* Brightness improved by 63%. Applicable to the front/rear of an automobile.
* 0.2mm thick optical film is used to produce a customized lighting module.
* Target the global market with “the automotive light source solution service.”
This automotive lighting module is made of three parts. An LED package, which is a light source, is mounted on a thin substrate. Then, optical resin covers the package and substrate for protection. Lastly, a thin optical film is attached on top of the package to spread the light brightly and evenly. The module can be used as taillights, stop lamps, and headlights.
The Nexlide is LG Innotek’s automotive lighting service brand that has the meaning of a next-generation light source. The name was produced by combining the words ‘Next,’ ‘Lighting,’ and ‘Device.’ LG Innotek provides automotive lighting module products as well as customized solutions such as optical device design, lighting design proposal, and more with the Nexlide brand.
The Nexlide-E is 63% brighter than the previous product and produces more uniform light. LG Innotek applied a high-performance and high-reliability optical film to improve the lighting performance. The company’s micropatterning technique was used in the film to give a variety of lighting effects.
Due to its brightness, this lighting module can replace multiple automotive lamps with different brightness standards into one module. This can improve space efficiency and allow more design variations of a vehicle’s lamps.
The maximum brightness of the Nexlide-E has been raised from 80 cd (candela, the unit of brightness) to 130 cd, making it 63% brighter than the previous product. This satisfies the brightness standard of taillights, turn signals, and stop lamps. The stop lamps have the most strict brightness standard. In Europe and North America, they are required to be 110 cd or higher. This is because stop lamps must be recognizable in any circumstances for driving safety.
The Nexlide-E is also power efficient, because the module is bright enough with a small amount of electricity. This is particularly important for electric and hydrogen vehicles in increasing their mileage range (corresponding to fuel economy in conventional vehicles). Also, car manufacturers can replace different lightings of a vehicle such as a taillight and stop lamp into one lighting module using the Nexlide-E. The product’s high brightness makes this possible by satisfying the different brightness levels of taillights, stop lamps and turn signals.
As the number of lighting modules used decreases, car manufacturers can design slimmer and more compact lamps, and increase space efficiency by widening the trunk and such. The Nexlide-E also has the advantage in that it produces a uniformly bright light. Even as a wide lamp, it produces smooth and uniform light without blind spots or sudden breaks caused by lighting level drops.
To achieve such a bright and uniform light, LG Innotek developed a new optical film for the Nexlide-E. An only 0.2mm thick film produced with the company’s unique micropatterning technique is attached to the automotive lighting module. Different types of the optical film create various lighting effects.
The micropatterns can be changed according to the type of optical film to increase brightness by collecting the beam, produce a surface light source by diffusing the light or even produce a three-dimensional light shape. With optical films, LG Innotek can produce customized lighting modules without complex design changes or using additional components such as an inner lens.
LG Innotek will leverage the Nexlide-E to expand its share in the automotive lighting module market. To do so, the company has been active in promotions targeting global car makers in the U.S., Japan, Europe and South Korea. The first vehicle equipped with the Nexlide-E is expected to be mass-produced in the latter half of this year.
LG Innotek is also focusing on the development of next-generation lighting products. The company is developing another type of optical film that further raises the brightness and uniformity of the light. It is also developing the Nexlide-C+, a 3D lighting module that produces 3D light shapes without any devices such as a half-mirror that assists 3D effects within a lamp.
“The Nexlide-E is an innovative product that satisfies the customer needs for distinctive automotive lighting designs that give characters to vehicles. With the Nexlide brand, LG Innotek will continue to deliver a safe and enjoyable driving experience with the automotive light source solution service.”
–Insoo Ryu, VP, Head of the Automotive Components & Electronics Business Division
Global Market Insights, a market research institute, predicts that the automotive lighting market will grow from USD 32.6 billion in 2021 to USD 38.5 billion in 2026.
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© 2021 LED professional / Luger Research e.U.
