Macroblock

At Automotive Lamp Exhibition 2019 (ALE 2019) in Shanghai held on March 21-22, Macroblock (Booth No.: 120) is showcasing its automotive lighting and display driver IC solutions under the theme of “Driving Pixels in Automotive Lighting”. At Macroblock’s booth, the demonstrations are categorized in three zones: the front zone, the rear zone, and the car display zone.

In the front zone, Macroblock demonstrates head lamp, fog lamp and side mirror lamp applications.

Head Lamp:
The demonstration of head lamp combines high beam, low beam, Day Time Running (DRL) lamp, and turn indicator.

High beam and low beam are both adopted by MBI6671, a multi-topology (Buck, Boost, Buck / Boost) constant current LED controller. MBI6671 provides wide input voltage range (5.4V~65V) and is AEC-Q100 compliant. Other features include simple circuitry design and external MOSFET for better efficiency /heat dissipation and driving higher output power.

DRL lamp and turn indicator use the flagship driver IC, MBI1841, containing 8 linear channels with up to 150mA output current for each channel. It has built-in multiple rolling patterns without additional coding effort to achieve effects by simply setting up external resistors., allowing speedy DRL and position lamp altering as well as hardware setting. The buck constant voltage control also improves efficiency up to 80% and provides better thermal performance.

Fog Lamp:
Macroblock provides two solutions for fog lamps. The first fog lamp solution adopts MBI6657 built-in 1.2A MOSFET. This is a low EMI solution to avoid any AM/FM radio interference. The second light guide fog lamp solution uses MBI6671, flexible to support buck and buck-boost topologies. It also provides simple dimmable circuitry. Both MBI6657 and MBI6671 are AEC-Q100 compliant.

Side Mirror Lamp:
The side mirror lamp uses one MBI1841 to switch in between position lamp and turn indicator. When applying to position lamps, it has built-in welcome patterns that allow speedy hardware settings. For turn indicators, MBI1841 helps fasten timing adjustment and simplify lighting effect development.

In the rear zone, Macroblock demonstrates rear lamp unit, tail light and rear trunk multi-function LED stripe.

Rear Lamp:
The combined rear lamp unit contains rear lamp, brake lamp and turn indicator. MBI1841 is adopted for all three in this demonstration.

As aforementioned features of MBI1841, its built-in rear/brake modes can apply to existing products without using complicated dimming method. The rear lamp delay function also saves wire connection. Comparing to MCU-based solution, MBI1841 is a highly-integrated “one-chip” solution in terms of circuit design complexity, flexibility and efficiency.

Tail Light:
Macroblock first reveals its innovative “display-like” tail light solution using MBI5353. MBI5353 is a 48-channel constant current LED driver IC, which is good for fine pitch LED module design. Its dynamic pattern design allows users to customize tail light patterns, and it also can be message displays for road communication or emergency use.

Rear Trunk Multi-function LED stripe:
The rear trunk multi-function LED stripe is adopted with MBI5353 for its simplified board design and flexible pattern design. Maximum 1536 area can be controlled individually, and the maximum sustaining voltage of 17V allows more cascaded LEDs.

As for the car display zone, Macroblock first demonstrates some innovative solutions for head-up display (HUD) and rearview mirror LED backlit monitor at ALE 2019.

Head-Up Display (HUD):
The HUD demonstration uses MBI5353 on its fine pitch LED module. LED head-up display may be a trend for its high contrast visual performance and free-form/size features. As above-mentioned, MBI5353 can control maximum 1536 area, and more, MBI5353 not only provides better visual performance, but also allows dynamic power saving when partial LEDs are not in use.

Rearview Mirror / Dashboard LED Backlit Monitor:
The rearview mirror / dashboard LED backlit monitor is adopted with MBI5353 for its backlit solution. Its multi-zone local dimming feature is ideal for HDR effect, and the dynamic power saving for LEDs that are partially not in use all allow users to benefit from these features.

For more information, please visit Macroblock’s website (www.mblock.com.tw) or email us via marketing@mblock.com.tw .