Environmental Chambers
What is an Environmental Chamber?
An environmental chamber, also called a climatic chamber or climate chamber, is an enclosure used to test the effects of specified environmental conditions on biological items, industrial products, materials, and electronic devices and components.
An environmental chamber provides a convenient way to subject sensor assemblies to both hot and cold environments, to see how and if they work at temperature extremes. A good environmental chamber has a programmable controller that allows target temperatures to be set. In many cases the controller also allows a user to enter temperature profiles, which specify a sequence of conditions the oven will automatically generate.
In addition to temperatre, some environmental chambers are also capable of controlling humidity and light.
Other Names:
Climatic Chamber, Test Chamber, Humidity Chamber / Cabinet, Stability Chamber, Growth Chamber, Plant Chamber.
Applications
- Testing of the influence of temperature and humidity on the properties of textiles, building materials, plastics, composites, adhesives, metals, electronic components, etc. (special case ageing test)
- Storage of building material test specimens
- Incubation of fungal spores on plants under humidity
- Long-term stability testing cosmetics, the food industry and pharmaceutics in compliance with ICH guideline Q1A (temperature and humidity controlled)
- Photostability tests in pharmaceutics in compliance with ICH guideline Q1B (temperature, humidity and light spectrum controlled)
- Growing of plants or seed (temperature and humidity controlled, possibly light spectrum)
- Insect Rearing
Different types of Environmental Chambers
Temperature Chambers: Temperature is the number one reason that products fail. The types of tests that are performed in temperature test chambers are referred to as thermostatic tests. To test the resilience of a product against temperature variations, temperature chambers are capable of producing temperatures that vary between -70° C up to temperatures in excess of 180° C. The types of tests in a temperature chamber may expose a product to the same gradient for days or weeks. Other tests rapidly cycle through temperatures to examine a product’s reaction to the variations.
Humidity Chambers: Humidity is the second most damaging factor to cause product failure, which is produced by the combination of moisture in the presence of increased temperature. In most cases, humidity test chambers partner with temperature chambers since heat is a requirement for producing humid conditions. As is true of temperature test chambers, humidity test chambers are capable of producing several climatic conditions. Tests can be performed in a static state without any variation in conditions or a dynamic state where conditions change either rapidly or slowly.
Stability Chambers: The purpose of a stability test chamber is to test a product’s reaction to temperature, humidity, and light over an extended period of time. A major concern for stability test chambers is the shelf life of a product to determine its lifespan and reliability when exposed to various environments during shipping and storage. The International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) has divided the world into five climate zones. When the stability of a product is being tested, the parameters are determined by the zone where it will be used and shipped. These guidelines decide the settings on a stability chamber.
Plant Growth Chamber: Plant growth chambers are special type of environmental test chambers which are designed to perform plant growth experiments inside laboratory. The aim of a plant growth chamber is to create such atmospheric conditions responsible for effective plant germination and growth.
Insect Rearing Chamber: Insect Rearing or Drosophila Chambers are designed specifically for rearing mosquitoes, flies, and other insects. Offering exceptional temperature, humidity, and lighting control for active experimentation or housing stocks.
Basic Layout
1- Controller/operating panel
2 – Main switch / push-turn control
3 – Temperature sensor
4 – PC Control (optional)
6 – Chamber fan
7 – Chamber seal
8 – Interior for chamber load
9 – Fan/air filter of cooling unit
10 – USB connection/ communication interfaces
11 – Additional socket 230 volt/max. 5 amp.
12 – Locking swivel castors
13 – Drawer for water tank (For humidity models)
Information required to to quote on an Environmental Chamber
- What is your application?
- What temperature range do you require?
- What humidity range do you require?
- What will be your typical temperature and humidity set points? Eg. 25℃ @ 75%RH
- What size chamber do you require?
- Do you need a direct water supply, or will you use the internal water tank?
- Do you require light? What range?
Further Reading
- https://pages.binder-world.com/en/climate-chambers-in-laboratories
- https://www.memmertusa.com/how-to-choose-a-climate-chamber/