JPH05319167A - Rear lamp controller for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a rear lamp controller for vehicle which can control the brightness of the rear lamp of a vehicle according to the correctness of the visual field on the periphery and economize the electric power consumption. CONSTITUTION:An optical sensor 1 in which a luminous element and a light receiving element are arranged oppositely and the light path is installed outside the vehicle is provided, and the situation outside the vehicle is detected by the optical sensor 1. On the basis of the signal supplied from the optical sensor 1, the output duty ratio of a lamp driving circuit 4 for driving a rear combination lamp 5 is controlled by a duty control circuit 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic dimming type vehicle rear lamp control device for dimming and controlling a rear lamp (taillight) of a vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Rear lamps such as a stop lamp and a tail lamp of a vehicle are usually integrally formed as a rear combination lamp and driven by electric power from a battery. Further, the amount of light is constant, and the brightness does not change except for the fluctuation of the power supply voltage of the battery. For this reason, when the visibility deteriorates due to weather such as rain, fog, and snow, the rear lamp of the vehicle ahead may be difficult to see.

[0003]

Since the conventional rear lamp is always controlled to have a constant amount of light as described above, it is difficult for the driver of the following vehicle to confirm the lighting of the rear lamp when the visibility deteriorates due to weather conditions or the like, and a rear impact is encountered. There was a problem that there was a danger of.

The present invention has been made by paying attention to the above problems, the brightness of the rear lamp can be controlled according to the quality of the surrounding visual field, the rear-end collision of the following vehicle can be prevented, and the power consumption is reduced. An object of the present invention is to obtain a vehicle rear lamp control device that can be saved.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A vehicle rear lamp control device according to the present invention includes a light emitting element and a light receiving element for receiving light emitted from the light emitting element, and its optical path is installed outside the vehicle. And a duty control circuit that controls the output duty ratio of the drive circuit for the rear lamp based on the signal from.

Further, an illuminance sensor for detecting the illuminance around the vehicle is provided, and the duty control circuit is configured to control the output duty ratio of the drive circuit based on the signal from the optical sensor and the illuminance sensor.

[0007]

In the vehicle rear lamp control device of the present invention, the atmospheric condition outside the vehicle is detected by the optical sensor, and the duty control circuit controls the output duty ratio of the rear lamp drive circuit based on the detected output.

[0008]

1 is a block diagram showing the main construction of a vehicle rear lamp control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is an optical photointerrupter type optical sensor for detecting the atmospheric condition outside the vehicle, 2 is an integrating circuit for integrating the output signal of the optical sensor 1, and 3 is a lamp based on the output signal of the integrating circuit 2. A duty control circuit for controlling the output duty ratio of the drive circuit 4, and the rear combination (R / C) lamp 5 is controlled by the output of the lamp drive circuit 4.
Is driven.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic structure of the optical sensor 1. The optical sensor 1 has a light emitting element 6 and a light receiving element 7 that receives light emitted from the light emitting element 6, and both elements 6 and 7 are arranged opposite to each other here. Further, the optical path 8 is installed outside the vehicle, and if there is a foreign substance 9 such as a water drop in the optical path 8, the light is blocked, and the amount of light hitting the light receiving element 7 is reduced.

Next, the operation will be described. Optical sensor 1
Is adapted to detect, for example, the transmittance (attenuation rate) of light in the air outside the vehicle, photoelectrically convert the detection signal into an electric signal and output the electric signal, and in accordance with the signal from the optical sensor 1. The brightness of the rear combination lamp 5 is automatically controlled.

That is, the output signal of the photosensor 1 is integrated by the integrating circuit 2 with an appropriate time constant, and is converted into a DC signal by this integration. Then, the duty control circuit 3 is controlled by the signal level of this DC signal, and the output duty ratio of the lamp drive circuit 4 is controlled. At that time, when the light received by the light receiving element 7 of the optical sensor 1 is weak, that is, when the light amount irradiated to the light receiving portion is small, the duty ratio becomes large, and the stop lamp lighting and the tail lamp lighting of the rear combination lamp 5 become bright. Controlled to be.

In this way, the brightness of the rear combination lamp 5 can be controlled according to the visibility of the surroundings of the vehicle, so that the driver of the succeeding vehicle can easily confirm the lighting of the rear combination lamp 5 and the rear-end collision of the succeeding vehicle. Can be prevented. Also, it is not necessary to make it unnecessary brightness,
Power consumption can be saved.

Further, since the photointerrupter type optical sensor 1 is used to detect the condition outside the vehicle, it can be sensed in the same manner as the human visual field, and appropriate processing can be performed.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention, and the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 indicate the same components. In this embodiment, an ambient illuminance sensor 10 for detecting ambient illuminance of a vehicle is added, and a duty control circuit 3 outputs an output duty of a lamp drive circuit 4 based on signals from the optical sensor 1 and the ambient illuminance sensor 10. Control the ratio.

As described above, by changing the duty ratio depending on the ambient illuminance and controlling the lighting of the rear combination lamp 5 to be bright when the surroundings are bright and to be dark when the surroundings are dark, more appropriate control can be performed. It is possible to prevent the light quantity from being insufficient or making the driver feel dazzling with respect to the following vehicle.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, the condition outside the vehicle is detected by using the optical sensor, and the drive duty ratio of the rear lamp is controlled based on the detection signal. The brightness of the rear lamp can be controlled depending on whether the quality is good or bad, a rear-end collision of a following vehicle can be prevented, and power consumption can be saved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the optical sensor of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Photosensor 3 Duty control circuit 4 Lamp drive circuit 5 Rear combination lamp 6 Light emitting element 7 Light receiving element 8 Optical path 10 Ambient illuminance sensor

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An optical sensor having a light emitting element and a light receiving element for receiving light emitted from the light sensor, the optical path of which is installed outside the vehicle, and an output duty ratio of a drive circuit of a rear lamp based on a signal from the optical sensor. And a duty control circuit for controlling the vehicle rear lamp control device. 2. An illuminance sensor for detecting ambient illuminance of a vehicle, wherein the duty control circuit controls the output duty ratio of the drive circuit based on a signal from the optical sensor and the illuminance sensor. The vehicle rear lamp control device described.