A vapor pressure thermometer for use in muscle microcalorimetry

Author

Johnston, Callum M. ; Nielsen, Poul M F ; Hunter, Ian W. ; Taberner, Andrew J.

Author_Institution

Auckland Bioengineering Institute at The University of Auckland

fYear

2011

fDate

Aug. 30 2011-Sept. 3 2011

Firstpage

520

Lastpage

523

Abstract

Measurement of the energy consumption of isolated cardiac trabeculae requires highly sensitive temperature sensors. In this paper we describe and characterize an initial prototype of a vapor pressure thermometer being designed and built for application to muscle microcalorimetry. The device exploits the change in vapor pressure with temperature of a solvent and the change in pressure with volume of a gas. The sensor achieves a sensitivity of 86 μm/K and a resolution of 3.6 μK. Predictions from a finite element model of the expected displacement compare favorably with the tests performed.

Keywords

Electron tubes; Finite element methods; Heating; Muscles; Temperature measurement; Temperature sensors; Calorimetry; Computer Simulation; Computer-Aided Design; Equipment Design; Equipment Failure Analysis; Heart; Models, Cardiovascular; Myocardial Contraction; Pilot Projects; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Thermometers; Transducers; Vapor Pressure;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBC, 2011 Annual International Conference of the IEEE

Conference_Location

Boston, MA

ISSN

1557-170X

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-4121-1

Electronic_ISBN

1557-170X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IEMBS.2011.6090094

Filename

6090094