Danfoss Climate Solutions has expanded its Application Development Center (ADC) in Tallahassee, Florida, with the addition of a dedicated commercial refrigeration testing chamber. The new facility, opened on December 9, will support original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in testing food retail and commercial refrigeration equipment using A3, A2L, or non-flammable refrigerants.
The expansion responds to increasing refrigerant and energy efficiency regulations that require OEMs to redesign products. The new lab enables faster development and validation of refrigeration systems and components, helping manufacturers bring compliant products to market more efficiently.
Since 2017, Danfoss’ ADC has offered testing capabilities for HVAC/R systems under a range of environmental conditions. The new chamber is tailored to test condensing units, freezers, ice cream machines, unit coolers, racks, glass door merchandisers (GDM), and process chillers. It supports refrigerant loads of up to 5 kilograms of A3 or 7 kilograms of A2L per unit and complies with ASHRAE standards. Air plenums reduce air velocity, and an acoustic infrared leak detection system identifies leaks at the lower explosive limit (LEL).
Christopher Gangemi, key account manager at Danfoss, emphasized the importance of the new resource: “Many of our OEM customers don’t have the ability to test at their own facility. Now customers can send us their equipment for testing. We can also work with them to determine if using Danfoss components with their equipment will enable them to achieve greater energy efficiency.”
To mark the opening, Danfoss hosted customers for technical sessions, including a demonstration of its Sustainable CO2 Refrigeration Mobile Training Unit and an introduction to the Advanced System Simulation Service (A3S), which allows virtual testing of systems with different component configurations.
“This new lab will enable us to provide our commercial refrigeration and food retail customers with the support they need to implement A2L and A3 refrigerants safely and effectively,” said Gregory Handzel, senior manager of the ADC in Tallahassee. “They will be able to use our testing results to develop products to the highest standards of energy efficiency and meet their sustainability goals.”