Design of high-performance thermal control systems of hydraulic and magnetorheological drives for mobile machinery

Drives for mobile machinery are used at changing temperature conditions. Steadiness of operating parameters for drive systems depends on temperature of environments because they apply the working fluid as a kinematic element. Temperature stabilization of working environment is realized by thermal control systems. Mobile machineries have strict requirements for mass and scale of thermal control systems. Extra weight of finished product increases fuel consumption and large scales of elements create difficulties at layout design and installation. Working fluids in hydraulic and magnetorheological drives transfer energy from sources of pressure to actuating elements. These transformation processes of kinetic / potential energy and the changing their values in response to control signals occur in fluids. Therefore performance and dynamics of drives are determined by dynamics of energy transformation / transfer processes in the working fluids. It is obvious that the dynamics of energy processes in hydraulic and magnetorheological systems depends on physical parameters of working environments and temperature. This calls for increased attention to efficiency of thermal control systems. Existing thermal control systems are unable to meet constantly raised standards; development of drive technologies requires improvement of thermal control systems. The paper considers hybrid thermal control systems for hydraulic and magnetorheological drives. Hybrid thermal control systems apply a combination of thermoelectric semiconductor elements and low power single-stage compressors. This combination has high-performance, significant energy efficiency and small mass / scale. Described numerical model allows conducting a heat calculation of hybrid thermal control systems and determining the dynamics of thermal processes which flow in the working environments. Basic recommendations on the design and rational exploitation for hybrid thermal control systems are given in text.