The Simulation Analysis of LED Luminaires for Indoor Lighting
Wanchun Tian, Daoguo Yang, Miao Cai, Zhen Zhang, Ming Gong, Yu Yang
Guangxi Key Laboratory of Manufacturing System and Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Guilin University of
Electronic Technology, Guilin541004, China
E-mail: daogu03ang@163.com
Abstract
In this paper, some models of LED luminaires with drive
power supply were established by Pro/Engineer. The
temperature distribution of these models was obtained by
ANSYS Workbench. And the influences of the location of
drive power supply and surface areas of heat sinks were
discussed. When drive power supply was located in different
groove, the temperature of drive power supply was gradually
reduced from 73.5 C to 66.9 DC, and the chip temperature
was mainly stabilized in 70 C. And then increasing the
surface areas of heat sinks, the highest temperature of LED
luminaires gradually dropped 16.2 C and 9.7 DC. At last, the
simulation results were validated by a comparison with the test
results. It is indicate that the temperature distribution from the
[mite element modeling matches reasonably well with the test
results. Utilizing the advantages of these models, the heat
dissipation of LED luminaires can be improved in some
extent. This analysis has certain reference value to improve
the reliability of LED luminaires products.
1 Introduction
Light emitting diode (LED) is considered to be a new
generation of lighting source due to its distinctive advantages
of long lifetime, high reliability, environmental protection and
low energy consumption, etc. At present, although LED has
been gradually applied in the general lighting field, its
widespread use is still limited due to high cost and low
luminous efficiency. In order to improve the luminous
efficiency and reduce the volume of LED products, high
brightness LED is usually adopted, but it is a tough test for the
heat dissipation of LED luminaires. If too much heat flux is
not timely dissipated, the junction temperature will increase
rapidly leading to decrease in luminous efficiency, output flux
and lifetime of LED luminaires. Meanwhile, the reliability of
LED luminaires is influenced by the heat dissipation of drive
power supply. Thus, the thermal analysis of whole LED
luminaires is significantly needed and successful thermal
management will be conductive to improving the luminous
efficiency and reliability [1].
Now, numerous studies have been conducted on thermal
analysis of LED devices and modules. Arik et al. [1]
performed thermal analysis on a typical high bright LED chip
and package design via experiment and simulation
respectively. Temperature distribution showed bump defects
and substrate thermal conductivities have great influence on
temperature gradient. The influence of localized hot spots at
active layer of the LED chip was also estimated. Utilizing
numerical heat flow models, Christensen and Grahame
investigated the package and system level temperature
distributions of a high power LED array. Flat heat pipes,
forced air convection and liquid cooling played an importance
2012 International Conference on Electronic Packaging Technology & High Density Packaging
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role in the development of high power compact LED arrays
[2]. In order to solve the thermal problem of LED module, Liu
et al. [3] presented a novel solution that a micro-channel
cooling system was integrated into package structure. A series
of numerical simulations showed that the thermal performance
of LED module was different with different pin arrays patterns
and cooling liquid inlet velocity. This system improved the
thermal performance of LED module to some extent. And then
a better cooling performance was obtained by optimizing the
structure of microjet with one single inlet and two outlets. Wu
et al. [4] studied the heat dissipating efficiency of high-power
COB LEDs. The junction temperature was obtained by
carrying out IR camera measure and computational fluid
dynamics (CFD) software simulation. The results
demonstrated that the junction temperature was affected by
surface areas of heat sinks, materials of heat slugs and
injection currents. However, it is found that some heat
dissipation methods are too complex and high cost, and do not
apply to LED luminaires for indoor lighting. The thermal
analysis of LED luminaires was performed in some literature,
but the report that considered the heat dissipation of drive
power supply in LED luminaires is seldom.
Thus, in this paper, thermal simulation analyses of LED
bulb with Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) drive power
supply are conducted by Pro/Engineer and ANSYS
Workbench. Firstly, utilizing the powerful three-dimensional
modeling ability of software Pro/Engineer, LED luminaires
models were successively established. The location of drive
power supply and surface areas of heat sinks were included in
the parametric models. Secondly, utilizing the software
ANSYS Workbench, thermal simulation analysis was
conducted to investigate the heat dissipating efficiency of
these models under normal operation conditions separately
and temperature distribution was obtained. Finally, the
simulation results were discussed and analyzed in detail. The
final goal is to improve the reliability of LED luminaires
products.
2 Finite element modeling
2.1 Theory of Steady-state heat transfer
The steady-state conduction equation with heat source is
shown in Eg. (1).
a2T a2T a2T Q
-+-+-+-=0 (1)
ax2 al az2 K
Where x ,y and z are the spatial coordinates, T is the
temperature (0C) in a steady-state condition, K is the thermal
conductivity (W/m'C) of one material, Q is the heat
generation rate (W/m3) [5]. The boundary conditions of
thermodynamics can be expressed as follows Eg. (2)-(4).
1503
Where r is the wall surface of one component, To is the
uniform temperature, n is the normal direction of the surface, Silicone lens _
Metal terconnect layer
q is the heat flux (W/m\ h is the convective heat transfer

coefficient (W/m20C), Tw is the wall surface temperature, and

Tf is the bulk temperature of the fluid. Thus, temperature
Die anach---.
distribution of the model can be obtained by combining these
equations.
Tlr To
=
(2) Thermal
(3)
(c) Structure of LED device
Fig.l Sample and Model
(4)

