Disclosed herein are advantageous phase separator devices, and related methods of fabrication and use thereof. The present disclosure provides improved phase separator devices for phase separation of feedstreams, and improved systems/methods for utilizing and fabricating the phase separator devices. More particularly, the present disclosure provides porous (e.g., three-dimensional gradient porous) phase separator devices for phase separation of fluid mixtures (e.g., to separate a two-phase fluid mixture) to a first fluid phase flow (e.g., to a liquid flow) and to a second fluid phase flow (e.g., to a gas flow). At least a portion of the phase separator devices of the present disclosure can be fabricated via machining, powder metallurgy (e.g., sintering), and/or produced utilizing additive manufacturing techniques.

An a purge device that includes an air purge pipe connected to a condenser and configured to extract a mixed gas containing a refrigerant gas and air from the condenser; a separation film provided to the air purge pipe and configured to separate, by a pressure difference, air from the mixed gas extracted by the air purge pipe; an exhaust pipe configured to externally guide a gas containing air separated by the separation film; a first valve provided to the exhaust pipe; a vacuum pump provided downstream of the first valve in the exhaust pipe and configured to externally discharge a gas present inside the exhaust pipe; and a control unit, the control unit activates the vacuum pump, opens the first valve, then closes the first valve to stop permeation of air caused by a pressure difference when detecting that a predetermined amount of air has permeated the separation film.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include systems and methods for selectively activating and deactivating the purge unit in response to one or more conditions to, for example, enable refrigerant-to-air ratios within the purge unit within certain industry standards.

A device for reducing gas density in a liquid phase refrigerant in a refrigeration system is provided, the device comprising; a fluid inlet; a first outlet; a second outlet; a conduit, linking the fluid inlet to the first and second outlets; and a baffle, arranged within the conduit between the accelerator and the first outlet; wherein, the accelerator is configured to accelerate fluid from the fluid inlet towards the outlets, thereby separating out saturated gas in the fluid to reduce the gas density in the fluid; and the baffle is configured to direct the flow of lower gas density fluid towards the second outlet, and allows higher gas density fluid to pass around the baffle towards the first outlet. By providing a device in this manner, the energy efficiency and quality of refrigeration in a refrigeration system is improved.