Investigation on weight consideration of liquid coolant system for power electronics converter in future aircraft

Cooling systems significantly contribute to the total mass and volume of power electronic systems. In the case of aerospace application, it will directly increase the operating cost of the aircraft. This paper experimentally and numerically investigates the weight contribution of the liquid cooling system for power electronics converter in future aircraft. In order to investigate, a cooling system of 2 and 6 pass cold plates is designed and its cooling performance is analyzed. The weight and size contribution is discussed based on available coolants in the aircraft, flow rate ranges from 2 to 8 LPM and 1% to 3% power loss dissipation. Water is added and examined for completeness of the studies. This paper concludes that oil is inappropriate coolant for this particular case. The optimum parameters (Q = 8 LPM with 9.5 kg pump weight) for most promising coolant (fuel) that give high extraction rate with low weight contribution for the highest density cooling system are indicated.