Heat Flux Sensor for Uniform Heating Element Temperature Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional heat quantity control devices struggle to maintain uniform inside heat quantities among stacked heating elements due to varying external influences and heat energy dissipation, leading to uneven inside temperatures, especially when three or more elements are laminated.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of heat flux sensors with an insulation board made of thermoplastic resin and alternating metal connection members, which generate an electromotive force based on heat flux, allowing the control section to adjust the heat quantity between adjacent heating elements to ensure equal inside temperatures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If temperature sensors are mounted to each heating element to control surface temperature, then surface temperature uniformity is improved, but inside heat quantity uniformity deteriorates due to varying external influences and heat radiation differences
Solution Approach 1:
A heat flux sensor is introduced as an intermediary component placed between adjacent heating elements to detect heat flux. This mediator provides indirect information about inside heat quantity differences, enabling the control system to compensate for variations caused by external influences and achieve uniform inside heat quantity without directly measuring it
Solution Approach 2:
The control system uses feedback from the heat flux sensor to dynamically adjust the heat quantity of adjacent heating elements. By continuously monitoring heat flux and adjusting heating power accordingly, the system achieves uniform inside heat quantity distribution across all heating elements despite varying external conditions
2Ease of operation
If heat quantity is adjusted based on surface temperature detection, then surface temperature control is simplified, but measurement precision of inside heat quantity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces direct mechanical/physical measurement of inside heat quantity with an electrical measurement approach using a heat flux sensor. The sensor converts heat flux into an electrical signal that can be easily processed by the control system, maintaining operational simplicity while achieving precise inside heat quantity control
3Productivity
If multiple heating elements are stacked to form lamination, then heating efficiency is improved, but heat quantity uniformity deteriorates due to different external influences on outermost and inside elements
Solution Approach 1:
The control system applies local quality control by treating each heating element differently based on its position and local conditions. The heat flux sensor detects local heat flux between adjacent elements, and the control system adjusts each element's heat quantity locally to compensate for position-dependent variations, achieving uniform inside heat quantity across the entire lamination
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enables precise equalization of inside heat quantities among heating elements, maintaining uniform temperatures with high accuracy and sensitivity, even when external conditions change, by controlling the heat flux between elements.
Implementation Method 1
The first layer connection members and the second layer connection members generate an electromotive force due to a heat flux flowing between the first heating element and the second heating element
Data Source
AI summary
A heat quantity control device has a heat flux sensor arranged between first and second heating elements arranged adjacently to each other, and a control section for controlling a heat quantity of the first and second heating elements. The heat flux sensor has an insulation board made of thermoplastic resin, first and second via holes formed in the insulation board penetrating in a thickness direction thereof. First and second layer connection members are embedded in the first and second via holes, respectively. The first and second layer connection members are made of different metals and alternately connected in series. The control section controls a heat quantity generated in the first and second heating elements based on the electromotive force generated in the heat flux sensors so that a heat flux flowing between the first and second heating elements becomes not more than a predetermined value.