Mrs. Rashmi Ramamurthy
Dr. B Ramachandra
Abstract
The automotive manufacturer always depends on new technologies for vehicular headlamps. The data shows the occurrence of road accidents at night is disproportionately high in numbers & severity compared to day time traffic accidents occurred at straight roads and head-on collisions. The reason may be due to lesser visibility and more glare in the straight driving mode. One of the reasons is the improper adjustment and in-correct usage of manual headlamp leveling device for the passing beam and also usage of main beams in un-conditional situations (approaching vehicles, during overtaking, in city limit, etc) as compared to automatic leveling devices. The survey shows that in India the usage of manual headlamp leveling devices is minimal or not aware of the system. At the same time, the usage of automatic leveling devices is not possible in mid and small segment vehicles due to technology limitations, higher cost, etc. To overcome these problems, the control strategy is developed for automatic load detection and control of the headlamp passing beam for the existing manual headlamp leveling device. Comprehensive experimental investigations have been carried out and validated as per the legal requirements. This study will provide a platform for auto industries/lawmaker/safety committees to choose a technology which shows better performance and cheap. With this technology, India further saves the lives from night accidents.Keywords- Automotive, accidents, headlamps, headlamp leveling devices.