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Etmax
No doubt they will address it, but at the moment LED's don't lend themselves ...
eembedded_janitor
LEDs certainly have become more power efficient. I recently bought a LED LENSER ...
LED improvements extend automotive applications
Rick DeMeis
9/2/2010 5:30 PM EDT
As their efficiencies rise and costs come down, LEDs are finding greater automotive use. But because of their compact packaging, heat rejection from the devices, and associated driver circuitry, is a major design issue.
This How-To article (click) outlines the most recent advances in LED technology and automotive applications. The design of an LED headlight is given as an example of considerations necessary to design for these light sources in the auto environment.
Report courtesy of Automotive Designline Europe.
This How-To article (click) outlines the most recent advances in LED technology and automotive applications. The design of an LED headlight is given as an example of considerations necessary to design for these light sources in the auto environment.
Report courtesy of Automotive Designline Europe.
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CJS2
9/2/2010 10:01 PM EDT
Since LED automotive headlights wouldn't generate nearly as much heat as an incandescent bulb, might this prove to be a significant drawback in colder climates? I have read about LED traffic lights that have frozen over in very cold, snowy weather. I imagine the same issue might apply to the automobile in such an environment.
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GREAT-Terry
9/5/2010 12:16 PM EDT
The high brightness LED indeed also is very hot, but not at front, it is at back. There is still a large heatsink attached to the LED substrate. I believe people can figure out a fan system that not only take away the heat from back, but to blow some of the heat back to the front. It is still possible to make sure the lamp won't be covered by snow.
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eembedded_janitor
11/11/2010 9:11 PM EST
LEDs certainly have become more power efficient. I recently bought a LED LENSER flashlight and was completely blown away by its brightness and efficiency.
In colder climates problems with iced over headlights can be solved with heating wires embedded in the glass. These only need to be activated below freezing and when the headlights are iced over. This is far more efficient than using regular incandecent bulbs all the time just to get th waste heat in a very small percent of times when it is needed.
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kinnar
9/3/2010 7:53 AM EDT
yes LEDs are taking its place in all the domestic and industrial lighting applications, but still it is a long way to go for getting acceptance for conventional lighting.
In case of automotive lighting headlight is somewhat crucial and important device it it has got the minimum amount of part that can be damaged, then it will be good, in case of LED it becomes so many vulnerable parts in a single device and the amount of light is also very less in present day tech.
But it is fairly good application for research purpose.
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Silicon_Smith
9/4/2010 3:27 PM EDT
I think the main motivation for the auto industry comes from the life/eficiency and design flexibility and hence good looking cars. And with the prices dropping and lumens/watt rising practically to 150 lm/W, for the upper end auto makers, it will increasignly become the preffered choice. More light at lesser power consumption and with more options with the overall car design, the only issue would be to ensure proper heatsinking and protection for the electronics inside the enclosures. Auto application, after all, needs reliability as the first criteria.
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agk
9/5/2010 4:25 AM EDT
Yes right. LED's once properly designed gives practically indefinite service life.Also they are 5 to 6 times energy efficient compared to Halogen and nearly 2 times energy efficient when comared to Xenon lamps. Also LED's switch on off very fast compared to the other lamps and while driving switching between dim and bright dark time spot is removed.About 20 watts of power supplied per head light will give the equivalent light produced by 80 t0 100 watts consumed by the incandescent lamps.The beam width from LED's are uniform and easily shapable with simple optics.These can be made monochromatic and the wave lengths can be fine tuned for more visibility. Best but not the least 0.2 litres of fuel will be saved on very 10 litres of fuel spent and lesser CO2 emissions. Soon we welcome LED head light in every vehicle.
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selinz
9/29/2010 8:47 PM EDT
So the last reply (agk) implies that 2% of the fuel used by autos is due to the headlights.
That must be a mistype?!
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tomkawal1
10/28/2010 7:28 AM EDT
It could be too optimistic.
True in some cases if I'm driving to work in town, low speed, idling, then average power is 10kW and saving 200W on lights efficiency gives 2% figure.
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lifewingmate
10/27/2010 10:58 PM EDT
Regarding the suggested criteria at the end of the article...it would be helpful to add a table with a listing of the ranges. Quantitative data paied with the attributes will be helpful for those working with LED technologies.
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Etmax
1/9/2011 6:59 PM EST
No doubt they will address it, but at the moment LED's don't lend themselves readily to proper beam forming, and also LED's vary in brightness over their life span, so the 50,000 hours that specifies 50% loss of light may have to be dramatically shortened.
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