Heater integrated sensor system

This paper presents a method for sensing the temperature of a resistive heating element, without the use of standard temperature sensors (i.e. thermocouples, platinum RTDs or thermistors). In this system, the heating element forms an integral part of the sensor itself, or a heater integrated sensor system. This paper presents some applications, where due to physical or environmental considerations, use of more conventional thermal sensors is prohibited. The technology described also has the ability to compliment conventional sensors to provide additional thermal state information. This is particularly true when implemented with a processor-based control system, to provide more sophisticated thermal control and power management. Another significant use is the ability to combine heater information with conventionally sensed information to improve convergence of plant model identification in continuously tuned or adaptive control systems