Design of Reflector Optics for Visually Aimable Lowbeam Head Lamps

This paper discusses the optical design of motor vehicle head lamps using the new federal visual optical aim requirements. Methodology for using filament images from a head lamp reflector to create the required sharp gradient for visual aimable lamps is presented. The paper discusses hardware tolerance factors which would degrade a sharp cut-off, and methods are reviewed for accounting for and designing robustness against the tolerance factors. Hardware results are shown for designs using the techniques described in the paper.