WO2010124646A1

WO2010124646A1 - Regulating shaft and vehicle lamp comprising the same

Info

Publication number: WO2010124646A1
Application number: PCT/CN2010/072323
Authority: WO
Inventors: Weidong Gu; Shixiang Sun; Yiming Fang
Original assignee: Byd Company Limited
Priority date: 2009-04-30
Filing date: 2010-04-29
Publication date: 2010-11-04
Also published as: CN201462691U

Abstract

A regulating shaft (3) for vehicle lamp comprises a flexible hose (36), a flexible shaft (35) penetrating through the flexible hose (36), a connector (32) connected with one end of the flexible shaft (35), a shaft head (31) connected with the other end of the flexible shaft (35), a connector buckling portion (33) for snap fitting the flexible hose (36) with the connector (32), and a shaft head buckling portion (34) for snap fitting the flexible hose (36) with the shaft head (31). The flexible shaft (35) is rotatable with respect to the flexible hose (36). The connector (32) is rotatable with respect to the connector buckling portion (33) and the shaft head (31) is rotatable with respect to the shaft head buckling portion (34). The connector (32) is configured to transfer torque to the shaft head (31) via the flexible shaft (35). A vehicle lamp comprises the regulating shaft. The light shape of the vehicle lamp can be easily adjusted.

Description

REGULATING SHAFTAND VEHICLE LAMP COMPRISING THE SAME

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to, and benefit of Chinese Patent Application No. 200920131265.X filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of PR. China on April 30^th, 2009, the invention of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a vehicle lamp, more particularly to a light shaft regulation mechanism of a vehicle lamp and a vehicle lamp comprising the same.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Vehicle headlight is the heart of the vehicle lamp. Sound use of the headlight should be as follows: when vehicles meet with each other, the dipped beam has to be used whereas main beams are used after vehicles' meeting to expand eyesight and make up for unclear eyesight when meeting. When running through a crossroad or overtaking, the headlight has to be changed between the main beam and dipped beam for safety indication and ensure safety for driving.

During vehicle assembly, according to different vehicle model, the light shape of the vehicle light has to be regulated to get the best light illumination effect. Generally, a regulation bolt is provided at a corresponding position of a rear end face on the relative position of the rear face of the vehicle lamp. The regulation bolt is regulated by a screwdriver directly to regulate the light shape, which may realize the best light illumination effect. The light shape regulation is mainly about the upper-lower, left-right position of the main beam and the dipped beam.

But in actual assembly process of the lamp, because the different structures of the vehicle fender, the rear end portion of the vehicle lamp is mostly covered by the fender. When the light shape is regulated, the screwdriver can not enter into a narrow space between the fender and the lamp to regulate the regulation bolt, which affect the illumination effect of the vehicle lamp and may bring some hidden danger for driving.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In viewing thereof, the present invention discloses a novel vehicle lamp which can effectively regulate the light shape when the regulation bolt is limited by the space of the vehicle fender.

According to an aspect of the invention, a regulating shaft for a vehicle lamp is provided, comprising: a flexible hose; a flexible shaft penetrating through the flexible hose which is rotatable with respect to the flexible hose; a connector connected with an end of the flexible shaft; a shaft head connected with the other end of the flexible shaft; a connector buckling portion for snap fitting the flexible hose with the connector being rotatable with respect to the connecting buckling portion; and a shaft head buckling portion for snap fitting the flexible hose with the shaft head being rotatable with respect to the shaft head buckling portion. The connector may be configured to transfer torque to the shaft head via the flexible shaft.

According to another aspect of the invention, a vehicle lamp is provided. The vehicle lamp may comprise a vehicle lamp body; and a regulation bolt provided on a rear end portion of the vehicle lamp body for regulating light shape of the vehicle lamp. The vehicle lamp may further comprise a regulating shaft as described above, with an end of the regulating shaft having the shaft head being engaged with the regulation bolt, and the other end of the regulating shaft having the connector being configured on a portion of the vehicle lamp body suitable for light shape regulating.

