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Hella claims first with LED headlamp for Cadillac SUV

Lighting and electronics company Hella has developed a full-LED headlamp for the Cadillac Escalade Platinum. It will be the first sports utility vehicle (SUV) in the world to be equipped with this lighting technology.

With a colour temperature of around 5,500K, the light colour of the white LEDs is considerably closer to daylight (approx. 6,000K) than Xenon light (approx. 4,000K).

Hella says that the new light is close to what people are used to seeing. The driver does not tire as quickly and is more relaxed. The white LEDs have a quick response time and two functions(such as low beam and daytime running light can be covered with one light source.

Hella's full-LED headlamp for the Cadillac Escalade Platinum has been developed using various transmissive optical elements. Free-form glass projection lenses are used for the first time anywhere in the world and thanks to their individual optical design, each area of the lens is responsible for some of the light distribution on the road. Of the seven glass lenses in a headlamp, only two are completely identical: all others are of different shapes.

The low beam is generated by five optical units arranged underneath one another at the outer edge of the headlamp housing. The topmost of these units is a round projection lens with a 60-mm diameter. The lens is used to generate the range of the low beam on the right-hand side of the road (asymmetrical “light finger”), while the four cushion-shaped freeform glass lenses create the symmetrical basic light distribution with large dispersion which provides homogeneous illumination of the close range in front of the vehicle.

The daytime running light function is created by dimming the low beam. Two additional free form projection lenses are responsible for the high beam; these are situated at the inner edge of the headlamp housing. The position light is designed as a light-guide rod placed vertically between the low beam and the side marker, with the light of two white standard LEDs being coupled in. On the very outer edge of the headlamp, the side marker light shines from seven vertically arranged amber standard LEDs. Direction indicator and fog lamp in the Cadillac Escalade Platinum are mounted in the lower area of the bumper.

Hella is using newly developed multi-chip LEDs as light sources for low beam and high beam. A high-performance ventilator is responsible for thermal management in the headlamp, and takes over active cooling and ventilation of the LED chips.

In the US, headlamps with LEDs for main lighting functions are already permissible according to the SAE standards applicable there. In Europe, or in the area governed by ECE regulations, approval is expected by 2008. Signal functions in the headlamp (direction indicator, side marker light, position light, daytime running light and cornering light) are already permissible, both in ECE and SAE areas.

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