|
At a world renown German research institute, LED-lighting is used to
simulate the sun during experiments on plant and animal growth. The
lighting systems are mounted inside large dark rooms and emulate the sun's
day/night cycle. During their experiments, researchers use a special
wavelength to accelerate plant growth.
Significant heat is generated by each lighting system and must be
dissipated by a 7 ft x 2 ft cold plate attached to it. Because temperature
influences the wavelength emitted by the LEDs, each cold plate has to
provide a uniform temperature distribution across its surface. To design
the cold plates, the lighting controls manufacturer, a global leader in
LED lighting and power solutions, contracted with thermal consulting
expert, AMS in Munich.
Forced water cooling was selected as a simple, cost-effective,
low-weight approach with the coolant tubing looped back and forth along
the length of the cooling plate. Using Coolit, AMS analyzed the impact of
various design parameters, such as the number of tubing loops, pitch,
flow velocity, and interface material used between the PCBs and the cold
plate. When the Coolit optimized design was tested, it verified the
prediction accuracy and satisfied all the cooling requirements.
| 
