Importance of Thermal Management for High Power LEDs

Posted by SinkPAD LLC on October 13th, 2015

In the recent past, LED technology has seen a wide range of application in home appliances as well as in industry. High power LEDs, generate a lot of heat in the process of application. This is because of the electricity they consume, 70% converts to heat while the rest converts into light. This heat is not good as it makes the LED to run at high temperatures. This high temperature affects the LED in two ways.

Firstly, the LED will not work as efficiently as they should. The high temperatures affect the environment in which the LED operates and this causes the LED to work as it should not. It is therefore important to lower this temperature in order for the LED to work the way it should. The second way that the high temperatures affect the LED is that it makes it less reliable. This is because it may overheat and shut down thus causing disruptions.

Use of Heat sinks

It is therefore important to manage the high temperature in the LEDs by conducting away the heat generated. There are many ways to do this and one effective way is by using heatsink for LED. A heat sink provides a path through which the heat moves from the LED source to the outside medium. The heat sink can use convection, conduction or radiation to move this heat away from the LED source. When choosing a heat sink, you need to consider various features for a successful process.

Shape and material

When looking for a heat sink, you need to consider a few things in order to make the thermal management successful. The material used to make the heat sink will affect how the heat dissipates from the LED source. Aluminium has high dissipation efficiency and most heat sinks will employ it. Copper is another efficient material and is applicable for flat-sheet heat sinks. The shape of the heat sink also determines its efficiency. Since the heat transfer occurs on the surface of the heat sink, it should have a high surface area. This means the heat sink should have numerous fins or be large.

Surface finish and mounting

The other consideration in thermal management is the surface finish of the heat sink to use. The type of finish the heat sink has should reduce the thermal resistance between the LED source and the conductor. The other consideration is the method you will use to mount the LED heat sink. Heat sink mountings should utilize either screws or springs as these are better at thermal management than using glue or tape. The choice of heat sink will therefore play an important role in efficient thermal management. For more details please visit https://storify.com/sinkpadllc/importance-of-thermal-management-for-high-power-le