Linear and non-linear thermal system identification based on the integral of non-integer order — Application to solve inverse heat conduction linear and non-linear problems

Abstract

The identification of thermal systems is an approach particularly well suited to solve inverse heat conduction problems (IHCP) in the case of complex systems where many parameters are unknown and where even the sensors must be modeled in order to obtain accurate results. In this paper, we propose significant advances in the formulation of the mathematical model structure by basing it exclusively on the non-integer order integration operator. We show that this approach is consistent with the heat diffusion process and that it allows to get rid of the step of pre-filtering the experimental signals to the sensors which was necessary when using the derivation operator. Demonstrations are made on the simulated configurations through simple analytical solutions and also a complex real configuration. I generalize the use of the non-integer integration operator in the treatment of non-linear heat conduction problems based on the Volterra series decomposition. We show in particular that the use of a generalized non-integer transfer function gives encouraging and generalizable results for a large class of related problems.