[Music]
hey guys it's your favorite reliability
test guy and I'm here with another
fun-filled video this curry video is on
environmental test equipment I hope you
enjoyed this video and if you do don't
forget to hit that like button and
subscribe to my channel okay let's get
started
in this video I will perform an
introduction to environmental test
equipment again my name is Tom rish and
if you like this video don't forget to
hit that like button and subscribe to my
channel and if you don't go ahead and go
back to your cat videos in your blooper
videos while the rest of us learn about
the really cool field of reliability and
validation testing thank you for your
support in this video we will discuss
definitions what is a temperature test
chamber what is a temperature humidity
chamber
what is a altitude chamber what is a
vibration and shock test system what are
the different types of ingress
protection test equipment what are the
types of corrosion and the agent test
equipment and what is combined
environment test equipment below is a
high-level summary that captures the
process from requirements to test
reporting and test results in this video
we will cover the test execution step or
a subset of the test execution step test
equipment let's go ahead and define
environmental testing what is
environmental testing environmental
testing not to be confused with testing
for air water and land contamination is
a branch of the reliability and
validation and test engineering fields
that simulates the harsh environments
and stresses that a product or system
will endure while in use by the end
customer however environmental testing
can simulate the handling storage and
shipping environments of a product or
system as it travels to a retailer or an
end news
or a storage facility some types of
environmental tests include climatic
testin which includes weather conditions
and sunlight exposure gases salts and
other types of natural and man-made
environmental stresses and elements the
second type of environmental test is
dynamic testing which includes field and
shipping vibration shock drop and
compression and tension loads and
stresses you will often hear me break up
dynamic or mechanical testing into a
separate category from environmental
testing even though these mechanical or
dynamic tests are often classified under
environmental testing the reason for
this is that some vibrations or are
generated internally by the product or
system itself such as with engines
motors and other moving subsystems that
generate vibratory motion internally
within the system or product itself
however a washboard Road surface that a
vehicle would travel over after a
brainstorm or air turbulence that an
aircraft would encounter would
technically fall under environmental
stresses or excitations another type is
MI or electromagnetic interference
testing which is also a type of
environmental testing as it tests for
susceptibility of electronics to
electromagnetic interference in the
radio frequency spectrum in this video
we will cover the fundamental test
equipment for climatic and dynamic tests
as EMI tested and test equipment require
their own independent video and
discussions if you would like to see me
doing video on emi testing and emi test
equipment please let me know in the
comments below
additionally the examples of test
equipment in the following slides may
not represent the exact equipment you
need for your product and there may be
as they say different ways to skin a cat
so if you need help select an equipment
for a specific requirement or product
feel free to comment below or reach out
to me in the links in the description
section
what is a temperature test chamber a
test temperature test chamber simulates
real-world temperature extremes or in
some cases temperature extremes that are
out of this world as in with space
vehicle or satellite testing there are
many different types of temperature
tests that can be performed using both
mechanical or liquid gas coolant and
heating systems as at the bottom
left-hand side of the screen you can see
an example of a reach-in temperature
test chamber what is meant by reaching
is that you literally reach into the
chamber to place or install and remove
your product from the temperature test
chamber another variation of a
temperature test chamber is a walk-in
chamber which is once again a literal
term that you can actually walk into the
chamber to install or remove your
product or system so think of a region
as a refrigerator you have in your house
when you go to grab a beer or
ingredients to make a sandwich and a
walk-in chamber would be parallel to go
into the walk-in fridge at a Costco or
Sam's to grab your milk or produce here
are two types of temperature tests the
first graph demonstrates a constant
temperature test which can simulate a
storage test or high temperature
performance tests the second example it
is a temperature cycling test which
simulates the expansion and contraction
stresses that occur throughout the day
as the ambient air temperatures heat and
cool you can get different results by
varying your ramp rate remember faster
rates mean faster thermal stress
accumulation which branches out into
future video topics that we will discuss
an accelerated testing so stay tuned to
my channel for that video a quick note
with temperature tests you will often
hear terms such as operational or non
operational temperature tests what is
meant by this is that the temperature
profile is either rain
the product or system and operating
conditions or with the product powered
off for example a mission temperature
profile would have the your system or
product operating as if it were being
used by a customer under temperature
extremes if you're running a storage
temperature test the system or product
would be powered off and in a non
operational state as it would be as in a
storage in a warehouse or customer
location until it is used what is a
temperature humidity chamber a
temperature humidity chamber simulates
both humid which is humidification and
arid climates which is dehumidification
as you can see the chamber in the bottom
left-hand part of the screen is very
similar in the outward appearance to a
temperature test chamber the key
