Modeling Identification and Control of Peltier Thermoelectic Modules for Telepresence

This research deals with thermal rendering for telepresence applications. We present the modeling and identification of thermo-electric modules (TEMs) to be used either as part of a thermal display or a remote thermal probe. First, TEMs are modeled in steady- and unsteady-state dynamics using recursive nonlinear autoregressive moving average models for both temperature and heat flux. The proposed models are convenient for simulation, control, electronic, and thermal engineering. They allow understanding the functionality of the heat pumps and facilitate the solving of cooling/heating problems without the need for expertise in thermal theory. Then, these models are used in a novel thermal rendering approach that is based on the estimation of the temperature in contact for both the finger and the probed remote object in a telepresence setup. The thermal feedback is provided by a bilateral control between the master (thermal display) and the slave (thermal probe robotic finger). Experimental results validating the models and the proposed thermal rendering scheme are presented and discussed.