Modeling of a multiple source heating plate

Heating plates describe the transfer of heat from actuators to a target object. In other words, they separate the heat sources and heated object and can be further used to apply a specific heat distribution on this object. Therefore, an exact description of their thermal dynamics and an efficient coordination of their actuators is necessary to achieve a desired time-dependent temperature profile accurately. In this contribution, the thermal dynamics of a multiple source heating plate is modeled as a quasi-linear heat equation and the configuration of the spatially distributed actuators and sensors are discussed. Furthermore, the distributed parameter system is approximated using a Finite Volume scheme, and the influence of the actuators' spatial characterization on the plate's thermal dynamics is studied with the resulting high-dimensional system.