I have to disagree with you on this one, buddy. Heat does not flow directionally like in your picture. When the emitter heats up that copper MCPCB, the heat gets spread across it very evenly. Not perfectly, but decently. This is why larger diameter MCPCB’s do a better job at transferring heat.
Once that copper disc gets hot, the heat transfers into the aluminum below it and starts spreading out evenly like a drop of water on a sponge. Areas that are thick will take longer to heat up than thin areas. This means the thin areas will get hotter first.
Did you see a thermal image of a flashlight cut in half? I’m guessing it was a whole light. What you probably saw was the battery tube and other thin areas down low start to “heat soak” so to speak, while the thicker areas around the head was still soaking up the energy (heat).
The photo you show pretty much proves that. Thermal imaging shows actual temperatures. The fact that the temps were lower around the thick sections all around the emitter shows this design is doing it’s job and keeping things cooler.
It’s important to understand that fins only add some extra surface area to the total surface area of the flashlight. The more surface area you have, the lower the max temperature the flashlight will get.
Mass is what slows down the flashlight from getting to that max temperature. Mass is what can make a 30 second max turbo time into a 90 second max turbo time.
There are lots of different combinations of surface area, mass, energy production and time so there’s no one universal design. Every flashlight needs to have the right balance based on its unique design and needs.
But thanks to input I now know the name of the light with the diamond knurled tube that popped into my head when I first sat the OP.
So cute…thanks Dale!
I like the design, i want it! Remember that i have enough flashlights, i do not need another flashlight, i repeat, i do not need another flashlight
But i want it so badly :person_facepalming:
Exactly what i was thinking!
It is a good looking flashlight, but as i am a real Dutch guy (raised as a zuinige Groninger), i think it is quite expensive, (especially when compared to the Q8)
While I don’t completely agree with either of you I support DB Custom’s point that the cooling fins aren’t in the best place. The way heat spreads out is comparable to how a liquid without gravity would flow (imagine the liquid has it’s source right under the LED). It goes into the direction of the smallest resistance. So the first few cooling fins are pretty deep and I am sure you would see a better thermal performance if they’d not be as deep. When designing the BLF GT we also did extensive thermal analysis and the results were pretty clear - having the fins distributed around the shelf yields a significantly better thermal performance compared to having them above the shelf (here we even disregarded any transitional resistances). See the following thermal analysis of a BLF GT design with fins around the shelf and fins above the shelf:
Edit: Also, the thicker the walls, the more evenly the heat gets distributed and more heat can flow away from the source. Again, think of the liquid, the thicker the walls the more space there is for the liquid to flow away.