difference are the components that are
included internally in a temperature
humidity chamber which will have options
such as a steam generator for
humidification and a dehumidification
coil think small evaporator coil circuit
for low humidity conditions in fact many
different temperature test chamber
manufacturers offer a humidification and
dehumidification option for their
temperature chambers so be sure to ask
about these options when getting quotes
for temperature test chambers from a
chamber OEM if you are interested in and
included a humidity option or
dehumidification option I have a wealth
of experience and knowledge working on
the internal components of a temperature
and humidity chambers and can go into
much deeper technical discussion on the
inner workings and troubleshooting of
these systems if you would like to see
me create a video on the technical
operation of a temperature test or
temperature humidity chamber feel free
to ask in the comments below there are
two examples of temperature humidity
tests the first is temperature cycling
with a constant humidity rate and the
second is constant temperature and
constant humidity
there are pitfalls to look out for with
temperature cycling and a constant
humidity which we'll cover in a later
video specifically dedicated to
temperature humidity testing remember
that higher temperatures and humidity
levels produce faster agent and
degradation of materials we will also
discuss the benefits of humidity and
diurnal cycles and their impact on
verifying and validating sealed cavities
and enclosures in future temperature
humidity test videos what is an altitude
chamber an altitude chamber simulates
altitude conditions encountered on
mountaintops aircraft and even space
vehicles on the bottom left-hand side of
the screen is an example of an altitude
chamber notice the appearance is very
similar to a temperature or humidity
chamber however the viewing window
materials and structure and the
Chamber's internal cavity are made with
thicker more rigid materials to
withstand in vacuum environments and
prevent implosion the level of altitude
simulated depends on the vacuum system
used for the chamber rough vacuums will
simulate lower vacuum levels higher
aircraft altitudes require a medium
vacuum using a combination of a rough
and then a four-line vacuum stage pump
and to simulate space environments it
requires a high vacuum environment using
a turbo or cryo pump to expel the
remaining gas molecules from the test
chamber again the size and materials
used to construct an altitude chamber
vary depending on your test and can
range from an aircraft simulation
similar to a chamber in this slide or a
large stainless steel vacuum cylinder or
even a walk-in vacuum cylinder for space
vehicles and satellite testing we will
go into more detail on this in a later
video on altitude testing a couple of
examples of this altitude testing are in
ascent and altitude ho-hold which
simulates an aircraft taking off and
maintaining
altitude high for the flight path or an
extra an extreme example in the other
test example of rapid decompression
event when a aircraft rapidly loses
altitude such as in a nosedive condition
one failure mode example that is tested
for with altitude testing is the Corona
effect no I am NOT talking about the
Corona that you just grabbed out of your
reaching refrigerator I'm referring to
the discharge phenomenon that occurs
when two separate circuits have an arc
an event that occurs in the absence of
air between the two circuits now let's
talk about one of the cornerstones of
dynamic testing world the vibration and
shock test system whoa in the picture to
the left is an example of an
electrodynamic shaker that it has a
similar theory of operation to a giant
loudspeaker you can watch my videos that
are currently out on vibration tests
during application both parts one and
parts two to learn more about electro
dynamic shakers and their application
there is a multitude of different types
of vibration test systems that use
various methods to generate vibration
and shock excitation and each has its
own special use case including hydraulic
pneumatic drop shock towers and impact
shock systems if you would like me to
cover non electro dynamic shaker systems
their technical operation and more
details on their applications comment
below and let me know now if you are
fortunate enough to talk to some of the
old timers in the dynamic test world
they will tell you about a time when a
vibe controller for a vibration test
system was a giant wreck and that you
could only produce sine frequencies by
manually tune in the knobs on signal
generators up and down to produce sine
sweeps
or perform a sign frequency dwell these
same old-timers also had to walk through
ten miles of snow to get to school and
use slide rules to solve advanced
calculus problems fortunately we live in
the modern era that has computers and
signal processing and we are able to
create a multitude of different
vibration and shock signals including
random sign sign on random and random on
random for shock we can perform
classical shock pulses such as half sign
terminal picks off tooth and trapezoidal
and we can also perform shock response
spectrum or SRS and time replication
shock now keep in mind many vibration
controllers today also offer time or
field replication of vibration mission
profiles as well which takes collected
data from a customer or test system out
in the field and produces a vibration
profile that you can replicate on your
vibration test system I discussed the
four types of vibration test listed
above in my two-part series on vibration
theory and application which is
currently out on my channel now and I
will cover shock in more detail in a
later video so what is ingress
protection and what does the equipment
look like for different types of ingress
protection tests you have probably
purchased products with market and lingo
such as ipx7 rated or ip67 rated and so
forth or worked at a company that calls
out ingress protection specs we will go
into detail about ingress protection
testing in a later video but for now the
IP ratings indicate either a resistance
rate in to intrusion of foreign debris
such as dust or from water or moisture
