Headlamp for use in a motor vehicle

摘要

The headlamp has a reflector (20) supported in a housing (10) by a ball joint (13) and by two aiming screws (18) that engage nuts (19) integrally formed in the reflector. The nuts are supported by vertical ribs in the housing and the ball joint can be moved by an electric motor (M1) so as to tilt the reflector around the aiming screws to provide both light distribution switching and auto-leveling functions. The headlamp has a housing containing a discharge bulb and a reflector, with an aiming mechanism held between the reflector and the housing that supports the reflector with respect to the housing so that the reflector may be adjustably tilted. The aiming mechanism includes a ball joint that forms a tilting fulcrum for the reflector, two aiming screws that are each rotatably supported by screw inserting holes (11) bored in the housing and nut elements which receive ball nuts on the end of the aiming screws and which are integrally fitted to the reflector so that rotation of the aiming screws translates into longitudinal movement of the nut and pivotal movement of the reflector. An electric motor driven light distribution switching mechanism (G1) acts to move the ball joint to alternatively switch between light distribution for a low beam and for a high beam, and the mechanism can also be used for auto-leveling systems. Each of the nut elements is carried by a pair of vertically opposed horizontal ribs formed in the housing so as to reduce the reflector side load that acts on the aiming mechanism.