Optimized Thermal Systems
Optimized Thermal Systems develops and licenses thermal simulation software (CoilDesigner®, VapCyc®, XProps®) for HVAC&R engineers at equipment manufacturers and academic institutions, based on University of Maryland research and serving 70+ enterprise customers globally since 2002.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2002
- HeadquartersBeltsville, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Optimized Thermal Systems does
Optimized Thermal Systems, Inc. (OTS) is a privately held Beltsville, Maryland-based software vendor founded in 2002 by Dr. Reinhard Radermacher and University of Maryland colleagues to commercialize academic thermal systems research for industry. The company develops and licenses three registered software products — CoilDesigner® for heat exchanger design and multi-objective optimization, VapCyc® for vapor compression cycle system simulation, and XProps® as an enhancement to NIST's REFPROP refrigerant property database — which together cover the HVAC&R engineering workflow from refrigerant properties through component design to full system simulation. The products integrate with Excel, MATLAB, EES, LabVIEW, Mathcad, and .NET, embed 180+ validated heat transfer correlations, and have accumulated over 4 million simulation runs and 30 in-house validations since 2002.
OTS generates revenue primarily through annual per-user software licenses sold via a quote-based enterprise sales motion to HVAC&R equipment manufacturers, heat exchanger producers, and academic institutions, with a discounted educational pricing tier for universities. The company is led by CEO Dr. Vikrant Aute (also Director of UMD's Center for Environmental Energy Engineering) and Partner Dr. Yunho Hwang (Director of UMD's Energy Efficiency and Heat Pump Consortium), with operational headcount in the 1-10 range. In January 2023 OTS divested its consulting operations to a separate worker's cooperative, OTS R&D, Inc., and established a parallel consulting partnership, OTS Energy, allowing the parent entity to focus on product licensing. The company reports 70+ enterprise customers globally and has no venture capital funding, with the only disclosed capital event being a $76,420 NYSERDA grant in 2015.
Optimized Thermal Systems firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Optimized Thermal Systems
- Legal name
- Optimized Thermal Systems, Inc.
- Website
- https://optimizedthermalsystems.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2002
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Optimized Thermal Systems develops and licenses thermal simulation software (CoilDesigner®, VapCyc®, XProps®) for HVAC&R engineers at equipment manufacturers and academic institutions, based on University of Maryland research and serving 70+ enterprise customers globally since 2002.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Optimized Thermal Systems industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Thermal Systems Simulation Software
- NAICS
- Air-Conditioning and Warm Air Heating Equipment and Commercial and Industrial Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturing (333415), Power Boiler and Heat Exchanger Manufacturing (332410), Automatic Environmental Control Manufacturing for Residential, Commercial, and Appliance Use (334512)
- SIC
- Air-Cond & Warm Air Heatg Equip & Comm & Indl Refrig Equip (3585), Refrigeration & Service Industry Machinery (3580)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Heat Exchangers & Thermal Transfer Equipment (IMAHAKAC)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Chillers & Cooling Plant Equipment (IMAHAKAE), Industrial Heat Pumps & Mechanical Vapor Recompression (Low–Mid Temp Heat) (EUABAJAB)
Keywords
Where Optimized Thermal Systems is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Beltsville
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Optimized Thermal Systems business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Software Licensing: Annual per-user software licenses for CoilDesigner and VapCyc. Pricing based on number of modules (tube-fin and/or microchannel), number of users, and customization requirements. License renewals offered at significant discount from first-year price with unlimited support and updates included.
- Academic Licensing: Reduced pricing available for all academic use of OTS Software including XProps, CoilDesigner, and VapCyc for students and faculty.
- Customization Services: Customization services including UI customization, integration with in-house tools, and product selection tool development available upon request. Technical support provided through partner OTS R&D.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | CoilDesigner Annual License - Per User |
| Subscription | Annual | Educational Use - Reduced Pricing |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels4 records
Optimized Thermal Systems product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Optimized Thermal Systems develops and licenses three core thermal simulation software products—XProps® for refrigerant property calculations, CoilDesigner® for heat exchanger design and optimization, and VapCyc® for vapor compression cycle simulation—sold to HVAC&R manufacturers and academic institutions under annual per-user software licenses. Products integrate with each other (CoilDesigner heat exchanger files load directly into VapCyc) and with engineering platforms including Excel, MATLAB, EES, LabVIEW, Mathcad, and .NET. Customization services and quote-based pricing are offered alongside the standard licenses.
