ISAL 2011

[-Virgil-]

I just got back from Germany, where I participated in the International Symposium on Automotive Lighting. It was quite an event, with (I think) over 600 participants. Dan Stern was there; we had lunch. There is some seriously cool stuff in the pipeline. Those laser headlamps BMW issued a press release about not long ago: Sharp (yes, the TV/Microwave/consumer electronics people) gave a talk on their own developments in laser headlamps, and in doing so they answered the questions we all had in the BMW laser headlamp thread. Turns out they're shooting a laser diode at the front surface of a phosphor plate, thus creating a tiny, high-luminance, sharply-defined point source of light on the phosphor plate -- without the divider lines and other interruptions that a standard white LED has. It's early in the development, but it's certainly an interesting concept. Bunch of big advancements in LED headlamps, of course, with numerous new developments in every part of the various systems. And even that crackpot who was on here a few weeks ago babbling incoherently about ceramic metal halide headlamps wasn't completely out to lunch; Koito showed off a new HID system that's a fairly radical departure from existing systems. It's a 25w DC setup with asymetrical electrodes and a nearly transparent (88%) ceramic arc tube. Achieves ~3000 lumens at the 25w power level, compared to 2000 lumens for the new AC 25w systems. Arc formation is very conducive to good beam focus, and not color-stratified. System cost and volume/weight are considerably lower because of the much simpler DC-DC ballast. Looks like a real winner. Also saw two versions of what's probably the first sequential turn signal concept aimed at the European market; Visteon was showing them off. Other stuff is more arcane and technical -- the ECE lighting regulations are moving their test voltage from 12 to 13.2 (more realistic) and changing from lux at various lateral distances on a screen to candela at coordinates defined in degrees up/down/left/right like the US test system. And there's a newly objective definition of the low beam cutoff expressed in mathematical terms rather than graphical ones, which is long overdue. An interesting reaction to the added reference luminous flux values at 13.2v in addition to the existing 12v values in the bulb regulation (R37) is that Valeo has proposed a high-performance bi-halogen projector with an H9 bulb operated at 12.0v for the low beam function (plenty of light, long life) and 13.2v when the shutter swings down for the high beam function (maximum light, shorter life). Osram showed off a bi-LED projector and some new versions of their Joule architecture, Philips showed their new compact 25w HID system as well as what will very likely show up in BMWs soon (angel eyes with white parking + DRL and amber turn signal functions). One of Osram's demo cars had reflector-type bi-LED headlamps and other goodies. Lots of papers and displays about adaptive high beam (the kind that keeps the high beams on all the times but darkens spots to keep the light out of other drivers' eyes, driven by a high-speed camera and image mapping system). Really just all kinds of amazing stuff. And a thought-provoking discussion about the merit (or lack of merit) of automatic headlamp leveling. I've tended to be strongly in favor of them for all headlamps, but the two things that have me thinking maybe not were brought up by Michael Hamm (of Automotive Lighting), who showed data that most of the effective misaim is due not to vehicle loading but to road topography which cannot effectively be compensated by an automatic leveling system, and by Dan Stern who pointed out that automatic leveling systems can only try to maintain whatever basic aim setting is dialed in by whoever's got the screwdriver in his hand -- and that the conversation about self-leveling is kind of pointless unless/until we have devices that can achieve, not just maintain, an aim setting. I'm not sure I totally agree that self-leveling is useless (automakers want to get rid of it for savings in cost, weight, and volume) but I'm not as certain as I was before that it's a definite must-have, at least not in its present form.

(Sorry this is all in one big paragraph; I am jetlagged bigtime and now must go to bed)

 

[Qship1996]

lots of good info......one important thing I wished to see was some type of regulation on the most basic of things.......plastic lenses that do not turn cloudy/hazy destroying all the expensive fancy high technology behind them.All the improvements are pointless if projected through less than crystal clear lenses.

and bring back the simple $20 headlight that could be found in one of the only 4 sizes used and replacements found at every corner drug store and gas station!!

 

[Alaric Darconville]

lots of good info......one important thing I wished to see was some type of regulation on the most basic of things.......plastic lenses that do not turn cloudy/hazy destroying all the expensive fancy high technology behind them.All the improvements are pointless if projected through less than crystal clear lenses.

Part of the plastics problem is that the testing is somewhat accelerated, and there's a lot of expense in developing new plastics. Changing the regulations also take a lot of time.

and bring back the simple $20 headlight that could be found in one of the only 4 sizes used and replacements found at every corner drug store and gas station!!

