Technical Field The present invention relates to an apparatus for blocking a headlight beam for driver, which is capable of assuring a wide sight of the driver by blocking the headlight beam of an upcoming vehicle in an opposite lane in night driving.

Background Art With the development of civilization, a vehicle, especially an automobile becomes indispensable for people to move around at present. While people are fascinated with the convenience of the vehicle and could not control the usage thereof, they also concerned about traffic accident due to the vehicle.

Although the advanced technologies are provided to assist the night driving, there is no consideration to intercept headlight beams of an upcoming vehicle, so that a number of accident are occurred under the circumstance that a driver loses eyesight for a while by headlight beams of the upcoming vehicle.

Disclosure of Invention The present invention is contemplated to solve the aforementioned problem, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for blocking a headlight beam, which decreases the headlight beam of an upcoming vehicle reaching the driver in night driving. as much as possible so that the driver could drive safely in the night.

To accomplish the above object, it is provided an apparatus for blocking a headlight beam for a driver comprising an irradiation means installed on one of horizontal end portions in a windshield of vehicle including: an opaque guide member formed with a passage therein : a lamp installed at both longitudinal ends toward the passage; and a plurality of optical fibers fixed on an outer surface of the guide member to be communicated with the passage, wherein the optical fiber is directed to intersect the driver's gaze so that cuts off the headlight beam of other vehicle in opposite lane by a curtain effect of the light irradiated from the optical fibers.

In the apparatus according to the present invention, the irradiation means could be installed outside or inside of the vehicle in front of the driver.

The present invention shows better light curtain effect where the windshield of the vehicle includes a material having good translucency.

Brief Description of Drawings The features and advantages of the present invention will be more described specifically in the following description of preferred embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: FIG. I is a front view showing an embodiment of an apparatus for blocking a headlight beam according to the present invention; FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along A-A line of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a beam irradiation means according to the present invention ; FIG. 4 is a front view showing another embodiment of the apparatus for blocking the headlight beam according to the present invention ; and

FIG. 5 is a side view showing another embodiment of the apparatus for blocking the headlight beam according to the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In explaining the present invention, the same names and reference numerals will be given to the same components, and explanations in the same will be omitted.

FIG. 1 illustrates a front view showing an embodiment of an apparatus for blocking a headlight beam according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 illustrates a sectional view taken along A-A line of FIG. 1 respectively.

A blocking apparatus of headlight beam according to the present invention is provided with an irradiation means 1 applying a light in front of a vehicle driver using optical fibers, and thereby cuts off a headlight beam of other vehicle in opposite lane by a curtain effect of the light irradiated from the optical fibers The irradiation means 1, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, includes a guide member 11 formed with a passage Ha therein, a lamp 12 installed at both longitudinal ends toward the passage 11 a, a plurality of optical fibers 13 having one end fixed on an outer surface of the guide member 11 to be communicated with the passage 11 a. More specifically, the optical fibers 13 is arranged dense and parallel each other in line.

The guide member 11 is made of an opaque material that shields the light very well so that the light irradiated from the lamp 12 could not break through the passage 11 a.

The lamp 12 is connected to a power source of the vehicle to be supplied with electricity and could be turned on by a switch provided in a driver's seat.

The optical fiber 13 is a conventional plastic fiber, which comprises a core made of a high purity acrylic acid resin (PMMA: Poly Methyl Methacrylate) and a coated layer on an outer surface of this core made of a special fluoric polymer (F-PMMA: Fluorinated Poly Methyl Methacrylate). In this optical fiber 13, since a reflective index of the coated layer is lower that that of the core, the light entered into the on end of the optical fiber 13 through the passage 11 a is reflected irregularly on an interface surface between the core and layer and emitted from another end of the optical fiber through the core.

Such irradiation means 1 preferably, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, is installed along the bottom end portion of a windshield 2a in the vehicle 2 in order that the optical fiber 13 is directed to intersect the driver's gaze. And, it is more preferable that the optical fiber 13 is installed to be buried into the windshield 2a.

The light entered into the passage lla of the guide member 11 is irradiated in front of the driver through the optical fiber 13 and defines a light curtain LC, when the lamp 12 is turned on during driving the vehicle 2 having said blocking apparatus for the headlight beam of the present invention in the night. The headlight beam of the upcoming vehicle in the opposite lane is reflected and countervailed by the light curtain LC. The driver, therefore, could drive the vehicle more safely in the night without disturbance of headlight beam of the upcoming vehicle.

To define the light curtain LC, the irradiation means 1 may be installed on any one of positions, such as an upper portion along a longitudinal direction of horizontal end portions in the windshield 2a as shown in FIG. 4, or an inside or outside of vehicle 2 in front of the driver as shown in FIG. 5. It is would be appreciated that these modifications in installation achieve objects of the present invention, and fall into the scope thereof.

If a material having good translucency are applied to the windshield 2a of the

vehicle 2 itself, the present invention exhibits better light curtain effect.

The high purity acrylic acid resin in the core of the optical fiber could be used as the above translucent material.

In applying translucent material to the windshield 2a, the transmissibility of the light is increased in horizontal direction of the windshield 2a so that better light curtain effect occurs.

Although a number of embodiment have described in the above specification, it should be apparent that the present invention could be embodied in many other specific mode included within the sprit and scope of the present invention. Thus, the present embodiments should be considered as illustrative, and the present invention could be modified within the scope of claims and the equivalent thereof.

The Industrial Applicability The present invention is to define a light curtain by the light irradiated in front of a driver from the optical fiber. Accordingly, a headlight beam of an upcoming vehicle in the opposite lane is reflected and countervailed by the light curtain, so that the driver could drive the vehicle more safely in the night not being affected by headlight beam of the upcoming vehicle.

That is, the present invention applies the fact that an effect of the headlight beam is increased by the curtain effect of a streetlamp, to the vehicle itself, and thus the driver could drive safely without the disturbance of headlight beam of the upcoming vehicle where it is not bright. In addition, since translucent material is included in the windshield, the present invention shows better beam blocking effect.