Comparing with current vehicle lamp, the vehicle lamp of the present invention has a regulating shaft. An operating part of the regulation bolt is extended into the position uncovered by the fender through the regulating shaft. Then even there is a limited space within the fender, the regulation bolt still can be used to regulate the light shape of the vehicle lamp to ensure the illumination effect thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The aforementioned features and advantages of the invention as well as additional features and advantages thereof will be more clearly understood hereinafter as a result of a detailed description of preferred embodiments when taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a bottom view of a vehicle lamp after assembling to the vehicle fender according to an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 shows a side view of a vehicle lamp after assembling to a vehicle fender according to an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 3 shows a rear view of a vehicle lamp according to an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 4 shows a schematic perspective view of a regulating shaft according to an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 5 shows a schematic plan view of a regulating shaft according to an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 6 shows a cross sectional view along a line A-A indicated in Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 shows a partially enlarged schematic view of a part B shown in Fig. 3; and

Fig. 8 shows a cross sectional view along a line B-B indicated in Fig. 7. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Hereinafter embodiments of the invention will be described, the examples of which are shown in the accompanying Figures. Similar labels indicate the same or the similar components, or the components with the same or similar function. The embodiments below are used for expounding principle and/or theorem of the present invention rather for limitation.

As shown by Figs. 1-3, the present invention discloses a vehicle lamp. And the vehicle lamp comprises a lamp body 2 provided on the vehicle fender 1, a regulation bolt 4 provided on a rear end part of the lamp body 2 for regulating the light shape. The vehicle lamp may further comprise a regulating shaft 3. An end of the regulating shaft 3 may be engaged with the regulation bolt 4; the other end of the regulating shaft may be provided on the vehicle lamp body 2 where is suitable for light shape regulating, that is the other end thereof may be shifted to a place not limited by the vehicle fender 1. It should be mentioned that the vehicle lamp body 2 where is suitable for light shape regulating may be any place on the vehicle lamp body that is adapted for the operator to drive a screwdriver for operating the regulate shaft 3.

The vehicle fender 1 may be the outside board which may covers vehicle wheels. Generally, the design sizes of the fender 1 may be verified by the "wheel-jump" according to the selected tyre model or size. Currently, the fender 1 of the vehicle models may be an independent member. Generally, the fender 1 may have a L shape, comprising a first board 11 and a second board 13. A transition board 12 may be formed on the transition position between the first board 11 and the second board 13. A shelter board 121 may be formed along the first board 11, the second board 13 and the inner surface of the upper end of the transition board 12. The lamp body 2 may be provided on the transition board 12, and most part of the lamp body 2 may be under the shelter board 121, as shown in Fig. 1 (for easy understanding Fig. 1, the part of the lamp covered by the shelter board 121 is drawn in solid line). During assembling process, two ends of the first board 11 and the second board 13 of the fender 1 may be connected with other parts of the vehicle body (not shown).

The regulation bolt 4 for regulating the light shape of the vehicle lamp may be provided on the rear end part of the vehicle lamp body 2, and under the shelter board 121. The axial direction of the regulation bolt 4 may be provided along a longitude direction of the vehicle body. When the fender 1 and the vehicle lamp may be assembled to the vehicle body, the regulation bolt 4 may not be regulated directly by a screwdriver due to the space limit within the shelter board 121. However, according to an embodiment of the present invention, to overcome the problem in the art, a regulating shaft 3 may be provided on the rear end of the vehicle body 2 as shown in Figs. 1-3.

The regulating shaft 3 may comprise a flexible hose 36, a flexible shaft 35 penetrating through the flexible hose 36 which may rotate relative to the flexible hose 36, a connector 32 and a shaft head 31 provided at two ends of the flexible shaft 35 respectively, a connector buckling portion 33 for snap fitting the flexible hose 36 and the connector 32, a shaft head buckling portion 34 for snap fitting the flexible hose 36 and the shaft head 31. The flexible shaft 35 and the connector 32 may be rotatable relative to the connector buckling portion 33, the flexible shaft 35 and the shaft head 31 may be rotatable relative to the shaft head buckling portion 34, as shown in Figs. 4-6. And the connector 32 may be configured to transfer external torque to the shaft head 31 via the flexible shaft 35.

