Metaheuristic Techniques in Enhancing the Efficiency and Performance of Thermo-Electric Cooling Devices

Pandian Vasant,Junzo Watada,Utku Kose

doi:10.3390/en10111703

Pandian Vasant, Junzo Watada + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/en10111703

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Journal: Energies	Publication Date: Oct 25, 2017
Citations: 35	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Ton Duc Thang University

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to focus on the technical issues of single-stage thermo-electric coolers (TECs) and two-stage TECs and then apply new methods in optimizing the dimensions of TECs. In detail, some metaheuristics—simulated annealing (SA) and differential evolution (DE)—are applied to search the optimal design parameters of both types of TEC, which yielded cooling rates and coefficients of performance (COPs) individually and simultaneously. The optimization findings obtained by using SA and DE are validated by applying them in some defined test cases taking into consideration non-linear inequality and non-linear equality constraint conditions. The performance of SA and DE are verified after comparing the findings with the ones obtained applying the genetic algorithm (GA) and hybridization technique (HSAGA and HSADE). Mathematical modelling and parameter setting of TEC is combined with SA and DE to find better optimal findings. The work revealed that SA and DE can be applied successfully to solve single-objective and multi-objective TEC optimization problems. In terms of stability, reliability, robustness and computational efficiency, they provide better performance than GA. Multi-objective optimizations considering both objective functions are useful for the designer to find the suitable design parameters of TECs which balance the important roles of cooling rate and COP.

Highlights

The Mud-Pulse High-Temperature (MWD) is known as a system used for performing drillingrelated measurements down-hole and transmitting information to the surface while drilling a well [1]
Some case studies preferred from the works of [29,30] are presented as follows: Case-1: The parameter settings of the stage Thermo-electric cooler (STEC) model follow Table 6 and Simulated Annealing (SA) and differential evolution (DE) are applied to find an optimal STEC geometric design under the limitation of total area S = 100 mm2 and the maximum cost for material is $385
In single-stage thermo-electric coolers (TECs), the design parameters are the geometric parameters of the semiconductor element, like the length and the area of the semiconductor column, and the total number of semiconductor elements in the single-stage TEC

Summary

Introduction

The Mud-Pulse High-Temperature (MWD) is known as a system used for performing drillingrelated measurements down-hole and transmitting information to the surface while drilling a well [1]. Achieving optimal payload temperatures in down-hole environment at 230 ◦C needs a MWD cooling system that can pump a remarkable load and a low thermal resistance path on the heat rejection (hot side). At this point, high temperature thermo-electric cooler (TEC) materials and assemblies should be employed for such an application environment with high pressure, high temperature, mechanical shock and vibration requirements. Thermo-electric couples are connected in series electrically, in parallel thermally, and fixed by soldering, located between two ceramic plates The latter form the hold and cold TEC sides [15]. Once the top stage is employed for cooling, the lower stage needs greater cooling capacity to pump heat, which is dissipated from the upper stage [16]

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