Thermal management of high-power LEDs
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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).[1] 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. Thus, thermal management of high power LEDs is a crucial area of research and development. It is necessary to limit both the junction and the phosphor particles temperatures to a value that will guarantee the desired LED lifetime.[2][3]
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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.