Thermal design of high-power LED package and system

In this paper we present thermal analysis of three kinds of ceramic package designs for high power LEDs and thermal characterization of high power LED array system. The analysis was made by transient thermal measurement and thermal simulation using the finite volume method (FVM). For the package design, thermal behaviors, as are described in thermal resistance, of the three packaging designs were compared and evaluated as functions of bulk thermal resistance, spreading resistance, and surface roughness. The deviation between the simulated results and measured data were attributed to the different surface roughness in the interfaces between the packaging components. For the system design, the emphasis is placed upon the investigation of junction temperature rise of LED array for a limited range of boundary conditions which include design effect of heat pipe, convection condition, and ambient temperature. It was found out that the measured junction temperatures and thermal resistance of LED array are increased with the input power and ambient temperature and decreased with the air velocity. An analytical thermal model analogous with an equivalent parallel circuit system was proposed and was verified by comparison with experimental data.