Product overview
Optimized Thermal Systems offers a suite of three complementary software products for thermal systems design: XProps® provides refrigerant property calculations (an enhancement to NIST REFPROP), CoilDesigner® handles heat exchanger design and simulation, and VapCyc® performs vapor compression cycle and system-level simulation. These products work together—CoilDesigner heat exchanger designs can be loaded directly into VapCyc for full HVAC&R system analysis, while XProps provides the underlying refrigerant property data used across all tools. The portfolio targets engineers in air-conditioning, refrigeration, and heat pumping applications.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- XProps®: An enhancement to NIST's REFPROP database for refrigerant properties, supporting over 65 different pure fluids and more than 35 built-in fluids and mixtures. Includes support for newer fluids such as HFO-1234yf.
- CoilDesigner®
- VapCyc®
- OTS R&D
- OTS Energy
Products and services
- XProps® XProps® is an enhancement to NIST's REFPROP database providing refrigerant property calculations, supporting over 65 pure fluids and 35+ built-in mixtures with 112+ property function calls accessible from Excel (versions 2003-2016, 32-bit), MATLAB (2006+), Engineering Equation Solver (EES), LabVIEW, Mathcad (13.0+ / Prime 3.1+), and the Microsoft .NET platform (C#, VB.NET, Managed C++, .NET Framework 2.0), as well as Microsoft Visual Basic and C/C++. It is targeted at thermal systems engineers at HVAC&R manufacturers and researchers needing accurate refrigerant thermodynamic and transport properties, including low-GWP alternatives such as HFO-1234yf.
- CoilDesigner® CoilDesigner® is a flexible coil simulation tool for the design, simulation, and optimization of tube-fin, microchannel, wire-fin, and tube-in-tube air-to-refrigerant heat exchangers. It includes 180+ built-in heat transfer and pressure drop correlations, parametric analysis, single and multi-objective genetic algorithm optimization with Pareto curve visualization, support for user-defined custom correlations, and 3D visualization. It is intended for thermal design engineers at HVAC&R equipment manufacturers and academic researchers, with built-in support for fast evaluation of alternative refrigerants including low-GWP options, and integrates with VapCyc for system-level analysis.
- VapCyc® VapCyc® is an advanced vapor compression cycle design and simulation tool with a component-based architecture. It supports alternative refrigerants including CO2 cycles, offers multiple solver options, and can load and use CoilDesigner heat exchanger files directly for accurate system characterization. It targets HVAC&R system engineers who need to shorten product development cycles, reduce product development costs, and evaluate system components and low-GWP refrigerants quickly.
Quantifiable outcome
- Over 4 million simulation runs and 30 in-house validations conducted since 2002
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Optimized Thermal Systems
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Optimized Thermal Systems technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration10 records
Feature5 records
Optimized Thermal Systems partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- OTS R&D, Inc.coreIn January 2023, Optimized Thermal Systems transitioned all consulting work to OTS R&D, Inc., a worker's cooperative dedicated to continuing the OTS legacy of heat transfer expertise, product innovation, and system integration. OTS R&D provides design development, modeling and analysis, custom software development, prototyping, laboratory testing, and field measurement services.
- OTS Energy (John Bush, PhD, PE)coreOTS Energy, led by John Bush, PhD, PE, provides cutting-edge research and development consulting services in partnership with OTS. Focuses on smarter, more flexible and efficient solutions for future energy needs, with expertise in refrigeration systems and utility interests that complement OTS's HVAC&R expertise.
- International Copper Association (ICA)minorPartnership with ICA for educational outreach through the OTS – ICA/CDA Education Program Webinar Series. Developed webinars covering small diameter copper tube fin heat exchangers, microgroove technology, and transitioning to alternative refrigerants.
- Copper Development Association (CDA)minorJoint webinar development with Copper Development Association as part of the OTS – ICA/CDA Education Program covering topics on copper tube heat exchangers and HVAC&R system design.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights3 records
Optimized Thermal Systems competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- ANSYS: ANSYS is the leading multiphysics engineering simulation platform with thermal, fluid, and optimization modules that overlap directly with OTS's CoilDesigner and VapCyc. Both serve HVAC&R and heat exchanger engineers evaluating thermal designs, though ANSYS is a broad-suite vendor versus OTS's specialized point tools.