2.2 Geometrical model and material properties

Model 2: located in a groove (12mm x 22mm x 12mm) of

the heat sinks

(a) Sample of 7W LED luminaires

..-PC lampshade

MCPCB ---jr-;-:.
device

Model 3: located in a groove (10mm x 20mm x 10mm) of

Al heat sink
the heat sinks
Fig.2 Models of adjusting the location of drive power
supply
CuE27cap __:::: The model of LED bulb is established by software
Pro/Engineer including Cu E27 cap, Al heat sinks, drive
power supply, metal core printed circuit board(MCPCB), LED
(b) Structure of 3D model 1 devices, polycarbonate(PC) lampshade and thermal interface
material(TIM). The structure of sample and model in detail is
illustrated in Fig.I. In order to reduce calculation time and
meshing error, some structure parameters such as drive power

2012 International Conference on Electronic Packaging Technology & High Density Packaging 1504
supply (10 rum x 10 rum x 20 rum, thermal conductivity
K =20 W/m'C) are simplified. The main variation
parameters in our models include the location of drive power
supply (as shown in Fig.2) and surface areas of heat sinks (as
shown in Fig.3).
o.OO..._::===50SiOO (nvn)
25.00
Model 4: doubling the sutface areas of heat sinks
into ANSYS Workbench. Then the model is meshed by free
meshing method. It is assumed that the ambient temperature is
25C and air convection coefficient is 8 WI (m20C). The size
of each chip is 2 rum x 2 rum x 0.25 rum with 1 W power and
about 80% energy is converted into heat. Therefore, heat
generation loaded into each chip is about 8 x 108 W/m3 as the
boundary condition. The conversion efficiency of PWM drive
power supply is about 85%. Thus, the power dissipated by
drive power supply is about 1.24 W and heat generation
loaded into drive power supply is 6.2 x 105 WI m3.
3 Results and discussion
In order to illustrate the influence of drive power supply to
the LED luminaires, the simulation analysis of steady state
temperature distribution is performed with and without drive
power supply respectively. The simulation results of models
(section view) are shown in Fig.4 and 5. We can obviously
fmd that the chip temperature rise from 62.7 C to 70.1 0c.
And the highest temperature of model is up to 73.5 C, when
considering drive power supply. Thus, the influence of drive
power supply cannot be ignored when analyzing the heat
dissipation of LED luminaires.
a:.....-_CMIS'IS)
Temperature
Type: Temperature
Unlt-C
Time: 1

62.7_
62.2
61.8
61.3
60.8
60."
59.9
59.5
59
58.5 Min

O.OO"'_ I111==' :sO{Xl (mm) 0 . I111::::=

11:: ==5::JOjOO (mm)
11::
20.00
Y Z
00 __

25.00

Model 5: increasing the number offinned heat sinks (a) A section view of LED bulb
a:.....-_CMIS'IS)
Fig.3 Models of improving heat sinks Temperature
Type: Temperature
Un'C
Table 1: Material parameter for LED luminaires Time: 1

Thermal conductivity K (WIm'C)

62'7_
62.2
61.8
61.3
60.8
60.4
Epoxy lens 0.12 59.9
59.5
Chip (GaN) 170 59
58.5 Min

Die attach 7.5

Cu 401
Ceramic plate 200
MCPCB 50 0.00 20.00 (mm)
I
10.00
Al heat sinks 237
PC lampshade 1.1 (b) A top view of chip and MCPCB
FigA Temperature distribution of LED bulb without

The parameters of different materials are shown in Table 1 drive power supply
and the material attribute is defined after importing the model

2012 International Conference on Electronic Packaging Technology & High Density Packaging 1505
 A: ....... n.moI CNImI) A: ....... n.moI CNImI)
Temperature Temperature
Type: Temperature Type: Temperature
Unlt-C UnltC
Time: 1 Time: 1
Custom Custom

73.5_
72.6
71.8 69
70.9 68.5
70 68.1
69.2 67.6
68 3 67.2
67.4 66.7
66.6 66.2
65.7 Min :- 65.8f111in

