GB2312498A

GB2312498A - A lamp with positioning devices

Info

Publication number: GB2312498A
Application number: GB9708577A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ulrich Klunker; Michael Ziegerer
Original assignee: Dr Ing HCF Porsche AG
Current assignee: Dr Ing HCF Porsche AG
Priority date: 1996-04-26
Filing date: 1997-04-25
Publication date: 1997-10-29
Anticipated expiration: 2017-04-25
Also published as: FR2747970A1; JPH1035355A; DE19616710C1; GB9708577D0; GB2312498B; FR2747970B1

Description

1 2312498 A Lamp with Positioning Devices The invention relates to a lamp

with positioning devices for insertion in an aperture in bodywork, in particular a vehicle.

Positioning devices are used with lamps in order to ensure that the lamp occupies a defined position in the aperture of a bodywork part. For this purpose positioning devices on the lamp have to be aligned with corresponding devices in the bodywork aperture to compensate for dimensional deviations which occur during manufacture.

If a lamp has to be used in different apertures, the problem arises that it is necessary to adjust the positioning devices for each aperture.

An object of the invention is to provide a lamp with positioning devices so that the lamp can be inserted and positioned in different apertures.

The invention provides a lamp as claimed in Claim 1 and an assembly of a bodywork part and lamp as claimed in Claim 2. This ensures the correct positioning of the lamp in each case even in different apertures in both a simple and an inexpensive manner.

In a preferred embodiment ribs on the lamp/bodywork part are aligned with respective abutment faces on the bodywork part depending on the aperture. Positioning devices are effective only in a single direction, namely at right angles to the surface of the abutment face, so that the position of the lamp can optionally be set in all three spatial directions independently of one another. Preferably, the surface of the abutment face is selected to be larger than the actual contact face between the rib and the abutment face, so that the positioning devices remains effective even when the position 2 of the lamp is altered in one or more spatial directions with respect to the bodywork aperture.

Preferably, the ribs are arranged on the lamp and the abutment faces are arranged on the bodywork aperture. Since the ribs can be altered more easily on account of their simple shape and less demanding requirement to the external shape, the adjustment of the positioning devices can be carried out by altering the ribs on the lamp or on the tool for producing the lamp. Since these tools are constructed in a simpler manner as a rule than the tools for the bodywork part provided with the aperture, adjustment is now possible in a particularly inexpensive manner.

Preferably, different positioning devices are provided at different positions on the lamp for different bodywork apertures. Only a single positioning device, which corresponds to one of the positioning devices of the lamp, is to be provided in each case at the different bodywork apertures, one specific positioning device being associated with each bodywork aperture on the lamp. Here too, it is advantageous that the entire adjustment, now involving several bodywork apertures, can be carried out in an inexpensive manner on the lamp or on the tool for producing the lamp.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a lamp in an aperture in bodywork, Fig. 2 is a section along the line II-II of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a detail W in Fig. 2 on a larger scale, and Fig. 4 is an outline plan view of positioning devices according to Fig. 3.

A lamp 1 illustrated in plan view in Fig. 1 is inserted in an aperture, 2 in bodywork 3. The lamp 1 comprises a casing 4 which is open on one side and has a continuous peripheral flange 5 at the opening. A transparent cover glass 6, which completely covers the opening of the casing 4, is mounted on the flange 5. In the inserted state of 3 the lamp 1 the flange 5 rests in part or completely against an edge 7 of the aperture 2. Projections 8 provided on the casing 4 engage behind the edge 7 and thus secure the position of the lamp 1 in the direction designated Z. Catch springs 9 are provided opposite the projections 8 on the casing 4, and likewise engage behind the edge 7, and by virtue of their resilient characteristics they allow the lamp 1 to be ins and removed on the one hand, and they hold the lamp 1 in a defined position in the direction designated X on the other hand.

Since the surface of the cover glass 6 of the lamp 1 terminates flush with the surface of the bodywork 3, a continuous gap 10 is formed between the bodywork 3 and the cover glass 6. In the inserted state of the lamp 1 this gap should have a continuously constant width. For this purpose, positioning devices are provided between the lamp 1 and the aperture 2; a first positioning device 11 is provided for positioning in the X direction, a second positioning device 12 for positioning in the Y direction and a third positioning device 13 for positioning in the Z direction.

