LED headlights are extremely sensitive to temperature changes. If the LED headlights keep lighting under high temperature, low power, reduced life, and lamp bead off will occur. Therefore, the heat dissipation performance of LED headlights is its life.
There are two main cooling methods for LED headlights on the market: passive coolingand active cooling.
Let’s talk about passive cooling first. Passive heat dissipation mainly manifests in the form of copper braid heat dissipation and aluminum heat-dissipating block.
-
Contents
Copper braid cooling method for LED headlights
This kind of heat dissipation method uses copper braided tape at the tail to dissipate heat. As for material, the cooling performance of copper is second only to gold and silver and better than aluminum. The best effect can be achieved when the braid is fully stretched out.
Advantages: small, foldable tail, easy to install.
Disadvantages: Copper is easily oxidized after high temperature, so when electroplating nickel on the surface of the copper strip, its heat radiation ability is greatly reduced.
-
Aluminum heat-dissipating block for LED headlights
The heat generated at the lamp body is conducted to the aluminum base exposed to the air through heat conduction, and then the heat is taken away by airflow. The lamp body is coated with some nano radiation coating, which significantly improves the heat dissipation performance. In addition, there are fin-type heat dissipation and soft aluminum type heat dissipation.
Advantages: Use the lamp body to dissipate heat spontaneously and the nano-paint coating to help dissipate heat and speed up the heat dissipation.
Disadvantages: Usually, the tail shape will be slightly larger. Due to insufficient space during the installation, the heat cannot dissipate normally. It affects the heat dissipation effect.
After introducing the two passive heat dissipation structures, let’s talk about the active heat dissipation method of LED headlights.
The active cooling method is equivalent to speeding up the air convection. Yes, it is the fan cooling! This kind of cooling method is to add a small fan at the tail of the LED. When the LED headlights light up, the small fan at the rear also works simultaneously. Through the fan, the heat of the aluminum base is radiated into the air in the form of air convection.
Active cooling has the following forms: Hydraulic fan cooling, double ball-bearing fan cooling, Turbine fan cooling.
-
Hydraulic fan cooling method for LED headlights
It is a unique spiral groove engraved in the bearing. When the bearing rotates, the lubricating oil is evenly distributed between the axle and the axle sleeve, forming a buoyancy to support the axle center. This heat dissipation technology can reduce friction and reduce noise.
Advantages: The hydraulic fan has an average life of up to 40,000 hours, low operating noise, and has a relatively high proportion in the current market.
Disadvantages: After a certain period of use, the lubricating oil will volatilize, causing wear and reducing service life.
-
Double ball-bearing fan cooling method for LED headlights
There are several tiny steel balls around the axis in the bearing. When the fan or the axis rotates, the steel balls will rotate accordingly.
Advantages: The double ball-bearing fan has a long life, about 50,000 ~ 100,000 hours, good anti-aging performance, high speed, and large air volume.
Disadvantages: The manufacturing cost of the double ball-bearing fan is relatively high, and the noise is the largest at the same speed.
-
Turbine fan cooling method for LED headlights
The motor drives the impeller to rotate, and the blades in the impeller force the gas to turn, increasing its momentum. The gas is thrown around the impeller under the centrifugal force, and the kinetic energy is converted into pressure energy through the turbine casing. After the gas in the impeller is discharged, the pressure in the impeller is lower than that in the air inlet pipe, and the new gas is sucked into the impeller under the pressure difference. Thus the gas is continuously discharged from the fan.
Advantages: high wind pressure and the centrifugal fan can output larger air volume in smaller spaces and improve heat dissipation.
Disadvantages: The design requirements are high, and the processing accuracy is higher than ordinary fans. When the impeller accumulates dust, it will make the impeller unbalanced, causing it to make more noise at high speed.