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The Light Stuff

Award spotlight shines on Delphi custom color backlighting technology in the Chevy Tahoe.

Members of the Delphi team that developed the innovative custom-color backlighting technology were pleased that it was being recognized by the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE^®).

But little did they realize as they attended the 37th annual SPE Automotive Innovation Awards Competition & Gala in Troy, Mich., last fall that their invention would be honored with more than the top award in the competition's Materials category. In fact, the backlighting technology used on the 2007 Chevy Tahoe was named the competition's Grand Award winner as the most innovative technology in the competition. The Grand Award is the competition's most prestigious award and is presented to the best-of-the-best from the award-winning technologies in each of the event's seven categories. The innovation uses color converting plastics to illuminate the vehicle's audio system and highlight the controls on the instrument panel.

"Delphi nominated the Tahoe for the award in the Materials category, but winning the top award was a surprise, and one our entire team is very proud of," said Paul Uglum, technology advocate for appearance technologies, Delphi Electronics & Safety. "Throughout the entire project, we worked closely with GM and other suppliers to develop this technology, and it's great the team was recognized."

Bright idea

Delphi's patented backlighting technology is not only used in the Chevy Tahoe—but in the entire GMT 900 lineup of trucks—to illuminate the vehicle's audio system and climate control and highlight the controls on the instrument panel. The innovative use of color-converting translucent plastic and a light delivery system allow custom color backlighting at lower cost.

The custom effect of the backlighting technology is achieved via off-the-shelf blue LEDs (light emitting diodes) that absorb one color and emit another. The result is a unique "below-the-board" light delivery system that requires only five LEDs, 80 percent fewer than comparable systems, to produce the desired color. And, even with fewer components, Delphi's system not only yields lower cost, but better control of emitted color and higher reliability.

"Moving color control from the LED to the plastic button not only results in more uniform, controllable emitted color, but also makes backlighting in low-volume, niche colors economically feasible," said Uglum.

In addition to GM, other vehicle manufacturers are expressing interest in Delphi's backlighting technology. By enabling a wide range of colors, multiple colors in the same product, better control of emitted color, high reliability, and a fast development cycle, it is ideally suited for use in a wide range of applications.

	With Delphi's custom color backlighting technology, five standard-color LEDs replace 30 custom color LEDs to illuminate the same 30 sites. Pictured on the left is the before. Pictured on the right is the after, which has the desired color at a lower system cost.

"This technology is consistent with Delphi's driving philosophy to develop new and exciting ways for vehicle manufacturers to add value to their products," said Uglum. "This is a great example of how we are focusing on innovation and lowering cost to help make our customers more competitive." SPE's Innovation Awards recognize the 'most innovative use of plastics' in the automotive industry, and Delphi is proud to have helped GM receive top honors."