Cold Plate

The Cold Plate Sub-Project is part of the OCP Cooling Environments Project. Its primary goal is to drive standardization and enable an open ecosystem for direct liquid cooling in the industry. Collaborating across key industry players, the sub-project develops standardized interfaces, provides technical recommendations and guidelines across the ecosystem, and addresses implementation risks. It produces requirements, guidelines, specifications, best practices and products spanning the technology cooling system (TCS) from the cold plate to the CDU, including cold plates, tubing, manifolds, QDs and CDUs.

Cold Plate

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Steering Committee Representative

Steve Mills

Project Leads

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About This Sub-Project

The OCP's Cold Plate Sub-Project is a key piece within the Cooling Environments Project.

The primary goal of the sub-project is to drive standardization and enable an open ecosystem for direct liquid cooling applications within the industry.

Scope

The ongoing work in the Cold Plate Sub-Project involves collaboration across key industry players to address the challenges of direct liquid cooling implementation:

Standardized Interfaces — developing standardized interfaces for direct liquid cooling
Technical Recommendations & Guidelines — provided across the ecosystem
Addressing Risks — identifying and addressing risks of implementation

The sub-project produces requirements, guidelines, specs, best practices and products related to the technology cooling system (TCS) from the cold plate to the CDU — including all ingredients in the TCS such as cold plates, tubing, manifolds, QDs, CDUs, etc.

Resources

Welcome to the OCP Cold Plate Sub-Project. This Project is open to the public and we welcome all those who would like to be involved.

Disclaimer: Please do not submit any confidential information to the Project Community. All presentation materials, proposals, meeting minutes and/or supporting documents are published by OCP and are open to the public in accordance to OCP’s Bylaws and IP Policy. This can be found on the OCP OCP Policies page. If you have any questions please contact OCP.

Cold Plate Important Links

– ACS Cold Plate Meeting Notes

– ACS Charter

Active Workstreams

Workstreams Workstream leads Overview Google Drive Documents
Coolant Fluids Philip Yu (ChemTreat), Keegan Yaroch (DOW), Lilach Butchmits (Zutacore) Guidelines for single & two phase coolant fluids: fluid spec, testing, material compatibility, etc. Coolant fluids include single-phase glycol-based, single-phase water-based, & two-phase. Google Drive Draft: Guideline for Using Water-Based Transfer Fluid in Single-phase Cold plate-based liquid-cooled racks (July 2024)
Guidelines For Using Propylene Glycol-Based Heat Transfer Fluids In Liquid Cooled Racks
Published: Guidelines for Using Dielectric Liquid-Based Transfer Fluids in two-Phase Cold Plate-Based Liquid-Cooled Racks (July 2024)
Cold Plate Performance Thomas Rees (ToffeeX), Andrea Francescon (Corintis SA), Bharath Ram Ravi (Celestica) Google Drive
UQD Specification v2.0 Beth Langer (CPC), Travis Gaskill (Etched) Universal Quick Disconnect (UQD) V2 Specification revision for both handmate and blindmate versions. The goal is to close the gaps with V1 (design, production, testing, etc.). Google Drive Draft: UQD v2.X.4 Spec Beta Draft
BMQC (CLA) Glenn Charest (Meta), Vijay Mohan (Meta) ORv3 Blind Mate Quick Connector (BMQC) specification development. Currently testing to optimize hose lengths, routing, and hose guides for EPDM. Google Drive 2026_01_14_SUMMARY – BMQC EPDM Hose Evaluation.pdf
20250410_hose_clamp_snap_17_9mm.step
PBMC (CLA) Glenn Charest (Meta), Vijay Mohan (Meta), John Fernandes (Meta) ORv3 Pivoting Blind Mate Coupling (PBMC). The goal is to develop a multi-sourced interoperable blind mate valve solution to support the higher flow rates needed for higher power systems. Google Drive PBMC CAD 8/12/25
PBMC Preliminary Design Basics rev4 9/26/25
PBMC Design Specification Draft Rev 0.5_121825
1-Phase DTC Cold Plate Base Spec. V1 Ben Sutton (CoolIT) Single-Phase Direct-to-Chip Cold Plate Base Specification. The goal is to establish a vendor‑neutral, de‑facto industry baseline for single‑phase Direct‑to‑Chip (D2C) cold plates used in data center liquid cooling systems. Google Drive Single-Phase Direct-to-Chip Cold Plate Base Specification

Fluid Velocity Cosimo Pecchioli (bp), Cheng Chen (Meta), Harsha Bojja (Microsoft) The goal is to perform an erosion test for higher fluid velocities. Google Drive

Accepted Contributions

All accepted contributions can be found in the OCP Contribution Database.

