China Dispatch: Adventures in Case Manufacturing

Let's Start At The Beginning, Continued

Once Chenbro has determined that the design is within the thermal performance of the case, next comes the RF testing. Once again, the RF testing is done in a sealed RF testing environment and monitored during the testing process by computerized equipment. This equipment produces a report to indicate a 'pass' or 'fail' of each unit. We questioned the Chenbro engineers about the impact of a case window on the RF testing process; we were informed that cases with windows (no matter the size of the window) would not pass due to the window's lack of RF shielding. As you can see, RF testing is very expensive due to the size of the testing chamber and equipment that is required.

A picture from inside the RF testing chamber.

This is the computer and monitoring station used to record the results from the RF testing. These results are then analyzed to determine whether the case passes or fails the RF testing process.

Chenbro does not have an on site acoustical testing lab; instead, they partner with a well-known power supply manufacturer that has a state-of-the-art acoustical testing chamber. This provides a highly cost effective solution for the team and for Chenbro, as the power supply and fans in the case come from the same vendor. Each case is tested in the acoustical chamber, which is similar to the thermal testing chamber, but instead is noise-controlled, and uses sensors and computerized equipment to analyze the results. Due to time constraints we were unable to visit the acoustical testing lab, but we were given a brief description of the process. As the process description appears very similar to a combination of both the thermal and RF testing, we felt that we didn't miss much by not viewing this test.

Chenbro partners with a well known power supply manufacturer for use of their acoustical test lab. This is a cost effective solution for Chenbro as they enjoy nearly free access to this lab for testing any time that they need to test a case. We were unable to fit in a visit to the acoustical test lab on this trip due to time constraints, but Chenbro was willing to supply us with this picture so we could get an idea of what it looked like.