A Thermal Tactile Display Device with Multiple Heat Sources

A compact thermal tactile display device with multiple heat sources is proposed in this paper. The device has a 3×3 display units array and a Peltier module. In every display unit, a wire-twined resistance is used as heat component, a minitype NTC thermistor is used as temperature sensor, and an aluminum column is used as heat conduction component for contacting. The Peltier module is used to cool the display units array. Finally, the device was installed on the hand controller, allowing operators to manipulate virtual hand to touch the heat sources in the virtual environment, and its thermal tactile display property was tested. The results showed that the thermal tactile device can display the temperature from 5°C to 55°C, and different temperature field distribution can be displayed on the contact surface of the 3×3 array.