News: LEDs
29 November 2024
ams OSRAM and Fraunhofer IZM win Deutscher Zukunftspreis
At a formal ceremony in Berlin, Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier presented the Deutscher Zukunftspreis 2024 (the German Future Award, the Federal President’s Award for Innovation in Science and Technology) to a team led by Dr Norwin von Malm and Stefan Grötsch of ams OSRAM GmbH of Premstätten, Austria and Munich, Germany and Dr Hermann Oppermann of the Berlin-based Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration (IZM) for the technological implementation of their idea — an LED matrix that turns car headlights into projectors — which opens up new possibilities for innovative designs due to the high-resolution light distribution and energy efficiency. This is the tenth Deutscher Zukunftspreis for Fraunhofer Institute, and the first for Fraunhofer IZM.
Picture: Dr Norwin von Mal (center), Stefan Grötsch (third from right) and Dr Hermann Oppermann (second from left) with Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (second from right), Federal Minister for Education and Research Cem Özdemir (left) and moderator Yve Fehring (right).
As part of their Digital Light project, the research teams completely rethought intelligent LED technology and established a basic technology that enables many new applications, even beyond car headlights. von Malm and Grötsch of ams OSRAM and Oppermann of Fraunhofer IZM have developed a light source that is smaller, lighter, more efficient, more intelligent and more precise in its light output than conventional light sources. The new system will allow car headlights, for example, to illuminate the road ahead precisely and brightly without blinding or endangering oncoming traffic or pedestrians. A conventional low-beam/high-beam combination is not an option here because it must be possible to control the light’s spatial distribution and for the light itself to adapt to the respective situation. To achieve this, the new headlight does not use two light sources like conventional headlights. Instead, it relies on 25,600 LEDs in a matrix of 320 points x 80 points, where each individual LED can be controlled with a digital signal. In combination with a special lens, this creates a headlight that works much like a video projector.
Compact design and high efficiency
The new system requires minimal installation space and is highly efficient since only the LEDs that are actually required for the desired light distribution are switched on. Systems with passive light modulation, by contrast, rely on shading, meaning that the light source is always on at full power, and the undesired light is filtered back out. However, this is an inefficient solution, since it involves generating unnecessary light. Furthermore, the generated heat must be dissipated, which requires large and expensive cooling systems. The new system prevents these losses from occurring in the first place.
Increased safety through projected pictograms
ams OSRAM and Fraunhofer says that, to increase safety, their headlight not only provides precise and efficient light for the road ahead; it also acts as a projector and can project pictograms onto the road, e.g. a snowflake if there is a risk of frost or a specific symbol for wrong-way drivers.
Digital Light — intelligent LED technology
Light-based information opens up many new use cases for the team’s LED matrix, which can be controlled via a digital system. Examples include optical data communication between computer chips, e.g. in data centers for AI applications, or augmented reality (AR). Here, the light matrix could be used as a virtual monitor for AR glasses, where digital information is displayed in the user’s field of vision in addition to the real-world environment. A compact design and energy efficiency are essential here since AR glasses must be lightweight and have a long battery life. These use cases demonstrate the enormous potential of Digital Light when it comes to transforming the ways in which humans and electronic devices interact.
ams OSRAM a finalist in Deutscher Zukunftspreis
Osram and BMW laser headlight development nominated for 2016 German Future Prize
