GB1603068A - Transportable environment-controlling arrangement - Google Patents

Description

(54) A TRANSPORTABLE ENVIRONMENT-CONTROLLING ARRANGEMENT (71) We, VÖTSCH GMBH, a German Body Corporate, of D-6450 Hanau/Main, Federal Republic of Germany, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: The present invention relates to a transportable environment controlling arrangement, in particular for materials testing.

Existing environmental testing chambers are provided with massive walls and are therefore intended to be set up in specific locations.

It is an object of the invention to provide an easily transportable environmentcontrolling arrangement which makes it possible to produce a closed chamber in which the environment can be controlled, around existing, e.g. fixed, equipment such as materials testing equipment.

Accordingly, the invention consists in a transportable environment-controlling arrangement comprising a transportable chamber which is use contains a testing apparatus, and an environment-controlling unit arranged outside the chamber in fluid flow communication with the interior of the chamber, said chamber being formed and enclosed by a tent the wall of which includes at least one metal-coated plastics foil.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood, reference will now be made in the accompanying drawings which show one embodiment thereof by way of example and in which: Figure 1 is a cross-section through part of the wall of the tent of the arrangement, and Figure 2 shows the tent and the environment controlling unit.

Referring now the drawings, as can be seen in Figure 1, an area of the tent wall comprises, reading from the outside inwards, an aluminium foil 1, a soft resilient interlayer 2 of a foamed material such as foam rubber, a carrier sheet 4 of plastics material containing closed, adjoining air chambers, as shown, which is sandwiched between corrugated polyester foils 3, an asbestos fabric 5 and a further aluminium foil. Aluminium is vapour-deposited on one side of the corrugated polyester foil. Because of the metal-coated plastics foils and the carrier sheet containing the closed air chambers, the total thickness of the wall of the tent need be only 5 to 10 mm.It has been found that the thermal insulation afforded by a tent constructed in this way provides a reliable thermal screen from the surroundings for temperatures in the interior of between -800C and + 200"C.

As can be seen in Figure 2, the tent 13 which forms a climatic chamber, is arranged around the testing or measurement section of a piece of materials testing equipment 6 in such a way that it is possible to fit the climatic tent and associated environmentcontrolling unit 8 retrospectively to the piece of materials testing equipment 6 at any time.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 2, a tension compression testing machine is used for materials testing. The specimen 11 to be tested is clamped between two tension or compression members. The way in which a materials testing machine of this kind generates tension or compression is known.

The environment-controlling unit 8 is also known per se and is generally used to produce cold or heat, for which reason there is no need to further describe this unit.

Reference numberal 9 indicates a circulating pump or blower to circulate a medium, such as air for example. Generally speaking, one example of environment control may be referred to as "air-conditioning" but the fluid need not be air, it could be any gas or liquid and the environment which this gas or liquid provides can be modified by any desired additions of other gases or liquids for testing purposes.

The tent 13 is advantageously provided with an opening closable by a sliding-clasp fastener 10, which makes it easy to use.

The invention is capable of a large number of applications not in only in materials testing but also in research, in particular in biology and other fields of applied research.

The chief advantage of the invention is that expensive, specially built structures are no longer required to produce a climatic chamber suitable for a particular application, to give some desired special environment (and also extreme temperatures, pressures, moisture and so on).

Because the environment-controlling unit 8 is situated outside the tent 13, not only can the size of the space within the tent in which the environment is to be controlled be varied but so also can the number of tents.

Thus, it is possible to supply a plurality of tents from a single unit. In this case it is merely necessary to connect together the various inlet ducts 7 to the tent and the various outlet ducts 12 from the tent to the unit in any appropriate fashion.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A transportable environmentcontrolling arrangement comprising a transportable chamber which in use contains a testing apparatus, and an environmentcontrolling unit arranged outside the chamber in fluid flow communication with the interior of the chamber, said chamber being formed and enclosed by a tent the wall of which includes at least one metal coated plastics foil.

2. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tent wall comprises a carrier sheet containing a plurality of air chambers, which is sandwiched between metal-coated plastics foils, at least one heat-insulating interlayer, and at least one outer reflective metal foil.

3. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tent wall includes a heatinsulating interlayer composed of a foamed material.

4. An arrangement as claimed in claim 3, wherein said foamed material is foam rubber.

5. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein a heat-insulating interlayer is composed of asbestos fabric.

6. An arrangement as claimed in claim 2, wherein the foils which are connected to the carrier sheet comprise polyester foils with aluminium vapour-deposited on them.

7. An arrangement as claimed in any of the preceding claims 2 to 6, wherein the carrier sheet is composed of plastics material and said air chambers are situated closely adjoining one another.

8. An arrangement as claimed in any of the preceding claims 2 to 7, wherein the reflective metal foil is composed of aluminium and is situated at both the inside and the outside surfaces.

9. An arrangement as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein the tent has an opening closable by a sliding-clasp fastener.

10. An arrangement as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the tent has sealable passages for the admission at least certain parts of testing apparatus.

11. An arrangement as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the tent has sealable passages for an inlet connection and an outlet connection to the environment controlling unit whereby the latter can circulate an environement-controlling medium within the tent.

12. An arrangement as claimed in claim 11, wherein the medium is air.

13. A transportable environmentcontrolling arrangement substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (13)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. desired additions of other gases or liquids for testing purposes. The tent 13 is advantageously provided with an opening closable by a sliding-clasp fastener 10, which makes it easy to use. The invention is capable of a large number of applications not in only in materials testing but also in research, in particular in biology and other fields of applied research. The chief advantage of the invention is that expensive, specially built structures are no longer required to produce a climatic chamber suitable for a particular application, to give some desired special environment (and also extreme temperatures, pressures, moisture and so on). Because the environment-controlling unit 8 is situated outside the tent 13, not only can the size of the space within the tent in which the environment is to be controlled be varied but so also can the number of tents. Thus, it is possible to supply a plurality of tents from a single unit. In this case it is merely necessary to connect together the various inlet ducts 7 to the tent and the various outlet ducts 12 from the tent to the unit in any appropriate fashion. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A transportable environmentcontrolling arrangement comprising a transportable chamber which in use contains a testing apparatus, and an environmentcontrolling unit arranged outside the chamber in fluid flow communication with the interior of the chamber, said chamber being formed and enclosed by a tent the wall of which includes at least one metal coated plastics foil.

2. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tent wall comprises a carrier sheet containing a plurality of air chambers, which is sandwiched between metal-coated plastics foils, at least one heat-insulating interlayer, and at least one outer reflective metal foil.

3. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tent wall includes a heatinsulating interlayer composed of a foamed material.

4. An arrangement as claimed in claim 3, wherein said foamed material is foam rubber.

5. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein a heat-insulating interlayer is composed of asbestos fabric.

6. An arrangement as claimed in claim 2, wherein the foils which are connected to the carrier sheet comprise polyester foils with aluminium vapour-deposited on them.

7. An arrangement as claimed in any of the preceding claims 2 to 6, wherein the carrier sheet is composed of plastics material and said air chambers are situated closely adjoining one another.

8. An arrangement as claimed in any of the preceding claims 2 to 7, wherein the reflective metal foil is composed of aluminium and is situated at both the inside and the outside surfaces.

9. An arrangement as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein the tent has an opening closable by a sliding-clasp fastener.

10. An arrangement as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the tent has sealable passages for the admission at least certain parts of testing apparatus.

11. An arrangement as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the tent has sealable passages for an inlet connection and an outlet connection to the environment controlling unit whereby the latter can circulate an environement-controlling medium within the tent.

12. An arrangement as claimed in claim 11, wherein the medium is air.

13. A transportable environmentcontrolling arrangement substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.