Accident statistics reveal that the risk of accidents is highest on country roads, particularly on cornering. The accident rate increases disproportionately as the radius decreases. Curve radii of less than R = 100 m pose a particular accident risk. As the occurrence of an accident at night is significantly dependent on optical perception conditions, the quality and effective use of illumination facilities plays a major role. The advantages of bending light systems are quantitatively demonstrated in the paper. Bending lights have been available on the market since the beginning of the year; the light distributed from these adapts automatically to the course of the road on which the vehicle is currently driving. Various approaches are available for implementing the bending light function. Mounting the modules for generating main beam distribution so that these can be rotated horizontally and 'dynamically' adapted to the course of the road in front of the vehicle (dynamic bending light system) appears particularly promising. This concept has been installed in two vehicle prototypes equipped with gas discharge lamps. The goal of the technical light studies involving test persons was to determine the interconnection between the geometry of the course of the road, calculated on the basis of vehicle dynamics variables and represented by the radius of the curve R, the vehicle speed and the parameters of bending light system. This so-called characteristic swiveling curve is determined on the basis of physiological and psychological criteria which primarily refer to the recognition distance of objects at the edge of the road depending on the geometry of the road, the headlight parameters and psychologically optimum illumination of the course of the road. The results flow into a model which is adapted to the vehicle dynamics, for actuating the bending lights. In conclusion, the newly-developed bending light system is subjected to comparative evaluation.
Optimisation of a bending light function based on vehicle dynamics
Optimierung einer Kurvenlichtfunktion auf Basis der Fahrzeugdynamik
2003
15 Seiten, 8 Bilder, 23 Quellen
Conference paper
English
Automotive engineering | 2002
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