Conference sessions are comprised of technical papers, panels, and case studies on the latest issues impacting the industry. Get the most up-to-date information from leading industry experts in your fields.

Program subject to change. More session presentations will be added below as they are approved.

Monday, May 2, 2022

Climatics Testing
9:30 a.m. - 11 a.m. Central Time
Co-chair: Randy Patrick
Co-chair: Erick Acosta

Session will address equipment and test tailoring considerations to meet laboratory test standards and natural environment climatic test requirements. Modification of control tolerances or equipment operational parameters are frequently required to meet unique test objectives. Audience participation and questions are encouraged.

Presentations

• Performance to Meet the Demand: Humidity Instruments for Modern Test Chambers  - Justin Walsh, Vaisala Inc.
• Compliant Internal Calibrations in the Test Laboratory - Douglas Burnette
• Spectrum Checks of Metal Halide Solar Simulators used for MIL-STD-810H - Dr. Oliver D. Rahäuser, Atlas Material Testing Technology GmbH

Climatic Testing – Chamber Design/Service Panel Discussion
11:20 a.m. - 12:50 p.m. Central Time
Co-chair: Randy Patrick
Co-chair: Erick Acosta

Panel members will discuss climatic test chamber industry, chamber design and
maintenance/service considerations. Planned discussion topics, as time permits, include chamber
manufacturing, customer considerations for chamber purchase, combined/extreme environment
equipment, controllers, equipment technology changes.

Panelists:

• Jeff Koch - KOCH Environmental
• Mark Lamers - Thermotron
• Jeff Rennia - ENVIREN Services, Inc.
   

 Testing Hazardous Products
1:45 - 3:15 p.m. Central Time
Chairs: Joseph Hentz

Environmental testing inherently includes hazards.  Safety of personnel and equipment (both yours and the lab’s) is always the number one priority.  This session will include discussions of unique elements of testing hazardous products and how to ensure safety of personnel and equipment during test programs.

Presentations:

• Battery Testing for DOT Hazardous Materiel Certification - Julie Jennings, Lockheed Martin
• Flammable Materials in Environmental Test Chambers - Ben Shank, Thermotron Industries

Tuesday, May 3, 2022

Reliability Testing
10:15 - 11:45 a.m. Central Time
Chairs: Julio Pulido, Nortek

Presentations

• Reliabliity of Membrane to Mechanical and Chemical Degradation - Dr. Julio Pulido, Nortek
• All-terminal Network Reliability Estimation with Graph Neural Networks - Dr. Alex Davila-Frias, Escuela Politécnica Nacional (National Polytechnic School), Ecuador

Risk-based Analysis
1:30 - 3:00 p.m. Central Time
Chair: Bill Haughey

Presentation

• Key Characteristics as Defined by FMEA - Bill Haughey, ReliaTrain

Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Prognostic and Health Management for Test Item and Test Equipment
11:00 a.m. -12:30 p.m. Central Time
Chair: TBD

Presentations

• Buffer Sizing for a Chemical Process Design - Hongan Li, Asset Studio
• Battery Capacity Prognostics - Dr. Julio Pulido, Nortek
   

Panel Discussion: Test Engineer and Technician Development
2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Central Time
Chair: Ben Shank, Thermotron Industries

Continuing our multi-year panel series on running a test lab, we focus on developing and retaining the pool of people who make the work of the lab happen.  Three experienced test directors will discuss their experience in a variety of organizations.  Audience participation is encouraged.

Thursday, May 5, 2022

Development of Shock and Vibration Test Criteria
9:45 - 11:15 a.m. Central Time
Chair: Abdallah Ramini, IBM

This session covers aspects of shock and vibration testing to provide innovative testing techniques enabling our decisions to be more reliable and trustworthy to meet the needs of today and drive industries to the possibilities of tomorrow. Topics include integrating field data, product experience, multi-degree of freedom, experimental modal analysis, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the testing regime and incorporating test results into future development and product use.

Presentations

• Comparisons between a Spectral Density Matrix Based Six Degree-of-Freedom and a Traditional One Degree-of-Freedom Vibration Specification Development for a Common Large Cargo Truck Bed - Michael Hale, Trideum Corporation
• ISO Standardization for Vibration Testing of E-Mobility Components in Road Vehicles - Dr. Christian Dindorf, Robert Bosch GmbH

Applications of  Shock and Vibration Testing
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Central Time
Chair: Abdallah Ramini, IBM

This session covers aspects of shock and vibration applications to provide innovative solutions enabling our industries for the possibilities of tomorrow. Topics include integrating actuators, neural networks, machine learning, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the product solutions  and incorporating the generated signals into future developments and products.

Presentations

• Multiple Exciter Single Axis Vibration Control - Jeff Zhao and James Zhuge, Crystal Instruments
• Shock and Vibration Sensros Get Even Smarter - Dr. Fadi Alsaleem, University of Nebraska

Real Life Fixturing Challenges and Principles
1:30 - 3:00 p.m. Central Time 
Chair: Ben Shank, Thermotron

How a product is held on test can radically affect its dynamics and alter the ability to deliver realistic climatic environments.  Talks in this session showcase fixturing challenges and principles using specific examples.

Presentations

• Experimental Vibration Fixture Evaluation Best Practices - Steve Brenner, Equipment Reliability Institute
• Fixture Pictures - Ben Shank, Thermotron Industries

To submit an abstract for one of the above topics, please click here.