How MPI Thermal is Revolutionizing the Environmental Test Chamber Market 

Environmental Test Chambers

-60°C to +200°C

 

The test chamber market is a large industry with well over 100 test chamber manufacturers and hundreds more chamber types that come in a broad range of shapes and sizes with various thermal simulation functionalities to provide environmental testing for a wide range of rapidly advancing technologies. 

It’s not about maintaining the status quo; it’s about redefining it. The test chamber market, in essence, isn’t just manufacturing tools; it’s shaping the future of technology itself.

 

Understanding Test Chambers

Test Chambers start as small as a Benchtop and may be as large as a Walk-in chambers to provide automotive manufactures the ability to drive a vehicle directly into the chamber, where it can be tested for a variety of temperature stresses.

 

ESS (Environmental Stress Screening)

Reliaibility Testing

Temperature Cycling Test

Rapid Thermal Cycling

Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT)

Highly Accelerated Stress Screening (HASS)

Environment Temperature Testing

Thermal Shock Test

 

Small or benchtop test chambers are generally for parts or components but frequently lack large functionality, rather a speciifc temperature test functionality. 

The most common factors that all test chambers share, is the ability to temperature test, hot or cold, and some provide additional specialties such as salt, fog, humidity, or radiation testing. These all fall under environmental testing, but one thing most of all chambers have in common is temperature. The variety of chambers is so great because the level of functionality is so small and very specific regardless of size most often.

In the case of small test chambers, many are not much more than simple toaster ovens (of which many are referred to as ovens) and do not have tri-temperature (hot and cold) capabilities.

 

Why So Many Variatations of Test Chambers?

 

The extremely wide variety of test chambers is due to their specificity to perform a single compartmental test. The sheer diversity of test chambers is driven by their unique design and capability to execute specific, isolated tests. It’s this precise functionality that contributes to the remarkable range of variations.

MPI Thermal produces a small test chamber, that in and of itself has sufficient functionality, but when utilized with the TA-5000 Series or TA-3000 Series ThermalAir Test Equipment, it provides a far greater range of thermal performance, capabilities, and functionality than any small test chamber on the market today. When combined, control of Ramp Rate and Soak, Dwell Time and Cycling between temperatures is possible in just seconds, all while monitoring and profiling the chambers environment. What ThermalAir systems provide is rapid temperature ramp rate, thermal precision, and mobility.

 

 

Environmental Test Chamber | Small Environmental Test Chamber

Environmental Test Chamber

Performance

Temperature Change Rate (in seconds)

Ambient to +125°C                                           < 8 minutes

+125°C  to Ambient                                          < 8 minutes

-40°C  to  Ambient                                            < 3 minute

Ambient  to -40°C                                             < 11 minutes

Uniformity                                               2.0°C  range from setpoint  

*Temperature Performance is dependent on output air flow of TA-5000A/B

Features

 

  • Interchangeable Chamber Sizes
  • Feed-Thru for connecting Wire & Test Cables to your DUT / UUT
  • User controlled Ramp Rates & Dwell Times
  • Frost Free Operation
  • Additional Internal Temperature Probe
  • No LN2 or CO2

 

 

Portability

MPI Thermal test chamber when combined with the TA-5000 Series or TA-3000 Series thermal stream test system transforms a small test chamber, with the power and thermal capacity of large test PREMANENTLY FIXED LOCATION chambers, in a small test enclosure.

Most “small” or “benchtop” test chambers are actually quite large and lack mobility or they need to be fixed to the test lab floor often requiring more effort to move or position test article. The MPI ThermalAir Test Chamber is light weight and it’s adjacent systems (TA-5000 & TA-3000) are easily moved. Designed for mobility, fast flexible set-up, and positioning, MPI Thermal Test Systems have flexible hose extensions, adjustable boom, arm, and stand allowing R&D engineers to bring the temperature to the test, customizing their test applications to any work environment.

The Aerospace/Defense, Semiconductor, RF Microwave, Automotive Electronics, Sensors, Fiber Optics, and Telecommunications industries utilize MPI ThermalAir Test Solutions for a broad range of thermal test applications.

Thermal Testing System with Temperature Cycling Chamber

TA-5000A w/Test Chamber

TA-5000B Thermal Cycling Test System with Thermal Test Chamber

TA-5000B w/Test Chamber

Precision

MPI ThermalAir test systems provide temperature cycling from  -80°C to +225°C with rapid rate transitions between hot and cold temperatures utilizing CDA, compressed clean dry air.  Something other small test chambers cannot provide. This allows scientists and engineers to perform a wider variety of thermal cycling tests on their electronic parts, semiconductor devices and other test articles.

 

Environmental Test Chamber

Flexibilty

Engineers cannot only test to see how long the electronic component may endure under a certain temperatures but can also do accelerated life testing by cycling the temperature extremes rapidly for extended periods of time.

In addition, MPI Thermal the TA-5000A and TA-3000A when combined with anyone of a range of shape and sizes of our thermal glass caps, enclosures and chamber attachments, engineers can break the barriers of even large walk-in chambers.

Glass Cap Thermal Test Chambers
Glass Cap Thermal Test Chambers

Thermal Glass Cap Test Chambers

Ease of Use

For example, automotive manufacturers frequently use large walk-in chambers to place an entire vehicle inside the chamber to cycle temperature for environmental stress screening or ESS. Engineers utilizing MPI’s flexible head, boom arm and stand, can position a glass cap test chamber directly on an electronic door or trunk lock, cycling temperatures from -80° to +225 at rapid ramp rates, unattended and remotely allowing for accelerated life testing on more pinpointed areas of the unit under test.

The MPI ThermalAir GUI interface provides a user-friendly touch panel console, easily programmed to cycle through specific temperatures user defined set points rapidly and repeatedly and for extended periods of time.

Temperature Testing System

Touch Screen GUI

Versatility

MPI Thermal ‘s environmental test chamber (when combined with the TA-5000A or TA-3000A) is far more powerful, flexible, and has more functionality beyond what standard chambers temperature test capabilities can offer. Many test chambers are purchased simply for a single project while the MPI ThermalAir test systems can be utilized on a variety of technologies and their subsequent industries or test applications.

Test Chambers are utilized in the lab, but the MPI ThermalAir Test Systems, are utilized both in the lab and on the production floor for factory testing during production (localized inducing right at the test site location).

The MPI ThermalAir TA-5000 and TA-3000 are widely recognized in the Semiconductor industry, and MPI Thermal’s wide range of testing solutions serve the Automotive, Electronics, Aerospace, Defense, Telecommunications, Fiber Optics, Sensors, and more, with the applications ranging from PCB, semiconductor ICs, fiber optic transceivers, and a range of technologies related to RF Microwave, Radar, LiDAR, and an Array of Technologies especially if exposed to outdoor environments.

The possible applications are limitless when it comes to environmental temperature testing.

TA-5000A Temperature Simulation Testing Solution

To view the complete product line of MPI Thermal ‘s Temperature Testing Solutions…