Radiator temperature regimes for the cooling system of a powerful LED lighting device

Abstract

High-power lighting devices based on LED sources are the most effective solution for the lighting at emergency rescue operations in emergency zones. At the same time the challenges with thermal management of chip on board (COB) LED elements becomes more significant, since increasing electric power leads to an increase in heat flux and LED die temperature which negatively affects their reliability and light characteristics. One of the ways to solve this problem is to use highly efficient two-phase heat transfer devices for the cooling systems, such as gravity-assisted heat pipes built into the base of several aluminum heatsinks. The authors carried out an experimental study of the temperature regimes of the aluminum heatsink at natural convection, taking into account the following factors: thermal power, environment orientation, and different locations of the heat source relative to the height of the heatsink. The results of experimental studies of the heatsink temperature parameters were used to verify the computer model. This enables the computer model to be used for thermal simulations and the optimisation of heat sink designs under free convection, taking into account radiation heat transfer over a wide temperature range and with different heatsink locations. The comparison of experimental data with simulation results confirmed that the computer model is adequate and can be used to design cooling systems based on gravity-assisted heat pipes for lighting devices.