A PWM temperature controller for themoelectric generator characterization

This work deals with a useful PID control scheme to impose a user defined temperature gradient on a Thermoelectric heater used as heat source for Thermoelectric Generators characterization. These devices used in both power supply and cooler/heater configurations are one of the most promising to provide electricity and heat to spacecraft and instruments or for sensor nodes self-powered from small temperature gradient, such as temperature variations available internally and externally throughout the human body. During the experiments, the room temperature was imposed by a thermal chamber while the heater was driven by an opportunely amplified PWM signal generated by an Arduino UNO board on which the PID controller is implemented. The whole process is supervised by a LabVIEW virtual instrument which permits the bidirectional communication and the report to users.