Conditioning

The purpose of product environmental testing

• To uncover design or material weaknesses within the product
• To help determine the product life expectancy or MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures)
• To determine compliance with company, customer, or government specifications
• To qualify new vendors for components or subassemblies.
• To provide product quality and safety liability data

Temperature Extremes

Depending on the in-use or distribution environment, a product will see a variety of temperature extremes. A temperature profile is established to determine the sensitivity of the product.

Humidity Extremes

Humidity can cause premature damage to products. Low humidity levels may dry out bonded or glued components while high humidity may cause corrosion.

Mechanical Shock

Simulates when the product is dropped or bumped. The purpose of this test is to determine the fragility of the product. Testing includes the use of Halfsine or Trapezoidal (Square-wave) shock pulses.

Vibration

Simulates, vibration during transportation or the in-use environment. It is critical that a product be tested to identify the vibration frequencies to which it is sensitive. Both sine and random vibration can be conducted to identify the resonant frequencies within the product. This information can then be used to design a package or applied to the redesign of the product.

Altitude

Altitude may be important due to the difference in air density. A product may show sensitivities to altitude which may affect performance.

Margin Testing

Tests the ruggedness of the product above & beyond the required test specification. This can be applied to any of the above tests and can be used to collect additional data about a product.