ABOUT US

Experts In Accurate Deep Cooling Solutions

At ICECAP, we’re all about deep cooling for any application, ranging from image sensors to medical applications! Our expertise in thermal isolation and dissipation, and electronics integration keeps your systems cool and running at their best.

Meet The Team

Alec Fenech

Co-founder

Mechanical design engineer with expertise in product design and thermal systems engineering. He holds an M.Sc. from the University of Malta in Kansei engineering. Prior to ICECAP, Alec took on mechanical design roles, designing battery systems for the AV sector amongst others.

Gareth Blundell

Electrical Engineer

Electronics design engineer with expertise in embedded systems development. He holds an B.Eng from the University of Malta, having developed production ready iteration of the Aristat module.

Andre Micallef

Co-Founder

Electrical engineer with expertise in digital/analogue electronic design and AV engineering. He holds an M.Sc. pioneering innovative industrialisation for high-speed camera systems. Prior to ICECAP, Andre was involved in various entrepreneurial projects, including setting up companies as well as managing various grants

Thomas Galea

Co-founder

Electronics design engineer with expertise in Hardware / Software co design and FPGA's. He is currently reading for an M.Sc in Industry 5.0 practices in embedded electronics.

Marc Anthony Azzopardi

Advisor

Marc holds a Ph.D. in avionics from Cranfield University. He is an Associate Professor of Electronics Engineering at the University of Malta. Marc is co-inventor of several of ICECAP's technolgoies and leads the IP portfolio amongst others.

Contributors

We sincerely thank all the incredible contributors, both past and present, for their dedication and hard work. Your efforts have shaped this project into what it is today, and we couldn’t have done it without you !

Andrew Spiteri – Arriva & Firmware Lead

Christopher Conrad – Admin & internal tools

Raniero Falzon – Thermal Design

Andrew Pirotta – Debug Electronics

Keith Borg – Mechanical Design Vaccine transporter

Benjamin Abela – Heatsink Jig design

Luigi Buhagiar – Debug tools

Daniel DeGaetano – Medical transporter GUI design

Reuben Mizzi – Heatsink Design

Bradley Camilleri – Cloud infrasctructure

Alan Grech – GUI Development

Matthew Camilleri – GUI Development

Thomas Koppens – GUI Development

Darren Cachia – Electronic Power Design

Luca Galea – Vaccine transporter electronics design

Abdallah Moutaa – Debug Tools development

Noemie Justet – Medical transporter GUI design

Nicholas Sciberras – Thermal Design

Alec Cini – Medical transporter thermal design

Joelant Aquilina  – Medical transporter thermal design

Josef Xerri – Demo Box Design

Daniel Attard – Demo Box Design

Timeline

2017
Technology Development
Original Problem

The process began with a real-world challenge encountered during a research-funded project called MEMENTO, The research team sought to cool a high frame rate camera’s image sensor below -20°C to enhance its noise and exposure performance. The cooling system needed to fit within a portable handheld camera body and powered off a V-mount battery.

 

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Q1
2020
Experimental Design & Results

An experimental setup was designed involving a stack of 3. This included the preliminary design of a controller, which incorporated most of the elements developed during the camera implementation, such as power supplies, temperature sensors, and control.

Q3
2020
Acquisition of Funding

The team successfully applied for a Technology Development project, named ICECAP, securing nearly €230,000 in funding for the next 3 years. This was done in collaboration between the University of Malta and New Energy Ltd.

 

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Q4
2021
1st Prototype of Aristat Control Module (TRL 4)
1st Prototype of Aristat Control Module (TRL 4)
Q2, July
2022
Filing of 2 patents with USPTO
  • Method and system for power optimization for system of thermoelectric cooling devices – US20240028100A1
  • Multilevel thermoelectric cooling stack with thermal guard rings – US20240032425A1
Q1
2023
2nd Prototype of Aristat Control Module (TRL 6)

This control module was designed with flexibility in mind, allowing for the power optimisation algorithm to be easily integrated within a multitude of applications. This was also done as part of another undergraduate project.

The first image shows the various assembly options, whilst the second shows the final PCB.

Febuary
2023
Filing of 2 Patents with WIPO
  • Method and system for power optimization for system of thermoelectric cooling devices – WO2024018287A1
  • Multilevel thermoelectric cooling stack with thermal guard rings – WO2024018288A1
Q3
2023
Vaccine Transporter Demonstrator (TRL3)
Vaccine Transporter Demonstrator (TRL3)

Starting Q1, a vaccine transporter demonstrator was developed, reaching TRL3 and demonstrating electrical and UI functionality, including the frontend GUI and IOT tracking.

 

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Q4, November
2023
Technology Demonstrator within Imaging product

ICECAP’s technology was successfully integrated within MEMENTO’s High speed imaging system. This included validated power supplies, several isolation systems (including vacuum chambers), and custom heat dissipation methods.

Q4, December
2023
Acquisition of Further Funding

The team successfully applied for MCST’s GoTo Market funding programme, named GLACIER, securing another €100,000 in funding for the next 1.5 years. This investment enabled them to pursue further IP protection, and push for core platform, and vaccine transporter to be commercialised.