Dynamic Modeling of a Cooling System for Power Electronics via Experimental Investigation

: Control-oriented model development for a laboratory single-phase cooling plant comprised of a heat plate, a passive cooler module and a pump is investigated in this paper. The coolant fluid absorbs the heat from the power electronic equipment on the heat plate and releases it to the ambient by flowing through the passive cooler. There is a pump between the cooler and the heat plate whose task is conveying the cooled fluid at the cooler outlet to the heat plate. Utilizing a gray-box modeling approach, first, a mathematical model is derived for the system based on the energy balance of the thermal components. The model is simulated with nominal parameters to gain a grasp on how the system performs under different operation conditions. Moreover, experiments are conducted on the laboratory prototype to estimate the model parameters based on measurement data. The validation results signify the suitability of the obtained model for the purpose of prediction and control.