Active Cooling Device: A Flexible, Lab-Scale Experimental Unit to Develop Spatio-Temporal Temperature Control Strategies

TL;DR

The paper tackles the challenge of developing and testing spatio-temporal temperature control on surfaces under nonuniform heating. It introduces a lab-scale active cooling device that implements a multi-input, multi-output manifold of jet impingement, controlled by MFCs and solenoid valves, with a Raspberry Pi and a PySide6 GUI for real-time operation and data logging. It contributes a complete hardware/software package, including CAD/PCB designs and an open-source GUI, and demonstrates system behavior through step-response, setpoint tracking, and disturbance-rejection experiments. The work provides a safe, modular platform for rapid testing and development of temperature-control strategies, with open files enabling easy extension to varied heat-load scenarios and control architectures.

Abstract

We present an experimental unit that realizes the ``multi-input, multi-output manifold'' thermal management technology proposed by Lamarre & Raymond (2023). The proposed setup can be used for experiments aimed at controlling spatiotemporal temperature distribution. Temperature control is achieved by impinging coolant fluid jets, leveraging a manifold of channels targeted to the surface. The direction of the fluid is controlled by shifting the role of channels between inputs, outputs, or closing them. Files associated with this work include Computer-Aided Design (CAD) STEP files, Gerber files to manufacture a Printed Circuit Board (PCB), and a Graphical User Interface (GUI) written in Python. We provide a step-by-step guide to assemble the experimental setup. We also provide instructions to interact with the setup through the GUI, which allows for real-time tracking of sample temperature and flow rates per flow control device. Additionally, we provide examples of usage of the setup, including system characterization with step response, Proportional-Integral-Derivative performance tracking, and disturbance rejection in a coupled system. Extending the application is accessible through the files provided in the open repository associated with this work. The active cooling device presents a safe, flexible, and complete design, allowing for lab-scale assessment of the performance of custom temperature control strategies using enclosed impinging jets.

Figures (13)

• Figure 1: Illustration of the perturbation rejection principle of the active cooling device. On the left, the system is at steady-state using the initial arrangement. When the heat load is shifted to the right and increased in magnitude, the system reacts, shifting the arrangement and adjusting the inlet flow rate accordingly.
• Figure 2: Computer-aided design representation of the experimental setup.
• Figure 3: Picture of the flow control components used in the active cooling device.
• Figure 4: Schematic diagram depicting the jet arrangement manipulation logic.
• Figure 5: Module infra-red camera model MLX90640.