Top Ten Reasons for Using a Small Benchtop Thermal Platform or a Benchtop Temperature Chamber

In today’s world, everything is getting smaller and smaller. And with it, the durability and quality of materials are only getting better. Testing smaller materials in larger thermal platforms can be slow, expensive, and an overall burden. Plus, the space in your lab should be optimized. Gone are the days of clunky, unsightly equipment. As your products and needs get more specific, your equipment should too. Here are ten reasons why a benchtop temperature chamber or platform will improve the hard work you already do.

#1  less movement

Less movement is needed to use a benchtop temperature chamber. The more time your employees spend in transit to the machine, the less time they have to do their best work. The accessibility, decreased foot traffic increases productive space and room for new opportunities.

#2 Save time

Larger chambers can take long periods of time for any test, when you just may need a quick run. A benchtop temperature chamber is capable of running faster tests due to its small size, allowing you to get on to the next task.

#3 Cost-Efficient

Your tests will cost significantly less per run. Bringing down the bottom-line required to make a profit. The investment will pay for itself, and the results will speak for themselves. Smaller chambers draw less power.

#4 Energy-Efficient

A smaller environmental impact from your tests. Today’s consumer wants to know they are doing business with people who care for the planet, and by being conservative with your energy use you’re doing just that. Consuming less energy is great for the bottom line and the planet, a win-win!

#5 DUT Logging

The benchtop temperature chamber with DUT logging provides verification that the unit has reached the desired temperature. Tests need to be conducted not only with accuracy but with confidence. Temperature verification gives you the confidence to believe in the results you worked hard to acquire. In addition to verification, they need less energy to reach their desired temperature.

#6 Energy Savings

A lower power bill could mean holiday bonuses, raises, etc. All serve to improve morale and act as an investment in the company’s future.

#7 Compact Chamber

The small form factor will allow you to place the benchtop temperature chamber in a convenient location; leaving space for the heavier, clunkier machines you couldn’t live without.

#8 More Space

Increased space frees up the brain’s creative part, potentially allowing the development of brand-new thoughts. Whether you fill your space with new equipment or just enjoy the open plan, you’ll benefit from the smaller form factor of a benchtop temperature chamber. If you were not already convinced a benchtop thermal chamber or platform would make a proper addition to your thermal testing arsenal, the last two reasons will bring you over.

#9 Precision

The precise build brings the margin of error on the temperature way down, meaning you can be confident your tests represent the harshest condition you choose. By their very nature, chambers are difficult to heat evenly and precisely over long periods of time. With the benchtop temperature thermal test systems, you will find your unit heating quickly and maintaining evenly.

#10 Automation

finally, the unit offers automatic export of your test report in PDF to your computer or straight to your network printer. The seamless integration into your data structure saves plenty of time. There were the top ten reasons why you should invest in a benchtop temperature chamber. Overall, your lab installing one will make your lab run more efficiently and allow you to have more confidence in your tests.

TotalTemp Technologies is an environmental and temperature testing platform manufacturer located in San Diego, Ca. The US.

How and When to Use Thermal Chambers for Testing

Have you ever wondered what journey a piece of equipment or machinery took before ending up in space? Or what testing was done before the rocket’s blastoff? Or why does a piece of equipment fail prematurely? Well somewhere along the path to its final manufacturing, the components and sub-assemblies were developed and designed with the environmental conditions of where it would be operating in mind. Without this critical step in the manufacturing process, you would be far more likely to have some components fail prematurely (e.g. exposing a lithium-ion battery to extreme cold will reduce its longevity and storage capacity). By testing the component, you can ensure quality and reliability, and most importantly overall performance in the environment it is expected to work in. Quite frankly, that is just the way it is done. There are numerous ways to test a component for specific environmental conditions, one of them being the use of temperature or thermal chambers.

What is it?

A Temperature Chamber, also known as an environmental test chamber, performs thermal tests through the use of convection. They typically use a fan for the forced air convection, like a convection oven used in your house; however, instead of making cookies, you are testing products and equipment.

Not so fast

These “ovens” rely on the fans to move the air past the device under test for heat transfer. Therefore, if you want better performance you are going to need more airflow. Increasing the airflow comes at a cost since the unexpected heating from the air friction is significant. Also, more power is required for the test (e.g. operating costs go up) and then there will be increased noise and system wear as well.

