An Intelligent Code to Design Thermoelectric Heat Pumps

Thermoelectric heat pumps (TEHPs) have been applied to many electronic devices to create a steady, low-temperature operating environment. The cooling capacity is the critical issue in the application consideration. This study uses a hybrid genetic algorithm (hGA) to maximize the cooling capacity of a two-stage TEHP under the condition that the amount of material being used is limited. For a two-stage TEHP with separate electrical currents, the design parameters of each stage: the applied electrical current, the number of thermoelectric elements, and the ratio of area to length of the thermoelectric elements, are optimized. The optimal parameter set of a two-stage TEHP is determined for various cold-side temperatures, and the cooling capacity is thus maximized. This study demonstrates that the hGA has the ability to design a complex TEHP, and converge to the optimal parameter set much quickly.