At embedded world 2025, congatec presented its heat pipe cooling solution for extreme environmental conditions. The new cooling solution uses acetone as the working fluid in the heat pipes instead of water. This prevents the heat transfer medium from freezing at extreme sub-zero temperatures and prevents damage to the cooling solution, the module, and the entire system design. The new cooling solution is also insensitive to mechanical stresses such as shock and vibration.
With these features, the acetone-based cooling solution expands the application possibilities of COM (Computer-on-Module) modules to use cases involving extreme climatic and mechanical conditions, such as Arctic temperatures. It enables the use of COM modules in systems that previously had to rely on more elaborate, complex, and expensive COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) system designs, either slot-based or fully customized, to achieve the required reliability, thereby reducing costs and safeguarding performance in demanding system applications. These properties make it the ideal choice for all designs that must operate reliably within a temperature range of -40°C to +85°C.
Jürgen Jungbauer, Senior Product Line Manager at congatec, explains: “Our new acetone-based cooling solution expands module-based designs to include applications under extreme operating conditions that were previously unattainable with conventional cooling solutions. Using our ready-to-use COMs instead of expensive slots or special solutions allows developers to optimize time-to-market while reducing development effort and overall costs for their applications.”
Applications for the new heat pipe cooling system include autonomous and conventional vehicles exposed to extreme conditions, such as logistics vehicles in ports, airports, and cold storage facilities. The new solution is equally effective in rail and aviation systems, and in any other scenario where extreme temperatures and mechanical stress can affect system reliability.
When combined with the ultra-rugged Type6 COM modules conga-TC675 or conga-TC675r, the heatpipe cooling solution is particularly effective. It also provides an ideal cooling solution for COM modules in the COM-HPC Mini and Client formats, as well as COM-HPC Server for rugged edge servers. The new cooling solution will also be available as a heatpipe adapter and other configurations upon request.
This latest development reaffirms congatec's reputation for developing solutions that offer efficient heat dissipation for effective cooling of intensive hot spots. The company's holistic approach to developing high-performance COM ecosystems encompasses suitable cooling solutions, motherboards, and comprehensive services, significantly simplifying and accelerating application development.
Jürgen Jungbauer concludes: "We have always placed the utmost importance on high-performance cooling for reliable computing. Our acetone-based cooling solution once again demonstrates our technological leadership in high-performance COM module ecosystems."
For more information on congatec cooling solutions, please visit: https://www.congatec.com/en/technologies/cooling-solutions/
