Press Releases
AP Labs Develops Chassis for Next Generation Military Vehicles
San Diego, Calif. - 7 January, 2008 – AP Labs, Inc, was recently selected to develop a Thermal Electric Cooled ATR Chassis to meet the needs of the military’s next generation vehicles.
High performance embedded computers generate a great deal of heat and these boards present great challenges to the capabilities of conventional air cooling systems.
The solution—TEC, which stands for “Thermal Electric Cooling”, is based on the Peltier Effect, which was first discovered in the early 19th century.
The AP Labs Thermal Electric Cooled ATR chassis is a 3/4 long ruggedized VME enclosure designed for five slots of 6U VME64X or cPCI boards. This chassis is designed for tough environments and enables the use of air cooled boards in a sealed environment.
This unit will not only withstand temperature extremes, shock, vibration, humidity and dust, but is also designed to withstand exposure to high-pressure sprays such as those seen by vehicles passing through a tank wash.
The cooling unit consists of a cold plate, a thermo-electric module, multiple heat sinks, and a fan to assist heat rejection. The cold surface faces the inside of the chassis and the hot side is exposed to the external environment. The thermo-electric module carries the heat from the cold plate to the heat sink. The intern fan drives cold air over the circuit cards and through the card cage as the external fan helps airflow over the external heat sink to assist in the dissipation of heat.
The AP Labs Thermal Electric ATR Chassis can be found hard at work on ground mobile vehicles under test in the deserts of New Mexico. The chassis assembly houses the AP Labs Digital Video Recording System (DVRS), which is an onboard data recording system capable of acquiring real-time high resolution RGB and NTSC/PAL, and audio data in support of a variety of US Army test and training activities.
About AP Labs, Inc.
AP Labs is a premier supplier of rugged enclosures, real-time and integrated system solutions for the defense, aerospace and commercial markets. AP Labs provides a single point of contact for design, test and support of complex turnkey solutions and specializes in the development and manufacture of rugged systems for embedded computer applications that require a COTS approach.
Founded in 1985, AP Labs has developed a reputation for successfully providing customers with products and capabilities designed to reduce project schedule, risk and cost. AP Labs systems and enclosures are deployed on submarines, surface ships, aircraft (manned & unmanned) and ground vehicles. Headquartered in San Diego, California, the company can be found on the web at www.aplabs.com.
Justine Johnson, Marketing Communications, AP Labs, 10864 Thornmint Road, San Diego, CA 92127. Tel: 858-674-2850 x105, Fax: 858-674-2869, Email: justine@aplabs.com