Despite how easy (or complicated) it may be to bake a cake or grandma’s cookie recipe in a convection oven, the performance of a test within a Thermal Chamber is not that simple. In fact, there are at least three types of thermal testing that can be performed within a thermal chamber: Thermal cycling tests burn-in tests, and thermal shock tests. All three tests evaluate a component at different temperature extremes in a different way:

Thermal cycling is often a more controlled rate, alternating between the two temperature extremes. The speed of the transition can be adjusted to limit thermal stresses and allow guarantee of parts achieving the temperature.  There are hold times called soaks at specified temperatures to make sure the parts achieve the expected temperature. Faster ramp rates are usually better in production but on the other side, care must be taken to not stress the parts beyond what they are able to withstand.

Burn-in test is typically a sustained hold at a given temperature (usually hot) to verify operational parameters of a device in a specific environment over time, Thermal shock, on the other hand, is taking the component from one temperature extreme and another and “shocking” it with very rapid transitions. This is completed with testing chambers or thermal platforms that either automatically transfer the component being tested from one hot chamber to another nearby cold chamber or simply by using high-performance heaters and cooling in a single chamber zone. As you can see there is a little more to it than a convection cooking oven.

Another important thing that should be considered is meeting industry standards of testing. A lot has been written over time regarding appropriate environmental testing and most choices will depend on the intended destination for the product. There are some industry standards that are used as rules or guidelines for testing that can be adapted to other needs. The environmental chamber or thermal platform will allow you need to ensure it meets the standards of the application it will be used for.

For example, MIL-STD-810, Environmental Engineering Considerations and Laboratory Tests, was designed originally for products entering the defense industry; however, this standard is routinely used for commercial products too. This standard covers a wide range of environmental conditions such as thermal shock testing, exposure to high and low-temperature extremes, and humidity. Thus, depending on what environment your product will operate in there is a good chance you will be using MIL-STD-810 for environmental simulation in the design phase to ensure quality and reliability.

But that standard is just the tip of the iceberg. There are countless other standards (e.g. ASTM) whether or not they are related to the defense industry that require additional design specifications and testing. Therefore, if you want to ensure quality and reliability through an environmental simulation consider the best choice to be a temperature chamber to ensure first-time quality work of your product.

The Basics of Environmental Test Chambers

Different Ways to Use Environmental Chambers

Environmental chambers are used by many industries to help design the perfect products or confirm safety and compliance for ones that are slated to be mass-produced. For almost seven decades now, these chambers have been used to test all types of products from massive aerospace components to everyday consumer packaged goods.

Environmental chambers are an investment both monetarily and time-wise. Sometimes, companies may look to invest in a used chamber rather than a new one for cost savings. If you are going to move forward with any type of used equipment, do so with caution. You would definitely want to have it thoroughly inspected as your customers will be counting on you.  The control systems the most quickly.

Consider the time savings of having a modern reliable controller

1) Reducing the chances of a runaway condition

2) Reducing time investment required using a temperature controller with modern automation 

Features such as:

• Ramp/dwell profiling
• Advanced device temperature monitoring/control
• Logging
• Remote computer access to controller
• Networking features such as email/text alerts and cloud storage of profiles/test data

So, why are using these so necessary for a lot of organizations? It can be very expensive, and dangerous for that matter if products are not rigorously tested in realistic environmental conditions. The reactions to various types of conditions provide key data for further development, tweaks, and finalization before these products hit the market.

Though a multitude of products is tested in environmental chambers daily, there are three main ways in which these chambers are used:

1. Reliability Evaluation
2. Disintegration Timing
3. Material Reactions

Reliability Evaluation

Chambers are often designed to have a variety of conditions they can emulate in a realistic manner to test how reliable the product will be. This testing can expose flaws in how the product is manufactured. Identifying weaknesses right out of the gate can save a great deal of capital in the end. As each tweak is made, the product can be re-tested until any flaws are eliminated.

