Cha Youngsun, Seo Byungseok, Chung Myoungkil, Kim Brian S Y, Choi Wonjoon, Park Woosung
School of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, South Korea.
Division of Mechanical Systems, Sookmyung Women's University, Seoul 04310, South Korea.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022 Apr 20;14(15):17920-17926. doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c24420. Epub 2022 Apr 6.
Tactile sensation is a powerful method for probing the temperature of an arbitrary object due to its intuitive operating mechanism. However, the disruptive interface commonly formed between the thermometer and the object gives rise to thermal contact resistance, which is the primary source of measurement inaccuracy. Here, we develop a bioinspired bimodal temperature sensor exhibiting robust measurement accuracy by precisely decoupling contact resistance from the associated thermal circuit. In our sensors, a micropatterned resistive thermometer is placed underneath a thermoelectric heat fluxmeter, which resembles thermoreceptors located in human biomembranes. The object temperature is probed by modulating the thermometer temperature within the sensor system and precisely extrapolating the zero-heat flux point of the Seebeck voltage developed across the fluxmeter. At this zero-heat flux point, the object and thermometer temperatures coincide with each other regardless of the contact resistance formed at the fluxmeter-object interface. An experimental study shows that our sensors display excellent measurement accuracy within ∼0.5 K over a wide range of contact resistance values. Our work opens up new avenues for highly sensitive tactile thermal sensation in thermal haptics, medical devices, and robotics if combined with flexible devices.
由于其直观的操作机制，触觉是探测任意物体温度的一种强大方法。然而，温度计与物体之间通常形成的干扰界面会产生热接触电阻，这是测量不准确的主要来源。在此，我们开发了一种受生物启发的双峰温度传感器，通过将接触电阻与相关热回路精确解耦，展现出强大的测量精度。在我们的传感器中，一个微图案化的电阻温度计置于热电热流计下方，该热流计类似于位于人体生物膜中的热感受器。通过在传感器系统内调节温度计温度并精确推断热流计两端产生的塞贝克电压的零热流点来探测物体温度。在这个零热流点，无论热流计与物体界面处形成的接触电阻如何，物体和温度计的温度都彼此一致。一项实验研究表明，我们的传感器在广泛的接触电阻值范围内，在约0.5 K的精度内显示出优异的测量精度。如果与柔性设备相结合，我们的工作为热触觉、医疗设备和机器人技术中的高灵敏度触觉热传感开辟了新途径。
