Dryout avoidance control for multi-evaporator vapor compression cycle cooling

Daniel T. Pollock, Zehao Yang and John T. Wen

Applied Energy, 2015, vol. 160, issue C, 266-285

Abstract: Two-phase cooling systems (e.g., pump-loops, vapor compression cycles) present a promising approach to the cooling of modern high power electronic systems. Such systems can achieve high coefficient of heat transfer but may incur dangerously high temperature when the imposed heat flux exceeds the critical heat flux (CHF). This paper presents a new control strategy that provides robust CHF avoidance in two-phase cooling for multiple evaporators under dynamic heat loads. This approach operates near the CHF to allow reduced coolant flow rates and greater system efficiency compared with the typical, and more conservative, open-loop or worst-case control strategies. The control architecture consists of two loops: an outer loop to determine evaporator mass flow rate demand, and an inner loop to supply and distribute the coolant using system actuators. Each control loop is implemented with feedforward based on static models as well as proportional–integral (PI) feedback controllers, and the decentralized approach allows scalable control design without the need for high fidelity nonlinear dynamic models. Simulations and corresponding experimental controller validations were conducted using a three-evaporator vapor compression cycle (VCC) testbed with transient imposed heat flux. The full closed-loop system is shown to be able to operate near CHF while avoiding CHF under transient heat flux, demonstrating both efficiency and robustness.

Keywords: Vapor compression cycle (VCC); Critical heat flux (CHF); Control; Thermal management; Electronics cooling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261915010491
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:160:y:2015:i:c:p:266-285

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.08.113

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().