Panasonic has recently developed technology that can bring the brightness of car headlights to the highest level in the world. New technology: Semiconductor lasers that convert electricity into light use new materials to increase the intensity of light to 1.5 times that of previous technologies. Even in dark environments, it is easy to spot cars traveling far away, which helps improve driving safety. Panasonic controls about 80% of the world's share of semiconductor lasers used in DVD players and other equipment. Panasonic plans to use its superior technologies to explore the growing automotive-related market.
7% of the input power of a semiconductor laser becomes heat energy. If it is enclosed inside, the ability to emit light is likely to decrease. This makes it possible to develop an energy-saving laser that reduces heat energy for the first time in the industry.
The new semiconductor laser uses aluminum nitride, which is easy to conduct heat, on part of the element to form a structure that is easy to dissipate heat. To enable it to emit light efficiently, the output power of the laser has been increased from 3 watts, which was previously regarded as the limit, to the world's highest 4.5 watts. In addition, the irradiation distance is likely to increase from the current approximately 500 meters to approximately 700 meters. As a strategic component in the automotive-related market, which is a growth area, Panasonic strives to put it into practical use by 2019.
Automotive headlights are increasingly adopting energy-saving light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Due to their high price, semiconductor lasers are currently used in only some high-end cars in the automotive field. Panasonic will promote the advantages of laser illumination that can shine farther to expand demand. In addition, Panasonic will also sell it as a spotlight in stadiums and other places and as a light source for laser processing machines.
Panasonic positions automotive-related areas as growth businesses. It plans to increase sales of vehicle-related business to 2.1 trillion yen by 2018, an increase of 80% from 2014. Lithium-ion batteries and car navigation systems are driving growth, but in the future it hopes to make automotive headlight-related products its core product.
