CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority from Korean Application No. 10-2021-0061976 filed on May 13, 2021, which application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a vehicle lamp, and more particularly, to a vehicle lamp capable of forming a pattern image having various brightness patterns.

2. Description of the Related Art

A vehicle is provided with various types of lamps having an illumination function for easily identifying an object located around the vehicle in low light conditions (e.g., night-time driving) and a signaling function for notifying drivers of other vehicles or pedestrians of the driving state of the vehicle.

For example, head lamps and fog lamps are mainly for the illumination functions, and turn signal lamps, tail lamps, and brake lamps are mainly for signaling functions. The installation standards and specifications of each lamp are stipulated by law or regulations to ensure that the functions of each lamp are fully implemented.

Recently, research has been actively conducted to reduce the size of the lamp by using micro lenses having a relatively short focal length. In this case, a pattern image having a required shape or size is formed by the light emitted from the micro lens through a shield that obstructs a portion of the light proceeding to the plurality of micro lenses.

Since the brightness of the pattern image formed by the light emitted from the micro lens is determined by the light amount of the light source, it is difficult to form a pattern image of various brightness. Therefore, there is a demand for a means to form a pattern image having more various brightness patterns.

SUMMARY

An object of the present disclosure is to provide a lamp for a vehicle that obstructs a portion of light that transmits through a transmission region of a shield so that a pattern image formed by the light that transmits through the shield can have various brightness patterns. The objects of the present disclosure are not limited to the objects mentioned above, and other objects not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a lamp for a vehicle may include a light source unit for generating light; and a lens unit including a plurality of incident lenses, to which the light generated from the light source unit is incident, a plurality of emitting lenses for emitting the light incident from the plurality of incident lenses, and a plurality of shields for obstructing at least a portion of the light incident to each of the plurality of emitting lenses. Each of the plurality of shields may include a transmission region for transmitting light and a blocking region for obstructing light, and at least one light shielding member for obstructing a portion of the light through the transmission region may be formed in the transmission region of at least one of the plurality of shields.

The light source unit may comprise at least one light source; and a light transferring unit for converting the light generated from the at least one light source into substantially parallel light and transferring it to the lens unit.

The lens unit may further comprise a first optical member, in which the plurality of incident lenses are formed on an incident surface thereof; and a second optical member, in which the plurality of emitting lenses are formed on an emitting surface thereof. The plurality of shields may be formed in at least one of the first optical member or the second optical member.

The at least one light shielding member may comprise a plurality of light shielding members formed in the transmission region. The plurality of light shielding members may be formed to have non-uniform distribution densities across the transmission region. For example, the plurality of light shielding members may be formed so that a distribution density is changed from a first side of the transmission region to a second side of the transmission region.

The lens unit may be divided into a central region and a peripheral region around the central region. Further, the at least one light shielding member may be formed in a shield disposed in a region corresponding to the central region of the lens unit among the plurality of shields.

The at least one light shielding member may decrease amount of light that transmits through at least some region of the transmission region to allow different regions of a pattern image formed on a road surface around the vehicle to exhibit different brightness by light transmitting through the transmission region. In some exemplary embodiments, the at least one light shielding member may decrease amount of light that transmits through at least some region of the transmission region to allow a pattern image formed on a road surface around the vehicle to exhibit substantially uniform brightness by light transmitting through the transmission region.

The transmission region may comprise a plurality of sub transmission regions, and the at least one light shielding member formed in at least one of the plurality of sub transmission regions may have a different distribution density from other light shielding members formed in other sub transmission regions. In some exemplary embodiments, the at least one light shield unit formed in at least one sub transmission region among the plurality of sub transmission regions may have non-uniform distribution densities across the at least one sub transmission region.

According to the exemplary embodiments of the vehicle lamp of the present disclosure as described above, there are one or more of the following effects. The brightness pattern of the pattern image may be more easily adjusted by varying the amount of light that transmits through different positions in the transmission region through the light shielding member formed in the transmission region of the shield without using a separate optical system to vary the brightness pattern of the pattern image. Therefore, the configuration may be simplified, and more diverse brightness patterns may be implemented. Effects of the present disclosure are not limited to the effects mentioned above, and other effects not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description set forth.

