Gun or Deep Drilled Liquid Cold Plate

Gun-drilled (often referred to as deep drilled) cold plates are manufactured by creating a channel for liquid to flow by drilling a series of deep holes (gun drilling) into an aluminium plate.

These holes are drilled at different angles and locations parallel to the surface. We use external and intermediate sealing plugs within the channels to create the desired internal flow routes, with inlet and outlet connectors for both internal and external fitting to the plate.

There are no constraints on the type of alloy which may be used, and no limit to the depth or diameter of the holes. This results in a dual-sided cold plate that offers the same thermal characteristics to both sides. Component mounting holes can be drilled and tapped from both sides.

The cold plate is manufactured from a single piece of aluminium that has not been through any thermal cycling and no thermal stress. This results in a manufacturing process that allows flatness to be achieved much easier. A significant benefit of gun-drilled cold plates is that they can maintain tighter tolerances than tubed cold plates, and have the advantage that there are no thermal boundaries.

A gun drilled liquid cold plate is most suited to applications with no excessive cooling requirements, and where ease of manufacture and cost effectiveness are important. The thermal performance is similar to that of the expanded copper tube in an aluminum plate technique.

A gun drilled / deep drilled cold plate, do not require any type of tooling costs, which makes this an ideal method when only low volume may be required