Turning Up Heat
iPads don’t function well in intense light and heat, which is a problem for pilots who rely on the devices while flying under the glare of the sun.
Long Beach based X-naut launched a cooling bracket for the iPads late last year to solve that problem, and last month it entered the commercial drone market with the launch of a cooling system built specifically to attach to the remote controllers of the Phantom and Inspire quadcopters. The product cost between $220 and $240 each.
X-naut Chief Executive Darren Saravis said he came up with the idea for a cooling accessory after experiencing first-hand an iPad outage while flying a plane.
“I had my iPad shut off at the wrong time,” he said, noting the devices, which are used for charts and navigation, have become vital in the aviation industry.
iPads are programmed to power down when temperatures and radiation from the sun cause them to overheat and possibly explode, he explained.
X-naut’s cooling brackets, which are designed and assembled at the firm’s headquarters, have up to four fans and 15 hours of battery life, as well as a plug-in power source for indefinite use. Saravis declined to state the number of units that have been sold since launch.
Saravis pointed to the construction, farming and point-of-sale application industries as possible areas for further sales expansion.
X-naut was spun out of an incubator program operated by Long Beach’s Nectar Product Design in late 2016. The company has four full-time employees and has yet to take outside funding, according to Saravis.
