Although Aspen Systems has a selection of standard product LCMs (Liquid Chiller Modules) and ECUs (Environmental Control Units) to choose from, it is magical thinking to assume that these standard products will meet the cooling system requirements for everyone who comes to us. Further to this point, each market that we serve has nuances to the requirements that make them unique. This is why we ask so many questions during the initial phases of a product inquiry. The more we know about our customers’ products, the better we can tailor the cooling solution to enhance our customers’ products in ways that go beyond simply cooling. By learning the requirements of the market, we routinely go beyond providing the correct cooling, by enhancing other important aspects of the product such as size, noise, or efficiency. Paying attention to these ancillary requirements helps our customers’ products compete in their respective markets. The answers to our questions will tell us something about the trade-offs between size, noise, capacity, power draw, temperature tolerance, and configuration that go beyond the simple cooling requirements. For example, an electric construction vehicle cooling system will have a very different view of the importance of noise and efficiency than a medical aesthetics application. Adjustments can be made to the cooling system design to accommodate these factors. Our product development team actually becomes an extension of our customer’s design team. We often, within the limits of physics, will tailor our cooling system to meet multiple requirements and make choices to enhance the final product in ways that are simply not achieved by those who simply look at the cooling portion of the product in a vacuum. The thinking process is the same, whether a standard product is sufficient or a full custom solution is required. With our lineup of LCMs, there are often choices between one or another that are influenced by factors other than cooling.
For example, in one medical device application, the customer was concerned about noise generation, so we recommended a switch from the LCM-600 to an LCM-900 that has inherently less noise. They agreed with the choice even though the “600” had sufficient capacity. The noise made the case to switch to the LCM-900.
Almost 90% of our production is with custom-designed cooling systems that are purpose-built for the application at hand. Working closely with the customer’s product development teams we developed the specification, created the design, produced the prototype, and put it into production. The production cost of a custom cooling system at a reasonable production volume is not appreciably different from the standard product. It all depends on the BOM. So, if you don’t see what you are looking for in our standard product lineup, talk with us. We have custom systems doing dry cooling for Semiconductor burn-in and laser applications, laboratory instruments using air, dry and liquid cooling, and military cooling systems tailored for operation on vehicles. Systems with cold side temperatures at -50°C and other systems with cold side temperatures as high as +55°C in production. Typical custom systems include laboratory equipment, laser (dry cooling), medical aesthetics, oncology systems, electric vehicles, military electronics, edge cooling, and many others. Chances are that we have done something similar to what you need.
Reach out to us with your cooling requirements by giving us a call or through our online form.
