A thermal tactile reproduction device for a virtual experimental platform

Abstract

The present invention proposes a thermal tactile reproduction device for a virtual experimental platform, including a heating module, a positioning module and a control module. The positioning module includes a guide rail device, a first ball screw and a second ball screw. The guide rail device includes a first guide rail, a second guide rail and a third guide rail. The first guide rail is provided with a first stepper motor for driving the first ball screw to rotate, and the third guide rail is provided with a second stepper motor for driving the second ball screw to rotate; the heating module includes a PTC heating element, a cooling fan and a moving slider arranged in sequence from top to bottom, and the second ball screw passes through the moving slider; the control module can move the heating module on the XY plane by controlling the first stepper motor and the second stepper motor, and control the PTC heating element and the cooling fan to work at the same time. The present invention reproduces the stimulation of the heat generated by the heat-releasing object in the experiment on the human skin in real situations by releasing heat through the PTC heating element, and achieves the effect of reproducing thermal tactile sensation through non-contact thermal perception.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention belongs to the field of virtual reality tactile reproduction, and in particular relates to a thermal tactile reproduction device of a virtual experiment platform. Background Art

[0002] Virtual reality technology is a technology that can reproduce vision, hearing, touch, and smell. The current virtual reality technology mainly virtualizes reality in terms of vision, and mainly reproduces force touch in terms of touch. Among the various tactile sensations that the human body can feel, such as pain, itching, slippery, and warm sensations, temperature perception in warm sensation is an important basis for human skin to distinguish different objects, and is an indispensable reproduction link in virtual reality technology.

[0003] At present, in the field of virtual reality, existing thermal tactile reproduction products mainly exist in the form of data gloves. By adding a small resistor to each finger sleeve and passing current through the resistor to generate heat, the finger skin can feel the thermal stimulation. For hot and cold touch, there are also devices on the market that use the thermal conductivity of water to provide hot and cold feedback to the skin, such as the HaptX data gloves. The gloves divide the skin on the hand into very small areas, and then provide hot and cold stimulation to the small areas. It can achieve relatively high accuracy, but the cost is very high and the entire glove is relatively large. In the research field, semiconductor cooling chips are more commonly used to generate heat and cold based on the Peltier principle. When current passes through, the semiconductor cooling chip is cold on one side and hot on the other side. When the skin touches the corresponding surface, the corresponding hot (cold) tactile sensation is generated. Although these existing thermal tactile reproduction devices can provide hot and cold tactile sensations well, the heat is limited, and the heat generated by resistance wires and electric heating tubes will have open flames and low safety.

[0004] It can be seen that the current methods for reproducing thermal touch in the field of virtual reality are all to feel the heat by touching a hot object, and then make people feel thermal touch in a virtual environment. However, these existing methods bring some problems to the immersion of virtual reality technology, because in a virtual environment, a lot of heat is generated in a non-contact manner, and what is needed is to transfer heat through the air medium. In the above-mentioned thermal tactile reproduction method, water is used for heating and cooling. Affected by the physical properties of water, water pipes, valves and other objects are needed to transfer heat, which increases the size and cost of the equipment; and the use of semiconductor refrigeration sheets to achieve thermal tactile reproduction, although it can easily provide heat, the heat is limited, and the heat in the non-contact state cannot meet the needs of virtual experiments. Summary of the invention

[0005] In view of the shortcomings of the prior art, the present invention proposes a thermal tactile reproduction device for a virtual experimental platform, which uses a PTC heating element to release hot air to reproduce the stimulation of human skin by the heat generated by the heat-releasing object in the experiment under real conditions, and achieves the effect of reproducing thermal touch through non-contact thermal perception.

[0006] The technical solution of the present invention is achieved in this way:

[0007] A thermal tactile reproduction device for a virtual experimental platform includes a heating module, a positioning module and a control module, wherein

[0008] The positioning module includes a guide rail device, a first ball screw and a second ball screw, the guide rail device includes a first guide rail, a second guide rail and a third guide rail arranged between the first guide rail and the second guide rail, the first guide rail is provided with a first support and a second support at both ends, and the first ball screw is fixed to the top of the first guide rail through the first support and the second support; the second guide rail is provided with a third support and a fourth support at both ends, and a linear optical axis is provided between the third support and the fourth support; the third guide rail is provided with a fifth support and a sixth support at both ends, and the second ball screw is fixed to the top of the third guide rail through the fifth support and the sixth support; the first ball screw passes through one end of the third guide rail, and the linear optical axis passes through the other end of the third guide rail; the first guide rail is provided with a first stepper motor for driving the first ball screw to rotate, and the third guide rail is provided with a second stepper motor for driving the second ball screw to rotate;

[0009] The heating module comprises a PTC heating element, a cooling fan and a movable slider arranged in sequence from top to bottom, and the second ball screw passes through the movable slider;

[0010] The first stepper motor, the second stepper motor, the PTC heater, and the cooling fan are respectively connected to the control module circuit; the control module can move the heating module in the X-axis direction by controlling the first stepper motor, and the control module can move the heating module in the Y-axis direction by controlling the second stepper motor; the control module controls the PTC heater and the cooling fan to operate.

