Project 5

Simulation of the opto mechanic behavior of laser based illumination systems

  • Institute: Institut für Produktentwicklung und Gerätebau, Hannover
  • Principle Investigator: Prof. Roland Lachmayer
  • Researcher: Peer-Phillip Ley, Alexander Wolf

Laser-based lighting systems offer many advantages for different applications. The small emitting area of these light sources enables the design of very compact illumination systems without reducing the quality of the generated light pattern. Therefore, the application of laser-based lighting systems gets more interesting especially for automotive applications since designers require slim contours while legal regulations such as local minimum and maximum values of the generated light pattern have to be fulfilled. Consequently, new challenges have to be faced regarding the dimensioning and simulation of these systems. A laser-based white light source can be realized by mixing the emission of different laser diodes (e.g. red, green and blue) or by using the interaction of light with a phosphor layer.

As a part of this joint research program the TP5 focuses on the investigation and simulation of laser-based optomechatronic systems using phosphor conversion. In these so-called remote phosphor systems the laser beam is focused very precisely on a phosphor layer. This high intensity leads to a strong position-dependent temperature gradient of the conversion layer which results in local changes of conversion efficiency, thermal conductivity, absorption and emission spectra as well as other characteristics. In addition to that, the downscaling of the whole optical system leads to the necessity of higher precision in component quality compared to conventional lightbulbs or LED-based lighting systems. Furthermore, thermal induced small deformations of the optical system cause significant effects on the beam path and the light distribution.

In this research project we attempt to set up a simulation environment based on the combination of ray tracing methods for the beam simulation and spectral analysis with FEM methods for the thermomechanical simulation in order to model these optical systems more accurately. A successful coupling of the ray tracing method and the FEM method will allow the development of optical systems working on the thermal limits of the conversion layer.