Modern telecommunications equipment undergoes a battery of testing and diagnostic procedures to ensure proper operation. One of these tests measures the thermal tolerance of the equipment to verify that the components contained therein are able to function in environments ranging from the sub-zero temperatures of the Alaskan tundra to the scorching heat of the Saudian Arabian desert.
The thermal tolerance tests require operation of the equipment to be tested in a controlled room (that is, a thermal chamber) specifically designed to create a wide variety of ambient temperatures. By altering the environment in the thermal chamber from a very low temperature (e.g., minus 20 degrees Celsius) to a very high temperature (e.g., 80 degrees Celsius), the performance of the telecommunications equipment in various locations around the world can be established.
If the equipment fails to function properly during the thermal tolerance test, a technician must determine which of the many components embedded within the equipment is malfunctioning. This determination is a daunting task considering that telecommunications equipment is normally comprised of thousands of individual parts encased in a massive housing which must be maneuvered and dissected before diagnostics and repair can begin.
For example, thermal tolerance testing of a switching system such as the 5ESS.RTM. manufactured and sold by Lucent Technologies requires positioning the entire switch, one or more twelve hundred pound (1200 lb.) modules at a time, into a stationary thermal chamber. If malfunction is detected, the faulty module and component therein must be identified and extracted for repair. After repair, the switch module must be placed back into the stationary thermal chamber for re-testing. This labor intensive testing process is complicated by the need for the technician to maneuver and manipulate an awkwardly large, heavy piece of equipment for testing of a particular component therein.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for more efficient thermal testing of large equipment such as telecommunications switching equipment.