Although they haven’t been in use for as long as some of the more common thermal management solutions, such as air conditioning, heat exchangers and other custom thermal solutions have become integral to many different applications. That’s partly due to their more streamlined and cost-efficient methods of transferring waste heat compared to traditional solutions, and partly due to the ease with which such cooling solutions can be adapted to meet a wide range of high-performance thermal management needs. Today, some of the more common uses for custom thermal solutions span from traditional electrical cooling techniques to more specialized applications in virtually every industry.
Keeping electrical enclosures cool
Cooling electrical control panels and other enclosures is one of the earliest uses of modern heat exchangers. Designed to replace more cumbersome cooling solutions, such as air conditioning and air compressing units, heat exchangers brought more natural concepts of transferring waste heat into the equation. Today, companies continue to rely on more efficient, custom thermal solutions such as heat exchangers to meet the growing thermal management needs of advanced electrical equipment. In addition to being more efficient and cost-effective, custom thermal solutions also help companies promote greener and more environmentally electrical cooling.
Making plastic molding more efficient
While cooling electrical enclosures is a popular and frequent use of custom thermal solutions, the ability to rapidly transfer heat in an efficient manner has proven beneficial to much more than just electrical cooling. For example, processes such as plastic molding rely on the same type of thermal management, though often at a much more demanding pace. Specialized thermal solutions such as thermal pins are often adapted to utilize advanced heat transfer methods to enhance the rate and quality of plastic mold cooling.
Streamlining wastewater treatment
Specialized applications like plastic molding can benefit greatly from customized thermal management, and the same is true for specialized processes that are shared across multiple industries. Wastewater treatment is one such process, and has become increasingly more popular as the push for eco-friendly processes has grown stronger. Treating wastewater reduces a company’s overall environmental footprint, but the process relies heavily on energy (particularly, heat). In many applications, heat exchangers can be customized to repurpose electrical waste heat to streamline the wastewater treatment process.
For more information about some of the more common uses for custom thermal solutions, call Noren Thermal Solutions in Taylor, TX, at 866-936-6736.