Uncompromising brightness: innovative LED headlights. Light-emitting diodes (LED) have a number of technical advantages over traditional lamps. The most important of them are high quality road lighting and long service life. LEDs illuminate the road several times better than conventional xenon headlights.
Audi A8 LED – matrix LED headlights for Audi A8 cars. This is a progressive lighting technology that takes traffic safety to a new level. Such optics provide comfort not only to its owner, but also to other road users.
Features of Matrix Audi A8
The Audi A8 headlight consists of several modules:
- High beam module. These are 25 LEDs connected in groups of five. Each group is equipped with its own reflector and radiator for cooling. This solution made it possible to realize countless combinations of light distribution.
- Low beam module. Constructed from 15 LEDs divided into segments.
- Module for daytime running and side lights, as well as a turn signal.
In addition, the Audi A8 headlights include an air duct, a fan, an electronic control center and design. All Matrix design parts for the Audi A8 are housed in a plastic case, which, among other things, protects them from external influences.
Advantages of matrix headlights
Matrix headlights implement a number of progressive functions:
- Pedestrian detection and highlighting;
- Vehicle recognition, as well as changing the light beam;
- Dynamic direction indicators;
- Adaptive cornering lights.
While the car is driving along the road in the dark, the video camera detects passing and oncoming cars by their lighting. Immediately upon detecting a vehicle, the control system turns on the LEDs, which direct light to the detected vehicle. The entire remaining space of the road is fully illuminated. It is worth noting that the closer the detected vehicle, the stronger the LEDs turn on. However, in this case, blinding the driver of an oncoming vehicle is completely excluded. Matrix headlights can simultaneously detect up to eight cars.
In addition to cars, matrix headlights can detect animals and pedestrians in the dark, both those on the road and those nearby. It is for this purpose that the matrix headlights are connected to the night vision system.
Having detected a pedestrian or animal, the headlights emit a three-time signal with high beams, warning both the driver and the pedestrian.
With the help of the navigation system, adaptive cornering lighting is implemented. Based on data from the navigation system, the turn is illuminated even before the driver begins to turn the steering wheel. Thanks to adaptive lighting, better visibility is ensured and, accordingly, traffic safety on the road increases.
The dynamic turn signal is a controlled (in the direction of turn) movement of the lights. To implement this function, thirty LEDs are turned on sequentially at intervals of one hundred and fifty milliseconds. And, according to the manufacturer, thanks to the dynamic turn indicator, the information content of the vehicle lighting system is significantly increased.
Advantages and functionality of optics
By installing Matrix LED headlights on the Audi A8, the car owner will have at his disposal many lighting functions:
- low beam;
- highway high beams;
- long-distance multi-segment light;
- all-weather lighting;
- adaptive static and dynamic lighting;
- pedestrian lighting;
- intersection lighting and dynamic turn signals.
Such optics help avoid dazzling oncoming drivers. When the camera notices a car moving towards you, it sends a signal to the computer. It shapes the light so that the oncoming car remains in the shadow, while other road sections continue to be illuminated. Another innovative function is the direction of the light in the direction of the turn.
Our company offers not only the purchase of headlights for the Audi A8 - we also install this equipment on a turnkey basis. LED matrix headlights are a new word in the field of automotive optics.
Variety of lighting functions in matrix optics
The more complex the design of the optics, the more functions it can perform. In matrix optics, there are nine types of lighting functions:
- constant high beam;
- highway lighting;
- low beam lighting;
- adaptive lighting;
- lighting at intersections;
- lighting in any weather;
- pedestrian lighting;
- adaptive dynamic lighting;
- dynamic direction indicator.
The list is not small, as we see, let’s look at each item separately, how the lighting principle works.
Polysegmental high beam
will allow the driver to drive with the high beams constantly on. In this case, 25 individual high beam LEDs will be used. A video camera will also be used, which in the dark monitors oncoming and passing cars by their headlights. As soon as a car is detected, the control unit turns off some of the LEDs that are aimed at the moving car. The free space of the road will be illuminated as before. To reduce driver glare, the brightness of the remaining matrix optics unit will be reduced. According to data from the passport, the matrix headlight control unit can simultaneously recognize up to eight cars.
Motorway light
is based on information received from the navigation system. The adaptive system narrows the high beam cone of the matrix headlights in such a way as to direct it forward as much as possible and make it convenient for other drivers.
Low lighting
has a traditional shape, the middle part of the road is less illuminated, but the side part and shoulder are more illuminated. In this case, the matrix optics are directed downward depending on the topography of the road and the populated area.
