Lightening System

• Vehicle lighting systems are very important, particularly where road safety is
concerned.

• If headlights were suddenly to fail at night and at high speed, the result could be
catastrophic.

• Many techniques have been used, ranging from automatic changeover circuits to
thermal circuit breakers, which pulse the lights rather than putting them out as a
blown fuse would.
• Modern wiring systems fuse each bulb filament separately and even if the main
supply to the headlights failed, it is likely that dim-dip would still work.
External lights
• Regulations exist relating to external lights.

• Sidelights (up to 60 cd)

• A vehicle must have two sidelights each with wattage of less than 7 W. Most vehicles
have the sidelights incorporated as part of the headlight assembly.

• Rear lights (up to 60 cd)

• Brake lights (40–100 cd)
• Reversing lights (300–600 cd)
• Day running lights (800 cd max)
• Rear fog lights (150–300 cd)
 Headlights:
• The headlights are composed of three elements:

1. The light filament that gives off light when a current flows through it;
2. The reflector that reflects the light in front;
3. The lens that refracts or distorts the light beam into an illuminating
pattern.
Types of Headlamps
 Bulbs

• Most bulbs for vehicle lighting are either conventional tungsten filament bulbs or
tungsten halogen.

• In the conventional bulb the tungsten filament is heated to incandescence by an

electric current. In a vacuum the temperature is about 2300°C.

• If the temperature mentioned above is exceeded even in a vacuum, then the

filament will become very volatile and break. This is why the voltage at which a bulb
is operated must be kept within tight limits.
Gas-filled bulbs
• The vacuum in a bulb prevents the conduction of heat from the filament but
limits the operating temperature.

• Gas-filled bulbs are more usual, where the glass bulb is filled with an inert gas
such as argon under pressure.

• This allows the filament to work at a higher temperature without failing and
therefore produce a whiter light.
 tungsten halogen bulbs
• Gas Filled bulbs will produce about 17 lm/W compared with a vacuum bulb, which will produce
about 11 lm/W.

• Most vehicles now use tungsten halogen bulbs for their headlights as these are able to produce
about 24 lm/W.

• The bulb has a long life and will not blacken over a period of time like other bulbs.

• This is because in normal gas bulbs, over a period of time, about 10% of the filament metal
evaporates and is deposited on the bulb wall.

• The name halogen is used because there are four elements within group VIIA of the periodic table,
known collectively as the halogens
 Halogen bulbs
• The glass envelope used for the tungsten halogen bulb is made from fused
silicon or quartz.

• The tungsten filament still evaporates but, on its way to the bulb wall, the
tungsten atom combines with two or more halogen atoms forming a tungsten
halide.

• This will not be deposited on to the bulb because of its temperature.

• The convection currents will cause the halide to move back towards the
filament at some point and it then splits up, returning the tungsten to the
filament and releasing the halogen.

• Because of this the bulb will not become blackened; the light output will
therefore remain constant throughout its life
Gas discharge lamps or high
intensity discharge or HID
• HID have the potential to provide more effective illumination and new
design possibilities for the front of a vehicle.

• consists of three main components

• Lamp
• Ballast system
• Headlamp
 • Lamp: This operates in a very different way from conventional
incandescent bulbs. A much higher voltage is needed

Ballast System:
• This contains an ignition and control unit and
converts the electrical system voltage into the
operating voltage required by the lamp.

• It controls the ignition stage and run up as well

as regulating during continuous use and finally
monitors operation as a safety aspect.
• Headlamp:
• The source of light in the gas discharge lamp is an electric arc, and the actual discharge
bulb is only about 10 mm across.

• Two electrodes extend into the bulb, which is made from quartz glass. The gap between
these electrodes is 4 mm.

• The distance between the end of the electrode and the bulb contact surface is 25 mm –
this corresponds to the dimensions of the standardized H1 bulb.
• At room temperature, the bulb contains a mixture of mercury, various metal salts
and xenon under pressure.

• When the light is switched on, the xenon illuminates at once and evaporates the
mercury and metal salts.

• The high luminous efficiency is due to the metal vapour mixture. The mercury
generates most of the light and the metal salts affect the colour spectrum.

• The high output of UV radiation from the gas discharge lamp means that in some
cases for reasons of safety, special filters are required.
• To start the GDL lamp, the following four stages are run through in sequence.

• Ignition – a high voltage pulse causes a spark to jump between the electrodes, which ionizes the
gap. This creates a tubular discharge path.

• Immediate light – the current flowing along the discharge path excites the xenon, which then
emits light at about 20% of its continuous value.

• Run-up – the lamp is now operated at increased wattage, the temperature rises rapidly and the
mercury and metal salts evaporate. The pressure in the lamp increases as the luminous flux
increases and the light shifts from the blue to the white range.

• Continuous – the lamp is now operated at a stabilized power rating of 35 W.

• the ballast system limits the current and then also limits voltage.
• A high voltage, which can be as much as 20 kV, is generated to start the arc.
• During run-up, the ballast system limits the current and then also limits voltage.
• This wattage control allows the light to build up very quickly but prevents
overshoot, which would reduce the life of the bulb.
• The ballast unit also contains radio suppression and safety circuits.
 LED Lamp
• Light emitting diode (LED) displays were first produced commercially in 1968.

• Almost from this time there has been speculation as to possible vehicle
applications.

