By Courtney E. Howard
LIBERTY LAKE, Wa., 29 March 2008. If it seems as though quite a long time has passed since you've heard from SprayCool, also known as Isothermal Systems Research or ISR, in Liberty Lake, Wa., you're probably right. That is a thing of the past, I learned in a recent visit to the facility.
In January 2007, the company scaled back its commercial endeavors and renewed its focus on the defense and intelligence market. The company is building on its traction in defense/intelligence, without being distracted by other ventures, says the company's management, headed by president/CEO Matt Gerber.
In the past, SprayCool executives have been a bit tight-lipped concerning technology advancements, applications, and contract awards. Management is now forthcoming with its program successes, which include some of the latest unmanned vehicles, such as the Predator, Warrior, and Global Hawk. Information about these and other of SprayCool's programs and deployments are even posted online, at http://www.spraycool.com/applications/programs.asp.
Moreover, the company, often thought of as a research-and-development firm and maker of only customized solutions, should now be considered a product company. SprayCool has launched its first "product," the Multi-Platform Enclosure (MPE). The MPE, a next-generation electronics enclosure, already has been selected by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman for radar and image-processing applications.
Joe Baddeley, vice president of Aerospace & Defense at SprayCool, notices a big change in industry and the company in the past five years. "Just five years ago, end users were driving adoption; now, systems integrators are pulling us in on projects."
In fact, SprayCool officials are actively seeking industry partnerships. "We're teaming with companies, key business partners--this is new, never broadcast out to the world," says a representative. "Our technology is mature, and we're in active pursuit of partnering arrangements with some of the leading providers of military electronics and integrated enclosures." While SprayCool would not officially disclose specific partner targets, the stated strategy would seem to support companies like GE Fanuc and Curtiss-Wright.
"We believe our unique approach to solving the densification, thermal management, and environmental isolation issues using smaller-footprint advanced enclosures, and the unique cooling approach of our two-phase patented 'SprayCool' technology, has realized a turning point for many of the leading integrators in their ability to provide the military with high-performance solutions to deploy image processing, signals processing, and radar-processing EW applications," says Marie Hartis, director of marketing at SprayCool. "Our retrofit strategy might also be of interest, as our enclosures can accept and deploy traditional air-cooled cards, COTS or proprietary electronics, all in the same box, at altitudes of 70,000+ feet, with no dedicated ECS system."
For more information, visit SprayCool online at www.spraycool.com.
