Adopting LED headlights will become a new trend in automotive design

Osram, the German light source company, expects only 2% of the new cars produced worldwide to be equipped with LED headlights this year, and this number will become 20% by 2020.

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

One of the reasons why automakers favor LED lamps is their durability, compactness, and energy efficiency, but the cost of LED lamps is relatively high. The cost of a halogen headlight is about $20, and the cost of a xenon headlight headlight is between $60 and $80. Although the cost of LED headlights is declining, it still doubles that of xenon headlamps.

The full name of the LED lamp is the LED lamp, which generates current through a chip and generates light after passing through the diode. Incandescent lighting from halogen and xenon lamps is another type of light.

Claus Allgeier, vice president of solid state lighting business at OSRAM, expects that the price of LED lights will gradually fall back to the same level as Xenon headlights in the next three years. He said: "The price of LED lights has been in the past 2-3 years. The change, while its performance has also been greatly improved."

LED lights are not powered by thermal energy, 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 the first time Toyota has adopted LED lights in popular models. Other automakers are also developing high-cost, low-cost LED bulbs.

Three years ago, Osram introduced a universal LED light unit similar to a small ice hockey. The unit is relatively low cost and can be applied to taillights, headlights, brake lights and the like. GM has equipped LED and other units on the Cadillac XTS and ATS. Ford and Mitsubishi used it for the fog light module, and BMW also applied it to the fog lights and headlights. However, Osram marketing director David Hulick said that although the LED unit is highly adaptable, it is not a universal component. He said: "As car manufacturers standardize LED lamp specifications, there will be more opportunities in the future."

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

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

At this year's Frankfurt Motor Show, Audi released its latest LED light technology. The new matrix LED lamp set in the Audi A8 consists of 25 high-beam LEDs, each of which can be turned on or off individually and can adjust the brightness of the light and dark. This will make the lights more eye-catching and increase recognition and security.

In order to avoid the high-brightness LED lamp affecting the opposite car or the front vehicle in the high beam, the matrix LED headlight will work in conjunction with the optical edge sensor, navigation system and camera.

The matrix LED headlights are composed of a plurality of independently controlled LED diodes, and the beams of the high beam are assembled from these individual LED beams. Not only is the light bright and uniform, but by turning on or off certain LED diodes in the matrix, beam bifurcation, local dimming, etc. can be achieved to precisely control the illumination area.

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

The specific working process is: when the vehicle is close to the car, the opposite car 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, and 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 array 78 LED bulbs. Although the technology is still in the experimental stage, the technology has been tested for effectiveness at night on the country roads of the German Technical Center.

Although some car manufacturers have developed headlights that can adjust the brightness adaptively, they all require mechanical construction. Osram and Hella's new technology does not rely on mechanical structures, and it also effectively prevents glare from oncoming vehicles. At present, the cost of matrix LED headlamp technology is too high, but it is gradually decreasing. Allgeier said: "The low beam has a field of view of 70 meters, and now this bottleneck will be broken."