What are the Environmental Tests in the Aerospace Field?

Environmental Test in the Aerospace Field

The quality and life of aerospace products depend on the reliability of the whole process of product design, development, production and testing, and the reliability of electronic components is the basis of the reliability of the entire equipment. Due to the non-repairability of aerospace products, the failure of a small electronic component may cause the failure of the entire aerospace product. The experience and lessons of aerospace systems over the years are sufficient to prove this point.

At present, the development of aerospace industry has entered a new stage of development. With the successful launch of the manned spacecraft, the development and production of a new generation of aerospace products is gradually unfolding. These new aerospace products put forward newer and higher requirements for electronic components in terms of technology, variety, and quantity, especially in terms of quality, reliability, life, miniaturization, and low power consumption.

Reliability test in the aerospace field should theoretically include:

1.altitude

2.thermal shock,

3.vibration,

the basic principle is to simulate the environmental variables encountered by aerospace vehicles in flight or space operation on Earth or related variable factors generated in actual operation for reference definition, the method mainly uses the set value for relevant verification.

Altitude Test

LIB Altitude Chamber allows users to control the environmental test chamber temperature while subjecting the product under test to various levels of altitude. This combination of elements allows precise simulation of real-life conditions a product might encounter at various altitude levels. Altitude chamber testing is important for manufacturers of products that might be shipped via air. It is especially important for defense and aerospace applications where pressure and vacuum conditions are even more intense. Our altitude test chambers simulate a variety of environmental conditions including temperature, altitude, humidity, and vibration for the rigorous testing standards of combined environment. Since our altitude test chamber interior size is determined by the customer, we offer the flexibility of reach-in or walk-in sizing for large capacity altitude testing.

In the natural environment, the air pressure gradually decreases with increasing altitude. At altitudes approaching 5,000 m, the atmospheric pressure drops to about half of sea level standard atmosphere, at altitudes approaching 16,000 M to about 1/10 of sea level standard atmosphere, and at altitudes approaching 31,000 m to about 1/100 of sea level standard atmosphere. Altitude test chamber offers strict testing conditions which can provide assurance for the quality testing of the aerospace industry product.

Methods:

Put the test specimen into the test chamber, then reduce the air pressure in the chamber to the value specified in the relevant standard, and keep the test for the specified duration. Its purpose is mainly to determine the adaptability of components, equipment or other products to low-pressure environments during storage, transportation and use. The test is applicable to the products transported by air in the cargo compartment of the aircraft, the products used on the plateau and the air transported products in the situation where the pressure drops rapidly after the aircraft is injured. The purpose of the test is to test the performance of the product in a low-pressure environment and the impact of rapid pressure drop on product performance.

Thermal Shock Test

The temperature shock test is a process of assessing whether the appearance of the equipment and the electrical performance of the equipment will be affected or fail when it is subjected to the rapid changes in the surrounding atmospheric environment.

This test should be used when a sharp change in temperature may occur around the equipment. It is used to evaluate the impact of sudden temperature changes on the devices, structure and appearance of the equipment. Typical situations are as follows:

1)The conversion of equipment between high and low temperatures.

2)Quickly raise the equipment from the high temperature environment on the ground to the low temperature environment at high altitude.

3) Drop equipment from the protective casing of the aircraft that is hot at high altitude and low temperatures.

Several important factors in temperature shock test:

1.Exposure Conditions

The test temperature should be determined according to the geographical location and field data of the equipment in the actual application process, and the test temperature can also be determined according to its most extreme non-operating temperature requirements. The relevant standard specifies the high and low temperature test temperatures of 70 °C and -55 °C respectively.

High temperature: The high temperature that may occur in the working and storage geographic area where the equipment is actually used. The measured value is preferred, and if there is no measured value, the ground high temperature extreme value condition is selected.

Low temperature: The lowest temperature at which the aircraft is used during its air flight (affected by the environmental conditions surrounding the equipment, the flight conditions and the performance of the on-board environmental control system). The measured value is preferred, if there is no measured value, the extreme low temperature at high altitude is selected.

2. High and Low Temperature Duration

The purpose of this test is to determine the effect of rapid temperature changes on the equipment, therefore, the duration of the specimen's exposure to extreme temperatures should be the actual working time of the equipment or the time when the temperature is stable. The duration specified in the relevant standards is generally 1h.

