Dec 19 2012
Mentor Graphics Corporation today announced significant advances in their T3Ster®+TeraLED® measurement and characterization hardware, as well as in FloEFD™ software simulation products, to meet the needs of lighting developers using arrays of LEDs in headlights, taillights and other transportation industry applications. These advances enable developers to efficiently manage the heat and condensation developed by these arrays thus improving product reliability and life.
In addition, with T3Ster and TeraLED hardware’s ability to measure both thermal and optical characteristics of single LEDs and full arrays, proper light quality and color can be achieved.
Mentor is the only industry supplier to provide a complete physical measurement, characterization and thermal simulation solution of LEDs and LED SSL arrays.
Now the FloEFD product has been extended with a dedicated LED module which enables thermal simulation of the most advanced LED products along with the capability of predicting their “hot lumens” i.e. their total emitted luminous flux at their operating temperatures. This capability is provided through an LED model library whose elements are characterized directly from physical tests by the Mentor® T3Ster+TeraLED combined thermal and radiometric/photometric LED testing solution. In addition, the FloEFD LED models support radiation absorption in semi-transparent solids, such as the head or taillight lens.
“LEDs shipped to use in headlamps are forecast to grow significantly from 10 million units in 2012 to 78 million units in 2018,” stated Jamie Fox, lighting and LEDs research manager for IMS Research (now part of IHS). “The quality, lifetime and reliability requirements in the automotive sector are very high, higher than most other LED sectors.”
“The use of LEDs in the transportation industry is expanding rapidly, led by Europe but now also prevalent in the US and Asia,” stated Erich Buergel, general manager of the Mentor Graphics Mechanical Analysis Division. “We have serviced this industry for several years now but larger, hotter and more complex shaped arrays are driving us to enhance our FloEFD, T3Ster, and TeraLED products to stay ahead of our users’ needs. These enhancements will ensure that the industry is able to advance while maintaining high product reliability and achieving faster times to market.”
LED arrays are becoming larger and to accommodate these larger arrays, Mentor is now providing a 50 cm diameter sphere, in addition to their 30 cm, on their TeraLED product to measure optical performance. A 50 cm sphere is large enough to hold LEDs used in headlights and taillights producing up to 7500 lumens, with cooling for up to 50W of heat dissipation. This combination assures that the industry will be able to develop their most aggressive LED array designs and meet the needs of the automotive industry.