Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Thermal Shock Chambers used in Test Laboratories

By Peter Brown

There is always a desire to improve the quality of a product and this is where a Thermal Shock Chamber can play an important roll. Aerospace and electronic assemblies need to be reliable to withstand the environmental conditions they may encounter in the real world. Even many consumer items such as personal computers and cell phone are tested using a Thermal Shock Chamber.

These type of chamber usually have two zones " A hot zone and a cold zone. The test item is placed in a basket which is moved between the two zones using a transfer system operated by an electric motor or pneumatics (compressed air will be required for this).

Most Thermal Shock Chamber you find will be of a "single capacity" type which means there is one hot zone and one cold zone (sometimes an ambient zone is also provided). The test basket containing the test specimen is transferred between the zones which exposes specimen to extreme temperature changes in a very short time.

Mechancial refrigeration compressors are typically used to provide cooling for Thermal Shock Chambers. However, LN2 or CO2 can also be used, but this can become costly over time. Both gas cooled and mechanically refrigerated chambers usually have a temperature range of -70C to +170C. The hot zone is heated using electrical heating elements.

The compressors used in Thermal Shock Chambers need to be large enough to ensure that the product being tested recovers in a given time once it is transferred from the hot zone to the cold zone. The heating elements for the hot zone also need to be large enough to ensure that the product temperature recovers in a given time when it is moved from the cold zone to the hot zone. For example, a small thermal shock chamber with a test basket about 10x10x10 could have two 5hp compressors in a cascade configuration to accomplish this. Obviously there will be a limit to the size of the test load which can be tested using these size compressors.

Since the size of the compressors used for most Thermal Shock Chambers tend to be on the large side, they are typically water cooled or remote air cooled. Should the compressors on their own not be large enough to cool the cold zone, LN2 or CO2 Boost can be added. However, using LN2 or CO2 can become expensive over time if the chamber is used often and therefore mechanical refrigeration is normally preferred. If LN2 or CO2 use is not an issue, then one could purchase a chamber that only uses these gasses and no mechanical refrigeration at all.

Well known brands of Thermal Shock Chambers are Blue M, Thermotron, Ransco, Delta Design, Espec, Envirotronics and Associated Environmental. - 16492

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