Effective heat dissipation, essential to increase LED lifespan

LED has become the dominant technology in today's public lighting, thanks to its advantages compared to traditional light sources: low energy consumption, total control over beam direction, resistance to vibrations, ignition time below one millisecond, no flickering, high color rendering index, etcetera. However, along the way, light emitting diodes have also revealed certain drawbacks that have compromised their effectiveness, among which are their little tolerance to high temperatures.

When the appropriate measures are not taken, said fragility supposes a drastic reduction of the LED's potential lifespan. Heat dissipation, therefore, has become of fundamental importance when it comes to making the most of this source of light, and it has to be extremely effective to prevent the celebrated energy savings from being overshadowed by premature breakdowns. Thus, the challenge today is to develop better thermal management systems, capable of maintaining an optimal operating temperature in LED modules at all times.

That is the case of the Laminar Heatsink®, a system designed and patented by ATP Lighting as an answer to the problems caused by overheating. Flat, super-slim and manufactured with a special alloy for naval uses, the Laminar Heatsink® manages to reduce the working temperature of LED modules by 21 % and prolongs their lifespan by more than 21 000 hours. Considering that the annual average operating time of outdoor lighting in Spain is 4100 hours, this means extending the life of LED to almost 25 years*.

Laminar Heatsink® is available for Classic hexagonal, Classic square, Classic round, Enur, Funcional, Metrópoli, Croma, Evolución, Cónica and Venus ATP series, as well as for Orión projector. In addition, this innovation is the defining component of the Aire®, recently awarded with the German Design Award 2019 and which has already won three international design prizes thanks to its avant-garde lines and the use of innovative technologies.

*These figures are the result of rigorous measurements carried out by the company's Quality and Environment department in a climatic chamber at a constant 35 °C temperature, with no air flowing. ATP Lighting is the only company in the industry that performs its tests at such a high temperature, 10 °C above the 25 °C at which other manufacturers test their products.