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Case Study

Vitesco Technologies Optimizes the Exterior Lighting of Vehicles Using Numerical Optical Simulation from Ansys

Challenge

With the boom in connected vehicles and the increase in the range of models, customers’ needs and requirements have evolved significantly. One example is the desire to integrate lighting systems into door handles. For automakers, light plays an essential role in practicality and comfort, but it also contributes to the visual signature of the vehicle by differentiating brands and making them recognizable.

Solution

In 2006, the company turned to optical simulation with the Ansys Speos software. Speos enables Vitesco Technologies engineers to model and validate all optical systems of the handle that capture and guide the rays coming from the light source in order to guarantee lighting results that comply with specifications. With Speos, Vitesco Technologies teams can implement models of the various components (handle, lightguide, etc.) to simulate them in their final environment and understand the interactions between light and materials in real lighting and use conditions. By combining light simulation and human vision capabilities with extensive material libraries and an optical optimizer, engineers can explore many lighting concepts and hypothetical scenarios, generating very realistic photometric and colorimetric isualizations of the results. Optical simulation gives Vitesco Technologies a predictive view of the optical performance of the systems. This view enables them to control the entire product design process in real time, from concept development to validation to preparation for mold manufacture.

Results

Using Speos has enabled Vitesco to drastically reduce the time and cost of designing and validating lighting systems, dramatically accelerating time to market. In just under 15 years, development time has been reduced by 75%. Furthermore, using simulation starting in the design phase has considerably reduced the number of physical prototypes required for validation: Engineers can skip the prototype mold and go directly to the production mold.