Heat can burn the phosphor that gives LEDs their white color at varying degrees of color temperature. Heat can reduce the output of the light emitted from the diodes, and heat can reduce the lifetime of the diodes to emit light. All three of these negative heat impacts need to be considered by LED manufacturers in their engineering process as well as buyers.
There are any choices that end users face for energy savings through LEDs. At the commercial level, fluorescent tubes are so ubiquitous in American ceilings that LED tubes are becoming an increasingly popular retrofit consideration.
The power supply “drivers” for LED tubes come in many forms and they generate heat that can damage the LEDs. For maximum driver thermal advantage with optional dimming and other smart control benefits, compare common internal driver LED tubes with external driver tubes that have thermal isolation with driver direct power to LED tubes. The diodes are protected during their life, and if the driver fails, it can be replaced. In this case, the system is modular and the end user does not have to discard the whole tube with the diodes.
With power bypassing the tombstones directly to the tubes, this category of external driver LED tube technology has the placement flexibility within the fixture for delamping 4 tubes down to 2 tubes in a common 2’ x 4’ fluorescent troffer fixture. Also, if the tombstones are damaged, they do not need to be replaced. As the appetite for rebates increases, some utility companies also prefer the direct connection between drivers and LED tubes or modules vs. running line voltage directly into the existing fixture tombstones with internal driver tubes that are not ballast compatible.
The LED tube market is increasingly layered with complications. Here is an example of a U.S. manufacturer that builds external Thermal Isolation with Driver Direct Power to LED Tubes: www.independenceled.com/led_tube_product
