SASTECH Journal 46 Volume 12, Issue 2, September 2013 DESIGN OF AN AUTOMOTIVE HEADLAMP CONSIDERING STYLE AND PERFOMANCE *Tom K. Philip, M. Sivapragasam, Vignesh Ravichandran Department of Automotive and Aeronautical Engineering M. S. Ramaiah School of Advanced Studies, Bangalore-58 *Contact Author e-mail: tomkphilip@gmail.com Abstract Headlamps serve the purpose of an eye to an automobile both in style and function. They illuminate the road space in front of the automobile and ensure the dual purpose of to see and to be seen. The aim of this project was to design an automotive headlamp considering style and performance. A study of various headlamps designs available is made to understand the basic requirements of a headlamp and to understand the latest technologies being used inside the headlamp. The standard norms that need to be followed in design and installation were reviewed. A user study was conducted and customer voice was converted into technical voice and QFD was prepared. Three concept designs of headlamps were made and the final concept is selected using weighted ranking method. A detail design is made for the final selected concept. The finalised design concept is further validated using photometric and thermal analysis. A mock-up model is also made for the validated concept using polymer sheets. A better styled and better performing headlamp was designed. Keywords: Automotive headlamps, Aesthetics, Headlamp standards, Photometric analysis, Thermal analysis, Mock-up. Abbreviations AIS Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene CAD Computer Aided Design CFD Computational Fluid Dynamics QFD Quality Function Deployment PDS Product Data Specification PU Polyurethane LED Light emitting diode 1. INTRODUCTION Automotive headlamp is one of the major styling parts and also in current days it is one of the technology-driven parts of a vehicle. It is mounted in front of the vehicle to illuminate the road during night time or low visibility. In order to cater to various customers in various countries, according to their specifications, it is necessary to supply the products with high quality and better performance to meet their expectations in short time cost effectively. Design and development of automotive headlamp in a systematic manner by considering post-failures can avoid as much as modification costs and rejection costs as possible and can meet customer requirements. Automotive lighting is classified in two categories, to see and to be seen. Headlamps such as low beam, high beam are meant for ‘to see’. Signal lamps such as stop lamp, direction indictors etc., are meant ‘to be seen’. 1.1 Functions of headlamp Headlamps illuminate the road space in front of the car and must meet the requirements of all users of the road. In particular, the low-beam functions are subject to legal regulations designed to protect oncoming traffic from being dazzled. 1.2 Signal function lamps Signal lamps also called as rear lamps are used for providing various signals to the road users as the driver is applying brake, turning left or right, parking, indicate position of the vehicle or hazard warning during emergency situations and breakdown etc. 2. BACKGROUND STUDY The main functions and the various requirements for the installation and performance for the headlamp were evaluated in the background study of the headlamp, for example, as in Figure 1. These studies were later used to do a detailed literature review about the headlamp. Fig. 1 Major functions of headlamp [1]