LEDs Light the Way for New Car Headlamp Designs
Audi, Ford & Concept Car Stylists Utilize Lumileds'
Luxeon LEDs to Deliver Sleek, Long-Lasting Headlamps; First LEDs Bright
Enough for Forward Lighting
SAN JOSE, Calif.,
April 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Automotive designers at Audi, Ford and leading
styling studios are adding headlamps to the growing list of automotive
lighting components powered by LEDs, reflecting technology advances
that have made light-emitting diodes bright enough to be incorporated
in headlights for the first time.
The new headlamps
are being built with Luxeon LEDs from Lumileds Lighting, the world's
brightest LED light source. Each Luxeon emitter delivers up to 60 times
more light than conventional 5mm LEDs. Luxeon technology is making it
possible to produce innovative new headlight designs that not only capitalize
on the small size of LEDs but also consume less energy than standard
lamps, have no environmentally undesirable mercury, and do not need
to be replaced for the life of the vehicle.
In recent auto shows,
the Ford Model U and Audi Nuvolari concept vehicles, the latest Fioravanti
concept car, and two custom-body productions from one- off designer
Carrozzeria Castagna have featured headlamps utilizing Luxeon LEDs.
Designs have ranged from the sharply angled front lighting on the Ford
Model U and the slim horizontal headlamps on the Audi Nuvolari to the
"insect eyes" on the Fioravanti Yak.
Luxeon-based forward
lighting also is contributing to the radical look of the Viper-powered
Dodge Tomahawk four-wheel concept motorcycle, a brawny 500- horsepower
machine with extreme styling and engineering that have celebrities like
Jay Leno waiting in line for production models. The Tomahawk's headlamp
resides between the two front wheels in a striking double strip of lights
formed by a series of single white Luxeon emitters, each fitted with
a custom lens. The rear lighting system consists of an identical double
strip of lights created with red Luxeon LEDs.
"LEDs are the
only technology that combine the small footprint and low voltage required
to execute the lighting design that Chrysler envisioned for the Tomahawk,
but conventional LEDs are too weak to deliver the necessary light output,"
said Rob Miller, Senior Partner and Managing Director of Canton, Michigan-based
BrightLights Technologies, which engineered the Tomahawk's forward and
rear lighting systems in collaboration with RM Motorsports of Wixom,
Michigan.
"Without Lumileds'
Luxeon V product, which pumps out 120 lumens per emitter, the forward
lighting system in the Tomahawk as you see it today would not have been
possible," Miller said.
"LEDs have
been used in automotive signal lighting applications for a number of
years, but until recently it would have required too many emitters to
produce sufficient illumination for forward lighting," said Jeff
Raggio, Automotive Business Development Manager for Lumileds Lighting.
"Our Luxeon technology makes LED-powered headlamps practical for
the first time, and the presence of these headlamps in today's concept
vehicles indicates that consumers will be driving cars with Luxeon headlights
within a couple of years."
At the 2003 North
American International Auto Show in Detroit, Ford's Model U concept
vehicle featured Luxeon-based headlamps with low-beam and high-beam
functions as well as dynamic corner lighting capability. The car's adaptive
lighting system included the ability to produce different beam patterns
to suit different situations such as highway, in-town or curve driving.
At the 2003 Geneva
Motor Show, the headlamps on Audi's Nuvolari used Luxeon LEDs to allow
the light source to be located much closer to the lamp cover for more
harmonious styling with the front end of the car. This is possible because
LEDs do not produce the heat associated with conventional bulbs, creating
a cool beam that cannot harm the headlight housing.
Headlamps built
with Luxeon lighting also appeared in Geneva on the Yak from Fioravanti
and the Rossellini and the G.C. from Carrozzeria Castagna. The Yak featured
a headlamp style dividing the source of light into many units that can
be modulated according to the luminous intensity desired, the vehicle
speed or the angle of illumination, while the two Carrozzeria Castagna
vehicles took advantage of the small LED footprint to create dramatic
new line cuts on the vehicle.
In addition, leading
automotive lighting suppliers have been exhibiting headlamp concepts
utilizing Luxeon LEDs to demonstrate the feasibility of solid-state
forward lighting to automotive manufacturers. Guide Corporation demonstrated
a Luxeon-based headlamp concept at the SAE show in Detroit, and Koito
showed its own Luxeon-based version at the Tokyo Lighting Show in Tokyo.
About Lumileds
Lighting
Lumileds Lighting
is the world's leading manufacturer of high-power LEDs and a pioneer
in the use of solid-state lighting solutions for everyday purposes including
general lighting, automotive lighting, traffic signaling, signage and
LCD backlighting. The company's patented Luxeon Power Light Sources
are the first to combine the brightness of conventional lighting with
the small footprint, long life and other advantages of LEDs. Lumileds
also supplies core LED material and LED packaging, and manufactures
billions of LEDs annually. A joint venture between Agilent Technologies
and Philips Lighting, Lumileds is headquartered in San Jose, California,
with operations in the Netherlands and Malaysia and sales offices throughout
the world. For more information, call Lumileds at 408-435-6111 or visit
www.lumileds.com
.
Source: Lumileds
Lighting
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