UL Solutions has announced a significant expansion of its heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) testing facility in Carugate, Italy.
The expansion will address the rapidly growing European demand for comprehensive heat pump performance and safety testing.
This rising demand in turn is being driven by the widespread adoption of environmentally friendly refrigerants and evolving regulatory requirements.
The expanded Carugate laboratory offers HVAC services that provide performance testing alongside the company’s established safety expertise, specifically catering to European manufacturers of heat pumps for both residential and commercial buildings.
These services aim to help manufacturers adopt alternative refrigerants effectively and enhance confidence that they meet new standards while developing more efficient products.
Heat pumps efficiently heat and cool by moving existing heat. In winter, they draw heat from outside to warm a building, and in summer, they expel indoor heat to cool it, making this electricity-powered refrigerant cycle more energy-efficient than traditional systems.
Key new capabilities in the Carugate laboratory include energy-efficiency, safety and eco-design requirement testing for the environmental performance of air-to-water and water-to-water heat pumps.
These tests focus on energy consumption in “standby” and “off” modes; how efficiently a heat pump moves heat energy; and sound power level, which measures operational noise. In addition, the laboratory offers wireless and electromagnetic compatibility analysis of heat pump operation when near electronic devices or electromagnetic emissions.
By complementing these services with UL Marketing Claim Verification and custom research and development programs, UL Solutions acts as a comprehensive service provider for heat pump manufacturers, helping them reduce testing lead times, comply with mandatory regulations and accelerate global market access.
Vice president and general manager of the Appliances, HVAC and Lighting group at UL Solutions, Alessio Dellanoce, said these enhanced capabilities in Europe reinforce the company’s dedication to offering comprehensive, unified services for the HVAC sector.
“Having performance and safety testing conducted at one central laboratory in Europe simplifies the testing process for our customers and helps enable them to get their products to targeted markets faster, all while demonstrating that their products meet safety and efficiency requirements,” he said.
The European air conditioning and commercial refrigeration sectors are navigating a transition shaped by climate change policies, including the need for HVAC testing.
Concurrently, the HVAC industry is increasingly using alternative refrigerants such as R32 and R454B, as well as natural refrigerants such as R290, necessitating tests to address the unique properties of these refrigerants, particularly their flammability, to demonstrate their safety, performance and regulatory compliance.