54-LED water-cooled searchlight
A large searchlight array of 54 emitters in six modules, each LED behind its own parabolic reflector, cooled by machined water blocks.
Each module carries nine CULPM1.TG emitters, and six modules make up the full array. Every LED sits behind its own SMO parabolic reflector.
Cooling
At this power density, air cooling isn’t enough, so the array is water-cooled. Each module’s water block is machined from POM (acetal), and the aluminum MCPCB the LEDs are soldered to forms one wall of the coolant channel, so water runs directly against the back of the board with no extra thermal interface in between. The loop uses G1/4 BSP fittings and a Topsflo TD5 pump.
The water blocks are designed to be machined at UW-Madison’s Wendt Commons and the ECB machine shop.