HVAC Laboratory supports the product development process

Siemens Building Technologies has its own in-house testing and laboratory facilities in which HVACEE applications can be tested under real operating conditions, e.g. at the HVAC Laboratory in Zug. Suitable test equipment is important in the product development process because this makes it possible to ensure quality, accelerate market launches and keep costs down.

Developers and product managers require suitable test facilities in which new products and applications can be used on real systems under real operating conditions and their quality can be checked. The HVAC Laboratory in Zug is a service center offering the development departments of Siemens Building Technologies (SBT) a realistic testing and inspection environment for applications in the area of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and electrical engineering (HVACEE).

There it is possible to set up any building automation applications using modules of real system components and to operate them in a realistic way. For this purpose, the 800 m² laboratory facility houses, amongst other things, test rooms for commercial or residential buildings, ventilation systems, chillers, gas and oil-fired boilers, heat pumps and extensive hydraulic installations set up in realistic surroundings. The test results provide valuable insights into the quality and practicality of the products and applications that are being studied, and therefore assist in improving the quality of the development process from the idea through to on-schedule startup at the customer’s premises. In addition, this generates extensive application knowledge for the company in general that is used accordingly not only by development units but also by sales organizations.

The requirements of system owners and users in terms of building automation and energy management solutions have risen in terms of efficiency and comfort. In general, it is expected that systems and infrastructure will function optimally right from the beginning. The test facilities in the HVAC Laboratory in Zug can be tailor-made for an extensive range of applications in the fields of heating, ventilation, cooling, sensor systems or electrical engineering. They make it possible to run through operation under realistic conditions and to balance technical parameters against one another to optimum effect.

The Siemens group Building Technologies is a Center of Competence with global portfolio and sales responsibility, and suitable laboratory and test facilities share a decisive role in its success. Tested quality and functions permit more efficient market launches with budgetable costs. Technical solutions for operating buildings and infrastructure demand high levels of functional reliability, since follow-on costs arising from defective quality or delayed delivery in the building sector can quickly snowball.

In addition to the HVAC Laboratory in Zug, SBT also maintains laboratory facilities for firing and heating technology applications as well as test facilities for servo drives, valves and drinking water systems at its production plant in Rastatt, Germany. In the fire detection area, SBT is currently building the latest test facilities in Zug in order to perform close-to-real-time tests on the detection capabilities of various technologies and to run acceptance trials on fire sensors in accordance with the European standard EN 54-7. Test facilities for various extinguishing applications are also available in Altenrhein (Switzerland) and Buc (France).

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