0.0.
ii__==S
0.OO 50 OO (mm)
i 0 __ 50 OO (mm)
=::::5i
25.00 25.00

(a) A section view of LED bulb Fig.6 Temperature distribution of model 2 (section view)
A: ....... n.moI CNImI) A: ....... n.moI CNImI)
Temperature Temperature
Type: Temperature Type: Temperature
Unlt-C Unlt-C
Time: 1 Time: 1
Custom Custom
1 70.1

69.3 69
68.9 68.5
68 6 68.1
68.2 67.6
67.8 67.2
67.4 66.7
67 66.2
66.7 :- 65.8 Min

0.OO
ii__==5S0i OO (mm)
10.00 25.00

(b) A top view of chip and MCPCB Fig. 7 Temperature distribution of model 3 (section view)
Fig.5 Temperature distribution of LED bulb with drive The ways of heat transmission include heat conduction,
heat convection and heat radiation. However, to high power
power supply
LED lighting lamps, heat conduction and heat convection play
an important role [7]. In internal structure of LED luminaires,
Through the temperature accelerated life tests, it was air convection can be ignored. Therefore, the best way of heat
found that the life of the drive power supply obviously lower transmission to improve the heat dissipation of drive power
than the life of LED device [6]. According to barrel principle, supply is heat conduction. When drive power supply is
the life of LED luminaires can be improved in a certain extent entirely contacted with the heat sinks, thermal dissipation
by ameliorating the life of drive power supply. Thus, adjusting performance can be dramatically improved.
the location of drive power supply to improve the heat A: ....... n.moI CNImI)
Temperature
dissipation, and then improve the reliability of the LED Type: Temperature
Unlt-C
Time: 1
luminaires, is proposed.
517_
When drive power supply is located in a groove (12 532
52.8
mm x 22 mm x 12 mm) of the heat sinks, the steady state 52.3
51.8
temperature distribution is shown in Fig.6. The drive power 51.4
50.9
supply is absolutely sealed in the heat sinks as shown in Fig.7. 50.4
50
Comparing the Fig.5-7, the temperature of drive power supply 49.5 ....n

is gradually reduced from 73.5 C to 66.9 C, and the chip

temperature is mainly stabilized in 70 C. Thus, the heat
dissipation of drive power supply in Fig.7 is the best of the
three models.

0.OO
ii__==550iOO (mm)
25.00

Fig.8 Temperature distribution of model 4 (section view)

2012 International Conference on Electronic Packaging Technology & High Density Packaging 1506
 a:.......-n..-CMIS"5) with the simulation results of heat sinks (66.6 0 c) and
Temperature
Type: Temperature
Unlt-C
lampshade (67.5 0 c) , the test temperature is lower than the
TIme: 1
Custom
simulation results about 3.8 C and 3.7 C separately. Results
show that error is in a permitted range. The main reasons of
'3.2 causing errors include ignoring the heat radiation, the error of
42.8
42.4 material parameters and the boundary conditions of
42.1
41.7 convection.
41.3
40.9
.:"'" 40.5 Min 4 Conclusions
In this paper, some models of LED luminaires with drive
power supply were established by Pro/Engineer. The location
of drive power supply and surface areas of heat sinks were
included in the parametric models. The temperature
:,::
0.00__ -==50iOO (mm) distribution was obtained by ANSYS Workbench to
25.00 investigate the heat dissipating effIciency of these models
under normal operation conditions separately. The simulations
Fig.9 Temperature distribution of model 5 (section view) results indicate that the location of drive power supply and
The relationship between surface areas and heat surface areas of heat sinks have a signifIcant impact on the
dissipation of heat sinks is also performed in this paper. When heat dissipation. The drive power supply cannot be ignored in
doubling the surface areas of heat sinks, the temperature the thermal analysis of LED luminaires. And then changing
distribution is shown in Fig.8. On that basis, the number of the location of drive power supply can indirectly improve the
fInned heat sinks is increased from 17 to 30 (as shown in reliability of LED luminaires. Increasing the surface areas of
Fig.9). Comparing Fig.7-9, the highest temperature of LED heat sinks can also increase the heat dissipation to a large
luminaires gradually drops 16.2C and 9.7C with increasing extent. At last, the simulation results were validated and the
the surface areas. In a certain extent, the performance of heat temperature distribution from the [mite element modeling
dissipation has been improved. __ matches reasonably well with the test results by comparison.
_ _ _ - - --
We clearly know that utilizing the advantages of these models,
the heat dissipation of LED luminaires can be obviously
improved. Meanwhile, it has certain reference value to
improve the reliability of LED luminaires products.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by China national
semiconductor lighting technology support plan 863 project
(Grant No. 2011BAEOlB14).
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2012 International Conference on Electronic Packaging Technology & High Density Packaging 1507