Characterization of temperature sensors using Peltier cells

In the present work the behavior of a Peltier Cell is studied with the purpose of precision temperature control in testing and characterization of thermal sensors. An overview of the state of the art is made and a theoretical model is derived for the real system and two controllers are developed. The first controller, based on the classic PID and a second one employing the linear quadratic regulator applied to the cell. Both controllers are able to reach a precision of 100m°C, a feat unattainable by current thermal chambers. The controllers are firstly simulated then implemented and their performance is compared based on the following figures of merit: time to reach a desired temperature within a threshold, overshoot and above all, steady state error. With the second controller, an error of 5:5m°C in 320 seconds can be achieved in the worst case scenario, an improvement of 3 orders of magnitude over the conventional methods of thermal sensor characterization.