area through which light emitted from the light sources passes, wherein drawing patterns, which includes drawing patterns obtained by reflecting a shape of the transmissive area, formed by emission of the plurality of light sources are projected toward a road surface by the plurality of lens bodies.

Description

This application is a U.S. National Stage Application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Patent Application No. PCT/JP2023/008519 filed Mar. 7, 2023, which claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-039641 filed Mar. 14, 2022, the disclosures of all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a light source unit for a vehicular lighting fixture, and a vehicular lighting fixture. BACKGROUND ART In vehicular lighting fixtures in recent years, as light emitting diodes (LEDs) have become more highly luminous and less costly, the number of configurations that use light emitting elements such as LEDs as light sources has been gradually increasing. LEDs have the merits of long life and low power consumption. Meanwhile, since high temperatures lead to a decrease in light emitting efficiency and reduction in lifespan, it is necessary to use a heat sink to efficiently dissipate the heat generated by LEDs to the outside. For example, the following Patent Document 1 discloses a light source unit in which a circuit board on which an LED and a driving circuit configured to drive the LED are mounted is attached to a heatsink, and a coupler socket integrally attached to a connector part that electrically connects the heatsink to the circuit board is detachably attached to an attachment hole provided in a lighting body on a back surface side. Citation List Patent Document Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2021-111465 SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problem to be Solved by Invention Incidentally, in the vehicular lighting fixture disclosed in Patent Document 1 as described above, in order to improve safety when driving, road surface drawing is performed by projecting light onto a road surface. Specifically, in the vehicular lighting fixture disclosed in Patent Document 1, by using a light blocking member having a slit through which light condensed by a condensing lens partially passes, a drawing pattern obtained by reflecting a shape of the slit is projected onto the road surface using a projection lens. However, in the vehicular lighting fixture disclosed in Patent Document 1 as described above, there is a need to separately provide a housing that accommodates the condensing lens, the light blocking member and the projection lens in front of a coupler socket, which increases the number of parts and makes the lighting body larger. In addition, since light other than the light passing through the slit is blocked by the light blocking member, utilization efficiency of the light deteriorates. An aspect of the present invention is directed to providing a light source unit for a vehicular lighting fixture capable of increasing utilization efficiency of light when road surface drawing is performed, and a vehicular lighting fixture including such a light source unit for a vehicular lighting fixture. Solution to Problem An aspect of the present invention provides the following configurations. (1) A light source unit for a vehicular lighting fixture including: a plurality of light sources;a plurality of lens bodies disposed in front of the plurality of light sources, respectively;a circuit board on which the plurality of light sources are mounted;a heatsink configured to radiate heat emitted from the plurality of light sources to outside via a board attachment part to which the circuit board is attached; anda socket body configured integrally with the heatsink and having a connector part electrically connected to the circuit board,wherein drawing patterns formed by emission of the plurality of light sources are projected toward a road surface by the plurality of lens bodies. (2) The light source unit for a vehicular lighting fixture according to the above-mentioned (1), wherein the drawing patterns obtained by reflecting shapes formed by emission of the light sources are projected toward a road surface. (3) The light source unit for a vehicular lighting fixture according to the above-mentioned (1), including a filter that is disposed between the light sources and the lens bodies and that has a transmissive area through which light emitted from the light sources passes, wherein a drawing pattern obtained by reflecting a shape of the transmissive area is projected toward a road surface. (4) The light source unit for a vehicular lighting fixture according to any one of the above-mentioned (1) to (3), wherein the plurality of light sources are arranged in one direction in a surface of the circuit board, the plurality of lens bodies are disposed for each of the light sources aligned in the one direction, respectively, in a state distances between the light sources and the lens bodies are different from each other for each of the light sources, anddrawing patterns formed by emission of the plurality of light sources are projected toward a road surface next to each other