$20? They're cheaper than that. You can get that kind of light back if you get an older car, like from the early 80s or some models from the 90s (but then you forego all the other safety developments of the past 20 years...)

 

[Qship1996]

"all the safety developments in the last 20 years",,,,,and future developments mean very little if placed behind hazy yellowed lenses......fixing the plastic lens degrading seems more important than continuing to develop whatever technology that must go behind it.The fanciest laser beam assemblies mean nothing if they must pass through muck. BACKWARDS priorities.

 

[iroc409]

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/member.php?4515-ScheinwerfermannScheinwerfermann, didn't you post something on here a while back about a halogen projector with performance equal to or better than HID being developed? Is that Valeo unit in that ball park? I think the idea sounds intriguing.

Maybe I read wrong, I don't remember where I read it.

Anyway, sounds like some pretty neat stuff.

 

[Alaric Darconville]

"all the safety developments in the last 20 years",,,,,and future developments mean very little if placed behind hazy yellowed lenses......fixing the plastic lens degrading seems more important than continuing to develop whatever technology that must go behind it.The fanciest laser beam assemblies mean nothing if they must pass through muck. BACKWARDS priorities.

There's more to safety than headlights.

Airbags, antilock brakes, traction control, OnStar, crumple zones, center high-mounted stop lamps, padded interiors, collapsible steering columns, those glow-in-the-dark interior trunk releases, child-safety rear door locks, LATCH for child seats...

Here's a quick list from good ol' Wikipedia:

Automatic Braking systems to prevent or reduce the severity of collision.
Infrared night vision systems to increase seeing distance beyond headlamp range
Adaptive headlamps
Reverse backup sensors, which alert drivers to difficult-to-see objects in their path when reversing
Backup camera
Adaptive cruise control which maintains a safe distance from the vehicle in front
Lane departure warning systems to alert the driver of an unintended departure from the intended lane of travel
Tire pressure monitoring systems or Deflation Detection Systems
Traction control systems which restore traction if driven wheels begin to spin
Electronic Stability Control, which intervenes to avert an impending loss of control
Anti-lock braking systems
Electronic brakeforce distribution systems
Emergency brake assist systems
Cornering Brake Control systems
Precrash system
Automated parking system

Headlights are important, yes, but there are so many things that make my '01 Corolla safer than a '72 Nova with the best 7" round headlights available.

 

[-Virgil-]

The days of the cheap standardized-size headlamp are gone, for better and for worse (and there is a roughly equal list of "betters" and "worses"). The requirements for plastic lens durability are pathetically lax in both US and ECE regulations. There are materials that would do a much better job than what we have now, but automakers don't want to pay for them and the law doesn't say they have to (and the US regulation forbids the use of a material not on the approved list, even if it's better than any of the approved ones, and approval takes at least three years). I can think of a few different ways to rewrite the regulations appropriately, but I don't think it's ever going to happen. The automakers would rather you bought a new car.

 

[Qship1996]

There's more to safety than headlights.

Airbags, antilock brakes, traction control, OnStar, crumple zones, center high-mounted stop lamps, padded interiors, collapsible steering columns, those glow-in-the-dark interior trunk releases, child-safety rear door locks, LATCH for child seats...

Here's a quick list from good ol' Wikipedia:


Headlights are important, yes, but there are so many things that make my '01 Corolla safer than a '72 Nova with the best 7" round headlights available.

Safety BEGINS by being able TO SEE WELL and AVOID potential accidents....... .

 

[Alaric Darconville]

Safety BEGINS by being able TO SEE WELL and AVOID potential accidents....... ......simple concept for most to grasp.

At night, or dawn/dusk, perhaps.

But sometimes we drive in broad daylight and neither clarity of the headlight lenses nor the intensity of their beams are meaningful at those times. Headlights are not by any means the primary safety device on the vehicle.

 

[-Virgil-]

Please, folks, let us not turn this thread into pointless bickering.

 

[DM51]

Safety BEGINS by being able TO SEE WELL and AVOID potential accidents....... ......simple concept for most to grasp.

Qship1996... your post is patronising, and tantamount to baiting. If there's any more of it, you will incur a suspension.

 

[Qship1996]

Thanks, original post edited to remove "baiting" comment.

