An Investigation Into: I) Active Flow Control for Cold-Start Performance Enhancement of a Pump-Assisted, Capillary-Driven, Two-Phase Cooling Loop II) Surface Tension of n-Pentanol + Water, a Self-Rewetting Working Fluid, from 25 °C to 85 °C

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Authors

Bejarano, Roberto V.

Issue Date

2014

Type

Thesis

Language

Keywords

Active-Control , Cold-Start , Electronics Cooling , Heat Transfer , Self-Rewetting , Surface Tension

Research Projects

Organizational Units

Journal Issue

Alternative Title

Abstract

Cold-start performance enhancement of a pump-assisted, capillary-driven, two-phase cooling loop was attained using proportional integral and fuzzy logic controls to manage the boiling condition inside the evaporator. The surface tension of aqueous solutions of n-Pentanol, a self-rewetting fluid, was also investigated for enhancing heat transfer performance of capillary driven (passive) thermal devices was also studied. A proportional-integral control algorithm was used to regulate the boiling condition (from pool boiling to thin-film boiling) and backpressure in the evaporator during cold-start and low heat input conditions. Active flow control improved the thermal resistance at low heat inputs by 50% compared to the baseline (constant flow rate) case, while realizing a total pumping power savings of 56%. Temperature overshoot at start-up was mitigated combining fuzzy-logic with a proportional-integral controller. A constant evaporator surface temperature of 60°C with a variation of ±8°C during start-up was attained with evaporator thermal resistances as low as 0.10 cm2_K/W. The surface tension of aqueous solutions of n-Pentanol, a self-rewetting working fluid, as a function of concentration and temperature were also investigated. Self-rewetting working fluids are promising in two-phase heat transfer applications because they have the ability to passively drive additional working fluid towards the heated surface; thereby increasing the dryout limitations of the thermal device. Very little data is available in literature regarding the surface tension of these fluids due to the complexity involved in fluid handling, heating, and experimentation. Careful experiments were performed to investigate the surface tension of n-Pentanol + water. The concentration and temperature range investigated were from 0.25%wt. to1.8%wt and 25°C to 85°C, respectively.

Description

Citation

Publisher

License

In Copyright(All Rights Reserved)

Journal

Volume

Issue

PubMed ID

DOI

ISSN

EISSN