Distributed Lighting Systems: Uniform Light Delivery

High efficiency distributed lighting systems for automotive vehicles are now possible with the development of high brightness Xenon Metal Halide light sources and the advent of new low loss, low cost light pipes. In principle, all of the lighting functions in a vehicle can now be accomplished with one or two such sources in combination with the appropriate distribution harness and delivery optics. However, to achieve practical ‘whole vehicle’ systems, the solution to a number of problems must still be demonstrated. A fundamental problem has been uniformly feeding small cross-sectional area distribution harnesses with light in a low loss and reproducible manner. This paper describes nearly lossless devices that provide the required uniform light delivery.