Micro Scale Phosphor Particles in an LED Package: Heat Transfer, Fluid Dynamics, Optical Characteristics

Use of photoluminescent materials in combination with colored Light Emitting diodes (LEDs) to generate white light is a common practice in general lighting applications. However, this color conversion comes with an added heat generation issue that reduces the performance of LED-based white light systems. This investigation combines optical and thermofluid models to iteratively analyze system's optothermal behavior. Employing commercial CFD software for thermal modeling and Mie scattering theory with Monte Carlo ray tracing for optical behavior. This study examines the impact of particle concentration on heat generation and Nusselt number of a single blue LED chip. Results demonstrated a direct relationship between higher particle concentration and increased fluid temperature and velocity. Visual representations depicted temperature and velocity distributions, revealing system variations. This iterative approach, as the first in class, provides valuable insight into particle-fluid dynamics and heat transfer, offering a framework for optimizing thermal performance in similar systems with multi-chip LEDs. In these simulations, an observed change in Nu number demonstrates an approximate increase of 1.5 times compared to that of a liquid without any particles.