Testing in hot & wet environment: looking for suitable lighting solution

[compositeFEA]

Hi everyone,

I am working on a design project and I need to find some special lighting equipment. The problem is that the lighting device will work in hostile environment, i.e. hot and wet. The temperature can be as high as 250F (120C) and the relative humidity can be around 95%. The lights will be placed in an environmental chamber for illuminating the test that is going on inside. Do you know about companies that could help me out choosing the right lighting solution? Or do you have any experience/advice that could give me an orientation?

Thank you!

 

[rb1957]

you could put the lights in a sealed compartment

 

[MiketheEngineer]

Maybe "explosion proof" lights might work. They are highly protected. Buy extras!!

 

[TheTick]

My oven light doesn't seems to have any issues. It's just a plain incandescent light and has worked at well over 400F.

 

[MintJulep]

You are unlikely to find anything that will survive for long.

Mount lights outside of the chamber and shine them in through windows.

 

[ScottyUK]

Optical fibre light guides? Mount the lighting externally and shine it through a window? Prisms, or at least total internal reflection, may allow you to build a light pipe - this is quite common in the electronics industry where an LED is mounted on a PCB for ease of manufacture at a position remote from where the visible indicator is located.

 

[DRWeig]

Agree with tick. No real need for sealing, the lamp is hot when operating. My oven lamp has been shining away for over 15 years. If a shield is needed for other reasons, be sure and get glass. Check the gasket material for applicability at that temperature as well. Many are listed for wet locations too.


Best to you,

Goober Dave

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[ScottyUK]

It would probably help to have some idea whether this test chamber is a box a few inches across or a structure the size of a house, and how well illuminated it needs to be.

 

[chicopee]

You can use a similar lighting system found in hot tubs.

 

[ScottyUK]

You run your hot tub at 120°C? Wow.

 

[compositeFEA]

Hi everyone,

Thanks a lot for your comments! The inside dimensions of the chamber are: width (& depth) = 15", height = 32". It is going to be mounted on a MTS machine just like a conventional thermal chamber (the look will be similar to that of MTS thermal chambers, such as the one showed on the web page attached to this post). The grips of the machine and the specimen are mounted vertically in the chamber, and there is enough room all around them to mount different types of light. Usually, a thermal chamber (w/o humidity option) comes with 1 incandesent bulb mounted on the side wall or on the back wall. According to my experience, it is not bright enough to illuminate the specimen so that a camera (outside) can track some small things appearing on the specimen's surface. I used to put some bright lamps from outside of the chamber, but reflection on the windows was a problem. So now, since we are designing a new chamber (with humidity option), it would be cool to have very effective lights inside!

Maybe conventional incandescent bulbs could do the job, since the air in an oven can be very wet during cooking anyway. But I don't know about 100% humidity... Optical fibre light is interesting, I should check for the options available. Hot tub lights are sealed, might be interesting too. These are interesting ideas, I will keep you posted if there is any development!