The determination of the duration of the test (times of shocks) should be determined according to the situation encountered during the actual application of the equipment. Therefore, it can be divided into the following impact tests

1) Unidirectional temperature shock based on constant extreme temperature, for equipment with little possibility of exposure to unidirectional temperature shock, at least one shock under each corresponding condition;

2) Single-cycle shock based on constant extreme temperature, equipment that may only be exposed to temperature shock environment once;

3) Multi-cycle shock based on constant extreme temperature, when more frequent exposure of the device is expected, there is little data available to confirm the specific number of shocks.

3. Conversion Time

The relevant standards require that the conversion time is as short as possible, and there is no reasonable reason, and the conversion time is required to be no more than 1min to achieve the maximum temperature shock effect. Sometimes due to the size of the specimen and other reasons, it is necessary to use the transportation equipment to complete the transfer, the conversion time may exceed 1min, when the conversion time exceeds 1min, the reasonableness of the exceeded time should be explained.

4. Temperature Change Rate

The relevant standards stipulate that for the temperature shock test, the product is required to be quickly converted between high and low temperature boxes, and the conversion time is less than or equal to 5min.

LIB 2-zone hot cold thermal shock test chamber is available in small capacity and large capacity to meet different testing requirements. Test can be performed during thermal shock testing from -70 to +200°C. The specimen automatic transferred from cold chamber to hot chamber by basket. The basket slides vertically and smoothly through rails, to make the specimen is exposed to the two chambers.

Vibration Test

The aerospace industry has special requirements for vibration testing, because damage to orbiting satellites is not easy to repair. Testing equipment is a major part of a development plan that involves testing several different parameters at the same time.Spacecraft vibration test is an important part of spacecraft satellite environmental engineering, which plays a very important role in assessing whether spacecraft can withstand the harsh dynamic environment of the launch stage. During the launch flight of the spacecraft, the engine operation and POGO effect, rocket engine ignition/shutdown and interstage separation cause a high-intensity vibration environment, which will cause structural deformation or damage to the spacecraft and its components. After years of practice, it has been proved that vibration tests on spacecraft on the ground can ensure the environmental adaptability of spacecraft. Therefore, vibration test is also crucial in the field of aerospace.

There are many sensors inside the aircraft, such as the IMU inertial measurement unit, if these perceived data are affected by oscillation, the final result is that the hoverboard may "go crazy" and become uncontrolled; Secondly, the internal hardware structure is messy, the integrated strength of the fuselage is high, if the oscillation leads to abnormal hardware connection, screws or modules slack, etc., in fact, it is unacceptable. At the same time, the oscillation of the hoverboard itself will affect the stability of the flight and the effect of aerial photography. You know, if you often go out, the road will be affected by the fluctuation of the vehicle, takeoff and landing do not circulate or often bump will also be affected by the oscillation, so the flight robot's resistance to oscillation can not be neglected.

LIB THV Series vibration chambers combine temperature, humidity and vibration environmental conditions, which consists of temperature humidity chamber and vibration shaker. LIB can design custom systems that are capable of testing small items to large products and can customize the size, temperature, humidity and vibration table according to customer requirements. Provide one-stop solutions for design, production, installation, commissioning and training.

Model		THV-1000
Internal Dimension (mm)		1000*1000*1000
Overall Dimension (mm)		1800*4600*2600
Interior Volume		1000L
Parameter	Temperature Range	-50℃ ～ +150 ℃
	Temperature Fluctuation	± 0.5 ℃
	Temperature Deviation	± 2.0 ℃
	Humidity Range	30% ~ 98% RH
	Humidity Deviation	± 2.5% RH
	Cooling Rate	5 ℃ / min
	Heating Rate	5 ℃ / min

Summary

Environmental test is to evaluate the functional reliability of a product in all environments such as expected use, transportation or storage during the specified lifespan. It is to expose the product to natural or artificial environmental conditions, to evaluate the performance of the product under the environmental conditions of actual use, transportation and storage, and to analyze the degree of influence of environmental factors and its mechanism of action. By using various environmental test equipment to simulate high temperature, low temperature, high temperature and high humidity, and temperature changes in the climate environment, we can accelerate the reaction of the product in the use environment to verify whether it meets the expected quality in R&D, design, and manufacturing. Target, so as to evaluate the product as a whole to determine the product reliability life.

LIB provides high-quality environmental test chambers and test solutions. We have rich experience in this field and are adept at solving a wide range of testing problems.

Need to perform environmental test for your product? Contact us now.