Laser Pumped Phosphor Headlights

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http://www.drivingvisionnews.com

From this week's DVN newsletter:

Quote:
...SoraaLaser, the laser-focused outgrowth of blue/white-LED Nobel laureate Shuji Nakamura's Soraa LED lighting company, have developed the first commercially viable, efficient solid-state, white-light laser source. It boasts a luminance up to 100 times better than that of white LEDs

...SoraaLaser have produced white-light SMDs (surface-mount devices) that produce up to 500 Lm from a 300-μm emitting area…

...To produce these white-light laser SMDs, a high-power blue InGaN semipolar laser diode excites a very small (ø< 300 μm) remote phosphor target that converts the laser light to eye-safe, broad-spectrum, incoherent white light….

...The 7×7-mm SMD package consists of the blue laser diode chip illuminating a 300 μm area of the 1×1-mm phosphor in a reflective configuration, with a "beam dump" that blocks any blue light that could reflect from the single-crystal phosphor…

...Even though the efficacy (in Lm/W)) of laser diodes, at 30–40%, is less than the 50–60% efficacy of LEDs, the key metric in directional lighting applications is Lm(target area)/W. By this metric, laser-diode illumination improves dramatically beyond 10 m compared to LEDs.….


Right now, this technology costs substantially more than LED, but SoraaLaser says it will be showing up soon on some high end vehicles (and in other types of lighting).

I am not looking forward to having ever brighter headlights blinding me. Will welder's goggles be required equipment for night driving 10 years from now?
 
I wonder how many accidents have been caused from headlights being too bright? I remember reading that if you are blinded by oncoming headlights, look towards the white line because otherwise you instinctively steer towards the light when you can't see.
 
http://www.ledsmagazine.com/articles/201...f-lighting.html

Quote:
...Recently, SIL co-chair Bob Steele interviewed Paul Rudy [co-founder and SVP of business development at SoraaLaser] regarding the subject of laser-based light sources…

…"Just as in the case with using a blue LED as a pump source for creating white light, a phosphor is required. There are several options for pumping the phosphor, including transmissive (the white light emission is in the same direction as the pump beam) and reflective (the white light emission is at an angle relative to the pump beam). Also remote pumping, in which optical fiber is used to direct the laser light to the phosphor, is possible. This is the approach used by European automobile manufacturers to develop laser-based headlamps. We at SoraaLaser have developed a white light module using a reflective approach in which the diode laser pumps a small phosphor chip, which emits up to 500 lm of white light from a 300-micrometer spot"…

…"As noted above, these laser-pumped phosphor light sources do not suffer from droop, so high conversion efficiencies at high optical pump power are achieved. Laser-based white light sources have very high luminance values (1000 cd/mm2) relative to LEDs, so hundreds of lumens can be emitted within a small beam angle (1–2°), allowing for a high degree of optical control using very small optical elements"...
 
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I think people should just get their eyes checked. I have no issue with bright light thats properly aimed and doesnt blind other drivers, I do find the halogen yellow bulbs can be very dull. Some people have lights so bright that it feels they are always driving with their high beams on, its crazy.
 
The older you are, the more sensitive you are to glare. This glare sensitivity begins around the age of 50.
The linked research paper is from 2003, but still relevant

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1771460/

Quote:
...Glare is proportional to headlamp brightness, however, so increasing headlamp brightness also increases potential glare for oncoming drivers, particularly on curving two lane roads. This problem is worse for older drivers because of their increased intraocular light scattering, glare sensitivity, and photostress recovery time. An analysis of automobile headlights, intraocular stray light, glare, and night driving shows that brightness rather than blueness is the primary reason for the visual problems that HID headlights can cause for older drivers who confront them...
 
Originally Posted By: SubLGT
http://www.drivingvisionnews.com

From this week's DVN newsletter:

Quote:
...SoraaLaser, the laser-focused outgrowth of blue/white-LED Nobel laureate Shuji Nakamura's Soraa LED lighting company, have developed the first commercially viable, efficient solid-state, white-light laser source. It boasts a luminance up to 100 times better than that of white LEDs

...SoraaLaser have produced white-light SMDs (surface-mount devices) that produce up to 500 Lm from a 300-μm emitting area…

...To produce these white-light laser SMDs, a high-power blue InGaN semipolar laser diode excites a very small (ø< 300 μm) remote phosphor target that converts the laser light to eye-safe, broad-spectrum, incoherent white light….

...The 7×7-mm SMD package consists of the blue laser diode chip illuminating a 300 μm area of the 1×1-mm phosphor in a reflective configuration, with a "beam dump" that blocks any blue light that could reflect from the single-crystal phosphor…

...Even though the efficacy (in Lm/W)) of laser diodes, at 30–40%, is less than the 50–60% efficacy of LEDs, the key metric in directional lighting applications is Lm(target area)/W. By this metric, laser-diode illumination improves dramatically beyond 10 m compared to LEDs.….


Right now, this technology costs substantially more than LED, but SoraaLaser says it will be showing up soon on some high end vehicles (and in other types of lighting).

I am not looking forward to having ever brighter headlights blinding me. Will welder's goggles be required equipment for night driving 10 years from now?



thumbsup2.gif


For sure. If you need that much light on your vehicle, have your eyes checked for cataracts.
 
I remember in the '70s when halogen lights were just coming out and people complained that they were too bright and blinding. How things change.
 
