liquid-cooled LED flashlight?

can it be done?

say seal the gap between the battery compartment and the regulator / lamp assembly, flood the space of the regulator and the gap between the LED emitter and the bezel with deionized [non-conductive] water as a thermal bridge?

A bit heavy...but using water as coolent meant the ability to overclock without the thermo regulation kicking in...


just an idea, thought it would be interesting to discuss.

Heavy yes but, wouldn't the water heat up and then...wouldn't the heat have to be dissipated somewhere? How about expansion of the water as it heated---hook up an accessory expansion tank??



Karl

Well you could just leave a bubble in there to handle the expansion...or a little bolloon type thing...somewhere behind the reflector. And I don`t know about water...I was thinking a lite oil. Lindseed oil perhaps. This idea has come up before...I don`t think anyones ever tried it. Maybe to "outside the box" type thinking. Maybe it the undiscovered answer to cooling...flood the whole head.

Ken

gotta keep it out of the optics / reflector. It'll mess up the transmission of light.

might be useful when using larger or fixed lights. Maybe try mounting an LED onto a cpu cooling waterblock, and see how it performs!

im open on suggestions...

I made this cheap little USB charger by hooking up a 7805 IC to a 12V 500ma PV module and ran my Mp3 off of it....its hooked ontop of a cork and submerged halfway deep into the water for cooling...works.

so I thought...mmm, no one discussed this before maybe i should try and ask!

no point for me to mod, just an idea, besides...
I DONT NEED ANYMORE FLASHLIGHTS!!!!!11

You might consider Mineral Oil or Alcohol. They are cheap, harmless and shouldn't go bad.

Ken_McE said:

You might consider Mineral Oil or Alcohol. They are cheap, harmless and shouldn't go bad.

Click to expand...

alcohol adds pressure to the sysyem because its easily vaporized by heat...and since its weak acid...it corrodes everything you have woreth of electronics...

good idea tho...oil...mmmm :thinking:

All our Led-lights are liquid-cooled, by our own blood

Your idea can't work imo, because the water or liquid inside the light will get faster hot than the body of the light can transfer the heat to the air.

So after a while it's not water-cooled, it's water-warmed up.

The only possibility could be a waterbag like the camelbak, a waterpump and 2 tubes for a circulation

Best regards

____
Tom

You could create a heatpipe that transfers the heat away from the head, maybe to the battery compartment body.

I agree with dyee. I think with those heat pump tubes, one can make a cool working light with a cool design like the gat light or something.

I like the concept of a liquid cooled LED flashlight, however the water in the heat zone where the led is located needs to be transferred around the flashlight to maximise dispersion of heat. A mechanical device to pump fluid around the flashlight body may be needed to produce this motion. Consequently, this will drain more battery from the flashlight quicker, thus creating a brighter shorter runtime flashlight.

How about?: Watercooled, and when the water gets to a certain temperature the flashlight expells a puff of liquid C02 to rapidly cool the water down. I think it would be kinda neat to have a flashlight that's like a living, hissing thing.

CostcoAAcells said:

like a living, hissing thing.

Click to expand...

so my coworks pick up my led from my desk...beams it around and all of a sudden it starts hissing....mmmm :thinking: :laughing: :huh:


mmm, like a living, hissing thing...i like that

CostcoAAcells said:

How about?: Watercooled, and when the water gets to a certain temperature the flashlight expells a puff of liquid C02 to rapidly cool the water down. I think it would be kinda neat to have a flashlight that's like a living, hissing thing.

Click to expand...

...or rather than trying to cool down heat bleeding monsters with impractical cooling methods, we could concentrate on making LEDs that output more light and less heat

amanichen said:

...or rather than trying to cool down heat bleeding monsters with impractical cooling methods, we could concentrate on making LEDs that output more light and less heat

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using what? a peltier junction's cold side as the heatsink platform?

well, more light usually means more heat, instead of using one module, future lights should be an array of smaller modules all working underclocked. less heat, same output?

:thinking:

Illum_the_nation said:

using what? a peltier junction's cold side as the heatsink platform?

Click to expand...

...or having to use a liquid filled flashlight to compensate for Mag Instrument's design which does not properly cool their own LED modules.

well, more light usually means more heat, instead of using one module, future lights should be an array of smaller modules all working underclocked. less heat, same output?

Click to expand...

There have been many parallel, but different, advancements in LED technology within the past few months. My point is that LEDs are by no means a mature technology, so rather than trying to cool down flashlights which have excessive energy waste (heat output) maybe we (used collectively to mean flashlight users & manufacturers, and LED manufacturers) should concentrate on building lights and emitters that have higher efficiency, rather than trying to slap a band-aid on the problem.

I hear ya.
even till now the output of LEDs still surprise me.
the consumer industry probably have no idea that the technology is new and flawed, from this advantage chances are LED manufacturers will not spend time on the error until they have profited from uneducated individuals...

I can't believe that nobody has yet mentioned that it would rust.

Stainless Steel or Titanium?