From Concept to Commissioning: The Walk-In Chamber Project Lifecycle.

Testing large, high-voltage electric vehicle (EV) battery packs in a walk-in environmental chambers requires a specialized focus on safety. A catastrophic battery failure could lead to thermal runaway, fire, and the release of hazardous gases. WBE designs our battery testing chambers with a multi-tiered safety protocol to mitigate these risks. This can include an inert gas fire suppression system (using N2 or CO2), rapid ventilation and purging systems, and gas detectors to monitor for electrolytes or hydrogen. The chamber construction can be reinforced to withstand potential energetic events. We also integrate with the battery management system (BMS) and the facility's safety interlocks, allowing for an automatic shutdown of the test and the chamber in an emergency. These specialized safety features are essential for the safe and effective validation of EV battery technology in a walk-in environmental chambers.

The choice between modular and welded construction for your walk-in environmental chambers depends on your specific performance needs and long-term plans. Modular construction uses prefabricated insulated panels that are mechanically locked together. This is the most common and versatile method, offering a good balance of performance and cost. Its key advantage is flexibility; a modular chamber can be expanded, downsized, or even relocated in the future. Welded construction features a continuously welded, vapor-proof stainless steel interior liner. This method provides the highest level of performance and durability, and it is the required choice for extreme conditions such as very high humidity, rapid temperature cycling, or altitude simulation where a perfect seal is critical to prevent moisture intrusion or air leaks. WBE's experts can help you analyze this trade-off to select the right construction for your walk-in environmental chambers.

Performing environmental tests on a full, operational vehicle in a walk-in environmental chambers presents unique challenges. The first is the massive thermal load. A running vehicle generates a significant amount of its own heat, and the chamber's conditioning system must be powerful enough to overcome this and maintain the desired setpoint. The second challenge is managing exhaust fumes. A specialized exhaust extraction system must be integrated with the chamber to safely vent the vehicle's emissions to the outside. Third, the chamber floor must be heavily reinforced to handle the vehicle's point loads from the tires and be equipped with a dynamometer for certain tests. WBE addresses these challenges by engineering our drive-in chambers with oversized cooling systems, integrated exhaust ventilation, and dynamometer-ready floor structures, providing a complete and safe solution for full-vehicle testing in a walk-in environmental chambers.

In a large walk-in environmental chambers, achieving temperature uniformity is far more challenging than in a small chamber, and it is entirely dependent on the airflow system. Without carefully engineered airflow, you will have significant temperature variations—it might be much colder near the air outlet and warmer in a far corner. This would invalidate test results, as different parts of your product would be experiencing different conditions. A high-performance system, like those designed by WBE, uses a powerful conditioning plenum and strategically designed ductwork to create a homogenous, turbulent airflow pattern that blankets the entire workspace. This ensures that the temperature variance within the chamber is kept to a minimum (e.g., ±1.0°C), guaranteeing that your test is accurate, repeatable, and that the data you collect is reliable for your entire product.