TestEQ designed, manufactured and delivered a 1600m³ walk-in environmental test chamber to a research institute in China. The chamber covers -65°C to +120°C with humidity control, and was built for large-scale reliability and environmental simulation testing.
Customer background
The customer is a Chinese research institute working on high-end equipment reliability verification. The client’s name is not disclosed. With aerospace, rail transportation, new energy vehicles and large research equipment all developing quickly, standard environmental chambers can no longer hold the complete test item, so the institute needed an environmental simulation space at the vehicle and machine level rather than a sample-scale chamber.
Need and test conditions
The project set these requirements:
- Extra-large usable space, at the ≥1600m³ level
- Wide temperature range simulation, -65°C to +120°C
- High-precision temperature and humidity control
- Long-term stable operation
- Multi-region uniformity control
This is a chamber an operator enters and works in, so conditions have to be uniform across a large volume and hold over long cycles rather than only at a control point.
Configuration
The chamber uses a modular walk-in structure and includes four main systems:
Space structure
- Total effective volume: 1600m³
- Multi-module spliced cabin structure
- High-strength thermal insulation composite panels
- Anti-cold-bridge structure design to reduce heat loss
Wide temperature range environmental control
- Temperature range: -65°C ~ +120°C
- Rapid temperature change capability (customizable)
- Multi-zone independent circulation air duct design
- Temperature uniformity optimization with multi-point feedback control
Temperature and humidity control
- Humidity range: 20% ~ 98% RH (expandable)
- Steam humidification and dehumidification system
- Anti-frost and anti-condensation control algorithms
- Continuous operation for long test cycles
Control and data
- PLC + industrial-grade touch control system
- Multi-channel data acquisition for temperature, humidity and pressure
- Remote monitoring and data export
- Automatic recording and tracing of test curves
On a 1600m³ volume the chamber uses zoned airflow organization to limit the temperature and humidity gradient, and it is built to keep running at low temperatures down to -70°C. For full-vehicle and large-equipment testing it runs continuously, and it uses staged refrigeration control and heat recovery to reduce operating energy consumption.
Outcome
During acceptance, the system passed the following checks:
- Full-space temperature uniformity test met the standard
- -65°C low-temperature stable operation test passed
- Continuous operation at +120°C verified
- Temperature and humidity cycle control stability test passed
- Multi-point data synchronization consistency verification passed
The institute put the system into use in its research projects.
Applications for a volume at this scale include overall verification testing of new energy vehicles, environmental adaptability verification of aerospace equipment, rail transit vehicle and system testing, testing of energy storage systems and large battery containers, reliability study in national-level laboratories, and environmental adaptability assessment of large industrial equipment. For related systems, see thermal vacuum chamber and walk-in environmental chamber . For system design or a customized quote at this scale, contact the TestEQ engineering team.