How to configure rectangular immersion cooling tank with bottom inlet and top outlet using Simscape Tank (TL) block?

Hello, I am trying to model an immersion cooling system in Simscape using the Tank (TL) block. I have two issues:

1. I need one inlet at the bottom of the tank and one outlet at the top, but the block seems to only allow predefined inlet locations.
2. My tank geometry is rectangular, while the Tank (TL) block assumes a cylindrical geometry.

Is it possible to modify the inlet/outlet positions and change the tank geometry, or should I use a custom component instead? If a custom block is required, is there any recommended approach or example to start from?

Thank you!

Answer 1

[Umar]

Hi Raphael, I looked into your question about modeling the immersion cooling system with the Tank (TL) block. Good news on the inlet/outlet positioning - the block actually does let you configure inlet heights. You can set up to 6 ports and specify the elevation for each one using the "Height vector for inlets" parameter. So you can definitely have one inlet at the bottom (height = 0) and another positioned higher up for your outlet. The block handles the hydrostatic pressure calculations based on these height differences.The rectangular geometry is a bit trickier. The standard Tank (TL) block assumes constant cross-section, which works fine for cylinders but isn't quite right for what you need. You have a couple of options here. The simpler workaround is using the "Tabulated data - volume vs. level" parameterization where you provide vectors of liquid levels and volumes. For a rectangular tank this would just be a linear relationship.But honestly, for your specific application I'd recommend going with a custom component. It's not as daunting as it sounds. There's actually a really relevant example already in Simscape Fluids called "Stratified Hot Water Storage Tank" that you can check out by running: openExample('simscapefluids/StratifiedHotWaterStorageTankExample') This example models a tank with multiple discrete layers using custom Simscape components, and it has exactly the configuration you're after - cold water inlet at the bottom and hot water outlet at the top. The custom components handle elevation effects and hydrostatic pressure, plus they include thermal effects which should be useful for your immersion cooling system. You can open it up, look at how the custom components are structured, and adapt them for your rectangular geometry.Creating a custom component involves defining your rectangular cross-section, setting up the thermal liquid ports, and writing the hydrostatic pressure and heat transfer equations. The Simscape language documentation has good guides on this, and you can use the stratified tank example as a template. Hope this helps.