www.ledsmagazine.com/features/5/11/2 -
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Last Visited: 11/29/2008
According to Paul Kim, VP of engineering for SureFire, thermal analysis became necessary when the company's products converted from incandescent illumination to high-powered LED lighting.
"In terms of thermal management, LEDs are like semiconductor devices," says Kim.
"As you put out more light, you generate more heat.
The cooler we can run the device, the more photons, or light, we can put out."
Unlike semiconductors, whose failure might be an inconvenience or cause a temporary loss of data, SureFire products are required to function at all times under extreme environmental conditions in the field.
"When we say mission-critical," says Kim, "we mean that it must perform under all circumstances in all parts of the world.
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Thermal analysis was crucial in two major aspects of X400 design according to Kim and Mitra: optimizing the design of housings, especially thermal isolation of the laser unit; and determining the best settings for thermal management firmware.
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"Simulations showed us the thermal characteristics of the whole assembly," says Kim.
"Using the results, we could define a cut-off temperature at which to activate the microprocessor-based thermal management algorithm."
Time savings and beyond
Using CFdesign software early in the design process eliminated three different design prototypes that SureFire would normally use for testing to ensure that design requirements are met.
That translates into a savings of about 15 days, according to Kim.
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Kim and Mitra say that the ability to conduct thermal simulation upfront in the design process benefits the entire product development cycle.
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"We can now do things with upfront thermal simulation that used to take months and several design cycles to achieve by traditional methods," says Kim.
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