Virginia Tech Students Design Smarter Brake Lights Using LEDs
1961 was a banner year for interior lighting. Before then, the average consumer had two choices for home lighting: on and off. Dating back to 1890, various inventors had attempted to allow for a range of light levels. Messy, dangerous “pis pots,” or salt water dimmers, were one early option. These tricky devices consisted of a beaker of salty water with two contacts, one at the top and the other at the bottom. The closer the contacts, the brighter the light. Other dimmers, such as rheostats and autotransformers, were dangerously hot, inefficient, or too slow.
All of that changed in 1961, when Joel Spira of Lutron Electronics invented the solid state dimmer. Spira’s dimmer alternated current 120 times per second, meaning that it could be safely installed in a standard electrical wallbox. Spira’s innovation changed the way we think about light. Consumers and designers are now more aware and attuned to interior light than they were before the advent of functional dimmer switches.
John Hennage could be the innovator that changes how we think about brake lights. A Ph.D. mechanical engineering student at Virinia Tech, Hennage worked Virginia businessman Meade Gwinn and his professor Mehdi Ahmadian to develop an LED brake light system to show if a car is simply slowing down, decelerating quickly, or slamming on the breaks.
In Hennage’s design, shown above, a central amber light glows if the driver is slowing down. Urgent pressure on the brake peddle triggers flashing red lights on either side. Finally, for very rapid deceleration, all of the lights flash red. Hennage and his backers hope that this will allow drivers to respond more intelligently to the traffic around them.
The new lighting system faces financial and bureaucratic challenges, so we probably won’t see such communicative brake lights on the road any time soon. Until Hennage’s technology is as firmly rooted society as the dimmer switch, you can protect yourselv by driving defensively and being prepared for emergencies.
The road has a Murphy’s law of its own: your tire will blow out on an inky night, in torrential rain. A reliable, bright LED flashlight is a blessing when Murphy’s Law strikes. The auto LED, shown at right, can turn a frustrating situation into a manageable irritation. It will always be ready to light your way, since it plugs right into your car’s cigarette lighter. With technology like this, you’ll be able to handle any unpredictable situation and get back on the road quickly and safely.
Article: Click here to learn more about the value of LED car emergency lights.
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