Abstract
Hybrid structural electronics (HSE) consists of printed electronics, conventional rigid electronics, and load-bearing supporting parts of a device (plastic, glass etc.). Extra-large area and flexible lighting elements with embedded light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are an example of such applications. LEDs can be used, for example, as light sources, to create smart surfaces for the architectural or automotive industry. Once the LEDs are embedded into the structure, they cannot be replaced. To make sustainable HSE products with long lifetime, the new type of designs is needed. The elements of HSE undergo conditions with elevated thermal stresses while in operation. That is known to have an impact on their performance and lifetime, thus making a proper heat management of the LED crucial. Due to the novel additive manufacturing methods, structures, and unconventional material combinations, many thermal management related aspects are not known. In this study, a two-step hybrid method, including thermal modeling and measurements, is used to estimate the thermal behavior of a surface-mounted LED on polymer substrate used in HSE. The model is created and simulated in COMSOL Multiphysics. The validity and accuracy of the model's thermal behavior are verified through measurements with thermal transient measurements. Based on the experimental verification, the proposed simulation model only has small (less than 2%) temperature variations when compared with measurements. Hence, the developed model can be used as a basis for designing structural LED elements and predicting their performance characteristics in different user cases.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 9286559 |
Journal | IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement |
Volume | 70 |
Early online date | 8 Dec 2020 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2021 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Funding
This work was supported in part by the Business Finland Funded Project under Grant Dnro 3944/31/2014, in part by the Academy of Finland’s FIRI Funding under Grant 320017, and in part by the European Regional Development Fund’s Novel Digitally Fabricated Materials for Electronics, Optics and Medical Applications under Grant A74080.
Keywords
- Hybrid electronics (HE)
- junction temperature
- lifetime
- model verification
- printed electronics