A condensate-less design of cold plate in vapor-compression system applicable to high-end computing

A novel design featuring a two-stage expansion process is proposed in this study. Without any help of insulation, the design can minimize or even entirely eliminate the formation of condensate in the cold-plate surface for a typical refrigeration system. The design incorporates a double-pipe inlet outlet and a two-container cold plate. A detailed comparison is also made amid conventional cold plate and the present condensate-less cold plate. For the conventional cold plate, it is found that the refrigerant mass flowrate is almost unchanged with respect to heating load. However, a slight decrease of mass flowrate for the present condensate-less cold plate is seen due to additional expansion/contraction/friction loss occurring in the first container. In addition, the decay in mass flowrate results in a gradual decline of outlet temperature that is opposite to the conventional cold-plate design.