ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the constituents of a light-emitting diode (LED) module, or light engine, within the context of a subsystem that encompasses several engineering domains. It focuses on how an LED engineer would pursue optimization of module parameters that will produce first-rate engines and luminaires without increasing manufacturing complexity to enable product realization within the means of low-cost factory environments. Luminaires that house incandescent and various fluorescent lamps are unsuitable for providing the thermal management functions necessary for LEDs. LED luminaires require many of the technologies developed and utilized for cooling semiconductor devices such as computer processor chips and lasers. Dimming of LED lamps can be accomplished primarily by either pulse width modulation or analog techniques. The many components in varieties of subsystem configurations described thus far assert that a complex optimization process is involved in designing an LED lamp or luminaire.
