The application of sensor design techniques form earlier work in heat conduction calorimeters to scanning calorimeter design has resulted in a scanning calorimeter which has a 10-fold increase in its effective sensitivity. Unfortunately, the high temperature scanning associated with this calorimeter has produced unexplained and random failures in the thermopiles which create an unacceptable increase in the baseline noise. Since these sensors are manufactured for use as heat pumps (Peltier mode of operation) and not sensors (Seebeck mode of operation), the manufacturers can supply no information on expected noise performance. We have therefore initiated a program to evaluate the noise and failure modes of these devices from different manufacturers. In the process of evaluating these devices, we will also measure their Seebeck sensitivity as an aid in matching the channel sensitivities in the scanning calorimeter.
