Hella is introducing the automotive industry’s first modular lighting system.
Called MOLIS (MOdular LIghting System), the modular concept, due on production vehicles in 2003, allows vehicle lighting to function through a network of individual, light-emitting diode (LED) mini-lamps that can be grouped to meet special design needs.
In a MOLIS system, LED mini-lamps can be positioned in strips of different lengths or contours to create a distinctive appearance. Each mini-lamp is 44 mm long by 10 mm wide by 20 mm deep and is available in a variety of shapes.
Hella’s LED lamps direct light through a series of special geometric structures that deflect the light to micro lenses at the rear surface of the lamp element. The micro-lenses beam light outward in the desired direction.
The mini-lamp’s array of reflecting structures, called a Total Internal Reflection (TIR), creates an indirect lighting system that conceals lamp componentry that often is visible to consumers. Designers are turning to indirect lighting to enhance the overall appearance of their lighting systems.
The 20 mm depth of the MOLIS mini-lamp also helps reduce or eliminate the need to cut deep openings in a vehicle’s sheet metal, reducing sheet-metal manufacturing costs and increasing structural rigidity.

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By GlobalDataMOLIS lights already have been designed and successfully tested as centre high-mounted brake lights and as combination rear lights. MOLIS systems also are being considered for interior lighting.