For many industries, the issues around effective heat transfer are a central focus for new product development.

For example:

• Electronics: Increases in chip capability produce parallel increases in heat, challenging manufacturers to maintain optimum operating temperatures.
• Engine cooling: Climbing fuel costs mean efficiency is a big issue, but traditional engine cooling solutions such as radiators and fans add size and resistance (radiators) and noise (fans).
  
• HVAC: With tighter indoor air quality regulations, commercial buildings and manufacturing areas will need higher capacity systems. Manufacturers are also motivated to reduce system energy costs.
  

Current Limitations

Thermal management applications vary in their effectiveness. This inability to manage heat significantly limits the development of many industrial applications. Thermal solutions currently available have a variety of limitations:

• Thermal duty (capacity)
  
• Pressure drop
  
• Size
  
• Noise
  
• Manufacturing cost
  
• Reliability and maintenance
  

The benefits of PAX design geometries

To reduce pressure drop, improve mixing, and increase overall heat transfer efficiency, PAX is developing patented PAX geometries in thermal applications.