In addition, a large amount of heat is transferred between the atmosphere and dew condensation in the process of evaporation, speeding up evaporation time and shortening the duration time of dew condensation. A dew cycle test chamber can produce dew condensation in several ways. In the prototype test chamber, condensation and evaporation cycle as shown here. When temperature and humidity are abruptly raised inside the test chamber, the thermal capacity of the specimen is greater than air so the temperature of the specimen rises more slowly than ambient temperature. The difference in temperature during this time lag causes dew condensation to form.
Dew begins to evaporate when the temperature reaches the dew point.
Equilibrium is reached at the wet-bulb temperature. Repeatedly alternating between the two extreme conditions reproduces the conditions that cause dew condensation and drying. We performed several dew cycle tests to determine the number of cycles required before migration occurred under the following conditions. Preliminary testing indicated that five minutes were sufficient to allow dew condensation to form on and evaporate from the substrate board. We have added another 10 minutes for a total of 15 minutes.