Putting the spotlight on LED thermal design

摘要

Earlier this year new research from Future Facilities - maker of the 6SigmaET thermal simulation software - revealed the top challenges and trends in the LED industry for 2020 in its Thermal Focus project report. With LED usage becoming more common the research, which New Electronics reported on in our last issue, identified a number of key trends around the need to incorporate LEDs into increasingly compact designs that must be turned around in record time. These trends included greater customisation, improved reliability in a wider variety of climates and environments, and the need for faster thermal simulation tools. According to Chris Aldham, Product Manager at Future Facilities, "Today's thermal simulation platforms must offer an exceptional level of accuracy to prevent overheating and produce reliable end products. For LED devices, everything depends on temperature, but temperature depends on everything else. It's so interlinked that it's impossible to look at it in isolation; the entire design process matters."