Patent ID: 7168851

Claim:
An apparatus for measuring heat dissipation of a target heating element, comprising: a reference heating element for emitting heat; a control unit; a pair of temperature measuring devices for measuring representative temperatures of the target and the reference heating elements and transmitting to the control unit signals indicating the representative temperatures; a first vessel for accommodating the target heating element; a second vessel for accommodating the reference heating element; a first duct connected to the first vessel; a second duct connected to the second vessel; and a flow generator for drawing heat carrying fluids in the first and the second vessels through the first and the second ducts at a same rate, wherein the reference heating element has an outer configuration and sizes substantially identical to those of the target heating element, and wherein the control unit controls the reference heating element such that the representative temperature of the reference heating element becomes substantially identical to that of the target heating element, wherein the reference heating element is provided with an electrical heater controlled by the control unit, wherein the control unit compares the representative temperatures of the target and the reference heating elements and calculates heating value of the reference heating element by using a power supplied to the electrical heater when the representative temperatures are substantially equal to each other, and wherein the temperature measuring devices are installed at substantially corresponding locations in the first and the second ducts, respectively, and measures temperatures of the heat carrying fluids in the first and the second duct as the representative temperatures, and wherein the first and the second vessels are substantially identical to each other in geometry, and the first and the second duct are substantially identical to each other in geometry.