Engineering Services
ACT's Engineering Services & Products Group offers a complete range of thermal engineering services, from initial problem definition to delivery of complete procurement package for a qualified thermal solution. In most cases, our customers define thermal problems, and we develop feasible solutions and take the concepts through prototypes and productions. In other cases, our customers bring their own ideas, and we optimize the concepts and take them through prototypes and productions. In all cases, we maintain strict confidentiality to protect our customers' confidential information.
Our staff has the tools and experience to provide solutions that not only meet the thermal specifications but also the system, mechanical and cost requirements. Whether it's a simple extrusion or a high heat flux pumped two-phase loop, our engineers can design and specify a solution that is appropriate to your needs. To date, this group has served customers in diverse applications including cooling of commercial and military electronics, medical surgery temperature control, fuel cell thermal control, and cooling fan characterization.
ACT's Engineering Services & Products Group personnel have experience and a long track record of successful design, manufacture, testing and commercialization of thermal solutions across a wide temperature range.
Their combined professional experience, in heat transfer, is more than 110 years. They are listed as inventors or co-inventors on 35 U.S. patents for a variety of heat transfer devices. This real world experience ensures our designs are functional, manufacture-able and cost effective for high and low volume productions alike.
An example where ACT took a concept through design,
analysis, prototype build and qualification test
(click picture to enlarge)
Visit the following pages to find more about ACT's
Engineering Services capabilities:
The Engineering Services & Products Group is equipped with a host of commercially available design, analysis and optimization tools including:
- Computational Fluid Dynamics - CFDesign™
- Finite Element Analysis - CosmosWorks™
- Computer Aided Design- SolidWorks™
ACT also utilizes a variety of in-house Excel™ spreadsheets, Scilab™, and MathCad™ programs for a variety of heat transfer designs including:
- Heat Pipe Performance
- Pumped Two Phase System Design
- Air Side Fin Optimization
- Hydro/Thermodynamic Effects of Boiling in Wicks
Vibration analysis of liquid pump assembly
CFD simulation of flow in manifold
Electronic module design simulation
ACT has in house manufacturing equipment and facilities to rapidly prototype proposed solutions for characterization and qualification testing, including:
- Specialty equipment for single and two phase heat transfer systems
- Welding: Manual, Automated, Glove Box Inert Atmosphere
- Brazing: Torch, Furnace
- Epoxy Cure and Soldering Ovens
- Inspection Equipment
- Custom fabrication and assembly fixtures
- RF generator (to 15kW)
- TIG welders (manual, programmable, dry-box, 3~350A)
- Spot welders (250 watt-second)
- Liquid metal injection apparatus
- Ultrasonic cleaning facility
- Metal hydride processing facility
- Complete heat pipe manufacturing equipment
Prototype cryogenic heat pipes
Prototype multiple evaporator two-phase loop
ACT offers complete thermal testing capabilities for all types of thermal management devices. We can:
- Map fan curves, and pump curves
- Characterize enclosure flow resistances
- Plot thermal resistance and flow resistance curves for heat sinks
- Provide thermal resistance curves as a function of power and heat flux
ACT's flow bench provides known volumetric flow rates and the set of manometers allow ACT's laboratory technicians to accurately measure pressure drops across fin stacks or through housings and cases or pressures developed by fans. Armed with this data, our engineers can modify current designs or develop new innovative solutions optimized for our customers' specific applications.
Our laboratory facilities include a host of testing and characterization equipment from standard data acquisition systems to high temperature, and high heat flux testing metrology equipment and capabilities. Our facilities and experienced personnel assure accurate and consistent testing according to industry standards.
Subscale radiator panel test
in vacuum bell jar
Wind tunnel for heat sink characterization
Gas gap calorimeter
for high temperature heat pipe testing
Thermo-vacuum chamber
for testing in vacuum environment
Analytical Capabilities
ACT engineers use commercial and in-house software to analyze and design complex thermal-fluid systems.
- 3-D Solid Modeling and Design (SolidWorks)
- Finite Element Analysis and Design (CosmosWorks)
- Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFDesign)
- In-house design codes for single and two-phase flow heat transfer, heat pipes, and space radiators
Materials and Fluids Expertise
- Materials: Copper, Nickel, Monel, Stainless Steel, Aluminum, Titanium, Inconel, Haynes, Moly, Tungsten
- Fluids: Water, Methanol, Acetone, Ammonia, Propylene, Ethane, Cesium, Potassium, Sodium, Lithium, and a number of "intermediate temperature" fluids (450 - 750K)
Fabrication and Testing Capabilities
- Brazing (furnace, torch, atmosphere, vacuum)
- Welding (TIG, spot, programmable, manual, dry-box)
- Vacuum pumps (mechanical, diffusion, turbo, to 10-6 Torr)
- Helium mass spectrometer leak detection (to 10-10 std cc/sec)
- Ultrasonic cleaning facility
- Metal hydride processing facility
- RF generator (to 5kW)
- Computerized data acquisition systems
- 3ft by 8ft thermo-vacuum chamber
- High heat flux boiling testing facility (to 1,200W/cm2)
- Heat pipe life test facility (Al/Ammonia, Cu/Propylene, Ti/Water, Monel/Water, CuNi/Cesium, Haynes/Lithium, various intermediate temperature heat pipes)
- Complete heat pipe manufacturing equipment
- Welders certified to AWS 17.1 Specification for Fusion Welding for Aerospace Applications
- ACT's Quality System is certified to ISO 9001:2000 standards.
CFD simulation of an electronic module
Wind tunnel
Thermo-vacuum chamber