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Thermal management is key to the long-term reliability of a luminaire. Every component inside the luminaire, be it an LED chip, an IC, a Mosfet, or a capacitor, has a temperature rating and there are different thermal grades available across the market. Those with higher ratings can be up to 100X more expensive than basic models, and while that might sound high, heat needs to be managed, one way or another.
That doesn't mean you should overpay: a good lighting designer needs to understand how hot the various components of their product will get under both normal and extreme conditions, through both simulation and rigorous physical testing. Only then, can the designer choose the right components, maintaining a healthy safety margin (aka derating). Given that plenty of manufacturers cut corners or choose sub-par components, you can imagine how the danger of lighting that operates with close to zero safety margins, and how some luminaires with a negative margin will inevitably fail prematurely. They aren't built safely, so they certainly aren't built to last.
A luminaire's architecture plays an important role in heat management, given it determines how heat is released and how each component interacts with one another. Here at DuraBrite, we strongly advise against using “UFOs” – round/domed lights where a luminaire’s power supply is placed on top of the lighting unit. These lights are poorly designed in terms of thermal dissipation, and we can't count how many we've witnessed break down, when replacing competitor lighting in the field.
What's more, when luminaire is meant to be used in a cool, air-conditioned area but is instead used in a high-temperature ambient space, like a power generation room, it will inevitably fail due to poor thermal management. This can be particularly challenging given organizations often rely on in-house staff or a sales rep from lighting distributors, to decide on what lights to use. Given the thousands of luminaire models in the market, it's almost impossible to find the right luminaire for a specific application, without resorting to trial and error, which means unnecessary expenses.
DuraBrite has the expertise to help you assess and develop a unique solution for your needs, using either our standard products, custom variants, or both, ensuring the best possible illumination. We have the engineering prowess to design custom lighting solutions by tailoring our already capable control circuitry to your needs. Alternately, we'll even develop an entirely new architecture, either within the light or by decoupling it out of the light, depending on your needs.
We don't sell you what we want, we sell you what you need.
Call us today to learn more about how we can help with your thermal management issues.