[0011] Furthermore, the PTC heating element includes an aluminum tube and a PTC ceramic heating plate arranged in the aluminum tube.

[0012] Furthermore, U-shaped corrugated heat sinks are also provided in the aluminum tube.

[0013] Furthermore, a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of gas blown out from the PTC heating element is provided on the upper surface of the PTC heating element.

[0014] Furthermore, the cooling fan is fixed above the movable slider via supporting legs.

[0015] Furthermore, an air inlet is provided at the lower end of the cooling fan.

[0016] Furthermore, limit switches are respectively provided at both ends of the first guide rail and the third guide rail.

[0017] Furthermore, a superheating net is laid above the guide rail device, and superheating holes are provided on the superheating net.

[0018] Furthermore, the overheating holes are arranged in an array.

[0019] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following advantages: the present invention controls the first stepper motor and the second stepper motor through the control module to move the heating module to the target position on the XY plane, and then controls the PTC heating element to generate heat, and blows the heat generated by the PTC heating element to the top of the PTC heating element through the cooling fan, thereby realizing non-contact thermal tactile reproduction, and more realistically showing the thermal tactile perception of living on human skin. The present invention uses the PTC heating element as a heat source, and there is no open flame when generating heat, which is safe and reliable; and the heating efficiency is as high as 99%, the service life is long, the temperature rises rapidly, and it is safe and reliable. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative labor.

[0021] Figure 1 It is a structural schematic diagram of an embodiment of a thermal tactile reproduction device of a virtual experiment platform of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 2 It is a structural schematic diagram of the heating module;

[0023] Figure 3 It is a structural schematic diagram of a PTC heating element;

[0024] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the thermal tactile reproduction device of the virtual experiment platform of the present invention when in use;

[0025] Figure 5 This is the structural block diagram of the thermal tactile reproduction device of the virtual experimental platform.

[0026] Figure symbols: 100 heating module; 11 PTC heating element; 1101 U-shaped corrugated heat sink; 1102 aluminum tube; 1103 PTC ceramic heating plate; 12 cooling fan; 13 moving slider; 14 temperature sensor; 15 supporting foot; 200 positioning module; 2101 first guide rail; 2102 second guide rail; 2103 third guide rail; 22 first ball screw; 23 second ball screw; 2401 first support; 2402 second support; 2403 third support; 2404 fourth support; 2405 fifth support; 2406 sixth support; 25 linear optical axis; 26 first stepper motor; 27 second stepper motor; 28 limit switch; 300 control module; 400 overheating network; 41 overheating hole; 500 experimental table. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0028] It should be noted that the terms "first", "second", "third", "fourth", etc. (if any) in the specification and claims of the present application and the above-mentioned drawings are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the data used in this way can be interchangeable where appropriate, so that the embodiments of the present application described herein can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described herein. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions.

[0029] See also Figure 1 to Figure 3 The embodiment of the present invention discloses a thermal tactile reproduction device of a virtual experimental platform, including a heating module 100, a positioning module 200 and a control module 300, wherein

[0030] The positioning module 200 includes a guide rail device, a first ball screw 22 and a second ball screw 23. The guide rail device includes a first guide rail 2101, a second guide rail 2102 and a third guide rail 2103 arranged between the first guide rail 2101 and the second guide rail 2102. The first guide rail 2101 is provided with a first support 2401 and a second support 2402 at both ends. The first ball screw 22 is fixed to the top of the first guide rail 2101 through the first support 2401 and the second support 2402. The second guide rail 2102 is provided with a third support 2403 and a fourth support 2404 at both ends. The third support 2403 A linear optical axis 25 is provided between the first guide rail 2101 and the fourth support 2404; a fifth support 2405 and a sixth support 2406 are provided at both ends of the third guide rail 2103, respectively, and the second ball screw 23 is fixed above the third guide rail 2103 through the fifth support 2405 and the sixth support 2406; the first ball screw 22 passes through one end of the third guide rail 2103, and the linear optical axis 25 passes through the other end of the third guide rail 2103; a first stepper motor 26 for driving the first ball screw 22 to rotate is provided on the first guide rail 2101, and a second stepper motor 27 for driving the second ball screw 23 to rotate is provided on the third guide rail 2103;

[0031] The heating module 100 includes a PTC heating element 11, a cooling fan 12 and a movable slider 13 which are arranged in sequence from top to bottom, and a second ball screw 23 passes through the movable slider 13;

[0032] The control module 300 controls the first stepper motor 26 to move the heating module 100 in the X-axis direction, and controls the second stepper motor 27 to move the heating module 100 in the Y-axis direction; the control module 300 controls the PTC heating element 11 and the cooling fan 12 to operate.

