A review of LED technology trends and relevant thermal management strategies

This paper presents an overview of evolving phosphor converted light emitting diode (LED) technology employed in general lighting applications. Its aim is to present technical developments alongside discussion regarding commercial implications and constraints. It integrates a number of elements that typically remain rather disparate. In itself the material does not represent a technological breakthrough. However, it does provide an exploration of the interplay between these criteria with reference to commercial practice. Its findings highlight that the requirement for increased luminous flux from the LED light source is being realised through development of higher power density components and increased luminous efficacy sources. However, evidence also indicates a growing trend towards employing multiple lower power sources, enabled by the rapidly falling component cost. As a consequence, thermal management technologies capable of handling the localised, high thermal flux of single high power LEDs become less vital. This is opening new opportunities for simpler and potentially cheaper thermal management strategies.