Overview of the Application of Thermal Management in Industry and the Application Prospect in the DCS of the Nuclear Power Plant

Abstract Reactor digital control system (DCS) is the brain and central nervous system of nuclear power plant. It is the most complex system of nuclear power plant, which can ensure the safety and stable operation of the nuclear power plant. The DCS in nuclear power plants can be divided into safety-related DCS and non-safety-related DCS. With the improvement of digital, intelligent, integrated and miniaturized technology of the DCS in nuclear power plant, thermal management is becoming an increasingly integral part of advanced DCS system design. In electronic devices, temperature is one of the key factors affecting the performance of the electronic components. In the field of electronic heat dissipation, there is a famous ten-degree rule: the reliability of electronic devices is closely related to the temperature. Within a certain temperature range, the temperature of electronic components rises by 10 degrees, its reliability will decline by 50%. Therefore, effective thermal management of electronic equipment is particularly important. Usually, thermal management technology mainly focus on three key elements: heat source, heat sink and the channel to removing heat. Large amount of researches about these three elements were carried out in order to meet the requirements of application scenarios and various heat indexes. On one hand, thermal management can reduce the failure probability of the DCS, on the other hand, more efficient thermal management can reduce the weight, volume and energy consumption of the DCS. Firstly, the application of thermal management technology in various industrial fields is systematically reviewed and summarized in this paper. Then, combined with the three elements of thermal management mentioned above, the application scenario of thermal management in DCS of nuclear power plant is analyzed. Systematic thermal management research on DCS of nuclear power plant aims to lay the groundwork and support for the subsequent application of advanced thermal management technology in DCS of nuclear power plant, so as to reduce the weight, size and the energy consumption, reduce the space occupied by DCS and improve the reliability of the instrument control system.