Performance, Enabled
Modern defense and aerospace platforms demand greater power density, tighter packaging, and absolute reliability. Our custom liquid cold plate solutions provide the thermal headroom required to sustain full system performance under extreme operating conditions.
What Are Liquid Cold Plates?
A liquid cold plate is a thermal management component that removes heat from electronics by transferring it directly into a circulating liquid coolant. Because liquid moves heat far more efficiently than air, cold plate liquid cooling supports higher power densities in the compact, ruggedized designs required by defense, space, telecom, and computing systems.
How Liquid Cold Plates Work
Heat conducts from electronic components into the cold plate body. Precision-engineered internal flow channels route coolant through the highest heat-flux zones, where the fluid absorbs and carries that energy to a heat exchanger. The result is precise, stable temperature control even in high-density assemblies where air cooling falls short.
Engineering & Design Advantages
Custom liquid cold plates let engineers optimize flow paths, materials, and interface geometry for a specific application, reducing thermal resistance, supporting higher power density, and enabling SWaP optimization in constrained systems. For defense electronics where size, weight, and reliability are non-negotiable, that level of control matters.
Vitesse Systems Liquid Cold Plate Capabilities
Vitesse develops and manufactures custom liquid cold plates engineered for mission-critical thermal management. From early prototype to full-rate production, we deliver integrated cold plate liquid cooling solutions built for defense and aerospace environments.
Vacuum-Brazed Construction
Our vacuum-brazed process produces hermetically sealed cold plates with strong structural integrity and long-term leak resistance. Designs range from single-board cold plates to complex multi-function assemblies, including integrated RF structures, which is a key advantage for high heat-flux management in defense electronics.
Material Options
We work with a broad range of materials to meet thermal performance, weight, and environmental requirements:
- Aluminum
- Copper
- Stainless steel
- Copper-nickel (CuNi) alloys
Additional materials are evaluated based on application needs.
Precision Machining & Integration
We maintain tight dimensional tolerances supported by in-house thermal modeling, structural validation, pressure and flow testing, and environmental stress screening. Our AS9100-aligned manufacturing and inspection processes ensure reliable, aerospace-grade cooling hardware for mission-critical programs.
Applications
Custom liquid cooling solutions from Vitesse support a wide range of high-performance applications:
- Radar, electronic warfare, and directed energy systems
- C5ISR, missile defense, and satellite communications
- High-performance computing and signal processing
- Power electronics and semiconductor platforms
- Aerospace and harsh-environment industrial systems
Because we support antenna systems, RF hardware, power distribution, and thermal assemblies under one roof, we help eliminate integration gaps and reduce supply chain complexity from early design collaboration through qualification and full-rate production.
Ready to get started?
Get in touch with our team of engineering experts and find the right thermal management solution for your mission.