Cold, hot and wet – environmental testing of large machines in Vihti
5 October 2017
Cold, hot and wet. You can take advantage of all these conditions in our testing hall in Vihti, where the temperature and air humidity can be adjusted to create different kinds of test conditions.
The aim is to ensure that everything works as intended in all conditions from a glacial -40 degrees Celsius to 55-degree heat. The hall can house helicopters as well as refrigerated containers, forestry machines or tractors. The size of the hall makes it a unique environmental testing facility in Finland.
Environmental testing is often used for quality assurance by testing the desired features before the machine or container is handed over to the customer. Testing is also used to support product development or correct the problems that have been found. It is more cost-effective for a manufacturer to identify potential problems before the customer discovers them during use.
Our testing includes machinery performance tests in cold and warm environments, cold start tests, heating and cooling device tests, K-value determinations of foodstuff trucks and measuring the cooling capacity of refrigeration equipment.
In practice, the testing ensures that equipment such as containers or work machine heaters work in extremely cold weather. Cooling must also work, no matter how high the temperature is outside.
In a cold start test, the work machine is cooled down to -20 degrees Celsius, for example. After this, tests are performed on the machine starting and staying on. Similarly, the functioning of locks in cold weather etc. can be tested.
Often the object of testing involves complex technology, such as a radar container built for military use, where everything must work and the working conditions must stay at the desired level, in both cold and hot temperatures.
The environmental testing hall offers a large variety of testing possibilities
The testing hall is located in our Vakola facility in Vihti. The space can be cooled down to -40 °C and heated up to +55 °C. In addition, the humidity of air in the hall can be adjusted. The hall is large: it is 14.2 m long, 5.5 m wide and 5.1 m high. The size of the doorway is 4.7 x 4.7 m.
The facilities are equipped with modern data acquisition systems that are capable of measuring the temperature of air, liquids and structures. It is also possible to measure electrical quantities, as well as air and liquid pressures and flows. The results are recorded in the desired format. Customers may also use their own data acquisition systems.
This news was published by VTT Expert Services on 5 October 2017. Now VTT Expert Services is Eurofins Expert Services and part of the Eurofins Group.