The simple division of environmental testing can be divided into “climate environmental testing”, “mechanical environmental testing” and “comprehensive environmental testing”.

Climate-related environmental tests include environmental stress tests such as temperature, humidity, and pressure, while mechanical environmental tests include environmental stress tests such as shock and vibration, and comprehensive environmental tests are stress tests that integrate climate and mechanical environmental factors.

• Mechanical environmental test: Environmental stress: impact, vibration, collision, acceleration, high noise, high wind
• Comprehensive Environmental Test: Environmental Stress: Environmental Factors Combining Mechanical Environment and Climate Environment
• Climate environment test: Environmental stress: temperature and humidity, gas, salt fog, wind and rain, pressure, solar radiation

Of course, tests conducted using environmental test equipment cannot completely reproduce the environment in which the product is used and simulate all environmental factors. Here, the limitations of environmental tests must be understood.

An environmental test consisting of a single factor (temperature, humidity, pressure, vibration, shock, or a substance such as salt) is called a simple environmental test.

In fact, it is very difficult to create a completely single environment, and most test environments are very complicated.

Therefore, when designing the test conditions, the tester needs to select the most important environmental factor that has the greatest impact on the product, so the environmental test can only be an artificial environment that is still very different from the real environment.

In general, product defects are caused by the following aspects:

1. The concentration and diversity of raw materials, friction, wear, stress, heat, current, and electric field strength, these factors will affect the performance of certain aspects of the product;
2. Factors caused by product characteristics (raw materials, manufacturing processes, structural components, and mass production) during product design and manufacturing;
3. Stress is generated by the external environment.

Therefore, the test conditions must be based on specific product conditions, which are different for different products.

If the product under test has changed, the corresponding environmental test will also change.

Environmental testing type

Environmental chamber testing usually uses a single-factor test and multi-factor combination test, which act on the products in a certain order.

To improve the accuracy and reliability of the test results, environmental tests have also begun to develop comprehensive tests, and actively develop large-scale multi-functional environmental test equipment that can simultaneously apply stress such as temperature, humidity, vibration, radiation, sand, wind, and rain.

The main types of environmental testing chambers :

1. Climate environmental testing chambers

Applicable standards are GB2423, GJB150A, GJB4, IEC60068, GJB1032, GJB322A, GJB360A, GJB548, GB4208, GJB899, TB3021, etc.

• Temperature test chamber

High-temperature test chamber, low-temperature test chamber, temperature impact test chamber, temperature change testing chamber, rapid temperature change testing chamber (temperature change rate up to 15 degrees/min), high temperature aging testing chamber, temperature cycle testing chamber, benchtop temperature chambers, etc.

• Humidity (humid)test chamber

Constant damp heat test chamber, alternating damp heat test chamber, high temperature and high humid test chamber, benchtop humidity chamber, etc.

• Shell protection grade test chamber

IP42, IP44, P54, IP55, IP65, IP66, IP67, IP68 protection level certification, and testing chamber services;

• Three-proof test chamber

Salt spray corrosion tester (neutral salt spray tester, alternating salt spray tester, acid salt spray tester), damp heat tester (constant damp heat, alternating damp heat), etc ;

• Special tester

Simulated high altitude test chamber, solar radiation test chamber, rain spray test environmental chamber, sand and dust test chamber, benchtop environmental chamber, walk-in environmental chambers, etc.

2. Mechanical environment testing chambers

Applicable standards are GB2423, GJB150A, GJB4, IEC60068, GJB1032, GJB322A, GJB360A, GJB548, TB3058, GJB899, GB / T21563, ISO16750, etc.

• Vibration tester

Sine vibration tester (sweep frequency endurance tester), random vibration tester, broadband random vibration tester, narrow-band random vibration tester, etc.

• Shock tester

Thermal shock chamber, the semi-sine wave mechanical shock tester, after peak sawtooth wave shock tester, shock response spectrum tester, temperature shock chamber, etc.

• Other test chambers

Drop tester (free fall, repeated drop), collision tester, acceleration tester, thermal cycling chambers, walk-in test chambers, etc.

3. Comprehensive environmental reliability testing chamber

The applicable standards are GB2423, GJB150A, GJB899, etc.

Temperature and humidity combined testing chamber, temperature, and humidity and vibration comprehensive test chamber (three comprehensive test chamber), etc.

What is UN Manual of Tests and Criteria Part III Subsection 38.3

In most of the guides of one equipment, you maybe find that it should be by the standard called UN Manual of Tests and Criteria Part III Subsection 38.3 ( also known as UN 38.3 Testing).

You must wonder what exactly it is.

Today’s guide will enable you to have a detailed knowledge of it.

Firstly, the UN 38.3 Testing Manual of Tests and Criteria is a collection of criteria, test methods, and procedures.

It is applied for the classification of dangerous goods according to the provisions of the “United Nations Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, Model Regulations”.

