Automotive lighting and custom power supplies
Light sources are integral to automobiles. Originally, vehicles only had front lights for night travel. Later on, indicators and tail lights were added for better security in the face of growing traffic. The lights functionality increased with the addition of fog lights for assistance for driving in difficult conditions.
Recent years have seen the development of cold cathode florescent lamps and light emitting cathodes for use in automobiles. Like their predecessors, the incandescent lamps, these new light sources also need a power supply.
Seeing how each type of light has its own requirements, a custom power supply may be better suited to provide the electricity. Usually, power supplies have to perform additional functions in the context of where the light is used and for what function.
On any automobile, for instance, there are three types of applications for light sources- interior lighting, display backlighting and exterior lighting. Interior lighting includes map reading lights, instrument backlighting and display backlighting. Of this, display backlighting has special requirements. Usually, interior lighting uses LED lights. In some cases, one LED will do. In other cases, like cluster lighting, you will have to use several LED lights in series.
Display back lights use LCD lights. Such systems include entertainment systems, navigation and radio systems and car computers. Exterior lights demand high power illumination. These lights must always be in working condition to prevent security issues. For these applications, very bright LED lights are used.
Custom power supplies, with their high efficiency and adaptability are best suited to cover all these automotive light applications. Embedded engineers are busy, trying to find out how they can integrate such power supplies into automobiles.