[0033] During operation, the position and temperature of the heating module 100 are controlled by the control module 300, thereby achieving thermal tactile reproduction. In the embodiment of the present invention, the heat generated by the PTC heating element 11 is transferred to the top of the PTC heating element 11 through the cooling fan 12. There is no need to directly contact the heating object to feel the heat, but to spread the heat through the air medium, thereby more realistically reproducing the real situation.

[0034] In order to facilitate the virtual experiment, a superheating net 400 can be laid on the top of the guide rail device to isolate the components; the superheating net 400 is covered with superheating holes 41, and the superheating holes 41 are arranged in an array, so that the heat generated by the PTC heating element 11 can be transferred from the bottom of the superheating net 400 to the top of the superheating net 400 through the air medium under the action of the cooling fan 12. When conducting a virtual experiment, the guide rail device is placed on the experimental table 500, and then the superheating net 400 is fixed on the top of the guide rail device. The superheating net 400 can place corresponding objects or devices required for the virtual experiment on it without interfering with the thermal touch.

[0035] In order to improve the immersion of the virtual scene, the size of the overheating net 400 can be set to be consistent with the size of the virtual laboratory table. Since the thermal tactile reproduction device of the present invention is non-contact and the heat source is stationary relative to the human body, before conducting a virtual experiment, it is necessary to calibrate the position of the laboratory table in the real world and the virtual scene (i.e., the virtual laboratory table and the real laboratory table 500) to ensure that the distance between the experimenter and the laboratory table is the same in both environments. For example, taking the HTC VIVE helmet as an example, before the program is executed, the position of the virtual camera in the Unity engine relative to the virtual laboratory table needs to be set to the position of the human eye relative to the overheating net in the real world, so as to ensure that when the experiment starts, the virtual scene seen by the human eye is consistent with the position of the device in the real world. Therefore, when starting the virtual experiment, the distance between the experimenter and the virtual laboratory table in the virtual environment is the same as the distance between the experimenter and the overheating net 400 in the real environment.

[0036] Specifically, Figure 3 As shown, the PTC heating element 11 includes an aluminum tube and a PTC ceramic heating sheet arranged in the aluminum tube. Further, a U-shaped corrugated heat sink 1101 is also arranged in the aluminum tube, wherein the U-shaped corrugated heat sink 1101 and the PTC ceramic heating sheet are arranged at intervals in the horizontal direction, so that the U-shaped corrugated heat sink 1101 can absorb heat from the PTC ceramic heating sheet to a large extent, and then most of the heat generated by the PTC ceramic heating sheet is transferred from the bottom of the superheating net 400 to the top of the superheating net 400 through the air medium by the heat dissipation fan 12.

[0037] Furthermore, the cooling fan 12 is fixed above the movable slider 13 by means of supporting feet 15, and an air inlet is provided at the lower end of the cooling fan 12 to facilitate the air flow direction so that the gas enters from the bottom of the cooling fan 12, and then the hot gas is blown to the top of the PTC heating element 11, and the hot gas then passes through the overheating net 400 to reach the designated heat generation position.

[0038] Furthermore, a temperature sensor 14 is provided on the upper surface of the PTC heating element 11 to measure the temperature of the blown hot air in real time. The control module 300 controls the temperature of the PTC heating element 11 according to the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 14 .

[0039] Furthermore, limit switches 28 are respectively provided at both ends of the first guide rail 2101 and the third guide rail 2103, which are respectively used to prevent the third guide rail 2103 from moving to both ends of the first ball screw 22 and the moving slider 13 from moving to both ends of the second ball screw 23.

