Temperature & Climate Test Chambers

What makes a Weiss Technik Environmental Test Chamber Special

Environmental Simulation Climate Chambers are sophisticated chambers which range in size from little bigger than a household microwave all the way up to a small building. Their applications are diverse and there are a wide variety of brands and chambers types available. When investigating what climate chamber will work for your application and perform the best there are a wide variety of factors to consider.

CE or C Tick approval

Does the chamber you are investigating have adequate electrical and safety approvals. New Zealand typically requires C Tick or CE approval for all electrical instrumentation, including test chambers. This guarantees you of its electrical safety and suitability for using in industrial applications. While all chambers manufactured in Europe and N. America will have CE approval chambers coming out of Asia may not have CE approval, beware some manufacturers claim to have approvals, but this is not always true. If in doubt, ask for proof.

Air Flow and Thermal homogeneity

The design of all Weiss Technik Climate and Thermal chambers is optimized to provide for optimal air circulation and thermal stability that ensure your specimen is heated and cooled in a uniform manner. This is critical in order to prevent thermal gradients across your specimen leading to testing errors.

Heat Loads in chamber

If you are testing products, which have a heat load (emit heat), then having a chamber that is able to cope with a high heat load is crucial, otherwise you may simply not obtain the low temperature performance required or your temperature ramp down rate may be significantly reduced, well below the specs of the chamber. Weiss Technik chambers are rated to 2000W or more depending on the application and test requirements.

Viewing window

Many chambers are available with a window to view your product while its being tested, however there is a great deal of variation in quality. The windows used in Weiss Technik chambers consist of 5 panes of glass, providing superior insulation, the windows are large and the product is easily seen, most importantly all windows are heated around the outside of the frame, which helps to eliminate fogging.

Lighting

Weiss Technik has even considered small things such as lighting, some chambers have lighting in their front door, great when the door is closed, however as soon as the door is opened your specimen is no longer lit, Weiss Technik chambers have lighting located in the test space, providing clear illumination of your specimen whenever you wish.

Ceiling design

Another small but important consideration is how the internal ceiling of your chamber is designed, condensation will often occur in climatic tests, Weisstechik’s chambers have a roof design which eliminates condensate dripping onto your specimen. Weiss Technik Climate and Temperature chambers also use a unique double ceiling and floor design to facilitate air flow and thermal homogeneity in the chamber, many other brands don’t. The floor element also protects the specimen from condensation water forming on the chamber floor.

Compressors

The quality of compressors varies greatly, some are far better than others. Weiss Technik chambers use German designed and manufactured compressors for optimum performance.

Relative Humidity Control (Climate Chamber only)

Relative Humidity control in the Weiss Technik chambers is controlled by a water bath, this bath features both heating and cooling, which provides improved relative humidity control. Even more important is that this methods helps to eliminate freezing of ice within the chamber. This can happen for lower quality chambers when performing low relative humidity and temperature measurements. There is little worse than having to interrupt an extended test to defrost your chamber. Weiss chambers guarantee continuous frost free operation!

Sophisticated relative humidity control & monitoring

Weiss Technik’s chambers have a very wide RH/T range, 10-98% RH, (-70 to 180 deg C or -40 to 180 deg C)the components selected for use in the chamber design enables this very broad range. Weiss Technik’s climate chambers use a high performance psychometric sensors that provides high accuracy measurements across the entire RH range. This sensor is mounted in the front of the chamber for ease of maintenance.

Minimisation of icing

The use of a thermally controlled humidity water bath provides a colder surface in the chamber which helps eliminate freezing of ice on the evaporator coils, when performing low temperature tests. This is a common problem with some competitors’ chambers.

Dual chamber temperature sensors

All Weiss Technik climate chambers feature two temperature sensors one on the inlet and another on the outlet air. The special optional cascade feature allows you to set the maximum temperature difference between these two sensors eliminating over heating or cooling of your specimen.

Specimen protection with independently adjustable temperature limiter

All test chambers are fitted with a secondary temperature limiter that operates independently of the chamber’s two main temperature sensors, shutting the chamber down in case the upper/lower temperature limit is exceeded.

Heating and cooling ramp rates

All Weiss Technik chambers are tested to the IEC60068-3-5 standard, meaning that the heating and cooling rates quoted in the specifications can be relied upon. Furthermore, this is the average over the IEC temperature range, in most cases heating and cooling rates for a given temperature range will exceed the data given in the specification. To ensure compliance with your test requirements our experts will select the appropriate chamber to ensure compliance to temperature ramping requirements not based on an empty chamber but with the load of your specimen.

Lower Power Consumption

Weiss Technik’s chambers are amongst the least power hungry chambers available, actual wattage measurements on competitors chambers have shown a significantly reduced energy consumption of Weiss Technik chambers for given test profiles.

Remote control & Programming

Easy programming and the ability to load programs remotely offers clear advantages. All Weiss Technik chambers feature an onboard webserver, enabling you to connect the chamber via TCP/IP to your local network, and if configured with an externally viewable IP address you can even access your chamber using your tablet or phone.

An inbuilt A/D IO card enables you to measure and log temperature of your specimen (option), provide the ability to control other devices or have the chamber controlled by other devices Option

Simpati Software

Simpati Software (optional) is the Weiss Technik solution to automate your Lab, manage your test resources and consolidate process data, including data from other systems and/or the specimen in one location.

Ease of maintenance

Some chambers are easier to maintain than others, some can be tricky and have replaceable components that are difficult to replace without pulling the chamber apart. A great deal of thought has gone into the Weiss Technik chambers and their ability to be easily serviced.

Weiss Technik chambers use an advanced system to track the load of the chamber and components so that parts replacement can be scheduled on the actual wear and tear rather than just on operating hours. This system allows for preventive maintenance while significantly reducing the risk of any downtime.

As an example our Relative Humidity Psychrometer sensor is mounted at the front of the chamber, enabling its wetted sock which needs to be replaced every few months, to be easily accessed and the sock replaced without having to remove product from your chamber. The psychrometer wick/sock used in our chambers if force fed, meaning that water flows through it, this prolongs the life of the wick/sock, helping to prevent contamination from building upon it and deteriorating its performance. This is one example of many that facilitate ease of maintenance.

Installation, commissioning, training and service

Weiss Technik chambers are distributed in New Zealand by Simultech. Simultech have been exclusively distributing Weiss Technik chambers for over 25 years. Test chambers are our core business and without a doubt our service team are the most experienced in the business. Our Technical director has over 25 years experience with chambers and our Service Manager did his apprenticeship with Weiss Technik before moving to Malaysia to service chambers all over Asia, we are fortunate to have such expertise within Simultech.

Our service centre stocks an extensive range of spare parts and consumables. In the unlikely event of your chamber experiencing a fault our service team will typically have your chamber up and running within a week and often within 48 hours, depending on your location and the nature of the problem.