Optimization of electrically separated two-stage thermoelectric refrigeration systems using chemical reaction optimization algorithm

Abstract

A robust method is proposed for optimal design of electrically separated two-stage thermoelectric refrigeration systems based on chemical reaction optimization algorithm (CRO). In order to investigate the performance of the proposed method, a full computer code was developed and different test cases were solved by it to show the accuracy and efficiency of the method. Cooling capacity and coefficient of performance of the refrigeration system are considered as objective functions of the optimization process. The effects of the joint thermal resistance at the interface of the two stages on objective functions in all of the case studies also were studied and sensitivity analysis of COP and cooling capacity of the system to this parameter is conducted. The obtained results were compared to those obtained by literature approaches. The outlined results showed improvement of the objective functions using the CRO method in comparison to the results of the genetic algorithm previously used for optimization of the considered refrigeration system. The obtained results of the paper showed that the CRO algorithm can be successfully employed for optimal design of electrically separated two-stage thermoelectric refrigeration system.