Modeling and Control Architecture Design of Multi-evaporator Pumped Two-phase System

Abstract

Two-phase cooling systems are being explored actively as a promising technology for energy-intensive electronics systems. The latent heat of vaporization results in a high heat-transfer coefficient. However, the system may suffer a sudden increase in temperature when the heat flux exceeds the critical heat flux, causing a dramatic rise in surface temperature and a sudden reduction in heat-transfer coefficient. This can lead to burnout or system failure. This research focuses on control-oriented dynamic modeling of a pumped two-phase system with multiple evaporators. Further, the multi-evaporator pumped two-phase system is integrated with a vapor compression system. To avoid the appearance of critical heat flux, the exit quality of the evaporator must to be constrained to less than one, which means that only two-phase fluid is allowed at the outlet of the evaporator. This research uses the dynamic model to explore control architectures that provide avoidance of critical heat flux in two-phase cooling for multiple evaporators under dynamic heat loads.