LED headlights will become a new trend in automotive design

In the past, LED headlights were only seen on luxury cars. Now, this configuration is gradually being decentralized to other models. German light source product company Osram expects that only 2% of new cars produced worldwide will be equipped with LED headlamps this year, and this number will become 20% by 2020.

LED taillights and daytime driving lights are the favorite of car designers. They use the characteristics of LED lights to create a structured, crystal-like lighting system.

One of the reasons that automotive manufacturers favor LED lamps is their durability, compact structure, and high efficiency, but the cost of LED lamps is relatively high. A halogen headlight costs about $20, and a xenon headlight headlamp costs between $60 and $80. Although the cost of LED headlamps has shown a downward trend, it is still twice as high as that of xenon headlamps.

The LED lamp is called a LED lamp. It generates current through a chip and generates light after passing through the diode. Incandescent light produced by halogen and xenon lamps is another type of light.

Claus Allgeier, vice president of solid state lighting business unit of OSRAM, predicts that the price of LED lamps will gradually fall back to the same level as Xenon headlights in the next three years. He said: “The price of LED lamps has been qualitative in the past 2-3 years. Change, and its performance has also been greatly improved."

LED lights do not emit light by using energy converted from heat, so they are more energy-efficient than halogen bulbs. A halogen bulb requires 65 watts of power while the LED bulb power is only about 15 watts.

The Toyota Prius is Toyota Motor's first use of LED lights in popular models. Other automakers are also developing more versatile low-cost LED bulbs.

Three years ago, Osram introduced a universal LED lamp unit that resembles a small ice hockey. The unit is relatively low cost and can be applied to taillights, headlights, brake lights and other locations. General Motors used LED units such as the Cadillac XTS and ATS. Ford and Mitsubishi use it for fog lamps, and BMW applies it to fog lamps and headlamps. However, Osram Marketing Director David Hulick said that although the LED unit is highly applicable, it is not a universal component. He said: "With the automotive manufacturers' standardization of LED lamp specifications, there will be more opportunities in the future."

However, some car designers do not comment on this LED "ice hockey" because its shape has been determined and the design of automotive bulbs is too restrictive.

Hulick said: "At night, the car's headlight/taillight style represents the car's brand. The challenge is to further embody the brand's characteristics in the lighting system."

At this Frankfurt Motor Show, Audi released its latest LED lamp technology. The new Matrix LED lamp set in the Audi A8 consists of 25 high-beam light-emitting diodes, each of which can be individually switched on or off and can be adjusted for brightness. This will make the light more visible, increase the recognition rate and safety.

In order to prevent high-brightness LED lights from affecting the opposite vehicle or front vehicle when driving at high beam, the matrix LED headlamps will also work with rim sensors, navigation systems and camera heads.

The matrix LED headlights consist of a number of independently controlled LED diodes. The beam of the high beam light consists of these individual LED beams. Not only is the light bright and even, but by turning on or off some of the LED diodes in the matrix, beam splitting, local dimming, etc. can be achieved, and the lighting area can be precisely controlled.

With the matrix LED headlights, the driver can always drive the high-beam headlights. It can automatically dim or switch off the corresponding LED diodes facing the opposite vehicle. The driver does not need to manually switch the low beam to reduce driver fatigue and attention. Disperse force. For other traffic participants, it does not dazzle and does not affect attention.

The specific working process is: when the close-up car, the opposite vehicle or the light is facing the pedestrian or the animal, the sensor based on the vehicle radar and the camera outputs a specific signal to the controller. Under the action of the feedback control unit, each LED can be The environment is turned on, off or dimmed accordingly.

Osram is currently working with Audi to develop a new LED headlamp technology that will arrange 78 LED bulbs in a matrix. Although the technology is still in the experimental stage, the technology has been tested for effectiveness at night when it is running on a country road at the German Technology Center.

Although some automakers have developed headlights that can adjust their brightness adaptively, they basically require mechanical structures. OSRAM and Hella's new technology does not rely on mechanical structures, and it can also effectively prevent glare to the oncoming vehicles. At present, the matrix LED headlamp technology is too expensive, but it is gradually declining. Allgeier said: "The low-beam limit of view is 70 meters, and now, this bottleneck may be broken."