Patent ID: 8733980

Claim:
A light emitting diode (LED) lighting module for installation in a light fixture, said module comprising: (a) a body of highly thermally conductive material, said body having a plurality of exterior surfaces disposed in an array around a first axis, each of said surfaces facing outwardly away from said first axis; (b) a thermally conductive support having an first end and a second end, said first end and said second end being mutually spaced from one another along said first axis, said body being supportably mounted to said first end of said support and thermally conductively coupled to said first end of said support, said second end of said support being mechanically coupleable to the light fixture to support said body in an installed position in the light fixture; (c) a plurality of LEDs, at least one LED of said plurality of LEDs being supportably mounted to each respective one of at least a majority of said surfaces and thermally conductively coupled to said body; and (d) a plurality of first heat dissipating fins supportably mounted to said body and thermally conductively coupled to said body, said LED's being located with respect to said first axis axially between said first heat dissipating fins and said support; and wherein said body has sufficient thermal mass and is thermally conductively coupled to each of said plurality LEDs by way of a thermal path having sufficiently low thermal resistance that during a thermal lag period which occurs under normal operating conditions after said LEDs are energized until heat can begin to be drained from said body at a rate at least as rapid as that at which heat enters said body from said plurality of LEDs, said body is capable of taking on heat from said plurality of LEDs at a sufficiently high rate of heat flow to prevent any of said plurality of LEDs from exceeding a temperature limit.