 

[MichaelW]

Red turn signals, and no mandate for lateral repeaters

I am for dynamic/automatic leveling systems. Dynamic leveling should be required for high flux projector headlights. (2000 lumen at the source)
Automatic leveling should be required for moderate performance headlights (1500 lumens)
Although if the 'trend' is toward greater than fewer LED, then a mechanical leveling system may be passe, and an electronic type of leveling-by changing the distribution, in realtime, would be more appropriate.

Thanks for sharing your experience from this conference.

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

Re: Red turn signals, and no mandate for lateral repeaters

On the topic of headlight degradation, some makers seem to do it better than others, but really, only time will tell.

On the topic of the Koito 25W system, wow, and I bet the better color distribution will make it easier for them to use all of the light in the projectors.

BMW laser headlamps? They're gonna have to keep that yag cool. And have someplace for the reflected unabsorbed photons to go that isn't outside the lamp. I'm imagining the light source shooting backwards at a curved yag-coated chunk of metal and a mirror at the incident opposite angle that the pump source is located at to recycle unabsorbed photons or beamdump to keep photons from adding unwanted light. Mems for controlling the light pattern, and simple aspheric focused on the yag coated metal to invert and project the image of the beam from the yag.

For self-leveling, I believe more inputs are needed besides the car's position and acceleration. A projected estimation of the road ahead and turns, as well as "wiggle room" to allow for bumps or waves in the road surface, needs to be gathered, probably via sonar or laser distance measurements. Just because your car is level and not accelerating nor decelerating doesn't mean that your lights should be pointing dead level. You could find those same conditions at the crest of a hill, in which case you'd blind everyone under you, or at the valley between two hills in which case you wouldn't be able to see but a few yards in front of you.

I thought it would be neat if we could rely completely on indicator lamps to show car locations, and have polarized output of headlamps filtered out via film on the windshield or special glasses.

 

[Alaric Darconville]

Re: Red turn signals, and no mandate for lateral repeaters

I thought it would be neat if we could ... have polarized output of headlamps filtered out via film on the windshield or special glasses.

Edwin Land thought so, too.

 

[-Virgil-]

Re: Red turn signals, and no mandate for lateral repeaters

On the topic of headlight degradation, some makers seem to do it better than others

That is correct.

On the topic of the Koito 25W system, wow, and I bet the better color distribution will make it easier for them to use all of the light in the projectors.

Wait 'n' see!

I'm imagining the light source shooting backwards at a curved yag-coated chunk of metal and a mirror at the incident opposite angle that the pump source is located at to recycle unabsorbed photons or beamdump to keep photons from adding unwanted light. Mems for controlling the light pattern

Yag…? Mems…?

For self-leveling, I believe more inputs are needed besides the car's position and acceleration. A projected estimation of the road ahead and turns, as well as "wiggle room" to allow for bumps or waves in the road surface, needs to be gathered, probably via sonar or laser distance measurements. Just because your car is level and not accelerating nor decelerating doesn't mean that your lights should be pointing dead level. You could find those same conditions at the crest of a hill, in which case you'd blind everyone under you, or at the valley between two hills in which case you wouldn't be able to see but a few yards in front of you.

Nice idea for sure, but it still leaves the loop open. We still need to do something about morons wielding screwdrivers!

I thought it would be neat if we could rely completely on indicator lamps to show car locations, and have polarized output of headlamps filtered out via film on the windshield or special glasses.

Polarized headlighting was extensively tried, and rejected because the filtration losses are huge through polarizers. Moreover, every headlamp and every windshield would have to be polarized, which would have last been practical to achieve in the 1940s when all cars had flat-glass windshields and round headlamps.

 

[LukeA]

MEMS is short for micro electro-mechanical systems. He's talking about a DLP mirror type setup.

 

[Marcturus]

There's more to safety than headlights.

Airbags, antilock brakes, traction control, (...)

I'm missing the all-important 'dagger extending from the steering column

' - Kare Rumar's patent, isn't it?

@Scheinwerfermann, do you happen to know if the printed edition of the ISAL 2011 proceedings does include the USB stick? I found the b/w print quality of former editions to be of litte use with some of the graphical info.

 

[-Virgil-]

I'm not sure if a USB drive or DVD comes with the printed edition of the proceedings, but each attendee did get an electronic version of the proceedings. Quality seems quite high, and everything that was in color up on the presentation screen is in color in the PDF proceedings.

I hesitate to imagine what Kåre Rumar would say to the notion of the steering column dagger, but the idea of risk homeostasis suggests there might be some merit to it!

 

[Alaric Darconville]

Re: Red turn signals, and no mandate for lateral repeaters

Yag…?

Neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (for the laser).