The project aims to strengthen indigenous manufacturing capabilities and support India’s growing demand for efficient thermal management solutions
Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IIT)’s research team has recently created an indigenous liquid cold plate manufacturing technology. This technology is designed for advanced thermal management in electric vehicles (EVs), AI-driven data centres, railways, power electronics, defence and aerospace applications.
This innovation has achieved a ₹20 lakh seed grant at MATRIx 2026 (Materials Research, Innovation & Entrepreneurship Expo), organised by the Indian Institute of Metals.
The technology is based on Friction Stir Channelling (FSC), a solid-state manufacturing process that creates integrated cooling channels within a single metal plate without melting or joining multiple components. Unlike conventional vacuum brazing, which is energy-intensive and prone to hidden defects and leakage, the FSC process reduces manufacturing time, energy consumption, material waste, and carbon emissions.
The research team has filed an Indian patent application, “A Friction Stir Channeled Cooling Plate,” jointly with Epsilon Engineering Pvt. Ltd. The technology has reached Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7, with prototypes successfully validated in an operational environment. The largest prototype has withstood pressures exceeding 35 bar and has passed fatigue and tensile testing.
Led by Dr Amit Arora, along with doctoral researchers Prachi Sharma and Rizwan Qureshi, the project aims to strengthen indigenous manufacturing capabilities and support India’s growing demand for efficient thermal management solutions for high-performance industrial applications.
