1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to automotive lighting and, more particularly, to a projection headlamp system employing a combination of components for projecting a wide spread controlled pattern of light.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Incandescent projection headlamp systems have been available on automobiles for a number of years. More recently, projection headlamp systems employing metal halide discharge lamps have been proposed and demonstrated for use on automobiles. These systems use a mask to give the sharp cutoff required for an acceptable low beam illumination pattern.
With the present trend toward automobiles with lower hood lines, smaller projection headlamp systems are of growing interest to the automotive industry. However, the systems proposed thus far have certain inherent limitations making it difficult to reduce their size. Thus, the problem confronting projection headlamp designers is to make a system as small as possible while still providing a satisfactory light pattern.
Consequently, a need still exists for improvements in the design of projection headlamp systems.