THERMAL MANAGEMENT STRATEGY WITH PHASE-CHANGE MATERIAL CAPSULES FOR PULSED-POWER SOURCE CONTROLLER IN EXTREME OIL-WELL THERMAL ENVIRONMENT

The application of a pulsed-power source controller provides high energy and strong penetrability, which can effectively improve shale oil exploitation efficiency. However, the harsh high-temperature oil-well environment will significantly affect the safe operation of electronic devices. The thermal protection performance of the insulation layer with microscale phase-change material (PCM) capsules and macroscale PCM capsules composed of paraffin within a nylon shell were compared using three-dimensional printing technology. Results showed that the microscale PCM capsules demonstrated considerable thermal protection performance when operating under a high temperature of 100°C, which could prolong the operating time of the electronic device by only 64% in comparison to the case without the thermal protection strategy. However, the amount of PCM still showed dominant influence. Meanwhile, the macroscale PCM capsules contain a relatively higher capacity of PCM, which could further extend the operating time by 84%, up to 92 min, within the maximum junction temperature of 80°C. Also, a simplified numerical model was developed and validated with the experimental data and used to investigate the thermal protection performance of macroscale PCM capsules with orderly stacked configuration as well as the effect of thermal protection thicknesses.