Experimental investigation of high-power light-emitting diodes’ thermal management by ionic wind

Abstract

It is urgently necessary to find an effective way to solve the problem of thermal management in high-power light-emitting diodes (HPLED) because most of the input power is converted into heat, which leads to a high junction temperature. Novel ionic wind generators have been developed in the present work for effective cooling of high-power LEDs. The working performance of the ionic wind using ‘wire-to-net’ and ‘needle-to-net’ electrodes were investigated experimentally. The electric field intensity distribution of ‘needle-to-net’ ionic wind generator was described mathematically. The results indicate that better cooling performance could be obtained when thin wire or pointed needle were used at smaller discharge gap with reasonable electrode spacing under negative corona discharge. The maximum electric field intensity could be obtained at the tip of needles. Finally, the advantages of using ionic wind for cooling the LEDs were confirmed to be higher in efficiency, lower in energy consumption and mechanical noise.