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Technical Paper

Evolution of Luminaires in the Automotive Lighting Industry towards LEDs requires Revolution of Thermal Management

2012-04-16
2012-01-0259
With the change of luminaires from incandescent bulbs to Light Emitting Diodes (LED), we all know that the concept of thermal management for this application is now redundant and new ways of thinking need to be established. While incandescent bulbs mostly radiate (~83%) and dissipate (~12%) heat loss and do not face thermal challenges related to the light source, LEDs mostly transfer their heat loss (~60-85%) by conduction and are sensitive to the thermal management. Therefore the efficiency of a 100W incandescent bulb is ~5% while the efficiency of LEDs is ~15-40%. The main thermal challenges with LEDs are to maintain a high color stability and life expectancy. LEDs in the automotive industry need to have lifelong durability. With LEDs being not only more efficient, but also valuable in terms of higher visibility and therefore higher safety, the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) set the Day-time running lamp (DRL) as mandatory from 2011 for all new models of cars.
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