Thermal rendering based on thermal diffusion equation

Actuator arrays that consist of a planar arrangement of actuators are widely used for transportation of objects or shaping a rough surface by controlling the actuators cooperatively. In particular, thermal displays that consist of multiple heat sources spread over a surface have been developed for many years. Generally, the expression ability is determined by the number of actuators in actuator arrays, and accordingly, thermal displays require many heat sources to ensure a high spatial resolution of temperature distribution. However, the number of usable heat sources is limited because of mechanical issues. In order to solve this problem, a control method that employs a model derived from a thermal diffusion equation and is used between two heat sources, is proposed in this paper. By using the proposed method, any selected point of the heat conduction can be expressed using only one heat source. Therefore, infinite number of nodes of propagation can be reproduced by selecting a desired node. The method is expected to extend the technology for controlling multiple actuators or heat sources on a surface.