Cool Polymers' Thermally Conductive Thermoplastic Finds Use in LED Applications

More than 80 million LED lights are running cooler, thanks to CoolPoly® thermally conductive plastics, notes Cool Polymers®, Inc., currently celebrating ten years of successful thermal management of high power LEDs. This equates to annual energy savings for users of as much as $115 million.

Cool Polymers, Inc. of North Kingstown, is the original manufacturer of thermally conductive thermoplastics for injection molding. The firm first targeted heat problems in laptops computers and quickly realized that thermally conductive plastics were a flexible and low cost solution for managing excess heat from the tiny LED chips. Due to ongoing accelerated sales in the LED marketplace as well as other markets, the firm recently moved to expansive new facilities in North Kingstown, just south of Providence and Boston.

General Manager, Kevin McCullough, recounts that "In initial LED applications, customers benefited from high brightness and low power consumption, but experienced significant corrosion problems with metallic heat sinks. The marine industry was one example. They wanted the benefits of LEDs and the thermally conductivity of our CoolPoly product line eliminated all corrosion and environmental concerns while managing the heat the same as aluminum."

The Cool Polymers General Manager continues, "Early adopters were excited about using LEDs in their applications and the design freedom of plastics. Many users also had captive injection molding and found they could manufacture parts in-house which they previously had to purchase from outside vendors. This helped them reduce the risk of uncontrolled costs and uncertain supply. Ten years of manufacturing plastics for successful LED applications has enabled Cool Polymers to rapidly and efficiently support existing and new customers in all lighting segments. We help optimize part, tooling and heat transfer designs as well as provide support that only comes from a decade of experience."

Today, the applications are growing rapidly and CoolPoly thermally conductive plastics are used for LEDs in automotive, transportation, architectural, medical, aerospace, and general illumination. As the industry grows, "We're seeing a consistent movement towards plastic thermal solutions" states Jessica Weimar, Operations Manager at Cool Polymers. "Thermally conductive plastics provide light weight and design flexible heat sinks and housings that can be injection molded on the same equipment used to manufacture LED optics. This is a tremendous benefit to the integrated manufacturing concept," she continues, "thus enabling manufacturers to reduce total cost and eliminate margin stack-up."

Looking forward, McCullough points out that, "We're highly pleased with the first ten years and our ability to contribute to an estimated $115 million/year in energy savings to users. We anticipate that the next ten years will bring unprecedented demand worldwide for thermally conductive plastics to manage the heat and enclosure challenges in LED lighting."