[0040] When working, the serial port data of the location of the heating module 100 is sent to the control module 300 through the host computer, and then the first stepper motor 26 and the second stepper motor 27 are determined to rotate according to the position point to which the heating module 100 should move and the lead of the first ball screw 22 and the second ball screw 23 (i.e. the distance moved by one rotation of the thread), so as to move the heating module 100 to the corresponding position. When the first stepper motor 26 drives the first ball screw 22 to rotate, since the first ball screw 22 passes through one end of the third guide rail 2103 and the linear optical axis 25 observes the other end of the third guide rail 2103, the third guide rail 2103 will be driven to move in the X-axis direction as a whole; when the second stepper motor 27 drives the first ball screw 22 to rotate, since the second ball screw 23 passes through the moving slider 13, the heating module 100 will be driven to move in the Y-axis direction as a whole.

[0041] The temperature can be controlled by closed-loop control, and the temperature of the hot air blown out can be measured in real time by the temperature sensor 14. When the target temperature required by the thermal sense is inputted on the PC side, the hot air temperature at that time is compared with the target temperature by the control module 300, thereby controlling the heating of the PTC heating element 11 and maintaining the target temperature. The cooling fan 12 can control the wind force through the control module 300, thereby controlling the temperature of the gas at different distances. For example, at the same distance from the air outlet, when the wind force is small, the temperature of the gas blown out by the PTC heating element is higher.

[0042] The data transmission between the host computer, PC and the control module 300 may be by wired transmission or by wireless transmission such as Bluetooth or WiFi.

[0043] The present invention controls the first stepper motor 26 and the second stepper motor 27 through the control module 300 to move the heating module 100 to the target position on the XY plane, and then controls the PTC heating element 11 to generate heat, and blows the heat generated by the PTC heating element 11 to the top of the PTC heating element 11 through the cooling fan 12, thereby realizing non-contact thermal tactile reproduction, and more realistically showing the thermal tactile perception of living on human skin. The present invention uses a PTC ceramic heating sheet as a heat source, and there is no open flame when generating heat, which is safe and reliable; and the heating efficiency is as high as 99%, the service life is long, the temperature rises rapidly, and it is safe and reliable.

[0044] The present invention can be applied to an augmented reality experimental platform. The overheating net 400 is used as an experimental table 500. By placing high-temperature resistant icons on the overheating net 400 and identifying the icons to virtualize experimental instruments, thermal touch can also be obtained.

[0045] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A thermal tactile reproduction device for a virtual experimental platform, characterized in that: It includes a heating module, a positioning module and a control module, wherein The positioning module includes a guide rail device, a first ball screw and a second ball screw, the guide rail device includes a first guide rail, a second guide rail and a third guide rail arranged between the first guide rail and the second guide rail, the first guide rail is provided with a first support and a second support at both ends, and the first ball screw is fixed to the top of the first guide rail through the first support and the second support; the second guide rail is provided with a third support and a fourth support at both ends, and a linear optical axis is provided between the third support and the fourth support; the third guide rail is provided with a fifth support and a sixth support at both ends, and the second ball screw is fixed to the top of the third guide rail through the fifth support and the sixth support; the first ball screw passes through one end of the third guide rail, and the linear optical axis passes through the other end of the third guide rail; the first guide rail is provided with a first stepper motor for driving the first ball screw to rotate, and the third guide rail is provided with a second stepper motor for driving the second ball screw to rotate; The heating module comprises a PTC heating element, a cooling fan and a movable slider arranged in sequence from top to bottom, and the second ball screw passes through the movable slider; The first stepper motor, the second stepper motor, the PTC heating element, and the cooling fan are respectively connected to the control module circuit; the control module can move the heating module in the X-axis direction by controlling the first stepper motor, and the control module can move the heating module in the Y-axis direction by controlling the second stepper motor; the control module controls the PTC heating element and the cooling fan to work; The PTC heating element includes an aluminum tube and a PTC ceramic heating plate arranged in the aluminum tube. A U-shaped corrugated heat sink is also arranged in the aluminum tube. The U-shaped corrugated heat sink and the PTC ceramic heating plate are spaced apart in the horizontal direction.

2. The thermal tactile reproduction device of the virtual experiment platform as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: A temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of gas blown out from the PTC heating element is provided on the upper surface of the PTC heating element.

3. The thermal tactile reproduction device of the virtual experiment platform as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The heat dissipation fan is fixed above the movable sliding block through supporting legs.

4. The thermal tactile reproduction device of the virtual experiment platform as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that: An air inlet is arranged at the lower end of the heat dissipation fan.

5. The thermal tactile reproduction device of the virtual experiment platform as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: Limit switches are respectively provided at both ends of the first guide rail and the third guide rail.

6. The thermal tactile reproduction device of the virtual experiment platform according to claim 1, characterized in that: An overheating net is laid above the guide rail device, and overheating holes are arranged on the overheating net.

7. The thermal tactile reproduction device of the virtual experiment platform as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that: The overheating holes are arranged in an array.

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