# Active cooling device: A flexible, lab-scale experimental unit to develop spatio-temporal temperature control strategies

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a flexible lab-scale cooling system that allows precise control of temperature over space and time using adjustable fluid jets.

## Contribution

The novel contribution is a modular, open-source thermal management platform with integrated hardware and software for testing spatiotemporal temperature control strategies.

## Key findings

- The system achieves a 6°C temperature reduction in response to a flow rate change with a 400-second settling time.
- The setup successfully maintains a 100°C setpoint under varying heat loads using PI control.
- The device offers a reproducible and flexible platform for validating thermal control strategies in a lab setting.

## Abstract

This work proposes an experimental unit that realizes a multi-input, multi-output manifold thermal management technology. The proposed setup is designed 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 closed states. Files associated with this work include Computer-Aided Design (CAD) STEP files, Gerber files to manufacture a custom Printed Circuit Board (PCB), and a Graphical User Interface (GUI) written in Python. A step-by-step guide to assembling the experimental setup is provided, alongside instructions to interact with the setup through the GUI for real-time tracking. Validation experiments characterize the dynamic performance of the system, demonstrating a temperature reduction of 6 °C in response to a 54 L min−1 step change in flow rate, with a settling time of 400 s. Setpoint tracking capability is demonstrated through a representative proportional–integral (PI) control experiment, which consistently reaches the target temperature with high reproducibility across repeated trials. Disturbance rejection performance is further validated by maintaining a 100 °C temperature setpoint under spatially varying heat loads using PI control. With a total component cost of approximately $14,000 USD, 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.

Graphical abstract Image 1

•Modular framework for spatio-temporal thermal management validation.•Reproducible platform with open-source CAD, PCB, and Python GUI.•Safe lab-scale testing of adaptive multi-input control strategies.•Quantified thermal response and disturbance rejection benchmarks.•Integrated hardware–software stack for reconfigurable flow control.

Modular framework for spatio-temporal thermal management validation.

Reproducible platform with open-source CAD, PCB, and Python GUI.

Safe lab-scale testing of adaptive multi-input control strategies.

Quantified thermal response and disturbance rejection benchmarks.

Integrated hardware–software stack for reconfigurable flow control.