Benefit from the progress of manufacturing technology and the improvement of heat and mass transfer theory

refrigeration systems have been developing towards miniaturization and portability. This paper introduces three kinds of main refrigeration systems: vapor compression refrigeration

semiconductor refrigeration and absorption refrigeration system. Combined with recent literatures at home and abroad

this paper demonstrates the latest developments in miniaturization of systems and core components and then

compares their advantages and disadvantages to suit different occasions. Finally

the paper discusses the bottleneck restricting the miniaturization of refrigeration system

and puts forward the prospect for the future of the miniature refrigeration system.