Thermal mass isn't going to affect the steady-state temperature, is it.TonyR wrote:Much of the advance in LED brightness has been from getting the heat out of the chip better which means attaching it to a good thermal mass and radiator.
Like how the secondary mirror gets in the way in a Newtonian telescope?TonyR wrote: Mounting the chip facing backwards makes that difficult because a good thermal mass and conduction path will get in the way of the beam that eventually goes forward.
Yes, on second thoughts, look how effective a design mounting the LED rearward is; any heatsink can be directly exposed to airflow, keeping the sink smaller or cooler through forced convection cooling---ideally complemented by dynamo power!
TBH, the LED could be mounted in the side of the lamp housing if heat rejection and light obscuration is a real issue for you. My major point was that our being able to see the tiny radiating LED surface directly is what makes them so uncomfortable for us to look at. O&O.