Federal-Mogul has announced the development of two innovations that the company says will make vehicle interior lighting systems slimmer, cooler, more efficient and more stylish.
The company’s new ultrathin lighting combines LEDs and a specially designed lamp lens to reduce the profile of interior lamps by up to 60 percent. In addition to improving headroom, facilitating reduced power consumption and enabling greater interior styling, NovaLens provides consistent and even illumination without "hot spots," the company says.
Federal-Mogul says growing demand for vehicles with higher seating positions and lower rooflines means vehicle manufacturers operate within tightening constraints to create sufficient headroom for occupants. Increasing headroom is a contributing factor in improving the safety of occupants during a rollover event.
"Unlike conventional interior lighting, Federal-Mogul’s new ultrathin lighting with NovaLens provides a more stylish, integrated interior lighting solution," said Ramzi Hermiz, Federal-Mogul’s senior vice president, Vehicle Safety and Protection. "With interior lamp profiles typically of 30mm or more, the size of interior lighting modules has been a limiting factor for vehicle manufacturers. Our new lamp is just 12mm thick, giving vehicle designers an extra 18mm of space and increased styling design opportunities."
LEDs emit cones of light that generate variations in intensity and visible hot spots within the lens of a traditional interior lamp. NovaLens is a specially designed lens that incorporates unique geometric features, which reflect and refract the light from LEDs positioned at opposite sides of the lamp to produce visually uniform illumination from the entire lens. The inner surface of NovaLens incorporates optical features that vary in shape, depth and position, depending on their distance from the nearest LED. The outer surface of NovaLens contains several parallel optical flutes. Light from the LEDs is reflected from the optical features and then is spread evenly by the flutes to deliver a uniform distribution of light over the target zones.
"The consistent, homogeneous appearance of our new ultrathin lamp with NovaLens is unrivaled in the industry," Hermiz said. "It provides exciting new opportunities for interior designers and a competitive advantage for Federal-Mogul’s customers. Because the unique properties of NovaLens mean fewer LEDs are required, it also is a highly efficient solution. Federal-Mogul’s combination of low-energy LEDs with our innovative NovaLens offers greater design alternatives while improving packaging, safety and energy efficiency."
LED technology can draw less than 2W, depending on customer requirements, compared to 10W for the equivalent incandescent bulbs. This reduced electrical demand cuts CO2 emissions and helps reduce battery drain, which is especially important in electric vehicles. LEDs also last more than ten times as long as incandescent bulbs and operate 95 degrees Celsius cooler, improving thermal management, installation and styling options.
Federal-Mogul says it is in discussions with vehicle manufacturers on several continents regarding its new ultrathin lamp with NovaLens. The company’s first production applications will reach the market during 2012. The technology was developed at Federal-Mogul’s Lighting Technical Center in Ann Arbor, MI, one of the company’s 18 globally networked technical centers.