The end of the regulating shaft 3 engaging with the regulation bolt 4 may be fixed on the rear end part of the vehicle lamp body 2 through the shaft head buckling portion 34. The other end of the regulating shaft 3 may be fixed on the rear end part of the vehicle lamp body 2 through the connector buckling portion 33.

The flexible hose 36 may be made of the soft plastic materials flexible for torsion so that the hose 36 may have enough flexibility to be easily laid on the rear end part of the vehicle lamp body 2.

The flexible shaft 35 may be made of metal material adapted to transmit the torque from the connector 32 to the shaft head 31, and it may be wound accompanying with the flexible hose 36 on the rear end part of the vehicle lamp body 2. The flexible shaft 35 may act mainly for torque transmission.

The length of the flexible hose 36 may be shorter than that of the flexible shaft 35. Two ends of the flexible shaft 35 may be longer by a certain length according to the flexible hose 36. The longer part may be mainly used to locate the flexible shaft 35 and to connect other parts. One end of the flexible shaft 35 connecting with the shaft head 31 may have a cylindrical shape. And the other end of the flexible shaft 35 connecting with the connector 32 may have a rectangular parallelpiped shape.

An end of the shaft head 31 may be formed with a blind hole 311. The end of the flexible shaft 35 may preferably be interference fit with the blind hole 311. Or the shaft head 31 may be fixedly connected with the flexible shaft 35, provided that the torque of the flexible shaft 35 can be transferred to the shaft head 31 via a sufficient strength. In addition, the end of the shaft head 31 formed with the blind hole 311 may be buckled in the shaft head buckling portion 34 for positioning the shaft head 31.

The other end of the shaft head 31 may preferably be formed into a "+" shape 312 as shown in Fig. 8. Engaging portions of the regulating bolt 4 and the shaft head 31 may have a tooth structure 41 respectively. The "+" type structure 312 may be engaged with the tooth structure 41 to drive the regulating bolt to rotate, as shown in Figs. 7-8. A gear structure may also be utilized to engage with the regulating bolt 4 to so that the regulating bolt 4 may be driven to adjust the light shape of the vehicle lamp. It should be noted that the above features are just for illustration purpose rather than limitation provided that the regulating bolt 4 may be driven by the shaft head

31 to adjust the light shape accordingly.

The end of the shaft head 31 with the blind hole 311, the end of the flexible shaft 35 connecting with the shaft head 31, the end of the flexible hose 36 relative to the shaft head 31 may be buckled in the shaft head buckling portion 34. And the shaft head buckling portion 34 may be fixed on the rear end of the vehicle lamp body 2.

The connector 32 may be provided on the lamp body 2 where may be stand out of the fender 1 and easy for operator to regulate the regulating shaft 3 with the screwdriver, as shown in Figs. 1-2. An end of the connector 32 may be formed into a trumpet shape. To be specific, the connector

32 may be formed with a blind hole 321 having a rectangular cross section with the flexible shaft 35 being adapted thereto. Alternatively, the connector 32 may be interference fitted with the flexible shaft 35 in the blind hole 321. Further, the other end of the connector 32 may be formed with a trumpet portion 322, and inside the trumpet portion 322 may be formed with a convex-concave structure 323 which may be easier to be mated with the screwdriver. The connector 32 may be fixed on the rear end part of the lamp body 2 through the connector buckling portion 33, and the trumpet portion 322 of the connector 32 may face to an area which is convenient for manipulation of the adjustment to the light shape of the vehicle lamp, such as an upper side of the vehicle lamp at the rear part.

