Geoclima provides and tests both cooling and heating

For a special project, Geoclima designed and developed reversible heat pumps to provide both cooling and heating. In particular, the project concerned the design of 4 air cooled reversible heat pumps with four scroll compressors each.

We always test every single unit and also in this case all units have been tested in the presence of the client, who asked for a witness test we can always offer on request.

Thanks to the climate chamber of our test center we have been able to simulate actual environmental conditions of the site of installation.

In this particular case, with units providing both cooling and heating, we had to simulate both summer conditions, with ambient temperature up to 35 °C, and winter conditions, with ambient temperature down to -4 °C.

In summer mode, reversible heat pumps are designed to provide 460 kW cooling capacity each. In winter mode, they are designed to provide 372.8 kW heating capacity.

Each unit has been tested, one by one, according to Eurovent regulations, and ambient temperature have been simulated. Units have been tested at full load and at part load 25%, 50% and 75%.

The major difficulty was related to winter mode and to reach negative temperatures when actual ambient temperature outside climate chamber was around 13 °C. But in both cases, summer and winter mode, the desired temperatures have been reached and also exceeded.

Design conditions have been satisfied and in particular in winter mode, heat pumps provided even more heating capacity than required.

In addition to this, client required also to carry out a noise test on units. Design data provide maximum 71 dB(A) – 5m: this condition was tested and satisfied in the presence of both client and a certification agency.

All air and water probes, transducers, flow meters and tension meters are tested once a year by ACCREDIA, the Italian National Accreditation Body, and are calibrated according to AHRI standards.