A temperature emulator may include a stack assembly having a pair of end plates positioned at an uppermost and lowermost location of the stack assembly, a plurality of heat sink plates disposed between the pair of end plates, each of the heat sink plates having a plurality of heat sink cutouts, a plurality of shim plates separating adjacent pairs of the end plates and the heat sink plates, each of the shim plates having a shim cutout, an open cavity formed by a plurality of adjacent heat sink cutouts and shim cutouts, thermal insulation disposed within the cavity, and at least one temperature sensor coupled to at least one of the plurality of heat sink plates.