In addition, one end of the connector 32 with the blind hole 321, one end of the flexible shaft 35 connecting with the blind hole 321, one end of the flexible hose 36 relative to the connector 32 may be buckled in the connector buckling portion 33. And the connector buckling portion 33 may be fixed on the rear end part of the lamp body 2 accordingly.

A couple of regulation bolts 4 may be provided at the rear end part of the lamp body 2, which may be used to regulate the transverse position and the longitude position of the light shape respectively. Correspondingly, two regulating shafts 3 may be provided respectively to coordinate with the regulation bolts 4 respectively.

Compared with conventional vehicle lamp, due to the regulating shaft 3 disclosed in the present disclosure, the adjusting operation to the regulating bolt 4 may be shifted to a suitable place within the vehicle fence 1, thus the light shape of the vehicle lamp may be easily adjusted to ensure the light illuminating effect of the vehicle lamp without the space limitation existing in the art.

Although explanatory embodiments have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes, alternatives, and modifications can be made in the embodiments without departing from spirit and principles of the invention. Such changes, alternatives, and modifications all fall into the scope of the claims and their equivalents.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A regulating shaft for a vehicle lamp comprising: a flexible hose; a flexible shaft penetrating through the flexible hose which is rotatable with respect to the flexible hose; a connector connected with an end of the flexible shaft; a shaft head connected with the other end of the flexible shaft; a connector buckling portion for snap fitting the flexible hose with the connector being rotatable with respect to the connecting buckling portion; and a shaft head buckling portion for snap fitting the flexible hose with the shaft head being rotatable with respect to the shaft head buckling portion, wherein the connector is configured to transfer torque to the shaft head via the flexible shaft.

2. The regulating shaft of claim 1, wherein an end of the shaft head has a first blind hole where the flexible shaft is interference fitted therein, and the other end of the shaft head is formed with mating teeth.

3. The regulating shaft of claim 2, wherein the connector is formed with a second blind hole at an end thereof where the flexible shaft is interference fitted therein, and the other end is formed into a trumpet portion to be mated with a driving tool.

4. The regulating shaft of claim 3, wherein the second blind hole has a rectangular cross section with the flexible shaft being adapted thereto.

5. The regulating shaft of claim 1, wherein the flexible shaft is made of metal material adapted to transmit the torque from the connector to the shaft head.

6. The regulating shaft of claim 1, wherein the flexible hose is made of soft plastic material which is flexible for torsion.

7. A vehicle lamp, comprising, a vehicle lamp body; and a regulation bolt provided on a rear end portion of the vehicle lamp body for regulating light shape of the vehicle lamp, wherein the vehicle lamp further comprises a regulating shaft of claim 1, with an end of the regulating shaft having the shaft head being engaged with the regulation bolt, and the other end of the regulating shaft having the connector being configured on a portion of the vehicle lamp body suitable for light shape regulating.

8. The vehicle lamp of claim 7, wherein the regulating bolt has a shaft portion formed with gear teeth, and an end of the shaft head has a first blind hole where the flexible shaft is interference fitted therein, the other end of the shaft head is formed with mating teeth to be engaged with the gear teeth so that the gear teeth is rotatable with the mating teeth for regulating the light shape.

9. The vehicle lamp of claim 8, wherein the connector is formed with a second blind hole at an end thereof where the flexible shaft is interference fitted therein, the other end is formed into a trumpet portion to be mated with a regulating tool.

10. The vehicle lamp of claim 9, wherein the end of the regulating shaft having the shaft head is fixed on the rear end portion of the vehicle lamp body by the shaft head buckling portion, and the other end of the regulating shaft is fixed on the rear end portion of the vehicle lamp body with the trumpet portion being opened toward an area suitable for operation of the driving tool.

11. The vehicle lamp of claim 7, wherein the flexible shaft is made of metal material adapted to transmit the torque from the connector to the shaft head.

12. The vehicle lamp of claim 7, wherein the flexible hose is made of soft plastic material which is flexible for torsion.