- COMSOL: COMSOL provides a multiphysics simulation environment widely used by heat exchanger and HVAC engineers for conjugate heat transfer and CFD-coupled thermal analysis. It competes with OTS for engineering seats whenever customers evaluate consolidating onto a single multiphysics platform.
- Siemens Simcenter: Siemens Simcenter offers thermal management and system simulation tools used by automotive, aerospace, and electronics engineers for cooling system design. It targets the same systems-level thermal design workflow as VapCyc and CoilDesigner, particularly in EV battery and power electronics thermal management.
- Altair: Altair provides simulation-driven design and optimization tools, including thermal and CFD solvers used for heat exchanger and refrigeration system design. Its design-exploration and optimization capabilities overlap directly with CoilDesigner's multi-objective optimization engine.
- Hexagon MSC Software (Cradle): Hexagon's Cradle CFD/SC/Tesla thermal simulation tools are used for electronics cooling, battery thermal management, and HVAC system design. It competes with OTS in the 1D-3D system thermal simulation space and serves many of the same automotive and electronics OEMs.
Broad incumbents
- Aspen Technology: AspenTech is a major process simulation vendor serving chemical, petrochemical, and industrial thermal markets. While not a heat exchanger point tool, its process optimization suites overlap with VapCyc's system-level simulation for industrial refrigeration and process cooling applications.
- Trane Technologies: Trane is a global HVAC&R OEM that designs and manufactures commercial chillers, heat pumps, and refrigeration systems. As an OTS target customer running extensive thermal simulation internally, Trane represents both a buyer of OTS-style tools and a potential competitor via internal simulation platforms.
- Daikin: Daikin is the world's largest HVAC&R manufacturer and is closely tied to OTS through CEO Dr. Vikrant Aute's prior Daikin Industries tenure in Japan. Daikin is both a likely OTS customer and a benchmark OEM whose internal simulation demands shape third-party tool purchases.
- Carrier Global: Carrier is a leading global HVAC, refrigeration, and cold chain OEM that invests heavily in thermal simulation for chillers, heat pumps, and refrigeration cycles. It is a representative OTS customer profile and a major buyer of thermal simulation tooling.
Others
- MathWorks (MATLAB/Simulink): MathWorks provides the MATLAB and Simulink platform that XProps explicitly integrates with for refrigerant property calculations. While not a direct head-to-head competitor on heat exchanger design, it is an adjacent computational platform that engineering teams may choose over dedicated simulation tools.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Optimized Thermal Systems social profiles
Digital presenceOptimized Thermal Systems financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Optimized Thermal Systems leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Optimized Thermal Systems funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Optimized Thermal Systems M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Optimized Thermal Systems
What does Optimized Thermal Systems do?
Optimized Thermal Systems develops and licenses three core thermal simulation software products—XProps® for refrigerant property calculations, CoilDesigner® for heat exchanger design and optimization, and VapCyc® for vapor compression cycle simulation—sold to HVAC&R manufacturers and academic institutions under annual per-user software licenses. Products integrate with each other (CoilDesigner heat exchanger files load directly into VapCyc) and with engineering platforms including Excel, MATLAB, EES, LabVIEW, Mathcad, and .NET. Customization services and quote-based pricing are offered alongside the standard licenses.
Is Optimized Thermal Systems a public or private company?
Optimized Thermal Systems is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Optimized Thermal Systems founded?
Optimized Thermal Systems was founded in 2002. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Optimized Thermal Systems based?
Optimized Thermal Systems is headquartered in Beltsville, United States, in the North America region.
How does Optimized Thermal Systems make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Software Licensing is the primary driver. The others are academic Licensing and customization Services.
Who are Optimized Thermal Systems's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are ANSYS, COMSOL, Siemens Simcenter, Altair and Hexagon MSC Software (Cradle). Broad incumbents are Aspen Technology, Trane Technologies, Daikin and Carrier Global. MathWorks (MATLAB/Simulink) is listed as an others.
Does Optimized Thermal Systems have an API?
No public API is recorded for Optimized Thermal Systems.
What industry is Optimized Thermal Systems in?
Optimized Thermal Systems's product category is Thermal Systems Simulation Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is IMAHAKAC, Heat Exchangers & Thermal Transfer Equipment, with a secondary code of IMAHAKAE, Chillers & Cooling Plant Equipment. Its NAICS code is 333415 and its SIC code is 3585.