How to Selecting an Environmental Test Chamber
Fiona , KOMEG Technology Industrial Co.,Ltd.
Get a high quality test chamber with competitive price
Doing environmental simulation test is the most effective manner to detect premature failures of products in the production phase. A good test chamber can simulate various conditions to ensure products quality and reliability. When you select an environmental chamber, which aspects will reference before making the decision?
Price, quality, capabilities, reliability, and service after the sale all can affect your purchase, choose a favorable chamber you can benefit for the whole unit life. It can save your money and worries for a long time run. The following aspects for reference:
Your application is primarily going to determine the type of chamber you need. What is being tested? What’s the size of chamber? What the temperature range you need? Which models are you choose: air cooled or water cooled? These are just a few of the necessary questions that must be answered before purchasing a test chamber.
Chamber Types and Sizes
Temperature and humidity test chambers
Available in a variety of sizes and configurations,
Standard Test space capacity in litres:
36 / 64 / 150 / 225 / 408 / 800 / 1000/ 1500
Temperature range:
-20 °C / +150 °C
-40 °C / +150 °C
-70 °C / +150 °C
Humidity range:
20%RH to 98%RH, 5%RH to 98%RH
Walk-In Chambers
Walk-In Chambers are available in a variety of models and sizes to meet virtually any requirement and/or test application. These chambers are big enough used for testing large size products.
There are two major types of walk-in chambers: modular and welded.
Modular walk-ins are constructed from pre-formed panels with urethane foam insulation, The temperature and humidity range must be limited due to this construction. Normally, the maximum high temperature for modular walk-ins is below 100 C.
Welded (Solid) walk-In chambers are fully welded chambers. Welded walk-ins are constructed chambers. The internal chamber is welded together to withstand more extreme temperature and humidity ranges. Due to the additional labor to construct this type of chamber, it is much more expensive than a modular walk-in.
Thermal Shock Chambers
Thermal shock test chamber is requisite testing equipment in metal, plastic, rubber, electronics and other industries. It is used for testing the material structure or composite material’s tolerance degree when exposed instantly in extremely high temperature and extremely low temperature environment continuously, so that whose chemical or physical damage due to thermal expansion and contraction can be detected in shortest time.
KOMEG thermal shock chambers meet the demands of today's environmental stress screening with proven performance in installations around the world. Our direct transfer method between hot and cold is an economical method to achieve rapid part temperature change for ESS or thermal shock.
Thermal shock chambers come in many different sizes and configurations. These chambers have basket chamber can move the product from one temperature chamber to another within 10 seconds (moving from a high temperature to a low temperature quickly).
3 zone thermal shock test chamber
Such chambers heretofore known include one comprising a test area for the test sample, a high-temperature air conditioning unit having gas outlet and intake adapted to communicate with the test area, an outside air supplying unit having air outlet and inlet adapted to communicate with the test area, and a low-temperature air conditioning unit having gas outlet and intake adapted to communicate with the test area. The thermal shock chamber of this type is provided with three dampers, i.e., one for opening or closing the gas outlet and intake of the high-temperature air conditioning unit, another for the air outlet and inlet of the outside air supplying unit, and another for the gas outlet and intake of the low-temperature air conditioning unit.
Temperature Change Rate
The requirements for temperature change rates continue to get faster and faster. It is common to see a 10 C, 15 C, or 20 C/min change rate specified. By incorporating faster change rates, total test time can be reduced. Products also can be thermally stressed at faster change rates to identify reliability problems. However, be careful assuming the part temperature is changing at the same rate as the air.
Every chamber manufacturer has different airflow volumes inside their chambers. The airflow must have enough volume to support the refrigeration system. The typical air velocity in most reach-in chambers is approximately 0.5m/s through the work space. This velocity works well for steady-state and temperature-cycling testing. However, the part temperature will lag behind the air temperature with this airflow.
Construction
Chamber construction is a critical area that needs to be evaluated when making a purchase. Most chambers have painted exteriors and stainless steel liners. It is easy to believe they are all built the same way. However, when you evaluate the details, you will see differences that can greatly affect the long-term reliability of the chamber.
Air-Cooled or Water-Cooled Chamber
The refrigeration system removes heat from the product and the air that lowers the temperature in the chamber. The heat is moved through the refrigeration system and output at the condenser. There are primarily two choices when it comes to condensers: air cooled or water cooled. Each one has its positives and negatives.
Most small chambers come standard as air cooled. The only utility connection required is power. This is very convenient for moving a chamber from one area to another.
Some items, however, need to be considered with air-cooled units. First is the overall heat that is introduced into the room where the chamber is located since most chambers are in air-conditioned areas.
If the chamber is located in a dirty environment, the condenser can become clogged very quickly. Restricted airflow will cause the refrigeration system to run at high pressure, tripping the high-pressure safety. If this environment is the destination for a test chamber, a remote air-cooled condenser or water-cooled should be considered. The air-cooled condenser is removed from the chamber and placed in another location, normally outdoors.
On the surface, this sounds like the best option since the heat and noise are moved outdoors. However, this type of system is more complicated and expensive to install for several reasons. Refrigeration piping must be sized and installed properly for the application, penetrations through the building roof or wall must be done by qualified personnel, a concrete pad or proper mounting on the roof for the remote air-cooled condenser must be installed, and the roof must be able to support the weight of the remote air-cooled condenser.
If your facility has process water pumped throughout the building and is routed to a cooling tower/dry cooler, a water-cooled chamber may be used. A water-cooled unit is easy to install and maintain. Be sure to ask your chamber supplier for the water-flow and pressure requirements for the unit.
Summary
It is critical that you provide all the information for your test requirements to your test-chamber supplier. This will ensure the best chamber for your application. Other items to keep in mind are the construction methods used by your supplier, the location of the chamber, and supplier service after the sale.
KOMEG is supply world class environmental temperature solutions to it's customer for 27 years. Located in Songshan lake, Dongguan, China, with over 6000 square meters of manufacturing space.
KOMEG Industrial simulates environments such as high/low temperature extremes, humidity conditions, altitude conditions used for R&D Testing, product reliability testing and accelerated aging of products. Such as temperature humidity test chamber, rapid temperature change rate test chamber, thermal shock test chamber, walk in climatic chamber, altitude test chamber and so on.
FOR MORE INFORMATION fiona@komegtech.com
Contact Person: Ms. KOMEG
Tel: +86-13143135835
Fax: 86-769-83396675