Calorimetric sensor to measure local calorific dissipations in the human body

Abstract

A calorimetric sensor for medical application has been developed in order to measure surface and localized calorific dissipations in the human body. The instrument tries to evaluate the calorific power that is transmitted by conduction, through a thermopile, between the human body and a thermostat at a constant temperature. The detection area of the prototype is 36 cm2 and the sensor resolution is 50 mW. From the equations of heat transport by conduction, we propose a model based on the sensor decomposition in different domains connected to each other. The model is validated experimentally. The sensor operation domain is indicated and some practical applications to the human body are shown.