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In my youth, I spent a lot of my time attending sports practices and games. As I got older, my practices and
games were scheduled later and later at night. Oftentimes, I would be on my way to play a game of soccer in
the dark. However, when I stepped onto the field, it was almost as bright as daytime…
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experience isn’t unique: Sports
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decades. However, in recent years, you might have noticed that some of these fields are better illuminated
than they used to be. Why is that?
In an effort to be more sustainable, many sports organizations have opted to replace the conventional
lighting systems in their stadiums with light-emitting diode (LED) technology. LED bulbs are not only more
energy efficient than traditional incandescent bulbs but also a whole lot brighter. According to the United
States Environmental Protection Agency (https://www.epa.gov/green-sports/why-green-your-sport) (EPA),
the benefits of “green sports” include:
Preserving biodiversity
Reducing operational costs
Creating and expanding markets for green products and services
And more
One type of LED bulb commonly used to light various outdoor (and indoor) sports stadiums and courts is the
LED corn bulb. Like an athlete fitting daily life and sports practices into one schedule, LED bulbs have to fit
many functions into one system. With simulation, engineers can investigate and better understand the
mechanisms behind LED technology. We’ll explore one example in today’s blog post.
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An LED corn bulb. Image by Dmitry G — Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 Accept All
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(https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LED_E27_corn.JPG).
The unique shape of LED corn bulbs might be what catches consumers’ eyes, but it’s their energy efficiency
that makes them a popular replacement for high-intensity discharge (HID) and incandescent bulbs. When
compared to incandescent bulbs, LEDs are expected to use 75% less energy and have a lifespan of up to 25
times longer. (Ref. 1)
To add to their versatility, these bulbs come in a range of color temperatures, from 2700K to 6000K. The
color temperature of LED bulbs represents the color of their light. A bulb with a high Kelvin (5500K–6500k)
will be a bright white color, while a bulb with a low Kelvin (2700–3000K) will be a warm white color.
Since LED corn bulbs come in a variety of styles, they are suitable for both outdoor and indoor applications,
illuminating everything from garages and warehouses to highways and stadiums.
Heat transfer modeling can be used to optimize the geometry and materials of an LED bulb design and
estimate the maximum temperature that will occur within the bulb. Here, we’ll explore a thermal model of an
LED corn bulb.
Model Overview
The modeled bulb is made up of:
Below, you can view two different angles of a quarter of the LED bulb geometry. Note that the LED chips,
made of epoxy resin, are shown in orange. The PCBs, made of aluminum, are shown in brown.
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A front view of the LED bulb geometry, highlighting the LED chips’ positions on the lateral PCB (left). A view
showing the LED chips’ positions on the top PCB (right).
Modeling Results
The Heat Transfer in Solids and Fluids and Laminar Flow interfaces are used to compute the temperature
distribution and velocity magnitude of the airflow inside and outside of the bulb.
As shown in the results below, the LED chips in this study reach a maximum temperature of ~76°C. The
maximum velocity magnitude of the natural convection of flow is ~0.2 m/s.
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Temperature distribution in the LED chips in a bulb with a nominal power of 5 watts (left). The velocity field
magnitude of the airflow inside and outside of the bulb (right).
Note: The computational time for this LED bulb model is 10% shorter in version 5.6 of COMSOL
Multiphysics compared to version 5.5. Learn more here (/release/5.6/heat-transfer-module).
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Simulation results for both the temperature distribution (surface plot) and velocity (arrows and streamlines) in the
LED bulb model.
In our experiment, two LED bulbs, with similar properties as the LED bulb modeled in the tutorial model, are
fixed on a vertical board. They are powered through a 230 V AC domestic current. The temperature inside of
both bulbs is calculated using a basic infrared camera. ~72°C is the maximum temperature observed (close to
the maximum temperature observed in the tutorial).
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Our experimental setup.
Like the model, both corn bulbs used in this experiment had a plastic shield covering, which helps protect their
diodes from outside conditions, like dust.
Although a more detailed experiment would be needed to give a precise quantitative agreement between the
model and reality, this experiment acts as a proof of concept. Specifically, it highlights that the cooling of an
LED bulb is minimally influenced by its orientation, whether vertical or horizontal. These results are in good
agreement with the results of the LED Bulb Cooling tutorial model.
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GET THE TUTORIAL MODEL (/MODEL/LED-BULB-COOLING-78141)
Further Reading
Read about other examples of LED modeling on the COMSOL Blog:
Reference
1. “LED Lighting”, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy,
https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/save-electricity-and-fuel/lighting-choices-save-you-
money/led-lighting (https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/save-electricity-and-fuel/lighting-choices-
save-you-money/led-lighting).
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