Emerson Announces New Thermal Management Witness Testing Facility

Emerson Network Power today announced the availability of a witness test lab for customers purchasing larger-capacity cooling systems. The CSA International-certified testing facility allows performance and reliability testing for equipment at specific temperatures from -35 degrees F to 120 degrees F. In addition to supporting the development of next-generation large cooling systems, the facility enables onsite witness testing for customers who wish to guarantee their cooling systems will deliver target performance and reliability across a broad operating temperature range.

“The increasing number of hyperscale data centers and co-location facilities is driving the need to develop larger cooling equipment that is optimized for the data center,” said John Schneider, vice president and general manager, thermal management, Emerson Network Power. “Our new psychrometric lab enables us to develop next generation large cooling systems such as our new Liebert® DSE DX platform. Importantly, the facility is designed to replicate the customer’s complete data center environment to ensure the most accurate and reliable performance testing at a broad range of temperatures. Developing the lab underscores our commitment to excellence in all areas of thermal management.”

Psychrometric testing is conducted at Emerson Network Power’s plant in Columbus, Ohio, where there are psychrometric rooms for 30kW and 100kW cooling units. The new, state-of-the-art psychrometric testing lab expands the capability to 200kW direct expansion cooling units and 400kW chilled water units. In addition to expanding witness test capability, the facility also enables Emerson Network Power to test its new, large cooling systems and offer more efficient technologies to customers faster.

In typical facilities, an estimated 20 percent of psychrometric room test time is consumed by the set-up, since the equipment must be assembled in the psychrometric room. However, Emerson Network Power’s facility features a staging area for the unit being tested, so the set-up can take place while another test is in progress. The ability to stage equipment combined with test apparatus designed to rapidly change out unit configurations reduces the set-up by more than half, enabling customers to put their equipment in service faster.