Continuous flow calorimeter systems and related methods

A method for determining specific heat capacity of fluids, comprising:

• a) injecting a reference fluid having a known specific heat capacity into at least one channel extending along a reference substrate and a sample fluid having an unknown specific heat capacity into at least one channel extending along a sample substrate;
• b) establishing a temperature gradient along the at least one channel of each substrate;
• c) measuring a temperature differential between a reference location along the temperature gradient of the reference substrate and a corresponding sample location along the temperature gradient of the sample substrate, the temperature differential being measured for a stagnant condition in which the reference and sample fluids are stagnant in respective channels to define a baseline temperature differential, and for each of a plurality of flowrate ratios, each flowrate ratio defined by a different sample flowrate at which the sample fluid flows through the at least one channel of the sample substrate relative to a constant reference flowrate at which the reference fluid flows through the at least one channel of the reference substrate;
• and
• d) based on the measuring in (c), determining a thermally-balanced flowrate ratio of the sample flowrate relative to the reference flowrate at which the temperature differential corresponds to the baseline temperature differential, and evaluating the unknown specific heat capacity based on the thermally-balanced flowrate ratio.