Automotive lighting and electronics specialist Hella is providing the first full light-emitting diode (LED) headlamps for General Motors in North America on the 2008-model Cadillac Escalade Platinum, the supplier announced on Friday.
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This new, luxury sport utility vehicle is the first North American-made vehicle to have LED technology for both low- and high-beam functions, Hella said in a statement. Production is expected to begin next summer and approval for usage of LEDs in low- and high-beam lighting in Europe is expected this year as well.
“The Cadillac Escalade Platinum will be the first high-volume vehicle in the world to be equipped with Hella’s Full-LED headlamps,” claimed Hella Corporate Centre USA auto sales chief Steve Widdett. “This marks a significant milestone in advanced automotive lighting applications.”
LED headlamps are claimed to emit light considerably closer to daylight, improving perception when driving during twilight and darkness, as well as increasing overall driver comfort and safety.
Hella claims these full-LED headlamps, which each use seven ‘Ostar’ LEDs made by Osram Opto Semiconductors, will last up to 20 times longer than traditional automotive lighting.
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By GlobalData“[We are] using newly developed [Osram] multi-chip LEDs as light sources for low- and high-beam,” added Widdett. “LED technology makes new lighting functions possible, opening up new, innovative styling and differentiation potential for vehicle manufacturers.”
Free-form glass projection lenses are being used for the very first time anywhere in the world. Thanks to their individual optical design, each area of the lens is responsible for a certain part of the light distribution on the road. Of the seven glass lenses used in a headlamp overall, only two are completely identical, all the others are of different shape.
A high-performance ventilator, developed especially for the demanding requirements in the automotive sector, is responsible for the thermal management in the headlamp and also cools and vents the LED chips.
The low-beam light section of the headlamp is generated by five optical units arranged underneath one another and situated at the outer edge of the headlamp housing. The low-beam light is responsible for close-range illumination in front of the vehicle. The daytime running function is achieved by dimming the same five optical units of the low-beam.
The remaining two identical optical units in the headlamp are responsible for high-beam light and are situated at the inner edge of the headlamp housing. High-beam light illuminates upward and straight-ahead of the vehicle to maximise visibility.
Also utilising LED-technology, position lights are placed vertically between the low-beam and the side marker, which is located on the very outer edge of the headlamp.
In the Escalade Platinum, direction indicators and fog lamps are mounted in the lower area of the bumper. Within the United States, LED lighting technology for secondary lighting functions, such as the position lights and direction indicators, is becoming more common in automotive lighting, Widdett noted.
