Experimental investigation in inverse heat conduction problem

This article provides experimental data evaluating the applicability of a Kalman filter in quantifying inverse heat conduction. A series of experiments was conducted using a copper plate; (heat conductive medium) attached to a heater, thermocouple (temperature sensor), thermal flux meter, and signal/data acquisition system. Actual temperature measurements were made using this setup; then the intensity of thermal flux was predicted using a Kalman filter with the state variables estimation method. The predicted thermal flux values thus obtained were compared with the actual readings measured by the thermal flux: meter. Finally, temperatures were predicted numerically by solving direct heat conduction problems using the predicted thermal flux as the boundary condition. The predicted temperature values thus obtained were then compared with the temperature readings from the thermocouple. A high degree of correlation between predicted and measured values is shown for bath temperature and thermal flux.