Estimating the specific heat capacity and heating of electronic sensors and devices

Most sensors have three functional parts: the sensor part, signal conditioning part and interface part (Fig. 1). The sensor part senses the physical phenomena and transforms it typically into electric form. The signal condition part amplifies, linearizes and scales the electric signal. The interface part can be a simple mechanical connector, (field) bus adapter or in a wireless sensor, a radio module. Signal conditioning and interface parts are in most cases implemented by electronics.