Aircraft light

摘要

An aircraft light consists of a housing containing a light source, a heat sink element forming at least part of the exterior surface of the housing and an auxiliary thermal capacitor that is thermally decoupled from the heat sink element. A thermally expandable medium is coupled to the heat sink element and operates to thermally decouple the light source from the heat sink element and thermally couple the light source to the auxiliary thermal capacitor and vice versa, depending on the actual temperature of the heat sink element.

主权项

1. Aircraft light comprising a housing (20) having an outer side, at least one light source (38) located within the housing (20) for emitting light, a heat sink element (24) for cooling the at least one light source (38), wherein at least a portion (22) of the heat sink element (24) forms at least a portion of the outer side of the housing (20), an auxiliary thermal capacitor (34) for receiving thermal energy from the at least one light source (38), wherein the auxiliary thermal capacitor (34) is thermally decoupled from the heat sink element (24), and actuator means (48) thermally coupled to the heat sink element (24) and operable to thermally decouple the at least one light source (38) from the heat sink element (24) and thermally couple the at least one light source (38) to the auxiliary thermal capacitor (34) when the actual temperature of the heat sink element (24) exceeds a threshold value, wherein the actuator means (48) comprises a volume of a thermally expandable medium (32) for displacing the at least one light source (38) out of thermal coupling to the heat sink element (24) and towards thermal coupling to the auxiliary thermal capacitor (34).