Taiwan’s first Automotive Optic Design Center (AODC) has recently been inaugurated by the Automotive Research & Testing Center (ARTC) of Taiwan, with the aim of vertically integrating the island’s automotive-lighting industry.

ARTC president Joe Huang (second from left) signed IAH and DLS technical-transfer and consulting agreements with private companies.

As Taiwan has been a major development and production base for aftermarket (AM) auto-lamp products and also a solid infrastructure and comprehensive supply chains in the electronics, opto-electrical machinery, light-emitting diode (LED), and semiconductor industries, private manufacturers and research organizations have been working to integrate related resources and further strengthen the auto-lamp industry by upgrading technical capability, product quality, and development and innovation ability.

More and more international companies, said ARTC president Joe Huang, such as Philips of the Netherlands, Hella of Germany, and Koito of Japan, along with some universities in mainland China, Hong Kong, and elsewhere, have been setting up sophisticated R&D centers, which implies a shift in focus from conventional vehicle lighting to technology- and optical design-oriented vehicular systems.

"We came up with the idea, derived from our role in helping with domestic industrial upgrading," Huang commented. "The ARTC is also the best and most qualified organization to set up the AODC, the first such institution on the island, because we have developed and accumulated so much in-house technical capability-in optical design, electronic-control, CAE (computer-aided engineering) development, and heat-dissipation design, among others."

The Image Adapted Headlamp (IAH) developed by ARTC

The ARTC also introduced its latest development in automotive lighting: an Image Adapted Headlamp (IAH) and Distributive Lighting System (DLS), and signed agreements with Gsharp Corp. and Mycarr Lighting Technology Co., local firms which will commercialize the products very soon.

The IAH, which is claimed by ARTC to be the world’s first such system, is an advanced and innovative product that improves on the AFS (Adaptive Front-lighting System). The AFS is a headlamp-orientation control system that considers both steering angle and vehicle speed in orienting headlamps at an angle that provides better visibility. Instead of steering angle, the improved IAH utilizes a front camera to identify lane lines and determine their angle of turn so as to point the headlamps in a direction that provides the best illumination in the turn.

The development of the DLS was inspired by Taiwan`s mature LED and optical-fiber industries, the center explained. While the high heat generated in the engine compartment of a vehicle by a traditional internal combustion engine is still a problem for LED headlamps, the DLS system uses optical fibers that can transmit lights to targeted locations (such as taillights and headlamps) with minimum loss, without the need to overcome heat-dissipation problems.

The DLS offers a lot of technological advantages, according to a senior ARTC official, including greater convenience in headlamp design and improved thermal effect when the lighting source is switched to LED.

Some scientists are predicting that the future might see only a few LEDs in a car, since all the illumination needs of headlamps, taillights, auxiliary lamps, interior lights, etc. can be provided by the DLS, according to ARTC.