Aug 31 2010
LED North America, manufacturer of LED lighting products, has licensed Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)’s graphite foam technology that extends the durability of the LED lamps.
James Klett from the Materials Science and Technology Division, ORNL has developed the graphite foam technology. LED North America has planned to employ the graphite foam technology to passively cool the LED components. The LED lamps are increasingly being used for parking garage lighting and street lighting applications.
Cooling the LED lamps is important to improve their efficiency. In fact, a minimum of 10-degree temperature reduction can double the lifespan of the light components. The graphite foam can be used to manage the heat generated by LEDs, which may extend lamp life, reduce costs and enable potential savings for the consumers. These factors may result in wider adoption of LED lamps. The graphite foam technology offers a number of benefits such as easy machinability, high thermal conductivity, design flexibility and affordable alterative to aluminum and copper materials.
The skeletal structure of the graphite foam comprises air pockets, which makes its lightweight, and the unique graphite crystal structure of the foam is the key to its efficient conductivity. The foam’s ligament network dissipates heat from its source; this feature makes it an ideal cooling option for the LED lamp components.