Modelling of flexible electric resistance heater coupled to a steel plate

In this paper, a heater with flexible resistance coupled to a steel plate is modeled. Because it is flexible, this type of heater is built to be attached to objects that will be heated regardless of their shape. Starting from the energy balance, the differential equation that defines the system's behavior is obtained. The resulting system is non-linear and, in order to obtain a transfer function, linearization is carried out at an operating point, obtaining a linear model. Starting from the linearized differential equation, the linearized transfer function is calculated. Following that, a power step is applied in the flexible resistance and the output temperature graph is obtained. From this graph, the parameters are identified. Theoretical and practical values are compared, identifying the assertiveness of the modelling.