A New Concept of Headlight: Light Guide Headlamp

Alban L'Herminé

doi:10.4271/980008

1998-02-23

A New Concept of Headlight: Light Guide Headlamp 980008

A new headlamp concept is under development which brings innovation and style flexibility to automotive lighting in addition to savings in overall volume.

Thanks to this technology named « Baroptic » (from the European Research Program « Eureka »), the low beam function has been reduced to a light pipe 45 mm high, 100 mm deep and 190 mm long. This volume is considerably reduced compared to a traditional low beam unit.

The «Baroptic» can be positioned vertically, horizontally or inclined, depending on styling preference.

The flux emitted by the light source (halogen or HID) is not reflected on the surface of the reflector (as with a Complex Shape or parabolic reflector) nor projected directly on the road (such as with sealed beam or elliptical projector). It is transmitted by a light pipe and then projected through lenses which are positioned along the pipe. These lenses in combination with shields, define the characteristics of the beam, including width, length, distribution, cut off and homogeneity.

The results achieved, with either a European or American beam match 70 mm height headlamps (from traditional concepts). If the flux given by the comparable models are identical (300 lm minimum), the new technology optimizes the distribution of the emitted light.

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A New Concept of Headlight: Light Guide Headlamp 980008

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