Given how much time and energy you have invested in developing a new vehicle, it is crazy not to undergo all the tests available on the market. Low temperatures, for example, can turn the tables for sure. Always testing your vehicle in a cold testing chamber will assure you that it lives up to the high expectations before you release it to the market.
What is a cold testing chamber?
A cold testing chamber is a unit where you, for example, can test how vehicles and their different components function in a cold climate. The cold chamber allows you to do repeatable tests in a controlled environment to make sure that the vehicle lives up to the expectations and safety standards. The size of the cold testing chamber depends of course on the size of the vehicle that needs to be tested. Some chambers allow testing of heavy vehicles like buses and trucks, but there are also smaller chambers that allow smaller components to be tested.
A cold testing chamber can provide temperatures down to -30, or even -40 degrees Celsius.
Low temperatures can be as challenging for humans as for vehicles, so thankfully a great deal of the cold testing chambers allows you to monitor the temperature on your smartphone or computer from your cozy office.
What can you test in a Cold Testing Chamber?
Testing your car, truck, bus, or tram, is the only way to be certain that the vehicle lives up to the high-quality standard and meets the safety measurements. Otherwise, you will stay ignorant of what will happen to the vehicle you are developing if it’s exposed to extreme temperatures. So always remember to do vehicle chamber testing before you release the latest model to the market.
These effects can appear if materials are exposed to cold temperatures down to -30 degrees Celsius:
- Increased brittleness
- Enhanced frailty
- Augment of stiffness
Low temperatures don’t just affect materials, but also critical components in the vehicle. The coldness can for example have a huge impact on the overall drivability and also affect subsystems making driving the car a risky business.
Why you always should do a vehicle chamber testing
To put your car model in a cold testing chamber might not seem like your highest priority, but the decision can have a paramount impact on the future of your model and brand. You will be releasing your vehicle to markets where you don’t have all the intel on the occurrent climate and therefore you should leave no room for mistakes. A car that suffers a serious decrease in performance and capacity in cold weather, is likely to be seen as a bad investment and might give bad will to your company.
To do vehicle chamber testing will probably be more important in the future considering all the electric cars that are about to be built and the fact that the climate changes don’t just come with higher temperatures but also more extreme weather like the severe winter storms.
The most crucial component of the e-car is of course the battery because it contains lithium that is very sensitive to temperature. An e-car will cover approximately 20 percent fewer miles in cold temperatures than in a warmer climate. The battery will also take longer to charge. To overcome these inconveniences a great amount of research is needed, probably involving a cold testing chamber. Are you up for the challenge?
Where can you find cold chambers?
You can find Cold Testing Chambers in northern Sweden and other cold places around the globe.