Thermal management of high-power LED module with single-phase liquid jet array

Next generation high-power Light–Emitting Diodes (LED) require specialized cooling systems for ensuring performance and reliability. The ability of a multi-jet single-phase liquid cooling system (jet diameter 400 µm) for thermal management of the high-power LED based luminaire is investigated and successfully demonstrated for a 300 W nominal power module. Operating pressure of the jet system is varied in the range of 0–8 bar, leading to coolant water flow rates varying from 65 ml/min to 782 ml/min (Re = 3833–46 119). With the proposed multi-jet cooling system, the experiments show the possibility of maintaining the module surface temperature well below 70 °C for substrate level heat flux up to ~125 W/cm². We show that the system can still maintain safe operating temperature, without loss of luminous efficiency for input power up to 130% of the nominal design power. Supporting detailed three-dimensional numerical simulations of the conjugate module heat transfer inside the LED package volume are provided. It is concluded that single-phase array of water-based jet flow is an excellent potential option for thermal management of high-power LED luminaire.