US 11,859,788 B2
Vehicle lighting system
Yasuo Toko, Tokyo (JP); and Ryotaro Owada, Tokyo (JP)
Assigned to STANLEY ELECTRIC CO., LTD., Tokyo (JP)
Appl. No. 17/761,797
Filed by STANLEY ELECTRIC CO., LTD., Tokyo (JP)
PCT Filed Sep. 14, 2020, PCT No. PCT/JP2020/034707
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Mar. 18, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/054283, PCT Pub. Date Mar. 25, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 2019-171083 (JP), filed on Sep. 20, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0341559 A1, Oct. 27, 2022
Int. Cl. F21S 41/64 (2018.01); F21S 41/25 (2018.01); B60Q 1/14 (2006.01); F21W 107/10 (2018.01)
CPC F21S 41/645 (2018.01) [B60Q 1/1423 (2013.01); F21S 41/25 (2018.01); F21W 2107/10 (2018.01)] 8 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vehicle lighting system comprising:
a lamp unit disposed in a front section of a vehicle; and
a control unit that controls the operation of the lamp unit;
wherein the lamp unit comprises:
a light source that is controlled by the control unit and emits light;
a liquid crystal element that is controlled by the control unit and uses the light emitted from the light source to form irradiation light; and
a lens that projects a periphery of the vehicle the irradiation light formed by the liquid crystal element;
wherein the light emitted from the light source is made incident to the liquid crystal element at a wide angle including a component in a direction inclined from the normal of a light incident surface of the liquid crystal element;
wherein the light incident surface has at least a first region and a second region, the first region receives more light incident from a direction along a viewing direction of the liquid crystal element than light incident from a direction not along the viewing direction of the liquid crystal element, and the second region receives more of the light incident from the direction not along the viewing direction of the liquid crystal element than the light incident from the direction along the viewing direction of the liquid crystal element; and
wherein the control unit drives the liquid crystal element by setting a first voltage of the first region and a second voltage of the second region such that the first voltage is lower than the second voltage.