CP10 Cold Plate

Lytron frequently receives questions through its “Ask an Engineer” website form. A customer recently asked us the following question: “Will the CP10 cold plates work in a vacuum? Will thermal contact between the tubing and plate be maintained in a vacuum?”
 
There would be a minor impact to the performance of the CP10 cold plate if it was used in a hard vacuum. Lytron does not use epoxies between the cold plate’s tube and plate, which results in lower thermal resistance under standard conditions as compared to cold plates that do have epoxy. Experiments have shown that the tube installation process yields very good contact between the cold plate’s tube and plate. However, small air gaps do exist. If a CP10 cold plate is exposed to a high vacuum environment this air will escape and increase thermal resistance. While we haven’t done any CP10 cold plate experiments in a vacuum, I’d estimate a 10%-20% increase in thermal resistance.