How LED Thermal Solutions Can Be Helpful

Posted by Alex Thomas on October 27th, 2016

The appeal of using LEDs in lighting applications is growing quickly. The numerous and significant advantages of using modules that integrate a matrix of LEDs are being acknowledged by design engineers in quite a lot of key industry sectors, including aerospace, architectural illumination, to name a few.

Attributes such as design flexibility, low power consumption, even and trustworthy light, and long lifetime discern LED modules from designs dependent on traditional filament lamps and fluorescent tubes. LEDs can also have knock-on paybacks, such as greatly lessening the size and complexity of the module plus simplifying the lens design.

One more example of a few other benefits of LED lighting is demonstrated by an application within the cabin of a passenger airplane. A retrofit LED unit that substituted a fluorescent-tube lighting module enables finely controlled dimming and also offered mood lighting through the use of differently colored LEDs.

Thermal Management

Perhaps the most demanding concern when realizing a module design that makes use of LEDs is to manage the temperature of individual device junctions throughout normal operation. If the substantial amount of heat formed by all the devices in a module is not managed properly then the junction temperatures might reach a level where the LEDs' anticipated life is shortened and trustworthiness is compromised.

Going Three-Dimensional

Flat sheets of insulated metal circuit board consist of copper foil, a dielectric layer along with an aluminum base plate have been obtainable for several years. In the eyes of the progressive LED module designer, the main difficulty has been that flat sheets of insulated metal circuit board restrict them to 2D shapes. To address this restriction, new dielectric materials are becoming obtainable that has a low modulus, which means they are compliant with mechanical stress and strain.

Strength and Durability

LEDs themselves are inherently hard-wearing. Mounting them on metal based circuit boards only serves to improve their robustness and that of the completed module, offering excellent resistance to vibration and mechanical shock. Automotive lighting clusters give a good example of how LED modules can offer superior performance corresponding to traditional filament lamps.

Temperature Modeling

Thermal analysis software packages are offered to help verify LED based module designs before they are sent to production. These software packages collect data from an incorporated database about LED performance and specifications along with those of other equipments that are mounted on the insulated metal circuit board. This data is combined with other data about elements of the design, together with the copper traces, power and ground planes.

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Alex Thomas

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Alex Thomas
Joined: October 27th, 2016
Articles Posted: 3

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