• LEDs quickly found applications in the interior of the vehicle, particularly in

dashboard displays.

• However, until recently, legislation has prevented the use of LEDs for exterior
lighting.

• A simple change in the legislative language from ‘incandescent lamp’ to ‘light

source’, made it possible to use lighting devices other than filament bulbs
LED Lamp
• LEDs have a typical rated life of over 50 000 hours, compared with just a few thousand for
incandescent lamps.

• LEDs are more expensive than bulbs but the potential savings in design costs due to sealed units
being used and the greater freedom of design could outweigh the extra expense.

• LEDs are used for high-level brake lights. This is because of their shock resistance, which will
allow them to be mounted on the boot lid.

• This ‘turn-on’ time is important; the times are about 130 ms for the LEDs, and 200 ms for bulbs.

• If this is related to a vehicle brake light at motorway speeds, then the increased reaction time
equates to about a car length. This is therefore, a major contribution to road safety.
• Due to the development and use of gallium
nitride (GaN) and indium doped gallium
nitride (InGaN), ‘super-bright’ LEDs can
replace incandescent bulbs.

• When combined at various intensities red,

green and blue will produce white or any
other colour of light. However, while white
light can be created in this way, coating an
‘InGaN’ blue LED with phosphor directly
produces a white light.
Headlight Reflector
Headlight reflectors
• Light from a source, such as the filament of a bulb, can be projected in the form
of a beam of varying patterns by using a suitable reflector and a lens.

• Lenses, which are also used as the headlight cover glass, are used to direct the
light to the side of the road and in a downward direction.

• The objective of the headlight reflector is to direct the random light rays
produced by the bulb into a beam of concentrated light by applying the laws of
reflection.
• Bulb filament position relative to the reflector is important, if the desired beam direction
and shape are to be obtained.

• (fig. a) First, the light source (the light filament) is at the focal point, so the reflected beam
will be parallel to the principal axis.

• If the filament is between the focal point and the reflector, the reflected beam will diverge –
that is, spread outwards along the principal axis.

• Alternatively, if the filament is positioned in front of the focal point the reflected beam will
converge towards the principal axis
 A reflector
• A reflector is basically a layer of silver, chrome or aluminium deposited on a smooth
and polished surface such as brass or glass

• The centre point on the reflector is called the pole, and a line drawn perpendicular
to the surface from the pole is known as the principal axis.

• If a light source is moved along this line, a point will be found where the radiating
light produces a reflected beam parallel to the principal axis.

• This point is known as the focal point, and its distance from the pole is known as the
focal length.
Types of Headlight reflectors

• Parabolic reflector
• Bifocal reflector
• Homifocal reflector
 Parabolic reflector
• A parabolic reflector has the property of reflecting rays parallel to the principal axis when a light source is placed
at its focal point, no matter where the rays fall on the reflector.

• It produces a bright parallel reflected beam of constant light intensity.

• With a parabolic reflector, most of the light rays from the light-bulb are reflected and only a small amount of
direct rays disperses as stray light.

• The intensity of reflected light is strongest near the beam axis, except for light cut-off by the bulb itself.
• The intensity drops off towards the outer edges of the beam.
 Bifocal reflector
• The bifocal reflector as its name suggests has two reflector
sections with different focal points.

• This helps to take advantage of the light striking the lower

reflector area.

• The parabolic section in the lower area is designed to reflect

light down to improve the near field area just in front of the
vehicle.

• used on vehicles with a four-headlight system

• With the aid of powerful CAD programs, variable focus

reflectors can be made with non-parabolic sections to produce
a smooth transition between each area.
 Homifocal reflector
• A homifocal reflector is made up of a number of sections each with
a common focal point.

• This design allows a shorter focal length and hence, overall, the
light unit will have less depth.

• The effective luminous flux is also increased.

• This is suitable for a twin filament bulb to provide dip and main
beam. The main reflector section delivers the normal long range
lighting and the auxiliary reflectors provide near field and lateral
lighting .
Headlight control circuit
Headlight levelling: Manual Headlight
levelling
• The principle of headlight levelling is very simple, in that the position
of the lights must change depending on the load in the vehicle.
• An automatic system can be operated from
sensors positioned on the vehicle suspension.

• This will allow automatic compensation for

whatever the load distribution on the vehicle.

• The actuators, which actually move the lights, can

vary from hydraulic devices to stepper motors.

• The system includes two sensors (front and rear)

which measure the attitude of the vehicle.
• An electronic module converts data from the sensors and drives two electric gear
motors (or actuators) located at the rear of the headlamps, which are
mechanically attached to the reflectors.

• Response time to changes in vehicle attitude due to acceleration or deceleration

is measured in tenths of a second.

• Corrective action is continuous and provides enhanced driving comfort, as the

beam aim is optimized.
 Lighting circuits
• The circuit help to show in a simple way how various
lights in and around the vehicle operate with respect
to each other.

• fog lights can be wired to work only when the

sidelights are on.
 Dim-dip circuit
• Dim-dip headlights were an attempt to stop drivers
just using sidelights in semi-dark or poor visibility
conditions.

• The circuit is such that when sidelights and ignition are

on together, then the headlights will come on
automatically at about one-sixth of normal power.

• Dim-dip lights are achieved in one of two ways. The

first uses a simple resistor in series with the headlight
bulb and the second is to use a ‘chopper’ module,
which switches the power to the headlights on and off
rapidly