VDO, which was acquired by Continental, has developed a technology that improves visibility and cleans headlamps

Good visibility and adequate lighting are vital for safe driving, and especially when it gets dark or the weather turns foul. Fall and winter bring challenges, such as grimy windscreens and dirty headlamps. Wiper systems are constantly switched on and off as leaves, rain and slush come into play. However, it's not only the view through the windscreen that is impaired by poor road conditions, drivers often underestimate how restricted vision range can be with dirty headlamps on dark roads. This can have a negative effect on reaction time. VDO, which was recently acquired by Continental and has been developing technologies to enable the driver get a better view of the road ahead, has developed a new technology that improves visibility and cleans headlamps. Having a range of products and systems that include heated washer fluid reservoirs and state of the art nozzles, VDO has developed nozzles that clean away the dirt from the headlamps and windscreen with up to 3.5 bar water pressure.

Especially suited for applications that involve bi-xenon lamp systems where high intensity xenon headlamps are only at their most effective when there are no dirt particles that deflect the xenon light elsewhere, the new nozzle is part of the system comprising all the necessary components, ranging from water tanks for cleaning fluid, hoses and pumps. The washer fluid is pumped to the spray nozzles at a pressure of up to 3.5 bar even as the special nozzle design keeps the pressure constant until the fluid hits the windscreen. The fast-swinging jet uniformly spreads the fluid over the windscreen or headlamps. In two steps, the dirt is first loosened and then washed off. In doing so, the engineers can cut water consumption by almost half. The driver does not need to use the wipers or fill the fluid reservoir as often. Furthermore, the heated washer systems provide added comfort when temperatures drop below freezing.

VDO sources add that according to vehicle category - primarily in upmarket models - automobile manufacturers also can use Siemens VDO heated water tanks and hoses in addition to electrically heated nozzles. This makes problems such as frozen nozzles a thing of the past.