Environmental Chambers

1. Environmental Chambers • Types Of Chambers Climatic simulation • Used to test the reliability & performance of components and assemblies under various conditions of temperature, humidity, altitude, vacuum and vibration. • Thermal stress/shock screening • Used to produce rapid changes in temperature to screen out potentially faulty components and sub-assemblies. • Plant growth test chambers/rooms • Used in horticultural research labs to set standard growing conditions for testing fertilizers etc.

2. Environmental Chambers Environmental Chambers • Related applications • Brick and ceramic drying rooms • Mushrooms farms • Cheese maturing rooms • Incubators - eggs, antibiotics • Fruit and meat storage rooms These all involve the control of temperature, humidity and sometimes CO2, solar energy. They are really all environmental chambers.

3. Environmental Chambers Environmental Chambers Typical Chamber. Humidification X26 Temp probe Humidity probe Water Spray Cooling/dehumidify Cooling/dehum coils By-pass Compressor Heating Heaters

4. Temp PID Loop _ Control OP Temp Temp SP _ Humidity PID loop Control OP %RH Time %RH SP Light SP Toolkit Blocks Recorder C02 SP _ C02 C02 PID loop Control OP 26/2704 Plant Growth Chamber Example plant growing chamber. Example plant growing Chamber • Control & Data Acquistion of: • Temp, %RH, CO2 and day/night simulation

5. Bricks & Ceramics 30C Temp 20C Humidity Example - brick or tile drying room Example Brick Drying Room • Brick, tiles drying room • The purpose of drying is to extract water so that the product does not crack during the firing process. The aim is to achieve this as quickly as possible without cracking the product during the drying process. Typically both temperature and humidity are controlled. • This process can take from 3 days to 3 weeks depending upon the product type 2 weeks

6. Environmental Chambers Environmental Chambers • Control methods • Heating is usually electrical • Cooling and dehumidification is normally performed using compressors • Fast cooling is typically provided by liquid nitrogen • Humidification is achieved using either steam or atomised water sprays • Recorder Values • Temperature, Humidity, Dewpoint, Atmosphere, Light, Vibration

7. Environmental Chambers Environmental Chambers Equipment used Thermal shock and stress chambers - 2408/2404 programmable controllers - solid state relays - Recorders Temperature and humidity chambers - 2408/2404 programmable controllers - X26 chamber controller - 2604 and 2704 advanced 3-loops - T800, 2500 - solid state relays - Recorders

8. > Environmental Chambers Environmental Chambers X26 Control block diagram Event 1 Clock Event 2 Boost Heat SP Boost heat OP Event outputs run OR Setpoint Programmer Boost Cool SP Temperature SP hold Boost cool OP reset Humidity SP Temp PID Temp (dry bulb) Heating op OP Cooling op Humidity probe input Humidify op Hum PID OP Dehum op %RH Min-On Timer >0 Compressor On Humidity Function Block Wet bulb temp AND Cooling by-pass >0 Drain valve 1C/33 F

9. Environmental Chambers Environmental Chambers • Who uses them? • Primarily: • Avionic companies for testing Satellite and aircraft equipment • Cars manufacturers • The defence industries - for guns, tanks, telecomms • Semiconductor manufacturers • Horticultural research establishments • Biological test laboratories

10. Environmental Chambers Environmental Chambers • Eurotherm Advantages • Tailored product in the X26 - use out of the box • Wide range of solutions - 2400 programmers, 2604, 2704, • Solid State Relays • Paper & Paperless Recorders • 2500 offers front end to PLC - reducing system wiring and improving control. • Humidity function block, Recorders and 26/2704 • Fast digital communications- Modbus, Devicenet • Large installed base