Advanced control for prognostics and health management (phm) for micro-chiller systems with thermo-electric elements

An apparatus comprising

• at least one sensor;
• and
• a controller;
• wherein the controller is housed within a micro-chiller unit and configured to generate diagnostic information about operations of the micro-chiller unit from at least sensed data received from the at least one sensor;
• wherein in response to receiving sensor data comprising a plurality of temperatures associated with operations of thermo-electric elements of the micro-chiller unit from the at least one sensor, the controller is configured to adjust an amount of power to thermo-electric elements to cause an efficient cooling process based on computations of performance associated with a characteristic of the thermo-electric elements to cool an interior cavity housed within the micro-chiller unit to a set-point temperature.

A method to manufacture of a controller apparatus comprising:

• constructing a micro-chiller unit with a housing to conform to a monument of an aircraft seating module;
• disposing the micro-chiller unit with a set of thermo-electric elements in the housing for conductive cooling of an interior cavity wherein the micro-chiller unit is mounted on a conductive rear plate that forms a wall of the interior cavity;
• disposing a controller within the housing and coupled to a plurality of sensors wherein the controller is configured to receive sensed data from at least one sensor of the plurality of sensors comprising at least temperature data of the interior cavity;
• wherein in response to receiving the at least temperature data, the controller is configured to adjust an amount of power to the micro-chiller unit in accordance with a maximum level of power from a supply locally available in an aircraft;
• wherein the amount of power is further adjusted in accordance with a selective mode of operation of the micro-chiller unit for supplying current to at least the set of thermo-electric elements for the conductive cooling of the interior cavity of the micro-chiller unit to a set-point temperature.