An edge length of only 40mm for 1,600W
The compact CeramCool Box is made for homogeneous and efficient cooling of packing densities up to 100W/cm². With an edge length of just 40 x 40mm² and a height of only 16mm, it has a total cooling capacity of 1,600W. With an efficiency rating of 25 percent, this corresponds to 400W of optical power, or roughly 45,000 lumens with common high-power LEDs.
The remaining 1,200W must be efficiently dissipated as heat, which is a challenge that already begins with the heat transfer from the component to the carrier substrate. Power densities of this magnitude challenge conventional bonding techniques for die bonding. Even highly filled Ag conductive adhesives exhibit a thermal conductivity of little more than 1W/mK, which already results in a bottleneck for efficient cooling. Add variable adhesive layer thicknesses, and even the best cooling concept cannot compensate for the absolute and relative temperatures.
The temperature profile of the CeramCool Box is homogeneous. The unit is made from an aluminium nitride ceramic material called Alunit.
Symmetrically arranged spiral condensers with innovative multilevel flow paths ensure even cooling all the way to the exterior.
The Fraunhofer IZM Institute in Berlin approached the problem with the bottleneck using new soldering and sintering techniques. The lower thermal resistance of this metallic bond created an excellent thermal coupling with the metalized Alunit substrate. Researchers tested different combinations of LEDs, sintered metals, and the ceramic substrate to ensure dependable adhesion. In addition to the electric conductors, this requires that the soldering points and sintering pastes are placed directly on and bonded permanently with the high-performance ceramic heat sink without creating thermal barriers and without the risk of delamination (difference in thermal expansion coefficients). In this case, the chip can be bonded directly on the heat sink.
With production costs in mind, the researchers developed techniques for collective bonding that deliver a high degree of placement accuracy with considerably lower costs.
Ceramic heat sinks take on a key role in efficient cooling, because achieving the required temperatures is only possible when the base material exhibits high thermal conductivity with thermal coupling with the coolant but also ensures the spreading of heat to minimize temperature differences within the module. What’s more, during the research project, CeramTec succeeded in achieving series extrusion of AlN ceramics with exceptional thermal conductivity. This process was the world’s first of its kind at the time and enables rod-shaped bodies and tube systems made of ceramic with high thermal conductivity, mechanical stability, and dielectric strength.
The CeramCool Box has multiple parts and is produced using a dry pressing process followed by solid-state sintering. The shaping of the various prototype geometries takes place in the green stage using CNC machining, because this method allows for the fast manufacturing of low-cost test modules.
Wow. This is fantastic. We don't need the equivalent of 30 headlights for home lighting, but I don't think the integration of LED lighting into consumer products can happen soon enough. The use of Aluminum Nitride as the magic element bodes well in the face of reported global rare-earth shortages. Applications that do require this light intensity will need supplied liquid-coolant, but needs for cooling systems will be a great source of additional high-skills employment.
Actually this might work for home lighting too. Use the intense beam for indirect lighting bounced from a ceiling or diffuser. Pipe the cooling loop through a home's heating system in winter to make use of the waste heat or in summer to help heat domestic hot water.
@bdcst You have summed up my thoughts exactly! In addition to using the waste heat for air or water, what about a fiber-optic light distribution system? The intensity of 30 headlights would go a long way to providing the illumination needs of an entire house. When the house is completely vacant, there would only be one, central light source to turn off. And with that many lumens, it's conceivable that back-lit display devices could also pipe into the central source. Oh the possibilities... =]
Interesting that good old ceramics once again save the day, in a cooling sort of way. Ceramics have been used for decades to help cool all kinds of chips in IC packages of various kinds. Every time they are supposedly on the way out, a new app comes along that needs what they have to offer.
I think this cooler could be used to keep computer processors cool too. Just bond it on top of the processor and then the 100-200W used should be no problem.
As the development of this technology continues, I wonder if the water coolant will also be replaced by another type of coolant in order to achieve even further advancements.
I don't think this technology really applies to simple home lighting or even high-intensity shop lighting. The light production efficiency is not any greater than more dispersed LED lighting with conventional cooling. The manufacturing methods described would be very expensive to manufacture in comparison to the light output. I could see this as a high-performance projector bulb, but as the article stated, the main focus is for industrial UV curing or other processes that require an incredibly intense light output.
The cooling block may be used for other heat dissipation purposes. High performance microchip cooling, laser components, etc.
We use mercury vapor lamps for UV curing of our products and the heat output of the lamps is enough that we must use 5 Tons of HVAC to cool them while in the curing chamber for only 15 seconds or so. We would love to see UV LEDs that could cure without heating the product. This development may be a boon for UV Curing of products that cannot take the heat of present UV lamps. It is not the visible light that is most intriguing to us but the UV.
Fluid or liquid cooled lights would definitely have a future in crash test research where we need lots of light for high speed photogaphy, film or video. At a thousand frames a second lots of light is needed. Also for large screen projection systems, which may become common for room decoration and illumination, if the price continues to fall.
Also, how about using them for headlights? Spotlights for a maritime environment could certainly use a lower current source of light, and they could happily live with some kinds of cooling systems.
By experimenting with the photovoltaic reaction in solar cells, researchers at MIT have made a breakthrough in energy efficiency that significantly pushes the boundaries of current commercial cells on the market.
In a world that's going green, industrial operations have a problem: Their processes involve materials that are potentially toxic, flammable, corrosive, or reactive. If improperly managed, this can precipitate dangerous health and environmental consequences.
With LEDs dropping in price virtually every year, automakers have begun employing them, not only on luxury vehicles, but on entry-level models, as well.
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