Thermal Shock Chambers used for Testing Product Reliability
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Thermal Shock Chambers are typically used to perform environmental stress screening of electronic components, aerospace parts or any other product that needs this type of test.
An integral part of the Thermal Shock Chamber are the test zones. Normally these will be one hot zone and one cold zone. A basket which contains the test specimen is moved from one zone to the other exposing the specimen to a rapid change in temperature. The system used to transport the test basket is normally and electric or pneumatic in nature.
Thermal Shock Chambers are configured with two or three zones. If the chamber has a third zone, then this zone will be an ambient zone (same temperature as ambient since it is exposed to the ambient conditions around the chamber). Sometimes Thermal Shock Chambers are also configured to be of a double capacity type. If a double capacity style, then there will be two test baskets. As one of the baskets move into the hot chamber, the other basket moves into the cold chamber. This doubles up the capacity of the thermal shock chamber and therefore referred to as being a double capacity type.
The cold zone of a Thermal Shock Chamber can be cooled using mechanical refrigeration compressors or gasses such as LN2 or CO2. Sometimes a combination of mechanical refrigeration and gas is used for cooling. A typical temperature range for a thermal shock chamber is -70C to +170C. The hot zone is heated using electric 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 most Thermal Shock Chambers will include 5HP Compressors or above, they will need to be water cooled or remote air cooled. If the compressors are not large enough to provide adequate cooling, then LN2 or CO2 boost can be added - Keep in mind though that the cost of using LN2 or CO2 can accumulate over time and become expensive.
Typical manufacturers of Thermal Shock Chambers are Tenney, CSZ, Thermotron, Espec, Blue M, Delta Design, Ransco, Despatch and Associated Environmental. They are available in many different sizes and configurations.
Article Source: Articlelogy.com
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