This large environmental test facility was designed and built to simulate and test complete vehicle air conditioning systems as they would be configured and mounted in the vehicle.
The test facility consists of five independent environmental zones simulating under-bonnet conditions, external conditions, in-vehicle conditions and front and rear HVAC conditions.
The facility has the ability to control not only temperature but also humidity and air flow.
A recirculating wind tunnel simulates the air flow onto the air conditioning heat exchanger at a given vehicle speed. It also has the ability to measure and control the mass air flow seen at the heat exchanger.
To load-test the customer’s HVAC units, the facility has a coolant supply module which can control the temperature and flow of the supplied coolant.
All plant equipment is neatly packaged at the rear of the facility with easy access for maintenance and calibration.
The whole facility is controlled by an NI Real Time PXI data acquisition system running a bespoke NI LabView software program with a host computer interface.