Rent thermal chambers from ATEC for affordable rental rates on products from leading manufacturers like Espec, Tenney, and Cincinnati Sub-Zero.
What is a thermal chamber?
A thermal chamber, or temperature chamber, is a test chamber that simulates extreme temperatures, allowing the user to test the environmental resistance of a product, device, or other object placed within.
Temperature chambers reveal the point at which the test subject experiences stress and give insights that are key to projecting the object’s lifespan.
Equipped with this knowledge, manufacturers can predict heat-stress effects like melting, swelling, warping, the overheating of electrical components, and how long the product will survive in environments where heat stress is severe and/or a regular phenomenon. They can also discover symptoms of cold stress, including brittleness, cracking, heat loss in electrical parts, and components or whole objects freezing over. Thermal chambers are also utilized to prepare a sample for other types of tests or to simulate environmental conditions required for other tests or measurements.
Environmental testing is an essential step in verifying the safety and durability of a product in the electrical, defense, aerospace, quality assurance, and pharmaceutical reliability testing industries, and beyond.
Thermal chambers are available in a broad range of specifications, from small benchtop units to massive walk-in chambers, with models varying to match specific temperature and interior workspace volume requirements.
Choosing the Right Temperature Chamber
What type of temperature chamber is right for you—benchtop, portable, or walk-in/floor-standing? What temperature range are you looking for? And does your test call for features like humidity, chilling, thermal shock, or temperature forcing? Ask yourself these essential questions before renting a chamber:
What dimensions should the chamber be?
Consider the size and density of the object under test. Are you looking for a floor-standing, walk-in chamber? Or a compact benchtop unit? Any size of chamber is configurable to perform most environmental simulation functions, but a few rules should be followed:
- Your chamber’s internal workspace dimensions should be ½” to ¾” less than its external dimensions, ensuring there is proper allowance for insulation
- The chamber should be large enough to allow airflow during testing—the golden rule is a 1:3 ratio of the object under test to empty space
- Your chamber’s external dimensions should be feasible for storage in your testing area
What temperature and humidity characteristics do I need?
What temperature requirements does your test demand? Choose a chamber that easily achieves your desired temperature range. Also, consider the temperature exchange rate—the rate at which the temperature decreases or increases.
- Single Stage Chambers: standard range of -40°C to 180°C
- Cascade Chambers (Double Stage): standard range of -70°C to 180°C
What kind of controller do I need?
Controllers influence your entire test experience, from analyzing your results on an LCD screen in real time to setting alerts and alarms based on pre-specified conditions. It is important to remember that the operational range of the controller will be different from the operational range of the chamber system and that the operating system will determine the actual performance of the test.
- Single-point humidity controller: tracks only humidity
- Dual-point temperature and humidity controller: tracks both
What power requirements does my test call for?
What power specifications does your test call for? What sort of connection or power features does the unit need to carry out its test? Consider the location of your test, how close to power the unit will be, and how much energy the system will need to perform temperature or humidity simulation.
- The lower the temperature range required, the lower the power requirements
- The larger the chamber, the higher the power requirement
- Smaller chambers with single-stage compressors can be powered by 120V single-phase
- Larger chambers, or chambers with cascade dual-stage compressors require 3-phase facility power
What options do I need?
A vital step in making your chamber decision is communicating the optional features your test calls for to your supplier. Will you need a window to visually observe the item under test, a light to illuminate the item, fog-free viewing for humidity tests? How many ports do you require for external analysis?
Common Options:
- Adjustable stainless-steel shelves
- Fog-free viewing window
- Interior light to illuminate workspace and product
- Double gasketing to assure a vapor-tight seal
- Electrical disconnect switch
- GPIB interface
- Ethernet interface
Renting a Thermal Chamber from ATEC
Rent thermal chambers from ATEC for affordable, reliable environmental test solutions.
Our inventory consists of both benchtop test chambers and floor-standing chambers as small as 1.2 cubic feet (35 liters) and as massive as 64 Cubic Ft (1,810) and beyond. Temperature ranges span from -70°C to +190°C (-94°F to 375°F) and even colder or hotter to simulate any kind of environmental stress or condition. ATEC's inventory offers a variety of features including integrated software and USB ports, adjustable/removable shelving, automatic cooling or heating boost systems, and continual diagnostics.
We carry cutting-edge temperature chambers from leading manufacturers like Espec, Cincinnati Sub-Zero, and Thermotron.