High power light-emitting diodes (LEDs) can use 350 milliwatts or more in a single LED. Most of the electricity in an LED becomes heat rather than light – about 70% heat and 30% light. If this heat is not removed, the LEDs run at high temperatures, which not only lowers their efficiency, but also makes the LED less reliable, shortens its lifespan. Thus, thermal management of high power LEDs is a crucial area of the research and development. Limiting both the junction and the phosphor particles temperatures to a low value is required, which will guarantee desired LED lifetime. Thermal management is a universal problem having to do with power density, which occurs both at higher powers or in smaller devices. Many lighting applications wish to combine a high light flux with an extremely small light emitting substrate, causing concerns with LED power management to be particularly acute.
Heat transfer procedure In order to maintain a low junction temperature to keep good performance of an LED, every method of removing heat from LEDs should be considered. Conduction, convection, and radiation are the three means of heat transfer. Typically, LEDs are encapsulated in a transparent polyurethane-based resin, which is a poor thermal conductor. Nearly all heat produced is conducted through the back side of the chip. Heat is generated from the p–n junction by electrical energy that was not converted to useful light, and conducted to outside ambience through a long path, from junction to solder point, solder point to board, and board to the heat sink and then to the atmosphere. A typical LED side view and its thermal model are shown in the figures. The junction temperature will be lower if the thermal impedance is smaller and likewise, with a lower ambient temperature. To maximize the useful ambient temperature range for a given power dissipation, the total thermal resistance from junction to ambient must be minimized. The values for the thermal resistance vary widely depending on the material or component supplier. For example, RJC will range from 2.6 °C/W to 18 °C/W, depending on the LED manufacturer. The thermal interface material’s (TIM) thermal resistance will also vary depending on the type of material selected. Common TIMs are epoxy, thermal grease, pressure-sensitive adhesive and solder. Power LEDs are often mounted on metal-core printed circuit boards (MCPCB), which will be attached to a heat sink. Heat conducted through the MCPCB and heat sink is dissipated by convection and radiation. In the package design, the surface flatness and quality of each component, applied mounting pressure, contact area, the type of interface material and its thickness are all important parameters to thermal resistance design.
Passive thermal designs Some considerations for passive thermal designs to ensure good thermal management for high power LED operation include:
Adhesive Adhesive is a thermal conductive interface layer, which is commonly used to bond LED and board, and board and heat sinks and further optimizes the thermal performance. Current commercial adhesive is limited by relatively low thermal conductivity ~1 W/(mK).
Heat sink Heat sinks provide a path for the heat from the LED source to outside medium. Heat sinks can dissipate power in three ways:
conduction - heat transfer from one solid to another convection - heat transfer from a solid to a moving fluid, which for most LED applications will be air radiation - heat transfer from two bodies of different surface temperatures through Thermal radiation. Also, heatsink:
Material – The thermal conductivity of the material that the heat sink is made from directly affects the dissipation efficiency through conduction. Normally this is aluminum, although copper may be used with an advantage for flat-sheet heat sinks. New materials include thermoplastics that are used when heat dissipation requirements are lower than normal or complex shape would be advantaged by injection molding, and natural graphite solutions which offer better thermal transfer than copper with a lower weight than aluminum plus the ability to be formed into complex two-dimensional shapes. Graphite is considered an exotic cooling solution and does come at a higher production cost. Heat pipes may also be added to aluminum or copper heat sinks to reduce spreading resistance. Shape – Thermal transfer takes place at the surface of the heat sink. Therefore, heat sinks should be designed to have a large surface area. This goal can be reached by using a large number of fine fins or by increasing the size of the heat sink itself. Although a bigger surface area leads to better cooling performance, there must be sufficient space between the fins to generate a considerable temperature difference between the fin and the surrounding air. When the fins stand too close together, the air in between can become almost the same temperature as the fins, so that thermal transmission will not occur. Therefore, more fins do not necessarily lead to better cooling performance.
Surface Finish – Thermal radiation of heat sinks is a function of surface finish, especially at higher temperatures. A painted surface will have a greater emissivity than a bright, unpainted one. The effect is most remarkable with flat-plate heat sinks, where about one-third of the heat is dissipated by radiation. Moreover, a perfectly flat contact area allows the use of a thinner layer of thermal compound, which will reduce the thermal resistance between the heat sink and LED source. On the other hand, anodizing or etching will also decrease the thermal resistance. Mounting method – Heat-sink mountings with screws or springs are often better than regular clips, thermal conductive glue or sticky tape. For heat transfer between LED sources over 15 Watt and LED coolers, it is recommended to use a high thermal conductive interface material (TIM) which will create a thermal resistance over the interface lower than 0.2 K/W. Currently, the most common solution is to use a phase-change material, which is applied in the form of a solid pad at room temperature, but then changes to a thick, gelatinous fluid once it rises above 45 °C.
Heat pipes and vapor chambers Heat pipes and vapor chambers are passive, and have effective thermal conductivities ranging from 10,000 to 100,000 W/m K. They can provide the following benefits in LED thermal management:
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