Reliable cooling where technology protects lives

No. COOLTEC is certified to DIN EN ISO 9001:2015 (TÜV Thüringen), not to ISO 13485. For our collaboration that means: as a supplier of a part that becomes a component of a medical device, we work to your specification and supply material certificates, dimensional and leak test records, plus documented batch traceability. Integration into your ISO 13485 quality management system (supplier assessment, change management, risk analysis at device level) remains the responsibility of the medical device manufacturer. Where we work regularly: laboratory equipment, analytics, diagnostics and research set-ups, i.e. applications without patient contact or outside the approval chain. Tell us about a 13485 requirement early, and we will clarify before the quotation whether your process allows a 9001 supplier working to specification.

Yes. Sterilisable cold plates are made from stainless steel, usually 1.4404 or 1.4435 (316L), entirely without elastomers or plastic parts in the sterilised area. The reason for stainless steel is not thermal conduction, which is poorer than aluminium, but resistance to steam and cleaning agents plus the smooth, cleanable surface. With steam sterilisation in an autoclave there is the added requirement that the cooler must withstand the temperature cycling and the pressure. Joints are the critical point here, not the base material. The same applies to sterilisation with ethylene oxide, with the additional requirement that the assembly must be fully ventable and dryable. Limit: the price is considerably above an aluminium plate, and cooling capacity is lower for the same geometry, so you need more area for the same performance.

Yes. Copper cold plates for RF output stages in MRI systems are a well-known application, and copper is doubly right there: it is not ferromagnetic and conducts heat and current excellently. What is decisive in an MRI environment is that all parts near the magnetic field are non-magnetic, including screws, fittings and accessories, where standard steel is otherwise often used. For spare parts for existing equipment we work from a sample part or a drawing; naming the device model alone is not enough, because the same series carries different cooler revisions. Limit: for spare parts for third-party equipment we cannot guarantee compatibility with the original part. We manufacture to sample or drawing, and you assess suitability in the device.

Coolers are cleaned after machining so that no machining residues, chips or cutting fluid remain in the channel; for higher requirements an aqueous parts cleaning follows, with subsequent drying and sealed ports. Why that is more than cosmetics: residues in the channel migrate into the circuit on first operation and clog filters, valves or narrower cross-sections there. The damage occurs not in the cooler but elsewhere in the system. For laboratory and analytical applications we define the final cleaning and packaging per project, because "clean" means something different in each application. Limit, honestly stated: residual contamination analysis by particle size class with a certificate per batch is not part of our standard. If you need it, we plan it as a separate service or name a service provider.

Yes. The simple variant is a frequent and quickly implemented case: an aluminium or stainless steel plate with one inlet and one outlet, designed for connecting a flexible hose to a laboratory circulator. We manufacture such plates to size, from 30 mm to 3,000 mm edge length, with typical laboratory sizes between 20 × 30 cm and 60 × 50 cm. All the design needs is the thermal load, the target plate temperature and the inlet temperature of your circulator; channel routing and plate thickness follow from that. With internally structured plates the permissible pressure drop also matters, because laboratory circulators often have only a low pumping capacity. Limit: a laboratory circulator with a small pump cannot push enough flow through a finely structured plate. The simpler channel geometry is then the better choice, even if it looks thermally worse.

Materials are documented by batch: for every delivery we can assign the material certificate of the raw material, usually as an inspection certificate to EN 10204 3.1, provided the supplying mill issues one. With aluminium the material form also matters and is documented as well. Cast and rolled material behave differently during joining and machining and are not interchangeable, even under the same alloy designation. This distinction has already become an issue in series projects, which is why we record it. State the required certificate type in your enquiry, not at acceptance. Limit: part-level traceability with a serial number per piece is possible but not standard. It has to be agreed and affects effort and price.

We start from your load case: heat load, distribution across the area, permissible component temperature, inlet temperature, volume flow and installation space. This yields the Rth budget, which we test in thermal simulation against variants of the channel routing, before design work begins.

Through uniformity of the channel routing: parallel paths instead of long serial ones, deliberate changes in cross-section and, where necessary, turbulators at the critical point. A cooler that fits on average but has several kelvin of spread produces measurement drift.

Copper, copper-nickel, stainless steel and aluminium. The choice follows three criteria: thermal conductivity, media compatibility and mechanical requirement. We frequently combine: conductive material at the heat source, resistant material at the medium.

Pressure testing of every part is our standard; for demanding applications we additionally test with a helium leak test and document the leak rate per part. We set the target leak rate before design.

From a 30 mm microchannel cooler to a 3 m (30,000 mm) cold plate, and on to a fully cooled large precision part. What is possible is decided by material, design and tolerance, not by size alone: give us your dimensions and we will tell you in which design we can produce them.

Requirements for surfaces, cleanability and materials are clarified per project.

Yes. In many devices liquid cooling replaces fan cooling and significantly lowers the noise level. That matters particularly in patient and examination environments.

Samples in around 6-8 weeks as standard, 2-4 weeks by express. For series production we manufacture in a highly automated plant in Germany; cost-sensitive standard parts come from our joint ventures in Asia.

Yes, that is the norm for us. We sign your non-disclosure agreement or provide ours. We never pass on customer projects or application details.