Influence of the Constructive and Environmental Parameters on the Thermal Conditions of a LED Driver

Abstract

The design of LED drivers is especially important for ensuring their temperature regime, and therefore for ensuring their reliability and efficiency. This task requires to account for numerous factors. This study investigates the thermal conditions of different LED driver components, using a previously developed model and a specialized software tool, which accounts for 28 parameters of the driver. Several input factors are investigated – the input power, the width of the driver casing, the temperature of the environment and the air velocity. The investigated parameters are the temperatures of the PCB with the SMD components, the non-SMD components, the air within the casing and the casing. The obtained results showed that the components’ temperatures have linear dependencies on the input power, the dimensions of the casing and the environmental temperature. On the other hand, the air velocity outside the casing has a nonlinear impact on the LED driver’s temperature response.