Thermal Challenges of LED Frontlighting Design

JosefSchug                                    Meng Han

       Automotive LED Development        Application Development Center APR

PhilipsAutomotive Lighting               Philips Automotive Lighting

`                                  Aachen, Germany                          Shanghai, PRC

Josef.Schug@philips.com             Meng.han@philips.com

Abstract— Thanks to uniquestyling opportunities, high energy efficiency, long lifetime and dynamicfeatures, LED headlamps have gained a strong position in the market. Furtherdevelopment is ongoing at fast pace.

Recentdevelopments in thermal design of LEDs and LED systems enable new, compact, cost-savingLED headlamps with increased performance. Especially LED light sources withimproved thermal performance and optimized hot-cold factor allow for asignificant reduction of heat sink size.  

LEDplug&play light sources for headlighting as well as signaling applicationsreduce the engineering effort in lamp design. Various new serviceable LED lightsources are currently being introduced into UN Regulation R128. This waystandardization and regulation provide the opportunity maintain traffic safetyat high level while reducing system costs as well as maintenance costs for endconsumers.

LEDmodules and systems based on low Rth PCB  allow for the design of high performance LEDheadlamps with simplified thermal management, enabling various applicationslike DRL, front fog, distributed low beam and matrix beam. These functionsrequire good thermal contact between LED package and PCB board .

Inthis contribution we will outline the thermal challenges of LED frontlighting systemsat both LED source and module levels, discuss the most relevant developmentsand provide an outlook on future developments and roadmaps.  

LEDheadlamp, Thermal management, Rth, LED, LED module, LED Light Source, IMS, PCB,P&P, R128