lancaster, pennsylvania  – advanced cooling technologies, inc. (act) announced that they have developed ancer™ coatings for corrosion and erosion protection of copper microchannel coolers (cmc).

thermal oxidation test demonstrating the corrosion resistant properties of the ancer™ coating. the uncoated copper act logo oxidizes changing color when exposed to temperatures from (a) ambient to (b) 250 °c and finally at (c) 400 °c, while the ancer™  coated copper retains its color.

cmcs are used to remove waste heat from high heat flux devices such as laser diode arrays. cmcs have very short lifetimes, a few thousand hours in extreme conditions, due to current leakage and erosion corrosion effects from the high velocity, high purity de-ionized water coolant.  loss of even a single cmc among an entire laser array can lead to costly replacement efforts and operational delays.

act’s new ancer™ (applied nanoscale corrosion erosion resistant) coatings, when applied to the interior surfaces of a cmc, can extend its life by 3 to 6 times.  laboratory testing of complex geometry cmcs revealed that ancer™ coated cmcs consistently outperformed gold plated cmcs, the current industry standard for corrosion/erosion protection, reducing the corrosion rate 260 times lower than gold.

ancer™ is a hard coating that is robust enough to withstand the damaging effects of high speed, de-ionized water flow, yet thin enough to pose minimum impact to the excellent thermal conductivity of copper.  act has developed a vapor deposition process which allows the coating to be applied uniformly even on the most complex geometries with micro scale features such as inside a cmc.

the coating development was funded under a darpa sbir phase i program. the test results were so positive that darpa has recently funded a phase ii option to help commercialize the technology.  “with the ancer™ coatings, we have developed a solution for a problem that has been plaguing the laser diode community for years.” says dr. tapan desai, manager of r&d for act’s defense/aerospace products group, “we are grateful for the support and confidence darpa has provided in helping us commercialize this technology”.  mr. scott garner, vice president of the defense/aerospace products group, adds “the response from the commercial sector been great. we are now providing coating services to our customers.  it’s very exciting to be offering new technology solutions to solve a wellknown industry problem.”

for more information about ancer™ please visit our website:

http://www.1-act.com/ancer/

about act

act specializes in advanced thermal technology development and custom thermal product manufacturing. act designs and manufactures cold plates, hik plates, heat pipes, pumped liquid and two-phase loops and thermal storage devices for customers in diverse markets including aerospace, electronics, temperature calibration, medical device, and energy systems.

act’s team consists of personnel with established track records in technology development, commercialization and production. many of them were involved in pioneering work on heat pipes, loop heat pipes and other single and two-phase heat transfer devices. they are the inventors/co-inventors on numerous u.s. and international patents and the authors/co-authors of hundreds of scientific publications.

act’s facility measures more than 40,000 square feet, including office, laboratory and manufacturing spaces. with iso9001 and as9100 certified quality system in place, the facility has designed and manufactured high quality, cost effective, thermal management solutions for dozens of mission critical satellite, and military programs as well as for numerous commercial applications. simultaneously act’s broad and diverse r&d efforts are developing thermal solutions for tomorrow’s emerging technologies.

for more information about act, please visit www.1-act.com.

media contact:

pete ritt
vice president, technical services
e-mail: [email protected]
phone: +1 (717) 295-6063