Yeah halogens were being banned in towns when they were introduced now everybody has halogen or brighter. Not to mention people who will stare at these new fangled lights then complain they're too bright. Some, usually aftermarket add on are improperly setup, though oem often is not. It's like staring at the sun if you look right at it it's blinding, go about your business like normal however and your fine.
 
Some OEM setups are just beyond awful and almost menacing.

Seems many newish trucks have horrible lighting.. sometimes aimed very high.

Also not a fan of the "auto high beam" type setups.
 
Originally Posted By: dparm
BMW and Audi already have laser headlamps, they just aren't legal in the US yet due to our absurd and archaic DOT regulations.

Call me a curmudgeon, but I wish the DOT regulations were more archaic. When the only headlights were the round or rectangular sealed beams, you could have brand new, OEM headlight performance on a 20 year old car just by going to Walmart, or fix a catastrophic stone disaster for under $10. Now, everyone's headlights are faded to heck, and failures cost a fortune. Replacing the headlight assembly for my G37 would cost more than my F-150 is worth.

What I do not miss is people confusing headlight bezel screws and headlight aiming screws routinely.
wink.gif
 
The problem with newer trucks can sometimes be owners raising up the front end to "level" it. Since many now are now set with a forward rake to help achieve better mileage.
 
Originally Posted By: SubLGT
The older you are, the more sensitive you are to glare. This glare sensitivity begins around the age of 50.
The linked research paper is from 2003, but still relevant

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1771460/

Quote:
...Glare is proportional to headlamp brightness, however, so increasing headlamp brightness also increases potential glare for oncoming drivers, particularly on curving two lane roads. This problem is worse for older drivers because of their increased intraocular light scattering, glare sensitivity, and photostress recovery time. An analysis of automobile headlights, intraocular stray light, glare, and night driving shows that brightness rather than blueness is the primary reason for the visual problems that HID headlights can cause for older drivers who confront them...


I totally agree. LOL... Getting older sucks.
 
Originally Posted By: Garak
...Now, everyone's headlights are faded to heck, and failures cost a fortune. Replacing the headlight assembly for my G37 would cost more than my F-150 is worth...


I actually think this may be one of the reasons I keep seeing people driving with high beams continuously on. If the lenses are cloudy enough it might take high beam just for the driver to have adequate lighting. That still means whatever light is making it through the lenses will be shooting too high and causing issues for others. It's pretty tough to try to force someone to pay the kind of bucks it often takes to replace cloudy lights. I don't even know if that particular vehicle chacteristic is checked during vehicles inspections in this state.
 
I wonder the same here. Back in the day, you had a burned out sealed beam or a cracked one, game over. Now? I couldn't begin to guess. It's certainly not reasonable to ask someone to spend $1000 to bring headlights back to new condition on a ten year old car, when I can do it on my F-150 for probably under $20. I could have brand new headlights on that every six months and never notice the financial hit. I have a rock go through a headlight on the G37, and I'll be running to insurance screaming.
 
Osram has also been working on laser lighting.

https://www.osram.com/am/specials/trends...ology/index.jsp

Quote:
...Laser light generates extremely high luminosity, which is far above the brightness of conventional technologies. The brightness is also four times that of the LED. The extreme brightness allows the use of very small optical components. These can be arranged as required in the headlight, thus creating a good deal of design freedom for the headlight designer. Conversely, optical systems of similar size, as used in LED applications, lead to extreme ranges. The current series production vehicles attain ranges of up to 600 meters.

LARP systems are still expensive solutions for the premium vehicle manufacturer. The costs can be reduced by increasing volumes. This can be done, for instance, by implementing the LARP systems in mid-level vehicles...
 
Originally Posted By: purelux
The problem with newer trucks can sometimes be owners raising up the front end to "level" it. Since many now are now set with a forward rake to help achieve better mileage.
Yes, you are correct on "forward rake". Fools the car into thinking it's going down hill all the time.
 
Since the '70s I've replaced those worthless sealed beams with Cibie or Hella E Code lamps-enhanced by upgraded H4 bulbs like the Osram Night Breaker or Phillips X-treme vision. The E Codes on my Wrangler make the car actually usable at night.
That said, I love the Xenons on the 2er and the LEDs on the i3. If I can't get a late model car with either good Xenon or LED headlamps(preferably adaptive) I won't consider it.
 
https://www.businesswire.com/news/h...ces-Production-Launch-LaserLight-Sources

Quote
...SLD's LaserLight will hit the streets next year for the first time with the arrival of select premium car models deploying the company's LaserLight Fiber for high-beam boost functionality, complimented by a conventional LED unit for low-beam. This signals SLD Laser's production launch in the automotive category, with units shipping now for cars to be delivered to customers in Europe in Q3 2019.

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, SLD Laser will unveil the world's smallest LaserLight headlight concept, measuring just 1.5 centimeters high with low-beam and high-beam functionality, together with a 1.5 millimeter daytime running light...

LaserLight's advantages are dramatic: delivering more than 10 times the brightness of LEDs; extended range illumination of up to 1km; minimal power consumption; long lifetime; and highly directional output not possible with LED. SLD Laser has achieved the world's first UL Safety Certification for laser lighting...

In the future, LaserLight technology will enable new lighting functions in next generation autonomous driving applications using a tiny 1 millimeter mirror based on MEMS technology (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) to steer the light to the road...
 
When there is a full moon, there is nothing better than the soft incandescent glow by the dashboard lights.
 
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