Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

John Wesley Wilds

Arun Kumar

Albert S Ekladyous

Sleiman N Abdelnour

Mahendra Somasara Dassanayake

Candace Carolyn Glasgow

Michael Wegrzyn

Venkatesan Balaraman

Stephanie Askew

John Keller

Diane Marie LaHaie

Bruce C Arnold

Kevin William Kiedaisch

Thomas William Partch

Michael George Lysenko

Diane Marie Lahaie

A headlamp aimer box includes a housing defining an opening and a tunnel, a window disposed within the opening, and a whiteboard disposed at one end of the tunnel. The box further includes a mirror disposed within the tunnel. The mirror redirects a beam passing through the window from a headlamp toward the whiteboard. A length of the tunnel is such that light patterns directed by facets of the headlamp sufficiently cross a median line associated with the headlamp to form a developed beam on the whiteboard.

Headlamp aimer box

A method of aiming a light source includes using an image-capturing device to capture a light beam pattern from the light source. Here, the light beam pattern is configured to include a plurality of contrast ratios transitioning from a first intensity region to a second intensity region. The method includes processing the contrast ratios of the light beam pattern to obtain corresponding values of the contrast ratios, transitioning from the first intensity region to the second intensity region, where the corresponding values are logarithmic values, which in turn generate a related response curve. Finally, the method provides for using the logarithmic values and the response curve to aim the light source.

Headlamp aiming using high-dynamic range camera

A method for aiming headlamps on a vehicle achieves a reduced variation in beam heights without making any changes to existing test equipment. A cutoff height of a first headlamp is measured. The first headlamp is adjusted until a first measured cutoff height is within a predetermined range centered on a predetermined fixed height. A cutoff height of a second headlamp is measured. The second headlamp is adjusted until a second measured cutoff height is within the predetermined range centered on the first measured cutoff height.

Dynamic headlamp aim buy-off window

An alignment tool for a steering wheel, where the steering wheel is mounted on a steering column and the tool is configured to attach to the steering wheel. The tool includes a wheel orientation mechanism including a first tilt sensor, reporting a clockwise angle of the steering wheel, and a tilt monitoring mechanism that includes a second tilt sensor to report a tilt angle of the steering column.

Tilt-angle compensated steering wheel angle gauge

A method for accurately aiming vehicle headlamps, with apparatus for practicing the method. A vision system, including a digital camera, is positioned in front of a headlamp, in communication with a control device. The control device employs pattern recognition to identify the optical axis indicia within the headlamp, and based on the identified location of that indicia, the control system accurately aligns a beamsetter with the optical axis of the headlamp.

Vision-based headlamp aiming

A headlamp aiming system is provided for aiming a headlamp of a vehicle. An aimer includes a CCD camera for receiving illumination produced by the headlamp to produce a beam pattern image. A controller receives the beam pattern image from the aimer to determine an aiming correction to move the detected beam pattern to a predetermined position. An adjuster is operatively coupled to the vehicle for executing adjustments of the headlamp in response to the aiming correction. The CCD camera captures an initial image using an initial exposure time, measures a light accumulation value corresponding to the initial image, determines a final exposure time in response to the measured light accumulation value and a predetermined light accumulation value, and captures the beam pattern image using the final exposure time.

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Trenton, MI, United States of America

John Wesley Wilds