Making medical technology efficient and fail-safe

With its increasing power density, power electronics plays a significant role in driving innovation in medical technology. In this field, more than in almost any other area of application, the heat dissipation of circuits and other components is essential to ensure the long-term precision and functionality of medical devices. With its broad portfolio of heat sinks and manufacturing processes, CTX Thermal Solutions supports a wide range of medical applications and meets a variety of requirements.

Efficient and fail-safe. That's how medical technology devices should work. However, major technological advances are making this task increasingly challenging: with high performance in the smallest of spaces, power electronics enable medical applications that were previously unimaginable, including real-time diagnostics, high-resolution imaging, and high-precision surgical procedures performed by robots. At the same time, however, they also generate a lot of heat, which affects the service life and reliability of electrical devices. With heat sinks in standard or customized designs, manufacturer CTX Thermal Solutions provides the heat dissipation that medical technology applications need to be reliable. Here are two examples.

For example: Requirement for speed

Applications such as endoscopy, X-rays, or monitoring during operations use high-performance processors, which generate a lot of heat in a very short time. With liquid heat sinks, CTX enables faster heat dissipation than with passive cooling solutions. They consist of an aluminum plate with embedded stainless steel or copper pipes in which a coolant—usually water, glycol, oil, or alcohol—circulates. Mounted directly at the hotspot, they dissipate up to 25 percent more heat than fan-assisted cooling concepts. This makes them one of the most powerful cooling solutions available.

For example: Space requirements

Embedded systems form the basis for numerous digital medical applications. The same applies to both the systems and the cooling solutions: they must be compact, powerful, and as mobile as possible. One CTX variant is heat spreaders with integrated heat pipes. The functional principle of heat pipes uses a closed copper pipe system with a cooling medium. This means that this cooling concept can be installed in almost any position and quickly dissipates large amounts of heat from the hotspot to a heat sink. Metal cooling enclosures for electronics are also typical for embedded systems. CTX manufactures them using die casting, extrusion, or stamping and bending technology. This allows for enclosure designs that are adapted to the power loss as well as the requirements in terms of shape and appearance.

Suitable for every application requirement

With its range of different cooling concepts and manufacturing processes, CTX is able to produce suitably dimensioned solutions for every application requirement in medical technology. This includes standard and special heat sinks as well as individual pieces and large series. The company is thus one of the leading heat sink manufacturers in Europe.