The present disclosure includes a sensor element for registering temperature of an object, which includes: a substrate, wherein the substrate includes a platform face, which defines a first plane; a temperature detector, which is applied on a first temperature plane on the substrate and which is embodied to register the temperature of the object, wherein the first temperature plane lies in the first plane or essentially in parallel with the first plane; at least one sensor applied on a first subregion of the substrate for determining a temperature difference within the first subregion; and a passivation, which is applied on the substrate and which covers the substrate, the temperature detector and the sensor for determining the temperature difference, as well as residing in a method for assessing measurement quality of a sensor element of the present disclosure.

An apparatus for estimating body temperature includes a sensor including a first sensor board; an object contact surface provided below the first sensor board; a thermally conductive material provided on an upper end of the first sensor board; a second sensor board provided on an upper end of the thermally conductive material; at least one first temperature sensor provided on the first sensor board and being configured to measure a surface temperature of the object; and at least one second temperature sensor provided on the second sensor board and being configured to measure a surface temperature of the thermally conductive material; and a processor configured to: measure a heat flux based on the surface temperature of the object and the surface temperature of the thermally conductive material; and estimate core temperature based on the measured heat flux and the surface temperature of the object.

An embodiment is a temperature measuring device including a sensor that measures the temperature of a skin surface of a living body and a heat flux on the skin surface, a time constant calculation unit that calculates a time constant of changes in the temperature over time on the basis of the measurement result of the temperature, a thermal resistance derivation unit that derives the thermal resistance of the living body on the basis of the time constant, and a temperature calculation unit that calculates the internal temperature of the living body on the basis of the temperature of the skin surface and the heat flux on the skin surface measured by the sensor and the thermal resistance derived by the thermal resistance derivation unit.

Devices and methods are provided for determining the temperature of an object. Such devices and methods incorporate first and second thermally conductive members, with a heating member associated with the first thermally conductive member. The second thermally conductive member is positionable adjacent to the object. The heating member is heated to a known temperature and a probe member is alternately brought into contact with the first and second thermally conductive members. When the probe member is in contact with one of the thermally conductive members, it will send an input to the controller. The controller compares the inputs to each other and, if they are not substantially equal, changes the temperature of the heating member, and the probe member is again alternately brought into contact with the thermally conductive members. When the inputs are substantially equal, the controller generates an output based on the temperature of the heating member.

The invention relates to heat flow measurements. In particular, the invention relates to a surface adapter (10A, 10B, 100) for a heat flow measurement device, a device comprising such adapter (10A, 10B, 100) and a method of measuring heat flow. The adapter is comprises a rim (12) positionable around a measurement head (20) of a heat flux measurement device, the rim (12) being at least partly made of resilient material capable of adapting in shape to uneven surfaces for thermally insulating the measurement head (20) from its surroundings. The invention allows for more accurate thermal flow measurements.

The invention describes a method of predicting a stabilization temperature (T.sub.∞) of a subject (8) with a heat-flow sensor (1) comprising a plurality of thermistors (S1, S2, S1A, S2A, S1B, S2B), which method comprises the steps of expressing the temperature development of the heat-flow sensor (1) as a stretched exponential equation characterized by a time constant (τ) and a sensor characteristic scalar value (m); receiving temperature measurement values (T1, T2, T3, T4) collected by the thermistors (S1, S2, S1A, S2A, S1B, S2B); estimating the time constant (τ) on the basis of the temperature measurement values (T1, T2, T3, T4); and deducing the future stabilization temperature (T.sub.∞) on the basis of the estimated time constant (τ). The invention further describes heat-flow sensor (1) and a temperature sensing arrangement (9).

The present disclosure concerns a core body temperature sensor for measuring the core body temperature of a body in a non-invasive way via applying the core body temperature sensor to a surface of the bod. The core body temperature sensor comprises: at least a first thermistor pair of opposing thermistors across a first thermal insulator and a second thermistor pair, adjacent to the first thermistor pair, of opposing thermistors across a second thermal insulator, and a means to measure blood perfusion. The core body temperature sensor is an essential planar sandwich structure formed of the at least first and second thermistor pairs across the respective first and second thermal insulators sandwiched between opposing carriers. The present disclosure further concerns a method for determining a core body temperature and a method for the manufacturing of a core body temperature sensor.

The invention relates to a sensor unit (2) for determining the core body temperature by means of measured values which can be determined outside the body on a surface, comprising at least one heat flow sensor (20, 20′), and at least one temperature sensor (21, 21′), which can be easily compactly produced and installed and allows optimized determination of the core body temperature. This is achieved in that the sensor unit (2) comprises at least one monolithic heat flow sensor (20, 20′) in the form of a sandwich-like structure consisting of multiple layers of different materials and at least one temperature sensor (21, 2′), which are soldered onto a circuit board (22) at a distance from one another or onto the circuit board (22) at the same height along a longitudinal direction of the circuit board (22), wherein the sensors (20, 21) are connected to an analog-to-digital convener (25) and a microcontroller (26) via wires or strip conductors, the electronic components (20, 21, 25, 26) can be connected to the electronics of a portable computer system by means of connecting wires (3), and the sensor unit (2) or the circuit board (22) with electronic components (20, 21, 25, 26) arranged thereon is at least partially enclosed by a sensor unit sleeve (28) in the transverse direction of the circuit board (22).

In one embodiment, a temperature sensor system includes a sensor assembly with a temperature sensing portion configured to generate a first signal based upon a temperature of body proximate a surface portion of the temperature sensing portion, and a thermoelectric generator portion configured to receive heat flow from the body through the temperature sensing portion and to generate a second signal based upon the heat flow. A control unit is operably connected to the sensor assembly and a memory and configured to execute program instructions stored in the memory to calculate and output a corrected temperature based upon the first signal, the second signal, and at least one correction factor stored in the memory. The at least one correcting factor is determined based upon at least one of a thermal conductivity of the sensor assembly, a size of the sensor assembly, and an aspect ratio of the sensor assembly.

A core body temperature monitoring apparatus placed superdermally over a user's skin, including a first temperature sensor, a second temperature sensor, a thermal insulation layer positioned intermediate the first and second temperature sensor and a heater for heating the apparatus and a subdermal tissue region underlying the user's skin. The subdermal tissue region is configured with variable thermal tissue parameters. A controller includes a switch configured for alternating between a calibration mode, wherein the heater is activated for calculating an instantaneous thermal tissue parameter, and a measurement mode, wherein the heater is inactive and the core body temperature is determined, based on the calculated instantaneous thermal tissue parameter.