Xiaodong once heard someone ridiculing: If you turn on high beams in the urban area, Lao Wang lives next door.
Xiaodong is often blinded by oncoming high beams. The instantaneous visual blind spot makes people panic and confused. Although he will subconsciously slow down slowly, the consequences of driving blindly are unimaginable.
So a warm reminder: Illegal use of high beams will not only result in fines and deductions, but you will also bear corresponding liability if an accident occurs.
When it comes to car lights, manufacturers seem to have taken a fancy to people's pursuit of personalization, and lighting systems have begun to be designed into various shapes and even unique light flashing frequencies. Although originally designed to improve driving experience and safety, kitchen knives can also become murder weapons in the hands of thugs.
It is easy for humans to discover light, but making light is not as easy as we think, so learn to cherish it and don't use your convenience to create trouble for others. Today’s car-understanding story, Xiaodong will take you through the development process of automotive lighting systems.
In fact, the earliest cars did not have many additional functions other than transportation. It feels like replacing a carriage that eats oil instead of grass. But the carriage can also be made into a fully enclosed carriage. Some cars have a luxury of being able to protect themselves from wind and rain, let alone lighting equipment.
If you are in the foggy city of London, cars in the early days did not have lighting equipment. During the day, people and animals could not be distinguished five meters away. There were no street lights at night, and they had to drive forward. Therefore, traffic accidents occurred frequently and getting lost was common.
There is a story in Europe: a driver got lost in the wilderness and was unable to find north when he saw a man holding a kerosene lamp, so he walked towards the light. It was by relying on this lamp that he walked out of the wilderness. After this incident, people realized the importance of lighting, and kerosene lamps began to be imitated and spread like square dances.
People began to hang kerosene lamps on the front of their cars. Although the illumination range was limited, it could at least remind others, "I am a car, stay away." In this case, the initiative to avoid the vehicle lies with the pedestrian, rather than the driver discovering it in advance and actively braking to avoid it.
Even so, there will still be passers-by who are short-sighted, but the accident rate is significantly lower than before. It was from the kerosene lamp that people began to pay more attention to car headlights, and with the pace of the industrial revolution, lights were constantly upgraded.
The first thing that appeared was the acetylene (quē) lamp. Although Edison invented the incandescent lamp as early as 1879, the filament was made of carbon filament. The filament would break if the road bumped slightly, so it was not widely used. Moreover, acetylene lamps are brighter and more stable than incandescent lamps, so they were used in automotive lighting systems earlier than incandescent lamps.
However, the shortcomings of acetylene lamps are also exposed: like kerosene lamps, acetylene lamps are still "open flames" and require a stable environment to burn and emit light. If it is windy, rainy, or snowy, the lamps can easily go out.
And its short life has become another major flaw. In addition, acetylene after burning will produce a large amount of soda lime, which is highly irritating and corrosive. Open flames and corrosive residues that are accidentally inhaled into the body can cause shock, gastric perforation and other adverse reactions. So as long as there are alternatives, it will disappear from the stage of history.
In the process of the development of acetylene lamps, incandescent lamps have been practicing in seclusion until they waited for the arrival of motors, batteries and tungsten filaments. Tungsten filament incandescent lamps, adapted to the automobile driving environment, quickly replaced acetylene lamps. Vehicle lighting technology has bid farewell to the "open flame era" and entered electrification.
Although the corresponding electrical system was invented in 1912, most cars at that time were not equipped with electrical equipment, and most cars had to be cranked by hand.
It was not until 1925 that electric starter engines and corresponding electrical systems were widely used in automobiles that incandescent lamps began to receive attention.
However, it did not take long for incandescent lamps to replace acetylene lamps, because tungsten filaments tend to darken the lampshade at high temperatures and shorten the illumination distance. Therefore, its upgraded version: halogen lamps, appeared on the stage of history around 1960 and replaced them. Incandescent lamp.
Halogen lamps add halogen gases such as iodine or bromine to incandescent lamps. This gas solves the problem of the lampshade turning black.
The tungsten wire will sublime at high temperatures. The sublimated tungsten reacts with the halogen, and then solidifies on the tungsten wire again after cooling, forming a balanced cycle. This reaction also effectively avoids premature breakage of the tungsten wire. And its brightness is higher and its lifespan is longer.
However, halogen lamps still cannot get rid of the curse of short life. Although their lifespan is longer than that of incandescent lamps, it is difficult for them to be scrapped in the same year and month as the car. Constant replacement of lamps is also a trouble for car owners. Is there anything that can replace tungsten wire and still bling?
At this time, you can only rely on xenon headlights. It came out in 1991. It abandoned the tungsten filament, filled the quartz lamp tube with high-voltage inert gas, and used 23,000 volts of high-voltage current to stimulate the xenon gas to glow. The brightness is greatly increased, the energy consumption is reduced by half, and the lifespan is increased by seven times. This lamp can finally live and die with the car. It will not be damaged by external forces, and it will not need to be replaced until it is scrapped.
Xenon lamps greatly increase the safety and comfort of driving, and also help relieve people's stress and fatigue when driving at night. Xenon lamps have gradually become the mainstream of modern car lamps.
but! Xenon lamps have lower penetrating power in foggy days, while cylindrical lamps have better penetration, so many off-road vehicles still use cylindrical headlights.
Although xenon lamps and halogen lamps have gained a firm foothold in today's automobile market, LED and laser headlights, which have suddenly emerged, have gradually entered the homes of ordinary people. Small size, low energy consumption, long distance and wide range have become considerations for today's automotive lighting, and LED and laser headlights are adapting to this trend.
Car lights have long been integrated with cars. Sometimes they are no longer just ordinary lighting, but also highlight the design and safety of the vehicle. The story of car lights continues, Xiaodong believes that it will become more and more exciting!
