For headlamps with profiled outer lenses, the main technical aspects for the design were the quality of the light pattern and the mechanical robustness. With the introduction of clear lens headlamps, a new criterion was assigned an even higher priority: the visual appearance of the headlamp. For a '5 Candles' lighting system, for which an evaluation proposal is presented in this paper, additional important aspects have to be considered. The evaluation of a headlamp system not only means the evaluation of each single headlamp by itself. It means the evaluation of the combination of a left and a right hand headlamp, mounted and aimed in the car body and driven by the power supply of the car. Therefore, not only the typical criteria to describe the performance of a headlamp like the light volume, the range and the homogeneity of the light pattern have to be considered. Criteria like the aiming of the headlamp, the leveling system and the power supply need to be. The foundations for a '5 candles' rated headlamp system are laid out during the development process of the headlamp when the main characteristics of the headlamp are defined. Creating a high quality lighting system goes beyond the technical aspects of the individual headlamp - we need to consider headlamps as a set, as a functional unit with the car, as a dynamic system on the road which is shared with other traffic participants, and as a possible source of inappropriately high costs if aspects of maintenance are underestimated. For this system, the responsibility is shared between the headlamp manufacturer, the car manufacturer, the shops and nevertheless the driver itself.
Criteria for a "5 Candles" rated headlamp system
Entwicklungskriterien für ein Scheinwerfersystem der '5 Candles'-Klasse
2003
11 Seiten, 5 Bilder, 3 Tabellen, 2 Quellen
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Englisch
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