Precision Micro has secured a major contract to manufacture chemically etched flow plates for data centre cooling. The seven-figure order will see the UK-based chemical etching specialist supply plates for advanced thermal management systems, following several years of investment in capacity to meet growing demand for compact, efficient cooling technologies.

Compact plate heat exchangers use chemically etched flow plates to transfer heat within a highly compact structure. They are increasingly being adopted where conventional heat exchanger technologies can be too large, heavy or inefficient. For datacentres, this is becoming increasingly important as higher compute loads drive demand for more effective thermal management.

“This contract is the result of a strategy we put in place several years ago,” explains Ben Kitson, head of business development at Precision Micro. “We identified growing demand for compact, high-efficiency cooling across several emerging energy applications and invested in the unique capacity and infrastructure needed to support it.”

He adds: “As power densities increase, cooling technologies must become more efficient, compact and reliable. Chemically etched flow plates are a strong fit due to their ability to achieve high feature density and complex geometries.”

Precision Micro has been involved in advanced heat exchanger plate manufacture since the early development of the technology. Recent investment has focused on increasing large-sheet capacity, expanding etching infrastructure and supporting the chemical management required to process high volumes of material.

The company can chemically etch large-format plates up to 1.5 m long and 610 mm wide, with material thicknesses up to 2.5 mm. This capacity enables manufacturers to produce larger, thicker plates while maintaining the accuracy, repeatability and burr-free finish associated with chemical etching.

More information www.precisionmicro.com