| 摘要 |
A vehicle (10) with a plurality of individually addressable light sources (25), preferably semiconductor laser light sources or light emitting diodes, each of which produces a beam of light, are optically coupled to a fiber optic waveguide (28a, 28b, 29a, 29b, 30a, 30b). The laser light sources (25) are grouped together preferably at a single location within the vehicle for easy access and conveniently located within the vehicle. Fiber waveguides waveguide (28a, 28b, 29a, 29b, 30a, 30b) distally transmit the beams to the optical loads of the vehicle, including the brake lights (13), taillights (12), instrumentation lights (17) and tum signals (15). Each fiber optic waveguide (28a, 28b, 29a, 29b, 30a, 30b) may be a single optical fiber, such as a multimode fiber, having a numerical aperture large enough to receive illumination from a plurality of light sources. In cases where some optical loads require a larger flux or brightness of light, such as vehicular headlights (16), which may be greater than a single optic fiber can transmit, the waveguide may comprise a bundle of optical fibers. Multipl e light sources to a single optical output load allows switching to another operational light source or increase the intensity of remaining light sources should one light source fail. In this manner, the operational life of the vehicular lighting system is increased. Also disclosed is circuitry for operating applications of the system as well as illustrating the employment of color wavelength laser light sources.
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