Patent ID: 8197098

Claim:
An LED recessed lighting apparatus, said apparatus comprising: (a) a housing at least a portion of which is mountable in a recess having a recess opening; (b) at least one light-emitting diode (LED) disposed within the housing; (c) a non-vented trim having an interior side, an exterior side, and an aperture extending between said interior side and said exterior side, an inside surface of said trim facing toward said recess, said trim being affixable over at least a portion of said recess opening such that said recess is substantially isolated from direct convective thermal exchange with the environment adjoining an outside surface of said trim when said housing is mounted in said recess and said trim is affixed over said at least a portion of said recess opening; (d) a lens having a cavity within which is located at least a light-emitting portion of said LED, said lens being mounted to allow light emitted by said LED to pass through said aperture of said trim, (e) a first heat sink of a first highly thermally conductive material, said first heat sink being intimately thermally conductively coupled to said LED and being located substantially immediately adjacent to said LED; (f) a second heat sink of a second highly thermally conductive material, said second heat sink being mechanically supported by said trim and substantially directly thermally conductively coupled to said inside surface of said trim, and (g) a heat pipe mechanically and thermally coupled between said first heat sink and said second heat sink, said heat pipe containing a working fluid and having an evaporator portion coupled to said first heat sink and a condenser portion coupled to said second heat sink such that the heat generated by said LED during normal steady state operation can be thermally conducted to said trim by way of a thermal path which includes said first beat sink, said heat pipe and said second heat sink.