lytron inc, designer and manufacturer of total thermal solutions™, recently announced that it was awarded u.s. patent 7,246,497 for a mist generation, freezing, and delivery system. the invention provides a system that generates particles of mist, freezes the mist particles, and delivers a mixture of gas and the solid mist particles to an external application. the generated gas/solid mist can be used for a variety of applications such as backside wafer cooling, rapid material quenching, rapid body cooling for induced hypothermia, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and more.

the system includes a mixture of gas and frozen mist particles circulating on a flow path. a portion of the mixture is removed from the circulatory flow path as needed for the external application. a liquid mist generator is located on an incoming flow path to introduce liquid mist into the mixture of gas and frozen mist particles on the circulatory flow path. the amount of liquid mist introduced is equivalent to the amount of gas/frozen mist that has been removed. the mixture of gas and frozen mist particles has a temperature and flow rate sufficient to freeze the introduced liquid mist while mixing and flowing along a cooling portion of the circulatory flow path. a heat removal device on the circulatory flow path further cools the mixture of gas and frozen mist to the desired temperature.

one of the patent's inventors, ms. kathryn whitenack, director of business development, notes, "lytron's research and development activities center around new liquid cooling technologies and applications. our customers are embracing liquid cooling as one of the most effective ways to remove heat or rapidly cool their applications to desired temperatures. lytron is known as the leader in liquid cooling components, but is also quickly becoming known in the industry for its high end liquid cooling systems and recirculating chillers."

lytron's standard and custom cold plates, cooling systems, and heat exchangers are found in the medical, laser, military, aerospace, power electronics, analytical, and semiconductor markets. the company engineers custom components and systems for oems as well as provides off-the-shelf standard products to oems and end users. lytron sells directly from its headquarters as well as through its representatives and distributors around the world.

for more information, please contact lytron at +1-781-933-7300 or email [email protected].