Abstract
An environmental chamber is a specialistic device used for testing effects of given controlled conditions on a variety of objects. In case of plant growth chambers, the conditions are controlled usually for plant cultivation and propagation or botanical examination undertaken on living plant material. The aim of the project was to design and build a prototype of a desktop device with a control system capable of being used as a chamber supporting plant cultivation and propagation processes by the means of partial automation of environment control. The conditions controlled in the chamber are based on the environmental requirements of plant genera, such as Heliamphora, Drosera, Orectanthe, Cyrilla, Stegolepis, Maguireothamnus, or Utricularia. These plants occur naturally in the Guiana Highlands region of Venezuela, Brazil, and Guyana, especially around the upper parts of table-shaped mountain massifs called tepuis. The chamber was designed to simulate some of the peculiar natural factors and phenomena occurring in the high-tepui and surrounding mid-elevation wetland habitats, being the most significant for amateur-level plant cultivation, keeping the design as simple and low cost as possible. It was proven on the basis of the results of several tests made during the evaluation phase that the designed prototype of the chamber operates in a satisfying way, providing basic functionality matching the base assumptions.
Highlights
Called a climatic or climate chamber, is a specialistic device used for testing the effects of given conditions on a variety of subjects
After completing the assembly of the chamber and programming for the control system, the device was put under testing
The minimal value defined in the control system settings was 10 ◦ C
Summary
Called a climatic or climate chamber, is a specialistic device used for testing the effects of given conditions on a variety of subjects. It is usually designed to isolate a given item from the external environment and replicate specific conditions that are necessary for many different purposes, depending on the object to be placed inside the chamber [2]. These conditions might be used to test the item (e.g., a material or specific mechanical component) under the exposure to amplified and accelerated damaging processes, such as erosion, low or high pressure, extreme ranges of humidity, thermal shocks, vibrations, salts and other corrosive agents, UV light, vacuum etc., being the results of changing atmospheric conditions. The chambers are used to experiment with various physical or chemical phenomena, such as the atmospheric chemistry [3], or even to simulate the environments of other planets [4].
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