2014 BMW + Laser = best headlight

[Doctorbass]

Nice!!!

It seem that they are using 3 powerfull collimated UV/Blue laser diode to a yellow phosphorus substrat that reemit into white.. just like a white led do..

They say it's better because the best usable LM per watt of LED is 100lm compared to laser diode with 170lm for the white output

According to the color of the protecting google this guy is wearing, i guess they are trully blue color laser diode... maybe the 405?? or the 445 ?

Doc

2014 BMW i8 Laser lights | Premium Auto Show

Nice!!!

It seem that they are using 3 powerfull collimated UV/Blue laser diode to a phodsphorescent substrat that reemit into white.. just like a white led do..

They say it's better because the best usable LM per watt of LED is 100lm compared to laser diode with 170lm for the white output

Doc

 

[Doctorbass]

another link: BMW sees the light - now you can too | BMW Car Club News | bmwcca.org BMW Car Club of America

To understand how the lights work, refer to the diagram. The three lasers (A) are mounted in a triangular pattern and shine onto small mirrors (B) which redirect the beams into a lens (C). Within the lens is yellow phosphorus, which when excited by the blue lasers, emits intense white light. That light is directed by the lens to the reflector (D), which bounces the white light back 180 degrees and out onto the road ahead. The headlight casing contains any extra reflections and helps direct all the white light out the front. In the upper right corner of the diagram you can see one of the lasers, though it’s being interrupted by a card in this picture. It should be noted that this demonstration rig is just one possible configuration of the system, which can be scaled to just about any size needed.

Doc

 

[Doctorbass]

OK i think i found the wavelengh they are using:

405nm....

Nagappan says, “The first use for blue laser diodes, and still their biggest application, are in the Blu-Ray optical drives. At 405 nm these are actually in the UV range.” It’s only fairly recently that development of laser diodes for other applications has grown, for example, as a light source for projectors. “The Casio laser-LED hybrid projector uses a blue laser diode with a longer wavelength than the UV laser diodes used for data storage, as well as much higher output power. In the last three years people have been developing high-output laser diodes for the projection market. You take the high-power blue laser diodes developed for the projection markets, and add a phosphor to get white light. That’s what BMW is doing.”

 

[Sigurthr]

Awesome! The only bad part is you would need to go to a dealer just to change/fix your headlights whenever some numbskull wrecks your front end trying to park.

 

[Tech_Junkie]

If you do a search you'll see this has been discussed a few times in the past here.

 

[Doctorbass]

Yeah.. I found these other post... but what i dont understand is that before to post it, i did a search with BMW and laser search words and found nothing!

Doc

 

[BShanahan14rulz]

on my page, it looks like someone moved the good Google search tool to the bottom of the page. You can go to google and do a search, including site:laserpointerforums.com as one of the terms.

 

[ShortyInCanada]

Hmmmmmmmmm...
Does this mean that soon I can go to an auto wrecker to harvest some lasers ?
Already set up to run continuously from 12VDC supply too.
How are they keeping them safe in the event of a collision ? A minor fender bender and you could have potentially 6 lasers firing at any angle from the front end of a car. And the possibility of reflections on chrome/glass/polished surfaces are probable. Perhaps still just concept thinking from BMW...

 

[Tech_Junkie]

Fender bender? If you drop the average laser from 3 or 4 feet it will die in most cases. I doubt they would survive with a collision strong enough to dislodge the lens.

 

[ShortyInCanada]

Yeah, probably wouldn't survive.
BUT then there was a time when I would say that most people probably knew better than to do a lot of "common sense" things too but that didn't prevent some from figuring out how to sue the companies for big money.
It seems that "probably" isn't good enough anymore.
There has to be definitive proof that it can't become a hazard.
-Can you imagine the time when someone is involved in a collision serious enough to cause that kind of damage and they are lucky enough to suffer no real injury. Then they go out front to see the damage and get blinded by a malfunctioning laser headlight. The lawsuit door would be opened...
So that makes me wonder how they will make sure that it can't happen.
To have the lasers robust enough to handle serious driving related stresses but to know when there has been damage that could be hazardous. Sounds like a control unit would need to be inline with the operations. That would mean that the controller could be bypassed or removed. So harvesting would still be viable.
Of course, this is all conjecture.
But I prefer to think about these things rather than the crap at work...

 

[divindavid]

I'm pretty sure BMW has put in many safety precautions into this design. I have a 2004 325xi and I was in a very small fender bender (5 or 10mph to a stationary car (Icy roads)) a few months ago. When the cars hit, my car turned the engine off and turned the hazard lights on automatically. Now this is a car from over 8 years ago that did this. I can't even imagine what BMW will be doing for this car for safety precautions. I'd be shocked if they made it possible for any light other than white to leak out, even in the event of an accident.

 

[badinstincts]

yay, cheaper high power 405nm lasers, cant wait! please update this thread as more info comes along. very interested, especially in how they turn it into white light...

 

[divindavid]

yay, cheaper high power 405nm lasers, cant wait! please update this thread as more info comes along. very interested, especially in how they turn it into white light...

Higher power? Yes. Cheap? Not even close. After owning a BMW for a little over 6 months I can safely say that OEM parts are NOT cheap. Replacement headlight units like these will easily be several thousand dollars.

 

[BShanahan14rulz]

You can't sell a replacement if the original doesn't break ;-)

Also, I'm sure BMW will take safety into account. There are many safety features in headlights right now that people don't even think are built in.
LED headlamps with special attention towards heat flow within the lamp in order to reuse the radiated heat from the heatsinks to evaporate condensation or melt snow on the headlamp
Vents at strategically placed locations on the housings for the escape of moisture from the housings
HIDs whose ballasts recognize that there is a no-load condition or an anomaly in the HV side will automatically kill themselves permanently
lenses designed with specific features to cut DOWN on the lens' efficiency and scatter light to illuminate retroreflective signs
Computer-designed faceted reflectors, specifically shaped to focus light from a glowing horizontal cylindrical light source of a specific diameter and length and orientation (i.e. reflectors optimized for a specific filament in a specific point in space)

 

[sopark4000]

Yeah, probably wouldn't survive.
BUT then there was a time when I would say that most people probably knew better than to do a lot of "common sense" things too but that didn't prevent some from figuring out how to sue the companies for big money.
It seems that "probably" isn't good enough anymore.
There has to be definitive proof that it can't become a hazard.
-Can you imagine the time when someone is involved in a collision serious enough to cause that kind of damage and they are lucky enough to suffer no real injury. Then they go out front to see the damage and get blinded by a malfunctioning laser headlight. The lawsuit door would be opened...
So that makes me wonder how they will make sure that it can't happen.
To have the lasers robust enough to handle serious driving related stresses but to know when there has been damage that could be hazardous. Sounds like a control unit would need to be inline with the operations. That would mean that the controller could be bypassed or removed. So harvesting would still be viable.
Of course, this is all conjecture.
But I prefer to think about these things rather than the crap at work...

There are a lot of safety features built into these cars. They would use a trigger system that detects an accident/impact and shut off the head lights. It would be similar to the triggering for airbags, engines that go off during accidents etc

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

As divindavid mentioned, and anyone driving a newer bmw can confirm, bmw cars have so many safety features it's actually annoying, especially the xdrive cars. Depending on the severity of the crash I'm betting all these lasers would be turned off.

The question that I rarely see asked, is are brighter headlights really needed? I mean the new HID headlights are very annoying. I would say on the same level as people who just drive with their high beams on.

@BShanahan14rulz I didn't realize the headlights were quite so complicated, thanks for the wake up call.