Telerex partners with OTS: Over 10 years of combined experience in the thermal field

Telerex offers a wide range of products for cooling electronic components and systems, including heatsinks, Peltier elements, thermic interface materials, cold plates, chillers, fans and thermic electrical assemblies.

When it comes to delivering standard products, Telerex has everything you need, ready to order. However, there are also cases where a standard solution does not meet all your cooling needs. In those cases, you may not be sure which thermic cooling option is right for you. In some cases, it's not even clear whether your electronics can be cooled at all to meet your requirements. This may be the case, for example, with hermetically sealed system cabinets when the equipment is stored in a vacuum, or when the electronics that need to be cooled are situated in very high or low ambient temperatures.

In cases like these, standard solutions will never do. That's when Telerex turns to one of its trusted specialists to find the solution you need. Our specialist partner is Optimal Thermal Solutions (OTS). They are experts in the field of temperature management for electronics.

OTS offers full-service solutions, taking your complete system into consideration to create optimal results. They operate their own thermic laboratory facilities and software tools that help them to develop custom-made cooling systems. They work side-by-side with you, drawing on analytical calculations, computer simulations and experimental tests to develop the ideal thermic/mechanical solution. They can even produce prototypes as needed. No two solutions are alike: all are custom-made to order. Telerex takes care of the production facilities and the entire logistics process, either in-house (within its own group of companies) or through its strong relationships with its suppliers.

This is clearly a win-win situation for you as a customer. Thanks to the know-how and expertise of OTS, combined with Telerex's vast network, we can take care of everything you need. From the beginning of your project on, you can always count on us to provide a fully functional solution to serve your purposes within the agreed timeframe. The customer case below is a prime example how we bundle our strengths to cater to our customers' needs.

From idea to execution: Cooling under extreme conditions

Telerex works proactively alongside its customers who are in need of cooling solutions under the toughest conditions. Recently, a customer asked if we could provide a cooling system for a large meter box. This application is located inside a large factory hall. The hall is often opened on both ends. Due to the work taking place inside, there is often heavy air pollution. The design would have to function in a heavily polluted environment with ambient temperatures ranging from -50°C to 60°C. It would be required to maintain a constant temperature between -5°C and 25°C inside the meter box, which is exposed to a heat load that alternates between 100 and 400W. To ensure that the system is reliable and capable of being maintained, the customer's first idea was to look at a cooling system based on Peltier. This customer's case was very specific, making it a challenging project for us.

Customer's wishes

During the first meeting between OTS and the customer, we identified the most relevant thermic and mechanical conditions that would have to be taken into account. Based on this, we got to work creating a thermic design. The maximum heat emitted by the electronics inside the hermetically sealed cabinet (IP65 sealed) amounted to 400 watts. This does not count the dissipated heat needed for the cooling system. This heat must also be absorbed by the environment under extreme temperatures of up to +60°C. Under normal operating conditions, the heat emitted inside the cabinet is up to 400 watts, and the temperature (regardless of the ambient temperature) must remain between 20°C and maximum 30°C. The customer also wanted to avoid using any fans, either inside or outside the enclosure. Lastly, the system had to be capable of starting up at an ambient temperature of -50°C and raining the temperature inside the cabinet to above 0°C within a few hours so that the equipment inside can be switched on.

Our solution

Based on the information we gathered, a Peltier solution was completely out of the question. This type of cooling is very inefficient under heavy differences in temperature, with an efficiency of only 10% to maximum 30%. Furthermore, the customer required for no fans to be used. However, this requirement was not feasible because of the high temperature gradient that would occur inside the cabinet without fans, while outside the cabinet, the condenser heatsink would be extremely voluminous. Considering all the requirements, we offered a cooling solution based on the functionality of a conventional industrial refrigerator/air-conditioning system, consisting of the following components:

• Compressor
• A storage tank for the coolant, ensuring that there is always enough coolant on hand throughout the temperature range
• An expansion valve to control the temperature and the vaporiser throughout the broad external temperature range
• Custom-made vaporiser, made from aluminium sheet metal, fitted with copper wiring and a forced cooled heatsink inside the cabinet
• Condenser made using a large heatsink with the cooling lines in its base, which come into contact with external air where the heat transfer into the surrounding atmosphere takes place via forced convection.

The compressor pump transfers the heat energy from inside to outside the cabinet, reducing the internal temperature (similar to an air-conditioner in a car or home). The efficiency (the ratio between the power used by the compressor and the cooling capacity) is between 200% and 300% with this type of technology, making it very high. The condenser (like the black plate on the back of a refrigerator or the radiator of an air-conditioning unit that is placed outdoors) is replaced by a heatsink with tall fins. The fins are situated far apart from each other to help prevent them from becoming clogged by the pollution in the air. This also enables them to be cleaned in a quick, service-oriented manner. The heatsink has large dimensions (W 650 x H 620 x D 165) because they are required to keep compressed gas temperatures from exceeding 80°C at a heat load of 600 watts (internal dissipation plus compressor power) and ambient temperature of 60°C. Air is blown through the heatsink using IP68 fans. We developed special cooling elements to cool both the compressor and the compressor controller inside the IP65-sealed cabinet.

During the design process, we used analytical calculation methods and computer simulation techniques (computational fluid dynamics) to achieve an optimal all-in-one solution.

The various components were extensively tested as a prototype, including through various simulations inside a climatised cabinet, to guarantee functionality under the wide-ranging ambient temperatures. After successfully completing the test stage, the phase begins in which the final product is defined and all other wishes are taken into account. For example, to ensure service-friendly maintenance, the cooling unit is installed through the back side of the cabinet, and the entire cooling system can be easily disassembled. This allows for it to be quickly swapped out for a replacement unit if necessary.

Are you looking for a thermic solution for your application? Curious about the innovative creations we can come up with your application? Contact us.

Thermal training sessions

Telerex is offering courses and workshops related to its extensive thermal services in the field of thermal applications. We offer these courses along with our partner OTS.
OTS combines analytical calculations, computer simulations and experimental tests as the basis for the training sessions. Would you like to take part yourself or send your thermal engineers to take part in our courses? Check out the available training options here.

On request, we also provide trainings on site.