Disintegration Timing

Environmental chambers can be used not only to test how strong a product is but also how long it takes to be destroyed. By raising the intensity of certain conditions like humidity or temperature, researchers can determine what the lifespan of the product is before it begins to deteriorate. These extreme conditions are certainly ones in which you would not want to try out a new product for the first time in real life.

Material Reactions

Understanding how not only your product reacts to various environmental factors, but also how its individual material components react may be key to its success. The chamber does not only have to test a completed project. It can test products in merely the design phase, or can even be used singularly for research purposes. Finding the sturdiest materials to build it from the ground up can help create a consistent and trustworthy product.

Environmental chambers come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and prices – from ones that are put a large vehicle in down to small table-top devices. There are even hand-held devices that can be transported easily for those who need to do testing on the go. They all are constructed to have different real-world environmental factors that they test. These can include temperature, humidity levels, vibration, photo-stability, and more. These chambers simulate virtually any condition you currently think exists in the real world. Plus, as technology has advanced, so have the testing units. Many now include digital data interfaces and touch screens.

If you’re considering creating a new product, it is important to really do your research and understand what protocols you will need to follow. Use environmental chambers to understand how reliable a product is, how long it will last and how well its individual materials hold up. Once you are armed with this information, you can feel confident in moving forward with your product and taking it into mass production (and the general comfortable will be confident in using it).

What is the right temperature chamber for testing your product?

A temperature chamber is an essential testing mechanism for testing materials, devices, and various components for strength and robustness enabling the product to carry out the desired purposes (see Different Ways to Use Environmental Chambers) here. The chamber can test to exceed environmental conditions. Wikipedia assures, “a robust climate chamber can mimic a relatively wide range of warm environmental conditions, in terms of temperature and humidity (1).

The thermal chamber, then, artificially replicates conditions through environmental simulation to which such products might likely be exposed (See The Basics of Environmental Test Chambers) here. The temperature chamber is also used to accelerate the effects of exposure in an environment, even at conditions not normally expected. Such testing assures a product’s structural integrity in real-world conditions and out worldly events.

Temperature chambers vary in size, presenting the user with the need to consider the best choice for the manufacturer’s demands. Thermal chambers range in size from large rooms to small benchtop structures. There are benefits to working with the benchtop temperature chambers over larger size structures; in order to make an informed decision, some important considerations are discussed below.

One benefit found with a benchtop size temperature chamber is in its small footprint. There is little or no reason whatsoever to purchase a chamber whose size exceeds the needs (and possibly the space) of the lab, particularly for operations with expected and predictable sizes in the products being tested. Lab space is a valuable commodity. This precious resource must be used strategically. Also, time is saved by eliminating technicians’ movements: less footprint and fewer footsteps.

There is also considerable benefit in saving time with a temperature chamber’s small configuration. The powerful yet compact thermal platform can, due to the nature of the mass, reach the desired temperature settings in less time than a larger version. In addition to saving time, the quicker process saves energy as well. Moreover, a clearer verification of exact temperature is readily and easily ensured.

As mentioned, less energy to replicate temperatures in a smaller space saves on cost. But another cost-saving benefit is derived from the simple fact that the chamber is small. The cost of a larger floor-based (or larger) vs bench model is comparable to the cost difference between a compact sedan and a double cab long bed truck. Each serves a purpose, and that purpose is more often than not attributed to cargo—the size of what is placed inside (See Benefits of a Small Thermal Vacuum Chamber for Space Simulation) here. Again, with predetermined size(s), the thermal chamber needn’t be overtly larger than demand-specific needs (2).

Less error and precise temperature control ensure conformity in repeated testing. This increases the repeatability requirements for consistent results, thus assuring that international and national standards are met.

Finally, the results of the thermal chamber’s tests can be automatically stored on the equipment, in the cloud, or transmitted straight to PDF or a network printer, eliminating the need for printing by technicians. Time saved is available for other important tasks.

Overall, the highest value testing conducted at any laboratory requires streamlined testing processes as much as possible to provide engineers and industry customers with their needed reports as fast as possible (3). Consider the needs for your product, the laboratory space required, energy consumption data, repeatability and consistency requirements, as well as ease of transmitting the resulting data. Given those parameters, you will certainly know the important factors that drive your decisions. Moreover, you may find that a compact benchtop model sufficiently and thoroughly fits your needs.