As explained with reference to the embodiment of the second positioning device 12 for the Y-direction, the positioning devices 11 to 13 each comprise ribs 14, which are arranged on the casing 4, and stop faces 15, which correspond thereto and which are formed on the edge 7 of the aperture 2. Two positioning devices 12 are provided opposite each other in the Y direction, the abutment faces 15 of the said positioning devices 12 being arranged parallel to each other in the X-Z plane. This ensures that when the lamp 1 is positioned by the second positioning device 12 in the Y direction the lamp 1 is still freely movable in the X and Z directions.

The first positioning devices 11 are provided only on one side of the casing 4, since the catch springs 9 opposite ensure that the ribs 16 always rest against the abutment faces 17.

The third positioning device 13 is provided respectively in the region of the projections 8 or the catch springs 9 in each case; here too a prestressing force is applied by the catch springs 9 or the projections 8, the projections 8 being made resilient in a 4 manner not shown in detail.

In order to be able to position the lamp 1 in a different aperture 2 (not shown), further positioning devices are provided, of which a fourth positioning device for the Y direction is shown in greater detail in Fig. 1 and a fifth positioning device for the X direction in Fig. 4. These finiher positioning devices 18, 19 are arranged spaced from the positioning devices 11, 12. Whereas associated ribs 20, 22 are always provided on the casing 4, the abutment faces 21, 23 are provided exclusively on the different aperture (not shown) which then no longer has the abutment faces 15, 17 associated with the aperture 2 illustrated. For the second positioning device 12 this means that in the different aperture 2 (not shown) the edge 7 is made continuous, i.e. without a raised portion, in the region of the abutment face 15, whereas that immediately adjacent proj ects to form the abutment face 2 1.

In this way, each aperture as part of a positioning device has abutment faces characteristic of that aperture, whereas on the casing 4 of the lamp 1 all the ribs for all the positioning devices are always provided. As a whole, during the insertion of the lamp 1 in a pre-set aperture only those positioning devices associated with that aperture are effective, so as to achieve a definite positioning of the lamp 1 in that aperture.

On manufacturing grounds it is not possible as a rule to produce different apertures with exactly the same dimensions. In order to compensate this dimensional deviation, it is now possible in principle to adjust the abutment faces in the apertures in such a way that these dimensional deviations are compensated. This adjustment can be carried out both by machining the finished bodywork part 2 and by machining the tool provided for producing the bodywork part 2. In order to avoid these relatively expensive alterations, in the embodiment the positioning is adjusted by re-working the ribs 14, 16, 20, 22. By means of the positioning devices independent of one another for the different apertures the adjustment for all insertion situations can be carried out on this single component, without the adjustment for a first insertion situation affecting the adjustment for a second insertion situation.

The lamp illustrated in the embodiment is positioned in an aperture in the bodywork of a vehicle with the aid of ribs which are mounted on the casing of the lamp and which touch corresponding abutment faces of the aperture in the bodywork. In order to be able to position the lamp in different apertures in the bodywork, a plurality of ribs arranged respectively adjacent to one another in each case are provided on the casing, whereas the different apertures in the bodywork have only one abutment face in each case, so that during each insertion only one rib touches a respective abutment face.

6

Claims

Claims:

1. A lamp for insertion into an aperture in a bodywork part, wherein a plurality of different positioning devices are provided on the lamp so as to position the lamp in respective different apertures.

2. An assembly of a bodywork part and a lamp according to Claim 1, wherein each positioning device comprises a rib for an engagement with a corresponding abutment face, the surface of each abutment face being larger than the contact surface between the rib and the respective abutment face.

3. An assembly according to Claim 2, wherein the ribs are provided on the lamp and the abutment faces are provided on the aperture in the bodywork part.

4. An assembly according to Claim 2 or 3, wherein for different apertures the positioning devices has a respective pair of ribs and abutment faces positioned differently in the aperture.

5. An assembly of a bodywork part and a lamp substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

6. A vehicle having an assembly as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 5.