Submitted to Heat Transfer Engineering 1 A STATE-OF-THE-ART REVIEW OF COMPACT VAPOUR COMPRESSION REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS AND THEIR APPLICATIONS Jader R. Barbosa Jr. 1, , Guilherme B. Ribeiro 2 , Pablo A. de Oliveira 1 1 Polo – Research Laboratories for Emerging Technologies in Cooling and Thermophysics Department of Mechanical Engineering, Federal University of Santa Catarina Florianópolis, SC, 88040900, Brazil 2 Embraco Compressors Joinville, SC, 89219-901, Brazil ABSTRACT We present a critical review of the literature on the fundamentals, design and application aspects of compact and miniature mechanical vapour compression refrigeration systems. Examples of such systems are those envisaged for electronics and personal cooling. In comparison to other refrigeration technologies (e.g., solid-state), vapour compression enables the attainment of low evaporating temperatures whilst maintaining a large cooling capacity per unit power input to the system. Over the past decade, there has been a significant number of studies devoted to the miniaturization of system components, the most critical being the compressor. When compared with competing cooling technologies, such as flow boiling in microchannels, jet impingement and spray cooling, refrigeration is the only one capable of lowering the junction temperature to values below the ambient temperature. The combination of vapour compression refrigeration with the aforementioned technologies is also possible, necessary and beneficial, since it increases greatly the potential for reducing the system size. For each main application, the paper will shed some light on the thermodynamic and thermal aspects of the cooling cycle and on the recent developments regarding its components (compressor, heat exchangers and expansion device). Whenever appropriate, issues and challenges associated with the different cycle designs will be addressed. An overview of the ongoing efforts in competing technologies will also be presented.  Corresponding author. Phone/Fax: + 55 48 3234 5166. E-mail: jrb@polo.ufsc.br