Besides, it also finds usage in identifying chemicals presenting physical hazards according to the “Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals” (GHS).

This manual has been regularly updated and amended every two years.

Since 01. January 2019 the 6. Revised edition of the UN Manual of Tests and Criteria, Amendment 1 is valid.

You could find the revised editions of Amendment 1 under this link:

https://www.unece.org/trans/areas-of-work/dangerous-goods/legal-instruments-and-recommendations/un-manual-of-tests-and-criteria/amend-to-rev6.html

Besides, if you want to find the English version of the UN 38.3 test manual, you could log in to the hyperlink as follows:

https://www.unece.org/trans/areas-of-work/dangerous-goods/legal-instruments-and-recommendations/un-manual-of-tests-and-criteria/rev6-files.html

UN 38.3 battery testing I am gonna introducing is part III of this manual, which describes in subsection 38.3.

It covers 8 test modules, which are also called T.1 to T.8 test:

T1 – Altitude Simulation (Primary and Secondary Cells and Batteries)
T2 – Thermal Test (Primary and Secondary Cells and Batteries)
T3 – Vibration (Primary and Secondary Cells and Batteries)
T4 – Shock (Primary and Secondary Cells and Batteries)
T5 – External Short Circuit (Primary and Secondary Cells and Batteries)
T6 – Impact (Primary and Secondary Cells)
T7 – Overcharge (Secondary Batteries)
T8 – Forced Discharge (Primary and Secondary Cells)

UN 38.3 Testing can simulate significant environmental, mechanical, and electrical stresses to test lithium-ion batteries’ ability to withstand the unpredictable conditions incurred during transport.

As we all know, the lithium-ion battery is classified as a dangerous good.

They can pose a safety risk if not tested and properly packaged following the transport regulations.

The international regulation will differ if the batteries are transported by different means.

Therefore, before lithium-ion batteries can be brought to the market, they must have successfully passed certain tests.

These tests can simulate transport conditions like pressure, temperature, crush, humidity, etc.

Hence, they can help you ensure the safety of your lithium-ion battery or cells during shipping.

There are mainly three standards for testing lithium-ion battery:

UN/DOT 38.3 5^th Edition, Amendment 1 – Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods

If you want to ship a lithium-ion battery across the world by air, rail, road, or truck, you will need to ensure that your batteries have passed UN/DOT 38.3.

Popular in many countries’ shipments of dangerous goods regulations, this standard can ensure the transportation safety of all lithium-ion cells and batteries.

UN/DOT 38.3 covers 8 test modules, whose difficulty level differs a lot.

For example, the altitude test is intense and long-running, which is the easiest to pass.

IEC 62133

IEC 62133 is the standard in accord with international compliance.  UN 38.3 transportation testing (see the previous section) is an integral requirement but does not need to be repeated.

The standard includes four tests: 2.2 Molded Case Stress; 3.2 External Short Circuit; 3.3 Free Fall; 3.6 Overcharging of Battery

Compared to the integral requirements of UN 38.3, these tests are relatively easy to pass.

UL 2054

UL 2054 is an important U.S. compliance standard involving roughly double the number of tests found in the UN or IEC requirements: 7 electrical tests; 4 mechanical tests; 4 battery enclosure tests; 1 fire exposure test; 2 environmental tests.

UL has released the first edition of UL 62133, which chime in with IEC 62133, 2nd Edition. UL 2054 and UL 62133 compete for the same test space by nature although their requirements vary a lot.

What is thermal shock?

Thermal shock means that due to the rapid heating or cooling, the object generates a large amount of heat exchange in a short time. When the temperature changes drastically, the object will produce a thermal shock. This phenomenon is called thermal shock.

When a metal material is subjected to rapid heating and cooling, a large temperature difference will be generated inside it, which will cause a large impact on thermal stress. This phenomenon is called thermal shock.

A large thermal shock generates thermal stress that can exceed the yield limit of the material and cause damage to the metal parts.

What is the thermal shock chamber?

A thermal shock chamber is a kind of structural material or composite material that can be tolerated in a continuous environment of extremely high temperature and extremely low temperature in an instant so that it can be caused by thermal expansion and contraction in the shortest time. Chemical changes and physical damage to the machine.

There are two main ways for DGBell’s thermal shock:

1. Thermal Shock Test Chamber (Two Zone): the thermal shock chamber has two chambers (high temperature zone and low temperature zone), the high temperature zone and the low temperature zone are filled with silicone oil, and the sample is placed in a hanging basket, which passes through the high temperature zone and low temperature of the hanging basket. The movement of the zone achieves the effect of hot and cold shocks.
2. Thermal Shock Test Chamber (Three Zone): The thermal shock chamber has three chambers (high temperature zone, normal temperature zone, and low temperature zone). During the test, the sample is kept in the normal temperature area, but the effect of cold and hot shock is achieved by the opening and closing of the damper in the high temperature area and the normal temperature area, and the damper in the low temperature area and the normal temperature area.