Combined High Beam (upper) and Low Beam (dipper) switch to avoid accidents at night

Most of the drivers do not use dipper (low beam) headlamps of their vehicles in the night driving while approaching on the roads and highways. Most of the time, it is seen that vehicles approaching from the opposite side with high beam mode cause temporary blindness (glaring effect) creating conditions for any accidents. Dr. Prashant Dhanke, Assistant Professor- Chemical Engineering, PVPIT Budhgaon, Sangli – talks about a new concept to design switch for the vehicles that works on combined high beam and low beam lights and can be effectively used during night driving.

Working:

The figure below represents the working of the innovative switch for the vehicles to avoid accidents both in left-hand and right-hand driving conditions. Let’s consider we are driving a car or truck in left-hand or right-hand traffic country at night and we find that another vehicle is approaching us with its headlight on high beam mode. When both the vehicles come closer to each other, upper beam light goes straight to the driver’s eyes.

If the vehicle is equipped with the suggested switch that works on combined high beam and low beam, the effect will avoid probable accidents. Generally, all the cars or trucks are already equipped with the upper and dipper switch individually. Now it is required to introduce an additional switch that will give light on the roads. If both the vehicles are equipped with this new switch and if both the drivers turn it on, the lighting pattern will be as shown in the figure. The light on the driver side will work in dipper mode and on another side it will be upper mode. Dipper mode is useful to avoid glaring effects i.e. temporary blindness and upper beam is useful to increase the visibility for long-range. This long-range is useful to find any objects like parked vehicles, pedestrians, bikes, and animals and also to control the vehicle to go away from the roads. The switch can be used manually when required.