Calorimetric room for measuring the energy efficiency of air conditioners Theseus Lab

The workstation consists of thermostated rooms, which can independently maintain the inside temperature in the range of +10 to +48°C with an accuracy of ± 0.1 C. The chamber has two internal and two external rooms and meet the requirements for thermal leakage through the walls of the test chamber in accordance with the STB EN 14511 standards series.

During testing, the air conditioning system is installed in the inner rooms.  The outdoor and indoor units of the air conditioner are installed in different rooms.

The chamber is equipped with a 12 kW power source for a separate supply of the tested air conditioner. The structure of the camera includes measuring equipment that allows measuring the power consumption of the air conditioning systems, consumption in standby and operating modes, the temperature at the outlet of the air conditioner with accuracy better than 0.1%.

The amount of heat capacity of each air conditioning system unit, the amount of condensate from the air conditioning system, the airflow rate at the air conditioner outlet, and other parameters are also measured during the test.

The chamber automatically maintains the specified humidity parameters required for testing. Humidification of air in the chamber is carried out by reheating and mixing of dry air with water from the boiler, sprayed in the chamber through tubes in the air duct system. The circulation of air in the chamber is created by several centrifugal fans. The air flow is directed vertically through the chamber space.

The chamber made of heat-insulating panels, which are joint together and additionally sealed with silicone adhesive. The chamber is equipped with a ventilation and lighting system. The chamber control cabinet is located separately in the operator’s room and connected to a personal computer via Ethernet.

The chamber is powered by 400V 50 Hz three-phase network. The power consumption of the chamber is not more than 250 kVA.

The chamber is equipped with sliding double-leaf doors with dimensions of 2100x1900mm (the door dimensions may be different at the customer request).

Fully automated workstation allows automatically measure all energy efficiency parameters of air conditioning systems and generate reports and protocols in accordance with the chosen measurement program.

The software is written on LabView and has many convenient functions for controlling, monitoring and analyzing the equipment under test.

The air conditioner under test is placed in the chamber and all necessary connections are made. Afterwards, the camera turns on and reaches the set thermal conditions.

The measurement stage begins when the stable environmental conditions are reached and the required test equipment operation mode is established. In accordance with the applicable standard, specialized software  collects and analyzes the electrical parameters and temperature during entire test period. Test report can be saved and printed.

After a series of tests performed on one device, the software generates a final report with indication of the model of the device under test or the test sequence number and information about the operator and test conditions. The environmental conditions created in the chamber meet the requirements of the various test procedures given in the standards indicated in the table below.