A theoretical investigation of a controlled hybrid mechanical/capillary pumped loop

A series hybrid mechanical/CPL system is a way to improve the performance characteristics over a plain CPL system, as demonstrated by Schweickart et al [1]. However, few hybrid loops actually operate because the control of the system remains difficult. An investigation of a controlled hybrid CPL is proposed based on a dynamic model, consisting of the coupling of a CPL model and a mechanical pump whose speed is controlled by a PID. We first theoretically determined the controller parameters versus the CPL characteristics in order to optimize the command for a given CPL. In a second part, some simulations of two different architectures were performed and analyzed. These results have confirmed that the hybrid system is very attractive to greatly improve the CPL performance.