Thermal management technology of high-power light-emitting diodes for automotive headlights

The heat dissipation problem of high-power LEDs (Light-Emitting Diodes) limits their applications in automobile headlights. The heat demand for cooling LED headlights is analyzed based on heat transfer theory. This study proposes an initiative heat dissipation technology of temperature feedback control combined heat pipe and heat sink. The corresponding hardware and software control processes are designed. The temperature feedback control is realized with an MCU (Micro Control Unit) that judges and controls the synthetic jet device working process. A 3D model for the heat pipe radiator is constructed using CATIA. The model is optimized with the fluid thermodynamic simulation software FLOEFD. Finally, a sample lamp is prepared and tested with an infrared thermometer. The temperature distribution on each LED light source and radiator fin is quantitatively measured and analyzed. These results confirm that the designs of the thermal management system and the proposed technique solve the heat dissipation problem of high-power LED automotive headlights under the ambient temperature 50 degrees C indeed.