UL Solutions has opened a new Centre of Excellence in Plano, Texas, to address growing demand for advanced product testing, including energy-efficient refrigerants and AI data centre cooling technology.
The HVACR Centre of Excellence brings safety, performance, certification, and research and development testing together in one location.
This helps manufacturers identify problems earlier, reduce testing complexity and move products more efficiently toward certification and market access in North America and other global markets.
President & CEO of UL Solutions, Jennifer Scanlon, said the centre strengthens their ability to help manufacturers develop safer products and bring new technologies to markets around the world.
The expansion increases testing capacity for heat pumps, air conditioners, chillers, variable refrigerant flow systems and coolant distribution units (CDUs) used in data centres.
"The added capabilities help manufacturers develop more energy-efficient products, adopt refrigerants with a lower climate impact and support the rapid growth of computing infrastructure," she said.
The facility features new test chambers capable of recreating a broad range of temperature and humidity conditions, to simulate everything from cold climates to desert environments. This helps UL Solutions replicate real-world conditions in which heating and cooling equipment may perform differently across environments.
The chambers can test systems with up to 30 tonnes of cooling capacity, as measured in cooling power, not weight.
This capacity allows UL Solutions to test larger equipment used in commercial buildings and data centres.
The HVACR Centre of Excellence also offers services to measure energy use, test product controls and check how heating and cooling equipment performs as demands on the equipment change.
Additional services help determine whether products meet industry requirements, including applicable standards from the Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Conditioning Engineers, US Department of Energy and ENERGY STAR, and support certification to international standards.