Articles

[Manufacturing] - Environmental test chamber overview (part 1)

April 19, 2022

1. What is an Environmental Test Chamber?

The purpose of the environmental test chamber is to test the effects of various climatic, physical, and other special conditions on the product. They are designed to create the environments that a product may encounter during using. Researchers rely on them to devise controllable conditions, such as humidity, temperature differentials, and high or low pressure, to experiment and test the features of product.

Environmental impact testing to assure manufacturing units of the quality of their products. The samples must undergo different tests to measure their reliability and performance. The results can determine if a product is likely to corrode and rust or if it produces some form of emissions.

2. Benefits of Environmental Test Chamber

Environmental test chambers have become commonplace in modern manufacturing. It provides producers with data to ensure that the products they bring to market meet consumer needs. In space exploration, environmental pollution and air travel, test chambers provide valuable data for the protection of people and the environment. Here are some other benefits.

2.1. Design validation

Guarantees that a product will operate in a normal environment. It is specification driven and can be completed in the product design R&D phase to create a robust product.

2.2. Product authentication

Testing ensures that the product meets the requirements, specifications and regulations for which it is intended.

2.3. Product life cycle testing

The product is placed under real world conditions to predict its lifespan.

2.4. Test equipment with actual climate

The product may be manufactured to suit the conditions of the production environment but not to climatic conditions outside of those conditions. The convenience of test chambers makes it possible to create all kinds of environments in any location in the world.

2.5. Stability

Modern consumers demand products with durability and longevity. To prevent product defects and recalls, testing laboratories can put a product through the harshest conditions to ensure that it will last a long time.

2.6. Safety

The worst-case scenario for any manufacturer is to find out that their product is unsafe and dangerous. Such occurrences can be a public relations nightmare. By using a pre-production test chamber, safety standard violations can be detected and prevented at an early stage of product development.

3. How does the Environmental Test Chamber work?

To create a wide range of conditions, the test chambers use heaters and refrigeration systems to raise or lower the temperature. Humidity is created by a steam generator to add or remove moisture. An air dryer can be added to reduce the humidity range. The brine medium is created with a salt spray solution that is forced into the chamber from a compressed air tank.

The stable test chambers maintain the same conditions for a long time. They have precise temperature controls to ensure the accuracy of the final results.

Thermal chambers cycle through preset temperatures to test an item at a number of different temperatures. The rotation process eliminates the need for the operator to adjust and change the temperature and prevents any uncertainty in the test results. Since the rate of change is so important, thermal cycling chambers provide researchers with the ability to design temperature gradients.

A key feature for environmental test chambers is the range of temperatures it can generate. Most chambers range in temperature from -80°C or -112°F to +300°C or +672°F. Accuracy in temperature settings is important and should approximate the desired test temperature

4. Applications of environmental test chamber

Environmental testing laboratories test products for a wide variety of industries including automotive, electronics, medical, construction, cosmetics and many more. They are essential to the food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries because these industries are required to comply with FDA regulations.

In microbiology and biology, chambers allow researchers to monitor the effects of humidity, light, heat, and other conditions on plants, insects, bacteria, and other microorganisms. . Plant cells, tissues, organs, and growth can be examined closely for climate effects.

Aerospace uses chambers to test products in a thermal vacuum and facilitate approximation to outer space. This allows manufacturers and scientists to know if the instruments can withstand extreme pressure and environments. An important part of aerospace testing are astronaut support systems such as oxygen delivery. The cryogenic unit can test the effects of extreme low pressure and high altitude.

The auto industry examines the effects of hot roads and overexposure of cars to the sun. They use environmental chambers to generate realistic conditions of humidity, wind speed, and temperature to test cars under normal and extreme conditions.

An important factor for food products is their shelf life. Test chambers can accelerate shelf life conditions by simulating the rate of deterioration and change in stability commonly found under storage conditions. Chemical, microbiological and physical changes were measured over the time periods until the product was degraded. Test chambers can determine food safety and storage conditions to eliminate problems in product development and packaging viability.