some examples include a range amber
which as the name implies tests products
to determine their
assistance for protection against
rainfall dust chambers which use a
variety of four of mediums such as
Arizona Road dust or a talcum powder to
simulate dusty roads dust storms and
settling dust in a very dusty
environment over a long period of time
now I get to just take a minute here
before we talk about emergent essence
just say wow look at this immersion tank
this is just impressive I've never seen
anything like this I think the opposite
happened in this company as you've heard
the saying shoot the engineers and go
into production
I think the engineers shot the business
unit on this one when this was designed
I've worked at multi-billion dollar
companies that didn't have anything this
impressive before I'm just absolutely
amazed most companies will use big
plastic or metal basins and cylinders to
perform the emergent tests but this one
really makes for a great presentation
example which is why I pulled it out of
Google and showed it to you guys
so enjoy in all of its glory now I'm not
gonna say don't buy this chamber I mean
if you really want to have an impressive
state-of-the-art test lab with equipment
that nobody has ever seen before go
ahead and get this piece of equipment if
money is not an option for you we're not
an issue for you this tank in this
example allows for testing to ipx7 or up
to one meter of immersion in water there
are variations that include immersion in
salt water which can wreak all kinds of
havoc on your products so keep that in
mind if you are designing a product that
has the possibility of getting dunked in
or splashed with salt water another
example of ingress protection test
chambers is a spray chamber which
simulates your IPX
up to your eye px6 type ratings again
there is a multitude of different types
of spray chambers and spray booths and
the pinnacle of ingress water protection
is the IP 9k test which is tested for
with a steam high pressure of water
system
so kudos to you if your product ceiling
can hold up to that test that's a very
impressive product and you put a lot of
work into the design so good work there
so let's talk about corrosion testing
you know that lawn chair you have
outside or charcoal grill that has
turned into a rust bucket
thank you good friend mr. salt for mrs.
oxidation for that mess
also remember that beach ball you left
outside that now that's now bleached out
and crack him the sudden remind to you
not to leave your stuff outside with
that little gem so keep your neighbors
happy and keep yourself happy by keeping
your stuff inside and out of the Sun
some examples of corrosion and aging
test equipment include the salt fog for
salt spray chambers that can produce
corrosion environments such as the fog
off of an ocean or severe corrosion that
happens when you drive your car down an
icy road that was melted away and is by
using road salt compositions the next
example is a mixed flow gas chamber
which simulates corrosion that occurs
when products especially exposed
electrical contacts encounter a mixture
of air pollutants over a period of time
you will know exactly what I'm talking
about here if you live in a city with a
lot of industrial work and combust
combustible byproducts getting dumped
into the air a UV chamber or ultraviolet
chamber simulates exposure to sunlight
and is used to accelerate agent of
materials from UV light you would be
amazed at how difficult it is to not
have fading or bleaching and or crack
and occur with certain colors and
materials so keep that in mind and test
early when you are looking to select
cosmetic or even critical parts such as
seals that will be directly exposed to
ultraviolet light last but not least
let's talk about combined environment
test equipment there are other
variations but three major types of test
equipment I would like to highlight for
this video are
the vibration over temperature chamber
which exposes a product or system to
simultaneous temperature mechanical
stresses a couple of examples of this in
the real world are automotive and
aerospace vehicles and systems which are
exposed to both temperature and
mechanical loads simultaneously
temperature altitude humidity chambers
is another type of confined environment
system temperature altitude humidity
testing has real-world applications and
is also called out as a test in the
eight 10 mil standards these tests can
get really tricky and I have to dedicate
a separate video on altitude temperature
humidity testing if you are interested
so comment below and I will make it so
for the final example another combined
environment test is the UV humidity
chamber one a real-world case of this
example I've got one word for you
Florida where you have all the humidity
and sunshine you could ever ask for I
could speak firsthand on this as I was
born and raised as a former Floridian
the combinations of UV and humidity can
really give your product or materials a
hard time we can discuss this in more
detail in a later video just leave a
comment if you would if you want me to
dedicate a video to UV and humidity
testing let's discuss key takeaways from
this video but before we do I just want
to say one thing this channel is a
democracy and I mentioned a few times
that I will create videos if you leave a
comment so the more comments I have for
a specific topic those topics will
become the priority for discussions in
my future videos so make your voices
heard and comment below so things you
can take away from this video are decide
if you want to invest in test equipment
for your company or utilize third-party
labs make sure to select equipment that
can perform your test profile or
profiles make sure you account for the
required facilities and building power
required
it's for the test equipment that you
actually purchase if you need help
selecting your test equipment or
planning for your tests lab I can help
and have a track record and background
designing and building test labs so feel
free to reach out to me in any of the
links below to see how I can help
hey guys thank you for watching this
video I hope you enjoyed it if you have
any questions or comments feel free to
reach out to me at one of the links
below
thanks again for watching