High Resolution Lightdistribution by using a lcd

Volifa 2020 BMBF-Project

(Elmos Semiconductor AG, Merck KGaA, Porsche Engineering Group, Schweizer Electronic AG, the University of Paderborn and HELLA KGaA)

High Resolution Lightdistribution by using a lcd

Henrik Hesse

Hella KGaA Hueck & Co., Lippstadt, Deutschland

Henrik.Hesse@hella.com

Abstract:

The market is requesting more and more headlight systems with increasing resolution. The high resolution is needed to be able to implement new lighting functions to improve traffic safety when driving at night or dusk. To realize a significant increase in traffic safety, the headlight systems must be able to subdivide the area in front of the vehicle in thousands of small areas (pixel). The higher the resolution, the better the realizable lighting functions. To reach this goal, the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education (BMBF) will be sponsor the research project “VoLiFa2020”.
Over the period of three years the partner Elmos Semiconductor AG, Merck KGaA, the Porsche Engineering Group, Schweizer Electronic AG, the University of Paderborn and HELLA will be working to develop a fully adaptive automobile headlight system based on a liquid crystal display (LCD).

This paper will point out the approach and the goals of the VoLiFa 2020 Project including first research results. Furthermore system advantages and end customer benefits will be discussed as well as the fundamental problem of efficiency.
Also the intriguing question “what is the optimal number of pixels for a high resolution headlight system?” will be discussed. In connection with this, the paper will close with an outlook on the next steps to bring this approach into series production including a possible time schedule.

Figure 1: LCD-Modul with individual backlighting

Keywords:VoLiFa 2020, Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), High Resolution Headlamp, full adaptive headlamp, LED headlamp