ENDA DAILY

Those LEDS make me bend my knees Lesson#2

Lesson #2 LEDS (light-emitting diodes)

We see them everywhere now, ever since Audi revolutionized the automotive world with the A5 and its brilliant LED’s no other major car company–except BMW’s Halo lights–was in their league in terms of looks! Well we are going to go back to chemistry class and learn about how these brilliant and innovative lights work!

I really don’t want to confuse anyone to begin with so I’ll try my best to skip the more detailed parts….hopefully! So in essence a LED is formed between two intrinsic or extrinsic (contains impurities) semiconductors, a n-type and p-type. When these two semiconductors are put together they form a junction called a P-N junction (predictable name).  The P side is dominated by positive charged “holes” where as the n type has a high negative charge density. The junction created by the two semiconductors serves as the determinate for current flow. Look at the figures below (provided by imagesco.com)!

Now we are getting to the important part of this subject! The electrons want to fill the holes on the P side of the junction, but in order to do that they have to overcome the energy barrier in the junction in order to make it on the other side. The electrons are currently in a lower energy level, but as they make their transition through the junction they release energy equal to that band-gap in the form of photons in order to move across (they move when a voltage is applied to overcome the energy barrier). This energy goes into emitted infrared or visible light in LED’s. The most common semiconductors used are Silicon (Si) or Gallium (Ga), in order to get different colors the chemical composition is changed with the addition of various compounds most including phosphorus. So LED’s are graded on their specific wavelengths and intensities based on the materials used to make them. Since LED’s don’t have any moving parts it reduces their chance of being damaged due to vibration or shock and are also heat resistant 200K/watt. 

So in short that is how those LED’s most of us have on our cars work, I know a lot of scientists and engineers might have something to say about the choice of words I used to describe the processes, but hey I got my Chemistry degree I can say whatever I want right! The application list for these parts is extensiv
“rice” their rides by going on an LED frenzy! There are some applications where the traditional halogen light bulbs still look better then their newly popular LED sisters.

 

Riced OUT NISSAN

Pretty 2012

#10 BMW M6 

Power: 560 hp ,     Torque: 502 ft/lb

Engine: V8 Twin-Turbine

0-60: 4.2’s

Top Speed: 190 mph

The BMW sedan/coupe performance models are almost complete. With the alpina B7 coming out first followed by the beautiful M5; I’m falling in love with Bimmers all over again. Although I haven’t driven the new models, I hope they still keep the promise of giving an more than exceptional ride and qualitiy in not only performance, but in the parts they offer; wait what am I saying, of course they will. Euro tuners such as AC Schnitzer, Vorsteiner, Prior Design, etc have already started marketing on the new F type rides. I seriously can’t wait for the new F M3.

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Banzai!

I Love this kit from Power House Amuse, I saw the GTR at the Chicago Auto Show 2 years ago and its one of the best kits for the GTR. The spoiler is perfect and the other parts aren’t overly used.

Seeing new Horizons

Well as we have it one of the three best racing franchises to hit the market is coming out with their new title on Oct. 23 2012. Yes, its Forza Horizon the most anticipated racing game this year. Xbox also has a demo for those who are new to the game and want to try it out  also for the vets who want to see whats new and get a Viper as a prize car for playing.

The first time Forza came out, it quickly became a hit. It was different from the competition they were up against and exclusive to a particular console. It featured different world tracks, drag racing, touge, and their incredible options to customize your ride in order to make it your own. Forza 2 then came after, but it took out some concepts that people really enjoyed in the first game, so when Forza 3 came back some/most of those features were reapplied to the game.

The games have been very popular especially with customization, while racing online you can see racers that have sonic the hedgehog to anime characters on them, most of which have been created using decals and hours of work. I can’t speak too much of the fourth installment because I decided to go with GT5, but I played it and it didn’t seem that different from the third, it felt like an updated version of 3.

However this new installment brings back memories and also shows other companies what they did wrong. If you have ever played Grid, Need for Speed: Pro Street and Test Drive Unlimited you will know exactly what I’m talking about. Grid brought new features into motorsport racing–rewind option–as well as a focus on GT, DTM, and drift/touge tuning, however there wasn’t much of a customization option. It felt like all the cars were almost the same. Even so this game was very enjoyable to play.

Test Drive Unlimited 1&2 have awesome concepts and beautiful landscape to tour, but as far as detail towards the cars, it definitely lacks in that category. Even the engine sounds, the shifting, and handling of cars just makes you hate driving around the landscape. If the game was like grand theft auto it would be more enjoyable. The feeling I get from Forza is what Test Drive should have done; spending more time on how the cars feel to the players.

And for Need for Speed: Pro Street all I have to say is play pro street before Forza Horizon. I can’t say Horizon will be better–since I obviously haven’t played the full game–but the concept that Pro Street was supposed to be built upon is what Forza Horizon has accomplished. Pro Street had so much potential, but it just died down after the first 15 min of driving.

So check it out I like the game, and I think its a good direction for them. It reminded me of when Need for Speed was king of building racing games for ultimate fun (Highstakes, Hot Pursuit 2, Porsche Unleashed, Underground). Forza still rains king for the ultimate custom workshop game for cars and GT5 rules in it graphics and realistic driving simulation.