EVAPCO’s Wilson E. Bradley Research and Development Centre in the United States is
the largest and advanced testing facility of its kind in the world.
The 60,000 square foot facility features eight environmental test chambers for testing HVAC and industrial process cooling equipment, high pressure refrigeration cooling equipment, low pressure refrigeration cooling equipment and component development.
There is also an ice coil test tank and an AMCA fan test wind tunnel. These specially designed labs analyse and test cooling towers and closed circuit coolers up to 1400 nominal tonnes (6,150kW) in capacity, which is greater than the capacity of EVAPCO’s largest factory assembled units.
Through these environmental labs, EVAPCO can test the outer limits of every unit available as well as future, more efficient units. EVAPCO can simulate and analyse unit functionality in all weather conditions at these labs.
The ammonia refrigeration labs consist of an environmental test chamber for testing high side evaporative condensers up to 700 nominal ammonia tonnes (3015kW) and a unique low temperature evaporator laboratory.
The low temperature evaporator lab is powered by a 250 HP (186.4 kW) compressor capable of -40ºF (-40ºC) saturated suction temperature.
Committed to innovation in the ammonia refrigeration industry, a low charge ammonia refrigeration system test stand was built and commissioned.
This lab was developed to test full-scale low charge ammonia systems up to 60 refrigeration tonnes at -20ºF saturated suction temperature.
The world’s first air cooled steam condenser lab was built by EVAPCO in 2011. This lab allows tests for large scale ACC HX condensing steam under vacuum under a wide range of operating conditions.
Combined, these facilities offer the capability of simulating a wide range of environmental conditions to match those encountered in actual field applications. The computerized data acquisition systems ensure precise measurements of thermal performance and confidence in EVAPCO's thermal ratings.
As part of EVAPCO’s commitment to transparency and industry standards, all EVAPCO products are tested and verified for CTI certification by an independent third party using their own equipment. Every product is annually recertified in order to maintain current standards.
In addition to thermal testing, EVAPCO's engineers and technicians continuously focus on the quality and durability of all the components that go into EVAPCO products.
Accelerated life testing of materials, stress measurement and fatigue testing of fans, and performance qualifications of pumps and motors are all performed in specialized test equipment at the EVAPCO research centre. These ongoing research programs assure that only the highest quality equipment is consistently delivered to the customer.