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Our Featured Article
LED Lighting Modules: Taking The Heat Out Of The Situation
By: James Stratford
The appeal of using LEDs in lighting applications is growing rapidly.
The numerous and significant benefits of using modules that
incorporate a matrix of LEDs are being recognized by design engineers
in several key industry sectors, including aerospace, architectural
lighting, and the “golden egg” automotive market.
Attributes such as design flexibility, low power consumption, even and
reliable light, and long lifetime distinguish LED modules from designs
based on traditional filament lamps and fluorescent tubes. LEDs can
also have knock-on benefits, such as greatly reducing the size and
complexity of the module and simplifying the lens design.
A good example of some other benefits of LED lighting is demonstrated
by an application in the cabin of a passenger aircraft. A retrofit LED
unit that replaced a fluorescent-tube lighting module enabled finely
controlled dimming and also provided mood lighting through the use of
differently coloured LEDs.
Thermal management
Perhaps the most challenging issue when realizing a module design that
uses LEDs is to manage the temperature of individual device junctions
during normal operation. If the considerable amount of heat produced
by all the devices in a module is not managed correctly then the
junction temperatures may reach a level where the LEDs’ expected life
is shortened and reliability is compromised (see Links).
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