Bin Li

  • Email: bin.uiuc at gmail dot com (CV)
  • Ph.D. – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 2013
  • M.S. – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, July 2009
  • B.S. – Shanghai Jiao Tong University, July 2004
  • Research Interests:

– Modeling and simulation of thermal-fluid energy
– Energy management control and optimization
– Hybrid/switched system control

Research

This research is supported by the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Center (ACRC) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Thermo King Corporation, Ingersoll Rand.

Air conditioning and refrigeration systems (AC&R) are widely used in modern society to transfer energy from one physical location to another. One common way to control these systems is by on/off cycling operations.

The systems operate in a cycling mode in which they stop and start the refrigerant flow to modulate the amount of cooling or heating capacity provided to the enclosed environmental spaces. Automotive air conditioning systems and refrigerated transport systems are examples of such systems. The compressor in the automotive systems is continuously cycled on and off for evaporator pressure regulation to meet the cooling requirements of the passenger compartment. Similarly, the food product temperature in the refrigerated cargo space is maintained within allowable ranges through compressor shut-down and start-up cycling operations thereby ensuring the food quality and safety in transport.

My research focuses on improving thermal-fluid AC&R system transient performance using model-based control techniques, particularly with application to food transportation refrigeration systems. My research objective is to 1) develop modular modeling tools to better understand highly nonlinear thermal and hydraulic transient behavior with various cycling operations, such as on/off, cool/heat; 2) develop scalable model-based control approaches to improve system performance in terms of temperature regulation and energy efficiency.

In my research, the system models and control algorithms are simulated in THERMOSYS, a MATLAB/Simulink toolbox developed in our research group, validated and verified on a variety of experimental systems. To learn more about the THERMOSYS Toolbox, click here.

Selected Publications

For a complete list of publications, see my CV.

  • Li, B., N. Jain, W. Mohs, S. Munns, V. Patnaik, J. Berge and A. Alleyne. Dynamic Modeling of Refrigerated Transport Systems with Cooling/Heating Mode Switch Operations. HVAC&R Research, vol. 18(5), pp.974-996, 2012.
  • Li, B., S. Peuker, P. Hrnjak and A. Alleyne. Evaluation of Transient Refrigerant Migration Modeling Approach on Automotive Air Conditioning Systems. SAE Int. J. Mater. Manuf. 4:864-874, June 2011.
  • Li, B., S. Peuker, P. Hrnjak and A. Alleyne. Refrigerant Mass Migration Modeling and Simulation for Air Conditioning Systems. Applied Thermal Engineering vol. 31(10), pp.1770-1779, 2011.
  • Li, B., R. Otten, V. Chandan, W. Mohs, J. Berge and A. Alleyne. Optimal On-Off Control of Refrigerated Transport Systems. IFAC Control Engineering Practice vol. 18(12), pp.1406-1417, 2010.
  • Li, B. and A. Alleyne. A Dynamic Model of a Vapor Compression Cycle with Shut-down and Start-up Operations. International Journal of Refrigeration vol. 33, pp.538-552, 2010.
  • Jain, N., B. Li, M. Keir, B. Hencey and A. Alleyne. Decentralized Feedback Structures of a Vapor Compression Cycle System. IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology vol. 18(1), pp.185-193, 2010.