Development of an acclimatiezed chamber for IR based diagnostic research by E.C. Bortoni*, M.A.C. Craveiro**, L. Santos***, G.S. Bastos**, and L.E. Souza** *ISEE, Itajubá Federal University, Brazil, bortoni@ieee.org **IESTI, Itajubá Federal University, Brazil *** Furnas Centrais Elétricas, Brazil Abstract Infrared thermography is widely applied to power systems in the power substations and in the overhead transmission lines condition monitoring, aiming at continuous operation and maintenance purposes. As applied in an outdoor environment, the themographyc inspection is influenced by a number of ambient variables such as wind, solar radiation, humidity, and so forth. A great challenge for the researchers consists in the development of methods to extract the influence of such ambient variables in order to get the most reliable diagnostic. Therefore, an acclimatiezed chamber was developed to simulate actual conditions, allowing for the development of methodologies in the laboratory for latter application in field. The purpose of the proposed paper is to present the principles that guided the development of the chamber, its automatization and to describe the tests that can automaticaly be conducted. 1. Introduction There are a number of factors that can cause influence when conducting IR inspections in an uncovered environment, as in a power substation. Despite the IR inspection seems to be a simple task, the neglecting of some factors of influence can conduct to erroneous condition evaluation of the equipment under analysis. Such factors of influence can be characterized as procedural, physical or environmental factors. The influence of Procedural factor is minimized when certified personnel is employed. This work is concerned with the technical and environmental influence factors. Figure 1 shows a typical scene of an IR inspection in a high-voltage substation. The main elements are the inspector, the thermal-camera, the equipment under analysis and the environment. Fig. 1. Procedural, technical and environmental sources of influence