LED Floodlight Heat Sink with Venting Apertures for Thermal Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
High-luminance LED light fixtures face challenges in heat dissipation, which affects their lifespan and performance, particularly in large-area illumination applications like roadway lighting, where cost-effective solutions for improved heat management are needed.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates heat-sink-mounted LED-array modules with venting apertures and edge-adjacent fins on the heat-sink base to facilitate air ingress and heat dissipation, along with a mounting assembly for adjustable orientation, allowing for efficient thermal management and reduced manufacturing costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If high-luminance LED modules are used to increase light output, then illumination intensity is improved, but heat dissipation becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extends heat-dissipating surfaces vertically beyond the plane of the LED modules, creating fins that project upward and downward. This dimensional extension dramatically increases the surface area available for heat dissipation without increasing the horizontal footprint of the fixture, thereby resolving the contradiction between high light output and heat management.
Solution Approach 2:
The heat sink is segmented into multiple fins distributed across the heat-dissipating surface. This segmentation divides the heat dissipation function across numerous small surfaces, increasing the total effective area for thermal exchange with the environment while maintaining structural integrity and efficient heat distribution from the LED modules.
2Temperature
If expensive additional structure and apparatus are added to improve heat dissipation, then temperature control is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The heat dissipation function is merged with the structural support elements of the fixture. The same components that provide mechanical support and mounting functions also serve as heat sinks, eliminating the need for separate, expensive thermal management apparatus and reducing overall manufacturing costs while improving temperature control.
Solution Approach 2:
The heat-dissipating surfaces and structural elements serve multiple functions simultaneously: they provide mechanical support, enable thermal management, and contribute to the overall fixture architecture. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional specialized components, thereby lowering manufacturing costs while achieving effective heat dissipation.
3Temperature
If heat dissipation structures are added to extend beyond LED modules, then heat dissipation is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The heat-dissipating fins are designed to extend dynamically beyond the boundaries of the LED modules in both upward and downward directions. This dynamic extension allows the heat dissipation structure to adapt to thermal gradients and maximize exposure to cooling airflow, improving heat dissipation efficiency without requiring complex active control mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The heat dissipation structure employs asymmetric fin distribution, with different fin configurations above and below the LED module plane. This asymmetry optimizes heat dissipation in different thermal environments and airflow patterns, achieving superior thermal management while maintaining relatively simple geometric forms that are easy to manufacture.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enhances heat dissipation, extends LED lifespan, and increases power density, achieving a 50,000-hour lumen maintenance factor and boosting lumens per square inch from 95 to over 162, while maintaining thermal isolation between heat sinks.
Implementation Method 1
each module engaging an LED-adjacent surface of a heat-sink base for transfer of heat from the module
Implementation Method 2
Heat-sink heat-dissipating surfaces may extend away from the modules... provide air ingress to the heat-dissipating surfaces adjacent to the aperture
Data Source
AI summary
An LED floodlight fixture LED light fixture including a plurality of heat-sink-mounted LED-array modules, each module engaging an LED-adjacent surface of a heat-sink base for transfer of heat from the module, and at least one venting aperture through the heat-sink base to provide air ingress to the heat-dissipating surfaces adjacent to the aperture. The LED light fixture may include a plurality of heat sinks, each heat sink with its own heat-dissipating surfaces and heat-sink base which has one of the LED-array modules engaged thereon. The heat-sink base is wider than the module thereon such that the heat-sink base includes a beyond-module portion. The venting aperture(s) is/are through the beyond-module portion of the heat-sink base. The inventive light fixture may include a housing and an LED assembly which includes the heat-sink-mounted LED-array modules. The LED assembly and the housing form a venting gap therebetween to provide air ingress along the heat-sink base to the heat-dissipating surfaces.