Highlighted Documents:

Cold Plate Requirements Workstream

– ACS Cold Plate Requirements Revision 1 – ACS Cold Plate Cooling Loop Requirements Revision 2


Fluid Serviceability and Maintenance Workstream

– Guidelines for Using Propylene Glycol-Based Heat Transfer Fluids in Single-Phase Cold Plate-Based Liquid Cooled Racks – Guidelines for Using Water-Based Transfer Fluids in Single-Phase Cold Plate-Based Liquid-Cooled Racks


Blind Mate Liquid Cooling for ORv3 (BMLC)

– ORV3 Blind Mate Quick Connector Specification (BMQC)


Universal Quick Disconnect

– Universal Quick Disconnect Hand-Mate Specification – Universal Quick Disconnect Blind-Mate Specification – Universal Quick Disconnect Blind-Mate Methodology Whitepaper

Regular Project Calls

Cold Plate

Every second Wednesday of the Month from 8am-9am PT

Call link

– Zoom Link to ACS Cold Plate Sub-project Calls – Meeting ID: 894 3907 7808 – Passcode: 273150

Find your local number: https://opencompute-org.zoom.us/u/kdxl9NR9DE

Cold Plate Coolant Liquids Workstream

Every other Monday from 7am-8am PT

Call link

– Zoom Link to Cold Plate Coolant Liquids Workstream Calls – Meeting ID: 881 5373 6938 – Passcode: 767739

Find your local number: https://opencompute-org.zoom.us/u/kdedcyUBct

UQD/UQDB Spec v2 Workstream

Every Thursday from 8am-9am PT

Call link

– Zoom Link to Cold Plate Coolant Liquids Workstream Calls – Meeting ID: 847 9294 0071 – Passcode: 568914

Find your local number: https://opencompute-org.zoom.us/u/kdedcyUBct

Call Recordings

Cold Plate calls

Call Recordings
2026
2025
2024

Coolant Fluids Workstream calls

Call Recordings
2026
2025
2024

UQD/UQDB Spec v2 Workstream calls

Call Recordings
2025
2024

Archived Calls

Links to archived calls can be found here.

Regular Project Calls

Sub-project monthly calls occur:

Every second Wednesday of the month from 08:00-09:00am PT / 17:00-18:00 CET.

Sub-project workstream calls can be found on the calendar below. Workstream details are available on the wiki.

Call Calendar

These meeting are recorded via audio and video. By participating you consent that these recordings may be made publicly available. Any presentation materials, proposals and meeting minutes are published on the respective project’s wiki page and are open to the public in accordance to OCP’s Bylaws and IP Policy. This can be found at http://www.opencompute.org/about/ocp-policies/. If you have any questions please contact OCP.

Cold Plate calendar

Related Details

Contributions

All project contributions

Sub-Projects

Cold Plate Base Specifications

Cold Plate Base Specifications is a workstream under the Cold Plate Sub-Project of the OCP Cooling Environments Project. The Cold Plate Sub-Project drives standardization and enables an open ecosystem for direct liquid cooling, producing requirements, guidelines, specifications, and best practices for the technology cooling system (TCS) from the cold plate to the CDU. Details about the workstream’s mission, leadership, and ways to get involved will be added in the near future.

Cold Plate Performance

Cold Plate Performance is a workstream under the Cold Plate Sub-Project of the OCP Cooling Environments Project. The Cold Plate Sub-Project drives standardization and enables an open ecosystem for direct liquid cooling, producing requirements, guidelines, specifications, and best practices for the technology cooling system (TCS) from the cold plate to the CDU. Details about the workstream’s mission, leadership, and ways to get involved will be added in the near future.

Coolant Fluids

Coolant Fluids is a workstream under the Cold Plate Sub-Project of the OCP Cooling Environments Project. The Cold Plate Sub-Project drives standardization and enables an open ecosystem for direct liquid cooling, producing requirements, guidelines, specifications, and best practices for the technology cooling system (TCS) from the cold plate to the CDU. Details about the workstream’s mission, leadership, and ways to get involved will be added in the near future.

Design Guidelines

Design Guidelines is a workstream under the Cold Plate Sub-Project of the OCP Cooling Environments Project. The Cold Plate Sub-Project drives standardization and enables an open ecosystem for direct liquid cooling, producing requirements, guidelines, specifications, and best practices for the technology cooling system (TCS) from the cold plate to the CDU. Details about the workstream’s mission, leadership, and ways to get involved will be added in the near future.

DLC Integrated SSD

DLC Integrated SSD is a workstream under the Cold Plate Sub-Project of the OCP Cooling Environments Project. The Cold Plate Sub-Project drives standardization and enables an open ecosystem for direct liquid cooling, producing requirements, guidelines, specifications, and best practices for the technology cooling system (TCS) from the cold plate to the CDU. Details about the workstream’s mission, leadership, and ways to get involved will be added in the near future.

Fluid Velocity

Fluid Velocity is a workstream under the Cold Plate Sub-Project of the OCP Cooling Environments Project. The Cold Plate Sub-Project drives standardization and enables an open ecosystem for direct liquid cooling, producing requirements, guidelines, specifications, and best practices for the technology cooling system (TCS) from the cold plate to the CDU. Details about the workstream’s mission, leadership, and ways to get involved will be added in the near future.

PG25 Mixing

PG25 Mixing is a workstream under the Cold Plate Sub-Project of the OCP Cooling Environments Project. The Cold Plate Sub-Project drives standardization and enables an open ecosystem for direct liquid cooling, producing requirements, guidelines, specifications, and best practices for the technology cooling system (TCS) from the cold plate to the CDU. Details about the workstream’s mission, leadership, and ways to get involved will be added in the near future.

Wetted Materials

Wetted Materials is a workstream under the Cold Plate Sub-Project of the OCP Cooling Environments Project. The Cold Plate Sub-Project drives standardization and enables an open ecosystem for direct liquid cooling, producing requirements, guidelines, specifications, and best practices for the technology cooling system (TCS) from the cold plate to the CDU. Details about the workstream’s mission, leadership, and ways to get involved will be added in the near future.