Thermal analysis of an 80 W light-emitting diode street lamp

Light-emitting diode (LED) street lamps rely heavily on successful thermal management, which strongly affects the optical extraction and the reliability/durability of the LED lamp. A thermal analysis of an 80 W LED street lamp was done. Sixteen thermocouples were used to measure the temperatures at 16 different positions of the street lamp. The results demonstrated that the temperature of the frame and the heat sink of the 80 W LED street lamp remained stable at about 42degC after several hours of lighting at a room temperature of 11degC, and the bulk material resistance of the heat sink could be neglected. Numerical simulation was also used to analyse the temperature distribution of the lamp. The reliability of the numerical model was proven by a comparison of simulation results with the experimental data. Through simulations and the corresponding analyses it was found that the tested 80 W LED street lamp would have poor reliability at an environment temperature of 45degC.