James Klett of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has developed a graphite foam technology that can help cool LED light fixtures and extend their lifespan, which has been licensed to LED North America.

LED North America intends to use the graphite foam to passively cool components in LED lamps, which are increasingly in demand in applications such as street lights and parking garage lighting. LED North America specializes in providing LED lighting products for municipal, commercial and industrial applications.

Cooling LED lamps is critical to increasing their efficiency, considering that each 10-degree decrease in temperature can double the life of the lighting components and lower its price, making the lamps more attractive to a broader consumer base.

The newly licensed graphite foam invention offers many advantages over comparable heat sink materials such as copper and aluminum. Graphite foam's high thermal conductivity, low weight and easy machinability give the material greater design flexibility and make it a lighter, cheaper and more efficient cooling option.

The foam's unusual graphite crystal structure has a skeletal structure full of air pockets, making it only 25 percent dense and lightweight. The network of ligaments in the foam wicks heat away from its source, making it an excellent candidate to cool the LED lamp components.

LED North America's relationship with ORNL helped prompt Andrew Wilhelm, one of the company's founders, to locate the company in Tech 2020, a business incubator in Oak Ridge.

ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy's Office of Science.