AGREE Chambers

AGREE Chambers

Environmental test chambers reproduce environmental conditions within a contained space for the purposes of evaluating the long-term effects of specific changes upon objects. AGREE chambers combine elements of environmental test chambers to evaluate the effects of conditions of not only temperature and humidity, but with the additional factor of vibration. These conditions simulate those which a product will typically encounter in the span of its useful life. AGREE chambers were used for military purposes, and so are held to a stricter standard than those chambers used with consumer purposes in mind for example. This is important because strict control during the environmental testing process will yield the most accurate and useful results for future modifications and improvements.

As the sizes of the products undergoing AGREE testing are widely varied, the sizes of the chambers are also as broad. Test chambers can range from simple, smaller benchtop test chambers that are suitable for the testing of a single component or small product, to a variety of sizes of altitude chambers, to the larger, more complex walk-in test chambers that are suitable for larger products, and even drive-in chambers for vehicles and aircraft. The addition of a vibratory component to one of these larger AGREE chambers complicates the design of the chamber as it had to be built to accommodate the mechanism for this underneath the floor of the existing chamber. AGREE chamber manufacturers usually offer chambers capable of temperatures ranging from -100 degrees Fahrenheit to approximately 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and with humidity levels ranging from 20% to 95% relative humidity. Temperature and humidity are two of the common environmental conditions tested due to their ability to easily cause lasting damage and due to the likelihood of these conditions being present in a natural environment as well. With this range, AGREE chambers are able to replicate the extremes of the conditions that the products will likely experience and will comprehensively evaluate the effects.