Environmental testing might sound easy until you try and replicate an environment consistently. "Test it in the heat," isn't a proper engineering requirement.
How hot?
For how long?
What humidity level?
How fast does the temperature need to ramp up?
Should the product cycle between condition?
What sort of measurement information needs to be collected?
These questions are why there are highly specialized environmental test chambers designed specifically for testing transport products.
- The Chamber Controls the Environmental Variables
A climatic test chamber creates an environment under which an engineer can create repeatable temperature and humidity conditions. Rather than waiting for favorable weather outside, a test can be programmed, then repeated by the test team. Relevant parameters for testing transportation-related products might include: Temperature, Relative humidity, Temperature ramp up rate, Duration of exposure, Test cycle sequencing, (The sequence profile of all the parameters listed above), The right profile to use is based on your product and what its function is.
- Test Chamber Temperature Ranges Vary
Each product will have unique exposure requirements to different climates. For automotive, battery systems, aviation, or rail, a different temperature environment may be necessary. The environmental testing chambers outlined on the Enviro Test Transport website range from -70 C to +180 C.
These broad ranges allow test engineers to program a specific test that mimics the temperature exposure the product is expected to encounter while in operation or in transport.
Even still, a chamber's capability range alone is not the key deciding factor in which test is best; the actual test should reflect the operating and environmental conditions the component will encounter.
- Add Humidity to Your Profile
Not all environmental challenges can be tested with temperature only. Humidity level can vary greatly depending on location. The climate testing systems outlined on the target page range from 10% to 98% RH, allowing engineers to create many controlled combination profiles between two separate variables to be independently considered.
- Use Thermal Cycling for Changing Climates
Even if a product may operate in a constant high temperature for the length of its lifespan, a product is also at risk to encounter many more temperature variations that need to be tested. Testing engineers can program thermal cycling in the climatic chambers for transportation to include multiple controlled ramp ups and downs in temperature. This allows a test to replicate conditions a product encounters when moving between extreme temperature points time and time again, not just an extreme temperature.
- Test Data Is Important
A test without useful and interpretable data has no value for its users. Climate test systems available today offer real-time measurements, logging, and test-cycle control. The Enviro Test Transport system uses its proprietary "software for environmental test."
The software provides remote viewing and control of the environmental system, data logs in real time, provides programmable cycle setups and connects your physical test via your cloud-based data portal, or via any historian in real time.
With these capabilities, engineers are able to access not only physical test results but digital management systems linked to the physical world test.
- Integrations Can Provide More Value
An individual chamber test environment won't exist on its own within your laboratory or manufacturing environment. The system on Enviro Test Transport's page is compatible with existing industrial systems like PLCs and SCADA; it even connects to laboratory management systems (LIMS). If your environmental test is a part of an engineering project, integrations will provide value. They create a connection from environmental data, scheduling, automation to further documentation for overall testing efforts.
- Match to the Specific Transport Industry Needs
While many factors are general for temperature and humidity exposure, no single profile will work for all transport needs. The Enviro Test Transport website further breaks down capabilities specific to the transportation industries listed below: automotive electronic systems & batteries; avionics; rail; heavy-duty vehicles; marine. Each of these industries can have a number of different criteria which needs to be taken into account. Test planning should begin with the product and operating conditions first; only then should the appropriate environmental chamber be considered.
- Environmental Standards Provide Guidance
Testing in a controlled environment also makes it easy to test to specific standards your product is regulated to. The Enviro Test Transport resources page offers information on many industry-specific testing standards such as: SAE J1455; MIL-STD-810H; ASTM D5729; IEC 60068-2; ISO 16750; CSA C22.2; UL 508A. Engineers should consult applicable standards for their specific product/project for complete and accurate testing procedures.
In Summary; Practical Test Considerations
A well-designed environmental test is best represented as an overall testing process: Requirement > Environmental condition > Test profile > Measurement > Data > Engineering Decision. The chamber is responsible for controlling the environmental conditions for your test. Overall, the value you can extract from environmental test results will heavily depend on the system of planning, conducting and measurement you establish.
Engineers looking into these systems and wanting an overview on the hardware aspects of environmental simulation may also be interested in the chambers' range of capabilities, monitoring capabilities, integration strengths, and transportation application examples outlined on the Enviro Test Transport's website.
In the end, a climatic test chamber is more than just putting a device into a heated box; it is an opportunity for a controlled repeatable experiment where data provides a meaningful answer to its end user. For more info visit: https://envirotesttransport.com/
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