Adaptive light
aimed at better illumination of the vehicle from the front and sides during a turning maneuver. In this case, the matrix headlight system uses three LEDs in each headlight, which turn on or off when you turn the steering wheel or turn the corners.
Intersection lighting
designed to illuminate intersections when approaching them. In this case, the navigation system is also used for matrix headlights, based on the information of which the intersection is determined.
All-weather lighting
from the name itself it says that when driving in bad weather conditions (fog, rain, snow), the quality of lighting will change. The control unit configures the LEDs of the matrix optics in such a way as to avoid glare from its own headlights. The LED intensity of the matrix headlight will change depending on visibility.
Pedestrian lighting
Matrix headlights are implemented at a high level. If a pedestrian is detected using a camera and night vision system, on the side of the road or dangerously close to it, the optics will signal this three times with high beams. Thereby warning both the driver and the pedestrian.
Dynamic adaptive lighting
This is the penultimate option in matrix headlights. The essence of its work is aimed at illuminating the road while turning. By turning the steering wheel, the brightness of the light beam is redirected from the central part in the direction of the turn. That is, one part of the LEDs becomes dimmer, the other brighter.
Dynamic turn signal
matrix headlights are designed for controlled movement of LEDs in the direction of rotation.
Thus, 30 consecutive optics LEDs are turned on in series with a frequency of 150 ms. From the outside it not only looks beautiful, but also gives more information about this or that car maneuver. Many manufacturers are already preparing their cars for the introduction of such matrix optics technology, but no one can say yet how successful this will be.
At the moment, Audi is the only copyright holder of such technology in optics and whether it will want to share it with other manufacturers remains questionable. Video about the operating principle of matrix optics and its structure:
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Light with intelligence:
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In Germany, orders for the updated Audi A6 will begin to be accepted very soon. For an entry-level sedan with a 1.8 TFSI engine you will have to pay at least 38,400 euros, for the same Avant station wagon - from 40,900 euros. The “minimum” Audi A6 allroad quattro is priced at 56,650 euros, while the top-end S6 and RS6 will not cost less than 75,400 and 108,900 euros.
The updated Audi A6 family was officially presented
How do LED headlights work?
Xenon headlights at one time became almost a revolutionary solution in car headlights - they illuminate the road much better than halogen lamps, produce pleasant natural white light, consume less energy, and last much longer. LED headlights, which use LEDs at their core, take all these principles and benefits to the next level. But LED bulbs can also offer more functionality. For example, they can illuminate a wider area of the road when cornering, provide less glare to oncoming drivers, and at the same time project the light a little higher, illuminating the road further. But while they certainly offer more benefits, they can be a very expensive option on some cars and cost you even more to replace.
How LED headlights work is quite difficult to explain, but in simple terms, they work by having negative electrons moving against positive “dips” through a semiconductor. When a free electron falls into such a “gap”, which is at a lower energy level, it loses its energy, which is precisely released in the form of a photon (the smallest fraction that directly represents light) in a process called electroluminescence. Multiply this process millions of times per second, and you get a continuous bright light emitted from a “thing” only about 2 mm wide - a light-emitting diode (LED).
The most important aspect when it comes to LED headlights is that they require very little power to operate compared to classic halogen bulbs. LEDs, for example, are used in Toyota Prius models and other hybrids in which electricity plays a key role - and not just for the headlights. But the first production units of LED headlights were installed on the Audi R8 in 2004.
Generally speaking, LED headlights, relative to their luminous power, fall between halogen and gas-discharge (xenon) lamps. But at the same time, they provide much more focused beams than even xenon, and can also be reproduced to create different forms of light beam flow. Additionally, due to their small size, LEDs allow for more manipulation, giving manufacturers the ability to create all kinds of headlight shapes and assemblies that their design departments can handle. Basically, no more ugly dome reflectors!
Bi-xenon and LED headlight for Honda Accord
But there are still a number of issues that should be noted. For example, although LEDs don't emit heat while they're lit like halogen headlights, they do create a certain amount of heat at the bottom of the emitter (mostly the chip) when electricity passes through them, thereby creating potential risk to neighboring nodes and wires. This is a good reason why LED headlights need a cooling system to keep them from melting. And let's not forget that the headlights are located in the engine compartment - not the coolest part of the car.
Another good reason why LED headlights are more difficult to develop and implement in cars is that they are significantly more expensive than xenon headlights and much more expensive than halogen ones.
